zanzibar tales told by natives of the east coast of africa translated from the original swahili by george w. bateman illustrated by walter bobbett chicago a. c. mcclurg & co. 1901. to my readers. thirty years ago central africa was what people who are fond of airing their learning would call a terra incognita. to-day its general characteristics are pretty well known. then, as now, the little island of zanzibar, situated just south of the equator, on the east coast, was the starting place of all expeditions into the interior, and unguja (pronounced oon-goo'jah), the big town of that island, the place where the preparations for plunging into the unknown were made. at that period these expeditions consisted, almost without exception, of caravans loaded with beads and cotton cloth, which were exchanged among the inland tribes for elephants' tusks and slaves--for unguja boasted the only, and the last, open slave-market in the world then. the few exceptions were a would-be discoverer now and then, or a party of rich white men going to hunt "big game;" that is, travelling hundreds--aye, thousands--of miles, and enduring many hardships, for the momentary pleasure of holding a gun in such a position that when they pulled the trigger the bullet hit such a prominent mark as an elephant or a lion, which was living in its natural surroundings and interfering with no one. between you and me, i don't mind remarking that many of their expeditions ended, on their return to unguja, in the purchase of a few elephants' tusks and wild animal skins in the bazaars of that thriving city, after the method pursued by unsuccessful anglers in civilized countries. but even the most successful of these hunters, by reason of having followed the few beaten paths known to their guides, never came within miles of such wonderful animals as those described by the tribesmen from the very center of the dark continent. if you have read any accounts of adventure in africa, you will know that travelers never mention animals of any kind that are gifted with the faculty of speech, or gazelles that are overseers for native princes, or hares that eat flesh. no, indeed; only the native-born know of these; and, judging by the immense and rapid strides civilization is making in those parts, it will not be long before such wonderful specimens of zoölogy will be as extinct as the ichthyosaurus, dinornis, and other poor creatures who never dreamed of the awful names that would be applied to them when they were too long dead to show their resentment. as to the truth of these tales, i can only say that they were told to me, in zanzibar, by negroes whose ancestors told them to them, who had received them from their ancestors, and so back; so that the praise for their accuracy, or the blame for their falsity, lies with the first ancestor who set them going. you may think uncivilized negroes are pretty ignorant people, but the white man who is supposed to have first told the story of "the house that jack built" was a mighty poor genius compared with the unknown originator of "goso, the teacher," who found even inanimate things that were endowed with speech, which the pupils readily understood and were not astonished to hear; while "puss in boots" was not one-half so clever as the gazelle that ran things for haamdaanee. it would be a severe task to rattle off "goso" as you do "the house that jack built." don't stumble over the names in these tales; they are very easy. every one is pronounced exactly as it is spelled, and the accent is always on the last syllable but one; as, poon'dah, the donkey; haam-daa'nee, etc. finally, if the perusal of these tales interests you as much as their narration and translation interested me, everything will be satisfactory. george w. bateman. chicago, august 1, 1901. contents page to my readers 5 i. the monkey, the shark, and the washerman's donkey 17 ii. the hare and the lion 31 iii. the lion, the hyena, and the rabbit 47 iv. the kites and the crows 57 v. goso, the teacher 67 vi. the ape, the snake, and the lion 81 vii. haamdaanee 99 viii. mkaaah jeechonee, the boy hunter 155 ix. the magician and the sultan's son 183 x. the physician's son and the king of the snakes 197 list of illustrations page "throw me some food, my friend" 18 "miss poonda, i am sent to ask your hand in marriage" 23 bookoo and the hare started off immediately 33 soongoora crept out and ran away while the lion was looking up 35 the lion continued rubbing on a piece of rock 39 the lion, the hyena, and the rabbit go in for a little farming 49 said the hyena, "i'm thinking" 51 "i should say not" 59 they found him lying down 63 when they found the gazelle they beat it 75 "mother, we are always hungry" 83 "where are you going, son of adam?" 89 neeoka filled the bag with chains of gold and silver 93 dropping the diamond wrapped in leaves into the sultan's lap 115 the gazelle wept with the old woman 147 they crept cautiously through the bushes 167 they camped for the night 173 the magician gave the youth all the keys 185 right into the big pot! 191 "i scared him away" 215 zanzibar tales. i. the monkey, the shark, and the washerman's donkey. once upon a time kee'ma, the monkey, and pa'pa, the shark, became great friends. the monkey lived in an immense mkooyoo tree which grew by the margin of the sea--half of its branches being over the water and half over the land. every morning, when the monkey was breakfasting on the kooyoo nuts, the shark would put in an appearance under the tree and call out, "throw me some food, my friend;" with which request the monkey complied most willingly. this continued for many months, until one day papa said, "keema, you have done me many kindnesses: i would like you to go with me to my home, that i may repay you." "how can i go?" said the monkey; "we land beasts can not go about in the water." "don't trouble yourself about that," replied the shark; "i will carry you. not a drop of water shall get to you." "oh, all right, then," said mr. keema; "let's go." when they had gone about half-way the shark stopped, and said: "you are my friend. i will tell you the truth." "why, what is there to tell?" asked the monkey, with surprise. "well, you see, the fact is that our sultan is very sick, and we have been told that the only medicine that will do him any good is a monkey's heart." "well," exclaimed keema, "you were very foolish not to tell me that before we started!" "how so?" asked papa. but the monkey was busy thinking up some means of saving himself, and made no reply. "well?" said the shark, anxiously; "why don't you speak?" "oh, i've nothing to say now. it's too late. but if you had told me this before we started, i might have brought my heart with me." "what? haven't you your heart here?" "huh!" ejaculated keema; "don't you know about us? when we go out we leave our hearts in the trees, and go about with only our bodies. but i see you don't believe me. you think i'm scared. come on; let's go to your home, where you can kill me and search for my heart in vain." the shark did believe him, though, and exclaimed, "oh, no; let's go back and get your heart." "indeed, no," protested keema; "let us go on to your home." but the shark insisted that they should go back, get the heart, and start afresh. at last, with great apparent reluctance, the monkey consented, grumbling sulkily at the unnecessary trouble he was being put to. when they got back to the tree, he climbed up in a great hurry, calling out, "wait there, papa, my friend, while i get my heart, and we'll start off properly next time." when he had got well up among the branches, he sat down and kept quite still. after waiting what he considered a reasonable length of time, the shark called, "come along, keema!" but keema just kept still and said nothing. in a little while he called again: "oh, keema! let's be going." at this the monkey poked his head out from among the upper branches and asked, in great surprise, "going? where?" "to my home, of course." "are you mad?" queried keema. "mad? why, what do you mean?" cried papa. "what's the matter with you?" said the monkey. "do you take me for a washerman's donkey?" "what peculiarity is there about a washerman's donkey?" "it is a creature that has neither heart nor ears." the shark, his curiosity overcoming his haste, thereupon begged to be told the story of the washerman's donkey, which the monkey related as follows: "a washerman owned a donkey, of which he was very fond. one day, however, it ran away, and took up its abode in the forest, where it led a lazy life, and consequently grew very fat. "at length soongoo'ra, the hare, by chance passed that way, and saw poon'da, the donkey. "now, the hare is the most cunning of all beasts--if you look at his mouth you will see that he is always talking to himself about everything. "so when soongoora saw poonda he said to himself, 'my, this donkey is fat!' then he went and told sim'ba, the lion. "as simba was just recovering from a severe illness, he was still so weak that he could not go hunting. he was consequently pretty hungry. "said mr. soongoora, 'i'll bring enough meat to-morrow for both of us to have a great feast, but you'll have to do the killing.' "'all right, good friend,' exclaimed simba, joyfully; 'you're very kind.' "so the hare scampered off to the forest, found the donkey, and said to her, in his most courtly manner, 'miss poonda, i am sent to ask your hand in marriage.' "'by whom?' simpered the donkey. "'by simba, the lion.' "the donkey was greatly elated at this, and exclaimed: 'let's go at once. this is a first-class offer.' "they soon arrived at the lion's home, were cordially invited in, and sat down. soongoora gave simba a signal with his eyebrow, to the effect that this was the promised feast, and that he would wait outside. then he said to poonda: 'i must leave you for a while to attend to some private business. you stay here and converse with your husband that is to be.' "as soon as soongoora got outside, the lion sprang at poonda, and they had a great fight. simba was kicked very hard, and he struck with his claws as well as his weak health would permit him. at last the donkey threw the lion down, and ran away to her home in the forest. "shortly after, the hare came back, and called, 'haya! simba! have you got it?' "'i have not got it,' growled the lion; 'she kicked me and ran away; but i warrant you i made her feel pretty sore, though i'm not strong.' "'oh, well,' remarked soongoora; 'don't put yourself out of the way about it.' "then soongoora waited many days, until the lion and the donkey were both well and strong, when he said: 'what do you think now, simba? shall i bring you your meat?' "'ay,' growled the lion, fiercely; 'bring it to me. i'll tear it in two pieces!' "so the hare went off to the forest, where the donkey welcomed him and asked the news. "'you are invited to call again and see your lover,' said soongoora. "'oh, dear!' cried poonda; 'that day you took me to him he scratched me awfully. i'm afraid to go near him now.' "'ah, pshaw!' said soongoora; 'that's nothing. that's only simba's way of caressing.' "'oh, well,' said the donkey, 'let's go.' "so off they started again; but as soon as the lion caught sight of poonda he sprang upon her and tore her in two pieces. "when the hare came up, simba said to him: 'take this meat and roast it. as for myself, all i want is the heart and ears.' "'thanks,' said soongoora. then he went away and roasted the meat in a place where the lion could not see him, and he took the heart and ears and hid them. then he ate all the meat he needed, and put the rest away. "presently the lion came to him and said, 'bring me the heart and ears.' "'where are they?' said the hare. "'what does this mean?' growled simba. "'why, didn't you know this was a washerman's donkey?' "'well, what's that to do with there being no heart or ears?' "'for goodness' sake, simba, aren't you old enough to know that if this beast had possessed a heart and ears it wouldn't have come back the second time?' "of course the lion had to admit that what soongoora, the hare, said was true. "and now," said keema to the shark, "you want to make a washerman's donkey of me. get out of there, and go home by yourself. you are not going to get me again, and our friendship is ended. good-bye, papa." ii. the hare and the lion. one day soongoo'ra, the hare, roaming through the forest in search of food, glanced up through the boughs of a very large calabash tree, and saw that a great hole in the upper part of the trunk was inhabited by bees; thereupon he returned to town in search of some one to go with him and help to get the honey. as he was passing the house of boo'koo, the big rat, that worthy gentleman invited him in. so he went in, sat down, and remarked: "my father has died, and has left me a hive of honey. i would like you to come and help me to eat it." of course bookoo jumped at the offer, and he and the hare started off immediately. when they arrived at the great calabash tree, soongoora pointed out the bees' nest and said, "go on; climb up." so, taking some straw with them, they climbed up to the nest, lit the straw, smoked out the bees, put out the fire, and set to work eating the honey. in the midst of the feast, who should appear at the foot of the tree but sim'ba, the lion? looking up, and seeing them eating, he asked, "who are you?" then soongoora whispered to bookoo, "hold your tongue; that old fellow is crazy." but in a very little while simba roared out angrily: "who are you, i say? speak, i tell you!" this made bookoo so scared that he blurted out, "it's only us!" upon this the hare said to him: "you just wrap me up in this straw, call to the lion to keep out of the way, and then throw me down. then you'll see what will happen." so bookoo, the big rat, wrapped soongoora, the hare, in the straw, and then called to simba, the lion, "stand back; i'm going to throw this straw down, and then i'll come down myself." when simba stepped back out of the way, bookoo threw down the straw, and as it lay on the ground soongoora crept out and ran away while the lion was looking up. after waiting a minute or two, simba roared out, "well, come down, i say!" and, there being no help for it, the big rat came down. as soon as he was within reach, the lion caught hold of him, and asked, "who was up there with you?" "why," said bookoo, "soongoora, the hare. didn't you see him when i threw him down?" "of course i didn't see him," replied the lion, in an incredulous tone, and, without wasting further time, he ate the big rat, and then searched around for the hare, but could not find him. three days later, soongoora called on his acquaintance, ko'bay, the tortoise, and said to him, "let us go and eat some honey." "whose honey?" inquired kobay, cautiously. "my father's," soongoora replied. "oh, all right; i'm with you," said the tortoise, eagerly; and away they went. when they arrived at the great calabash tree they climbed up with their straw, smoked out the bees, sat down, and began to eat. just then mr. simba, who owned the honey, came out again, and, looking up, inquired, "who are you, up there?" soongoora whispered to kobay, "keep quiet;" but when the lion repeated his question angrily, kobay became suspicious, and said: "i will speak. you told me this honey was yours; am i right in suspecting that it belongs to simba?" so, when the lion asked again, "who are you?" he answered, "it's only us." the lion said, "come down, then;" and the tortoise answered, "we're coming." now, simba had been keeping an eye open for soongoora since the day he caught bookoo, the big rat, and, suspecting that he was up there with kobay, he said to himself, "i've got him this time, sure." seeing that they were caught again, soongoora said to the tortoise: "wrap me up in the straw, tell simba to stand out of the way, and then throw me down. i'll wait for you below. he can't hurt you, you know." "all right," said kobay; but while he was wrapping the hare up he said to himself: "this fellow wants to run away, and leave me to bear the lion's anger. he shall get caught first." therefore, when he had bundled him up, he called out, "soongoora is coming!" and threw him down. so simba caught the hare, and, holding him with his paw, said, "now, what shall i do with you?" the hare replied, "it's of no use for you to try to eat me; i'm awfully tough." "what would be the best thing to do with you, then?" asked simba. "i think," said soongoora, "you should take me by the tail, whirl me around, and knock me against the ground. then you may be able to eat me." so the lion, being deceived, took him by the tail and whirled him around, but just as he was going to knock him on the ground he slipped out of his grasp and ran away, and simba had the mortification of losing him again. angry and disappointed, he turned to the tree and called to kobay, "you come down, too." when the tortoise reached the ground, the lion said, "you're pretty hard; what can i do to make you eatable?" "oh, that's easy," laughed kobay; "just put me in the mud and rub my back with your paw until my shell comes off." immediately on hearing this, simba carried kobay to the water, placed him in the mud, and began, as he supposed, to rub his back; but the tortoise had slipped away, and the lion continued rubbing on a piece of rock until his paws were raw. when he glanced down at them he saw they were bleeding, and, realizing that he had again been outwitted, he said, "well, the hare has done me to-day, but i'll go hunting now until i find him." so simba, the lion, set out immediately in search of soongoora, the hare, and as he went along he inquired of every one he met, "where is the house of soongoora?" but each person he asked answered, "i do not know." for the hare had said to his wife, "let us remove from this house." therefore the folks in that neighborhood had no knowledge of his whereabouts. simba, however, went along, continuing his inquiries, until presently one answered, "that is his house on the top of the mountain." without loss of time the lion climbed the mountain, and soon arrived at the place indicated, only to find that there was no one at home. this, however, did not trouble him; on the contrary, saying to himself, "i'll hide myself inside, and when soongoora and his wife come home i'll eat them both," he entered the house and lay down, awaiting their arrival. pretty soon along came the hare with his wife, not thinking of any danger; but he very soon discovered the marks of the lion's paws on the steep path. stopping at once, he said to mrs. soongoora: "you go back, my dear. simba, the lion, has passed this way, and i think he must be looking for me." but she replied, "i will not go back; i will follow you, my husband." although greatly pleased at this proof of his wife's affection, soongoora said firmly: "no, no; you have friends to go to. go back." so he persuaded her, and she went back; but he kept on, following the footmarks, and saw--as he had suspected--that they went into his house. "ah!" said he to himself, "mr. lion is inside, is he?" then, cautiously going back a little way, he called out: "how d'ye do, house? how d'ye do?" waiting a moment, he remarked loudly: "well, this is very strange! every day, as i pass this place, i say, 'how d'ye do, house?' and the house always answers, 'how d'ye do?' there must be some one inside to-day." when the lion heard this he called out, "how d'ye do?" then soongoora burst out laughing, and shouted: "oho, mr. simba! you're inside, and i'll bet you want to eat me; but first tell me where you ever heard of a house talking!" upon this the lion, seeing how he had been fooled, replied angrily, "you wait until i get hold of you; that's all." "oh, i think you'll have to do the waiting," cried the hare; and then he ran away, the lion following. but it was of no use. soongoora completely tired out old simba, who, saying, "that rascal has beaten me; i don't want to have anything more to do with him," returned to his home under the great calabash tree. iii. the lion, the hyena, and the rabbit. once upon a time sim'ba, the lion, fee'see, the hyena, and keetee'tee, the rabbit, made up their minds to go in for a little farming. so they went into the country, made a garden, planted all kinds of seeds, and then came home and rested quite a while. then, when the time came when their crops should be about ripe and ready for harvesting, they began to say to each other, "let's go over to the farm, and see how our crops are coming along." so one morning, early, they started, and, as the garden was a long way off, keeteetee, the rabbit, made this proposition: "while we are going to the farm, let us not stop on the road; and if any one does stop, let him be eaten." his companions, not being so cunning as he, and knowing they could outwalk him, readily consented to this arrangement. well, off they went; but they had not gone very far when the rabbit stopped. "hullo!" said feesee, the hyena; "keeteetee has stopped. he must be eaten." "that's the bargain," agreed simba, the lion. "well," said the rabbit, "i happened to be thinking." "what about?" cried his partners, with great curiosity. "i'm thinking," said he, with a grave, philosophical air, "about those two stones, one big and one little; the little one does not go up, nor does the big one go down." the lion and the hyena, having stopped to look at the stones, could only say, "why, really, it's singular; but it's just as you say;" and they all resumed their journey, the rabbit being by this time well rested. when they had gone some distance the rabbit stopped again. "aha!" said feesee; "keeteetee has stopped again. now he must be eaten." "i rather think so," assented simba. "well," said the rabbit, "i was thinking again." their curiosity once more aroused, his comrades begged him to tell them his think. "why," said he, "i was thinking this: when people like us put on new coats, where do the old ones go to?" both simba and feesee, having stopped a moment to consider the matter, exclaimed together, "well, i wonder!" and the three went on, the rabbit having again had a good rest. after a little while the hyena, thinking it about time to show off a little of his philosophy, suddenly stopped. "here," growled simba, "this won't do; i guess we'll have to eat you, feesee." "oh, no," said the hyena; "i'm thinking." "what are you thinking about?" they inquired. "i'm thinking about nothing at all," said he, imagining himself very smart and witty. "ah, pshaw!" cried keeteetee; "we won't be fooled that way." so he and simba ate the hyena. when they had finished eating their friend, the lion and the rabbit proceeded on their way, and presently came to a place where there was a cave, and here the rabbit stopped. "h'm!" ejaculated simba; "i'm not so hungry as i was this morning, but i guess i'll have to find room for you, little keeteetee." "oh, i believe not," replied keeteetee; "i'm thinking again." "well," said the lion, "what is it this time?" said the rabbit: "i'm thinking about that cave. in olden times our ancestors used to go in here, and go out there, and i think i'll try and follow in their footsteps." so he went in at one end and out at the other end several times. then he said to the lion, "simba, old fellow, let's see you try to do that;" and the lion went into the cave, but he stuck fast, and could neither go forward nor back out. in a moment keeteetee was on simba's back, and began eating him. after a little time the lion cried, "oh, brother, be impartial; come and eat some of the front part of me." but the rabbit replied, "indeed, i can't come around in front; i'm ashamed to look you in the face." so, having eaten all he was able to, he left the lion there, and went and became sole owner of the farm and its crops. iv. the kites and the crows. one day koongoo'roo, sultan of the crows, sent a letter to mway'way, sultan of the kites, containing these few words: "i want you folks to be my soldiers." to this brief message mwayway at once wrote this short reply: "i should say not." thereupon, thinking to scare mwayway, the sultan of the crows sent him word, "if you refuse to obey me i'll make war upon you." to which the sultan of the kites replied, "that suits me; let us fight, and if you beat us we will obey you, but if we are victors you shall be our servants." so they gathered their forces and engaged in a great battle, and in a little while it became evident that the crows were being badly beaten. as it appeared certain that, if something were not done pretty quickly, they would all be killed, one old crow, named jeeoo'see, suddenly proposed that they should fly away. directly the suggestion was made it was acted upon, and the crows left their homes and flew far away, where they set up another town. so, when the kites entered the place, they found no one there, and they took up their residence in crowtown. one day, when the crows had gathered in council, koongooroo stood up and said: "my people, do as i command you, and all will be well. pluck out some of my feathers and throw me into the town of the kites; then come back and stay here until you hear from me." without argument or questioning the crows obeyed their sultan's command. koongooroo had lain in the street but a short time, when some passing kites saw him and inquired threateningly, "what are you doing here in our town?" with many a moan he replied, "my companions have beaten me and turned me out of their town because i advised them to obey mwayway, sultan of the kites." when they heard this they picked him up and took him before the sultan, to whom they said, "we found this fellow lying in the street, and he attributes his involuntary presence in our town to so singular a circumstance that we thought you should hear his story." koongooroo was then bidden to repeat his statement, which he did, adding the remark that, much as he had suffered, he still held to his opinion that mwayway was his rightful sultan. this, of course, made a very favorable impression, and the sultan said, "you have more sense than all the rest of your tribe put together; i guess you can stay here and live with us." so koongooroo, expressing much gratitude, settled down, apparently, to spend the remainder of his life with the kites. one day his neighbors took him to church with them, and when they returned home they asked him, "who have the best kind of religion, the kites or the crows?" to which crafty old koongooroo replied, with great enthusiasm, "oh, the kites, by long odds!" this answer tickled the kites like anything, and koongooroo was looked upon as a bird of remarkable discernment. when almost another week had passed, the sultan of the crows slipped away in the night, went to his own town, and called his people together. "to-morrow," said he, "is the great annual religious festival of the kites, and they will all go to church in the morning. go, now, and get some wood and some fire, and wait near their town until i call you; then come quickly and set fire to the church." then he hurried back to mwayway's town. the crows were very busy indeed all that night, and by dawn they had an abundance of wood and fire at hand, and were lying in wait near the town of their victorious enemies. so in the morning every kite went to church. there was not one person left at home except old koongooroo. when his neighbors called for him they found him lying down. "why!" they exclaimed with surprise, "are you not going to church to-day?" "oh," said he, "i wish i could; but my stomach aches so badly i can't move!" and he groaned dreadfully. "ah, poor fellow!" said they; "you will be better in bed;" and they left him to himself. as soon as everybody was out of sight he flew swiftly to his soldiers and cried, "come on; they're all in the church." then they all crept quickly but quietly to the church, and while some piled wood about the door, others applied fire. the wood caught readily, and the fire was burning fiercely before the kites were aware of their danger; but when the church began to fill with smoke, and tongues of flame shot through the cracks, they tried to escape through the windows. the greater part of them, however, were suffocated, or, having their wings singed, could not fly away, and so were burned to death, among them their sultan, mwayway; and koongooroo and his crows got their old town back again. from that day to this the kites fly away from the crows. v. goso, the teacher. once there was a man named go'so, who taught children to read, not in a schoolhouse, but under a calabash tree. one evening, while goso was sitting under the tree deep in the study of the next day's lessons, paa, the gazelle, climbed up the tree very quietly to steal some fruit, and in so doing shook off a calabash, which, in falling, struck the teacher on the head and killed him. when his scholars came in the morning and found their teacher lying dead, they were filled with grief; so, after giving him a decent burial, they agreed among themselves to find the one who had killed goso, and put him to death. after talking the matter over they came to the conclusion that the south wind was the offender. so they caught the south wind and beat it. but the south wind cried: "here! i am koo'see, the south wind. why are you beating me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are koosee; it was you who threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but koosee said, "if i were so powerful would i be stopped by a mud wall?" so they went to the mud wall and beat it. but the mud wall cried: "here! i am keeyambaa'za, the mud wall. why are you beating me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are keeyambaaza; it was you who stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but keeyambaaza said, "if i were so powerful would i be bored through by the rat?" so they went and caught the rat and beat it. but the rat cried: "here! i am paan'ya, the rat. why are you beating me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are paanya; it was you who bored through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but paanya said, "if i were so powerful would i be eaten by a cat?" so they hunted for the cat, caught it, and beat it. but the cat cried: "here! i am paa'ka, the cat. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are paaka; it is you that eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but paaka said, "if i were so powerful would i be tied by a rope?" so they took the rope and beat it. but the rope cried: "here! i am kaam'ba, the rope. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are kaamba; it is you that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but kaamba said, "if i were so powerful would i be cut by a knife?" so they took the knife and beat it. but the knife cried: "here! i am kee'soo, the knife. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are keesoo; you cut kaamba, the rope; that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but keesoo said, "if i were so powerful would i be burned by the fire?" and they went and beat the fire. but the fire cried: "here! i am mo'to, the fire. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are moto; you burn keesoo, the knife; that cuts kaamba, the rope; that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but moto said, "if i were so powerful would i be put out by water?" and they went to the water and beat it. but the water cried: "here! i am maa'jee, the water. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are maajee; you put out moto, the fire; that burns keesoo, the knife; that cuts kaamba, the rope; that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but maajee said, "if i were so powerful would i be drunk by the ox?" and they went to the ox and beat it. but the ox cried: "here! i am ng'om'bay, the ox. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are ng'ombay; you drink maajee, the water; that puts out moto, the fire; that burns keesoo, the knife; that cuts kaamba, the rope; that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but ng'ombay said, "if i were so powerful would i be tormented by the fly?" and they caught a fly and beat it. but the fly cried: "here! i am een'zee, the fly. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are eenzee; you torment ng'ombay, the ox; who drinks maajee, the water; that puts out moto, the fire; that burns keesoo, the knife; that cuts kaamba, the rope; that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." but eenzee said, "if i were so powerful would i be eaten by the gazelle?" and they searched for the gazelle, and when they found it they beat it. but the gazelle said: "here! i am paa, the gazelle. why do you beat me? what have i done?" and they said: "yes, we know you are paa; you eat eenzee, the fly; that torments ng'ombay, the ox; who drinks maajee, the water; that puts out moto, the fire; that burns keesoo, the knife; that cuts kaamba, the rope; that ties paaka, the cat; who eats paanya, the rat; who bores through keeyambaaza, the mud wall; which stopped koosee, the south wind; and koosee, the south wind, threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. you should not have done it." the gazelle, through surprise at being found out and fear of the consequences of his accidental killing of the teacher, while engaged in stealing, was struck dumb. then the scholars said: "ah! he hasn't a word to say for himself. this is the fellow who threw down the calabash that struck our teacher goso. we will kill him." so they killed paa, the gazelle, and avenged the death of their teacher. vi. the ape, the snake, and the lion. long, long ago there lived, in a village called keejee'jee, a woman whose husband died, leaving her with a little baby boy. she worked hard all day to get food for herself and child, but they lived very poorly and were most of the time half-starved. when the boy, whose name was 'mvoo' laa'na, began to get big, he said to his mother, one day: "mother, we are always hungry. what work did my father do to support us?" his mother replied: "your father was a hunter. he set traps, and we ate what he caught in them." "oho!" said 'mvoo laana; "that's not work; that's fun. i, too, will set traps, and see if we can't get enough to eat." the next day he went into the forest and cut branches from the trees, and returned home in the evening. the second day he spent making the branches into traps. the third day he twisted cocoanut fiber into ropes. the fourth day he set up as many traps as time would permit. the fifth day he set up the remainder of the traps. the sixth day he went to examine the traps, and they had caught so much game, beside what they needed for themselves, that he took a great quantity to the big town of oongoo'ja, where he sold it and bought corn and other things, and the house was full of food; and, as this good fortune continued, he and his mother lived very comfortably. but after a while, when he went to his traps he found nothing in them day after day. one morning, however, he found that an ape had been caught in one of the traps, and he was about to kill it, when it said: "son of adam, i am neea'nee, the ape; do not kill me. take me out of this trap and let me go. save me from the rain, that i may come and save you from the sun some day." so 'mvoo laana took him out of the trap and let him go. when neeanee had climbed up in a tree, he sat on a branch and said to the youth: "for your kindness i will give you a piece of advice: believe me, men are all bad. never do a good turn for a man; if you do, he will do you harm at the first opportunity." the second day, 'mvoo laana found a snake in the same trap. he started to the village to give the alarm, but the snake shouted: "come back, son of adam; don't call the people from the village to come and kill me. i am neeo'ka, the snake. let me out of this trap, i pray you. save me from the rain to-day, that i may be able to save you from the sun to-morrow, if you should be in need of help." so the youth let him go; and as he went he said, "i will return your kindness if i can, but do not trust any man; if you do him a kindness he will do you an injury in return at the first opportunity." the third day, 'mvoo laana found a lion in the same trap that had caught the ape and the snake, and he was afraid to go near it. but the lion said: "don't run away; i am sim'ba kong'way, the very old lion. let me out of this trap, and i will not hurt you. save me from the rain, that i may save you from the sun if you should need help." so 'mvoo laana believed him and let him out of the trap, and simba kongway, before going his way, said: "son of adam, you have been kind to me, and i will repay you with kindness if i can; but never do a kindness to a man, or he will pay you back with unkindness." the next day a man was caught in the same trap, and when the youth released him, he repeatedly assured him that he would never forget the service he had done him in restoring his liberty and saving his life. well, it seemed that he had caught all the game that could be taken in traps, and 'mvoo laana and his mother were hungry every day, with nothing to satisfy them, as they had been before. at last he said to his mother, one day: "mother, make me seven cakes of the little meal we have left, and i will go hunting with my bow and arrows." so she baked him the cakes, and he took them and his bow and arrows and went into the forest. the youth walked and walked, but could see no game, and finally he found that he had lost his way, and had eaten all his cakes but one. and he went on and on, not knowing whether he was going away from his home or toward it, until he came to the wildest and most desolate looking wood he had ever seen. he was so wretched and tired that he felt he must lie down and die, when suddenly he heard some one calling him, and looking up he saw neeanee, the ape, who said, "son of adam, where are you going?" "i don't know," replied 'mvoo laana, sadly; "i'm lost." "well, well," said the ape; "don't worry. just sit down here and rest yourself until i come back, and i will repay with kindness the kindness you once showed me." then neeanee went away off to some gardens and stole a whole lot of ripe paw-paws and bananas, and brought them to 'mvoo laana, and said: "here's plenty of food for you. is there anything else you want? would you like a drink?" and before the youth could answer he ran off with a calabash and brought it back full of water. so the youth ate heartily, and drank all the water he needed, and then each said to the other, "good-bye, till we meet again," and went their separate ways. when 'mvoo laana had walked a great deal farther without finding which way he should go, he met simba kongway, who asked, "where are you going, son of adam?" and the youth answered, as dolefully as before, "i don't know; i'm lost." "come, cheer up," said the very old lion, "and rest yourself here a little. i want to repay with kindness to-day the kindness you showed me on a former day." so 'mvoo laana sat down. simba kongway went away, but soon returned with some game he had caught, and then he brought some fire, and the young man cooked the game and ate it. when he had finished he felt a great deal better, and they bade each other good-bye for the present, and each went his way. after he had traveled another very long distance the youth came to a farm, and was met by a very, very old woman, who said to him: "stranger, my husband has been taken very sick, and i am looking for some one to make him some medicine. won't you make it?" but he answered: "my good woman, i am not a doctor, i am a hunter, and never used medicine in my life. i can not help you." when he came to the road leading to the principal city he saw a well, with a bucket standing near it, and he said to himself: "that's just what i want. i'll take a drink of nice well-water. let me see if the water can be reached." as he peeped over the edge of the well, to see if the water was high enough, what should he behold but a great big snake, which, directly it saw him, said, "son of adam, wait a moment." then it came out of the well and said: "how? don't you know me?" "i certainly do not," said the youth, stepping back a little. "well, well!" said the snake; "i could never forget you. i am neeoka, whom you released from the trap. you know i said, 'save me from the rain, and i will save you from the sun.' now, you are a stranger in the town to which you are going; therefore hand me your little bag, and i will place in it the things that will be of use to you when you arrive there." so 'mvoo laana gave neeoka the little bag, and he filled it with chains of gold and silver, and told him to use them freely for his own benefit. then they parted very cordially. when the youth reached the city, the first man he met was he whom he had released from the trap, who invited him to go home with him, which he did, and the man's wife made him supper. as soon as he could get away unobserved, the man went to the sultan and said: "there is a stranger come to my house with a bag full of chains of silver and gold, which he says he got from a snake that lives in a well. but although he pretends to be a man, i know that he is a snake who has power to look like a man." when the sultan heard this he sent some soldiers who brought 'mvoo laana and his little bag before him. when they opened the little bag, the man who was released from the trap persuaded the people that some evil would come out of it, and affect the children of the sultan and the children of the vizir. then the people became excited, and tied the hands of 'mvoo laana behind him. but the great snake had come out of the well and arrived at the town just about this time, and he went and lay at the feet of the man who had said all those bad things about 'mvoo laana, and when the people saw this they said to that man: "how is this? there is the great snake that lives in the well, and he stays by you. tell him to go away." but neeoka would not stir. so they untied the young man's hands, and tried in every way to make amends for having suspected him of being a wizard. then the sultan asked him, "why should this man invite you to his home and then speak ill of you?" and 'mvoo laana related all that had happened to him, and how the ape, the snake, and the lion had cautioned him about the results of doing any kindness for a man. and the sultan said: "although men are often ungrateful, they are not always so; only the bad ones. as for this fellow, he deserves to be put in a sack and drowned in the sea. he was treated kindly, and returned evil for good." vii. haamdaanee. once there was a very poor man, named haamdaa'nee, who begged from door to door for his living, sometimes taking things before they were offered him. after a while people became suspicious of him, and stopped giving him anything, in order to keep him away from their houses. so at last he was reduced to the necessity of going every morning to the village dust heap, and picking up and eating the few grains of the tiny little millet seed that he might find there. one day, as he was scratching and turning over the heap, he found a dime, which he tied up in a corner of his ragged dress, and continued to hunt for millet grains, but could not find one. "oh, well," said he, "i've got a dime now; i'm pretty well fixed. i'll go home and take a nap instead of a meal." so he went to his hut, took a drink of water, put some tobacco in his mouth, and went to sleep. the next morning, as he scratched in the dust heap, he saw a countryman going along, carrying a basket made of twigs, and he called to him: "hi, there, countryman! what have you in that cage?" the countryman, whose name was moohaad'eem, replied, "gazelles." and haamdaanee called: "bring them here. let me see them." now there were three well-to-do men standing near; and when they saw the countryman coming to haamdaanee they smiled, and said, "you're taking lots of trouble for nothing, moohaadeem." "how's that, gentlemen?" he inquired. "why," said they, "that poor fellow has nothing at all. not a cent." "oh, i don't know that," said the countryman; "he may have plenty, for all i know." "not he," said they. "don't you see for yourself," continued one of them, "that he is on the dust heap? every day he scratches there like a hen, trying to get enough grains of millet to keep himself alive. if he had any money, wouldn't he buy a square meal, for once in his life? do you think he would want to buy a gazelle? what would he do with it? he can't find enough food for himself, without looking for any for a gazelle." but moohaadeem said: "gentlemen, i have brought some goods here to sell. i answer all who call me, and if any one says 'come,' i go to him. i don't favor one and slight another; therefore, as this man called me, i'm going to him." "all right," said the first man; "you don't believe us. well, we know where he lives, and all about him, and we know that he can't buy anything." "that's so," said the second man. "perhaps, however, you will see that we were right, after you have a talk with him." to which the third man added, "clouds are a sign of rain, but we have seen no signs of his being about to spend any money." "all right, gentlemen," said moohaadeem; "many better-looking people than he call me, and when i show them my gazelles they say, 'oh, yes, they're very beautiful, but awfully dear; take them away.' so i shall not be disappointed if this man says the same thing. i shall go to him, anyhow." then one of the three men said, "let us go with this man, and see what the beggar will buy." "pshaw!" said another; "buy! you talk foolishly. he has not had a good meal in three years, to my knowledge; and a man in his condition doesn't have money to buy gazelles. however, let's go; and if he makes this poor countryman carry his load over there just for the fun of looking at the gazelles, let each of us give him a good hard whack with our walking-sticks, to teach him how to behave toward honest merchants." so, when they came near him, one of those three men said: "well, here are the gazelles; now buy one. here they are, you old hypocrite; you'll feast your eyes on them, but you can't buy them." but haamdaanee, paying no attention to the men, said to moohaadeem, "how much for one of your gazelles?" then another of those men broke in: "you're very innocent, aren't you? you know, as well as i do, that gazelles are sold every day at two for a quarter." still taking no notice of these outsiders, haamdaanee continued, "i'd like to buy one for a dime." "one for a dime!" laughed the men; "of course you'd like to buy one for a dime. perhaps you'd also like to have the dime to buy with." then one of them gave him a push on the cheek. at this haamdaanee turned and said: "why do you push me on the cheek, when i've done nothing to you? i do not know you. i call this man, to transact some business with him, and you, who are strangers, step in to spoil our trade." he then untied the knot in the corner of his ragged coat, produced the dime, and, handing it to moohaadeem, said, "please, good man, let me have a gazelle for that." at this, the countryman took a small gazelle out of the cage and handed it to him, saying, "here, master, take this one. i call it keejee'paa." then turning to those three men, he laughed, and said: "ehe! how's this? you, with your white robes, and turbans, and swords, and daggers, and sandals on your feet--you gentlemen of property, and no mistake--you told me this man was too poor to buy anything; yet he has bought a gazelle for a dime, while you fine fellows, i think, haven't enough money among you to buy half a gazelle, if they were five cents each." then moohaadeem and the three men went their several ways. as for haamdaanee, he stayed at the dust heap until he found a few grains of millet for himself and a few for keejeepaa, the gazelle, and then went to his hut, spread his sleeping mat, and he and the gazelle slept together. this going to the dust heap for a few grains of millet and then going home to bed continued for about a week. then one night haamdaanee was awakened by some one calling, "master!" sitting up, he answered: "here i am. who calls?" the gazelle answered, "i do!" upon this, the beggar man became so scared that he did not know whether he should faint or get up and run away. seeing him so overcome, keejeepaa asked, "why, master, what's the matter?" "oh, gracious!" he gasped; "what a wonder i see!" "a wonder?" said the gazelle, looking all around; "why, what is this wonder, that makes you act as if you were all broken up?" "why, it's so wonderful, i can hardly believe i'm awake!" said his master. "who in the world ever before knew of a gazelle that could speak?" "oho!" laughed keejeepaa; "is that all? there are many more wonderful things than that. but now, listen, while i tell you why i called you." "certainly; i'll listen to every word," said the man. "i can't help listening!" "well, you see, it's just this way," said keejeepaa; "i've allowed you to become my master, and i can not run away from you; so i want you to make an agreement with me, and i will make you a promise, and keep it." "say on," said his master. "now," continued the gazelle, "one doesn't have to be acquainted with you long, in order to discover that you are very poor. this scratching a few grains of millet from the dust heap every day, and managing to subsist upon them, is all very well for you--you're used to it, because it's a matter of necessity with you; but if i keep it up much longer, you won't have any gazelle--keejeepaa will die of starvation. therefore, i want to go away every day and feed on my own kind of food; and i promise you i will return every evening." "well, i guess i'll have to give my consent," said the man, in no very cheerful tone. as it was now dawn, keejeepaa jumped up and ran out of the door, haamdaanee following him. the gazelle ran very fast, and his master stood watching him until he disappeared. then tears started in the man's eyes, and, raising his hands, he cried, "oh, my mother!" then he cried, "oh, my father!" then he cried, "oh, my gazelle! it has run away!" some of his neighbors, who heard him carrying on in this manner, took the opportunity to inform him that he was a fool, an idiot, and a dissipated fellow. said one of them: "you hung around that dust heap, goodness knows how long, scratching like a hen, till fortune gave you a dime. you hadn't sense enough to go and buy some decent food; you had to buy a gazelle. now you've let the creature run away. what are you crying about? you brought all your trouble on yourself." all this, of course, was very comforting to haamdaanee, who slunk off to the dust heap, got a few grains of millet, and came back to his hut, which now seemed meaner and more desolate than ever. at sunset, however, keejeepaa came trotting in; and the beggar was happy again, and said, "ah, my friend, you have returned to me." "of course," said the gazelle; "didn't i promise you? you see, i feel that when you bought me you gave all the money you had in the world, even though it was only a dime. why, then, should i grieve you? i couldn't do it. if i go and get myself some food, i'll always come back evenings." when the neighbors saw the gazelle come home every evening and run off every morning, they were greatly surprised, and began to suspect that haamdaanee was a wizard. well, this coming and going continued for five days, the gazelle telling its master each night what fine places it had been to, and what lots of food it had eaten. on the sixth day it was feeding among some thorn bushes in a thick wood, when, scratching away some bitter grass at the foot of a big tree, it saw an immense diamond of intense brightness. "oho!" said keejeepaa, in great astonishment; "here's property, and no mistake! this is worth a kingdom! if i take it to my master he will be killed; for, being a poor man, if they say to him, 'where did you get it?' and he answers, 'i picked it up,' they will not believe him; if he says, 'it was given to me,' they will not believe him either. it will not do for me to get my master into difficulties. i know what i'll do. i'll seek some powerful person; he will use it properly." so keejeepaa started off through the forest, holding the diamond in his mouth, and ran, and ran, but saw no town that day; so he slept in the forest, and arose at dawn and pursued his way. and the second day passed like the first. on the third day the gazelle had traveled from dawn until between eight and nine o'clock, when he began to see scattered houses, getting larger in size, and knew he was approaching a town. in due time he found himself in the main street of a large city, leading direct to the sultan's palace, and began to run as fast as he could. people passing along stopped to look at the strange sight of a gazelle running swiftly along the main street with something wrapped in green leaves between its teeth. the sultan was sitting at the door of his palace, when keejeepaa, stopping a little way off, dropped the diamond from its mouth, and, lying down beside it, panting, called out: "ho, there! ho, there!" which is a cry every one makes in that part of the world when wishing to enter a house, remaining outside until the cry is answered. after the cry had been repeated several times, the sultan said to his attendants, "who is doing all that calling?" and one answered, "master, it's a gazelle that's calling, 'ho, there!'" "ho-ho!" said the sultan; "ho-ho! invite the gazelle to come near." then three attendants ran to keejeepaa and said: "come, get up. the sultan commands you to come near." so the gazelle arose, picked up the diamond, and, approaching the sultan, laid the jewel at his feet, saying, "master, good afternoon!" to which the sultan replied: "may god make it good! come near." the sultan ordered his attendants to bring a carpet and a large cushion, and desired the gazelle to rest upon them. when it protested that it was comfortable as it was, he insisted, and keejeepaa had to allow himself to be made a very honored guest. then they brought milk and rice, and the sultan would hear nothing until the gazelle had fed and rested. at last, when everything had been disposed of, the sultan said, "well, now, my friend, tell me what news you bring." and keejeepaa said: "master, i don't exactly know how you will like the news i bring. the fact is, i'm sent here to insult you! i've come to try and pick a quarrel with you! in fact, i'm here to propose a family alliance with you!" at this the sultan exclaimed: "oh, come! for a gazelle, you certainly know how to talk! now, the fact of it is, i'm looking for some one to insult me. i'm just aching to have some one pick a quarrel with me. i'm impatient for a family alliance. go on with your message." then keejeepaa said, "you don't bear any ill will against me, who am only a messenger?" and the sultan said, "none at all." "well," said keejeepaa, "look at this pledge i bring;" dropping the diamond wrapped in leaves into the sultan's lap. when the sultan opened the leaves and saw the great, sparkling jewel, he was overcome with astonishment. at last he said, "well?" "i have brought this pledge," said the gazelle, "from my master, sultan daaraa'ee. he has heard that you have a daughter, so he sent you this jewel, hoping you will forgive him for not sending something more worthy of your acceptance than this trifle." "goodness!" said the sultan to himself; "he calls this a trifle!" then to the gazelle: "oh, that's all right; that's all right. i'm satisfied. the sultan daaraaee has my consent to marry my daughter, and i don't want a single thing from him. let him come empty-handed. if he has more of these trifles, let him leave them at home. this is my message, and i hope you will make it perfectly clear to your master." the gazelle assured him that he would explain everything satisfactorily, adding: "and now, master, i take my leave. i go straight to our own town, and hope that in about eleven days we shall return to be your guests." so, with mutual compliments, they parted. in the meantime, haamdaanee was having an exceedingly tough time. keejeepaa having disappeared, he wandered about the town moaning, "oh, my poor gazelle! my poor gazelle!" while the neighbors laughed and jeered at him, until, between them and his loss, he was nearly out of his mind. but one evening, when he had gone to bed, keejeepaa walked in. up he jumped, and began to embrace the gazelle, and weep over it, and carry on at a great rate. when he thought there had been about enough of this kind of thing, the gazelle said: "come, come; keep quiet, my master. i've brought you good news." but the beggar man continued to cry and fondle, and declare that he had thought his gazelle was dead. at last keejeepaa said: "oh, well, master, you see i'm all right. you must brace up, and prepare to hear my news, and do as i advise you." "go on; go on," replied his master; "explain what you will, i'll do whatever you require me to do. if you were to say, 'lie down on your back, that i may roll you over the side of the hill,' i would lie down." "well," said the gazelle, "there is not much to explain just now, but i'll tell you this: i've seen many kinds of food, food that is desirable and food that is objectionable, but this food i'm about to offer you is very sweet indeed." "what?" said haamdaanee. "is it possible that in this world there is anything that is positively good? there must be good and bad in everything. food that is both sweet and bitter is good food, but if food were nothing but sweetness would it not be injurious?" "h'm!" yawned the gazelle; "i'm too tired to talk philosophy. let's go to sleep now, and when i call you in the morning, all you have to do is to get up and follow me." so at dawn they set forth, the gazelle leading the way, and for five days they journeyed through the forest. on the fifth day they came to a stream, and keejeepaa said to his master, "lie down here." when he had done so, the gazelle set to and beat him so soundly that he cried out: "oh, let up, i beg of you!" "now," said the gazelle, "i'm going away, and when i return i expect to find you right here; so don't you leave this spot on any account." then he ran away, and about ten o'clock that morning he arrived at the house of the sultan. now, ever since the day keejeepaa left the town, soldiers had been placed along the road to watch for and announce the approach of sultan daaraaee; so one of them, when he saw the gazelle in the distance, rushed up and cried to the sultan, "sultan daaraaee is coming! i've seen the gazelle running as fast as it can in this direction." the sultan and his attendants immediately set out to meet his guests; but when they had gone a little way beyond the town they met the gazelle coming along alone, who, on reaching the sultan, said, "good day, my master." the sultan replied in kind, and asked the news, but keejeepaa said: "ah, do not ask me. i can scarcely walk, and my news is bad!" "why, how is that?" asked the sultan. "oh, dear!" sighed the gazelle; "such misfortune and misery! you see, sultan daaraaee and i started alone to come here, and we got along all right until we came to the thick part of the forest yonder, when we were met by robbers, who seized my master, bound him, beat him, and took everything he had, even stripping off every stitch of his clothing. oh, dear! oh, dear!" "dear me!" said the sultan; "we must attend to this at once." so, hurrying back with his attendants to his house, he called a groom, to whom he said, "saddle the best horse in my stable, and put on him my finest harness." then he directed a woman servant to open the big inlaid chest and bring him a bag of clothes. when she brought it he picked out a loin-cloth, and a long white robe, and a black overjacket, and a shawl for the waist, and a turban cloth, all of the very finest. then he sent for a curved sword with a gold hilt, and a curved dagger with gold filigree, and a pair of elegant sandals, and a fine walking-cane. then the sultan said to keejeepaa, "take some of my soldiers, and let them convey these things to sultan daaraaee, that he may dress himself and come to me." but the gazelle answered: "ah, my master, can i take these soldiers with me and put sultan daaraaee to shame? there he lies, beaten and robbed, and i would not have any one see him. i can take everything by myself." "why," exclaimed the sultan, "here is a horse, and there are clothes and arms. i don't see how a little gazelle can manage all those things." but the gazelle had them fasten everything on the horse's back, and tie the end of the bridle around his own neck, and then he set off alone, amidst the wonder and admiration of the people of that city, high and low. when he arrived at the place where he had left the beggar-man, he found him lying waiting for him, and overjoyed at his return. "now," said he, "i have brought you the sweet food i promised. come, get up and bathe yourself." with the hesitation of a person long unaccustomed to such a thing, the man stepped into the stream and began to wet himself a little. "oh," said the gazelle, impatiently, "a little water like that won't do you much good; get out into the deep pool." "dear me!" said the man, timidly; "there is so much water there; and where there is much water there are sure to be horrible animals." "animals! what kind of animals?" "well, crocodiles, water lizards, snakes, and, at any rate, frogs; and they bite people, and i'm terribly afraid of all of them." "oh, well," said keejeepaa, "do the best you can in the stream; but rub yourself well with earth, and, for goodness' sake, scrub your teeth well with sand; they are awfully dirty." so the man obeyed, and soon made quite a change in his appearance. then the gazelle said: "here, hurry up and put on these things. the sun has gone down, and we ought to have started before this." so the man dressed himself in the fine clothes the sultan had sent, and then he mounted the horse, and they started; the gazelle trotting on ahead. when they had gone some distance, the gazelle stopped, and said, "see here: nobody who sees you now would suspect that you are the man who scratched in the dust heap yesterday. even if we were to go back to our town the neighbors would not recognize you, if it were only for the fact that your face is clean and your teeth are white. your appearance is all right, but i have a caution to give you. over there, where we are going, i have procured for you the sultan's daughter for a wife, with all the usual wedding gifts. now, you must keep quiet. say nothing except, 'how d'ye do?' and 'what's the news?' let me do the talking." "all right," said the man; "that suits me exactly." "do you know what your name is?" "of course i do." "indeed? well, what is it?" "why, my name is haamdaanee." "not much," laughed keejeepaa; "your name is sultan daaraaee." "oh, is it?" said his master. "that's good." so they started forward again, and in a little while they saw soldiers running in every direction, and fourteen of these joined them to escort them. then they saw ahead of them the sultan, and the vizirs, and the emirs, and the judges, and the great men of the city, coming to meet them. "now, then," said keejeepaa, "get off your horse and salute your father-in-law. that's him in the middle, wearing the sky-blue jacket." "all right," said the man, jumping off his horse, which was then led by a soldier. so the two met, and the sultans shook hands, and kissed each other, and walked up to the palace together. then they had a great feast, and made merry and talked until night, at which time sultan daaraaee and the gazelle were put into an inner room, with three soldiers at the door to guard and attend upon them. when the morning came, keejeepaa went to the sultan and said: "master, we wish to attend to the business which brought us here. we want to marry your daughter, and the sooner the ceremony takes place, the better it will please the sultan daaraaee." "why, that's all right," said the sultan; "the bride is ready. let some one call the teacher, mwaalee'moo, and tell him to come at once." when mwaaleemoo arrived, the sultan said, "see here, we want you to marry this gentleman to my daughter right away." "all right; i'm ready," said the teacher. so they were married. early the next morning the gazelle said to his master: "now i'm off on a journey. i shall be gone about a week; but however long i am gone, don't you leave the house till i return. good-bye." then he went to the real sultan and said: "good master, sultan daaraaee has ordered me to return to our town and put his house in order; he commands me to be here again in a week; if i do not return by that time, he will stay here until i come." the sultan asked him if he would not like to have some soldiers go with him; but the gazelle replied that he was quite competent to take care of himself, as his previous journeys had proved, and he preferred to go alone; so with mutual good wishes they parted. but keejeepaa did not go in the direction of the old village. he struck off by another road through the forest, and after a time came to a very fine town, of large, handsome houses. as he went through the principal street, right to the far end, he was greatly astonished to observe that the town seemed to have no inhabitants, for he saw neither man, woman, nor child in all the place. at the end of the main street he came upon the largest and most beautiful house he had ever seen, built of sapphire, and turquoise, and costly marbles. "oh, my!" said the gazelle; "this house would just suit my master. i'll have to pluck up my courage and see whether this is deserted like the other houses in this mysterious town." so keejeepaa knocked at the door, and called, "hullo, there!" several times; but no one answered. and he said to himself: "this is strange! if there were no one inside, the door would be fastened on the outside. perhaps they are in another part of the house, or asleep. i'll call again, louder." so he called again, very loud and long, "hul-lo, th-e-re! hul-lo!" and directly an old woman inside answered, "who is that calling so loudly?" "it is i, your grandchild, good mistress," said keejeepaa. "if you are my grandchild," replied the old woman, "go back to your home at once; don't come and die here, and bring me to my death also." "oh, come," said he, "open the door, mistress; i have just a few words i wish to say to you." "my dear grandson," she replied, "the only reason why i do not open the door is because i fear to endanger both your life and my own." "oh, don't worry about that; i guess your life and mine are safe enough for a while. open the door, anyhow, and hear the little i have to say." so the old woman opened the door. then they exchanged salutations and compliments, after which she asked the gazelle, "what's the news from your place, grandson?" "oh, everything is going along pretty well," said he; "what's the news around here?" "ah!" sighed the old creature; "the news here is very bad. if you're looking for a place to die in, you've struck it here. i've not the slightest doubt you'll see all you want of death this very day." "huh!" replied keejeepaa, lightly; "for a fly to die in honey is not bad for the fly, and doesn't injure the honey." "it may be all very well for you to be easy about it," persisted the old person; "but if people with swords and shields did not escape, how can a little thing like you avoid danger? i must again beg of you to go back to the place you came from. your safety seems of more interest to me than it is to you." "well, you see, i can't go back just now; and besides, i want to find out more about this place. who owns it?" "ah, grandson, in this house are enormous wealth, numbers of people, hundreds of horses, and the owner is neeo'ka mkoo', the wonderfully big snake. he owns this whole town, also." "oho! is that so?" said keejeepaa. "look here, old lady; can't you put me on to some plan of getting near this big snake, that i may kill him?" "mercy!" cried the old woman, in affright; "don't talk like that. you've put my life in danger already, for i'm sure neeoka mkoo can hear what is said in this house, wherever he is. you see i'm a poor old woman, and i have been placed here, with those pots and pans, to cook for him. well, when the big snake is coming, the wind begins to blow and the dust flies as it would do in a great storm. then, when he arrives in the courtyard, he eats until he is full, and after that, goes inside there to drink water. when he has finished, he goes away again. this occurs every other day, just when the sun is overhead. i may add that neeoka mkoo has seven heads. now, then, do you think yourself a match for him?" "look here, mother," said the gazelle, "don't you worry about me. has this big snake a sword?" "he has. this is it," said she, taking from its peg a very keen and beautiful blade, and handing it to him; "but what's the use in bothering about it? we are dead already." "we shall see about that," said keejeepaa. just at that moment the wind began to blow, and the dust to fly, as if a great storm were approaching. "do you hear the great one coming?" cried the old woman. "pshaw!" said the gazelle; "i'm a great one also--and i have the advantage of being on the inside. two bulls can't live in one cattle-pen. either he will live in this house, or i will." notwithstanding the terror the old lady was in, she had to smile at the assurance of this little undersized gazelle, and repeated over again her account of the people with swords and shields who had been killed by the big snake. "ah, stop your gabbling!" said the gazelle; "you can't always judge a banana by its color or size. wait and see, grandma." in a very little while the big snake, neeoka mkoo, came into the courtyard, and went around to all the pots and ate their contents. then he came to the door. "hullo, old lady," said he; "how is it i smell a new kind of odor inside there?" "oh, that's nothing, good master," replied the old woman; "i've been so busy around here lately i haven't had time to look after myself; but this morning i used some perfume, and that's what you smell." now, keejeepaa had drawn the sword, and was standing just inside the doorway; so, when the big snake put his head in, it was cut off so quickly that its owner did not know it was gone. when he put in his second head it was cut off with the same quickness; and, feeling a little irritation, he exclaimed, "who's inside there, scratching me?" he then thrust in his third head, and that was cut off also. this continued until six heads had been disposed of, when neeoka mkoo unfolded his rings and lashed around so that the gazelle and the old woman could not see one another through the dust. then the snake thrust in his seventh head, and the gazelle, crying: "now your time has come; you've climbed many trees, but this you can not climb," severed it, and immediately fell down in a fainting fit. well, that old woman, although she was seventy-five years of age, jumped, and shouted, and laughed, like a girl of nine. then she ran and got water, and sprinkled the gazelle, and turned him this way and that way, until at last he sneezed; which greatly pleased the old person, who fanned him and tended him until he was quite recovered. "oh, my!" said she; "who would have thought you could be a match for him, my grandson?" "well, well," said keejeepaa; "that's all over. now show me everything around this place." so she showed him everything, from top to bottom: store-rooms full of goods, chambers full of expensive foods, rooms containing handsome people who had been kept prisoners for a long time, slaves, and everything. next he asked her if there was any person who was likely to lay claim to the place or make any trouble; and she answered: "no one; everything here belongs to you." "very well, then," said he, "you stay here and take care of these things until i bring my master. this place belongs to him now." keejeepaa stayed three days examining the house, and said to himself: "well, when my master comes here he will be much pleased with what i have done for him, and he'll appreciate it after the life he's been accustomed to. as to his father-in-law, there is not a house in his town that can compare with this." on the fourth day he departed, and in due time arrived at the town where the sultan and his master lived. then there were great rejoicings; the sultan being particularly pleased at his return, while his master felt as if he had received a new lease of life. after everything had settled down a little, keejeepaa told his master he must be ready to go, with his wife, to his new home after four days. then he went and told the sultan that sultan daaraaee desired to take his wife to his own town in four days; to which the sultan strongly objected; but the gazelle said it was his master's wish, and at last everything was arranged. on the day of the departure a great company assembled to escort sultan daaraaee and his bride. there were the bride's ladies-in-waiting, and slaves, and horsemen, and keejeepaa leading them all. so they traveled three days, resting when the sun was overhead, and stopping each evening about five o'clock to eat and sleep; arising next morning at day-break, eating, and going forward again. and all this time the gazelle took very little rest, going all through the company, from the ladies to the slaves, and seeing that every one was well supplied with food and quite comfortable; therefore the entire company loved him and valued him like the apples of their eyes. on the fourth day, during the afternoon, many houses came into view, and some of the folks called keejeepaa's attention to them. "certainly," said he; "that is our town, and that house you see yonder is the palace of sultan daaraaee." so they went on, and all the company filed into the courtyard, while the gazelle and his master went into the house. when the old woman saw keejeepaa, she began to dance, and shout, and carry on, just as she did when he killed neeoka mkoo, and taking up his foot she kissed it; but keejeepaa said: "old lady, let me alone; the one to be made much of is this my master, sultan daaraaee. kiss his feet; he has the first honors whenever he is present." the old woman excused herself for not knowing the master, and then sultan daaraaee and the gazelle went around on a tour of inspection. the sultan ordered all the prisoners to be released, the horses to be sent out to pasture, all the rooms to be swept, the furniture to be dusted, and, in the meantime, servants were busy preparing food. then every one had apartments assigned to him, and all were satisfied. after they had remained there some time, the ladies who had accompanied the bride expressed a desire to return to their own homes. keejeepaa begged them not to hurry away, but after a while they departed, each loaded with gifts by the gazelle, for whom they had a thousand times more affection than for his master. then things settled down to their regular routine. one day the gazelle said to the old woman: "i think the conduct of my master is very singular. i have done nothing but good for him all the time i have been with him. i came to this town and braved many dangers for him, and when all was over i gave everything to him. yet he has never asked: 'how did you get this house? how did you get this town? who is the owner of this house? have you rented all these things, or have they been given you? what has become of the inhabitants of the place?' i don't understand him. and further: although i have done nothing but good for him, he has never done one good thing for me. nothing here is really his. he never saw such a house or town as this since the day he was born, and he doesn't own anything of it. i believe the old folks were right when they said, 'if you want to do any person good, don't do too much; do him a little harm occasionally, and he'll think more of you.' however, i've done all i can now, and i'd like to see him make some little return." next morning the old woman was awakened early by the gazelle calling, "mother! mother!" when she went to him she found he was sick in his stomach, feverish, and all his legs ached. "go," said he, "and tell my master i am very ill." so she went upstairs and found the master and mistress sitting on a marble couch, covered with a striped silk scarf from india. "well," said the master, "what do you want, old woman?" "oh, my master," cried she, "keejeepaa is sick!" the mistress started and said: "dear me! what is the matter with him?" "all his body pains him. he is sick all over." "oh, well," said the master, "what can i do? go and get some of that red millet, that is too common for our use, and make him some gruel." "gracious!" exclaimed his wife, staring at him in amazement; "do you wish her to feed our friend with stuff that a horse would not eat if he were ever so hungry? this is not right of you." "ah, get out!" said he, "you're crazy. we eat rice; isn't red millet good enough for a gazelle that cost only a dime?" "oh, but he is no ordinary gazelle. he should be as dear to you as the apple of your eye. if sand got in your eye it would trouble you." "you talk too much," returned her husband; then, turning to the old woman, he said, "go and do as i told you." so the old woman went downstairs, and when she saw the gazelle, she began to cry, and say, "oh, dear! oh, dear!" it was a long while before the gazelle could persuade her to tell him what had passed upstairs, but at last she told him all. when he had heard it, he said: "did he really tell you to make me red millet gruel?" "ah," cried she, "do you think i would say such a thing if it were not so?" "well," said keejeepaa, "i believe what the old folks said was right. however, we'll give him another chance. go up to him again, and tell him i am very sick, and that i can't eat that gruel." so she went upstairs, and found the master and mistress sitting by the window, drinking coffee. the master, looking around and seeing her, said: "what's the matter now, old woman?" and she said: "master, i am sent by keejeepaa. he is very sick indeed, and has not taken the gruel you told me to make for him." "oh, bother!" he exclaimed. "hold your tongue, and keep your feet still, and shut your eyes, and stop your ears with wax; then, if that gazelle tells you to come up here, say that your legs are stiff; and if he tells you to listen, say your ears are deaf; and if he tells you to look, say your sight has failed you; and if he wants you to talk, tell him your tongue is paralyzed." when the old woman heard these words, she stood and stared, and was unable to move. as for his wife, her face became sad, and the tears began to start from her eyes; observing which, her husband said, sharply, "what's the matter with you, sultan's daughter?" the lady replied, "a man's madness is his undoing." "why do you say that, mistress?" he inquired. "ah," said she, "i am grieved, my husband, at your treatment of keejeepaa. whenever i say a good word for the gazelle you dislike to hear it. i pity you that your understanding is gone." "what do you mean by talking in that manner to me?" he blustered. "why, advice is a blessing, if properly taken. a husband should advise with his wife, and a wife with her husband; then they are both blessed." "oh, stop," said her husband, impatiently; "it's evident you've lost your senses. you should be chained up." then he said to the old woman: "never mind her talk; and as to this gazelle, tell him to stop bothering me and putting on style, as if he were the sultan. i can't eat, i can't drink, i can't sleep, because of that gazelle worrying me with his messages. first, the gazelle is sick; then, the gazelle doesn't like what he gets to eat. confound it! if he likes to eat, let him eat; if he doesn't like to eat, let him die and be out of the way. my mother is dead, and my father is dead, and i still live and eat; shall i be put out of my way by a gazelle, that i bought for a dime, telling me he wants this thing or that thing? go and tell him to learn how to behave himself toward his superiors." when the old woman went downstairs, she found the gazelle was bleeding at the mouth, and in a very bad way. all she could say was, "my son, the good you did is all lost; but be patient." and the gazelle wept with the old woman when she told him all that had passed, and he said, "mother, i am dying, not only from sickness, but from shame and anger at this man's ingratitude." after a while keejeepaa told the old woman to go and tell the master that he believed he was dying. when she went upstairs she found daaraaee chewing sugar-cane, and she said to him, "master, the gazelle is worse; we think him nearer to dying than getting well." to which he answered: "haven't i told you often enough not to bother me?" then his wife said: "oh, husband, won't you go down and see the poor gazelle? if you don't like to go, let me go and see him. he never gets a single good thing from you." but he turned to the old woman and said, "go and tell that nuisance of a gazelle to die eleven times if he chooses to." "now, husband," persisted the lady, "what has keejeepaa done to you? has he done you any wrong? such words as yours people use to their enemies only. surely the gazelle is not your enemy. all the people who know him, great and lowly, love him dearly, and they will think it very wrong of you if you neglect him. now, do be kind to him, sultan daaraaee." but he only repeated his assertion that she had lost her wits, and would have nothing further of argument. so the old woman went down and found the gazelle worse than ever. in the meantime sultan daaraaee's wife managed to give some rice to a servant to cook for the gazelle, and also sent him a soft shawl to cover him and a pillow to lie upon. she also sent him a message that if he wished, she would have her father's best physicians attend him. all this was too late, however, for just as these good things arrived, keejeepaa died. when the people heard he was dead, they went running around crying and having an awful time; and when sultan daaraaee found out what all the commotion was about he was very indignant, remarking, "why, you are making as much fuss as if i were dead, and all over a gazelle that i bought for a dime!" but his wife said: "husband, it was this gazelle that came to ask me of my father, it was he who brought me from my father's, and it was to him i was given by my father. he gave you everything good, and you do not possess a thing that he did not procure for you. he did everything he could to help you, and you not only returned him unkindness, but now he is dead you have ordered people to throw him into the well. let us alone, that we may weep." but the gazelle was taken and thrown into the well. then the lady wrote a letter telling her father to come to her directly, and despatched it by trusty messengers; upon the receipt of which the sultan and his attendants started hurriedly to visit his daughter. when they arrived, and heard that the gazelle was dead and had been thrown into the well, they wept very much; and the sultan, and the vizir, and the judges, and the rich chief men, all went down into the well and brought up the body of keejeepaa, and took it away with them and buried it. now, that night the lady dreamt that she was at home at her father's house; and when dawn came she awoke and found she was in her own bed in her own town again. and her husband dreamed that he was on the dust heap, scratching; and when he awoke there he was, with both hands full of dust, looking for grains of millet. staring wildly he looked around to the right and left, saying: "oh, who has played this trick on me? how did i get back here, i wonder?" just then the children going along, and seeing him, laughed and hooted at him, calling out: "hullo, haamdaanee, where have you been? where do you come from? we thought you were dead long ago." so the sultan's daughter lived in happiness with her people until the end, and that beggar-man continued to scratch for grains of millet in the dust heap until he died. if this story is good, the goodness belongs to all; if it is bad, the badness belongs only to him who told it. viii. mkaaah jeechonee, the boy hunter. sultan maaj'noon had seven sons and a big cat, of all of whom he was very proud. everything went well until one day the cat went and caught a calf. when they told the sultan he said, "well, the cat is mine, and the calf is mine." so they said, "oh, all right, master," and let the matter drop. a few days later the cat caught a goat; and when they told the sultan he said, "the cat is mine, and the goat is mine;" and so that settled it again. two days more passed, and the cat caught a cow. they told the sultan, and he shut them up with "my cat, and my cow." after another two days the cat caught a donkey; same result. next it caught a horse; same result. the next victim was a camel; and when they told the sultan he said: "what's the matter with you folks? it was my cat, and my camel. i believe you don't like my cat, and want it killed, bringing me tales about it every day. let it eat whatever it wants to." in a very short time it caught a child, and then a full-grown man; but each time the sultan remarked that both the cat and its victim were his, and thought no more of it. meantime the cat grew bolder, and hung around a low, open place near the town, pouncing on people going for water, or animals out at pasture, and eating them. at last some of the people plucked up courage; and, going to the sultan, said: "how is this, master? as you are our sultan you are our protector,--or ought to be,--yet you have allowed this cat to do as it pleases, and now it lives just out of town there, and kills everything living that goes that way, while at night it comes into town and does the same thing. now, what on earth are we to do?" but maajnoon only replied: "i really believe you hate my cat. i suppose you want me to kill it; but i shall do no such thing. everything it eats is mine." of course the folks were astonished at this result of the interview, and, as no one dared to kill the cat, they all had to remove from the vicinity where it lived. but this did not mend matters, because, when it found no one came that way, it shifted its quarters likewise. so complaints continued to pour in, until at last sultan maajnoon gave orders that if any one came to make accusations against the cat, he was to be informed that the master could not be seen. when things got so that people neither let their animals out nor went out themselves, the cat went farther into the country, killing and eating cattle, and fowls, and everything that came its way. one day the sultan said to six of his sons, "i'm going to look at the country to-day; come along with me." the seventh son was considered too young to go around anywhere, and was always left at home with the women folk, being called by his brothers mkaa'ah jeecho'nee, which means mr. sit-in-the-kitchen. well, they went, and presently came to a thicket. the father was in front and the six sons following him, when the cat jumped out and killed three of the latter. the attendants shouted, "the cat! the cat!" and the soldiers asked permission to search for and kill it, which the sultan readily granted, saying: "this is not a cat, it is a noon'dah. it has taken from me my own sons." now, nobody had ever seen a noondah, but they all knew it was a terrible beast that could kill and eat all other living things. when the sultan began to bemoan the loss of his sons, some of those who heard him said: "ah, master, this noondah does not select his prey. he doesn't say: 'this is my master's son, i'll leave him alone,' or, 'this is my master's wife, i won't eat her.' when we told you what the cat had done, you always said it was your cat, and what it ate was yours, and now it has killed your sons, and we don't believe it would hesitate to eat even you." and he said, "i fear you are right." as for the soldiers who tried to get the cat, some were killed and the remainder ran away, and the sultan and his living sons took the dead bodies home and buried them. now when mkaaah jeechonee, the seventh son, heard that his brothers had been killed by the noondah, he said to his mother, "i, too, will go, that it may kill me as well as my brothers, or i will kill it." but his mother said: "my son, i do not like to have you go. those three are already dead; and if you are killed also, will not that be one wound upon another to my heart?" "nevertheless," said he, "i can not help going; but do not tell my father." so his mother made him some cakes, and sent some attendants with him; and he took a great spear, as sharp as a razor, and a sword, bade her farewell, and departed. as he had always been left at home, he had no very clear idea what he was going to hunt for; so he had not gone far beyond the suburbs, when, seeing a very large dog, he concluded that this was the animal he was after; so he killed it, tied a rope to it, and dragged it home, singing, "oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." when his mother, who was upstairs, heard him, she looked out of the window, and, seeing what he had brought, said, "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." so he left the carcass outside and went in to talk about it, and his mother said, "my dear boy, the noondah is a much larger animal than that; but if i were you, i'd give the business up and stay at home." "no, indeed," he exclaimed; "no staying at home for me until i have met and fought the noondah." so he set out again, and went a great deal farther than he had gone on the former day. presently he saw a civet cat, and, believing it to be the animal he was in search of, he killed it, bound it, and dragged it home, singing, "oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." when his mother saw the civet cat, she said, "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." and he threw it away. again his mother entreated him to stay at home, but he would not listen to her, and started off again. this time he went away off into the forest, and seeing a bigger cat than the last one, he killed it, bound it, and dragged it home, singing, "oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." but directly his mother saw it, she had to tell him, as before, "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." he was, of course, very much troubled at this; and his mother said, "now, where do you expect to find this noondah? you don't know where it is, and you don't know what it looks like. you'll get sick over this; you're not looking so well now as you did. come, stay at home." but he said: "there are three things, one of which i shall do: i shall die; i shall find the noondah and kill it; or i shall return home unsuccessful. in any case, i'm off again." this time he went farther than before, saw a zebra, killed it, bound it, and dragged it home, singing, "oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." of course his mother had to tell him, once again, "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." after a good deal of argument, in which his mother's persuasion, as usual, was of no avail, he went off again, going farther than ever, when he caught a giraffe; and when he had killed it he said: "well, this time i've been successful. this must be the noondah." so he dragged it home, singing, "oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." again his mother had to assure him, "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." she then pointed out to him that his brothers were not running about hunting for the noondah, but staying at home attending to their own business. but, remarking that all brothers were not alike, he expressed his determination to stick to his task until it came to a successful termination, and went off again, a still greater distance than before. while going through the wilderness he espied a rhinoceros asleep under a tree, and turning to his attendants he exclaimed, "at last i see the noondah." "where, master?" they all cried, eagerly. "there, under the tree." "oh-h! what shall we do?" they asked. and he answered: "first of all, let us eat our fill, then we will attack it. we have found it in a good place, though if it kills us, we can't help it." so they all took out their arrowroot cakes and ate till they were satisfied. then mkaaah jeechonee said, "each of you take two guns; lay one beside you and take the other in your hands, and at the proper time let us all fire at once." and they said, "all right, master." so they crept cautiously through the bushes and got around to the other side of the tree, at the back of the rhinoceros; then they closed up till they were quite near it, and all fired together. the beast jumped up, ran a little way, and then fell down dead. they bound it, and dragged it for two whole days, until they reached the town, when mkaaah jeechonee began singing, "oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." but he received the same answer from his mother: "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." and many persons came and looked at the rhinoceros, and felt very sorry for the young man. as for his father and mother, they both begged of him to give up, his father offering to give him anything he possessed if he would only stay at home. but he said, "i don't hear what you are saying; good-bye," and was off again. this time he still further increased the distance from his home, and at last he saw an elephant asleep at noon in the forest. thereupon he said to his attendants, "now we have found the noondah." "ah, where is he?" said they. "yonder, in the shade. do you see it?" "oh, yes, master; shall we march up to it?" "if we march up to it, and it is looking this way, it will come at us, and if it does that, some of us will be killed. i think we had best let one man steal up close and see which way its face is turned." as every one thought this was a good idea, a slave named keerobo'to crept on his hands and knees, and had a good look at it. when he returned in the same manner, his master asked: "well, what's the news? is it the noondah?" "i do not know," replied keeroboto; "but i think there is very little doubt that it is. it is broad, with a very big head, and, goodness, i never saw such large ears!" "all right," said mkaaah jeechonee; "let us eat, and then go for it." so they took their arrowroot cakes, and their molasses cakes, and ate until they were quite full. then the youth said to them: "my people, to-day is perhaps the last we shall ever see; so we will take leave of each other. those who are to escape will escape, and those who are to die will die; but if i die, let those who escape tell my mother and father not to grieve for me." but his attendants said, "oh, come along, master; none of us will die, please god." so they went on their hands and knees till they were close up, and then they said to mkaaah jeechonee, "give us your plan, master;" but he said, "there is no plan, only let all fire at once." well, they fired all at once, and immediately the elephant jumped up and charged at them. then such a helter-skelter flight as there was! they threw away their guns and everything they carried, and made for the trees, which they climbed with surprising alacrity. as to the elephant, he kept straight ahead until he fell down some distance away. they all remained in the trees from three until six o'clock in the morning, without food and without clothing. the young man sat in his tree and wept bitterly, saying, "i don't exactly know what death is, but it seems to me this must be very like it." as no one could see any one else, he did not know where his attendants were, and though he wished to come down from the tree, he thought, "maybe the noondah is down below there, and will eat me." each attendant was in exactly the same fix, wishing to come down, but afraid the noondah was waiting to eat him. keeroboto had seen the elephant fall, but was afraid to get down by himself, saying, "perhaps, though it has fallen down, it is not dead." but presently he saw a dog go up to it and smell it, and then he was sure it was dead. then he got down from the tree as fast as he could and gave a signal cry, which was answered; but not being sure from whence the answer came, he repeated the cry, listening intently. when it was answered he went straight to the place from which the sound proceeded, and found two of his companions in one tree. to them he said, "come on; get down; the noondah is dead." so they got down quickly and hunted around until they found their master. when they told him the news, he came down also; and after a little the attendants had all gathered together and had picked up their guns and their clothes, and were all right again. but they were all weak and hungry, so they rested and ate some food, after which they went to examine their prize. as soon as mkaaah jeechonee saw it he said, "ah, this is the noondah! this is it! this is it!" and they all agreed that it was it. so they dragged the elephant three days to their town, and then the youth began singing, "oh, mother, this is he, the noondah, eater of the people." he was, naturally, quite upset when his mother replied, "my son, this is not the noondah, eater of the people." she further said: "poor boy! what trouble you have been through. all the people are astonished that one so young should have such a great understanding!" then his father and mother began their entreaties again, and finally it was agreed that this next trip should be his last, whatever the result might be. well, they started off again, and went on and on, past the forest, until they came to a very high mountain, at the foot of which they camped for the night. in the morning they cooked their rice and ate it, and then mkaaah jeechonee said: "let us now climb the mountain, and look all over the country from its peak." and they went and they went, until after a long, weary while, they reached the top, where they sat down to rest and form their plans. now, one of the attendants, named shindaa'no, while walking about, cast his eyes down the side of the mountain, and suddenly saw a great beast about half way down; but he could not make out its appearance distinctly, on account of the distance and the trees. calling his master, he pointed it out to him, and something in mkaaah jeechonee's heart told him that it was the noondah. to make sure, however, he took his gun and his spear and went partly down the mountain to get a better view. "ah," said he, "this must be the noondah. my mother told me its ears were small, and those are small; she told me the noondah is broad and short, and so is this; she said it has two blotches, like a civet cat, and there are the blotches; she told me the tail is thick, and there is a thick tail. it must be the noondah." then he went back to his attendants and bade them eat heartily, which they did. next he told them to leave every unnecessary thing behind, because if they had to run they would be better without encumbrance, and if they were victorious they could return for their goods. when they had made all their arrangements they started down the mountain, but when they had got about half way down keeroboto and shindaano were afraid. then the youth said to them: "oh, let's go on; don't be afraid. we all have to live and die. what are you frightened about?" so, thus encouraged, they went on. when they came near the place, mkaaah jeechonee ordered them to take off all their clothing except one piece, and to place that tightly on their bodies, so that if they had to run they would not be caught by thorns or branches. so when they came close to the beast, they saw that it was asleep, and all agreed that it was the noondah. then the young man said, "now the sun is setting, shall we fire at it, or let be till morning?" and they all wished to fire at once, and see what the result would be without further tax on their nerves; therefore they arranged that they should all fire together. they all crept up close, and when the master gave the word, they discharged their guns together. the noondah did not move; that one dose had been sufficient. nevertheless, they all turned and scampered up to the top of the mountain. there they ate and rested for the night. in the morning they ate their rice, and then went down to see how matters were, when they found the beast lying dead. after resting and eating, they started homeward, dragging the dead beast with them. on the fourth day it began to give indications of decay, and the attendants wished to abandon it; but mkaaah jeechonee said they would continue to drag it if there was only one bone left. when they came near the town he began to sing, "mother, mother, i have come from the evil spirits, home. mother, listen while i sing; while i tell you what i bring. oh, mother, i have killed the noondah, eater of the people." and when his mother looked out, she cried, "my son, this is the noondah, eater of the people." then all the people came out to welcome him, and his father was overcome with joy, and loaded him with honors, and procured him a rich and beautiful wife; and when he died mkaaah jeechonee became sultan, and lived long and happily, beloved by all the people. ix. the magician and the sultan's son. there was once a sultan who had three little sons, and no one seemed to be able to teach them anything; which greatly grieved both the sultan and his wife. one day a magician came to the sultan and said, "if i take your three boys and teach them to read and write, and make great scholars of them, what will you give me?" and the sultan said, "i will give you half of my property." "no," said the magician; "that won't do." "i'll give you half of the towns i own." "no; that will not satisfy me." "what do you want, then?" "when i have made them scholars and bring them back to you, choose two of them for yourself and give me the third; for i want to have a companion of my own." "agreed," said the sultan. so the magician took them away, and in a remarkably short time taught them to read, and to make letters, and made them quite good scholars. then he took them back to the sultan and said: "here are the children. they are all equally good scholars. choose." so the sultan took the two he preferred, and the magician went away with the third, whose name was keejaa'naa, to his own house, which was a very large one. when they arrived, mchaa'wee, the magician, gave the youth all the keys, saying, "open whatever you wish to." then he told him that he was his father, and that he was going away for a month. when he was gone, keejaanaa took the keys and went to examine the house. he opened one door, and saw a room full of liquid gold. he put his finger in, and the gold stuck to it, and, wipe and rub as he would, the gold would not come off; so he wrapped a piece of rag around it, and when his supposed father came home and saw the rag, and asked him what he had been doing to his finger, he was afraid to tell him the truth, so he said that he had cut it. not very long after, mchaawee went away again, and the youth took the keys and continued his investigations. the first room he opened was filled with the bones of goats, the next with sheep's bones, the next with the bones of oxen, the fourth with the bones of donkeys, the fifth with those of horses, the sixth contained men's skulls, and in the seventh was a live horse. "hullo!" said the horse; "where do you come from, you son of adam?" "this is my father's house," said keejaanaa. "oh, indeed!" was the reply. "well, you've got a pretty nice parent! do you know that he occupies himself with eating people, and donkeys, and horses, and oxen and goats and everything he can lay his hands on? you and i are the only living things left." this scared the youth pretty badly, and he faltered, "what are we to do?" "what's your name?" said the horse. "keejaanaa." "well, i'm faaraa'see. now, keejaanaa, first of all, come and unfasten me." the youth did so at once. "now, then, open the door of the room with the gold in it, and i will swallow it all; then i'll go and wait for you under the big tree down the road a little way. when the magician comes home, he will say to you, 'let us go for firewood;' then you answer, 'i don't understand that work;' and he will go by himself. when he comes back, he will put a great big pot on the hook and will tell you to make a fire under it. tell him you don't know how to make a fire, and he will make it himself. "then he will bring a large quantity of butter, and while it is getting hot he will put up a swing and say to you, 'get up there, and i'll swing you.' but you tell him you never played at that game, and ask him to swing first, that you may see how it is done. then he will get up to show you; and you must push him into the big pot, and then come to me as quickly as you can." then the horse went away. now, mchaawee had invited some of his friends to a feast at his house that evening; so, returning home early, he said to keejaanaa, "let us go for firewood;" but the youth answered, "i don't understand that work." so he went by himself and brought the wood. then he hung up the big pot and said, "light the fire;" but the youth said, "i don't know how to do it." so the magician laid the wood under the pot and lighted it himself. then he said, "put all that butter in the pot;" but the youth answered, "i can't lift it; i'm not strong enough." so he put in the butter himself. next mchaawee said, "have you seen our country game?" and keejaanaa answered, "i think not." "well," said the magician, "let's play at it while the butter is getting hot." so he tied up the swing and said to keejaanaa, "get up here, and learn the game." but the youth said: "you get up first and show me. i'll learn quicker that way." the magician got into the swing, and just as he got started keejaanaa gave him a push right into the big pot; and as the butter was by this time boiling, it not only killed him, but cooked him also. as soon as the youth had pushed the magician into the big pot, he ran as fast as he could to the big tree, where the horse was waiting for him. "come on," said faaraasee; "jump on my back and let's be going." so he mounted and they started off. when the magician's guests arrived they looked everywhere for him, but, of course, could not find him. then, after waiting a while, they began to be very hungry; so, looking around for something to eat, they saw that the stew in the big pot was done, and, saying to each other, "let's begin, anyway," they started in and ate the entire contents of the pot. after they had finished, they searched for mchaawee again, and finding lots of provisions in the house, they thought they would stay there until he came; but after they had waited a couple of days and eaten all the food in the place, they gave him up and returned to their homes. meanwhile keejaanaa and the horse continued on their way until they had gone a great distance, and at last they stopped near a large town. "let us stay here," said the youth, "and build a house." as faaraasee was agreeable, they did so. the horse coughed up all the gold he had swallowed, with which they purchased slaves, and cattle, and everything they needed. when the people of the town saw the beautiful new house and all the slaves, and cattle, and riches it contained, they went and told their sultan, who at once made up his mind that the owner of such a place must be of sufficient importance to be visited and taken notice of, as an acquisition to the neighborhood. so he called on keejaanaa, and inquired who he was. "oh, i'm just an ordinary being, like other people." "are you a traveler?" "well, i have been; but i like this place, and think i'll settle down here." "why don't you come and walk in our town?" "i should like to very much, but i need some one to show me around." "oh, i'll show you around," said the sultan, eagerly, for he was quite taken with the young man. after this keejaanaa and the sultan became great friends; and in the course of time the young man married the sultan's daughter, and they had one son. they lived very happily together, and keejaanaa loved faaraasee as his own soul. x. the physician's son and the king of the snakes. once there was a very learned physician, who died leaving his wife with a little baby boy, whom, when he was old enough, she named, according to his father's wish, hassee'boo kareem' ed deen'. when the boy had been to school, and had learned to read, his mother sent him to a tailor, to learn his trade, but he could not learn it. then he was sent to a silversmith, but he could not learn his trade either. after that he tried many trades, but could learn none of them. at last his mother said, "well, stay at home for a while;" and that seemed to suit him. one day he asked his mother what his father's business had been, and she told him he was a very great physician. "where are his books?" he asked. "well, it's a long time since i saw them," replied his mother, "but i think they are behind there. look and see." so he hunted around a little and at last found them, but they were almost ruined by insects, and he gained little from them. at last, four of the neighbors came to his mother and said, "let your boy go along with us and cut wood in the forest." it was their business to cut wood, load it on donkeys, and sell it in the town for making fires. "all right," said she; "to-morrow i'll buy him a donkey, and he can start fair with you." so the next day hasseeboo, with his donkey, went off with those four persons, and they worked very hard and made a lot of money that day. this continued for six days, but on the seventh day it rained heavily, and they had to get under the rocks to keep dry. now, hasseeboo sat in a place by himself, and, having nothing else to do, he picked up a stone and began knocking on the ground with it. to his surprise the ground gave forth a hollow sound, and he called to his companions, saying, "there seems to be a hole under here." upon hearing him knock again, they decided to dig and see what was the cause of the hollow sound; and they had not gone very deep before they broke into a large pit, like a well, which was filled to the top with honey. they didn't do any firewood chopping after that, but devoted their entire attention to the collection and sale of the honey. with a view to getting it all out as quickly as possible, they told hasseeboo to go down into the pit and dip out the honey, while they put it in vessels and took it to town for sale. they worked for three days, making a great deal of money. at last there was only a little honey left at the very bottom of the pit, and they told the boy to scrape that together while they went to get a rope to haul him out. but instead of getting the rope, they decided to let him remain in the pit, and divide the money among themselves. so, when he had gathered the remainder of the honey together, and called for the rope, he received no answer; and after he had been alone in the pit for three days he became convinced that his companions had deserted him. then those four persons went to his mother and told her that they had become separated in the forest, that they had heard a lion roaring, and that they could find no trace of either her son or his donkey. his mother, of course, cried very much, and the four neighbors pocketed her son's share of the money. to return to hasseeboo. he passed the time walking about the pit, wondering what the end would be, eating scraps of honey, sleeping a little, and sitting down to think. while engaged in the last occupation, on the fourth day, he saw a scorpion fall to the ground--a large one, too--and he killed it. then suddenly he thought to himself, "where did that scorpion come from? there must be a hole somewhere. i'll search, anyhow." so he searched around until he saw light through a tiny crack; and he took his knife and scooped and scooped, until he had made a hole big enough to pass through; then he went out, and came upon a place he had never seen before. seeing a path, he followed it until he came to a very large house, the door of which was not fastened. so he went inside, and saw golden doors, with golden locks, and keys of pearl, and beautiful chairs inlaid with jewels and precious stones, and in a reception room he saw a couch covered with a splendid spread, upon which he lay down. presently he found himself being lifted off the couch and put in a chair, and heard some one saying: "do not hurt him; wake him gently," and on opening his eyes he found himself surrounded by numbers of snakes, one of them wearing beautiful royal colors. "hullo!" he cried; "who are you?" "i am sulta'nee waa' neeo'ka, king of the snakes, and this is my house. who are you?" "i am hasseeboo kareem ed deen." "where do you come from?" "i don't know where i come from, or where i'm going." "well, don't bother yourself just now. let's eat; i guess you are hungry, and i know i am." then the king gave orders, and some of the other snakes brought the finest fruits, and they ate and drank and conversed. when the repast was ended, the king desired to hear hasseeboo's story; so he told him all that had happened, and then asked to hear the story of his host. "well," said the king of the snakes, "mine is rather a long story, but you shall hear it. a long time ago i left this place, to go and live in the mountains of al kaaf', for the change of air. one day i saw a stranger coming along, and i said to him, 'where are you from?' and he said, 'i am wandering in the wilderness.' 'whose son are you?' i asked. 'my name is bolookee'a. my father was a sultan; and when he died i opened a small chest, inside of which i found a bag, which contained a small brass box; when i had opened this i found some writing tied up in a woolen cloth, and it was all in praise of a prophet. he was described as such a good and wonderful man, that i longed to see him; but when i made inquiries concerning him i was told he was not yet born. then i vowed i would wander until i should see him. so i left our town, and all my property, and i am wandering, but i have not yet seen that prophet.' "then i said to him, 'where do you expect to find him, if he's not yet born? perhaps if you had some serpent's water you might keep on living until you find him. but it's of no use talking about that; the serpent's water is too far away.' "'well,' he said, 'good-bye. i must wander on.' so i bade him farewell, and he went his way. "now, when that man had wandered until he reached egypt, he met another man, who asked him, 'who are you?' "'i am bolookeea. who are you?' "'my name is al faan'. where are you going?' "'i have left my home, and my property, and i am seeking the prophet. "'h'm!' said al faan; 'i can tell you of a better occupation than looking for a man that is not born yet. let us go and find the king of the snakes and get him to give us a charm medicine; then we will go to king solomon and get his rings, and we shall be able to make slaves of the genii and order them to do whatever we wish.' "and bolookeea said, 'i have seen the king of the snakes in the mountain of al kaaf.' "'all right,' said al faan; 'let's go.' "now, al faan wanted the ring of solomon that he might be a great magician and control the genii and the birds, while all bolookeea wanted was to see the great prophet. "as they went along, al faan said to bolookeea, 'let us make a cage and entice the king of the snakes into it; then we will shut the door and carry him off.' "'all right,' said bolookeea. "so they made a cage, and put therein a cup of milk and a cup of wine, and brought it to al kaaf; and i, like a fool, went in, drank up all the wine and became drunk. then they fastened the door and took me away with them. "when i came to my senses i found myself in the cage, and bolookeea carrying me, and i said, 'the sons of adam are no good. what do you want from me?' and they answered, 'we want some medicine to put on our feet, so that we may walk upon the water whenever it is necessary in the course of our journey.' 'well,' said i, 'go along.' "we went on until we came to a place where there were a great number and variety of trees; and when those trees saw me, they said, 'i am medicine for this;' 'i am medicine for that;' 'i am medicine for the head;' 'i am medicine for the feet;' and presently one tree said, 'if any one puts my medicine upon his feet he can walk on water.' "when i told that to those men they said, 'that is what we want;' and they took a great deal of it. "then they took me back to the mountain and set me free; and we said good-bye and parted. "when they left me, they went on their way until they reached the sea, when they put the medicine on their feet and walked over. thus they went many days, until they came near to the place of king solomon, where they waited while al faan prepared his medicines. "when they arrived at king solomon's place, he was sleeping, and was being watched by genii, and his hand lay on his chest, with the ring on his finger. "as bolookeea drew near, one of the genii said to him 'where are you going?' and he answered, 'i'm here with al faan; he's going to take that ring.' 'go back,' said the genie; 'keep out of the way. that man is going to die.' "when al faan had finished his preparations, he said to bolookeea, 'wait here for me.' then he went forward to take the ring, when a great cry arose, and he was thrown by some unseen force a considerable distance. "picking himself up, and still believing in the power of his medicines, he approached the ring again, when a strong breath blew upon him and he was burnt to ashes in a moment. "while bolookeea was looking at all this, a voice said, 'go your way; this wretched being is dead.' so he returned; and when he got to the sea again he put the medicine upon his feet and passed over, and continued to wander for many years. "one morning he saw a man sitting down, and said 'good-morning,' to which the man replied. then bolookeea asked him, 'who are you?' and he answered: 'my name is jan shah. who are you?' so bolookeea told him who he was, and asked him to tell him his history. the man, who was weeping and smiling by turns, insisted upon hearing bolookeea's story first. after he had heard it he said: "'well, sit down, and i'll tell you my story from beginning to end. my name is jan shah, and my father is tooeegha'mus, a great sultan. he used to go every day into the forest to shoot game; so one day i said to him, "father, let me go with you into the forest to-day;" but he said, "stay at home. you are better there." then i cried bitterly, and as i was his only child, whom he loved dearly, he couldn't stand my tears, so he said: "very well; you shall go. don't cry." "'thus we went to the forest, and took many attendants with us; and when we reached the place we ate and drank, and then every one set out to hunt. "'i and my seven slaves went on until we saw a beautiful gazelle, which we chased as far as the sea without capturing it. when the gazelle took to the water i and four of my slaves took a boat, the other three returning to my father, and we chased that gazelle until we lost sight of the shore, but we caught it and killed it. just then a great wind began to blow, and we lost our way. "'when the other three slaves came to my father, he asked them, "where is your master?" and they told him about the gazelle and the boat. then he cried, "my son is lost! my son is lost!" and returned to the town and mourned for me as one dead. "'after a time we came to an island, where there were a great many birds. we found fruit and water, we ate and drank, and at night we climbed into a tree and slept till morning. "'then we rowed to a second island, and, seeing no one around, we gathered fruit, ate and drank, and climbed a tree as before. during the night we heard many savage beasts howling and roaring near us. "'in the morning we got away as soon as possible, and came to a third island. looking around for food, we saw a tree full of fruit like red-streaked apples; but, as we were about to pick some, we heard a voice say, "don't touch this tree; it belongs to the king." toward night a number of monkeys came, who seemed much pleased to see us, and they brought us all the fruit we could eat. "'presently i heard one of them say, "let us make this man our sultan." then another one said: "what's the use? they'll all run away in the morning." but a third one said, "not if we smash their boat." sure enough, when we started to leave in the morning, our boat was broken in pieces. so there was nothing for it but to stay there and be entertained by the monkeys, who seemed to like us very much. "'one day, while strolling about, i came upon a great stone house, having an inscription on the door, which said, "when any man comes to this island, he will find it difficult to leave, because the monkeys desire to have a man for their king. if he looks for a way to escape, he will think there is none; but there is one outlet, which lies to the north. if you go in that direction you will come to a great plain, which is infested with lions, leopards, and snakes. you must fight all of them; and if you overcome them you can go forward. you will then come to another great plain, inhabited by ants as big as dogs; their teeth are like those of dogs, and they are very fierce. you must fight these also, and if you overcome them, the rest of the way is clear." "'i consulted with my attendants over this information, and we came to the conclusion that, as we could only die, anyhow, we might as well risk death to gain our freedom. "'as we all had weapons, we set forth; and when we came to the first plain we fought, and two of my slaves were killed. then we went on to the second plain, fought again; my other two slaves were killed, and i alone escaped. "'after that i wandered on for many days, living on whatever i could find, until at last i came to a town, where i stayed for some time, looking for employment but finding none. "'one day a man came up to me and said, "are you looking for work?" "i am," said i. "come with me, then," said he; and we went to his house. "'when we got there he produced a camel's skin, and said, "i shall put you in this skin, and a great bird will carry you to the top of yonder mountain. when he gets you there, he will tear this skin off you. you must then drive him away and push down the precious stones you will find there. when they are all down, i will get you down." "'so he put me in the skin; the bird carried me to the top of the mountain and was about to eat me, when i jumped up, scared him away, and then pushed down many precious stones. then i called out to the man to take me down, but he never answered me, and went away. "'i gave myself up for a dead man, but went wandering about, until at last, after passing many days in a great forest, i came to a house, all by itself; the old man who lived in it gave me food and drink, and i was revived. "'i remained there a long time, and that old man loved me as if i were his own son. "'one day he went away, and giving me the keys, told me i could open the door of every room except one which he pointed out to me. "'of course, when he was gone, this was the first door i opened. i saw a large garden, through which a stream flowed. just then three birds came and alighted by the side of the stream. immediately they changed to three most beautiful women. when they had finished bathing, they put on their clothes, and, as i stood watching them, they changed into birds again and flew away. "'i locked the door, and went away; but my appetite was gone, and i wandered about aimlessly. when the old man came back, he saw there was something wrong with me, and asked me what was the matter. then i told him i had seen those beautiful maidens, that i loved one of them very much, and that if i could not marry her i should die. "'the old man told me i could not possibly have my wish. he said the three lovely beings were the daughters of the sultan of the genii, and that their home was a journey of three years from where we then were. "'i told him i couldn't help that. he must get her for my wife, or i should die. at last he said, "well, wait till they come again, then hide yourself and steal the clothes of the one you love so dearly." "'so i waited, and when they came again i stole the clothes of the youngest, whose name was sayadaa'tee shems. "'when they came out of the water, this one could not find her clothes. then i stepped forward and said, "i have them." "ah," she begged, "give them to me, their owner; i want to go away." but i said to her, "i love you very much. i want to marry you." "i want to go to my father," she replied. "you cannot go," said i. "'then her sisters flew away, and i took her into the house, where the old man married us. he told me not to give her those clothes i had taken, but to hide them; because if she ever got them she would fly away to her old home. so i dug a hole in the ground and buried them. "'but one day, when i was away from home, she dug them up and put them on; then, saying to the slave i had given her for an attendant, "when your master returns tell him i have gone home; if he really loves me he will follow me," she flew away. "'when i came home they told me this, and i wandered, searching for her, many years. at last i came to a town where one asked me, "who are you?" and i answered, "i am jan shah." "what was your father's name?" "taaeeghamus." "are you the man who married our mistress?" "who is your mistress?" "sayadaatee shems." "i am he!" i cried with delight. "'they took me to their mistress, and she brought me to her father and told him i was her husband; and everybody was happy. "'then we thought we should like to visit our old home, and her father's genii carried us there in three days. we stayed there a year and then returned, but in a short time my wife died. her father tried to comfort me, and wanted me to marry another of his daughters, but i refused to be comforted, and have mourned to this day. that is my story.' "then bolookeea went on his way, and wandered till he died." next sultaanee waa neeoka said to hasseeboo, "now, when you go home you will do me injury." hasseeboo was very indignant at the idea, and said, "i could not be induced to do you an injury. pray, send me home." "i will send you home," said the king; "but i am sure that you will come back and kill me." "why, i dare not be so ungrateful," exclaimed hasseeboo. "i swear i could not hurt you." "well," said the king of the snakes, "bear this in mind: when you go home, do not go to bathe where there are many people." and he said, "i will remember." so the king sent him home, and he went to his mother's house, and she was overjoyed to find that he was not dead. now, the sultan of the town was very sick; and it was decided that the only thing that could cure him would be to kill the king of the snakes, boil him, and give the soup to the sultan. for a reason known only to himself, the vizir had placed men at the public baths with this instruction: "if any one who comes to bathe here has a mark on his stomach, seize him and bring him to me." when hasseeboo had been home three days he forgot the warning of sultaanee waa neeoka, and went to bathe with the other people. all of a sudden he was seized by some soldiers, and brought before the vizir, who said, "take us to the home of the king of the snakes." "i don't know where it is," said hasseeboo. "tie him up," commanded the vizir. so they tied him up and beat him until his back was all raw, and being unable to stand the pain he cried, "let up! i will show you the place." so he led them to the house of the king of the snakes, who, when he saw him, said, "didn't i tell you you would come back to kill me?" "how could i help it?" cried hasseeboo. "look at my back!" "who has beaten you so dreadfully?" asked the king. "the vizir." "then there's no hope for me. but you must carry me yourself." as they went along, the king said to hasseeboo, "when we get to your town i shall be killed and cooked. the first skimming the vizir will offer to you, but don't you drink it; put it in a bottle and keep it. the second skimming you must drink, and you will become a great physician. the third skimming is the medicine that will cure your sultan. when the vizir asks you if you drank that first skimming say, 'i did.' then produce the bottle containing the first, and say, 'this is the second, and it is for you.' the vizir will take it, and as soon as he drinks it he will die, and both of us will have our revenge." everything happened as the king had said. the vizir died, the sultan recovered, and hasseeboo was loved by all as a great physician. sketches of the east africa campaign by capt. robert v. dolbey, r.a.m.c. author of "a regimental surgeon in war and prison" with illustrations 1918 to l.a.d. and c.b. preface the bulk of these "sketches" were written without any thought of publication. it was my practice in "writing home" to touch upon different features of the campaign or of my daily experiences, and only when i returned to england to find that kind hands had carefully preserved these hurried letters, did it occur to me that, grouped together, they might serve to throw some light on certain aspects of the east africa campaign, which might not find a place in a more elaborate history. for the illustrations, i have been able to draw upon a number of german photographs which fell into our hands. i should like to take this opportunity of thanking mr. h.t. montague bell for the care and kindness with which he has grouped this collection of inco-ordinate sketches and formed it into a more or less comprehensive whole. robert v. dolbey, italy, _february_, 1918. contents introduction this army of ours the navy and its work lettow and his army intelligence german treatment of natives good for evil the mechanical transport the surgery of this war my operating theatre at handeni some african diseases horse sickness the wounded from kissaki my operating theatre in morogoro the german in peace and war looting sherry and bitters native porters the padre and his job for all prisoners and captives the beasts of the field the birds of the air biting flies night in morogoro the waters of turiani scouting "hunnishness" from minden to morogoro a moral disaster the angel of morogoro the will to destroy dar-es-salaam (the haven of peace) list of illustrations rhodesians crossing a german bridge over the pangani river, near mombo, which they had saved from destruction british shells exploding a german ammunition dump. excitement of the natives our first water supply at handeni my operating theatre at morogoro. two wounded rhodesians and my two operating-room boys sister elizabeth. the german sister huns on trek an enemy detachment on trek. machine-gun porters in front natives building a banda a typical stretch of road through open bush the native village of morogoro a german dug-out old portuguese watergate, dar-es-salaam map of german east africa introduction these sketches of general smuts' campaign of 1916 in german east africa, do not presume to give an accurate account of the tactical or strategical events of this war. the actual knowledge of the happenings of war and of the considerations that persuade an army commander to any course of military conduct must, of necessity, be a closed book to the individual soldier. to the fighting man himself and to the man on the lines of communication, who helps to feed and clothe and arm and doctor him, the history of his particular war is very meagre. war, to the soldier, is limited to the very narrow horizon of his front, the daily work of his regiment, or, at the most, of his brigade. rarely does news from the rest of one brigade spread to the troops of another in the field. only in the hospital that serves the division are the events of his bit of war correlated and reduced to a comprehensive whole. even then the resulting knowledge is usually wrong. for the imagination of officers, and of men in particular, is wonderful, and rumour has its birthplace in the hospital ward. one may take it as an established fact that the ordinary regimental officer or soldier knows little or nothing about events other than his particular bit of country. only the staff know, and they will not tell. sometimes we have thought that all the real news lives in the cloistered brain of the general and his chief of staff. be this as it may, we always got fuller and better correlated and co-ordinated news of the german east african campaign from "reuter" or from _the times_ weekly edition. but if the soldier in the forward division knows nothing of the strategical events of his war, there are many things of which he does know, and so well too that they eclipse the greater strategical considerations of the war. he does know the food he eats and the food that he would like to eat; moreover, he knew, in german east africa, what his rations ought to be, and how to do without them. he learnt how to fight and march and carry heavy equipment on a very empty stomach. he learnt to eke out his meagre supplies by living on the wild game of the country, the native flour, bananas and mangoes. he knew what it meant to have dysentery and malaria. he had marched under a broiling sun by day and shivered in the tropic dews at night. he knew what it was to sleep upon the ground; to hunt for shade from the vertical sun. these and many other things did he know, and herein lies the chief interest of this or of any other campaign. for, strange as it may seem, the soldier in east africa was more concerned about his food and clothing, the tea he thirsted for, the blisters that tormented his weary feet, the equipment that was so heavy, the sleep that drugged his footsteps on the march, the lion that sniffed around his drowsy head at night, than about the actual fighting. these are the real points of personal interest in any campaign, and if these sketches bear upon the questions of food, the matter of transport, the manner of the soldier's illness, the hospitals he stayed in, the tsetse fly that bit him by day, the mosquitoes that made his nights a perfect torment, they are the more true to life. for fights are few, and, in this thick bush country, frequently degenerate into blind firing into a blinder bush; but the "jigger" flea is with the soldier always. but this campaign is far different from any of the others in which our arms are at present engaged. first and of especial interest was this army of ours; the most heterogeneous collection of fighting men, from the ends of the earth, all gathered in one smoothly working homogeneous whole. from boers and british south africans, from canada and australia, from india, from home, from the planters of east africa, and from all the dusky tribes of central africa, was this army of ours recruited. the country, too, was of such a character that knowledge of war in other campaigns was of little value. thick grass, dense thorn scrub, high elephant grass, all had their special bearing on the quality of the fighting. close-quarter engagements were the rule, dirty fighting in the jungle, ambushes, patrol encounters; and the deadly machine-gun that enfiladed or swept every open space. we cannot be surprised that the mounted arm was robbed of much of its utility, that artillery work was often blind for want of observation, that the trench dug in the green heart of a forest escaped the watchful eyes of aeroplanes, that this war became a fight of men and rifles, and, above all, the machine-gun. in this campaign the hun has been the least of the malignant influences. more from fever and dysentery, from biting flies, from ticks and crawling beasts have we suffered than from the bullets of the enemy. lions and hyaenas have been our camp followers, and not a little are we grateful to these wonderful scavengers, the best of all possible allies in settling the great question of sanitation in camps. for all our roads were marked by the bodies of dead horses, mules and oxen, whose stench filled the evening air. much labour in the distasteful jobs of burying these poor victims of war did the scavengers of the forest save us. the transport suffered from three great scourges: the pest of horse-sickness and fly and the calamity of rain. for after twelve hours' rain in that black cotton soil never a wheel could move until a hot sun had dried the surface of the roads again. roads, too, were mere bush tracks in the forest, knee-deep either in dust or in greasy clinging mud. never has napoleon's maxim that "an army fights on its stomach" been better exemplified than here. all this campaign we have marched away from our dinners, as the hun has marched toward his. the line of retreat, predetermined by the enemy, placed him in the fortunate position that the further he marched the more food he got, the softer bed, more ammunition, and the moral comfort of his big naval guns that he fought to a standstill and then abandoned. heavy artillery meant hundreds of native porters or dove-coloured humped oxen of the country to drag them; and heavy roads defied the most powerful machinery to move the guns. in order to appreciate the great difficulty with which our supply department has had to contend, we must remember that our lines of communication have been among the longest in any campaign. from the point of view of the railway and the road haul of supplies, our lines of communication have been longer than those in the russo-japanese war. for every pound of bully beef or biscuit or box of ammunition has been landed at kilindini, our sea base, from england or australia, railed up to voi or nairobi, a journey roughly of 300 miles. from one or other of those distributing points the trucks have had to be dragged to moschi on the german railway, from there eastward along the german railway line to tanga as far as korogwe, a matter of another 500 miles. from here the last stage of 200 miles has been covered by ox or mule or horse transport, and the all-conquering motor lorry, over these bush tracks to morogoro. can we wonder, then, that the great object of this campaign has been to raise as many supplies locally as possible, and to drive our beef upon the hoof in the rear of our advancing army? nor is the german unconscious of these our difficulties. he has with the greatest care denuded the whole country of supplies before us, and called in to his aid his two great allies, the tsetse fly and horse sickness, to rob us of our live cattle and transport animals on the way. at first we thought the german in east africa to be a better fellow than his brother in europe, more merciful to his wounded prisoner, more chivalrous in his manner of fighting. but the more we learn of him the more we come to the conclusion that he is the same old hun as he is in belgium--infinitely crafty, incredibly beastly in his dealings with his natives and with our prisoners. only in one aspect did we find him different, and this by reason of the fact that we were winning and advancing, taking his plantations and his farms, finding that he had left his women and children to our charge. then we saw the alteration. for i had known what eight months in german prisons in europe mean to a soldier prisoner of war, and now i had german prisoners in my charge. anxious to please, eager to conciliate, as infinitely servile to us, now they were in captivity, as they were vile and bestial and arrogant to us when they were in authority, were these prisoners of ours. nor was this the only aspect from which the campaign in german east africa appealed to those of us who had taken part in the advance from the marne to the aisne in september, 1914. then we saw what looting meant, and how the german officer enriched his family home with trophies looted from many chateaux. we knew of french houses that had been stripped of every article of value; we saw, discarded by the roadside, in the rapid and disorganised retreat to the aisne, statuary and bronzes, pictures and clocks, and all the treasures of french homes. now we were in a position to loot; but how differently our officers and men behaved! the spoils of hundreds of german plantations at our mercy; and hardly a thing, save what was urgently needed for hospitals or food, taken. every house in which the german owner lived was left unmolested; only those abandoned to the mercy of the native plunderer had we entered. it pays a great tribute to the natural goodness of our men, that the german example of indiscriminate looting and destruction was not followed. to people in england, and, indeed, to many soldiers in france, it seemed that this campaign of ours in german east africa was a mere side-show. it appeared to be a heaven-sent opportunity to escape the cold wet misery of the trenches in flanders. to some it spelt an expedition of the picnic variety; they saw in this an opportunity of spending halcyon days in the game preserves, glorious opportunities for making collections of big game heads, all sandwiched in with pleasant and successful enterprises against an enemy that was waiting only a decent excuse to surrender. how different has been the reality, however! the picnic enterprise has turned out to be one of the most arduous in our experience. many of us had served in france and the dardanelles before, and we thought we knew what the hardships of war could mean. if the truth be told, the soldier suffered in east africa, in many ways, greater hardships, performed greater feats of endurance, endured more from fever and dysentery and the many plagues of the country than in either of the other campaigns; the soldier marched and fought and suffered and starved for the simple reason that time was of the essence of the whole campaign. from june until christmas we had to crowd in the campaigning of a whole year; for once the rains had started all fighting was perforce at an end. once the transport wheels had stopped in the black cotton soil mud the army had to halt. all the time the great aim of the expedition was to get on and farther on. we had to advance and risk the shortage of supplies, or we would never reach the central railway. and there was not a soldier who would not prefer to push on and suffer and finish the campaign than wait in elegant leisure with full rations to contemplate an endless war in the swamps of east africa. the early history of the war in this theatre had been far from favourable to our arms. in late 1914 our expeditionary force failed in their landing at tanga, a misfortune that was not compensated for by our subsequent reverse at jassin near the anglo-german border on the coast. the gallant though unsuccessful defence of the latter town by our indian troops, however, caused great losses to the enemy, and robbed him of many of his most distinguished officers. but against these we must record the very fine defence of the uganda railway and the successful affair at longido near the great magadi soda lake in the kilimanjaro area. but when south africa, in 1916, was called in to redress the balance of india in german east africa, the new strategic railway from voi to the german frontier was only just commenced, and the enemy were in occupation of our territory at taveta. to general smuts then fell the task of co-ordinating the various units in british east africa, strengthening them with south african troops, pushing on the railway toward moschi, and driving the german from british soil. in so far as his initial movements were concerned, general smuts carried out the plans evolved by his predecessors. after a series of difficult but brilliant engagements, the enemy were forced back to moschi, and to the kilimanjaro area, which, in places, was very strongly held. from this point he mapped out his own campaign. colonel von lettow was out-manoeuvred by our flanking movements, and forced to retire partly along the tanga railway eastward to the sea, and partly towards the central railway in the heart of the enemy country. two outstanding features of this campaign may be mentioned: the faith the whole army had in general smuts, the loyalty, absolute and complete, that all our heterogeneous troops gave to him; and the natural goodness of the soldier. as for the latter, boer or english, canadian, east african or indian, all showed that they could bear the heat and dust and dirty fighting, the disease and privation just as gallantly, uncomplainingly, and well, as did their british comrades on the western front. finally, there is one very generous tribute that our army would pay to the germans in the field, and that is to the excellence of the leadership of lettow, and the devotion with which he has by threats and cajolings sustained the failing courage of his men. nor can one forget that in this war the mainstay of our enemy has lain in the discipline and devotion of the native troops. here, indeed, in this campaign the black man has kept up the spirit of the white. nor does this leave the future unclouded with potential trouble, for, in this war, the black man has seen the white, on both sides, run from him. the black man is armed and trained in the use of the rifle, and machine-gun, and his intelligence and capacity have been attested to by the degree of fire control that he mastered. it must be more than a coincidence that in the two colonies--east africa and the cameroon--where the germans used native troops they put up an efficient and skilful resistance, while in south-west africa, where all the enemy troops were white, they showed little inclination for a fight to a finish. in colonel von lettow-vorbeck the german army has one of the most able and resourceful leaders that it has produced in this war. this army of ours since alexander of macedon descended upon the plains of india, there can never have been so strange and heterogeneous an army as this, and a doctor must speak with the tongues of men and angels to arrive at an even approximate understanding of their varied ailments. the first division that came with jan smuts from the snows of kilimanjaro to the torrid delta of the rufigi contained them all. the real history of the war begins with smuts; for, prior to his coming, we were merely at war; but when he came we began to fight. a brief twenty-four hours in nairobi, during which he avoided the public receptions and the dinners that a more social chief would have graced; then he was off into the bush. wherever that rather short, but well-knit figure appeared, with his red beard, well streaked with grey, beneath the red staff cap, confidence reigned in all our troops. and to the end this trust has remained unabated. many disappointments have come his way, more from his own mounted troops than from any others; but we have felt that his tactics and strategy were never wrong. thus it was that from this heterogeneous army, imperial, east african, indian and south african, he has had a loyalty most splendid all the time. he may have pushed us forward so that we marched far in advance of food or supplies, thrust us into advanced positions that to our military sense seemed very hazardous. but he meant "getting a move on," and we knew it; and all of us wished the war to be over. jan smuts suffered the same fever as we did, ate our food, and his personal courage in private and most risky reconnaissances filled us with admiration and fear, lest disaster from some german patrol might overtake him. to me the absence of criticism and the loyal co-operation of all troops have been most wonderful. for we are an incurably critical people, and here was a civilian, come to wrest victory from a series of disasters. first in interest, perhaps, as they were ever first in fight, are the rhodesians, those careless, graceful fellows that have been here a year before the big advance began. straight from the bush country and fever of northern rhodesia, they were probably the best equipped of all white troops to meet the vicissitudes of this warfare. they knew the dangers of the native paths that wound their way through the thorn bush, and gave such opportunities for ambush to the lurking patrol. none knew as they how to avoid the inviting open space giving so good a field of fire for the machine-gun, that took such toll of all our enterprises. with them, too, they brought a liability to blackwater fever that laid them low, a legacy from lake nyasa that marked them out as the victims of this scourge in the first year of the big advance. the loyal north lancashires, too, have borne the heat and burden of the day from the first disastrous landing at tanga. always exceedingly well disciplined, they yield to none in the amount of solid unrewarded work done in this campaign. of the most romantic interest probably are the 25th royal fusiliers, the legion of frontiersmen. volumes might be written of the varied careers and wild lives lived by these strange soldiers of fortune. they were led by colonel driscoll, who, for all his sixty years, has found no work too arduous and no climate too unhealthy for his brave spirit. i knew him in the boer war when he commanded driscoll's scouts, of happy, though irregular memory; their badge in those days, the harp of erin on the side of their slouch hats, and known throughout the country wherever there was fighting to be had. the 25th fusiliers, too, were out here in the early days, and participated in the capture of bukoba on the lake. a hundred professions are represented in their ranks. miners from australia and the congo, prospectors after the precious mineral earths of siam and the malay states, pearl-fishers and elephant poachers, actors and opera singers, jugglers, professional strong men, big-game hunters, sailors, all mingled with professions of peace, medicine, the law and the clerk's varied trade. here two englishmen, soldiers of fortune or misfortune, as the case might be, who had specialised in recent mexican revolutions, till the fall of huerta brought them, too, to unemployment; an irishman there, for whom the president of costa rica had promised a swift death against a blank wall. cunning in the art of gun-running, they were knowing in all the tides of the caribbean sea, and in every dodge to outwit the united states patrol. nor must i forget one priceless fellow, a lion-tamer, who, strange to say, feared exceedingly the wild denizens of the scrub that sniffed around his patrol at night. of our indian forces the most likeable and attractive were the kashmiris, whom the patriot rajah of kashmir has given to the india government. recruited from the mountains of nepal--for the native of kashmir is no soldier--they meet one everywhere with their eager smiling faces. in hospital they are always professing to a recovery from fever that their pallid faces and enlarged spleens belie, and they take not kindly to any suggestion of invaliding. these battalions of kashmir rifles, the baluchis and the king's african rifles have done more dirty bush fighting than any troops in this campaign. the baluchis, in particular, have covered themselves with glory in many a fight. the most efficient soldiers in east africa are the king's african rifles; unaffected by the fever and the dysentery of the country, and led by picked white officers, they are in their element in the thorn jungle in which the germans have conducted their rearguard actions. known at first as the "suicides club," the king's african rifles lost a far greater proportion of officers than any other regiment. nor is it a little that they owe to the gallant leader of one battalion, colonel graham, who lost his life early in the advance on moschi. these regiments are recruited from nyasaland in the south to nubia and abyssinia in the north. yaos, known by the three vertical slits in their cheeks; slim nandi, with perforated lobes to their ears; ebony kavirondo; sudanese of an excellent quality; wanyamwezi from the country between tabora and lake tanganyika, the very tribe from whom the german askaris are recruited, and all the dusky tribes that stretch far north to lake rudolph and the nile. nor should one forget the arab rifles, raised by that wonderful fellow wavell, whose brother was a prisoner with me in germany. a professing mohammedan, he was one of very few white men who had made the pilgrimage to mecca. he harried the huns along the unhealthy districts of the coast, until a patrol, in ambush, laid him low near gazi. last, and most important, the army of south africans, whose coming spelt for us the big advance and the swift move that made us master of the whole country from kilimanjaro to the rufigi. a great political experiment and a most wonderfully successful one was this africander army, english and boers, under a boer general. for the first time since the great war in south africa, the boers made common cause with us, definitely aligned themselves with us in a joint campaign and provided the greatest object lesson of this world war. if the campaign of german east africa was worth while, its value has been abundantly proved in this welding of the races that, despite local disagreements, has occurred. the south african troops have found the country ill adapted to their peculiar genius in war, and the blind bush has robbed the mounted arm of much of its efficiency. not here the wide distances to favour their enveloping tactics. much have they suffered from fever, hardships and privation, and to their credit lies the greatest of all marches in this campaign, the 250 mile march to kondoa irangi in the height of the rainy season. the south african infantry arrived in kondoa starved and worn and bootless after this forced march to extricate the mounted troops, whose impetuous ardour had thrust them far beyond the possibility of supplies, into the heart of the enemy's country. we cannot sufficiently praise the apparently reckless tactics that made this wonderful march towards the central railway, or the uncomplaining fortitude of troops who lived in this fever-stricken country, on hippopotamus meat, wild game and native meal. to the boer, as to all of us, this campaign must have taught a wonderful lesson, for many prejudices have been modified, and it has been learnt that "coolies" (as only too often the ignorant style all natives of india) and "kaffirs," can fight with the best. this campaign would have been largely impossible, were it not for the cape boys and other natives from the union, who have come to run our mule and ox transport. their peculiar genius is the management of horses, mules and cattle. different from other primitive and negro people, they are very kind to animals, infinitely knowledgeable in the lore of mule and ox, they can be depended upon to exact the most from animal transport with the least cruelty. wonderful riders these; i have seen them sit bucking horses in a way that a texas cowboy or a mexican might envy. one should not leave the subject of this army without reference to the cape corps--that experiment in military recruiting which many of us were at first inclined to condemn. but from the moment the cape boy enlisted in the ranks of the cape corps his status was raised, and he adopted, together with his regulation khaki uniform and helmet, a higher responsibility towards the army than did his brother who helped to run the transport. they have been well officered, they have been a lesson to all of us in the essential matters of discipline and smartness, they have done much of the dirty work entailed by guarding lines of communication, and now, when given their longed-for chance of actual fighting on the rufigi, they have covered themselves with distinction. for my part, as a doctor, i found they had too much ego in their cosmos, as is commonly the fault of half-bred races, and a sick cape corps soldier seemed always very sick indeed; yet, as the campaign progressed, we came to like and to admire these troops the more, so that their distinction won in the rufigi fighting was welcomed very gladly by all of us. later in the campaign arrived the gold coast regiment; and now the nigerian brigade are here. very, very smart and soldier-like these hausa and fulani troops; mohammedan, largely, in religion, and bearded where the east coast native is smooth-faced, they will stay to finish this guerilla fighting, for which their experience in the cameroon has so well fitted them. the gold coast regiment has always been where there has been the hardest fighting, their green woollen caps and leather sandals marking them out from other negroid soldiers. and their impetuous courage has won them many captured enemy guns, and, alas! a very long list of casualties. but in hospital they are the merriest of happy people, always joking and smiling, and are quite a contrast to our much more serious east coast native; they have earned from their white sergeants and officers very great admiration and devotion. by far the best equipped of any unit in the field, they had, as a regiment, no less than eight machine-guns and a regimental mountain battery. the navy and its work to the navy that alone has made this campaign possible, we soldiers owe our grateful thanks. but there have been times when, in our blindness, we have failed to realise how great the task was to blockade 400 miles of this coast and to keep a watchful eye on mozambique. for before the portuguese made common cause with us, there was a great deal of gun-running along the southern border of german east africa, which our present allies found impossible to watch. two factors materially aided the germans in making the fight they have. first, there was the lucky "coincidence" of the dar-es-salaam exhibition. this exhibition, which was to bring the whole world to german east africa in august, 1914, provided the military authorities with great supplies of machinery, stores and exhibits from all the big industrial centres; and these were swiftly adapted to the making of rifles and munitions of war. to this must be added the most important factor of all, the _kã¶nigsberg_, lying on the mud flats far up the rufigi, destroyed by us, it is true, but not before the ship's company of 700, officers and men, and most of the guns had been transported ashore, the latter mounted on gun carriages and dragged by weary oxen or thousands of black porters to dispute our advance. in due course, however, these were abandoned, one by one, as we pressed the enemy back from the northern railway south to the rufigi. last, but by no means least, was the moral support their wireless stations gave them. these, though unable, since the destruction of the main stations, to transmit messages, continued for some time to receive the news from nauen in germany. by the air from germany the officers received the iron cross, promotion, and the emperor's grateful thanks. but if you would see what work the navy has done, you must first begin at lindi in the south. there you will see the _prã¤sident_ of the d.o.a. line lying on her side with her propellers blown off and waiting for our tugs to drag her to durban for repair. and in the rufigi lying on the mudbanks, fourteen miles from the mouth, you will see the _kã¶nigsberg_, once the pride of german cruisers, half sunk and completely dismantled. the hippopotami scratch their tick-infested flanks upon her rusted sides, crocodiles crawl across her decks, fish swim through the open ports. in dar-es-salaam you will see the _kã¶nig_ stranded at the harbour mouth, the _tabora_ lying on her side behind the ineffectual shelter of the land; the side uppermost innocent of the red cross and green line that adorned her seaward side. for she was a mysterious craft. she flew the red cross and was tricked out as a hospital ship on one side, the other painted grey. true, she had patients and a doctor on board when a pinnace from one of our cruisers examined her, but she also had machine-guns mounted and gun emplacements screwed to her deck, and all the adaptations required for a commerce raider. so our admiral decided that, after due notice, so suspicious a craft were better sunk. a few shots flooded her compartments and she heeled over, burying the lying cross of geneva beneath the waters of the harbour. further up the creek you will see the _feldmarschall_ afloat and uninjured, save for the engines that our naval party had destroyed, and ready, to our amazement, at the capture of the town, to be towed to durban and to carry british freight to british ports, and maybe meet a destroying german submarine upon the way. further up still you will find the governor's yacht and a gunboat, sunk this time by the germans; but easy to raise and to adapt for our service. strange that so methodical a people should have bungled so badly the simple task of rendering a valuable ship useless for the enemy. but they have blundered in the execution of their plans everywhere. the attempt to obstruct the harbour mouth at dar-es-salaam was typical of their naval ineptitude. barely two hundred yards across this bottle-neck, it should have been an easy job to block. so they sank the floating dock in the southern portion of the channel and moored the _kã¶nig_ by bow and stern hawsers, to the shores on either side in position for sinking. instead of flooding her they prepared an explosive bomb and timed it to go off at the fall of the tide. but the bomb failed to explode, and an ebb tide setting in, broke the stern moorings and drove her sideways on the shore. here she lies now and the channel is still free to all our ships to come and go. we found, at the occupation, the record of the court-martial on the german naval officer responsible for the failure of the plan. he seems to have pleaded, with success, the fact that his dynamite was fifteen years old. after that no further attempt was made, and for nearly a year before we occupied the town our naval whalers and small cruisers sailed, the white ensign proudly flying, into the harbour to anchor and to watch the interned shipping. it must have been a humiliating spectacle to the hun; but he was helpless. woe betide him, if he placed a mine or trained a gun upon this ship of ours. the town would have suffered, and this they could not risk. yet further up the coast, near tanga, the _markgraf_ lies beached in shallow water, and the _reubens_ a wreck in mansa bay. in most of our naval operations our intelligence has been excellent, and fortune has been kind. it seemed to the germans that we employed some special witchcraft to provide the knowledge that we possessed. so they panicked ingloriously, and sought spies everywhere, and hanged inoffensive natives by the dozen to the mango trees. one day one of our whalers entered tanga harbour the very day the german mines were lifted for the periodical overhaul. the germans ascribed such knowledge to the prince of evil. the whaler proceeded to destroy a ship lying there, and, on its way out, fired a shell into a lighter that was lying near. in this lighter were the mines, as the resulting explosion testified. this completed the german belief in our possession of supernatural powers of obtaining information. again at the bombardment and capture of bagamoyo by the fleet, it seemed to the hun that wherever the german commander went, to this trench or to that observation post, our 6-inch shells would follow him. all day long they pursued his footsteps, till he also panicked and searched the bush for a hidden wireless. he it was who shot our gallant marine officer, as our men stormed the trenches, and paid the penalty for his rashness shortly after. the little german tug _adjutant_, which in times of peace plied across the bar at chinde to bring off passengers and mails to the ships that lay outside, has had a chequered career in this war. slipping out from chinde at the outbreak of war, she made her way to dar-es-salaam. from there she essayed another escapade only to fall into our hands. transformed into a gunboat, she harried the germans in the delta of the rufigi, until, greatly daring, one day she ran ashore on a mudbank in the river. captured with her crew she was taken to pieces by the germans and transported by rail to ujiji on lake tanganyika. and there the belgians found her, partly reconstructed, as they entered the harbour. a little longer delay, and the resurrected _adjutant_ would have played havoc with our small craft and the belgians', which had driven the german ships off the vast waters of this lake. lettow and his army lettow, the one-eyed, or to give him his full title, colonel von lettow-vorbeck, is the heart and soul of the german resistance in east africa. indomitable and ubiquitous, he has kept up the drooping spirits of his men by encouragement, by the example of great personal courage, and by threats that he can and will carry out. wounded three times, he has never left his army, but has been carried about on a "machela" to prevent the half-resistance that leads to surrender. and now we hear he has had blackwater, and, recovering, has resumed his elusive journeys from one discouraged company to another all over the narrowing area of operations that alone is left to the hun of his favourite colonial possessions. for to the fat shipping clerk of tanga, whose soul lives only for beer and the leave that comes to reward two years of effort, the temptation to go sick or to get lost in the bush in front of our advancing armies is very great. he is not of the stuff that heroes are made of, and surrender is so safe and easy. a prison camp in bombay is clearly preferable to this unending retreat. he has done enough for honour, he argues, he has proved his worth after two and a half years of resistance! this colony has put up the best fight of all, "and the _schwein englã¤nder_ holds the seas, so further resistance is hopeless." "we are not barbarians, are we fritz?" but fritz has ceased to care. "ahmednagar for mine," says he, reverting to the language he learnt in the brewery at milwaukee, in days that now seem to belong to some antenatal life. soon he will look for some white face beneath the strange sun helmet the english wear, up will go his hands, and "kamerad"--that magic word--will open the doors to sumptuous ease behind the prison bars. but lettow is going "all out." his black askaris are not discouraged, and, in this war, the black man is keeping up the courage of the white. had the native soldiers got their tails down the game was up as far as the germans were concerned. but these faithful fellows see the "bwona kuba," as they call lettow, here encouraging, everywhere inspiring them by his example, and they will stay with him until the end. like many great soldiers, lettow is singularly careless in his dress; and the tale is told at moschi of a young german officer who stole a day's leave and discussed with a stranger at a shop window the chances of the ubiquitous lettow arriving to spoil his afternoon. nor did he know until he found the reprimand awaiting him in camp that he had been discussing the ethics of breaking out of camp with the "terror" himself. a soldier of fortune is lettow. his name is stained with the hideous massacres of the hereros in south-west africa. his was the order, transmitted through the german governor's mouth, that thrust the herero women and children into the deserts of damaraland to die. before the war in south africa, rumour says, he was instructor to the "staats artillerie," which kruger raised to stay the storm that he knew inevitably would overwhelm him. serving, with smuts and botha themselves in the early months of the boer war, he joined the inglorious procession of foreigners that fled across the bridge at komati poort after pretoria fell, and left the boer to fight it out unaided for two long and weary years more. no wonder that lettow has sworn never to surrender to that "damned dutchman jan smuts." chary of giving praise for work well done, he yet is inexorable to failure. the tale is told that lettow was furious when fischer, the major in command at moschi, was bluffed out of his impregnable position there by vandeventer, evacuated the northern lines, and retired on kahe, thus saving us the expense of taking a natural fortress that would have taxed all our energies. white with rage, he sent for fischer and handed him one of his own revolvers. "let me hear some interesting news about you in a day or two." and fischer took the pistol and walked away to consider his death warrant. he looked at that grim message for two days before he could summon up his courage: then he shot himself, well below the heart, in a spot that he thought was fairly safe. but poor fischer's knowledge of anatomy was as unsound as his strategy, for the bullet perforated his stomach. and it took him three days to die. a tribe which has contributed largely to the german military forces is the wanyamwezi. of excellent physique, they long resisted german domination, but now they are entirely subdued. hardy, brave and willing, they are the best fighters and porters, probably, in the whole of east africa. immigrant wanyamwezi, enlisted in british east africa into our king's african rifles, do not hesitate to fight against their blood brothers. there is no stint to the faithful service they have given to the germans. but for them our task would have been much easier. for drilling and parade the native mind shows great keenness and aptitude; little squads of men are drilled voluntarily by their own n.c.o.'s in their spare time; and often, just after an official drill is over, they drill one another again. smart and well-disciplined they are most punctilious in all military services. intelligence of all the departments of war in german east africa probably the most romantic and interesting is the intelligence department. far away ahead of the fighting troops are the intelligence officers with their native scouts. these officers, for the most part, are men who have lived long in the country, who know the native languages, and are familiar with the lie of the land from experience gained in past hunting trips. often behind the enemy, creeping along the lines of communication, these officers carry their lives in their hands, and run the risk of betrayal by any native who happens across them. sleeping in the bush at night, unable to light fires to cook their food, lest the light should attract the questing patrol, that, learning of their presence in the country, has been out after them for days. hiding in the bush, short of rations, the little luxuries of civilisation long since finished, forced to smoke the reeking pungent native tobacco, living off wild game (that must be trapped, not shot), and native meal, at the mercy of the natives whom both sides employ to get information of the other, these men are in constant danger. nor are the amenities of civilised warfare theirs when capture is their lot. fortunately for the british empire there has never been any lack of those restless beings whose wandering spirits lead them to the confines of civilisation and beyond. to this type of man the african continent has offered a particular attraction, and we should have fared badly in the east african campaign, if we could not have relied upon the services of many of them. they are for the most part men who have abandoned at an early age the prosaic existence previously mapped out for them, and plunging into the wilds of africa have found a more attractive livelihood in big game shooting and prospecting. by far the most exhilarating calling is that of the elephant hunter, who finds in the profits he derives from it all the compensation he requires for the hardships, the long marches, and the grave personal dangers. in the most inaccessible parts of the continent he plies his trade, knowing that his life may depend upon the quickness of his eye and intellect and the accuracy of his aim. nor are his troubles over when his quarry has been secured. the ivory has still to be disposed of, and it is not always safe to attempt to sell in the territory where the game has been shot. the area of no man's land in africa has long since been a diminishing quantity, and the promiscuous shooting of elephants is not encouraged. it becomes necessary, therefore, to study the question of markets, and the successful hunter finds it convenient to vary the spheres of his activities continually. not the least of the assets of these men is the knowledge they have of the native and the hold they have obtained over them. that man will go farthest who relies on the respect rather than on the fear he inspires. the latter may go a long way, but unless it has the former to support it, the chances are against it sooner or later. one man i know of owed his life more than once to his devotion to a small stick that walking, sitting or lying he never allowed out of his hand. the native mind came to attach magical powers to the stick, and consequently to the man himself. on one eventful journey when he had gone farther afield than his wont, and farther than his native porters cared to accompany him, symptoms of mutiny made their appearance. a council was held as to whether he should be murdered or not; he was fortunate enough to overhear it. the only possible deterrent seemed to be a dread of the magical stick, but the two ringleaders affected to make light of it. realising that the time had come for decisive action, the white man summoned the company, told them that his stick had revealed the plot to him and warned them of the danger they ran. to clinch his argument he offered to allow the ringleaders to return home, taking the stick with them; but told them that they would be dead within twenty-four hours, and the stick would come back to him. to his dismay they accepted the challenge, and for him there could be no retreat. in desperation he poisoned the food they were to take with them, and awaited developments. the two natives set off early in the morning. by the afternoon they were back again, and with them the stick. in the solitude of their homeward trek their courage had oozed out; they feared the magic, and fortunately had not touched the poisoned provisions. in the feasting that had to celebrate this satisfactory denouement it was possible to substitute other food for that which had been taken on the abortive journey. magic or the fear of it had saved the situation; but the instincts of loyalty had been fired previously by a character that had many attractive features and never allowed firmness to dispossess justice. at the outbreak of the war two of our nimrods--whom i shall call hallam and best--were camped by the rovuma river. hearing that there were british ships at lindi, they made for the coast to offer their services in the sterner hunt, after much more dangerous game, that they knew had now begun. the native runner that brought them the news from mozambique also warned them of the german force that was hot foot in pursuit of them. so they tarried not in the order of their going, and made for the shelter of the fleet. but best would read his weekly _times_ by the light of the lamp at their camp table for all the huns in christendom, he said, and derided hallam's surer sense of danger near at hand. so in the early hours their pickets came running in, all mixed up with german askaris, and the ring of rifle and machine-gun fire told them that their time had come. capsizing the tell-tale lamp, they scattered in the undergrowth like a covey of partridges, hallam badly wounded in the leg and only able to crawl. the friendly shelter of the papyrus leaves beside the river-bank was his refuge; and as he plunged into the river the scattered volley of rifle shots tore the reeds above him. all night they remained there. hallam up to his neck in water, and the ready prey of any searching crocodile that the blood that oozed from his wounded leg should inevitably have attracted; the germans on the bank. next morning the trail of blood towards the river assured the enemy that hallam was no more, for who could live in these dangerous waters all night, wounded as he was? but if hallam could hunt like a leopard, he could also swim like a fish. next day brought a native fishing canoe into sight, and to it he swam, still clutching the rifle that second nature had caused him to grab as he plunged into the reeds. with a wet rifle and nine cartridges he persuaded the natives not only to ferry him across to the portuguese side, but also to carry him in a "machela," a hammock slung between native porters, from which he shot "impala" for his food. but somehow word had got across the river that hallam had eluded death, and the german governor stormed and threatened till the portuguese sent police to arrest the fugitive. but the native runner who brought him news of his discovery also brought word of the approaching police. so with his rifle and three cartridges to sustain him, often delirious with fever, and the inflammation in his leg, he commandeered the men of a native village and persuaded them, such was the prestige of his name, to carry him twenty-eight days in the "machela" to a friendly mission station on lake nyasa. here the kindly english sisters nursed him back to life and health again. best was not so lucky, for he was taken prisoner. but there was no german gaol that could hold so resourceful a prisoner as this. in due time he made his escape, and was to be found later looping the loop above turkish camps in the sinai peninsula. one german, of whom our information had been that "his company did little else but rape women and loot goats," fell into my hands when we took the english universities mission at korogwe. could this be he, i thought, as i saw an officer of mild appearance and benevolent aspect speaking english so perfectly and peering at me through big spectacles? badly wounded and with a fracture of the thigh, he had begged me to look after him, saying the most disloyal things about the character and surgical capacity of the german doctor whom we had left behind to look after german wounded. not that the _oberstabsarzt_ did not deserve them, but it was so gratuitously beastly to say them to me, an enemy. he deplored, too, with such unctuous phrases, the fact that war should ever have occurred in east africa. how it would spoil the years of toil, toward christianity, of many mission stations! how the simple native had been taught in this war to kill white men; hitherto, of course, the vilest of crimes. how the march of civilisation had been put back for twenty-five years. how the prestige of the white man had fallen, for had not natives seen white men, on both sides, run away before them? many such pious expressions issued from his lips. but the true hun character came out when he asked whether the hated boers were coming? the most vindictive expression, that even the benevolent spectacles could only partly modify, clouded his face, and he complained to me most bitterly of the black ingratitude of the boers toward germany. "all my life, from boyhood," he complained, "have i not subscribed my pfennigs to provide christmas presents for the poor boers suffering under the heel of england. did not german girls," he whined, "knit stockings for the women of that nation that was so akin to the germans in blood, and that lay so pitifully prostrate beneath the feet of england?" nor would he be appeased until i assured him that the boers were far away. another, whose reputation was that of "a hard case, and addicted to drink," i found also in hospital in korogwe, recovered from an operation for abscess of the liver, and living in hospital with his wife. spruce and rather jumpy he insisted on exhibiting his operation wound to me, paying heavy compliments to english skill in surgery; not, mark you, that he had any but the greatest contempt that all german doctors, too, profess for british medicine and surgery. but he hoped, by specious praise, to be sent to wilhelmstal and not to join the other prisoners in ahmednagar. bottles of soda-water ostentatiously displayed upon his table might have suggested what his bleary eye and shaky hands belied. so i contented myself with removing the pass key to the wine cellar, that lay upon the sideboard, and duly marked him down on the list for transfer to wilhelmstal. that the spirit of baron munchausen still lives in german east africa is attested to by intelligence reports. it says a great deal for lettow's belief in the accuracy of our information that he very promptly put a stop to the notoriety and reputation for valour that two german officers enjoyed. one had made an unsuccessful attempt to bomb the uganda railway on two occasions; but neither time did he do any damage, though, on each occasion, he claimed to have cut the line. the other, possessed of greater imagination, reported to his german commander that he had attacked one of our posts along the railway, completely destroying it and all in it. the painful truth he learnt afterwards from german headquarters was that the english suffered no casualties, and the post was comparatively undamaged. the sad fate of one enterprising german officer who set out to make an attack upon one of our posts was, at the time, the cause, of endless jesting at the expense of the survey and topographical department of british east africa. he was relying upon an old english map of the country, but owing to its extreme inaccuracy, he lost his way, ran out of water, and made an inglorious surrender. this, of course, was attributed by the germans to the low cunning employed by our intelligence department that allowed the german authorities to get possession of a misleading map. that retribution follows in the wake of an unpopular german officer, as shown by extracts from captured german diaries, is attested to by the record of two grim tragedies in the african bush, one of an officer who "lost his way," the other of an officer who was shot by his own men. german treatment of natives one of the features of german military life that fills one with horror and disgust is their brutality to the native. nor do they make any attempt to cloak their atrocities. for they perpetuate them by photographs, many of which have fallen into our hands; and from these one sees a tendency to gloat over the ghastly exhibits. the pictures portray gallows with a large number of natives hanging side by side. in some, soldiers are drawn up in hollow square, one side of it open to the civil population, and there is little doubt that these are punitive and impressive official executions, carried out under "proper judicial conditions" as conceived by germans. but what offends one's taste so much are the photographs of german officers and men standing with self-conscious and self-satisfied expressions beside the grim gallows on which their victims hang. from the great number of these pictures we have found, it is quite clear that not only are such executions very common, but that they are also not unpleasing to the sense of the german population; otherwise they would not bequeath to posterity their own smiling faces alongside the unhappy dead. with us it is so different. when we have to administer the capital penalty we do it, of course, openly, and after full judicial inquiry in open court. nor do we rob it of its impressive character by excluding the native population. but such sentences in war are usually carried out by shooting, and photographs are not desired by any of the spectators. it is a vile business and absolutely revolting to us, nor do we hesitate to hurry away as soon as the official character of the parade is over. i well remember one such execution, in morogoro, of a german askari who assaulted a little german girl with a "kiboko" during the two days' interregnum that elapsed between lettow's departure and our occupation of the town. to british troops the most unwelcome duty of all is to form a part of a firing party on such occasions. the firing party are handed their rifles, alternate weapons only loaded with ball cartridge, that their sense of decency may not be offended by the distasteful recollection of killing a man in cold blood. for this assures that no man knows whether his was the rifle that sped the living soul from that pitiful cringing body. in the past the germans have had constant trouble with the natives, not one tribe but has had to be visited by sword and flame and wholesale execution. that this is not entirely the fault of the natives is shown by the fact that we have not experienced in east africa and uganda a tenth part of the trouble with our natives, notoriously a most restless and warlike combination of races. it was thought at one time that, if the germans seriously weakened their hold on some of the more troublesome tribes and withdrew garrisons from localities where troops alone had kept the native in subjection, risings of a terrible and embarrassing character would be the result. that such fear entered also into the german mind is shown by the fact that for long they did not dare to withdraw certain administrative officials, and much-valued soldiers of the regular army, who would have been of great service as army commanders, from their police work. notably is this the case at songea, in the angle between lake nyasa and the portuguese border. to the state of terror among the german women owing to the fear of a native rising during the intervening period between the retreat of their troops and the arrival of our own in morogoro i myself can testify. for the german nursing sisters who worked with me told of the flight to this town of outlying families, and how the women were all supplied with tablets of prussic acid to swallow, if the dreadful end approached. for death from the swift cyanide would be gentler far than at the hands of a savage native. but the germans have to admit that as they showed no mercy to the native in the past, so they could expect none at such a time as this. they told me of the glad relief with which they welcomed the coming of our troops, and how with tears of gratitude they threw swift death into the bushes, much indeed as they hated the humiliating spectacle of the gallant rhodesians and baluchis making their formal entry into the fair streets of morogoro. the german hold on the natives is, owing to severe repressive measures in the past and the unrelaxing discipline of the present war, most effective and likely to remain so, until our troops appear actually among them. indeed, the fear of a native rising, and the butchery of german women and children has been ever on our minds, and we have had to impress upon the native that we desired or could countenance no such help upon their part. all we asked of the native population was to keep the peace and supply us with information, food and porters. we sent word among the restless tribes to warn them to keep quiet, saying that, if the germans had chastised them with whips, we would, indeed, chastise them with scorpions in the event of their getting out of hand. and we must admit that, almost without exception, the natives of all tribes have proved most welcoming, most docile and most grateful for our arrival. had it not been for the clandestine intrigues of the german planters and missionaries whom we returned to their homes and occupations of peace, there would have been no trouble. but the hun may promise faithfully, may enter into the most solemn obligations not to take active or passive part further in the war; but, nevertheless, he seems unable to keep himself from betraying our trust. such a born spy and intriguer is he that he cannot refrain from intimidating the native, of whose quietness he is now assured by the presence of our troops, by threats of what will befall him when the germans return, if he, the native, so much as sells us food or enters our employment as a porter. but the native is extraordinarily local in his knowledge, his world bounded for him by the borders of neighbouring and often hostile tribes. we are not at all certain that any but coast or border tribes can really appreciate the difference between british rule and the domination that has now been swept away. recent reports on all sides show the desire for peace and the end of the war; for war brings in its train forced labour, the requisition of food, and the curse of german askaris wandering about among the native villages, satisfying their every want, often at the point of the bayonet. preferable even to this are the piping times of peace, when the german administrator, with rare exceptions, singularly unhappy in his dealing with the chiefs, would not hesitate to thrash a chief before his villagers, and condemn him to labour in neck chains, on the roads among his own subjects. and this, mark you, for the failure of the chief to keep an appointment, when the fat-brained german failed to appreciate the difference in the natives' estimation of time. by swahili time the day commences at 7 a.m. in the past, it was no wonder that chiefs, burning with a sense of wrong and the humiliation they had suffered, preferred to raise their tribe and perish by the sword than endure a life that bore such indignity and shame. but our job has not been rendered any easier by the difficulty we have experienced in pacifying the simple blacks by attempts to dispel the fears of rapine and murder at the hands of our soldiers, with which the germans have been at such pains to saturate the native mind. this, in conjunction with the suspicion which the native of german east africa has for any european, and more especially his horror of war, has made us prepared to see the native bolt at our approach. but if our task has succeeded, there has been striking ill success on the part of the germans in organising and inducing, in spite of their many attempts and the obvious danger to their own women and children, these native tribes to oppose our advance. fortunately for us, and for the white women of the country, tribes will not easily combine, and are loath to leave their tribal territory. many of us have looked with some concern upon the mere possibility of this german colony being returned to its former owners. we must remember that we shall inevitably lose the measure of respect the native holds for us, if we contemplate giving back this province once more to german ruling. prestige alone is the factor in the future that will keep order among these savage races who have now learnt to use the rifle and machine-gun, and have money in plenty to provide themselves with ammunition. the war has done much to destroy the prestige that allows a white man to dominate thousands of the natives. for to the indigenous inhabitants of the country, the white man's ways are inexplicable; they cannot conceive a war conducted with such alternate savagery and chivalry. to those who look upon the women of the vanquished as the victors' special prize, the immunity from outrage that german women enjoy is beyond their comprehension. for that reason we shall welcome the day when an official announcement is made that the british government have taken over the country. one would like to see big "indabas" held at every town and centre in the country, formal raising of the union jack, cannon salutes, bands playing and parades of soldiers. good for evil when the rains had finished, by may, 1916, in the belgian congo, general molitor began to move upon tanganyika. soon our motor-boat flotilla and the belgian launches and seaplanes had swept the lake of german shipping; and the first belgian force landed and occupied ujiji, the terminus of the central railway. then the blood of the huns in africa ran cold in their veins, and the fear that the advancing belgians would wreak vengeance for the crimes of germany in belgium and to the belgian consuls in prison in tabora, gripped their vitals. hastily they sent their women and children at all speed east along the line to tabora, the new provincial capital, and planned to put up the stiff rearguard actions that should delay the enemy, until the english might take tabora and save their women from belgian hands. for the english, those soft-hearted fools, who had already so well treated the women at wilhelmstal, could be as easily persuaded to exercise their flabby sentimentalism on the women and children in tabora. so ran the german reasoning. slowly and relentlessly the belgian columns swept eastward along the railway line, closely co-operating with the british force advancing from mwanza, south-east, toward the capital. but, in molitor, the german general wable had met more than his match, and soon, outgeneralled and out-manoeuvred, he had to rally on the last prepared position, west of tabora. then, daily, went the german parlementaires under the white flag, that standard the enemy know so well how to use, to the british general praying that he would occupy tabora while wable kept the belgians in check. but the british general was adamant, and would have none of it; and as wable's shattered forces fled to the bush to march south-east to where lettow, the ever-vigilant, was keeping watch, the belgians entered the fair city of tabora. and here were over five hundred german women and children, clinging to the protection that the governor's wife should gain for them. for frau von schnee was a new zealand woman, and she might be looked to to persuade the british to restrain the belgian askari. but there was no need. the behaviour of belgian officers and their native soldiers was as correct and gentlemanly as that of officers should be, and, to their relief and surprise, those white women found the tables turned, and that their enemy could be as chivalrous to them as german soldiers--their own brothers--had been vile to the wretched people of belgium. there was no nonsense about the belgian general; stern and just, but very strict, he brought the german population to heel and kept them there. cap in hand, the german men came to him, and begged to be allowed to work for the conqueror; their carpenters' shops, the blacksmiths' forges were at the service of the high commander. no german on the footpaths; hats raised from obsequious teuton heads whenever a belgian officer passes. how the chivalry of belgium heaped coals of fire upon the german heads! and had the hun been of such, a fibre as to appreciate the lesson, of what great value we might hope that it would be? but decent treatment never did appeal to the german; he always held that clemency spelt weakness, and the fear of the avenging german michael. for did not the emperor's eagle now float over paris and petersburg? that he knew well; for had not high headquarters told him of the message from the kaiser by wireless from nauen, the self-same message that conveyed to lettow himself the iron cross decoration? the governor's wife was allowed to retain her palace and servants; but all german women were kept strictly to their houses after six at night. no looting, no riots, no disturbance. and german women began to be piqued at the calm indifference of smart belgian officers to the favours they might have had. openly chagrined were the local hun beauties at such a disregard of their full-blown charms. "i fear for our women and children in tabora," said the german doctor to me in morogoro. "ach! what will the belgians do when they hear the tales that are told of our german troops in belgium? you don't believe these stories of german brutalities, do you?" he said anxiously, conciliatory. but i did, and i told him so. "but you don't know the belgian askari; he is cannibal; he is recruited from the pagan tribes in the forest of the congo, he files his front teeth to a point, and we know he is short of supplies. what is going to happen to german children? it is the truth i tell you," he went on, evidently with very sincere feeling. "you know what became of the 1,500 kavirondo porters your government lent to the belgian general. where are our prisoners that the belgians took in ujiji and along the line? eaten; all eaten." and he threw up his hands tragically to heaven. "i know you won't believe it, but i swear to you that rumpel's story is true." rumpel was lettow's best intelligence agent. "our scout was a prisoner with a company of belgian askaris, you know, and it was only that the belgian company commander wanted to get information from him that he was not eaten at once. haven't you heard the tale that rumpel tells after his escape? how the senior native officer came to his belgian commander and complained that they had no food, the villages were empty, not so much as an egg or chicken to be got. irritably, the belgian officer shouted that the soldiers knew that no one had food, and they must wait till they got to the next post on the morrow. 'but,' urged the native sergeant softly, 'there are the prisoners.' 'oh, the prisoners,' said the belgian officer, relieved by an easy way out of a very difficult situation. 'well, not more than sixteen, remember that.' and the sergeant went away." this and countless other lies did the germans tell us of our belgian allies. but how different the truth when it reached us at last along the railway by our troops that came from the northern column to join us at morogoro. not a german woman insulted; not one fat german child missing; no occupied house even entered by the belgian troops, not so much as a chicken stolen from a german compound. so just, so completely impartial was general molitor, that he applied to german prisoners, in territory then occupied by him, the very rules and regulations that the german command had laid down for the governing of english and belgian and other allied prisoners. only the vile, the unspeakable regulations, and every ordinance in that printed list of german rules that destroyed the prestige of the white man in the native's eyes, did he omit. if the germans were indifferent to this one elementary rule of the white race in equatorial africa--the white man's law that no white man be degraded before a native--then the belgian would show the hun how to play the game. "we must hack our way through," said bethmann-hollweg. and we, in morogoro, were very curious to see what manner of vengeance the belgians might wreak. nor would we have blamed them over-much for anything they might have done. i had lived in german prisons with elderly belgian officers whose wives and grown-up daughters had been left behind in occupied parts of belgium. we all had shuddered at the stories they told us; nor did we wonder that these unhappy fathers had often gone insane. and when we learnt the truth about tabora, and knew too, to our disgust, that such un-german clemency was attributed to belgian fear of the avenging german michael and not to natural belgian chivalry, we were furious. what can one do with such a people? the mechanical transport a cloud of red dust along a rough bush track, a rattling jar approaching, and the donkey transport pulls into the bushes to let the juggernaut of the road go by. swaying and plunging over the rough ground, lurches one of our huge motor lorries. perched high up upon the seat, face and arms burnt dark brown by the tropical sun, is the driver. stern faced and intent upon the road, he slews his big ship into a better bit of road by hauling at the steering wheel. beside him on the seat the second driver. ready to their hands the rifles that may save their precious cargo from the marauding german patrol which lies hidden in the thick bush beside the road. in the big body of the car behind are two thousand pounds of rations, and atop of all a smiling "tota," the small native boy these drivers employ to light their fires and cook their food at night. and this load is food for a whole brigade alone for half a day; so you may see how necessary it is that this valuable cargo arrives in time. it may sound to you, in sheltered london, a pleasant and agreeable thing to drive through this strange new country full of the wild game that glimpses of zoological gardens in the past suggest. "a zoo without a blooming keeper." but there is no department of war that does such hard work as these lorry drivers. for them no rest in the day that is deemed a lucky one, if it provides them only with sixteen hours' work. the infantry of the line have their periodical rests, a month it may be, of comparative leisure before the enemy trenches. but for mechanical transport there is no peace, save such as comes when back axles break, and the big land ship is dragged into the bush to be repaired. hot and sweating men striving to renew some part or improvise, by bullock hide "reims," a temporary road repair that will bring them limping back to the advance base. here the company workshop waits to repair these derelicts of the road. burning with malaria, when the hot sun draws the lurking fever from their bones, tortured with dysentery, they've got to do their job until they reach their lorry park again. but often the repair gang cannot reach a stranded lorry, and the drivers, helpless before a big mechanical repair, have to camp out alongside their car, till help arrives and tows them in. a tarpaulin rigged up along one side of the lorry, poles cut from the thorn bush, and they have protection from the burning sun by day. a thorn hedge, the native "boma," keeps out lions and the sneaking hyaena at night. nor are their rifles more than a half protection, for the '303 makes so clean a hole that it is often madness to attempt to shoot a lion with it. once wounded he is far more dangerous a foe. here the "tota" earns his pay, for he can hunt the native villages for "cuckoos," the native fowls, and eggs. the load of rations must not, save at the last extremity, be broached. and the roads they travel on: you never saw such things, mere bush tracks where the pioneers have cut down trees and bushes, and left the stumps above the level earth. no easy job to steer these great lumbering machines between these treacherous stumps. from early dawn to late night you'll meet these leviathans of the road, diving into the bush to force a new road for themselves when the old track is too deep in mud or dust, plunging and diving down water-courses or the rocky river-beds, creeping with great care over the frail bridge that spans a deep ravine. a bridge made up of tree-trunks laid lengthwise on wooden up-rights. the lion and the leopard stand beside the road, with paw uplifted, in the glare of the headlights at night. nor is there only danger from flood and fever and the denizens of the forest. there is ever to be feared the lurking german patrol that trains its dozen rifles upon the driver, knowing full well that he must sit and quietly face it out, or the lorry, once out of control, plunges against a tree and becomes, with both its drivers, the prey of these marauders. so, while his mate fumbles with the bolt lever of his rifle, the driver takes a firmer grip of the wheel, gives her more "juice," and plunges headlong down the road. at handeni i once had a driver with five bullets in him; they had not stopped him until he reached safety, and his mate was able to take over. nor does this exhaust the risks of his job, for there is the land mine, buried in the soft dust of the road, or beneath the crazy bridge. laid at night by the patrol that harasses our lines of communication, they are the special danger of the first convoy to come along the road in the morning. troops we have not to spare to guard these long lines of ours, so, in particularly dangerous places, the driver carries a small guard of soldiers on the top of his freight behind him. native patrols, very wise at noticing any derangement of the surface dust, patrol the highways at dawn to lift these unwelcome souvenirs from the roads. from south africa, from home, and from canada, come the drivers and mechanics of the motor transport. the canadians, stout fellows from toronto, winnipeg, and the far west, enlisted in the british a.s.c. in canada, and arrived in england only to be sent to east africa. it seems at first sight a strange country to which to send these men from the north, but in fact it was a very happy choice. for they got away from the cold dampness of england and flanders into the summer seas of the south atlantic, where the flying fish and rainbow nautilus filled them with surprise. cape town and durban must have been for these canadian lads a new world only previously envisaged by them, in the big all-red map that hangs on the walls of canadian schools, a little difficult at first, apt to chafe at the restrictions that, though perhaps not necessary for themselves in particular, were yet essential in preserving discipline in the whole mixed unit, rather inclined to resent certain phases of soldier life. but soon they settled down to do their job, to take trouble over their work rather than make trouble by grousing over it. well they proved their worth by the number that now fill the non-commissioned ranks, and may be judged by the commendation of their commanding officers. i used to think that they came to see me in particular, at the long sick parades i held in morogoro and handeni, because i too lived, like some of them, in british columbia. i cannot flatter my soul by thinking that they came for the special quality of the quinine or medical advice i dished out to them. it may have been that they were far from home, and i seemed a friend in a very strange land. all i know is, that i felt a great compliment was paid to me that they should be grateful for the often hurried and small attentions that i could give them. they would sometimes bring me canadian papers that took me back two and a half years, to the time when i came to england on a six weeks' holiday from my work, a holiday that has now spun out to three and a half years, and shows every sign of going further still. very well these men stood the climate, in spite of their fair colouring, in a country that penalises the blonde races more than the brown, that makes us pay for our want of protective pigment. one stout fellow i well remember, who had acute appendicitis at morogoro, was the driver, or engineer as they are called, of a grand trunk pacific train that ran from edmonton in alberta to prince rupert on the pacific. we operated upon him, and, though he did very well, yet he must have suffered many things from our want of nursing in his convalescence. very considerate and uncomplaining he was, like all the good fellows in our hospital, giving no trouble, and making every allowance for our difficulties. in fact, the great trouble one has among soldiers, is to get them to make any complaint to their own medical officer. if one suggests things to them or asks them leading questions, they will sometimes admit to certain deficiencies in food or treatment by the orderlies. but of what one did oneself or what the german sister left undone, there was never a complaint to me; though i rather think there were many grouses when once they left the hospital. it seemed to me that it was not that they didn't know better, or that they didn't know that certain things were wrong, for it is a very intelligent army, this of ours, and has been in hospital before in civil life, but all along i felt that they did not like to hurt one's feelings by not getting well as quickly as they might, and that they often pretended to a degree of comfort and ease from pain that i'm sure was not the fact. but this phase is often met with in civil life too, a doctor has much to be grateful for that many of his patients insist on getting well or saying that they are better, just to please him. the german surgical sister was always kind to our men, and when the serious state of the wound was past she would do the dressings herself, while i went about some other work. our men liked her, and i remember that our canadian engine driver offered her, in his kindly way, to give her a free pass on the grand trunk railway. he little knew that this german sister represented no small part of two big german shipping companies that could once have provided her with free passes over any railway in the world. i had under me, too, a couple of canadian drivers whose lorry in crossing one of the ramshackle bridges over a river, hit the railing on the side and plunged to the rocky depths below. a loose tree-trunk that formed the roadbed of the bridge had jerked the steering wheel from the driver's hands. over went the lorry on top of them, and the mercy of providence only interposed a big rock that left room below for the two drivers to escape the crushing that would have killed them. badly bruised only, they left me later to recover of their contusion in the hospital at dar-es-salaam. the surgery of this war "please give us a drop of johnnie walker before you do my dressing," said my irish sergeant, who had lost his leg in the fight at kangata. lest you might think that by "johnnie walker" he asked for his favourite brand of whiskey, i may tell you that we had no stimulant of that kind with us. it was chloroform he wanted to dull the pain that dressing his severed nerves entailed. always full of cheer and blarney, he kept our ward alive, only when the time for daily dressing came round did his countenance fall. then anxious eyes begged for ease from pain. but this once over, he laid his tired dirty face upon the embroidered pillow and jested of all the things the careful german housewife would say could she but see her embroidered sheets and the blue silk cushion from her drawing-room that kept his amputated leg from jars. we had no water to wash the men, barely enough for cooking and for surgical dressings, but there were silk bedspreads and eiderdown quilts and all the treasures of german sitting-rooms. and the fact that they were taken from the germans was balm to these wounded men. there was murray, a regimental sergeant-major, his leg badly broken by the lead slug from a german askari's rifle, ever the fore-most at the padre's services, chanting the responses and leading all the hymns. and wehmeyer, the young boer, who had accidentally blown a great hole through his leg above the ankle joint. and green, the rhodesian sergeant who had been brought in, almost _in extremis_, with blackwater. nor was his condition improved by the experience of having been blown up in the ambulance by a land mine, hidden in the thick dust of the road. thrown into the air by the force of the explosion, the car had turned over on him and the driver, who was killed. and there was becker the blue-eyed german prisoner with a bullet through his femoral artery and his hip. blanched from loss of blood before i could tie the vessel and stanch the bleeding, his leg suspended in our improvised splints, and on his way to make a splendid recovery. and taube, another german prisoner, shot through the abdomen, and recovering after his operation. gentle and conciliatory, with eyes of a frightened rabbit, he was the son of the great taube, the physiologist of dresden. cheek by jowl, in the best bed, was zahn, the hated ober-leutenant, loathed by his own men, one of whom wrote in his diary that he loved to see the bombardment of tanga, "for zahn was there, the ----, and i hope he'll meet a 12-inch shell." jealous of his officer's prerogative, and disinclined to be nursed in the same ward with our soldiers and his own, he gave a lot of trouble, demanding inordinately, victimising our orderly, unashamedly selfish. but he was sheltered from my wrath by the grave gunshot wound of his thigh. cowardly under suffering, he was in striking contrast to becker, who stood graver pain with hardly a flinch. after a great struggle he was eventually moved to korogwe to the stationary hospital. there it became necessary to amputate his leg, and zahn surrendered what little courage he had left. "no leg to-night, no zahn to-morrow," he said to his nurse. and he was right, for at eleven that night he had no leg, and at two the next morning there was no zahn upon this earth. and there was sergeant eve of the south african infantry, who got a d.c.m., a londoner, and of unquenchable good humour. vastly pleased with the daily bottle of stout we got for him with such difficulty, from supplies, he faced the awful daily dressing of his shattered leg without flinching, pretending to great comfort and an excellent position of his splint, which his crooked leg and my practised eye belied. and there was smith, yet a boy, but who always felt "champion" and "quite comfortable," though his days were few in the land and his pain must have been very severe. yet in his case he had days of that merciful euthanasia, the wonderful ease from pain that sometimes lasts for days before the end. in great contrast with these was an individual with a wound through the fleshy part of the thigh, by far the least seriously wounded of all in the ward, who never failed with his unending requests to the patient orderlies and his eternal complainings, until a public dressing-down from me brought him to heel. and glover who wept that i had lost his bullet, that unforgivable carelessness in a surgeon that allows a bullet, removed at an operation, to be thrown away with discarded dressings. but, of all, the perfect prince was de la motte, a subaltern in the 29th punjabis, ever the leader of the dangerous patrols along the native bush paths that give themselves so readily to ambush. shot through the spine and paralysed below the waist his life was only a question of months. but if he had little time to live, he had determined to see it through with a gay courage that was wonderful to see. previously wounded in france, he yet seemed, though he cannot possibly have been in ignorance, to be buoyed up with the perfect faith in recovery with which fractured spines so often are endowed; never asking me awkward questions, he made it so easy for me to do his daily dressing, so grateful for small attentions, and so ready to believe me when i told him that it was only a question of weeks before he would be home again. and in spite of all fears i have just heard he did get home to see his people, and by his cheerful courage to rob death of all his terrors. my operating theatre at handeni up the wide stone steps, under the arch of purple bougainvillea and you are in my operating theatre. a curtain of mosquito gauze screens it from the vulgar gaze. behind these big wooden doors a week ago was the office of this erstwhile german jail. to the left and right, now all clean and white painted, were the living rooms of the german jailor and his wife, but for the present they are transformed into special wards for severely wounded men. on the lime-washed wall and very carefully preserved is "_gott strafe england_" which the late occupants wrote in charcoal as they fled. strange how all german curses come home to roost, and move us to the ridicule that hurts the hun so much and so surely penetrates his pachydermatous hide. that the "hymn of hate" should be with us a cause for jest, and "strafe" be adopted, with enthusiasm, into the english language, he cannot understand. to him, as often to our own selves, we shall always be incomprehensible. through the gauze screen on to the white operating table passed all the flotsam of wounded humanity in the summer months. all the human wreckage that marked the savage bush fighting from german bridge to morogoro came to me upon this table. and its white cleanness, our towels and surgical gloves and overalls, filled them with a sense of comfort and of safety after weary and perilous journeys, that was in no way detracted from by the gleaming instruments laid out beside the table. even this chamber of pain was a haven of refuge to these broken men after long jolting rides over execrable roads. but a particularist among surgeons would have found much to disapprove of in this room. cracks in the stone floor let in migrating bands of red ants that no disinfectant would drive away. arrow slit windows, high up in the walls, gave ingress to the african swallow, redheaded and red-backed, whose tuneful song was a perpetual delight. his nests adorned the frieze, but they were full of squeaking youngsters and we could not shut the parents out. so we banished them during operating hours by screens of mosquito gauze; and to reward us, they sang to our bedridden men from ward window-sills. but despite these shortcomings of the operating theatre itself, we did good work here, and got splendid results. for god was good, and the clean soil took pity upon our many deficiencies. earth, that in france or gallipoli hid the germs of gangrene and tetanus, here merely produced a mild infection. lucky for us that we did not need to inject the wounded with tetanus antitoxin. but an added charm was given to our work by the necessity of improvisation. broken legs were put up in plaster casings with metal interruptions, so that the painful limb might be at rest, and yet the wound be free for daily dressings. the huns left us plaster of paris, damp indeed but still serviceable after drying; the corrugated iron roofing of the native jail provided us with the necessary metal. then by metal hoops the leg was slung from home-made cradles, and i defy the most modern hospital to show me anything more comfortable or efficient. broken thighs were suspended in slings from poles above the bed, painted the red, white and black that marked german government survey posts. naturally in a field hospital such as this, we had no nurses; but our orderlies, torn from mine shafts of dumfriesshire and the engine sheds of the north british railway, did their best, and compensated by much kindliness for their lack of nursing training. sadly in need were we of trained nurses; for the bedsores that developed in the night were a perpetual terror. ring pillows we made out of grass and bandages, but a fractured thigh, as you know, must lie upon his back, and we had little enough rectified spirit to harden the complaining flesh. but nurses we could not have at so advanced a post as this. the saving factor of all our work lay in the natural goodness of the men. they felt that many things were not right; for ours is a highly intelligent army and knows more of medicine and surgery than we, in our blindness, realise. but they made light of their troubles, as they learnt the difficulties we laboured with. so grateful were they for small attentions. that we should go out of our way to take pains to obtain embroidered sheets and lace-edged pillows, absolved us in their eyes from all the want of surgical nursing. liberal morphia we had to give to compensate for nursing defects. i have long felt that i would rather work for sick soldiers than for any class of humanity; and in fifteen years i have come to know the sick human animal in all his forms. so that the least that one could do was to scheme to get the precious egg by private barter with the natives, and to find the silk pillow that spelt comfort, but was the anathema of asepsis. no wonder that such splendid and uncomplaining victims spurred us to our best endeavours and made of toil a very joy. some african diseases this is the season of blackwater fever, the pestilence that stalks in the noontide and the terror of tropical campaigning. hitherto with the exception of the rhodesians who have had this disease previously in their northern territory, or men who have come from the congo or the shores of the great lakes, our army has been fairly free from this dread visitation. the campaigning area of the coast and the railway line of british east africa that gave our men malaria in plenty during the first two years of war, had not provided many of those focal areas in which this disease is distributed. the loyal north lancashires and the 25th royal fusiliers had been but little affected. the usambara valley along the tanga-moschi railway was also fairly free. on the big trek from kilimanjaro to morogoro the blackwater cases were almost entirely confined to rhodesians and to the kashmiris, who suffer in this way in their native mountains of nepal. but once we struck the central railway and penetrated south towards the delta of the rufigi the tale was different. british and south african troops began to arrive in the grip of this fell malady. it was written on their faces as they were lifted from ambulance or mule waggon. there was no need to seek the cause in the scrap of paper that was the sick report. all who ran could read it in the blanched lips, the grey-green pallor of their faces, the jaundiced eye, the hurried breathing. thereupon came three days' struggle with azrael's pale shape before the blackwater gave place to the natural colour again, or until the secreting mechanism gave up the contest altogether and the destroying angel settled firmly on his prey. at first, if there was no vomiting, it was easy to ply the hourly drinks of tea and water and medicine. but once deadly and exhausting vomiting had begun, one could no longer feed the victim by the mouth. then came the keener struggle for life, for fluid was essential and had to be given by other ways and means. into the soft folds of the skin of the arm-pits, breast and flanks we ran in salt solution by the pint. the veins of the arms we brought into service, that we might pour in this vitalising fluid. day and night the fight goes on for three days, until it is won or lost. here again, as in tick fever, we use the preparation 606, for which we are indebted to the great ehrlich. champagne is a great stand-by. so well recognised is the latter remedy that all old hands at tropical travel take with them a case of "bubbly water" for such occasions as these. blessed morphia, too, brings ease of vomiting and is a priceless boon. you ask me the cause of this disease, and i have to admit that among the authorities themselves there are no settled convictions. some hold--and for my part i am with them--that the attack is caused by quinine given in too large a dose to a subject who is rotten with malaria. but there are others who maintain that it is a malarial manifestation only, and that the big dose of quinine, which seems to some to precipitate the attack, is only a coincidence. be that as it may, there is little difference in the treatment adopted by either school. death achieves his victory as frequently with one as with another. certain it is that, to the common mind, quinine is the reputed cause and is avoided in large doses by men who have once had blackwater, or who are in that low rotten state that predisposes to it. in one point all agree, that one must be saturated with malaria before blackwater can develop. so great is the aversion shown by some men to the big doses of quinine as laid down by regulations, that men have often refused to take their quinine. others, too, who have protested at first, take their quinine ration only to find themselves in the grip of this disease within twelve hours. such a case was a frenchman named canarie (and the colour of his face, upon admission, did not belie his name), who had been treated for blackwater fever by the great koch in uganda many years before, and had been warned by him against big doses of quinine. that evening he was on my hands, fortunately soon to recover, and to win a prolonged convalescent leave out of this rain to the sunny and non-malarial slopes of wynberg. seldom do the rumbling ambulances roll in but among their human freight is some poor wretch snoring into unconsciousness or in the throes of epileptiform convulsions. custom has sharpened our clinical instinct, and where, in civil life, we would look for meningitis, now we only write cerebral malaria, and search the senseless soldier's pay-book for the name that we may put upon the "dangerous list." as this name is flashed 12,000 miles to england, i sometimes wonder what conception of malaria his anxious relatives can have. for there is no aspect of brain diseases that cerebral malaria cannot simulate; deep coma or frantic struggling delirium. a drop of blood from the lobe of the ear and the microscope reveals the deadly "crescents"--the form the subtertian parasite assumes in this condition. no time this for waiting or expectant treatment. quinine must be given in huge doses, regardless of the danger of blackwater, and into the muscles or, dissolved in salt solution, into the veins. the germans have left me some fine hollow needles that practice makes easy to pass into the distended swollen veins. through this needle large doses of quinine are injected, and in six hours usually no crescent remains to be seen. as a rule, conscious life returns to these senseless bodies after some hours; but, unhappily, such success does not always crown our efforts. then it is the padre's turn, and in the cool of the following afternoon the firing party, with arms reversed, toils behind our sky-pilot to that graveyard on the sunlit slopes of mount uluguru, where our surgical failures are put to rest. one can always tell, you know, the onset of such a complication as this; for when one finds the victim of malaria hazy and stupid after his fever has abated; and, more especially, if he develops wandering tendencies, leaving his stretcher at night to choose another bed in the ward, often to the protesting consternation of its present occupant, then one passes the word to sister elizabeth to get the transfusion apparatus ready. i shall not readily forget one stout fellow, a white company sergeant-major in the gold coast regiment, who was lost in the bush and discovered after many days in the grip of this fell disease. him they bore swiftly to me at handeni, and after many injections and convulsions innumerable, he was restored to conscious life again. sent back by me eventually to korogwe with a letter advising his invaliding out of the country, he opened and read my report upon the way. but he was of those who do not take kindly to invaliding. who would run his machine-gun section, if he were away, and his battalion in action? who like he could know the language and the little failings of his dusky machine-gun crew that he had trained so long and so carefully in the cameroon? so he appeared in the books of the stationary hospital at korogwe as an ordinary case of convalescent malaria on his own statement. and when they would send him still further back to m'buyuni he broke out from hospital one night, and, with his native orderly, boarded the train to railhead and marched the other 200 miles to morogoro. here i met him on the road starting out on the next long trek of 125 miles to kissaki. for news had come to him that the gold coast regiment had been in action and their impetuous courage rewarded by captured enemy guns and a long casualty list. but he was determined and unrepentant, one of his beloved machine-guns had been put out of action. how could i hold him back? so joining forces with another white sergeant of his regiment, who was hardly recovered from a wound, these two good fellows set out with a note that, _this_ time, was not to be destroyed, for the instruction of their regimental doctor. a third scourge responsible for frequent admissions into hospital is "tick-fever." rather an unpleasant name, isn't it? and in its course and effect it fully acts up to its reputation. more commonly known as "relapsing fever," this illness attacks men who have been sleeping on the floor of native huts, which in this country are swarming with these parasites. once in seven days for five or seven weeks these men burn with high fever--higher and more violent even than malaria--but sooner over. as you may imagine, it leaves them very debilitated; for no sooner does the victim recover from one attack than another is due. the ticks that are the host of the spirillum, the actual cause of the disease, live in the soft earth on the floor of native huts at the junction of the vertical cane rods and the soil. here, by scraping, you may discover hundreds of these loathsome beasts in every foot of wall. but they are fortunately different from the grass ticks that, though unpleasant, are not dangerous to man. for the tick that carries the spirillum is blind and cannot climb any smooth surface. so to one sleeping on a bed or even a native "machela" above the ground, he is harmless. but woe betide the tired soldier who attempts to escape the tropical rain by taking refuge on the floor. in sleep he is attacked, and when his blind assailant is full of blood he drops off; so the soldier may never know that he has been bitten. i got twelve cases alone from one company of the rhodesians, who sheltered in a native village near kissaki. of course, not every tick is infected, and for that we have to be very grateful. at the height of the fever the spirillum appears in the blood as an attenuated, worm-like creature, actively struggling and squirming among the blood corpuscles. a drop of blood taken from the ear shows hundreds of these young snakes beneath the microscope. for the cure we are again indebted to that excellent hun bacteriologist ehrlich, who gave us .606--a strong arsenical preparation that we dissolve in a pint of salt solution, and inject into the veins at the height of the paroxysm of fever. this definitely destroys the spirillum, and no further attacks of fever result; but this injection, once its work is done, does not confer immunity from other attacks. it is typical of the hun and his anti-semitic feelings that ehrlich, the most distinguished of german scientists, perhaps, after koch, has never received the due reward of all the distinction he has conferred on german medicine, for the offence that he was a jew. we should have honoured him, as we have done jenner or lister. relapsing, or _rã¼ckfall_ fever, as the germans call it, was one of the common dodges used by them to deceive the ingenuous british doctor. for the subtle hun prisoner knew that, if he pretended to this disease, it would win him at least a week in the grateful comfort of a hospital, and perchance the ministering joys conferred by german nursing sisters, until the expected relapse did not occur; then the british doctor, realising the extent of his deception, would thrust these shameless malingerers to the cold comfort of the prison camp. how is it, you might ask me, that there are any natives left, if tropical africa is so full of such beastly diseases as this? is it that the native is naturally immune, or is it that the white man is of such a precious quality that he alone is attacked by these parasites and poisonous biting flies? the fact is that the native is affected also, and in childhood chiefly, so that the infant mortality in many native tribes is very high. and there is little doubt that repeated attacks of malaria in youth, if recovered from, do confer a kind of protection against attacks in adult life. but this is not the case with newly introduced disease; for the sleeping sickness that came to uganda along the caravan routes from the congo, has swept away fully a million of the natives along the shores of lake victoria nyanza. but the native has a sure sense of the unhealthiness of any locality, and one must be prepared for trouble when one notices that the native villages are built up on the hillsides. this was specially remarked by us on our long trek down the pangani, and thus we were warned of the fever that lurked in the bright green lush meadows beside the water, and the "fly" that soon overtook our transport mules and cattle and the horses of general brits' 2nd mounted brigade. at first we thought the columns of smoke along the mountain-sides beside the pangani were signal fires for the enemy; but before long, when the roads were choked with victims of "fly" and horse-sickness, we realised the wisdom that induced the simple native to take his sheep and cattle up the hillsides and above the danger zone. when one spends only a short time in some native huts, it is quite clear how he escapes infection. for the floor is covered with a layer of wood ashes that is usually deadly to bugs and fleas and ticks and other crawling beasts; and the atmosphere is so full of wood smoke that the most enterprising mosquito or tsetse-fly would flee, as we do, choking from the acrid smoke. so the native fire that burns within his hut day and night not only serves to cook his food and to keep wild beasts away, but also supplies him with an excellent form of keating's powder for the floor and smoke to drive the winged insects from the grateful warmth of his fireside. horse-sickness lying beside the road with outstretched neck and a spume of white froth on nose and muzzle are the horses of the 2nd mounted brigade; with bodies swollen by the decomposition that sets in so rapidly in this sun, and smelling to high heaven, are the fine young horses that came so gallantly through kahe some ten days ago. "brits' violets" the tommies call them, as they seek a site to windward to pitch their tents. "hyacinths" they mutter, as the wind changes in the night, and drives them choking from their blankets, illustrating the truth of the south african "kopje-book" maxim, "one horse suffices to move a camp--if he be dead enough." for weeks after the brigade passed through m'kalamo the air was full of stench, and the bush at night alive with lions coming for the feast. for this is horse-sickness, the plague that strikes an apparently healthy horse dead in his tracks, while the boer trooper hastily removes bridle and saddle and picks another horse from the drove of remounts that follow after. no time to drag the body off the road; so the huge motor lorries choose another track in the bush to avoid this unwholesome obstruction. horse-sickness takes ten short days to develop after infection, and the organism is so tiny that it passes through the finest filter and is ultramicroscopic. that means that it is too small to be recognised by the high power of an ordinary microscope. there was horse-sickness in the bush meadows beside the river near kahe. careless troopers watered their horses, after sundown, when the dew was on the grass and death lurked in the evening moisture where it had been absent in the dry heat of the afternoon. the wounded from kissaki two very busy days were before us when the wounded came in from kissaki, so badly shaken and so pale and wan after their journey. they had been cared for by the field ambulance before i got them, and by the extraordinary excellence of the surgery paid the greatest of tributes to the care of the surgeons in front. the german hospital there, half finished--for our advance had been far ahead of german calculations-fell into our hands and with it a german doctor and some nurses. the nurses had been very kind to our men and worked well for our doctors, but they had followed the usual german custom in this country, of being too liberal with morphia. that this drug can become a curse is well known, though it is, when given in reason, the greatest blessing, the most priceless boon of war. one feels perhaps that the sisters had given it without the surgeon's knowledge, and not entirely to give ease from pain, but also perhaps to give rest to the ward, the quiet that would allow these over-worked women to get some sleep themselves. it was written on the faces of the three amputation cases that they had had too much morphia. and as this drug robs men of their appetite, keeps them thin, and prevents their wounds from healing, it became my unpleasant task to break them of it. this was only to be done by hardening one's heart, by giving bromide and stout, and insisting on the egg and milk that interspaced all meals. it is so easy to get a reputation for kindness by being too complacent in giving way to requests for morphia. it made one feel such an absolute brute to disregard the wistful pleading eye, the hands that tugged at the mosquito curtains to show they were awake, when, late at night, i made my evening round. but it had to be done, and i fear the work and the sun and the tropics made one's temper very short, particularly when it was only possible by losing one's temper to preserve the indifference to these influences that was necessary to complete the cure. it was very hard on them at the time, especially as they were rotten with malaria and tick fever, in addition to their wounds. but there were other ways in which one made it up to them, if they did but know it. nor did they see that quinine given by the veins, so much more trouble to me and to the sister, was better for them than the quinine tablet that was so easily swallowed, and so ineffectual. nor could they, one thought, always know that 606 had to be given for tick fever, and that it was of no value save when given at the height of fever, when they felt so miserable and so disinclined to be disturbed. there was shelley, the irishman, a big policeman from johannesburg, badly wounded in the thigh. he had been taken prisoner by the germans and remained so for three days, until our next advance found him installed in the german hospital. his wound was so bad that amputation alone was left to do. when the worst of the dressings was over and the stage of daily change of gauze and bandage had arrived, he always liked sister elizabeth to do his dressings. sister's hands were much more gentle than mine, and shelley always associated me with pain, little knowing that, if a dressing is to be well and properly done, it is always inseparable from a certain amount of suffering. but i saw through his blarney, and he was added to the list of those who preferred sister's hands to my attentions. and there was rose, a mere lad, who had also lost a leg from wounds; he lay awake at night, though not in great pain, during the process of breaking him of the morphia habit. when i pretended not to hear his little moan, as i made my evening round, he tugged at his mosquito curtain to show that he was awake. but asperin and bromide and a nightly drink of hot brandy and water soon broke off this habit. after that it was easy to cut off the alcohol by degrees as he grew to like his eggs in milk the more. he, too, always had some reason why sister should do his dressings, and i think that sister elizabeth and he plotted together that i should have some other more important job to do when rose's turn came to go upon the table. then there was parsons, the printer, who in times of peace produced the _rand daily mail_; he had also lost a leg and he surprised me with his special knowledge of the various qualities of paper. in the corner of the verandah that had been turned into an extra ward by screening it off with native reed-fencing was gilfillan, the most perfect patient. propping his foot against the wall to correct the foot-drop that division of the nerve of his leg had caused, he had passed many sleepless nights in his long and wearisome convalescence. beside the door, beckoning to me in a mysterious manner, was drury, a trooper in the south african horse. in his eyes a suspicious light, as he earnestly requested to be moved. "for god's sake take me away, they're trying to poison my food; and those germans over there are going to shoot me to-night." this poor lad had been shot badly through the shoulder, and only by the skill of moffat, the surgeon from cape town, had he retained what was left of his shattered arm. now malaria, in addition, had him in its grip, and his mental condition told me plainly that his brain was being affected. with the greatest difficulty sister elizabeth and i persuaded him to undergo the quinine transfusion into his veins that restored him to sober sense the next day. "i really did think those two german prisoners were going to shoot me," he said. but the two prisoners in his ward were more afraid of him than he of them, and their broken legs, for they had got in the way of one of our machine-guns, precluded any movement from their beds. our men were extraordinarily kind to german prisoners in the ward. the boers were different; they were never unkind, but they ignored them completely, for the union of south africa had too much to forgive in the rebellion and in german south-west africa. "now then, fritz, there ain't no bleeding sausage for you this morning;" and fritz, smilingly obedient, stretched out his hand for the cold bacon that was his breakfast. toward the end sister hildegarde was just as kind to our men as she was to her own people, and she was highly indignant with me when i stopped the night orderly from waking her, early one morning, when i had to transfuse a blackwater case with salt solution. she thought, she who had had quite enough to do the day before, that i did not call her because i thought she did not want to get up. she felt that i was tacitly drawing a distinction between her conduct of that morning and the self-denial of the other night, when she and elizabeth sat up all night and day with a german soldier who had perforated his intestines during an attack of typhoid fever. i had operated upon him to close the hole the typhoid ulcer had made. the german doctor, to whom we had given his liberty, in order that he might attend the civil population, and whom i had called in consultation over the case, had disagreed with our diagnosis. but i had overruled him, and at the operation was glad to be able to show him and the german sisters that our diagnosis was right, and that i was not operating on him just because he happened to be a prisoner of war. the german sisters were grateful to us for getting up at night and in the early morning to give him the salt solution that might save his life, and they repaid it in the only way they could, by kindness to our men. but in any case they could not help liking our sick soldiers, and many is the time that they have been indignant with me for deficiencies in food and equipment which i could not help. "our german soldiers would have complained until their cries reached lettow himself," they said, "if they had to put up with what you make your soldiers endure." and if, at first, hildegarde, of the sour and disapproving face, did little irregular things for wounded german soldiers, faked temperature charts, prepared little forbidden meals at night, and in other ways pretended to a degree of illness in her german soldiers that my clinical eye refused to see, i could not altogether blame her. when i remembered the treatment that i saw our sick and wounded prisoners in germany get from the hun doctor, i was often furious, and determined to do a bit of "strafing" on my own. but i could not forget that the french and belgian nurses did just the same for our wounded in german hands, adding bandages to unwounded limbs, describing to the german doctor our sleepless nights of pain when the walls of that french convent had echoed only to our snores, preparing delicious feasts, at night, for us to compensate for german rations, and in many ways contriving to keep us longer in their hands and to postpone the journey that would land us in the vileness of a german prison hospital. hildegarde had her troubles too, for she had not heard for two years of her lover in germany, whose mild and bespectacled face peered from a photograph in her room. he did not look to be made of heroic mould, but who can tell? long ago he may have bitten the dust of flanders or found another sweetheart to console him. and the native hospital boys, swift to recognise the changes of war and the comparative leniency of british discipline, got out of hand and failed to clean and scrub as they did in former days. then i would inquire and uphold hildegarde, and the recalcitrant mahomed would be marched off to receive fifteen of the best from the provost sergeant. my operating theatre in morogoro "jambo bwona," and the sycophantic ali would leap to his feet and raise the dirty red fez that adorned his head. "jambo," said nazoro, the senior boy, standing to attention. for nazoro was a wanyamwezi from lake tanganyika and disdained any of ali's dodges to conciliate me. graceful as a deer was nazoro, and a good askari lost in a better operating-room boy. this was my morning greeting as i peeped in before breakfast to see that the operating theatre was swept and garnished for the day's work. "good morning," said elizabeth, looking up from the steriliser where she was preparing instruments for the morning operations. educated partly in england and speaking the language perfectly, she hated us only a little less than the other germans. but she was good at her job and conscientious, and a very great help to us. always as cheerful as one could expect a woman to be who worked for the english soldiers and dressed the wounds of men to fit them to return to the field to fight against her people again. who knows that the tall rhodesian, from whose feet she so skilfully removed the "jiggers" and cleansed the wounds of a long trek, would not, all the sooner for her care, perhaps be drawing a bead upon her husband in the near future? very proud was elizabeth of her husband's iron cross that the kaiser had sent by wireless only last week; news of which was told to her by a wounded prisoner just brought in. for her husband, who, to judge from his wife's description, must have been quite a good fellow for a hun, was in command of one of the "schutzen" companies down near the rufigi. he, too, had lived long in england to learn the ways of english shipping companies that would prove of such value to the deutsch ost-afrika line. so jubilant was she at the news that i had to give her a half-holiday to recover; twice only in the four months we worked together was elizabeth as happy: once when she got a letter, by the infinite kindness of general smuts, from her husband, and another time when a letter came from switzerland to tell her of her baby in hamburg, her mother, and the two brothers that were in the cavalry in the advance into russia. at first, i must confess, i thought that this charming and intelligent lady had offered to work for us, especially as she refused our pay, in order to get information of the regiments and the prevailing diseases and sick rate of our army. soon i had reason to know that she played the game, and stayed only in order to work to help the prisoners of her own people, and our wounded too. for any day her husband might want help from us or might be brought in wounded to our hospital, where she could nurse and tend to him herself. our men liked to be attended by her, for she was gentler far than i and never short-tempered with them. nazoro we found in chains on our arrival for the offence of having attacked a german, and only his usefulness in the operating theatre saved him from the prison. in spite of the disapproval of elizabeth and other germans, i struck off the chains, feeling that he very probably had good excuse for his offence. but the germans never failed to point out what a dangerous man he was. once indeed he was slack and casual, so i promptly ordered him to be "kibokoed," and thereafter i could find no fault in his work and behaviour. possessed of three wives, for he was passing rich on sixteen rupees a month, he asked one day for leave to celebrate the arrival of his first son. this i granted, only to be assailed a fortnight later by requests for leave to attend his grandmother's funeral, and to see a sick friend. but these had a familiar ring about them, and were not successful in procuring the lazy day that is so beloved by african humanity. but ali was of a different mould; small and slight and anxious to please, he was nevertheless swift to leave his work when once my back was turned. forsaken in love--for he had been deserted by his wife--he had forsworn the sex and buried his sorrows in "pombe," the kaffir beer that effectually deprived him of what little intelligence he had. he was a "fundi" at taking out jiggers, and sat for hours at the feet of our foot-soldiers; quickly adopting an air of authority that occasionally brought him swift blows from east african troopers, who do not tolerate easily such airs in a native, he produced the unbroken jigger flea with unfailing regularity and prescribed the pail of disinfectant in which the tortured feet were soaked. another long suit of his was the bandage machine, and the hours he could steal away from real work were spent in endless windings of washed though much stained bandages. the german women hated us far more even than did the men; nor did those who, like elizabeth, knew england, fail to believe any the less the german stories of english wickedness. when i told her of portugal's entry into the war, and how our ancient and hereditary ally had handed over to england sixty out of the seventy-one german ships she had taken in her ports, elizabeth snorted with rage and said that england, of course, forced all the little nations to fight against germany. one of my friends, and not the least welcome, was corporal nel. a boer, he had come up from the union with brits. tiring of war, he chose the nobler part played by the guard that cherishes german captured cattle. swiftly losing his job owing to an outbreak of east coast fever among his herd, he took to a vagabond's life. wanted by the police in the union, i am told, he avoided his regiment and lived with the natives. forced to come to me one night with an attack of angina pectoris, he was grateful for the ease from suffering that amyl-nitrite, morphia and brandy gave in that exquisitely painful affliction. accordingly he consented to organise some natives who should be armed with passes signed by me, and illuminated with red crosses and other impressive signs, and collect eggs and chickens and fruit for my patients in hospital. so impressed were the natives with the ju-ju conferred by my illumination of these passes with coloured chalks, that they brought me a daily and most welcome supply of these necessaries for our men. but the arm of the law is long, and it sought out corporal nel within the native hut in which he made his home. and soon, to my sorrow and the infinite grief of our lambs in hospital, for whom those eggs, chickens, mangoes, and bananas spelt so much in the way of change of food, the provost sergeant had this wanderer in his chitches. the german in peace and war "what do i think of this country, and how does the hun of east africa compare with his european brother?" you ask me. well, to begin with the colony, as of the greater importance, i must confess to be very taken with it, and i hope most sincerely that our government will never give it back. though it is not so suited as british east africa for european colonisation, there are yet great areas of sufficient elevation to allow of white women and children living, for years, without suffering much from the vertical sun and the fevers of the country. there are many places where one only sees a mosquito for three months of the year, the soil is very fertile, and labour not only willing and efficient, but also very cheap. the european, too, has learnt to live properly in this country, and to avoid the midday sun; all offices and works are closed from twelve to three. if only man would learn wisdom in the amount of beer he drinks, and the food he eats, the tale of disease would be much less. the colony is fully developed with excellent railways, well-built houses, a tractable and well-disciplined native population. dar-es-salaam in particular, seems to have been the apple of the german colonial eye. there are fine mission stations in all the healthy regions of the country, and great plantations of rubber, sisal, cotton, and corn abound. the white women and children, though rather pasty and washed out after at least two years' residence in the country, do not appear debilitated after their long tropical sojourn. the planters have, as a rule, invested all their belongings in their plantations, and make the country more a home than our people in east africa, who are of a more wealthy and leisured class. roads have been made and bridges built. in fact, the pioneering and donkey work has all been done, and the country only waits for us to step into our new inheritance. to me it has been a source of surprise that the german, who consistently drinks beer in huge quantities, takes little or no exercise, and cohabits with the black women of the country extensively, should have performed such prodigies of endurance on trek in this campaign. one would have thought that the englishman, who keeps his body fitter for games, eschews beer for his liver's sake, and finds that intimacy with the native population lowers his prestige, would have done far better in this war than the german. that in all fairness he has not done so is due to the fact that we, as an invading army, were unable to look after ourselves or to care for ourselves in the same way as the german. we have had to carry kit and heavy ammunition, to sleep with only a ground sheet beneath us, through the tropic rains, to do without the shelter and protection of mosquito nets. the german soldier, even a private in a white or schutzen kompanie, as distinct from the under-officer with an askari regiment or feld kompanie, as it is called, has had at least eight porters to carry all his kit, his food, his bed, to have his food ready prepared at the halting-places, and his bed erected, and mosquito curtains hung. only on night patrols has he run risk from the mosquito. "how can you ask your men to carry loads and then fight as well, in equatorial africa?" they say to us. his captured chop boxes, for each individual is a separate unit and has his own food carried and prepared for him, have provided us, often, with the only square meals our men have enjoyed. never short of food or drink or porters, ever marching toward his food supplies along a predetermined line of retreat, the german walks toward his dinner, as our men have marched away from theirs. well paid too, five rupees a day pay and three rupees a day ration money, he had had no stint of eggs and chickens and the fruit of the country, that have been rarest of luxuries to us. "far better if you had had fewer men and done them properly in the matter of food and hospitals and porters," captured german officers have often said to me. "how your men can stand it and do such marches is incredible to us." that is always the tenour of their remarks, their criticism, and they are clearly right, had such a policy been a practicable one for us, which it was not. at first the feeling between the soldiers of the two countries was good and war was conducted, even by them, in a more or less chivalrous manner. we thought the east african hun a better fellow than his european brother. but it was only because he knew the game was up in east africa, and thought that he had better behave properly, lest the retribution, that would be sure to follow, would fall heavily upon him. later we found him to be the same old hun, the identical savage that we know in europe; the fear of consequences only restrains him here. it is his nature and the teaching of his schools and professors. we have often been amazed at the disclosures from german officers' pocket-books. in the same oiled silk wrapping we find photographs of his wife and children, and cheek by jowl with them, the photographs of abandoned women and filthy pictures, such as can be bought in low quarters of big european cities. their absence of taste in these matters has been incomprehensible to us. when we have taxed them with it, they are unashamed. "it is you who are hypocrites," they reply; "you like looking at forbidden pictures, if no one is about to see, but you don't carry them in your pocket-books. we, however, are natural, we like to look at such things, why should we not carry them with us?" if this be hypocrisy, i prefer the company of hypocrites. in their houses it was the same; disgusting pictures, masquerading in the guise of art, adorned the walls, evidences of corrupt taste and doubtful practices in every drawer and cupboard. even the commandant of bukoba, von stuemer, and his name did not belie his nature, though, before the war, quite popular with the british officials and planters of uganda, had a queer taste in photography. in the big family album were evidences of his astonishing domestic life; for there were photographs of him in full regimentals, with medals and decorations, sitting on a sofa beside his wife, who was in a state of nature. others portrayed him without the conventionalities of clothing, and his wife in evening dress. officers from the cameroon have confirmed the filthy habits of the huns and hunnesses, how they defiled the rooms in the hospital at duala that they occupied just before they were sent away; how disgusting were their habits in the cabins of the fine atlantic liner that took them back to europe. not that it is their normal custom; it was merely to render the rooms uninhabitable for us who were to follow, and their special way of showing contempt and hatred for their foes. do you wonder that the stewards and crew of the union castle liner struck work rather than convey and look after these beasts on the voyage to europe? our french missionary padre tells me that it was just the same in alsace. the incident at zabern after the manoeuvres was entirely due to the disgust and indignation of the french people at the defiling of their beds and bedrooms by the german soldiers, who had been billeted upon them. looting looting, although you may not know it, is the natural impulse of primitive man. and in war we are very primitive. to take what does not belong to one is very natural when a man is persuaded that he can be absolved from the charge of theft by quoting military necessity. how surely in war one sheds the conventions of society! it has the attraction of buried treasure; the charm of getting something for nothing. but there are different ways or degrees of looting. now there were a few of us in german east africa who had been in the retreat from mons and the subsequent advance to the marne and beyond it to the aisne. indelibly engraved upon our minds were the pictures of french chateaux and farmhouses looted by the german troops in their advance and abandoned to us in their retreat. all along the countless roads the german transport had pressed, hurrying to the aisne, were evidences of the loot of german officers and men. in roadside ditches, half buried in the late summer vegetation, were pictures and bronzes, china and statuary, the loot the german officer had chosen to adorn the walls of his ancestral schloss. marble figures leant drunkenly against the wayside hedges, big brass clocks strewed the ditches. long before, of course, had the german rank and file been compelled to jettison their prizes, for the transport horses were nearly foundered and only officers' loot could be retained. later, when the exhaustion of the horses was complete, and capture of the waggons seemed imminent, the regimental equipment and food supply, and, finally, the loot of high officers had to be abandoned. the whole story of that retreat was to be read in the discard by the roadside. the regimental butcher had clung to his meat and the implements of his trade until the last; and when we found the roads littered with carcases of oxen, sacks of pea flour and sausage machines, we knew that we would shortly find the general's loot beside the hedge. in the houses, too, both the chateaux and the comfortable french farmhouses, we saw what manner of man the hun could be in the matter of looting. where the soldier could not loot he could not refrain from destroying. floors were knee-deep in women's gear, household goods, private letters and all the treasures of french linen chests. trampled by muddy german boots were the fine whiteness of french bed-linen. nor had the german soldier refrained from the last exhibit of his "_kultur_," but left filthy evidences of his bestial habits behind him to ensure that the bedrooms would be uninhabitable by us. remembering all these things we wondered how our men would behave now that the tables were turned and they in a position to loot the treasures of many german farms and plantation houses. of course, divisional orders against looting and wanton destruction were very strict. where houses were at the mercy of small patrols and bodies of our men under non-commissioned officers, far from the path of the main advancing army, the temptation to all must have been immense, and it speaks volumes for the natural goodness of our men and their ingrained sense of order that never in this whole country was looting done by any of our troops. true many houses were plundered, and there was a certain amount of wanton damage; but it was all done by the plundering native or by the hun himself in his retreat. for our calculating enemy left no stone unturned to deprive us of any of the useful booty of war. he deliberately destroyed and ravaged and burnt the property of his fellow-countrymen, and mentally determined to send in the claim for damage against us. a german will always complain and send in a bill of costs to us, when he is once assured of the protection of british troops. naturally, of course, we requisitioned and gave receipts for any article or property that might be of use to us for our hospitals or our supplies. in fact, our scrupulous regard for enemy property will probably result in very many fraudulent claims against our government when the war is over. how easy to add mythical articles of great value to the list attested to by the signature of a british staff officer. who could blame a hun when the british were such fools and forgery of receipts so easy? but such was the regard we paid to german women and children that, if a house were occupied, we took nothing and disturbed nothing. a german farmhouse was an oasis of plenty amid a very hungry army. it made us sometimes wonder whether it was quite right to leave german ducks and fowls and sheep behind us, when we had to live on mealie meal and tough trek-ox. but the women were so terrified, at first, that we gave such farms a wide berth when scarcity of water did not force us to camp within the enclosures. shortly, however, as is the german custom, these women would profit by their immunity and come to regimental headquarters that listened so patiently and courteously to the tale of pawpaws or mangoes--fruit that was really wild--vanished in the night. in no campaign, i dare swear, has so much respect been given to occupied houses, so much consideration to conquered people. the german government paid this compliment to our army, that they left their women and children behind to our tender mercies. at handeni, ours being a casualty clearing station, our equipment included 200 stretchers, with little hospital equipment, beyond the men's own blankets and their kit. no sooner did we come along and install ourselves in the abandoned german fort than the 5th south african infantry were in action at kangata to win 125 casualties. for us they were to nurse and keep until convalescent; for there was no stationary hospital behind us, and forty miles of the worst of bad roads robbed us of the chance of transporting them to the railway. so every afternoon i went to german planters' houses (empty, of course), for forty miles around, in a swift ford car. and back in triumph we bore bedsteads and soft mattresses that heavy german bodies so lately had impressed. warm from the hun, we brought them to our wounded. down pillows, soft eiderdown quilts for painful broken legs; mattresses for pain-racked bodies. and one's reward the pleasure and appreciation our men showed at these attempts to ameliorate _their_ lot. they were so "bucked" to see us coming back at night laden with the treasures of german linen chests. it would have done your heart good to see their dirty, unwashed faces grinning at me from lace-edged pillows. silk-covered cushions from hun drawing-rooms for painful amputation stumps! so i had the double pleasure, all the expectancy and the delight of seeing our men so pleased. forty bedsteads and beds complete we found in that district, until the bare white-washed walls of the jail were transformed. white paint, too, we discovered in plenty, and soon our wards were virginal in their whiteness. and when i tell you that at one time i had no less than thirteen gunshot fractures of thigh and leg alone and other wounds in proportion, in the hospital, you may judge how necessary beds were. but the natives had nearly always been before us, and the confusion was indescribable, drawers turned out, the contents strewed upon the floors, cupboards broken into, and all portable articles removed. pathetic traces everywhere of the happy family life before war's devastating fingers rifled all their treasures. photographs, private letters, a doll's house, children's broken toys. and from some letters one gathered that insight into the relations between the plantation owner and the manager who lived there. at one farm, apparently owned by an englishman who paid his manager, a german dane from flensburg, the princely sum of 200 rupees a month, we found that one, at least, of our own people knew how to grind the uttermost labour from his german employee. for there were letters from the manager asking for leave after 2 â½ years' labour at this plantation, and pointing out that the german government had laid down the principle of european leave every two years. to this came the cold reply that his employer cared nothing for german government regulations; the contract was for three years, and he would see to it that this provision was carried out. one later letter begged for financial assistance to tide him over the coming months; for his wife and children had been ill and he himself in hospital at korogwe with blackwater fever for two months. "and how shall i pay for food the next two months, if my pay is 200 rupees only, and hospital expenses 500?" sherry and bitters a common inquiry put to doctors is, "what do you think of the alcohol question in a tropical campaign?" do we not think that it is a good thing that our army is, by force of circumstances, a teetotal one? much as we regret to depart from an attitude that is on the whole hostile to alcohol, i must say that it is our conviction that in the tropics a certain amount of diffusible stimulant is very beneficial and quite free from harm. and the cheapest and most reliable stimulant of that nature one can obtain commercially is, of course, whiskey. this whole campaign has been almost entirely a teetotal one for reasons of transport and inability to get drink. not for any other reason, i can assure you. but where the absence of alcohol has been no doubt responsible for a wonderful degree of excellent behaviour among our troops, i yet know that the few who were able to get a drink at night felt all the better for it. at the end of the day here, when the sun has set and darkness, swiftly falling, sends us to our tents and bivouacs, there comes a feeling of intense exhaustion, especially if any exercise has been taken. and exercise in some form, as you have heard, is absolutely essential to health after the sun has descended toward the west about four o'clock in the afternoon. for men and officers go sick in standing camp more than on trek, and, often, the more and the longer the men are left in camp to rest, with the intention of recuperation, the more they go down with malaria and dysentery. it is no sudden conclusion we have come to as to the value of alcohol, but we certainly feel that a drink or two at night does no one any harm. but the drink for tropics must not be fermented liquor: beer and wine are headachy and livery things. whisky and particularly vermouth are far the best. and vermouth is really such a pleasant wholesome drink too. the idea of vermouth alone is attractive. for it is made from the dried flowers of camomile to which the later pressings of the grape have been added. one has only to smell dried camomile flowers to find that their fragrance is that of hay meadows in an english june! camomile preparations, too, are now so largely used in medicine and still keep their reputation for wholesome and soothing qualities that it has enjoyed for generations. how could one think that harm could lurk in the tincture of such fragrant things as the flowers of english meadows? no little reputation as a cure and preventive for blackwater fever does vermouth enjoy! we know that we must always, if we would be wise, be guided by local experience and local custom, and it is told of the anglo-german boundary commission in east africa, that the frontier between the two protectorates can still be traced by the empty vermouth bottles! but there were no cases of blackwater. i am told, on that very long and trying expedition. in the survey of the whole question of prohibition in the future, the essential difference of the requirements of humanity in tropical countries must be taken into consideration. there is no doubt, and in this all medical men of long tropical experience will agree, that some stimulant is needed by blond humanity living out of his geographical environment and debilitated by the adverse influence of his lack of pigment, the vertical sun and a tropical heat. it is more than probable that a proviso will have to be added to any world-wide scheme of prohibition. the cocktail, the universal "sherry and bitters" and "sundowner" will have to be retained. to expect a man, so exhausted that the very idea of food is distasteful, to digest his dinner, is to ask too much of one's digestive apparatus. and this we must all admit, that if a man in the tropics does not eat, then certainty he may not live. native porters toiling behind the column on march is the long and ragged line of native porters, the human cattle that are, after all, the most reliable form of transport in equatorial africa. clad in red blankets or loin cloths or in kilts made of reeds and straw, they struggle on singing through the heat. grass rings temper the weight of the loads to their heads, each man carrying his forty pounds for the regulation ten miles, the prescribed day's march in the tropics. winding snake-like along the native paths, they go chanting a weird refrain that keeps their interest and makes the miles slip by. here are some low-browed and primitive porters from the mountains, "shenzies," as the superior swahili call them, and clad only in the native kilt of grass or reeds. good porters these, though ugly in form, and lacking the grace of the wanyamwezi or the wahehe. at night they drop their loads beside the water-holes that mark the stages in the long march, and seek the nearest derelict ox or horse and prepare their meals, with relish, from the still warm entrails. this, with their "pocha," the allowance of mealie meal or mahoga, keeps them fat, their stomachs distended, bodies shiny and spirits of the highest. round their camp fires they chatter far into the night, relieved, by the number of the troops and the plentiful supply of dead horses in the bush, from the ever-present fear of the lion that, in other days, would lift them at night, yelling, from their dying fires. one wonders that their spirits are so high, for they would get short shrift and little mercy from german raiding parties behind our advance. for the porter is fan-game, and is as liable to destruction as any other means of transport. nor would the germans hesitate a moment to kill them as they would our horses. but the bush is the porters' safeguard, and at the first scattering volley of the raiding party, they drop their loads and plunge into the undergrowth. later, when we have driven off the raiders, it is often most difficult to collect the porters again. naturally the british attitude to the porter _genus_ differs from that of the hun. our aim, indeed, is to break up an enemy convoy, but we seek to capture the hostile porters that we may use them in our turn, all the more welcome to us for the increased usefulness that german porter discipline has given them. porters are the sole means of transport of the german armies; to these latter are denied the mule transport and the motor lorries that eat up the miles when roads are good. so they take infinite pains to train their beasts of burden. often they are chained together in little groups to prevent them discarding their loads and plunging into the jungle when our pursuit draws near. the german knows the value of song to help the weary miles to pass, and makes the porters chant the songs and choruses dear to the native heart. increasingly important these carriers become as the rains draw near, and the time approaches when no wheels can move in the soft wet cotton soil of the roads. nor are the porters altogether easy to deal with. very delicate they often are when moved from their own district and deprived of their accustomed food. dysentery plays havoc in their ranks. for the banana-eating baganda find the rough grain flour much too coarse and irritating for their stomachs. so our great endeavour is to get the greatest supply of local labour. strange to say, it is here that our misplaced leniency to the german meets its due reward. it is not easy to tell the combatant, unless he be caught red-handed. they all wear khaki, the only difference being that a civilian wears pearl buttons, the soldiers the metal military button with the imperial crown stamped on it. when it is borne in mind that the buttons are hooked on, one can imagine how simple it is to transform and change identity. nor are the helmets different in any way, save that a soldier's bears the coloured button in the front; but as this also unscrews, the recognition is still more difficult. with these people, it has been our habit to send them back to their alleged civil occupations after extracting an undertaking that they will take no further active or passive part in the war. but, to our surprise, when we sought for labour or supplies in their country districts, we found that we could obtain neither. upon inquiry of the natives we learn that our late prisoners are conducting a campaign of intimidation. "soon--in a year--we shall all return, and the english will be driven out. if you labour or sell eggs, woe betide you in the day of reckoning." what can the native do? as they say to us, "we see the germans returning to their farms just as they were before; the missionaries installed in their mission stations again. what are we to believe?" the padre and his job how often, in this war, has not one pitied the army chaplain! as a visitor to hospital, as a dispenser of charity, as the bearer of hospital comforts and gifts to sick men, as an indefatigable organiser of concerts, as the cheerful friend of lonely men, he is doing a real good work. but that is not his job, it is not what he came out to do. and the padre, willing, earnest, good fellow that he is, is conscious that he is often up against a brick wall, a reserve in the soldier that he cannot penetrate. the fact is, that he has rank, and that robs him of much of his power to reach the private soldier. but he must have rank, just as much as a doctor. executive authority must be his, in order to assert and keep up discipline. and yet there is the constant barrier between the officer and the man. doctors know and feel it: feel that, in the officer, they are no longer the doctor. now, however, great changes have been wrought and the medical officer likes to be called "doc," just as much as the chaplain values the name "padre." there's something so intimate about it. such a tribute to our job and our responsibility and the trust and confidence they have in us. the soldier is not concerned about his latter end; all that troubles him about his future, is the billet he yearns for, the food he hopes to get, the rest he is sure is due to him, his leave and the time when--how he longs for that!--he may turn his sword into a ploughshare and have done with war and the soldier's beastly trade. of course, in little matters like swearing, the padre is wise and he knows what tommy's adjective is worth. he knows that tommy is a simple person and apt to reduce his vocabulary to three wonderful words: three adjectives which are impartially used as substantives, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs. that is all. the earnest young chaplain at first gasps with horror at the flaming words, and would not be surprised if the heavens opened and celestial wrath descended on these poor sinners' heads. but he soon learns that these little adornments of the king's english mean less than nothing. for tommy is a reverent person, he is not a blasphemer in reality; he is gentle, infinitely kind, incredibly patient, extraordinarily generous, if the truth be told. his language would lead one to believe that his soul is entirely lost. but when one knows what this careless, generous, and kindly person is capable of, one feels that his soul is a very precious thing indeed. and there is one way the padre can touch this priceless soul: that is, by serving in the ranks with him. then all the barriers fall, all the reserve vanishes, and the padre comes into his own, and saves more souls by his example than by oceans of precept. there he finds himself, he has got his real job at last. among the south african infantry brigade, that did that wonderful march to kondoa irangi, two hundred and fifty miles in a month, in the height of the rainy season, were fourteen parsons. all serving in the ranks as private soldiers, they carried a wonderful example with them. it was their pride that they were the cleanest and the best disciplined men in their respective companies. no fatigue too hard, no duty too irksome. better soldiers they showed themselves than tommy himself. of a bright and cheerful countenance, particularly when things looked gloomy, they were ready for any voluntary fatigue. the patrol in the thick bush that was so dangerous, fetching water, quick to build fires and make tea, ready to help a lame fellow with his equipment, always cheery, never grousing, they lived the life of our lord instead of preaching about it. for the padre's job, i take it, is to teach the men the right spirit, to send them to war as men should go, to assure them that this is a holy fight, that god is on their side. he knows that tommy, if he speculates at all upon his latter end, does so in the pagan spirit, the spirit that teaches men that there is a special heaven for soldiers who are killed in war, that the manner of their dying will give them absolution for their sins. and the padre knows that the pagan spirit is the true spirit and yet he may not say so. he may not suggest for a moment that sin will be forgiven by sacrifice, for that is old testament teaching; his bishop tells him that he must not trifle with this heresy, but he must inculcate in sinful man that he can, by repentance, and by repentance only, gain absolution for past misdeeds. and the chaplain knows tommy, and he knows that he will never get him on that tack. he knows that any soldier, who is any good, looks upon it as a cowardly, mean and contemptible thing to crawl to god for forgiveness in times of danger, when they never went to him in days of peace. and i know many a chaplain who is with the soldier in this belief. a little of war, and the padre very soon finds his limitations. to begin with, he is attached to a field ambulance and not to a regiment, as a rule. the only time he sees the men is when they are wounded. then he often feels in the way and fears to obstruct the doctor in his job. so all that is left is going out with the stretcher-bearing party at night, showing a good example, cool in danger, merciful to the wounded. but that again is not his job. first, when he laid aside the sad raiment of his calling, and put on his khaki habiliments of war, he thought that the chief part of his job was to shrive the soldier before action, and to comfort the dying. later he found that the soldier would not be shriven, and found, to his surprise, that the dying need no comfort. very soon he learnt that wounded men want the doctor, and chiefly as the instrument that brings them morphia and ease from pain. and when the wound is mortal, god's mercy descends upon the man and washes out his pain. how should he need the padre, when god himself is near? early in his military career the young ministers of the gospel were provided with small diaries, in which they might record the dying messages of the wounded. then came disillusion, and they found the dying had no messages to send; they are at peace, the wonderful peace that precedes the final dissolution, and all they ask is to be left alone. so is it to be wondered at, that men with imagination, men like furze, the bishop of pretoria, saw in a vision clear that the padre's job lay with the living and not with the dying, that he could point the way by the example of a splendid life with the soldier, far better than by a hundred discourses, as an officer, from the far detachment of the pulpit. thus was the idea conceived and so was the experiment carried out. and all of us who were in german east africa can vouch for the splendid results of these excellent examples. for the private soldier saw that his fellow-soldier, handicapped as he was by being a parson, could know his job and do his job as a soldier better than tommy could himself. to his surprise, he found that here was a man who could make himself intelligible without prefixing a flaming adjective when he asked his pal to pass the jam. here was a n.c.o., a real good fellow too, who could give an order and point a moral without the use of a blistering oath; a man who was a man, cool under fire, ready for any dangerous venture, cheerful always, never grousing, always generous and open as a soldier should be, never preaching, never openly praying, never asking men to do what he would not do himself. can you wonder that tommy understood, and, understanding, copied this example? when he saw a man inspired by some inward spirit that made him careless of danger, contemptuous of death, fulfilling all the soldier's requirements in the way of manhood, he knew quite well that some divine inward fire upheld this once despised follower of christ. then lo! the transformation. first, the oaths grew rarer in the ranks and vanished; then came the discovery that, after all, it really was possible to conduct a conversation in the same language as the soldier used at home with his wife and children; that, after all, the picturesque adjectives that flavoured the speech of camps were not necessary; that there was really no need for two kinds of speech, the language of the camp and the language of the drawing-room. and the process of redemption was very curious. all are familiar of course with the hymn tunes that are sung by marching soldiers, tunes that move their female relatives and amiable elderly gentlemen to a quick admiration for the christian soldier. all know too that, could the admiring throng only hear the words to which these hymn tunes were sung, the crowd would fly with fingers to their ears, from such apparent blasphemy. well, these well-known ballads were first sung at the padre, and especially at the padre who was masquerading as a soldier. and when the soldier saw that the padre could see the jest and laugh at it too, and know that it meant nothing, then he felt that he had got a good fellow for his sky pilot. can you wonder that the soldier spoke of his padre comrade in such generous terms and that the whole tone of the regiment improved? the men were better soldiers and better christians too. there is one trap into which a padre falls when marching with a regiment. provided, by regulations, with a horse, he is often unwise enough to ride alongside his marching cure of souls. it would, perhaps, do him good if he could hear, as i did, the comments of two scottish sergeants in the rear. "our lord did not consider it beneath him to ride upon a donkey, but this man of god needs must have a horse." "how is it that i don't get close to the good fellows on board the ship?" said a very good and earnest padre to me. "why don't these fellow-officers of mine come to church? how is it that fellows i know to be good and generous and kindly are yet to be found at the bar, in the smoking-room, when my service is on? why is it that the decent, nice fellows aren't professing christians, and some of the fellows who are my most regular attendants haven't a tenth of the character and quality and charm of these apparent pagans?" what could i do but tell him the truth? i knew him well and felt that he would understand. most fellows, i said, don't come to church, because if they've good and decent characters, they hate to be hypocrites. now you know, padre, in this improper world of ours, that many men are sinners, by that i mean that convention describes as sinful some of the things they do. what do you tell us when we go to early chapel in the morning? "ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins and are in love and charity with your neighbours and intend to lead a new life ... draw near with faith and take this holy sacrament ..." well, then, can you conceive that such a state of mind exists in an otherwise decent man that he finds the burden of his sin not intolerable, as he should do, but that he hugs that special sin as a prisoner may hug his chains? that his sin, or let us call it his breach of the conventions of society, is the one dear precious thing in his existence at the present moment. he doesn't want to reform or to lead a new life. later, no doubt, he'll tire of this sin and then he may come to church again. but how could a man of character go to god's house and be such an infernal hypocrite? he cannot partake of the body and blood of christ any more when he is in that state of mind. so you see, padre, it is often the honest men who won't be hypocrites, that won't go to your church. many the padre that used to drift into our hospital on the long trek to morogoro, church of england, roman catholics, presbyterians, and those who look after the "fancy religions," as tommy calls them. by that term is designated any man who does not belong to either of the above three. one such fellow came to our mess the other day, and in answer to our query as to the special nature of his flock, he answered that, though strictly speaking a congregationalist, he had found that he had become a "dealer in out-sizes in souls," as he called it. he kept, as he said, a fatherly eye (and a very good eye too, that we could see) on dissenters in general, welsh baptists, rationalists, and all the company of queerly minded men we have in this strange army of ours. later we heard that he had brought with him an excellent reputation from the front. and that is not easy to acquire from an army that is hard to please in the matter of professors of religion. for all prisoners and captives the missionaries and the allied civilians released from tabora have the usual tale to tell of german beastliness, of white men forced to dig roads and gardens, wheel barrows and other degrading work under the guard of native soldiers, insulted, humiliated, degraded before the native askaris at the instance of german officers and n.c.o.s in charge. the italian consul-general working in the roads! we may forget all this: it is in keeping with our soft and sentimental ways. but will the french? will italy forgive? there will be no weakness there when the day of reckoning comes. all this we had from the commission of inquiry in morogoro and mombasa that sat to take evidence. gentle nurses of the universities' english mission, missionary ladies who devoted a lifetime in the service of the huns and the natives in german east, locked up behind barbed wire for two years, without privacy of any kind, constantly spied upon in their huts at night by the native guard, always in terror that the black man, now unrestrained, even encouraged by his german master, should do his worst. can you wonder that they kept their poison tablets for ever in their pockets that they might have close at hand an end that was merciful indeed compared with what they would suffer at native hands? so with many tears of relief they cast friendly death into the bushes as the askaris fled before the dust of our approaching columns. do you blame gentle sister mabel that she would never speak to any hun in german, using only swahili and precious little of that? far worse the story told by the broken indian soldiers, prisoners since the fight at jassin, left abandoned, half dead with dysentery and fever, by the germans on their retreat to mahenge. a commission of inquiry held by british officers of native indian regiments elicited the facts. the remains of two double companies, one kashmiris, the other bombay grenadiers, to the number of 150, were brought to morogoro and there farmed out to german contractors. here they toiled on the railway, clearing the land, bringing in wood from the jungle building roads, half starved and savagely ill-treated. they might burn with fever or waste their feeble strength in dysentery, it made no difference to their brutal jailers. to be sick was to malinger in german eyes: so they got "kiboko" and their rations reduced, because, forsooth, a man who could not work could also not eat. to "kiboko" a prisoner of war and an indian soldier is a flagrant offence against the laws of war. but to the contractor there were no laws but of his making, and he laid on thirty lashes with the rhinoceros hide kiboko to teach these stiff-necked "coolies" not to sham again. and as these soldiers lay half dead with fever on the road, their german jailers gave orders that their mouths and faces be defiled with filth, a crime unspeakable to a moslem. will the mohammedan world condone this? the fruit of this treatment was that eighty of these wretched soldiers died and were buried at morogoro. but these prisoners, on their release, marching through the streets caught sight of two of their erstwhile jailers walking in freedom and security and going about then daily avocations as if there was no war. these germans had, of course, told our provost marshal that they were civilians, and never had or intended to take part in the war. so these two men on their word, the word of a prussian, mark you well, were allowed all the privileges of freedom in morogoro. one of them, dorn by name, a hangdog ruffian, owned the house we took over as a mess, and tried to get receipts from us for things we took for the hospital, that really belonged to other people. but the indian soldiers' evidence was the undoing of dorn and his fellow-criminal. arrested and put into jail, they were sent to dar-es-salaam for trial by court-martial on the evidence. how the guard hoped that an attempt to escape would be made, such an attempt as was so often the alleged reason for the shooting of so many of our english prisoners. the sense of discipline in the indian troops was such that, no matter how great the temptation to avenge a thousand injuries and the unexampled opportunity offered by a long railway journey through dense bush, they delivered their prisoners safe in dar-es-salaam. it is said that nothing would persuade dorn and his comrade to leave the safe shelter of the railway truck. no, they did not want to go for a walk in the bush, they would stay in the truck, thank you! no matter how great the invitation to flight was offered by an open door and the temporary disappearance of the guard. do you think these two ruffians will get the rope? i wonder. the other day at kissaki the germans sent back ten of our white prisoners, infantry captured at salaita hill, marines from the _goliath_. all these weary months the huns had dragged these wretched prisoners all over the country. and yet there are some who tell us that the german is not such a hun here as he is in europe. the fact is he is worse, if possible, inconceivably arrogant and cruel at first, incredibly anxious to conciliate our prisoners when the tide had turned and vengeance was upon him. burning by fever by day, chilled by tropic dews at night, these poor devils had been harried and kicked and cursed and ill-used by askaris and insulted by native porters all that long retreat from moschi to kissaki and beyond. no "machelas" for them if they were ill, no native hammocks to carry them on when their poor brains cried out against the malaria that struck them down in the noonday sun. kicked along the road or left to die in the bush, these the only two alternatives. and the beasts were kinder than the huns: they at least took not so long to kill. forced to do coolie labour, to dig latrines for native soldiers, incredibly humiliating, such was their lot! many of them died by the roadside. many died for want of medicine. there was no lack of drugs for germans, but there was need for economy where prisoners were concerned. what more natural than that they should keep their drugs for their own troops? who could tell their pressing need in months to come? but the indomitable ones they kept and keep them still. only yesterday they released the naval surgeon captured on the pseudo-hospital ship _tabora_ in dar-es-salaam. did he get the treatment that custom ordains an officer should have, or did he also dig latrines and cook his _bit_ of dripping meat over a wood fire like a "shenzy" native? i leave that to you to answer. how could we tell he was a doctor? that is the huns' excuse. "he only had a blue and red epaulet on his white drill tunic, there was no red cross on his arm." but apparently after twenty months they discovered this essential fact. and what was left of him struggled into our lines under a white flag the other day. but here, as in germany, not all the huns were hunnish. some there were who cursed lettow and the war in speaking to the prisoners, and, in private talks, professed their tiredness of the whole beastly campaign. but these, our men noticed, were ever the quickest to "strafe," always the first to rail and upbraid and strike when a german officer was near. fed on native food, chewing manioc, mahoja for their flour, the ground their bed, so they existed; but ever in their captive hearts was the knowledge that we were coming on, behind them ever the thunder of our guns, the panic flights of their captors, timid advances from native soldiers, unabashed tokens of conciliation from the europeans alternating with savage punishment. this was meat and drink indeed to them. cheerfully they endured, for nemesis was at hand. how they chuckled to see the german officer's heavy kit cut down to one chop box, native orderlies cut off, fat german doctors waddling and sweating along the road? away and ever away to the south, for the hated "beefs" were after them, coming down relentlessly from the north. even a lay brother, "brother john," they kept until the other day. and their stiff-necked prisoners refused to receive the conciliatory amelioration of their lot that would be offered one day, to be, for no apparent reason, withdrawn the next. "no, thank you, we don't want extra food now! we really don't need a native servant now, we will still do our own fatigues. no. we don't want to go for a walk. we've really been without all these things for so long that we don't miss them now. anyhow it won't be for long," they said. the german commandant turned away furiously after the rejection of his olive branch. for he knew now that his captives knew that the game was up, and it gave him food for thought indeed. the beasts of the field we are camped for the present on the edge of a plateau, overlooking a vast plain that stretches a hundred miles or more to where kilimanjaro lifts his snow peaks to the blue. all over this yellow expanse of grass, relieved in places by patches of dark bush, are great herds of wild game slowly moving as they graze. antelope and wildebeests, zebra and hartebeests, there seems no end to them in this sportsman's paradise. at night, attracted by to-morrow's meat that hangs inside a strong and well-guarded hut, the hyaenas come to prowl and voice their hunger and disappointment on the evening air. the general impression in england, you know, was that in coming to east africa we had left the cold and damp misery of flanders for a most enjoyable side-show. we were told that we should spend halcyon days among the preserves, return laden with honours and large stores of ivory, and in our spare moments enjoy a little campaigning of a picnic variety, against an enemy that only waited the excuse to make a graceful surrender. but how different the truth! to us with the advance there has been no shooting; to shoot a sable antelope (and, of course, we have trekked through the finest game preserves in the world, including the crown prince's special elephant forests) is to ask for trouble from the askari patrol that is just waiting for the sound of a rifle shot to bring him hot foot after us. so the sable antelope might easily be bought by very unpleasant sacrifice. all shooting at game, even for food, except on most urgent occasions, is strictly forbidden, for a rifle shot may be as misleading to our own patrols and outposts as it would be inviting to the hun. this war had led us from the comparative civilisation of german plantations to the wildest, swampiest region of equatorial africa. after rain the roads tell the story of the wild game, for in the mud are the big slot marks of elephants and lions and all the denizens of the bush. but at the bases and back in british east africa where there are no lurking german askari patrols, many fellows have had the time of their lives with the big game. afternoon excursions to the wide plains and their bush where the wild game hide and graze. we are often asked how we manage to avoid the lions and the other wild beasts of the country that come to visit the thorn bomas that protect our transport cattle at night? strange as it may seem, we do not have to avoid them, for they do not come for us or for the natives, nor yet for the live cattle so much as for the dead mules and oxen. i dare say there have never been so many white and black men in a country infested with lions who have suffered so little from the beasts of the field as we have. in the first place, the advance of so great an army has frightened away a very large number of the wild game. all that have stayed are the larger carnivora, like the hyaena or the lion. and they are a positive godsend to us. for instead of attacking our sentries and patrols at night, as you might imagine, they are the great scavengers and camp cleaners of the country. of vultures there are too few in this land, probably because the blind bush robs them of the chance of spotting their prey. were it not for lions and hyaenas, we should be in a bad way. for they come to eat all our dead animals, all the wastage of this army, the tribute our transport animals are paying to fly and to horse-sickness. for in spite of fairy tales about lions one must believe the unromantic truth that a lion prefers a dead ox to a man, and a black man to a white one. so you will not be surprised when i tell you that in this army of ours of at least 30,000 men i have only had two cases of mauling by the larger carnivora to deal with. and such cases as these would all pass through my hands. there was only one case of lion mauling, and that a cape boy who met a young half-grown cub on the road and unwisely ran from it. at first curiosity attracted this animal, and later the hunting instinct caused him to maul his prey. so they brought him in with the severe blood-poisoning that sets in in almost all cases of such a nature. for the teeth and claws of the larger carnivora are frightfully infectious. this cape boy died in forty-eight hours. yet one other case was that of an officer who met a leopardess with cubs in the bush when out after guinea fowl. she charged him, and he gave her his left arm to chew to save his face and body. then alarmed by his yells and the approach of his companion she left him, and he was brought one hundred miles to the railway. but he was in good hands at once, and when i saw him the danger of blood-poisoning had gone and he was well upon his way to health again. the same experience have we had with snakes. the hot dry dusty roads and the torn scrub abound with snakes and most of them of a virulently poisonous quality. but one case only of snake-bite have i seen, and that a native. the fact that the wild denizens of the field and forest are much more afraid of us than we of them saves us from what might appear to be very serious menace. even the wounded left out in the dense bush have not suffered from these animal pests, but the dead, of course, have often disappeared and their bleached bones alone are left to tell the story. one might think that the hyaena, the universal scavenger, would be as loathed by the native as he is by us whose dead he disinters at night, if we have been too tired or unable to bury our casualties deep enough. but, strange as it may seem, the hyaena is worshipped by one very large tribe in east africa, the kikuyu. for these strange people have an extraordinary aversion to touching dead people. so much so, that when their own relatives seem about to die they put them out in the bush with a small fire and a gourd of water, protected by a small erection of bush against the mid-day sun, and leave the hyaenas to do the rest. so it comes about that this beast is almost sacred, and a white man who kills one runs some danger of his life, if the crime is discovered. it is hardly to be wondered at that the hyaenas in the "kikuyu" country are far bolder than in other parts. elsewhere and by nature the hyaena is an arrant coward. here, however, he will bite the face off a sleeping man lying in the open, or even pull down a woman or child, should they be alone; elsewhere he only lives on carrion. the german is not a sportsman as we understand the term, though the modern young german who apes english ways, comes out to east africa occasionally to make collections for his ancestral schloss. that the crown prince should have reserved large areas for game preserves speaks for this modern tendency in young germany. the average german is not keen on exercise in the tropics, he will be carried by sweating natives in a chair or hammock where englishmen on similar errands will walk and shoot upon the way. this slothful habit leads us to the conviction that very much of the country is not explored as it should be, and i have been told by prospectors for precious minerals, who were serving in our army, of the wonderful store of mineral deposits in german east africa. one noted prospector who fell into my hands at handeni could so little forget his occupation of peace in this new reality of war, that he always took out his prospector's hammer on patrol with him, and chipped pieces of likely rock to bring back to camp in his haversack. he it was who told me of his discovery of a seam of anthracite coal in the bed of a river near the tanga railway. on picket he had wandered to the edge of the ravine and fallen over. struggling for life to save himself by the shrubs and growing plants on the face of this precipice, he eventually found his way to the bottom of the ravine, on the top of a small avalanche of earth. judge, then, of his astonishment when, looking up, he saw that his fall had exposed a fine seam of coal. this discovery alone, in a country where the railway engines are forced to burn wood fuel or expensive imported coal from durban, is of the greatest importance. the experience of most of us seemed to be that the germans, in the piping days of peace, preferred elegant leisure in a hammock and the prospect of cold beer beneath a mango tree to the sterner delights of laborious days in thickly wooded and inaccessible mountains. one of the first results of this campaign will be to bring the enterprising prospector from rhodesia and the malay states to what was once the "schã¶ne ost-afrika" of the german colonial enthusiast. but big game hunting, except a man hunts for a living, as do the elephant poachers in mozambique or the lado enclave, soon loses its savour to white men after a time. it is not long before the rifle is discarded for the camera by men who really care for wild life in wilder countries. herein the white man differs from the savage, who kills and kills until he can slay no longer. strange it is to think that farmers and planters in east africa so soon tire of big game hunting, that they do not trouble even to shoot for the pot or to get the meat that is the ration provided for their native labourers, but employs a native, armed with a rifle and a few cartridges, to shoot antelope for meat. to one in whom the spirit of adventure and romance is not dead what more attractive than an elephant hunter's life? to work for six months and make two or three thousand pounds, and spend the proceeds in a riotous holiday, until the heavy tropic rains are over and the bush is dry again. but few realise the rare qualities that an elephant hunter must have. he must be extraordinarily tough, quite hardened to the toil and diseases of the country, knowing many native tongues, largely immune from the fever that lays a white man low many marches from civilisation and hospitals, of an endurance splendid, with hope to dare the risk, and courage to endure the toil. for the professional elephant hunter is now, by force of circumstance and white man's law, become a wolf of the forest, and the hands of all governments are against him. he must mark his elephant down, be up with the first light and after him, must manoeuvre for light and wind and scent to pick the big bull from the sheltering herd of females. if the head shot is not possible, the lung shot or stomach shot alone is left. and six hours' march through waterless country before one comes up with the elephant resting with his herd is not the best preparation for a shot. if one misses, one may as well go home another eight hours back to water. but if you hit and follow the bull through the thorny bush, you do not even then know whether you will find the victim. if, however, you find traces three times in the first hour, or see the blood pouring from the trunk--not merely blown in spray upon the bushes--then the certain conviction comes that within an hour you will find your kill. then the long march back to camp, all food and water and the precious tusks carried by natives, often too exhausted at the end to eat. a man who cannot march thirty miles a day, and fulfil all the other requirements, should relegate elephant hunting to the world of dreams. all the big successful elephant poachers are well known: most of them are english, some of them are boers, a few only french or american; but seldom does a german attempt it or live to repeat his experience. far better to shut his eyes to this illicit traffic and assist these strange soldiers of fortune to get their ivory to the coast, and then enjoy the due reward of this complaisant attitude. the birds of the air i think it is rather a pity that no naturalist has studied the birds of german east africa in the intimate and friendly spirit that many men have done at home. it has been said that the bright plumage of central african birds is given them as compensation for the charm of song that is a monopoly of the european bird. that this is the case in the damp forests and swamps and reed beds along the rufigi and other big rivers, there is no doubt. gaudy parrots and iridescent finches flash through the foliage of trees along the mohoro river, monkeys slide down the ropes formed by parasitic plants that hang from the tree branches, to dip their hands in the water to drink; only to flee, chattering to the tree-tops, as they meet the gaze of apparently slumbering crocodiles. great painted butterflies flit above the beds of lilies that fringe the muddy lagoons, the hippopotamus wallows lazily in the warm sunlit waters. here, it is true, is the equatorial africa of our schoolboy dreams; and the birds have little but their glittering plumage to recommend them. but we are apt to forget that the greater portion of tropical africa, certainly all that is over five hundred feet above the sea, which constitutes the greater part of the country with the exception of the coast region, is not at all true to the picture that most of us have in our minds. for the character of the interior is vastly different: great rolling plains of yellow grass and thorn scrub, with the denser foliage of deciduous trees along the river-banks. here, indeed, you may find sad-coloured birds that are gifted with the sweetest of songs. in the bed of the morogoro river lives a warbler who sings from the late afternoon until dusk, and he is one of the very few birds that have that deep contralto note, the "jug" of the nightingale. and there are little wrens with drab bodies and crimson tails that live beside the dwellings of men and pick up crumbs from the doors of our tents, and hunt the rose trees for insects. in the thorn bushes of higher altitudes are grey finches that might have learnt their songs beside canary cages. the african swallows, red headed and red backed, have a most tuneful little song; they used to delight our wounded men in hospital at handeni when they built their nests in the roofs of this one-time german jail, and sang to reward us for the open windows that allowed them to feed their broods of young. in the mealie fields are francolins in coveys, very like the red-legged partridge in their call, though in plumage nearer to its english brother. there, too, the ubiquitous guinea fowl, the spotted "kanga" that has given us so many blessed changes of diet, utters his strident call from the tops of big thorn trees. the black and white meadow lark is here, but the "khoran" or lesser bustard of south africa, that resembles him so much in plumage on a much larger scale, is absent. the brown bustard, so common in the south, is the only representative of the turkey tribe that i have seen here. black and white is a very common bird colouring; black crows with white collars follow our camps and bivouacs to pick up scraps, and the brown fork-tailed kite hawks for garbage and for the friendly lizard too, in the hospital compound. one night, as i lay in my tent looking to the moon-lit camp, fritz, our little ground squirrel that lived beneath the table of the mess tent, met an untimely fate from a big white owl. a whirr of soft owl wings to the ground outside my tent, a tiny squeak, and fritz had vanished from our compound too. vultures of many kinds dispute with lion and hyaena for the carrion of dead ox or mule beside the road of our advance. king vultures in their splendour of black, bare red necks and tips of white upon their wings, lesser breeds of brown carrion hawks and vultures attend our every camp. again the vulture is not so common as in south africa, for here it is blind in this dense bush and has to play a very subsidiary part to the scavenging of lions and hyaenas. down by the swamps one evening we shot a vulture that was assisting a moribund ox to die. true we did not mean to kill him, for we owe many debts of gratitude to vultures; but, to my surprise, my native boy seemed greatly pleased. lifting the big black tail he showed me the white soft feathers beneath, and by many signs appeared to indicate that these feathers were of great value. then i looked again, and it was a marabou stork. my boy, who had been with marabou and egret poachers in the swamps and rice-fields of the lower rufigi, knew the value of these snowy feathers. biting flies of the many plagues that beset this land of africa not the least are the biting flies. just as every tree and bush has thorns, so every fly has a sting. some bite by day only, some by night, and others at all times. even the ants have wings, and drop them in our soup as they resume their plantigrade existence once again. the worst biter that we have met in the many "fly-belts" that lie along the northern railway is the tsetse fly: especially was he to be found at a place called same, and during the long trek from german bridge on the northern railway to morogoro in the south. at one place there is a belt thirty miles wide, and our progress was perpetual torture, unless we passed that way at night. for the _glossina morsitans_ sleeps by night beneath leaves in the bush, and only wakes when disturbed. for this reason we drive our horses, mules, and cattle by night through these fly-belts. savage and pertinacious to a degree are these pests, and their bite is like the piercing of a red-hot needle. simple and innocent they appear, not unlike a house fly, but larger and with the tips of their wings crossed and folded at the end like a swallow's. they are mottled grey in colour, and their proboscis sticks out straight in front. hit them and they fall off, only to rise again and attack once more; for their bodies are so tough and resistant, that great force is required to destroy them. they are infected with trypanosomes, a kind of attenuated worm that circulates in the blood, but fortunately not the variety that causes sleeping sickness. at least we believe not. in any case we shall not know for eighteen months, for that is usually the latent period of sleeping sickness in man. their bite is very poisonous, and frequently produces the most painful sores and abscesses. but if they are not lethal to man, they take a heavy toll of horses, mules, and cattle. through the night watches, droves of horses, remounts for brits's and vandeventer's brigades, cattle for our food and for the transport, mules and donkeys, pass this way. fine sleek animals that have left the union scarcely a month before, carefully washed in paraffin in a vain attempt to protect them from flies and ticks. but what a change in a short six weeks. the coat that was so sleek now is staring, the eye quite bloodless, the swelling below the stomach that tells its own story; wasting, incredible. soon these poor beasts are discarded, and line the roads with dull eyes and heavy hanging heads. we may not shoot, for firing alarms our outposts and discloses our position. to-night the lions and hyaenas that this war has provided with such sumptuous repasts will ring down the curtain. a horse's scream in the bush at night, the lowing of a frightened steer, a rustling of bushes, and these poor derelicts, half eaten by the morning, meet the indifferent gaze of the next convoy. more merciful than man are the scavengers of the forest. they, at least, waste no time at the end. strange that the little donkeys should alone for a time at least escape the fly; it is their soft thick coats that defeats the searching proboscis. but after rain or the fording of a river their protecting coats get parted by the moisture, and the fly can find his mark in the skin. so the donkey and the somali mule that generations of fly have rendered tolerant to the trypanosome are the most reliable of our beasts of burden. soon, these too will go in the approaching rainy season, and then we shall fall back on the one universal beast of burden, the native carriers. thousands of these are now being collected to march with their head loads at the heels of our advancing columns. the veterinary service is helpless with fly-struck animals. one may say with truth that the commonest and most frequently prescribed veterinary medicine is the revolver. certainly it is the most merciful. large doses of arsenic may keep a fly-struck horse alive for months; alive, but robbed of all his life and fire, his free gait replaced by a shambling walk. the wild game, more especially the water buck and the buffalo whose blood is teeming with these trypanosomes, but who, from generations of infection, have acquired an immunity from these parasites, keep these flies infected. thus one cannot have domestic cattle and wild game in the same area; the two are incompatible. and shortly the time will come, as certainly as this land will support a white population, when the wild game will be exterminated and _glossina morsitans_ will bite no more. more troublesome, because more widely spread, are the large family of mosquitoes. the _anopheles_, small, grey and quietly persistent, carries the malaria that has laid our army low. _culex_, larger and more noisy, trumpets his presence in the night watches: but the mischief he causes is in inverse ratio to the noise he makes. _stegomyia_, host of the spirium of yellow fever, is also here, but happily not yet infected; not yet, but it may be only a question of time before yellow fever is brought along the railways or caravan routes from the congo or the rivers of the west coast, where the disease is endemic. there for many years it was regarded as biliary fever or blackwater or malaria. now that the truth is known a heavier responsibility is cast upon the already overburdened shoulders of the sanitary officer and the specialists in tropical diseases. _stegomyia_, as yet uninfected, are also found in quantities in the east; and with the opening of the panama canal, that links the west indies and caribbean sea, where yellow fever is endemic, with the teeming millions of china and india, may materially add to the burden of the doctors in the east. living a bare fourteen days as he does, infected _stegomyia_ died a natural death, in the old days, during the long voyage round the horn, and thus failed to infect the eastern coolie, who would in turn infect these brothers of the west indian mosquito. fortunate it is in one way that _anopheles_ is the mosquito of lines of communication, of the bases, of houses and huts and dwellings of man, rather than of the bush. our fighting troops are consequently not so exposed as troops on lines of communication. for this blessing we are grateful, for lines of communication troops can use mosquito nets, but divisional troops on trek or on patrol cannot. soon we shall see the fighting troops line up each evening for the protective application of mosquito oil. for where nets are not usable it is yet possible to protect the face and hands for six hours, at least, by application of oil of citronella, camphor, and paraffin. nor is this mixture unpleasant; for the smell of citronella is the fragrance of verbena from shropshire gardens. least in size, but in its capacity for annoyance greatest, perhaps, of all, is the sand fly. almost microscopic, but with delicate grey wings, of a shape that titania's self might wear, they slip through the holes of mosquito gauze and torment our feet by night and day. the three-day fever they leave behind is yet as nothing compared to the itching fury that persists for days. finally there is the bott-fly, by no means the least unpleasant of the tribe. red-headed and with an iridescent blue body, he is very similar to the bluebottle, and lives in huts and dwellings. but his ways are different, for he bites a hole into one's skin, usually the back or arms, and lays an egg therein. in about ten days this egg develops into a fully grown larva, in other words a white maggot with a black head. it looks for all the world like a boil until one squeezes it and pushes the squirming head outside. but woe to him who having squeezed lets go to get the necessary forceps; for the larva leaps back within, promptly dies and forms an abscess. often i have taken as many as thirty or forty from one man. it is a melancholy comfort to find that this fly is no respecter of persons, for the staff themselves have been known to become affected by this pest. with the flies may be mentioned as one of the minor horrors of war in east africa, one of the little plagues that are sent to mortify our already over-tortured flesh, the jigger flea. as if there were not already sufficient trials for us to undergo, an unkind providence has sent this pest to rob us of what little enjoyment or elegant leisure this country might afford. true to her sex, it is the female of the species that causes all the trouble; the male is comparatively harmless. lurking in the dust and grass of camps, she burrows beneath the skin of our toes, choosing with a calculated ferocity the tender junction of the nails with the protesting flesh. no sooner is she well ensconced therein than she commences the supreme business of life, she lays her eggs, by the million, all enclosed in a little sack. what little measure of sleep the mosquitoes, the sand flies and the stifling nights have left us, this relentless parasite destroys. for her presence is disclosed to us by itching intolerable. then the skill of the native boys is called upon, and dusky fingers, well scrubbed in lysol, are armed with a safety pin, to pick the little interloper out intact. curses in many languages descend upon the head of the unlucky boy who fails to remove the sack entire. for the egg-envelope once broken, abscesses and blood poisoning may result, and one's toes become an offence to surgery. all is well, if a drop of iodine be ready to complete the well-conducted operation; but the poor soldier, whose feet, perforce, are dirty and who only has the one pair of socks, pays a heavy penalty to this little flea, that dying still has power to hurt. dirt and the death of this tiny visitor result in painful feet that make of marching a very torture. so great a pest is this that at least five per cent. of our army, both white and native, are constantly incapacitated. hundreds of toenails have i removed for this cause alone. nor do the jiggers come singly, but in battalions, and often as many as fifty have to be removed from one wretched soldier's feet and legs. so we hang our socks upon our mosquito nets and take our boots to bed with us, nor do we venture to put bare feet upon the ground. a yell in the sleeping camp at night, "some damn thing's bit me;" and matches are struck, while a sleepy warrior hunts through his blankets for the soldier ant whose great pincers draw blood, or lurking centipede or scorpion. for in these dry, hot, dusty countries these nightly visitors come to share the warm softness of the army blanket. next morning, sick and shivering, they come to show to me the hot red flesh or swollen limb with which the night wanderer has rewarded his involuntary host. night in morogoro there's nothing quite so wideawake as a tropical night in africa. at dawn the african dove commences with his long-drawn note like a boy blowing over the top of a bottle, one bird calling to another from the palms and mango trees. then the early morning songsters wake. there is no libel more grossly unfair than that which says the birds of africa have no song. the yellow weaver birds sing most beautifully, as they fly from the feathery tops of the avenue of coconut palms that line the road to the clump of bamboos behind the hospital. but they fly there no longer now, for our colonel, in a spasm of sanitation, cut down this graceful swaying clump of striped bamboos for the fear that they harboured mosquitoes. as if these few canes mattered, when our hospital was on the banks of the reed-fringed river. morning songsters with voices of english thrushes and robins wake one to gaze upon the dawn through one's mosquito net. small bird voices, like the chiff-chaff in may, carry on the chorus until the sun rises. then the bird of delirium arrives and runs up the scale to a high monotonous note that would drive one mad, were it not that he and the dove, with his amphoric note, are africa all over. a neat fawn-coloured bird this, with a long tail and dark markings on his wings. then as the sun rises and the early morning heat dries up the song birds' voices, the earth and the life of the palm trees drowse in the sunshine. but at night, from late afternoon to three in the morning, when the life of trees and grasses and ponds ceases for a short while before it begins again at dawn, the air is full of the busy voices of the insect world. until we came south to morogoro, to the land of mangoes, coconut, palms, bamboos, we had known the shrill voice of cicadas and the harsh metallic noises of crickets in grass and trees. but here we made two new acquaintances, and charming little voices they had too. one lived in the grass and rose leaves of our garden, for the german blacksmith who lately occupied our hospital building had planted his garden with "caroline testout" and crimson ramblers. his voice was like the tinkling of fairy hammers upon a silver anvil. and with this fine clear note was the elusive voice of another cricket that had such a marked ventriloquial character that we could never tell whether he lived in the rose bushes or in the trees. his note was the music of silver bells upon the naked feet of rickshaw boys, the tinkle that keeps time to the soft padding of native feet in the rickshaws of nairobi at night. at first i woke to think there were rickshaw boys dragging rubber-tyred carriages along the avenues of the town, until i found that morogoro boasted no rickshaws and no bells for native feet. punctuated in all the music of fairy bands and the whirr of fairy machinery were the incessant voices of frogs. especially if it had rained or were going to rain, the little frogs in trees and ponds sang their love songs in chorus, silenced, at times, by the deep basso of a bull frog. and often, as our heads ached and throbbed with fever at night, we felt a very lively sympathy for the french noblesse of the eighteenth century, who are said to have kept their peasants up at night beating the ponds with sticks to still the strident voices of these frogs. with it all there is a rustling overhead in the feathery branches of the palms in the cobwebby spaces among the leaves that give the bats of africa a home. a twitter of angry bat voices, shrill squeaks and flutters in the darkness. then stillness--of a sudden--and the ground trembles with a far-off throbbing as a convoy of motor lorries approaching thunders past us, rumbling over the bridge and out into the darkness, driving for supplies. the road beside the hospital was the old caravan route that ran from the congo through central africa and by the great lakes to bagamoyo by the sea. for centuries the arab slaver had brought his slave caravans along this path: it may have been fever or the phantasies of disordered subconscious minds half awake in sleep, or the empty night thrilling to the music of crickets, that filled our minds with fancies in the darkness. but this road seemed alive again. for this smooth surface that now trembles to the thunder of motor lorries seemed to echo to the soft padding of millions of slave feet limping to the coast to fill the harems or to work the clove plantations of his most oriental majesty the sultan of zanzibar. the waters of turiani halfway between the usambara and the central railway, the dusty road to morogoro crosses the turiani river. in the woods beside the river, the tired infantry are resting at the edge of a big rock pool. wisps of blue smoke from dying fires tell of the tea that has washed beef and biscuit down dry and dusty throats. the last company of bathers are drying in the sun upon the rocks, necks, arms and knees burnt to a sepia brown, the rest of their bodies alabaster white in the sunshine. it is three o'clock, and the drowsy heat of afternoon has hushed the bird and insect world to sleep. only in the tree-tops is the sleepy hum of bees, still busy with the flowers, and the last twitter of soft birds' voices. soft river laughter comes up from the rocky stream-bed below, and, softened by the distance to a poignant sweetness, the sound of church bells from mhonda mission floats up to us upon the west wind. yesterday only saw the last of lettow's army crossing the bridge and echoed to the noise of the explosion that blew up the concrete pillars and forced our pioneers to build a wooden substitute. alas! for the best-laid schemes of our general. the bird had escaped from the closing net, and lettow was free to make his retreat in safety to the southern railway. here at turiani for a moment it seemed that the campaign was over. up from the big mission at mhonda, the mounted troops swept out to cut off the german retreat. all unsuspected, they had made then-big flank march to meet the eastern flanking column, and cut the road behind the german force in a pincer grip. but the blind bush robbed our troopers of their sense of direction, and the long trek through waterless bush, the tsetse fly and horse-sickness that took their daily toll of all our horses reduced the speed of cavalry to little more than a walk. a mistake in a bush-covered hill in a country that was all hill and bush, and the elusive lettow slipped out to run and hide and fight again on many another day. scouting of the many aspects of this campaign none perhaps is more thrilling than life on the forward patrol. for the duty of these fellows is to go forward with armed native scouts far in advance of the columns, to find out what the germans are up to, their strength, and the disposition of their troops. their reports they send back by native runners, who not infrequently get captured. like wolves in the forest they live, months often elapsing without their seeing a white face, and then it is the kind of white man that they do not want to see; every man's hand against them, native as well as german, unable to light fires at night for fear of discovery, sleeping on the ground, creeping up close, for in this bush one can only get information at close quarters; always out of food, forced to smoke pungent native tobacco. they have to live on the game they shoot, and it is a hundred chances to one that the shot that gives them dinner will bring a hun patrol to disturb the feast. theirs is without doubt the riskiest job in such a war as this. here is the story of a night surprise, as it was told me. the long trek had lasted all day, to be followed by the fireless supper (how one longs for the hot tea at night!), and the deep sleep that comes to exhausted man as soon as he gets into his blankets. drowsy sentries failed to hear the rustling in the thicket until almost too late; the alarm is given, pickets run in to wake their sleeping "bwona," all mixed up with germans. the intelligence party scattered to all points of the compass, leaving their camp kit behind them. there was no time to do aught but pick up their rifles (that is second nature) and fly for safety to the bush. now this actual surprise party was led by one laudr, an oberleutnant who had lived for years in south africa, and had married an english wife. laudr had the reputation of being the best shot in german east, but he missed that night, and my friend escaped, unharmed, the five shots from his revolver. next morning, cautiously approaching the scene of last night's encounter, he found a note pinned to a tree. in it laudr thanked him for much good food and a pair of excellent blankets, and regretted that the light had been so bad for shooting. but he left a young goat tied up to the tree and my friend's own knife and fork and plate upon the ground. another story this resourceful fellow told me concerning an exploit which he and a fellow i.d. man, with twenty-five of their scouts, had brought off near arusha. they had been sent out to get information as to the strength of an enemy post in a strongly fortified stone building--the kind of half fort, half castle that the germans build in every district as an impregnable refuge in case of native risings. with watch towers and battlements, these forts are after the style of mediã¦val buildings. equipped with food supplies and a well, they can resist any attack short of artillery. learning from the natives that the force consisted of two german officers and about sixty askaris, my friend determined not to send back for the column that was waiting to march from arusha to invest the place. between them they resolved to take the place by strategy and guile. lying hid in the bush, they arranged with friendly natives to supply the guard with "pombe" the potent native drink. late that night, judging from the sounds that the kaffir beer had done its work, they crept up and disarmed the guard. holding the outer gate they sent in word to the commandant, a major schneider, the administrator of the district, to surrender. he duly came from his quarters into the courtyard accompanied by his lieutenant. "before i consider surrender," he said, "tell me what force you've got?" "this fort is surrounded by my troops, that is enough for you," said our man. "in any case you see my men behind me, and, if you don't 'hands up,' they'll fire." and the "troops"--half-clad natives--stepped forward with levelled rifles. the next morning the major, still doubting, asked to see the rest of the english troops, and on being informed that these were all, would have rushed back to spring the mines that would have blown the place to pieces. but the intelligence officer had not wasted his time the previous night, and had very carefully cut the wires that led apparently so innocently from the central office of the fort. my friend brought this major, a man of great importance in his district, to dar-es-salaam; and during the whole journey the german never ceased to complain that bluffing was a dishonourable means of warfare to employ. on yet another occasion he had an experience that taxed his tact and strength to the utmost. in the course of his work he seized the meat-canning factory near arusha that a certain frau ----, in the absence of her husband, was carrying on. the enemy used to shoot wildebeest and preserve it by canning or by drying it in the sun as "biltong" for the use of the german troops. my friend was forced to burn the factory, and then it became his duty to escort this very practical lady back to our lines. this did not suit her book at all. with tears she implored him to send her to her own people. she would promise anything. cunningly she suggested great stores of information she might impart. but he cared not for her weeping, and ordered her to pack for the long journey to arusha. then tears failing her she sulked, and refused to eat or leave her tent. but this found him adamant. finally she tried the woman's wiles which should surely be irresistible to this man. but he was unmoved by all her blandishments. so surprised and indignant was he that he threatened to tell her husband of her behaviour, when he should catch him. but here it appears he made a false estimate of the value of honour and dishonour among the huns. "a loyal german woman," she exclaimed, laughing, "is allowed to use any means to further the interests of her fatherland. my husband will only think more highly of me when he knows." so this modern galahad of ours turned away and ordered the lady's tent to be struck and marched her off, taking care that he himself was far removed from her presence in the caravan. "what fools you english are," she flung back at him, as he handed her into the custody that would safely hold this dangerous apostle of _kultur_ till the end of the war. "hunnishness" wearily along the road from korogwe to handeni toiled a little company of details lately discharged from hospital and on their way forward to division. behind them straggled out, for half a mile or more, their line of black porters carrying blankets and waterproof sheets. arms and necks and knees burnt black by many weeks of tropic sun, carrying rifle and cartridge belts and with their helmets reversed to shade their eyes from the westering sun, this little body of rhodesians, royal fusiliers and south africans covered the road in the very loose formation these details of many regiments affect. far ahead was the advance guard of four rhodesians and fusiliers. nothing further from their thoughts than war--for they were thirty miles behind division--they were suddenly galvanised into action by the sight of the advance guard slipping into the roadside ditches and opening rapid rifle fire at some object ahead. for at a turn of the road the advance guard perceived a large number of askaris and several white men collected about one of our telegraph posts, while, up the post, upon the cross trees, was a white man, busily engaged with the wires. one glance was sufficient to tell these wary soldiers that the white men were wearing khaki uniforms of an unfamiliar cut and the mushroom helmet that the hun affects. so they took cover in the ditches and opened fire, especially upon the german officer who was busily tapping our telegraph wire. down with a great bump on the ground dropped the startled hun, and the askaris fled to the jungle leaving their chop boxes lying on the road. from the safe shelter of the bush the enemy reconnoitred their assailants, and taking courage from their small numbers, proceeded to envelop them by a flank movement. but the british officer in charge of the details behind, knew his job and threw out two flanking parties when he got the message from the advance guard. our men outflanked the outflanking enemy, and soon as pretty a little engagement as one could hope to see had developed. finding themselves partly surrounded by unsuspected strength the germans scattered in all directions, leaving a few wounded and dead behind upon the field. there on his back, wounded in the leg and spitting fire from his revolver, was lying the german officer determined to sell his life dearly. his last shot took effect in the head of one of the fusiliers who were charging the bush with the bayonet; up went his hands, "kamerad, mercy!" and our officer stepped forward to disarm this chivalrous prisoner. then they wired forward to our hospital, at that time ten miles ahead, for an ambulance, and proceeded to bury their only casualty and the dead askaris. happening to be on duty, i hurried to the scene of this action in one of our ambulances, along the worst road in africa. there i found the german officer, an oberleutnant of the name of zahn, lying by the roadside gazing with frightened eyes out of huge yellow spectacles. we dressed his wound and gave him an injection of morphia, a cigarette, and a good drink of brandy, and left him in the shade of a baobab tree to recover from his fears. then i turned toward the dividing of the contents of captured chop boxes that was being carried out under the direction of the officer in charge. on occasions such as these, the men were rewarded with the only really square meal they had often had for days; for the hun is a past master in the art of doing himself well, and his chopboxes are always full of new bread, chocolate, sardines and many little delicacies. i stepped forward to claim the two red cross boxes that had obviously been the property of the german doctor, and with some difficulty--for no soldier likes to be robbed of his spoil--i managed to establish the right of the hospital to them. in the boxes were not only a fine selection of drugs and surgical dressings and a bottle of brandy, but also the doctor's ammunition. and such ammunition too. huge black-powder cartridges with large leaden bullets; they would only fit an elephant gun; and yet this was the kind of weapon this doctor found necessary to bring to protect himself against british soldiers. had that doctor been caught with his rifle he would have deserved to be shot on the spot. nor were our men in the best of moods; for they had seen the dead fusilier, and were furious at the wounds these huge lead slugs create. the orderlies then lifted the german officer tenderly into the ambulance; and the prisoner, now feeling full of the courage that morphia and brandy give, beckoned to me. "meine uhr in meiner tasche," he said, pointing to his torn trouser. "well, what about it?" i asked. again he mentioned his watch in his pocket, and looked at his torn trouser. "do you suggest," i said sternly, "that a british soldier has taken your beastly watch." "no, no, not for worlds," he exclaimed; "i merely wish to mention the fact that when i went into action i had had a large gold watch and a large gold chain, and much gold coin in my pocket. and now," he said, "behold! i have no watch or chain." "what," i said again, "do you suggest that these soldiers are thieves?" "no! not at all; but when i was wounded the soldiers, running up in their anxiety to help me and dress my wound" (as a matter of fact they had run up to bayonet him, had not the officer intervened, for this swine had forfeited his right to mercy by emptying his revolver first and then surrendering) "inadvertently cut away my pocket in slitting up my trouser leg." "then your watch," i continued coldly, "is still lying on the field, or, if a soldier should discover it, he will deliver it to general headquarters, from whence it will be sent to you." sure enough that evening the sergeant-major in charge of the rearguard came in with the missing watch and chain. later, we learned, from diaries captured on german prisoners, what manner of brute this zahn was. from minden to morogodo judge of my surprise when, one morning in hospital at morogoro, a fellow walked in to see me whose face reminded me of times, two years back, when i was in the prisoners of war camp at minden in westphalia. he showed a fatter and more wholesome face certainly, he was clean and well dressed, but still, unmistakably it was the man to whom i used to take an occasional book or chocolate when he lay behind the wire of the inner prison there. "it can't be you?" i said illogically. but it was. but what a change these two years had wrought! now an officer in the royal flying corps, the ribbon of the military cross bearing witness to many a risky reconnaissance over the rufigi valley; but then a dirty mechanic in the french aviation corps and a prisoner. but in december, 1914, there were no fat or clean english soldiers in german prisons. and, as i looked, my mind went back to a wet morning when, the german sentry's back being turned, a french soldier, working on the camp road, dug his way near to the door of my hut and, still digging, told me that there was an englishman in the french camp, who wanted particularly to see me. so that afternoon i walked boldly into the french camp as if i had important business there, and found my way to the further hut. there lying on a straw mattress, incredibly lousy and sandwiched between a turco from morocco and a senegalese negro soldier, i found a white man, who jumped up to see me and was extraordinarily glad to find that his message had borne fruit. clad in the tattered but still unmistakable uniform of a french artilleryman, three months' beard upon his face, with white wax-like cheeks, blue nose and a dreadfully hunted expression, stood this six emaciated feet of england. drawing me aside to a sheltered corner he told me his story; how, despairing of a job in our flying corps at the commencement of the war, he had joined the french aviation corps as a mechanic, and how he had been taken prisoner early in september, 1914, when the engine of his aeroplane failed and he descended to earth in the middle of a marching column of the enemy. of the early months of captivity from september to december in minden he told me many things. he and all the others lived in an open field exposed to all the westphalian winter weather, with no blankets, nothing but what he now wore. they lived in holes in a wet clay field like rats and--like rats they fought for the offal and pigwash on which the german jailors fed them twice a day. now he had been moved into a long hut, open on the inner side that looked to the enclosed central square of the lager, but well enclosed outside by a triple barbed wire fence. "why do they put you in with coloured men?" i asked, as i looked at his bedfellows. "oh, that's because i'm an englishman, you know," he said. "when i came here the commandant, finding who i was, was pleased to be facetious. 'brothers in arms, glorious,' he chuckled, as he ordered my particular abode here. 'you, of course, don't object to sleep with a comrade,' he said, with heavy german humour. and i wanted to tell him, had i only dared, that i'd rather sleep with a nigger from senegal than with him." "how about the lice?" i said, for it was not possible to avoid seeing them on the thin piece of flannelette that was his blanket. "oh, i'm used to them now. time was when i hunted my clothes all day long, but now--nothing matters; in fact, i rather think they keep me warm." so i was quick and glad to help in the little way i could. not that there was much that i could do. but i at least had one good meal a day and two of german prison food, but he had only three bowls of prisoner's stew and soup. lest you might think that i exaggerate, i will tell you exactly what he had, and you may judge what manner of diet it was for a big englishman. five ounces of black bread a day, part of barley and part of potato, the rest of rye and wheat; for breakfast, a pint of lukewarm artificial coffee made of acorns burnt with maize, no sugar; sauerkraut and cabbage in hot water twice a day, occasionally some boiled barley or rice or oatmeal, and now and then--almost by a miracle, so rare were the occasions--a small bit of horseflesh in the soup. could one wonder at the wolfish look upon his face, the dreary hopelessness of his expression? and on this diet he had fatigues to do; but on those days of hard toil there was also a little extra bread and an inch of german sausage. but i could get some things from the canteen by bribing the german orderly who brought our midday food, and i had some books. so the sun shone, for a time, on minden. nor was this fellow alone in these unhappy surroundings. there with him were english civilian prisoners, clerks and school-teachers, technical and engineering instructors, who once taught in german schools and worked at essen or in the shipyards. these wretched civilians, until they were removed to ruhleben, were not in much better case; but they might, at least, sleep together on indescribable straw palliasses. then they were together; there was comfort in that at least. by a strange turn of fortune's wheel this very camp was placed upon the site of the battlefield of minden, when, as our guards would tell us, an undegenerate england fought with the great frederick against the french. moved to another camp this fellow had escaped by crawling under the barbed wire on a dirty wet night in winter when the sentry had turned his well-clothed back against the northern gale. a moral disaster all the army is looking for the gunnery lieutenant, h.m.s. ----. time indeed may soften the remembrance of the evil he has done us, and in the dim future, when we get to dar-es-salaam, we may even relent sufficiently to drink with him; but now, just halfway along the dusty road from handeni to morogoro, we feel that there's no torture yet devised that would be a fitting punishment. strange how frail a thing is human happiness, that the small matter of a misdirected 12-inch shell should blight the lives of a whole army and tinge our thirsty souls with melancholy. for this clumsy projectile that left the muzzle of the gun with the intention of wrecking the railway station in dar-es-salaam became, by evil chance, deflected in its path and struck the brewery instead. not the office or the non-essential part of the building, but the very heart, the mainspring of the whole, the precious vats and machinery for making beer. and there will be no more "lager" in german east africa until the war is over. all the long hot march from kilimanjaro down the pangani river and along the dusty, thirsty plains we had all been sustained by the thought that one day we would strike the central railway and, finding some sufficient pretext to snatch some leave, would swiftly board a train for dar-es-salaam and drink from the fountain of east africa. the one bright hope that upheld us, the one beautiful dream that dragged weary footsteps southward over that waterless, thorny desert was the occupation of the brewery. we had heard its fame all over the country, we had met a few of its precious bottles full at the coast, had found some empty--in the many german plantations we had searched. now "ichabod" is written large upon our resting-places, the joy of life departed, the sparkle gone from bright eyes that longed for victory, and, as king's regulations have it, alarm and consternation have spread through all ranks. even the accompanying news of the tears of the hun population in dar-es-salaam at this wanton destruction, failed to comfort us. the navy were very nice about it. they were just as sorry as we, they said. the gunner had been put under observation as a criminal lunatic, we understood. but they had just come from zanzibar, and every one knows that all good things are to be found in that isle of clover. all the excuses in the world won't give us back our promised beer again. the angel of morogoro standing on the river bridge that crossed the main road into morogoro was a slender figure in the white uniform of a nursing sister. in one hand a tiny union jack, in the other a white flag. "don't shoot," she cried, "i'm an englishwoman;" and the bearded south african troopers, who were reconnoitring the approaches to their town, stopped and smiled down upon her. "take this letter to general smuts, please; it is from the german general von lettow;" and handing it to one of them, she shook hands with the other and told him how she had been waiting for two years for him to come and release her from her prison. for this nursing sister had been behind prison bars for two years in german east africa, and you may imagine how she had longed for the day when the english would come and set her free. this was sister mabel, the only nursing sister we had in morogoro for the first four months of our occupation. her memory lives in the hearts of hundreds of our wretched soldiers, who were brought with malaria or dysentery to the shelter of our hospital. in spite of the fact that she was one of the trained english nursing sisters of the english universities mission in german east africa, she was imprisoned with the rest of the allied civil population of that german colony from the commencement of war until the time that smuts had come to break the prison bars and let the wretched captives free. she had had her share of insult, indignity, shame and ill-treatment at the hands of her savage gaolers. but in that slender body lived a very gallant soul, and that gave her spirit to dare and courage to endure. so when we occupied morogoro and lettow fled with his troops to the mountains, this very splendid sister gave up her chance of leave well-earned to come to nurse for us in our hospital. the germans had failed to break the spirits of these civilian prisoners, and they had full knowledge of the army that was slowly moving south from kilimanjaro to redress the balance of unsuccessful military enterprise in the past. one can imagine the state of mind of these wretched people when the news of our ill-fated attack on tanga in 1914 arrived; when they heard of our indian troops being made prisoners at jassin, and saw from the cock-a-hoop attitude of the hun that all was well for german arms in east africa. then when nemesis was approaching, the german commandant came to their prison to make amends for past wrongs. "i am desolated to think," he unctuously explained, "that you ladies have had so little comfort in this camp in the past, and i have come to make things easier for you now. the english government," he continued with an ingratiating smile, "have now begun to treat our prisoners in england better, and i hasten to return good to you for the evils that our women have suffered at the hands of your government. is there anything i can do for you? would you like native servants? would you care to go for walks?" but these brave women answered that they had done without servants and walks for two years now, and they could endure a little longer. "what do you mean," he exclaimed in anger, "by a little longer?" but they answered nothing, and he knew the news of our advance had come to them within their prison cage. "would you care to nurse our wounded soldiers?" he said more softly. sister mabel said she would. so now for the first time she is given a native servant, carried in state down the mountain-side in a hammock, and installed in the german hospital in morogoro. there, in virtue of the excellence of her work and knowledge, she was given charge of badly wounded german officers, and received with acid smiles of welcome from the german sisters. to her, at the evacuation of the town, had lettow come, and, giving her a letter to general smuts, had asked her to put in a good word for the german woman and children he was leaving behind him to our tender mercies. "there is no need of letters to ask for protection for german women," she told him; "you know how well they've been treated in wilhemstal and mombo." but he insisted, and she consented, and so the bearded troopers found this english emissary of lettow's waiting for them upon the river bridge. back came general smuts's answer, "tell the women of morogoro that, if they stay in their houses, they have nothing to fear from british troops, nor will one house be entered, if only they stay indoors." and the army was as good as the word of their chief; for no occupied house, not one german chicken, not a cabbage was taken from any german house or garden. and now the despised and rejected english sister had become the "oberschwester," and her german fellow nursing sisters had to take their orders from her. but she exercised a difficult authority very kindly and adopted a very cool and distant attitude toward them. but there was one thing she never did again: she never spoke german any more, but gave all her orders and held all dealings with the enemy in swahili, the native language, or in english. in this she was adamant. now, indeed, had the great work of her life begun; for into those four months she crammed the devotion of a lifetime. always full to overcrowding, never less than 600 patients where we had only the equipment for 200, the whole hospital looked to her for the nursing that is so essential in modern medicine and surgery. for nurses are now an absolute necessity for medical and surgical work of modern times, and we could get no other sisters. the railway was broken, the bridges down, and where could we look for help or hospital comforts or medical necessities? we had pushed on faster than our supplies, and with the equipment of a casualty clearing station we had to do the work of a stationary hospital. no beds save those we took over from the german hospital, no sheets nor linen. can one wonder that she was everywhere and anywhere at all homes and in all places? six o'clock in the morning found her in the wards; she alone of all of us could find no time to rest in the afternoon; a step upon the verandah where she slept beside the bad pneumonias and black-water fever cases found her always up and ready to help. nor was her job finished in the nursing; she was our housekeeper too. for she alone could run the german woman cook, could speak swahili, and keep order among the native boys, buy eggs and fruit and chickens from the natives, so that our sick might not want for the essentially fresh foods. then at last the railway opened up a big stationary hospital, our casualty clearing station moved further to the bush, and sister mabel's work was done. but there was no elegant leisure for her when she arrived at the coast to take the leave she long had earned in england. an australian transport had some cases of cerebro-spinal meningitis aboard, and wanted sisters, and, as if she had not already had enough to do, took her with them through the sunny south atlantic seas to the home that had not seen her since she left for tropical africa five weary years before. the will to destroy the journey from morogoro to dar-es-salaam is a most interesting experience, a perfect object lesson in the kind of futile railway destruction that defeats its own ends. for lettow and his advisers said that our long wait at m'syeh had ruined our chances. complete destruction of the railway and of all the rolling stock would hold us up for the valuable two months until the rains were due. our means of supply all that time would be, perforce, the long road haul by motor lorry, by mule or ox or donkey transport, two hundred miles, from the northern railway. lettow bet on the rains and the completeness of the railway destruction he would cause; but he bargained without his visitors. little did he know the resource and capacity of our indian sappers and miners, our engineer and pioneer battalions. they threw themselves on broken culverts and wrecked bridges; with only hand tools, so short of equipment were they, they drove piles and built up girders on heaps of sleepers and made the bridges safe again. saving every scrap of chain, every abandoned german tool, making shift here, extemporising there, bending steel rails on hand forges, utilising the scrap heaps the enemy had left, they finally won and brought the first truck through, in triumph, in six weeks. but the first carriage was no pullman car. it exemplified the resource of our men and illustrated the idea that proved lettow wrong. for we adapted the engines of ford and bico motor cars and motor lorries to the bogie wheels of german trucks and sent a little fleet of motor cars along the railway. light and very speedy, these little trains sped along, each dragging its thirty tons of food and supplies for the army then 120 miles from dar-es-salaam. this adaptation of the internal combustion engine to fixed rails may not be new, but it was unexpected by lettow. and the german engineers left it a little too late; they panicked at the last and destroyed wholesale, but without intelligence. true, they put an explosive charge into the cylinders of all their big engines and left us to get new cylinders cast in scotland. they blew out the grease boxes of the trucks; but their performance, on the whole, was amateurish. for they blew up, with dynamite, the masonry of many bridges and contented themselves that the girders lay in the river below. but this was child's play to our sappers and miners. with hand jacks they lifted the girders and piled up sleepers, one by one beneath, until the girder was lifted to rail level again. now any engineer can tell you that the only way to destroy a bridge is to cut the girder. this would send us humming over the cables to glasgow to get it replaced. it was what they did do on the most important bridge over ruwu river, but in their anxiety to do the thing properly there--and they reckoned four months' hard work would find us with a new bridge still unfinished--they forgot the old deviation, an old spur that ran round the big span that crossed the river and lay buried in the jungle growth. in ten days we had opened up this old deviation, laid new rails, and had the line re-opened. when i passed down the line we took the long way round by this long-abandoned track and left the useless bridge upon our right. much method but little intelligence was shown in the destruction of the railway lines; for they often failed to remove the points, contenting themselves with removing the rails and hiding them in the jungle. the german engineers must have wept at the orgy of devastation that followed: blind fury alone seemed to animate this scene of blind destruction. at n'geri n'geri and ruwu they first broke the middle one of the three big spans and ran the rolling stock, engines, sleeping cars, a beautiful ambulance train, trucks and carriages, pell mell into the river-bed below. but the wreckage piled up in a heap 60 feet high and soon was level with the bridge again. so they broke the other spans and ran most of the rest of the rolling stock through the gaps. when these, too, had piled up, they finally ran the remainder of the rolling stock down the embankments and into the jungle. then they set fire to the three huge heaps of wreckage, and the glare lit the heavens for nearly a hundred miles. but the almost uninjured railway trucks that had run their little race, down embankments into the bush, were saved to run again. into morogoro station steamed the trains with the german lettering and freight and tare directions, carefully undisturbed, printed on their sides. to us it seemed that the destruction of an ambulance train that had in the past relied upon the red cross and our forbearance, was cutting it rather fine and putting a new interpretation upon the geneva convention. the germans, however, argue that the english are such swine they would have used it to carry supplies as well as sick and wounded. and what a magnificent railway it was, and what splendid rolling stock they had! steel sleepers, big heavy rails, low gradients, excellent cuts and bridge work; cuttings through rock smoothed as if by sandpaper and crevices filled with concrete. fine concrete gutters along the curves, such ballasting as one sees on the north-western railway. nothing cheap or flimsy about the culverts. railway stations built regardless of cost and the possibility of traffic; stone houses and waiting-rooms roofed with soft red tiles that are in such contrast to the red-washed corrugated iron roofing one sees in british east africa. expensive weighbridges where it seemed there was nothing but a few natives with an occasional load of mangoes and bananas. here was an indifference to mere dividends; at every point evidence abounded of a lavish display of public money through a generous colonial office. for in the wilhelmstrasse this colony was ever the apple of their eye, and money was always ready for east african enterprises. yet the planters complain, just as planters do all over the world, of the indifference of governments and the parsimony of executive officials. a greek rubber planter told me, from the standpoint of an intelligent and benevolent neutrality (and who so likely to know the meaning of benevolence in neutral obligations as a greek?), that the government charged huge freights on this line, killed young enterprise by excessive charges, gave no rebates even to german planters, and in other ways seemed indifferent to the fortunes of the sisal and rubber planters. true they built the railway; but what use to a planter to build a line and rob him of his profits in the freight? this gentleman of ancient sparta frankly liked the germans and found them just; and he was in complete agreement with the native policy that made every black brother do his job of work, the whole year round, at a rate of pay that fully satisfied this greek employer's views on the minimum wage. dar-es-salaam (the haven of peace) this town is indeed a haven of peace for our weary soldiers. the only rest in a really civilised place that they have had after many hundreds of miles of road and forest and trackless thirsty bush. in the cool wards of the big south african hospital many of them enjoy the only rest that they have known for months. fever-stricken wrecks are they of the men that marched so eagerly to kilimanjaro nine weary months before. months of heat and thirst and tiredness, of malaria that left them burning under trees by the roadside till the questing ambulance could find them, of dysentery that robbed their nights of sleep, of dust and flies and savage bush fighting. and now they lie between cool sheets and watch the sisters as they flit among the shadows of cool, shaded wards. only a short three months before and this was the "kaiserhof," the first hotel on the east coast of africa, as the german manager, with loud boastfulness, proclaimed. there had been a time when we doctors, then at nairobi and living in comfortable mosquito-proof houses, had blamed the men for drinking unboiled water and for discarding their mosquito nets. but even doctors sometimes live and learn, and those of us who went right forward with the troops came to know how impracticable it was to carry out the army order that bade a man drink only boiled water and sleep beneath a net. late in the night the infantryman staggers to the camp that lies among thorn bushes, hungry and tired and full of fever. how then could one expect him to put up a mosquito net in the pitch-black darkness in a country where every tree has got a thorn? long ago the army's mosquito nets have adorned the prickly bushes of the waterless deserts. "tuck your mosquito net well in at night," so runs the army order. but what does it profit him to tuck in the net when dysentery drags him from his blanket every hour at night? from the verandah of the hospital the soldier sees the hospital ship all lighted up at night with red and green lights, the ship that's going to take him out of this infernal climate to where the mosquitoes are uninfected and tsetse flies bite no more. and there are no regrets that the rainy season is commencing, and this is no longer a campaign for the white soldier. on the sunlit slopes of wynberg he will contemplate the white sands of muizenberg and recover the strength that he will want again, in four months' time, in the swamps of the rufigi. now the time has come for the black troops to see through the rest of the rainy season, to sit upon the highlands and watch, across miles of intervening swamp, the tiny points of fire that are the camp fires of german askaris. through the shady streets of this lovely town wander our soldier invalids in their blue and grey hospital uniforms, along the well-paved roads, neat boulevards, immaculate gardens and avenues of mangoes and feathery palm trees. along the sea front at night in front of the big german hospital that now houses our surgical cases, you will find these invalids walking past the cemetery where the "good huns" sleep, sitting on the beach, enjoying the cool sea breeze that sweeps into the town on the north-east monsoon. imagine the loveliest little land-locked harbour in the world, a white strip of coral and of sand, groves of feathery palms, graceful shady mangoes, huge baobab trees that were here when vasco da gama's soldiers trod these native paths; and among them fine stone houses, soft red-tiled roofs, verandahs all screened with mosquito gauze and excellently well laid out, and you have dar-es-salaam. nothing is left of the old arab village that was here for centuries before the german planted this garden-city. sloping coral sands, where arab dhows have beached themselves for ages past, are now supporting the newest and most modern of tropical warehouses and wharves, electric cranes, travelling cargo-carriers and a well-planned railway goods yard that takes the freights of hamburg to the heart of central africa. it must be pain and grief to the german men and women whom our clemency allows to occupy their houses, throng the streets and read the daily reuter cablegram, to see this town, the apple of their eye, defiled by the "dirty english" the hated "beefs," as they call us from a mistaken idea of our fondness for that tinned delicacy. but the soldiers' daily swim in the harbour is undisturbed by sharks, and the feel of the soft water is like satin to their bodies. not for these spare and slender figures the prickly heat that torments fat and beery german bodies and makes sea-bathing anathema to the hun. on german yachts the lucky few of officers and men are carried on soft breezes round the harbour and outside the harbour mouth in the evening coolness. arab dhows sail lazily over the blue sea from zanzibar. if one could dream, one could picture the corsairs' red flag and the picturesque arab figure standing high in the stern beside the tiller, and fancy would portray the freight of spices and cloves that they should bring from the plantations of pemba and zanzibar. but there are no dusky beauties now aboard these ships; and their freight is rations and other hum-drum prosaic things for our troops. the red pirate's flag has become the red ensign of our merchant marine. all the caravan routes from central africa debouch upon this place and bagamoyo. bismarck looks out from the big avenue that bears his name across the harbour to where the d.o.a.l. ship _tabora_ lies on her side; further on he looks at the sunken dry dock and a stranded german imperial yacht. it would seem as if a little "blood and iron" had come home to roost; even as the sea birds do upon his forehead. the grim mouth, that once told thiers that he would leave the women of france nothing but their eyes to weep with, is mud-splashed by our passing motor lorries. the more i see of this place the more i like it. everything to admire but the water supply, the sanitation, the huns and hunnesses and a few other beastlinesses. one can admire even the statue of wissmann, the great explorer, that looks with fixed eyes to the congo in the eye of the setting sun. he is symbolical of everything that a boastful germany can pretend to. for at his feet is a native askari looking upward, with adoring eye, to the "bwona kuba" who has given him the priceless boon of militarism, while with both hands the soldier lays a flag--the imperial flag of germany--across a prostrate lion at his feet. "putting it acrost the british lion," as i heard one of our soldiers remark. "_si monumentum requiris circumspice_" as the latins say; or, as tommy would translate, "if you want to see a bit of orl-right, look at what the navy has done to this 'ere blinking town." the governor's palace, where is it? the bats now roost in the roofless timbers that the 12-inch shells have left. what of the three big german liners that fled to this harbour for protection and painted their upper works green to harmonise with the tops of the palm trees and thus to escape observation of our cruisers? ask the statue of bismarck. he'll know, for he has been looking at them for a year now. the _tabora_ lies on her side half submerged in water; the _kã¶nig_ lies beached at the harbour mouth in a vain attempt to block the narrow entrance and keep us out; the _feldmarschal_ now on her way upon the high seas, to carry valuable food for us and maybe to be torpedoed by her late owners. the crowning insult, that this ship should have recently been towed by the _ex-professor woermann_--another captured prize. what of the two dry docks that were to make dar-es-salaam the only ship-repairing station on the east coast? one lies sunk at the harbour mouth, shortly, however, to be raised and utilised by us; the other in the harbour, sunk too soon, an ineffectual sacrifice. germans and their womenfolk crowd the streets; many of the former quite young and obvious deserters, the latter, thick of body and thicker of ankle, walk the town unmolested. not one insult or injury has ever been offered to a german woman in this whole campaign. but these "victims of our bow and spear" are not a bit pleased. the calm indifference that our men display towards them leaves them hurt and chagrined. better far to receive any kind of attention than to be ignored by these indifferent soldiers. what a tribute to their charms that the latest hun fashion, latest in dar-es-salaam, but latest by three years in paris or london, should provoke no glance of interest on sunday mornings! one feels that they long to pose as martyrs, and that our quixotic chivalry cuts them to the quick. there have been many bombardments of the forts of this town, and huge dugouts for the whole population have been constructed. great underground towns, twenty feet below the surface, all roofed in with steel railway sleepers. no wonder that many of the inhabitants fled to morogoro and tabora. what a wicked thing of the englander to shell an "undefended" town! the search-lights and the huge gun positions and the maze of trenches, barbed wire and machine-gun emplacements hewn out of the living rock, of course, to the teuton mind, do not constitute defence. but you must not think that we have had it all our own way in this sea-warfare here. for in zanzibar harbour the masts of h.m.s. _pegasus_ peep above the water--a mute reminder of the 20th september, 1914. for on that fatal day, attested to by sixteen graves in the cemetery, and more on an island near, a traitor betrayed the fact that our ship was anchored and under repairs in harbour and the rest of the fleet away. up sailed the _kã¶nigsberg_ and opened fire; and soon our poor ship was adrift and half destroyed. a gallant attempt to beach her was foiled by the worst bit of bad luck--she slipped off the edge of the bank into deep water. but even this incident was not without its splendid side; for the little patrol tug originally captured from the enemy, threw itself into the line of fire in a vain attempt to gain time for the _pegasus_ to clear. but the cruiser's sharp stern cut her to the water-line and sank her; and as her commander swam away, the _kã¶nigsberg_ passed, hailed and threw a lifebuoy. "can we give you a hand?" said the very chivalrous commander of this german ship. "no; go to hamburg," said our hero, as he swam to shore to save himself to fight again, on many a day, upon another ship. the man-eaters of tsavo and other east african adventures by lieut.-col. j. h. patterson, d.s.o. with a foreword by frederick courteney selous with illustrations preface it is with feelings of the greatest diffidence that i place the following pages before the public; but those of my friends who happen to have heard of my rather unique experiences in the wilds have so often urged me to write an account of my adventures, that after much hesitation i at last determined to do so. i have no doubt that many of my readers, who have perhaps never been very far away from civilisation, will be inclined to think that some of the incidents are exaggerated. i can only assure them that i have toned down the facts rather than otherwise, and have endeavoured to write a perfectly plain and straightforward account of things as they actually happened. it must be remembered that at the time these events occurred, the conditions prevailing in british east africa were very different from what they are to-day. the railway, which has modernised the aspect of the place and brought civilisation in its train, was then only in process of construction, and the country through which it was being built was still in its primitive savage state, as indeed, away from the railway, it still is. if this simple account of two years' work and play in the wilds should prove of any interest, or help even in a small way to call attention to the beautiful and valuable country which we possess on the equator, i shall feel more than compensated for the trouble i have taken in writing it. i am much indebted to the hon. mrs. cyril ward, sir guilford molesworth, k.c.i.e., mr. t.j. spooner and mr c. rawson for their kindness in allowing me to reproduce photographs taken by them. my warmest thanks are also due to that veteran pioneer of africa, mr. f.c. selous, for giving my little book so kindly an introduction to the public as is provided by the "foreword" which he has been good enough to write. j.h.p. august, 1907. foreword it was some seven or eight years ago that i first read, in the pages of the field newspaper, a brief account written by col. j.h. patterson, then an engineer engaged on the construction of the uganda railway, of the tsavo man-eating lions. my own long experience of african hunting told me at once that every word in this thrilling narrative was absolutely true. nay more: i knew that the author had told his story in a most modest manner, laying but little stress on the dangers he had run when sitting up at nights to try and compass the death of the terrible man-eaters, especially on that one occasion when whilst watching from a very light scaffolding, supported only by four rickety poles, he was himself stalked by one of the dread beasts. fortunately he did not lose his nerve, and succeeded in shooting the lion, just when it was on the point of springing upon him. but had this lion approached him from behind, i think it would probably have added col. patterson to its long list of victims, for in my own experience i have known of three instances of men having been pulled from trees or huts built on platforms at a greater height from the ground than the crazy structure on which col. patterson was watching on that night of terrors. from the time of herodotus until to-day, lion stories innumerable have been told and written. i have put some on record myself. but no lion story i have ever heard or read equals in its long-sustained and dramatic interest the story of the tsavo man-eaters as told by col. patterson. a lion story is usually a tale of adventures, often very terrible and pathetic, which occupied but a few hours of one night; but the tale of the tsavo man-eaters is an epic of terrible tragedies spread out over several months, and only at last brought to an end by the resource and determination of one man. it was some years after i read the first account published of the tsavo man-eaters that i made the acquaintance of president roosevelt. i told him all i remembered about it, and he was so deeply interested in the story--as he is in all true stories of the nature and characteristics of wild animals--that he begged me to send him the short printed account as published in the field. this i did; and it was only in the last letter i received from him that, referring to this story, president roosevelt wrote: "i think that the incident of the uganda man-eating lions, described in those two articles you sent me, is the most remarkable account of which we have any record. it is a great pity that it should not be preserved in permanent form." well, i am now glad to think that it will be preserved in permanent form; and i venture to assure col. patterson that president roosevelt will be amongst the most interested readers of his book. it is probable that the chapters recounting the story of the tsavo man-eating lions will be found more absorbing than the other portions of col. patterson's book; but i think that most of his readers will agree with me that the whole volume is full of interest and information. the account given by col. patterson of how he overcame all the difficulties which confronted him in building a strong and permanent railway bridge across the tsavo river makes excellent reading; whilst the courage he displayed in attacking, single-handed, lions, rhinoceroses and other dangerous animals was surpassed by the pluck, tact and determination he showed in quelling the formidable mutiny which once broke out amongst his native indian workers. finally, let me say that i have spent the best part of two nights reading the proof-sheets of col. patterson's book, and i can assure him that the time passed like magic. my interest was held from the first page to the last, for i felt that every word i read was true. f. c. selous. worplesdon, surrey. september 18, 1907. contents chapter i my arrival at tsavo 1 chapter ii the first appearance of the man-eaters 20 chapter iii the attack on the goods-wagon 29 chapter iv the building of the tsavo bridge 41 chapter v troubles with the workmen 50 chapter vi the reign of terror 61 chapter vii the district officer's narrow escape 75 chapter viii the death of the first man-eater 84 chapter ix the death of the second man-eater 95 chapter x the completion of the tsavo bridge 108 chapter xi the swahili and other native tribes 119 chapter xii a night after hippo 133 chapter xiii a day on the n'dungu escarpment 145 chapter xiv the finding of the man-eaters' den 155 chapter xv unsuccessful rhino hunts 168 chapter xvi a widow's story 176 chapter xvii an infuriated rhino 182 chapter xviii lions on the athi plains 193 chapter xix the stricken caravan 210 chapter xx a day on the athi river 221 chapter xxi the masai and other tribes 231 chapter xxii how roshan khan saved my life 247 chapter xxiii a successful lion hunt 264 chapter xxiv bhoota's last shikar 273 chapter xxv a man-eater in a railway carriage 286 chapter xxvi work at nairobi 293 chapter xxvii the finding of the new eland 300 appendix 323 list of illustrations heads of eight lions shot by the author in british east africa frontispiece mombasa, from the harbour 1 the native quarter, mombasa 2 "well-wooded hills and slopes on the mainland" 3 vasco da gama street and pillar 5 "the best way to get three ... was by gharri 6 "i pitched my tent under some shady palms" 7 "kilindini is on the opposite side of the island" 10 "the place of deep waters" 11 "a lucky shot brought down the huge bird" 14 "i slept that night in a little palm hut" 15 "this interminable nyika" 17 "the river crossed by means of a temporary bridge" 18 women of uganda 19 the tent from which jemadar ungan singh was carried off 23 "my own tent was pitched in an open clearing" 29 "we shared a hut of palm leaves and boughs" 30 "the camps of the workmen had also been surrounded by thorn fences" 31 "railhead camp, with its two or three thousand workmen" 33 "the two wounded coolies were left where they lay, a piece of torn tent having fallen over them" 35 "a luncheon served in the wilds, with occasionally a friend to share it" 43 "it very soon became a great pet" 46 "heera singh made a wild spring into the water to get clear of the falling stone" 47 "the door which was to admit the lion" 62 "when the trap was ready, i pitched a tent over it" 64 "they found him stuck fast in the bushes of the boma" 70 "perched on the top of water-tanks" 73 "i took up my position in a crib made of sleepers" 77 whitehead on a trolley at the exact spot where the lion jumped upon him 79 abdullah and his two wives 80 a party of wa jamousi 83 "his length from tip of nose to tip of tail was nine feet eight inches" 92 head of the first man-eater 93 "the following evening i took up my position in this same tree" 100 "he measured nine feet six inches from tip of nose to tip of tail, and stood three feet eleven and a half inches high" 103 "the bridge over the tsavo rapidly neared completion" 108 "the heavy stones were swung into position" 109 "the girder was run over its exact place" 110 "and finally lowered gently into position" 111 "very soon i had the satisfaction of seeing the first train cross the finished work" 112 the completed tsavo bridge 113 one of the trolley lines after the flood 114 swahili caravan porters 120 "such was my cook, mabruki" 122 the women ... wear a long, brightly-coloured cloth" 123 "the women attire themselves only in a short kilt" 125 "we arrived at m'gogo's capital" 126 "making pombe in the hollowed-out stump of a tree" 127 wa taita men 129 m'kamba woman 131 "until it joins the athi river" 136 "the banks of the sabaki are lined with trees" 138 "i caught sight of a fine waterbuck and successfully bowled him over" 146 "a young one was lying down in the grass quite close to me" 147 a crocodile on the sabaki 153 "beyond all doubt, the man-eaters' den!" 158 "watch the animals come down to drink" 161 "the antelope swinging by his feet" 165 hippo head 167 "slaves chained neck to neck as was the custom" 174 hospital tent at voi where mrs. o'hara rested 178 in the bazaar at kampala 181 "the great athi plains" 182 "first the earth surface has to be prepared" 184 "cuttings have to be made and hollows banked up" 185 "another gang drops the rails in their places" 187 "it never moved again" 190 "the trophy was well worth the pains i had taken to add it to my collection" 191 jackson's hartebeeste, and zebra 194 waterbuck 195 "fortunately the brute fell dead after this final effort" 201 "we managed to bring them in triumph to the camp" 214 "i got near enough for a safe shot, which bowled the antelope over stone-dead" 218 wart-hog 220 "a successful snapshot of an impala just after it had been shot" 228 a masai chief 232 masai warriors 233 masai woman 234 masai girls 235 masai women 237 n'derobbo boy 239 n'derobbo boy, with collabus monkey 240 n'derobbo girl 241 wa kikuyu 244 "the women of the wa kikuyu carry the heavy loads" 245 "spooner's plucky servant, imam din" 281 a collection of trophies 285 he was kept on view for several days, and then shot 291 impala 292 "i took a photograph of him standing reside his fine trophy" 295 "succeeded in finishing him off without further trouble" 297 steamer unloading at kisumu, on lake victoria nyanza 299 the grand falls, tana river 300 shimone, "the place of falling water" (eldama ravine) 301 oryx 302 roan antelope 303 "an excellent, cheery fellow ... named landaalu" 304 crossing a stream on the cook's box 305 crossing the angarua river 307 reedbuck 309 the new eland--t. oryx pattersonianus 316 thomson's gazelle 321 war canoe on lake victoria nyanza, near the ripon falls 325 preparing breakfast in camp 326 view in the kenya province 331 "a flying visit in a rickshaw to kampala" 332 "clad in long flowing cotton garments" 333 jinja 334 "rushing over the ripon falls" 335 "the mighty river stretching away to the north amid enchanting scenery" 337 wa kikuyu warriors 346 map of british east africa 347 facsimile of address presented to the author on his departure from east africa in 1899 348-351 the man-eaters of tsavo chapter i my arrival at tsavo it was towards noon on march 1, 1898, that i first found myself entering the narrow and somewhat dangerous harbour of mombasa, on the east coast of africa. the town lies on an island of the same name, separated from the mainland only by a very narrow channel, which forms the harbour; and as our vessel steamed slowly in, close under the quaint old portuguese fortress built over three hundred years ago, i was much struck with the strange beauty of the view which gradually opened out before me. contrary to my anticipation, everything looked fresh and green, and an oriental glamour of enchantment seemed to hang over the island. the old town was bathed in brilliant sunshine and reflected itself lazily on the motionless sea; its flat roofs and dazzlingly white walls peeped out dreamily between waving palms and lofty cocoanuts, huge baobabs and spreading mango trees; and the darker background of well-wooded hills and slopes on the mainland formed a very effective setting to a beautiful and, to me, unexpected picture. the harbour was plentifully sprinkled with arab dhows, in some of which, i believe, even at the present day, a few slaves are occasionally smuggled off to persia and arabia. it has always been a matter of great wonder to me how the navigators of little vessels find their way from port to port, as they do, without the aid of either compass or sextant, and how they manage to weather the terrible storms that at certain seasons of the year suddenly visit eastern seas. i remember once coming across a dhow becalmed in the middle of the indian ocean, and its crew making signals of distress, our captain slowed down to investigate. there were four men on board, all nearly dead from thirst; they had been without drink of any kind for several days and had completely lost their bearings. after giving them some casks of water, we directed them to muscat (the port they wished to make), and our vessel resumed its journey, leaving them still becalmed in the midst of that glassy sea. whether they managed to reach their destination i never knew. as our steamer made its way to its anchorage, the romantic surroundings of the harbour of mombasa conjured up, visions of stirring adventures of the past, and recalled to my mind the many tales of reckless doings of pirates and slavers, which as a boy it had been my delight to read. i remembered that it was at this very place that in 1498 the great vasco da gama nearly lost his ship and life through the treachery of his arab pilot, who plotted to wreck the vessel on the reef which bars more than half the entrance to the harbour. luckily, this nefarious design was discovered in time, and the bold navigator promptly hanged the pilot, and would also have sacked the town but for the timely submission and apologies of the sultan. in the principal street of mombasa--appropriately called vasco da gama street--there still stands a curiously shaped pillar which is said to have been erected by this great seaman in commemoration of his visit. scarcely had the anchor been dropped, when, as if by magic, our vessel was surrounded by a fleet of small boats and "dug-outs" manned by crowds of shouting and gesticulating natives. after a short fight between some rival swahili boatmen for my baggage and person, i found myself being vigorously rowed to the foot of the landing steps by the bahareen (sailors) who had been successful in the encounter. now, my object in coming out to east africa at this time was to take up a position to which i had been appointed by the foreign office on the construction staff of the uganda railway. as soon as i landed, therefore, i enquired from one of the customs officials where the headquarters of the railway were to be found, and was told that they were at a place called kilindini, some three miles away, on the other side of the island. the best way to get there, i was further informed, was by gharri, which i found to be a small trolley, having two seats placed back to back under a little canopy and running on narrow rails which are laid through the principal street of the town. accordingly, i secured one of these vehicles, which are pushed by two strapping swahili boys, and was soon flying down the track, which once outside the town lay for the most part through dense groves of mango, baobab, banana and palm trees, with here and there brilliantly coloured creepers hanging in luxuriant festoons from the branches. on arrival at kilindini, i made my way to the railway offices and was informed that i should be stationed inland and should receive further instructions in the course of a day or two. meanwhile i pitched my tent under some shady palms near the gharri line, and busied myself in exploring the island and in procuring the stores and the outfit necessary for a lengthy sojourn up-country. the town of mombasa itself naturally occupied most of my attention. it is supposed to have been founded about a.d. 1000, but the discovery of ancient egyptian idols, and of coins of the early persian and chinese dynasties, goes to show that it must at different ages have been settled by people of the very earliest civilisations. coming to more modern times, it was held on and off from 1505 to 1729 by the portuguese, a permanent memorial of whose occupation remains in the shape of the grim old fortress, built about 1593--on the site, it is believed, of a still older stronghold. these enterprising sea-rovers piously named it "jesus fort," and an inscription recording this is still to be seen over the main entrance. the portuguese occupation of mombasa was, however, not without its vicissitudes. from march 15, 1696, for example, the town was besieged for thirty-three consecutive months by a large fleet of arab dhows, which completely surrounded the island. in spite of plague, treachery and famine, the little garrison held out valiantly in jesus fort, to which they had been forced to retire, until december 12, 1698, when the arabs made a last determined attack and captured the citadel, putting the remnant of the defenders, both men and women, to the sword. it is pathetic to read that only two days later a large portuguese fleet appeared off the harbour, bringing the long-looked-for reinforcements. after this the portuguese made several attempts to reconquer mombasa, but were unsuccessful until 1728, when the town was stormed and captured by general sampayo. the arabs, however, returned the next year in overwhelming numbers, and again drove the portuguese out; and although the latter made one more attempt in 1769 to regain their supremacy, they did not succeed. the arabs, as represented by the sultan of zanzibar, remain in nominal possession of mombasa to the present day; but in 1887 seyid bargash, the then sultan of zanzibar, gave for an annual rental a concession of his mainland territories to the british east africa association, which in 1888 was formed into the imperial british east africa company. in 1895 the foreign office took over control of the company's possessions, and a protectorate was proclaimed; and ten years later the administration of the country was transferred to the colonial office. the last serious fighting on the island took place so recently as 1895-6, when a swahili chief named m'baruk bin rashed, who had three times previously risen in rebellion against the sultan of zanzibar, attempted to defy the british and to throw off their yoke. he was defeated on several occasions, however, and was finally forced to flee southwards into german territory. altogether, mombasa has in the past well deserved its native name of kisiwa m'vitaa, or "isle of war"; but under the settled rule now obtaining, it is rapidly becoming a thriving and prosperous town, and as the port of entry for uganda, it does a large forwarding trade with the interior and has several excellent stores where almost anything, from a needle to an anchor, may readily be obtained. kilindini is, as i have said, on the opposite side of the island, and as its name--"the place of deep waters"--implies, has a much finer harbour than that possessed by mombasa. the channel between the island and the mainland is here capable of giving commodious and safe anchorage to the very largest vessels, and as the jetty is directly connected with the uganda railway, kilindini has now really become the principal port, being always used by the liners and heavier vessels. i had spent nearly a week in mombasa, and was becoming very anxious to get my marching orders, when one morning i was delighted to receive an official letter instructing me to proceed to tsavo, about one hundred and thirty-two miles from the coast, and to take charge of the construction of the section of the line at that place, which had just then been reached by railhead. i accordingly started at daylight next morning in a special train with mr. anderson, the superintendent of works, and dr. mcculloch, the principal medical officer; and as the country was in every way new to me, i found the journey a most interesting one. the island of mombasa is separated from the mainland by the strait of macupa, and the railway crosses this by a bridge about three-quarters of a mile long, called the salisbury bridge, in honour of the great minister for foreign affairs under whose direction the uganda railway scheme was undertaken. for twenty miles after reaching the mainland, our train wound steadily upwards through beautifully wooded, park-like country, and on looking back out of the carriage windows we could every now and again obtain lovely views of mombasa and kilindini, while beyond these the indian ocean sparkled in the glorious sunshine as far as the eye could see. the summit of the rabai hills having been reached, we entered on the expanse of the taru desert, a wilderness covered with poor scrub and stunted trees, and carpeted in the dry season with a layer of fine red dust. this dust is of a most penetrating character, and finds its way into everything in the carriage as the train passes along. from here onward game is more or less plentiful, but the animals are very difficult to see owing to the thick undergrowth in which they hide themselves. we managed, however, to catch sight of a few from the carriage windows, and also noticed some of the natives, the wa nyika, or "children of the wilderness." at maungu, some eighty miles from the coast, we came to the end of this "desert," but almost the only difference to be noticed in the character of the country was that the colour of the dust had changed. as our train sped onwards through the level uplands we saw a fine ostrich striding along parallel with the line, as if having a race with us. dr. mcculloch at once seized his rifle and by a lucky shot brought down the huge bird; the next and greater difficulty, however, was to secure the prize. for a time the engine-driver took no notice of our signals and shouts, but at last we succeeded in attracting his attention, and the train was shunted back to where the ostrich had fallen. we found it to be an exceptionally fine specimen, and had to exert all our strength to drag it on board the train. soon after this we reached voi, about a hundred miles from the coast, and as this was the most important station on the line that we had yet come to, we made a short halt in order to inspect some construction work which was going on. on resuming our journey, we soon discovered that a pleasant change had occurred in the character of the landscape. from a place called n'dii, the railway runs for some miles through a beautifully wooded country, which looked all the more inviting after the deadly monotony of the wilderness through which we had just passed. to the south of us could be seen the n'dii range of mountains, the dwelling-place of the wa taita people, while on our right rose the rigid brow of the n'dungu escarpment, which stretches away westwards for scores of miles. here our journey was slow, as every now and again we stopped to inspect the permanent works in progress; but eventually, towards dusk, we arrived at our destination, tsavo. i slept that night in a little palm hut which had been built by some previous traveller, and which was fortunately unoccupied for the time being. it was rather broken-down and dilapidated, not even possessing a door, and as i lay on my narrow camp bed i could see the stars twinkling through the roof. i little knew then what adventures awaited me in this neighbourhood; and if i had realised that at that very time two savage brutes were prowling round, seeking whom they might devour, i hardly think i should have slept so peacefully in my rickety shelter. next morning i was up betimes, eager to make acquaintance with my new surroundings. my first impression on coming out of my hut was that i was hemmed in on all sides by a dense growth of impenetrable jungle: and on scrambling to the top of a little hill close at hand, i found that the whole country as far as i could see was covered with low, stunted trees, thick undergrowth and "wait-a-bit" thorns. the only clearing, indeed, appeared to be where the narrow track for the railway had been cut. this interminable nyika, or wilderness of whitish and leafless dwarf trees, presented a ghastly and sun-stricken appearance; and here and there a ridge of dark-red heat-blistered rock jutted out above the jungle, and added by its rugged barrenness to the dreariness of the picture. away to the north-east stretched the unbroken line of the n'dungu escarpment, while far off to the south i could just catch a glimpse of the snow-capped top of towering kilima n'jaro. the one redeeming feature of the neighbourhood was the river from which tsavo takes its name. this is a swiftly-flowing stream, always cool and always running, the latter being an exceptional attribute in this part of east africa; and the fringe of lofty green trees along its banks formed a welcome relief to the general monotony of the landscape. when i had thus obtained a rough idea of the neighbourhood, i returned to my hut, and began in earnest to make preparations for my stay in this out-of-the-way place. the stores were unpacked, and my "boys" pitched my tent in a little clearing close to where i had slept the night before and not far from the main camp of the workmen. railhead had at this time just reached the western side of the river, and some thousands of indian coolies and other workmen were encamped there. as the line had to be pushed on with all speed, a diversion had been made and the river crossed by means of a temporary bridge. my principal work was to erect the permanent structure, and to complete all the other works for a distance of thirty miles on each side of tsavo. i accordingly made a survey of what had to be done, and sent my requisition for labour, tools and material to the head-quarters at kilindini. in a short time workmen and supplies came pouring in, and the noise of hammers and sledges, drilling and blasting echoed merrily through the district. chapter ii the first appearance of the man-eaters unfortunately this happy state of affairs did not continue for long, and our work was soon interrupted in a rude and startling manner. two most voracious and insatiable man-eating lions appeared upon the scene, and for over nine months waged an intermittent warfare against the railway and all those connected with it in the vicinity of tsavo. this culminated in a perfect reign of terror in december, 1898, when they actually succeeded in bringing the railway works to a complete standstill for about three weeks. at first they were not always successful in their efforts to carry off a victim, but as time went on they stopped at nothing and indeed braved any danger in order to obtain their favourite food. their methods then became so uncanny, and their man-stalking so well-timed and so certain of success, that the workmen firmly believed that they were not real animals at all, but devils in lions' shape. many a time the coolies solemnly assured me that it was absolutely useless to attempt to shoot them. they were quite convinced that the angry spirits of two departed native chiefs had taken this form in order to protest against a railway being made through their country, and by stopping its progress to avenge the insult thus shown to them. i had only been a few days at tsavo when i first heard that these brutes had been seen in the neighbourhood. shortly afterwards one or two coolies mysteriously disappeared, and i was told that they had been carried off by night from their tents and devoured by lions. at the time i did not credit this story, and was more inclined to believe that the unfortunate men had been the victims of foul play at the hands of some of their comrades. they were, as it happened, very good workmen, and had each saved a fair number of rupees, so i thought it quite likely that some scoundrels from the gangs had murdered them for the sake of their money. this suspicion, however, was very soon dispelled. about three weeks after my arrival, i was roused one morning about daybreak and told that one of my jemadars, a fine powerful sikh named ungan singh, had been seized in his tent during the night, and dragged off and eaten. naturally i lost no time in making an examination of the place, and was soon convinced that the man had indeed been carried off by a lion, as its "pug" marks were plainly visible in the sand, while the furrows made by the heels of the victim showed the direction in which he had been dragged away. moreover, the jemadar shared his tent with half a dozen other workmen, and one of his bedfellows had actually witnessed the occurrence. he graphically described how, at about midnight, the lion suddenly put its head in at the open tent door and seized ungan singh--who happened to be nearest the opening--by the throat. the unfortunate fellow cried out "choro" ("let go"), and threw his arms up round the lion's neck. the next moment he was gone, and his panic-stricken companions lay helpless, forced to listen to the terrible struggle which took place outside. poor ungan singh must have died hard; but what chance had he? as a coolie gravely remarked, "was he not fighting with a lion?" on hearing this dreadful story i at once set out to try to track the animal, and was accompanied by captain haslem, who happened to be staying at tsavo at the time, and who, poor fellow, himself met with a tragic fate very shortly afterwards. we found it an easy matter to follow the route taken by the lion, as he appeared to have stopped several times before beginning his meal. pools of blood marked these halting-places, where he doubtless indulged in the man-eaters' habit of licking the skin off so as to get at the fresh blood. (i have been led to believe that this is their custom from the appearance of two half-eaten bodies which i subsequently rescued: the skin was gone in places, and the flesh looked dry, as if it had been sucked.) on reaching the spot where the body had been devoured, a dreadful spectacle presented itself. the ground all round was covered with blood and morsels of flesh and bones, but the unfortunate jemadar's head had been left intact, save for the holes made by the lion's tusks on seizing him, and lay a short distance away from the other remains, the eyes staring wide open with a startled, horrified look in them. the place was considerably cut up, and on closer examination we found that two lions had been there and had probably struggled for possession of the body. it was the most gruesome sight i had ever seen. we collected the remains as well as we could and heaped stones on them, the head with its fixed, terrified stare seeming to watch us all the time, for it we did not bury, but took back to camp for identification before the medical officer. thus occurred my first experience of man-eating lions, and i vowed there and then that i would spare no pains to rid the neighbourhood of the brutes. i little knew the trouble that was in store for me, or how narrow were to be my own escapes from sharing poor ungan singh's fate. that same night i sat up in a tree close to the late jemadar's tent, hoping that the lions would return to it for another victim. i was followed to my perch by a few of the more terrified coolies, who begged to be allowed to sit up in the tree with me; all the other workmen remained in their tents, but no more doors were left open. i had with me my .303 and a 12-bore shot gun, one barrel loaded with ball and the other with slug. shortly after settling down to my vigil, my hopes of bagging one of the brutes were raised by the sound of their ominous roaring coming closer and closer. presently this ceased, and quiet reigned for an hour or two, as lions always stalk their prey in complete silence. all at once, however, we heard a great uproar and frenzied cries coming from another camp about half a mile away; we knew then that the lions had seized a victim there, and that we should see or hear nothing further of them that night. next morning i found that one of the brutes had broken into a tent at railhead camp--whence we had heard the commotion during the night--and had made off with a poor wretch who was lying there asleep. after a night's rest, therefore, i took up my position in a suitable tree near this tent. i did not at all like the idea of walking the half-mile to the place after dark, but all the same i felt fairly safe, as one of my men carried a bright lamp close behind me. he in his turn was followed by another leading a goat, which i tied under my tree in the hope that the lion might be tempted to seize it instead of a coolie. a steady drizzle commenced shortly after i had settled down to my night of watching, and i was soon thoroughly chilled and wet. i stuck to my uncomfortable post, however, hoping to get a shot, but i well remember the feeling of impotent disappointment i experienced when about midnight i heard screams and cries and a heart-rending shriek, which told me that the man-eaters had again eluded me and had claimed another victim elsewhere. at this time the various camps for the workmen were very scattered, so that the lions had a range of some eight miles on either side of tsavo to work upon; and as their tactics seemed to be to break into a different camp each night, it was most difficult to forestall them. they almost appeared, too, to have an extraordinary and uncanny faculty of finding out our plans beforehand, so that no matter in how likely or how tempting a spot we lay in wait for them, they invariably avoided that particular place and seized their victim for the night from some other camp. hunting them by day, moreover, in such a dense wilderness as surrounded us, was an exceedingly tiring and really foolhardy undertaking. in a thick jungle of the kind round tsavo the hunted animal has every chance against the hunter, as however careful the latter may be, a dead twig or something of the sort is sure to crackle just at the critical moment and so give the alarm. still i never gave up hope of some day finding their lair, and accordingly continued to devote all my spare time to crawling about through the undergrowth. many a time when attempting to force my way through this bewildering tangle i had to be released by my gun-bearer from the fast clutches of the "wait-a-bit"; and often with immense pains i succeeded in tracing the lions to the river after they had seized a victim, only to lose the trail from there onwards, owing to the rocky nature of the ground which they seemed to be careful to choose in retreating to their den. at this early stage of the struggle, i am glad to say, the lions were not always successful in their efforts to capture a human being for their nightly meal, and one or two amusing incidents occurred to relieve the tension from which our nerves were beginning to suffer. on one occasion an enterprising bunniah (indian trader) was riding along on his donkey late one night, when suddenly a lion sprang out on him knocking over both man and beast. the donkey was badly wounded, and the lion was just about to seize the trader, when in some way or other his claws became entangled in a rope by which two empty oil tins were strung across the donkey's neck. the rattle and clatter made by these as he dragged them after him gave him such a fright that he turned tail and bolted off into the jungle, to the intense relief of the terrified bunniah, who quickly made his way up the nearest tree and remained there, shivering with fear, for the rest of the night. shortly after this episode, a greek contractor named themistocles pappadimitrini had an equally marvellous escape. he was sleeping peacefully in his tent one night, when a lion broke in, and seized and made off with the mattress on which he was lying. though, rudely awakened, the greek was quite unhurt and suffered from nothing worse than a bad fright. this same man, however, met with a melancholy fate not long afterwards. he had been to the kilima n'jaro district to buy cattle, and on the return journey attempted to take a short cut across country to the railway, but perished miserably of thirst on the way. on another occasion fourteen coolies who slept together in a large tent were one night awakened by a lion suddenly jumping on to the tent and breaking through it. the brute landed with one claw on a coolie's shoulder, which was badly torn; but instead of seizing the man himself, in his hurry he grabbed a large bag of rice which happened to be lying in the tent, and made off with it, dropping it in disgust some little distance away when he realised his mistake. these, however, were only the earlier efforts of the man-eaters. later on, as will be seen, nothing flurried or frightened them in the least, and except as food they showed a complete contempt for human beings. having once marked down a victim, they would allow nothing to deter them from securing him, whether he were protected by a thick fence, or inside a closed tent, or sitting round a brightly burning fire. shots, shouting and firebrands they alike held in derision. chapter iii the attack on the goods-wagon all this time my own tent was pitched in an open clearing, unprotected by a fence of any kind round it. one night when the medical officer; dr. rose, was staying with me, we were awakened about midnight by hearing something tumbling about among the tent ropes, but on going out with a lantern we could discover nothing. daylight, however, plainly revealed the "pug" marks of a lion, so that on that occasion i fancy one or other of us had a narrow escape. warned by this experience, i at once arranged to move my quarters, and went to join forces with dr. brock, who had just arrived at tsavo to take medical charge of the district. we shared a hut of palm leaves and boughs, which we had constructed on the eastern side of the river, close to the old caravan route leading to uganda; and we had it surrounded by a circular boma, or thorn fence, about seventy yards in diameter, well made and thick and high. our personal servants also lived within the enclosure, and a bright fire was always kept up throughout the night. for the sake of coolness, brock and i used to sit out under the verandah of this hut in the evenings; but it was rather trying to our nerves to attempt to read or write there, as we never knew when a lion might spring over the boma, and be on us before we were aware. we therefore kept our rifles within easy reach, and cast many an anxious glance out into the inky darkness beyond the circle of the firelight. on one or two occasions, we found in the morning that the lions had come quite close to the fence; but fortunately they never succeeded in getting through. by this time, too, the camps of the workmen had also been surrounded by thorn fences; nevertheless the lions managed to jump over or to break through some one or other of these, and regularly every few nights a man was carried off, the reports of the disappearance of this or that workman coming in to me with painful frequency. so long, however, as railhead camp--with its two or three thousand men, scattered over a wide area--remained at tsavo, the coolies appeared not to take much notice of the dreadful deaths of their comrades. each man felt, i suppose, that as the man-eaters had such a large number of victims to choose from, the chances of their selecting him in particular were very small. but when the large camp moved ahead with the railway, matters altered considerably. i was then left with only some few hundred men to complete the permanent works; and as all the remaining workmen were naturally camped together, the attentions of the lions became more apparent and made a deeper impression. a regular panic consequently ensued, and it required all my powers of persuasion to induce the men to stay on. in fact, i succeeded in doing so only by allowing them to knock off all regular work until they had built exceptionally thick and high bomas round each camp. within these enclosures fires were kept burning all night, and it was also the duty of the night-watchman to keep clattering half a dozen empty oil tins suspended from a convenient tree. these he manipulated by means of a long rope, while sitting in safety within his tent; and the frightful noise thus produced was kept up at frequent intervals during the night in the hopes of terrifying away the man-eaters. in spite of all these precautions, however, the lions would not be denied, and men continued to disappear. when the railhead workmen moved on, their hospital camp was left behind. it stood rather apart from the other camps, in a clearing about three-quarters of a mile from my hut, but was protected by a good thick fence and to all appearance was quite secure. it seemed, however, as if barriers were of no avail against the "demons", for before very long one of them found a weak spot in the boma and broke through. on this occasion the hospital assistant had a marvellous escape. hearing a noise outside, he opened the door of his tent and was horrified to see a great lion standing a few yards away looking at him. the beast made a spring towards him, which gave the assistant such a fright that he jumped backwards, and in doing so luckily upset a box containing medical stores. this crashed down with such a loud clatter of breaking glass that the lion was startled for the moment and made off to another part of the enclosure. here, unfortunately, he was more successful, as he jumped on to and broke through a tent in which eight patients were lying. two of them were badly wounded by his spring, while a third poor wretch was seized and dragged off bodily through the thorn fence. the two wounded coolies were left where they lay, a piece of torn tent having fallen over them; and in this position the doctor and i found them on our arrival soon after dawn next morning. we at once decided to move the hospital closer to the main camp; a fresh site was prepared, a stout hedge built round the enclosure, and all the patients were moved in before nightfall. as i had heard that lions generally visit recently deserted camps, i decided to sit up all night in the vacated boma in the hope of getting an opportunity of bagging one of them; but in the middle of my lonely vigil i had the mortification of hearing shrieks and cries coming from the direction of the new hospital, telling me only too plainly that our dreaded foes had once more eluded me. hurrying to the place at daylight i found that one of the lions had jumped over the newly erected fence and had carried off the hospital bhisti (water-carrier), and that several other coolies had been unwilling witnesses of the terrible scene which took place within the circle of light given by the big camp fire. the bhisti, it appears, had been lying on the floor, with his head towards the centre of the tent and his feet neatly touching the side. the lion managed to get its head in below the canvas, seized him by the foot and pulled him out. in desperation the unfortunate water-carrier clutched hold of a heavy box in a vain attempt to prevent himself being carried off, and dragged it with him until he was forced to let go by its being stopped by the side of the tent. he then caught hold of a tent rope, and clung tightly to it until it broke. as soon as the lion managed to get him clear of the tent, he sprang at his throat and after a few vicious shakes the poor bhisti's agonising cries were silenced for ever. the brute then seized him in his mouth, like a huge cat with a mouse, and ran up and down the boma looking for a weak spot to break through. this he presently found and plunged into, dragging his victim with him and leaving shreds of torn cloth and flesh as ghastly evidences of his passage through the thorns. dr. brock and i were easily able to follow his track, and soon found the remains about four hundred yards away in the bush. there was the usual horrible sight. very little was left of the unfortunate bhisti--only the skull, the jaws, a few of the larger bones and a portion of the palm with one or two fingers attached. on one of these was a silver ring, and this, with the teeth (a relic much prized by certain castes), was sent to the man's widow in india. again it was decided to move the hospital; and again, before nightfall, the work was completed, including a still stronger and thicker boma. when the patients had been moved, i had a covered goods-wagon placed in a favourable position on a siding which ran close to the site which had just been abandoned, and in this brock and i arranged to sit up that night. we left a couple of tents still standing within the enclosure, and also tied up a few cattle in it as bait for the lions, who had been seen in no less than three different places in the neighbourhood during the afternoon (april 23). four miles from tsavo they had attempted to seize a coolie who was walking along the line. fortunately, however, he had just time to escape up a tree, where he remained, more dead than alive, until he was rescued by the traffic manager, who caught sight of him from a passing train. they next appeared close to tsavo station, and a couple of hours later some workmen saw one of the lions stalking dr. brock as he was returning about dusk from the hospital. in accordance with our plan, the doctor and i set out after dinner for the goods-wagon, which was about a mile away from our hut. in the light of subsequent events, we did a very foolish thing in taking up our position so late; nevertheless, we reached our destination in safety, and settled down to our watch about ten o'clock. we had the lower half of the door of the wagon closed, while the upper half was left wide open for observation: and we faced, of course, in the direction of the abandoned boma, which, however, we were unable to see in the inky darkness. for an hour or two everything was quiet, and the deadly silence was becoming very monotonous and oppressive, when suddenly, to our right, a dry twig snapped, and we knew that an animal of some sort was about. soon afterwards we heard a dull thud, as if some heavy body had jumped over the boma. the cattle, too, became very uneasy, and we could hear them moving about restlessly. then again came dead silence. at this juncture i proposed to my companion that i should get out of the wagon and lie on the ground close to it, as i could see better in that position should the lion come in our direction with his prey. brock, however, persuaded me to remain where i was; and a few seconds afterwards i was heartily glad that i had taken his advice, for at that very moment one of the man-eaters--although we did not know it--was quietly stalking us, and was even then almost within springing distance. orders had been given for the entrance to the boma to be blocked up, and accordingly we were listening in the expectation of hearing the lion force his way out through the bushes with his prey. as a matter of fact, however, the doorway had not been properly closed, and while we were wondering what the lion could be doing inside the boma for so long, he was outside all the time, silently reconnoitring our position. presently i fancied i saw something coming very stealthily towards us. i feared, however, to trust to my eyes, which by that time were strained by prolonged staring through the darkness, so under my breath i asked brock whether he saw anything, at the same time covering the dark object as well as i could with my rifle. brock did not answer; he told me afterwards that he, too, thought he had seen something move, but was afraid to say so lest i should fire and it turn out to be nothing after all. after this there was intense silence again for a second or two, then with a sudden bound a huge body sprang at us. "the lion!" i shouted, and we both fired almost simultaneously--not a moment too soon, for in another second the brute would assuredly have landed inside the wagon. as it was, he must have swerved off in his spring, probably blinded by the flash and frightened by the noise of the double report which was increased a hundredfold by the reverberation of the hollow iron roof of the truck. had we not been very much on the alert, he would undoubtedly have got one of us, and we realised that we had had a very lucky and very narrow escape. the next morning we found brock's bullet embedded in the sand close to a footprint; it could not have missed the lion by more than an inch or two. mine was nowhere to be found. thus ended my first direct encounter with one of the man-eaters. chapter iv the building of the tsavo bridge during all this troublesome period the construction of the railway had been going steadily forward, and the first important piece of work which i had commenced on arrival was completed. this was the widening of a rock cutting through which the railway ran just before it, reached the river. in the hurry of pushing on the laying of the line, just enough of the rock had originally been cut away to allow room for an engine to pass, and consequently any material which happened to, project outside the wagons or trucks caught on the jagged faces of the cutting. i myself saw the door of a guard's van, which had been left ajar, smashed to atoms in this way; and accordingly i put a gang of rock-drillers to work at once and soon had ample room made for all traffic to pass unimpeded. while this was going on, another gang of men were laying the foundations of a girder bridge which was to span a gully between this cutting and tsavo station. this would have taken too long to erect when railhead was at the place, so a diversion had been made round it, the temporary track leading down almost to the bed of the nullah and up again on the further side. when the foundations and abutments were ready, the gully was spanned by an iron girder, the slopes leading up to it banked up on either side, and the permanent way laid on an easy grade. then, also, a water supply had to be established; and this meant some very pleasant work for me in taking levels up the banks of the river under the cool shade of the palms. while doing this, i often took my camp-kit with me, and a luncheon served in the wilds, with occasionally a friend to share it--when a friend was available--was delightful. on one occasion in particular, i went a long way up the river and was accompanied by a young member of my staff. the day had been exceedingly hot and we were both correspondingly tired when our work was finished, so my companion suggested that we should build a raft and float down-stream home. i was rather doubtful, of the feasibility of the scheme, but nevertheless he decided to give it a trial. setting to work with our axes, we soon had a raft built, lashing the poles together with the fibre which grows in abundance all over the district. when it was finished, we pushed it out of the little backwater where it had been constructed, and the young engineer jumped aboard. all went well until it got out into midstream, when much to my amusement it promptly toppled gracefully over. i helped my friend to scramble quickly up the bank out of reach of possible crocodiles, when, none the worse for his ducking, he laughed as heartily as i at the adventure. except for an occasional relaxation of this sort, every moment of my time was fully occupied. superintending the various works and a hundred other duties kept me busy all day long, while my evenings were given up to settling disputes among the coolies, hearing reports and complaints from the various jemadars and workpeople, and in studying the swahili language. preparations, too, for the principal piece of work in the district--the building of the railway bridge over the tsavo river--were going on apace. these involved, much personal work on my part; cross and oblique sections of the river had to be taken, the rate of the current and the volume of water at flood, mean, and low levels had to be found, and all the necessary calculations made. these having at length been completed, i marked out the positions for the abutments and piers, and the work of sinking their foundations was begun. the two centre piers in particular caused a great deal of trouble, as the river broke in several times, and had to be dammed up and pumped dry again before work could be resumed. then we found we had to sink much deeper than we expected in order to reach a solid foundation indeed, the sinking went on and on, until i began to despair of finding one and was about to resort to pile-driving, when at last, to my relief, we struck solid rock on which the huge foundation-stones could be laid with perfect safety. another great difficulty with which we had to contend was the absence of suitable stone in the neighbourhood. it was not that there was none to be found, for the whole district abounds in rock, but that it was so intensely hard as to be almost impossible to work, and a bridge built of it would have been very costly. i spent many a weary day trudging through the thorny wilderness vainly searching for suitable material, and was beginning to think that we should be forced to use iron columns for the piers, when one day i stumbled quite by accident on the very thing. brock and i were out "pot-hunting," and hearing some guinea-fowl cackling among the bushes, i made a circuit half round them so that brock, on getting in his shot, should drive them over in my direction. i eventually got into position on the edge of a deep ravine and knelt on one knee, crouching down among the ferns. there i had scarcely time to load when over flew a bird, which i missed badly; and i did not have another chance, for brock had got to work, and being a first-rate shot had quickly bagged a brace. meanwhile i felt the ground very hard under my knee, and on examination found that the bank of the ravine was formed of stone, which extended for some distance, and which was exactly the kind of material for which i had long been fruitlessly searching. i was greatly delighted with my unexpected discovery, though at first i had grave misgivings about the distance to be traversed and the difficulty of transporting the stone across the intervening country. indeed, i found in the end that the only way of getting the material to the place where it was wanted was by laying down a tram line right along the ravine, throwing a temporary bridge across the tsavo, following the stream down and re-crossing it again close to the site of the permanent bridge. accordingly, i set men to work at once to cut down the jungle and prepare a road on which to lay the double trolley line. one morning when they were thus engaged, a little paa--a kind of very small antelope--sprang out and found itself suddenly in the midst of a gang of coolies. terrified and confused by the shouting of the men, it ran straight at shere shah, the jemadar, who promptly dropped a basket over it and held it fast. i happened to arrive just in time to save the graceful little animal's life, and took it home to my camp, where it very soon became a great pet. indeed, it grew so tame that it would jump upon my table at meal times and eat from my hand. when the road for the trolley line was cleared, the next piece of work was the building of the two temporary bridges over the river. these we made in the roughest fashion out of palm trees and logs felled at the crossing places, and had a flood come down they would, of course, have both been swept away; fortunately, however, this did not occur until the permanent work was completed. the whole of this feeding line was finished in a very short time, and trollies were soon plying backwards and forwards with loads of stone and sand, as we also discovered the latter in abundance and of good quality in the bed of the ravine. an amusing incident occurred one day when i was taking a photograph of an enormous block of stone which was being hauled across one of these temporary bridges. as the trolley with its heavy load required very careful manipulation, my head mason, heera singh, stood on the top of the stone to direct operations, while the overseer, purshotam hurjee, superintended the gangs of men who hauled the ropes at either end in order to steady it up and down the inclines. but we did not know that the stream had succeeded in washing away the foundations of one of the log supports; and as the weight of the trolley with the stone came on the undermined pier, the rails tilted up and over went the whole thing into the river, just as i snapped the picture. heera singh made a wild spring into the water to get clear of the falling stone, while purshotam and the rest fled as if for their lives to the bank. it was altogether a most comical sight, and an extraordinary chance that at the very moment of the accident i should be taking a photograph of the operation. fortunately, no one was injured in the slightest, and the stone was recovered undamaged with but little trouble. not long after this occurrence my own labours were one day nearly brought to a sudden and unpleasant end. i was travelling along in an empty trolley which, pushed by two sturdy pathans, was returning to the quarry for sand. presently we came to the sharp incline which led to the log bridge over the river. here it was the custom of the men, instead of running beside the trolley, to step on to it and to let its own momentum take it down the slope, moderating its speed when necessary by a brake in the shape of a pole, which one of them carried and by which the wheels could be locked. on this occasion, however, the pole was by some accident dropped overboard, and down the hill we flew without brake of any kind. near the bridge there was a sharp curve in the line, where i was afraid the trolley would jump the rails; still, i thought it was better to stick to it than to risk leaping off. a moment afterwards i felt myself flying head first over the edge of the bridge, just missing by a hair's breadth a projecting beam; but luckily i landed on a sand bank at the side of the river, the heavy trolley falling clear of me with a dull thud close by. this accident, also, was happily unattended by injury to anyone. chapter v troubles with the workmen it seemed fated that the building of the tsavo bridge should never be allowed to proceed in peace for any length of time. i have already described our troubles with the lions; and no sooner did the beasts of prey appear to have deserted us, for the time being at any rate, than other troubles, no less serious, arose with the workmen themselves. after i had discovered the stone for the bridge, i sent down to the coast for gangs of masons to work and dress it. the men who were sent me for this purpose were mostly pathans and were supposed to be expert workmen; but i soon found that many of them had not the faintest notion of stone-cutting, and were simply ordinary coolies who had posed as masons in order to draw forty-five instead of twelve rupees a month. on discovering this fact, i immediately instituted a system of piecework, and drew up a scale of pay which would enable the genuine mason to earn his forty-five rupees a month--and a little more if he felt inclined--and would cut down the impostors to about their proper pay as coolies. now, as is often the case in this world, the impostors were greatly in the majority; and accordingly they attempted to intimidate the remainder into coming down to their own standard as regards output of work, in the hope of thereby inducing me to abandon the piece-work system of payment. this, however, i had no intention of doing, as i knew that i had demanded only a perfectly fair amount of work from each man. these masons were continually having quarrels and fights amongst themselves, and i had frequently to go down to their camp to quell disturbances and to separate the hindus from the mohammedans. one particularly serious disturbance of this sort had a rather amusing sequel. i was sitting after dusk one evening at the door of my hut, when i heard a great commotion in the masons' camp, which lay only a few hundred yards away. presently a jemadar came rushing up to me to say that the men were all fighting and murdering each other with sticks and stones. i ran back with him at once and succeeded in restoring order, but found seven badly injured men lying stretched out on the ground. these i had carried up to my own boma on charpoys (native beds); and brock being away, i had to play the doctor myself as best i could, stitching one and bandaging another and generally doing what was possible. there was one man, however, who groaned loudly and held a cloth over his face as if he were dying. on lifting this covering, i found him to be a certain mason called karim bux, who was well known to me as a prime mischief-maker among the men. i examined him carefully, but as i could discover nothing amiss, i concluded that he must have received some internal injury, and accordingly told him that i would send him to the hospital at voi (about thirty miles down the line) to be attended to properly. he was then carried back to his camp, groaning grievously all the time. scarcely had he been removed, when the head jemadar came and informed me that the man was not hurt at all, and that as a matter of fact he was the sole cause of the disturbance. he was now pretending to be badly injured, in order to escape the punishment which he knew he would receive if i discovered that he was the instigator of the trouble. on hearing this, i gave instructions that he was not to go to voi in the special train with the others; but i had not heard the last of him yet. about eleven o'clock that night i was called up and asked to go down to the masons' camp to see a man who was supposed to be dying. i at once pulled on my boots, got some brandy and ran down to the camp, where to my surprise and amusement i found that it was my friend karim bux who was at death's door. it was perfectly evident to me that he was only "foxing," but when he asked for dawa (medicine), i told him gravely that i would give him some very good dawa in the morning. next day at noon--when it was my custom to have evil-doers brought up for judgment--i asked for karim bux, but was told that he was too ill to walk. i accordingly ordered him to be carried to my boma, and in a few moments he arrived in his charpoy, which was shouldered by four coolies who, i could see, knew quite well that he was only shamming. there were also a score or so of his friends hanging around, doubtless waiting in the expectation of seeing the "sahib" hoodwinked. when the bed was placed on the ground near me, i lifted the blanket with which he had covered himself and thoroughly examined him, at the same time feeling him to make sure that he had no fever. he pretended to be desperately ill and again asked for dawa; but having finally satisfied myself that it was as the jemadar had said--pure budmashi (devilment)--i told him that i was going to give him some very effective dawa, and carefully covered him up again, pulling the blanket over his head. i then got a big armful of shavings from a carpenter's bench which was close by, put them under the bed and set fire to them. as soon as the sham invalid felt the heat, he peeped over the edge of the blanket; and when he saw the smoke and flame leaping up round him, he threw the blanket from him, sprang from the bed exclaiming "beiman shaitan!" ("unbelieving devil!"), and fled like a deer to the entrance of my boma, pursued by a sikh sepoy, who got in a couple of good whacks on his shoulders with a stout stick before he effected his escape. his amused comrades greeted me with shouts of "shabash, sahib!" ("well done, sir"), and i never had any further trouble with karim bux. he came back later in the day, with clasped hands imploring forgiveness, which i readily granted, as he was a clever workman. a few days after this incident i was returning home one morning from a tree in which i had been keeping watch for the man-eaters during the previous night. coming unexpectedly on the quarry, i was amazed to find dead silence reigning and my rascals of workmen all stretched out in the shade under the trees taking it very easy--some sleeping, some playing cards. i watched their proceedings through the bushes for a little while, and then it occurred to me to give them a fright by firing my rifle over their heads. on the report being heard, the scene changed like magic: each man simply flew to his particular work, and hammers and chisels resounded merrily and energetically, where all had been silence a moment before. they thought, of course, that i was still some distance off and had not seen them, but to their consternation i shouted to them that they were too late, as i had been watching them for some time. i fined every man present heavily, besides summarily degrading the headman, who had thus shown himself utterly unfit for his position. i then proceeded to my hut, but had scarcely arrived there when two of the scoundrels tottered up after me, bent almost double and calling heaven to witness that i had shot them both in the back. in order to give a semblance of truth to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative, they had actually induced one of their fellow workmen to make a few holes like shot holes in their backs, and these were bleeding profusely. unfortunately for them, however, i had been carrying a rifle and not a shot gun, and they had also forgotten to make corresponding holes in their clothing, so that all they achieved by this elaborate tissue of falsehood was to bring on themselves the derision of their comrades and the imposition of an extra fine. shortly after this, when the masons realised that i intended to make each man do a fair day's work for his money, and would allow nothing to prevent this intention from being carried out, they came to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to put me quietly out of the way. accordingly they held a meeting one night, all being sworn to secrecy, and after a long palaver it was arranged that i was to be murdered next day when i made my usual visit to the quarry. my body was to be thrown into the jungle, where of course it would soon be devoured by wild beasts, and then they were to say that i had been killed and eaten by a lion. to this cheerful proposal every man present at the meeting agreed, and affixed his finger-mark to a long strip of paper as a binding token. within an hour after the meeting had dispersed, however, i was aroused by one of the conspirators, who had crept into my camp to give me warning. i thanked him for his information, but determined to go to the quarry in the morning all the same, as at this stage of affairs i really did not believe that they were capable of carrying out such a diabolical scheme, and was rather inclined to think that the informant had been sent merely to frighten me. accordingly the next morning (september 6) i started off as usual along the trolley line to the lonely quarry. as i reached a bend in the line, my head mason, heera singh, a very good man, crept cautiously out of the bushes and warned me not to proceed. on my asking him the reason, he said that he dared not tell, but that he and twenty other masons were not going to work that day, as they were afraid of trouble at the quarry. at this i began to think that there was something in the story i had heard overnight, but i laughingly assured him there would be no trouble and continued on my way. on my arrival at the quarry, everything seemed perfectly peaceful. all the men were working away busily, but after a moment or two i noticed stealthy side glances, and felt that there was something in the wind. as soon as i came up to the first gang of workmen, the jemadar, a treacherous-looking villain, informed me that the men working further up the ravine had refused to obey his orders, and asked me if i would go and see them. i felt at once that this was a device to lure me into the narrow part of the ravine, where, with gangs in front of me and behind me, there would be no escape; still i thought i would see the adventure through, whatever came of it, so i accompanied the jemadar up the gully. when we got to the further gang, he went so far as to point out the two men who, he said, had refused to do what he told them--i suppose he thought that as i was never to leave the place alive, it did not matter whom he complained of. i noted their names in my pocket-book in my usual manner, and turned to retrace my steps. immediately a yell of rage was raised by the whole body of some sixty men, answered by a similar shout from those i had first passed, and who numbered about a hundred. both groups of men, carrying crowbars and flourishing their heavy hammers, then closed in on me in the narrow part of the ravine. i stood still, waiting for them to act, and one man rushed at me, seizing both my wrists and shouting out that he was going to "be hung and shot for me"--rather a curious way of putting it, but that was his exact expression. i easily wrenched my arms free, and threw him from me; but by this time i was closely hemmed in, and everywhere i looked i could see nothing but evil and murderous-looking faces. one burly brute, afraid to be the first to deal a blow, hurled the man next him at me; and if he had succeeded in knocking me down, i am certain that i should never have got up again alive. as it was, however, i stepped quickly aside, and the man intended to knock me down was himself thrown violently against a rock, over which he fell heavily. this occasioned a moment's confusion, of which i quickly took advantage. i sprang on to the top of the rock, and before they had time to recover themselves i had started haranguing them in hindustani. the habit of obedience still held them, and fortunately they listened to what i had to say. i told them that i knew all about their plot to murder me, and that they could certainly do so if they wished; but that if they did, many of them would assuredly be hanged for it, as the sirkar (government) would soon find out the truth and would disbelieve their story that i had been carried off by a lion. i said that i knew quite well that it was only one or two scoundrels among them who had induced them to behave so stupidly, and urged them not to allow themselves to be made fools of in this way. even supposing they were to carry out their plan of killing me, would not another "sahib" at once be set over them, and might he not be an even harder task-master? they all knew that i was just and fair to the real worker; it was only the scoundrels and shirkers who had anything to fear from me, and were upright, self-respecting. pathans going to allow themselves to be led away by men of that kind? once having got them to listen to me, i felt a little more secure, and i accordingly went on to say that the discontented among them would be allowed to return at once to mombasa, while if the others resumed work and i heard of no further plotting, i would take no notice of their foolish conduct. finally i called upon those who were willing to return to work to hold up their hands, and instantly every hand in the crowd was raised. i then felt that for the moment the victory was mine, and after dismissing them, i jumped down from the rock and continued my rounds as if nothing had happened, measuring a stone here and there and commenting on the work done. they were still in a very uncertain and sullen mood, however, and not at all to be relied upon, so it was with feelings of great relief that an hour later i made my way back, safe and sound, to tsavo. the danger was not yet past, unfortunately, for scarcely had i turned my back to go home when the mutiny broke out again, another meeting being held, and a fresh plot made to murder me during the night. of this i was soon informed by my time-keeper, who also told me that he was afraid to go out and call the roll, as they had threatened to kill him also. at this further outrage i lost no time in telegraphing for the railway police, and also to the district officer, mr. whitehead, who immediately marched his men twenty-five miles by road to my assistance. i have no doubt, indeed, that his prompt action alone saved me from being attacked that very night. two or three days afterwards the railway police arrived and arrested the ringleaders in the mutiny, who were taken to mombasa and tried before mr. crawford, the british consul, when the full details of the plots to murder me were unfolded by one of them who turned queen's evidence. all the scoundrels were found guilty and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in the chain-gangs, and i was never again troubled with mutinous workmen. chapter vi the reign of terror the lions seemed to have got a bad fright the night brock and i sat up in wait for them in the goods-wagon, for they kept away from tsavo and did not molest us in any way for some considerable time--not, in fact, until long after brock had left me and gone on safari (a caravan journey) to uganda. in this breathing space which they vouchsafed us, it occurred to me that should they renew their attacks, a trap would perhaps offer the best chance of getting at them, and that if i could construct one in which a couple of coolies might be used as bait without being subjected to any danger, the lions would be quite daring enough to enter it in search of them and thus be caught. i accordingly set to work at once, and in a short time managed to make a sufficiently strong trap out of wooden sleepers, tram-rails, pieces of telegraph wire, and a length of heavy chain. it was divided into two compartments--one for the men and one for the lion. a sliding door at one end admitted the former, and once inside this compartment they were perfectly safe, as between them and the lion, if he entered the other, ran a cross wall of iron rails only three inches apart, and embedded both top and bottom in heavy wooden sleepers. the door which was to admit the lion was, of course, at the opposite end of the structure, but otherwise the whole thing was very much on the principle of the ordinary rat-trap, except that it was not necessary for the lion to seize the bait in order to send the door clattering down. this part of the contrivance was arranged in the following manner. a heavy chain was secured along the top part of the lion's doorway, the ends hanging down to the ground on either side of the opening; and to these were fastened, strongly secured by stout wire, short lengths of rails placed about six inches apart. this made a sort of flexible door which could be packed into a small space when not in use, and which abutted against the top of the doorway when lifted up. the door was held in this position by a lever made of a piece of rail, which in turn was kept in its place by a wire fastened to one end and passing down to a spring concealed in the ground inside the cage. as soon as the lion entered sufficiently far into the trap, he would be bound to tread on the spring; his weight on this would release the wire, and in an instant down would come the door behind him; and he could not push it out in any way, as it fell into a groove between two rails firmly embedded in the ground. in making this trap, which cost us a lot of work, we were rather at a loss for want of tools to bore holes in the rails for the doorway, so as to enable them to be fastened by the wire to the chain. it occurred to me, however, that a hard-nosed bullet from my .303 would penetrate the iron, and on making the experiment i was glad to find that a hole was made as cleanly as if it had been punched out. when the trap was ready i pitched a tent over it in order further to deceive the lions, and built an exceedingly strong boma round it. one small entrance was made at the back of the enclosure for the men, which they were to close on going in by pulling a bush after them; and another entrance just in front of the door of the cage was left open for the lions. the wiseacres to whom i showed my invention were generally of the opinion that the man-eaters would be too cunning to walk into my parlour; but, as will be seen later, their predictions proved false. for the first few nights i baited the trap myself, but nothing happened except that i had a very sleepless and uncomfortable time, and was badly bitten by mosquitoes. as a matter of fact, it was some months before the lions attacked us again, though from time to time we heard of their depredations in other quarters. not long after our night in the goods-wagon, two men were carried off from railhead, while another was taken from a place called engomani, about ten miles away. within a very short time, this latter place was again visited by the brutes, two more men being seized, one of whom was killed and eaten, and the other so badly mauled that he died within few days. as i have said, however, we at tsavo enjoyed complete immunity from attack, and the coolies, believing that their dreaded foes had permanently deserted the district, resumed all their usual habits and occupations, and life in the camps returned to its normal routine. at last we were suddenly startled out of this feeling of security. one dark night the familiar terror-stricken cries and screams awoke the camps, and we knew that the "demons" had returned and had commenced a new list of victims. on this occasion a number of men had been sleeping outside their tents for the sake of coolness, thinking, of course, that the lions had gone for good, when suddenly in the middle of the night one of the brutes was discovered forcing its way through the boma. the alarm was at once given, and sticks, stones and firebrands were hurled in the direction of the intruder. all was of no avail, however, for the lion burst into the midst of the terrified group, seized an unfortunate wretch amid the cries and shrieks of his companions, and dragged him off through the thick thorn fence. he was joined outside by the second lion, and so daring had the two brutes become that they did not trouble to carry their victim any further away, but devoured him within thirty yards of the tent where he had been seized. although several shots were fired in their direction by the jemadar of the gang to which the coolie belonged, they took no notice of these and did not attempt to move until their horrible meal was finished. the few scattered fragments that remained of the body i would not allow to be buried at once, hoping that the lions would return to the spot the following night; and on the chance of this i took up my station at nightfall in a convenient tree. nothing occurred to break the monotony of my watch, however, except that i had a visit from a hyena, and the next morning i learned that the lions had attacked another camp about two miles from tsavo--for by this time the camps were again scattered, as i had works in progress all up and down the line. there the man-eaters had been successful in obtaining a victim, whom, as in the previous instance, they devoured quite close to the camp. how they forced their way through the bomas without making a noise was, and still is, a mystery to me; i should have thought that it was next to impossible for an animal to get through at all. yet they continually did so, and without a sound being heard. after this occurrence, i sat up every night for over a week near likely camps, but all in vain. either the lions saw me and then went elsewhere, or else i was unlucky, for they took man after man from different places without ever once giving me a chance of a shot at them. this constant night watching was most dreary and fatiguing work, but i felt that it was a duty that had to be undertaken, as the men naturally looked to me for protection. in the whole of my life i have never experienced anything more nerve-shaking than to hear the deep roars of these dreadful monsters growing gradually nearer and nearer, and to know that some one or other of us was doomed to be their victim before morning dawned. once they reached the vicinity of the camps, the roars completely ceased, and we knew that they were stalking for their prey. shouts would then pass from camp to camp, "khabar dar, bhaieon, shaitan ata" ("beware, brothers, the devil is coming"), but the warning cries would prove of no avail, and sooner or later agonising shrieks would break the silence, and another man would be missing from roll-call next morning. i was naturally very disheartened at being foiled in this way night after night, and was soon at my wits' end to know what to do; it seemed as if the lions were really "devils" after all and bore a charmed life. as i have said before, tracking them through the jungle was a hopeless task; but as something had to be done to keep up the men's spirits, i spent many a weary day crawling on my hands and knees through the dense undergrowth of the exasperating wilderness around us. as a matter of fact, if i had come up with the lions on any of these expeditions, it was much more likely that they would have added me to their list of victims than that i should have succeeded in killing either of them, as everything would have been in their favour. about this time, too, i had many helpers, and several officers--civil, naval and military--came to tsavo from the coast and sat up night after night in order to get a shot at our daring foes. all of us, however, met with the same lack of success, and the lions always seemed capable of avoiding the watchers, while succeeding, at the same time in obtaining a victim. i have a very vivid recollection of one particular night when the brutes seized a man from the railway station and brought him close to my camp to devour. i could plainly hear them crunching the bones, and the sound of their dreadful purring filled the air and rang in my ears for days afterwards. the terrible thing was to feel so helpless; it was useless to attempt to go out, as of course the poor fellow was dead, and in addition it was so pitch dark as to make it impossible to see anything. some half a dozen workmen, who lived in a small enclosure close to mine, became so terrified on hearing the lions at their meal that they shouted and implored me to allow them to come inside my boma. this i willingly did, but soon afterwards i remembered that one man had been lying ill in their camp, and on making enquiry i found that they had callously left him behind alone. i immediately took some men with me to bring him to my boma, but on entering his tent i saw by the light of the lantern that the poor fellow was beyond need of safety. he had died of shock at being deserted by his companions. from this time matters gradually became worse and worse. hitherto, as a rule, only one of the man-eaters had made the attack and had done the foraging, while the other waited outside in the bush; but now they began to change their tactics, entering the bomas together and each seizing a victim. in this way two swahili porters were killed during the last week of november, one being immediately carried off and devoured. the other was heard moaning for a long time, and when his terrified companions at last summoned up sufficient courage to go to his assistance, they found him stuck fast in the bushes of the boma, through which for once the lion had apparently been unable to drag him. he was still alive when i saw him next morning, but so terribly mauled that he died before he could be got to the hospital. within a few days of this the two brutes made a most ferocious attack on the largest camp in the section, which for safety's sake was situated within a stone's throw of tsavo station and close to a permanent way inspector's iron hut. suddenly in the dead of night the two man-eaters burst in among the terrified workmen, and even from my boma, some distance away, i could plainly hear the panic-stricken shrieking of the coolies. then followed cries of "they've taken him; they've taken him," as the brutes carried off their unfortunate victim and began their horrible feast close beside the camp. the inspector, mr. dalgairns, fired over fifty shots in the direction in which he heard the lions, but they were not to be frightened and calmly lay there until their meal was finished. after examining the spot in the morning, we at once set out to follow the brutes, mr. dalgairns feeling confident that he had wounded one of them, as there was a trail on the sand like that of the toes of a broken limb. after some careful stalking, we suddenly found ourselves in the vicinity of the lions, and were greeted with ominous growlings. cautiously advancing and pushing the bushes aside, we saw in the gloom what we at first took to be a lion cub; closer inspection, however, showed it to be the remains of the unfortunate coolie, which the man-eaters had evidently abandoned at our approach. the legs, one arm and half the body had been eaten, and it was the stiff fingers of the other arm trailing along the sand which had left the marks we had taken to be the trail of a wounded lion. by this time the beasts had retired far into the thick jungle where it was impossible to follow them, so we had the remains of the coolie buried and once more returned home disappointed. now the bravest men in the world, much less the ordinary indian coolie, will not stand constant terrors of this sort indefinitely. the whole district was by this time thoroughly panic-stricken, and i was not at all surprised, therefore, to find on my return to camp that same afternoon (december 1) that the men had all struck work and were waiting to speak to me. when i sent for them, they flocked to my boma in a body and stated that they would not remain at tsavo any longer for anything or anybody; they had come from india on an agreement to work for the government, not to supply food for either lions or "devils." no sooner had they delivered this ultimatum than a regular stampede took place. some hundreds of them stopped the first passing train by throwing themselves on the rails in front of the engine, and then, swarming on to the trucks and throwing in their possessions anyhow, they fled from the accursed spot. after this the railway works were completely stopped; and for the next three weeks practically nothing was done but build "lion-proof" huts for those workmen who had had sufficient courage to remain. it was a strange and amusing sight to see these shelters perched on the top of water-tanks, roofs and girders--anywhere for safety--while some even went so far as to dig pits inside their tents, into which they descended at night, covering the top over with heavy logs of wood. every good-sized tree in the camp had as many beds lashed on to it as its branches would bear--and sometimes more. i remember that one night when the camp was attacked, so many men swarmed on to one particular tree that down it came with a crash, hurling its terror-stricken load of shrieking coolies close to the very lions they were trying to avoid. fortunately for them, a victim had already been secured, and the brutes were too busy devouring him to pay attention to anything else. chapter vii the district officer's narrow escape some little time before the flight of the workmen, i had written to mr. whitehead, the district officer, asking him to come up and assist me in my campaign against the lions, and to bring with him any of his askaris (native soldiers) that he could spare. he replied accepting the invitation, and told me to expect him about dinner-time on december 2, which turned out to be the day after the exodus. his train was due at tsavo about six o'clock in the evening, so i sent my "boy" up to the station to meet him and to help in carrying his baggage to the camp. in a very short time, however, the "boy" rushed back trembling with terror, and informed me that there was no sign of the train or of the railway staff, but that an enormous lion was standing on the station platform. this extraordinary story i did not believe in the least, as by this time the coolies--never remarkable for bravery--were in such a state of fright that if they caught sight of a hyena or a baboon, or even a dog, in the bush, they were sure to imagine it was a lion; but i found out next day that it was an actual fact, and that both stationmaster and signalman had been obliged to take refuge from one of the man-eaters by locking themselves in the station building. i waited some little time for mr. whitehead, but eventually, as he did not put in an appearance, i concluded that he must have postponed his journey until the next day, and so had my dinner in my customary solitary state. during the meal i heard a couple of shots, but paid no attention to them, as rifles were constantly being fired off in the neighbourhood of the camp. later in the evening, i went out as usual to watch for our elusive foes, and took up my position in a crib made of sleepers which i had built on a big girder close to a camp which i thought was likely to be attacked. soon after settling down at my post, i was surprised to hear the man-eaters growling and purring and crunching up bones about seventy yards from the crib. i could not understand what they had found to eat, as i had heard no commotion in the camps, and i knew by bitter experience that every meal the brutes obtained from us was announced by shrieks and uproar. the only conclusion i could come to was that they had pounced upon some poor unsuspecting native traveller. after a time i was able to make out their eyes glowing in the darkness, and i took as careful aim as was possible in the circumstances and fired; but the only notice they paid to the shot was to carry off whatever they were devouring and to retire quietly over a slight rise, which prevented me from seeing them. there they finished their meal at their ease. as soon as it was daylight, i got out of my crib and went towards the place where i had last heard them. on the way, whom should i meet but my missing guest, mr. whitehead, looking very pale and ill, and generally dishevelled. "where on earth have you come from?" i exclaimed. "why didn't you turn up to dinner last night?" "a nice reception you give a fellow when you invite him to dinner," was his only reply. "why, what's up?" i asked. "that infernal lion of yours nearly did for me last night," said whitehead. "nonsense, you must have dreamed it!" i cried in astonishment. for answer he turned round and showed me his back. "that's not much of a dream, is it?" he asked. his clothing was rent by one huge tear from the nape of the neck downwards, and on the flesh there were four great claw marks, showing red and angry through the torn cloth. without further parley, i hurried him off to my tent, and bathed and dressed his wounds; and when i had made him considerably more comfortable, i got from him the whole story of the events of the night. it appeared that his train was very late, so that it was quite dark when he arrived at tsavo station, from which the track to my camp lay through a small cutting. he was accompanied by abdullah, his sergeant of askaris, who walked close behind him carrying a lighted lamp. all went well until they were about half-way through the gloomy cutting, when one of the lions suddenly jumped down upon them from the high bank, knocking whitehead over like a ninepin, and tearing his back in the manner i had seen. fortunately, however, he had his carbine with him, and instantly fired. the flash and the loud report must have dazed the lion for a second or two, enabling whitehead to disengage himself; but the next instant the brute pounced like lightning on the unfortunate abdullah, with whom he at once made off. all that the poor fellow could say was: "eh, bwana, simba" ("oh, master, a lion"). as the lion was dragging him over the bank, whitehead fired again, but without effect, and the brute quickly disappeared into the darkness with his prey. it was of course, this unfortunate man whom i had heard the lions devouring during the night. whitehead himself had a marvellous escape; his wounds were happily not very deep, and caused him little or no inconvenience afterwards. on the same day, december 3, the forces arrayed against the lions were further strengthened. mr. farquhar, the superintendent of police, arrived from the coast with a score of sepoys to assist in hunting down the man-eaters, whose fame had by this time spread far and wide, and the most elaborate precautions were taken, his men being posted on the most convenient trees near every camp. several other officials had also come up on leave to join in the chase, and each of these guarded a likely spot in the same way, mr. whitehead sharing my post inside the crib on the girder. further, in spite of some chaff, my lion trap was put in thorough working order, and two of the sepoys were installed as bait. our preparations were quite complete by nightfall, and we all took up our appointed positions. nothing happened until about nine o'clock, when to my great satisfaction the intense stillness was suddenly broken by the noise of the door of the trap clattering down. "at last," i thought, "one at least of the brutes is done for." but the sequel was an ignominious one. the bait-sepoys had a lamp burning inside their part of the cage, and were each armed with a martini rifle, with plenty of ammunition. they had also been given strict orders to shoot at once if a lion should enter the trap. instead of doing so, however, they were so terrified when he rushed in and began to lash himself madly against the bars of the cage, that they completely lost their heads and were actually too unnerved to fire. not for some minutes--not, indeed, until mr. farquhar, whose post was close by, shouted at them and cheered them on--did they at all recover themselves. then when at last they did begin to fire, they fired with a vengeance--anywhere, anyhow. whitehead and i were at right angles to the direction in which they should have shot, and yet their bullets came whizzing all round us. altogether they fired over a score of shots, and in the end succeeded only in blowing away one of the bars of the door, thus allowing our prize to make good his escape. how they failed to kill him several times over is, and always will be, a complete mystery to me, as they could have put the muzzles of their rifles absolutely touching his body. there was, indeed, some blood scattered about the trap, but it was small consolation to know that the brute, whose capture and death seemed so certain, had only been slightly wounded. still we were not unduly dejected, and when morning came, a hunt was at once arranged. accordingly we spent the greater part of the day on our hands and knees following the lions through the dense thickets of thorny jungle, but though we heard their growls from time to time, we never succeeded in actually coming up with them. of the whole party, only farquhar managed to catch a momentary glimpse of one as it bounded over a bush. two days more were spent in the same manner, and with equal unsuccess; and then farquhar and his sepoys were obliged to return to the coast. mr. whitehead also departed for his district, and once again i was left alone with the man-eaters. chapter viii the death of the first man-eater a day or two after the departure of my allies, as i was leaving my boma soon after dawn on december 9, i saw a swahili running excitedly towards me, shouting out "simba! simba!" ("lion! lion!"), and every now and again looking behind him as he ran. on questioning him i found that the lions had tried to snatch a man from the camp by the river, but being foiled in this had seized and killed one of the donkeys, and were at that moment busy devouring it not far off. now was my chance. i rushed for the heavy rifle which farquhar had kindly left with me for use in case an opportunity such as this should arise, and, led by the swahili, i started most carefully to stalk the lions, who, i devoutly hoped, were confining their attention strictly to their meal. i was getting on splendidly, and could just make out the outline of one of them through the dense bush, when unfortunately my guide snapped a rotten branch. the wily beast heard the noise, growled his defiance, and disappeared in a moment into a patch of even thicker jungle close by. in desperation at the thought of his escaping me once again, i crept hurriedly back to the camp, summoned the available workmen and told them to bring all the tom-toms, tin cans, and other noisy instruments of any kind that could be found. as quickly as possible i posted them in a half-circle round the thicket, and gave the head jemadar instructions to start a simultaneous beating of the tom-toms and cans as soon as he judged that i had had time to get round to the other side. i then crept round by myself and soon found a good position and one which the lion was most likely to retreat past, as it was in the middle of a broad animal path leading straight from the place where he was concealed. i lay down behind a small ant hill, and waited expectantly. very soon i heard a tremendous din being raised by the advancing line of coolies, and almost immediately, to my intense joy, out into the open path stepped a huge maneless lion. it was the first occasion during all these trying months upon which i had had a fair chance at one of these brutes, and my satisfaction at the prospect of bagging him was unbounded. slowly he advanced along the path, stopping every few seconds to look round. i was only partially concealed from view, and if his attention had not been so fully occupied by the noise behind him, he must have observed me. as he was oblivious to my presence, however, i let him approach to within about fifteen yards of me, and then covered him with my rifle. the moment i moved to do this, he caught sight of me, and seemed much astonished at my sudden appearance, for he stuck his forefeet into the ground, threw himself back on his haunches and growled savagely. as i covered his brain with my rifle, i felt that at last i had him absolutely at my mercy, but .... never trust an untried weapon! i pulled the trigger, and to my horror heard the dull snap that tells of a misfire. worse was to follow. i was so taken aback and disconcerted by this untoward accident that i entirely forgot to fire the left barrel, and lowered the rifle from my shoulder with the intention of reloading--if i should be given time. fortunately for me, the lion was so distracted by the terrific din and uproar of the coolies behind him that instead of springing on me, as might have been expected, he bounded aside into the jungle again. by this time i had collected my wits, and just as he jumped i let him have the left barrel. an answering angry growl told me that he had been hit; but nevertheless he succeeded once more in getting clear away, for although i tracked him for some little distance, i eventually lost his trail in a rocky patch of ground. bitterly did i anathematise the hour in which i had relied on a borrowed weapon, and in my disappointment and vexation i abused owner, maker, and rifle with fine impartiality. on extracting the unexploded cartridge, i found that the needle had not struck home, the cap being only slightly dented; so that the whole fault did indeed lie with the rifle, which i later returned to farquhar with polite compliments. seriously, however, my continued ill-luck was most exasperating; and the result was that the indians were more than ever confirmed in their belief that the lions were really evil spirits, proof against mortal weapons. certainly, they did seem to bear charmed lives. after this dismal failure there was, of course, nothing to do but to return to camp. before doing so, however, i proceeded to view the dead donkey, which i found to have been only slightly devoured it the quarters. it is a curious fact that lions always begin at the tail of their prey and eat upwards towards the head. as their meal had thus been interrupted evidently at the very beginning, i felt pretty sure that one or other of the brutes would return to the carcase at nightfall. accordingly, as there was no tree of any kind close at hand, i had a staging erected some ten feet away from the body. this machan was about twelve feet high and was composed of four poles stuck into the ground and inclined towards each other at the top, where a plank was lashed to serve as a seat. further, as the nights were still pitch dark, i had the donkey's carcase secured by strong wires to a neighbouring stump, so that the lions might not be able to drag it away before i could get a shot at them. at sundown, therefore, i took up my position on my airy perch, and much to the disgust of my gun-bearer, mahina, i decided to go alone. i would gladly have taken him with me, indeed, but he had a bad cough, and i was afraid lest he should make any involuntary noise or movement which might spoil all. darkness fell almost immediately, and everything became extraordinarily still. the silence of an african jungle on a dark night needs to be experienced to be realised; it is most impressive, especially when one is absolutely alone and isolated from one's fellow creatures, as i was then. the solitude and stillness, and the purpose of my vigil, all had their effect on me, and from a condition of strained expectancy i gradually fell into a dreamy mood which harmonised well with my surroundings. suddenly i was startled out of my reverie by the snapping of a twig: and, straining my ears for a further sound, i fancied i could hear the rustling of a large body forcing its way through the bush. "the man-eater," i thought to myself; "surely to-night my luck will change and i shall bag one of the brutes." profound silence again succeeded; i sat on my eyrie like a statue, every nerve tense with excitement. very soon, however, all doubt as to the presence of the lion was dispelled. a deep long-drawn sigh--sure sign of hunger--came up from the bushes, and the rustling commenced again as he cautiously advanced. in a moment or two a sudden stop, followed by an angry growl, told me that my presence had been noticed; and i began to fear that disappointment awaited me once more. but no; matters quickly took an unexpected turn. the hunter became the hunted; and instead of either making off or coming for the bait prepared for him, the lion began stealthily to stalk me! for about two hours he horrified me by slowly creeping round and round my crazy structure, gradually edging his way nearer and nearer. every moment i expected him to rush it; and the staging had not been constructed with an eye to such a possibility. if one of the rather flimsy poles should break, or if the lion could spring the twelve feet which separated me from the ground ... the thought was scarcely a pleasant one. i began to feel distinctly "creepy," and heartily repented my folly in having placed myself in such a dangerous position. i kept perfectly still, however, hardly daring even to blink my eyes: but the long-continued strain was telling on my nerves, and my feelings may be better imagined than described when about midnight suddenly something came flop and struck me on the back of the head. for a moment i was so terrified that i nearly fell off the plank, as i thought that the lion had sprung on me from behind. regaining my senses in a second or two, i realised that i had been hit by nothing more formidable than an owl, which had doubtless mistaken me for the branch of a tree--not a very alarming thing to happen in ordinary circumstances, i admit, but coming at the time it did, it almost paralysed me. the involuntary start which i could not help giving was immediately answered by a sinister growl from below. after this i again kept as still as i could, though absolutely trembling with excitement; and in a short while i heard the lion begin to creep stealthily towards me. i could barely make out his form as he crouched among the whitish undergrowth; but i saw enough for my purpose, and before he could come any nearer, i took careful aim and pulled the trigger. the sound of the shot was at once followed by a most terrific roar, and then i could hear him leaping about in all directions. i was no longer able to see him, however, as his first bound had taken him into the thick bush; but to make assurance doubly sure, i kept blazing away in the direction in which i heard him plunging about. at length came a series of mighty groans, gradually subsiding into deep sighs, and finally ceasing altogether; and i felt convinced that one of the "devils" who had so long harried us would trouble us no more. as soon as i ceased firing, a tumult of inquiring voices was borne across the dark jungle from the men in camp about a quarter of a mile away. i shouted back that i was safe and sound, and that one of the lions was dead: whereupon such a mighty cheer went up from all the camps as must have astonished the denizens of the jungle for miles around. shortly i saw scores of lights twinkling through the bushes: every man in camp turned out, and with tom-toms beating and horns blowing came running to the scene. they surrounded my eyrie, and to my amazement prostrated themselves on the ground before me, saluting me with cries of "mabarak! mabarak!" which i believe means "blessed one" or "saviour." all the same, i refused to allow any search to be made that night for the body of the lion, in case his companion might be close by; besides, it was possible that he might be still alive, and capable of making a last spring. accordingly we all returned in triumph to the camp, where great rejoicings were kept up for the remainder of the night, the swahili and other african natives celebrating the occasion by an especially wild and savage dance. for my part, i anxiously awaited the dawn; and even before it was thoroughly light i was on my way to the eventful spot, as i could not completely persuade myself that even yet the "devil" might not have eluded me in some uncanny and mysterious way. happily my fears proved groundless, and i was relieved to find that my luck--after playing me so many exasperating tricks--had really turned at last. i had scarcely traced the blood for more than a few paces when, on rounding a bush, i was startled to see a huge lion right in front of me, seemingly alive and crouching for a spring. on looking closer, however, i satisfied myself that he was really and truly stone-dead, whereupon my followers crowded round, laughed and danced and shouted with joy like children, and bore me in triumph shoulder-high round the dead body. these thanksgiving ceremonies being over, i examined the body and found that two bullets had taken effect--one close behind the left shoulder, evidently penetrating the heart, and the other in the off hind leg. the prize was indeed one to be proud of; his length from tip of nose to tip of tail was nine feet eight inches, he stood three feet nine inches high, and it took eight men to carry him back to camp. the only blemish was that the skin was much scored by the boma thorns through which he had so often forced his way in carrying off his victims. the news of the death of one of the notorious man-eaters soon spread far and wide over the country: telegrams of congratulation came pouring in, and scores of people flocked from up and down the railway to see the skin for themselves. chapter ix the death of the second man-eater it must not be imagined that with the death of this lion our troubles at tsavo were at an end; his companion was still at large, and very soon began to make us unpleasantly aware of the fact. only a few nights elapsed before he made an attempt to get at the permanent way inspector, climbing up the steps of his bungalow and prowling round the verandah. the inspector, hearing the noise and thinking it was a drunken coolie, shouted angrily "go away!" but, fortunately for him, did not attempt to come out or to open the door. thus disappointed in his attempt to obtain a meal of human flesh, the lion seized a couple of the inspector's goats and devoured them there and then. on hearing of this occurrence, i determined to sit up the next night near the inspector's bungalow. fortunately there was a vacant iron shanty close at hand, with a convenient loophole in it for firing from; and outside this i placed three full-grown goats as bait, tying them to a half-length of rail, weighing about 250 lbs. the night passed uneventfully until just before daybreak, when at last the lion turned up, pounced on one of the goats and made off with it, at the same time dragging away the others, rail and all. i fired several shots in his direction, but it was pitch dark and quite impossible to see anything, so i only succeeded in hitting one of the goats. i often longed for a flash-light on such occasions. next morning i started off in pursuit and was joined by some others from the camp. i found that the trail of the goats and rail was easily followed, and we soon came up, about a quarter of a mile away, to where the lion was still busy at his meal. he was concealed in some thick bush and growled angrily on hearing our approach; finally, as we got closer, he suddenly made a charge, rushing through the bushes at a great pace. in an instant, every man of the party scrambled hastily up the nearest tree, with the exception of one of my assistants, mr. winkler, who stood steadily by me throughout. the brute, however, did not press his charge home: and on throwing stones into the bushes where we had last seen him, we guessed by the silence that he had slunk off. we therefore advanced cautiously, and on getting up to the place discovered that he had indeed escaped us, leaving two off the goats scarcely touched. thinking that in all probability the lion would return as usual to finish his meal, i had a very strong scaffolding put up a few feet away from the dead goats, and took up my position on it before dark. on this occasion i brought my gun-bearer, mahina, to take a turn at watching, as i was by this time worn out for want of sleep, having spent so many nights on the look-out. i was just dozing off comfortably when suddenly i felt my arm seized, and on looking up saw mahina pointing in the direction of the goats. "sher!" ("lion!") was all he whispered. i grasped my double smooth-bore, which, i had charged with slug, and waited patiently. in a few moments i was rewarded, for as i watched the spot where i expected the lion to appear, there was a rustling among the bushes and i saw him stealthily emerge into the open and pass almost directly beneath us. i fired both barrels practically together into his shoulder, and to my joy could see him go down under the force of the blow. quickly i reached for the magazine rifle, but before i could use it, he was out of sight among the bushes, and i had to fire after him quite at random. nevertheless i was confident of getting him in the morning, and accordingly set out as soon as it was light. for over a mile there was no difficulty in following the blood-trail, and as he had rested several times i felt sure that he had been badly wounded. in the end, however, my hunt proved fruitless, for after a time the traces of blood ceased and the surface of the ground became rocky, so that i was no longer able to follow the spoor. about this time sir guilford molesworth, k.c.i.e., late consulting engineer to the government of india for state railways, passed through tsavo on a tour of inspection on behalf of the foreign office. after examining the bridge and other works and expressing his satisfaction, he took a number of photographs, one or two of which he has kindly allowed me to reproduce in this book. he thoroughly sympathised with us in all the trials we had endured from the man-eaters, and was delighted that one at least was dead. when he asked me if i expected to get the second lion soon, i well remember his half-doubting smile as i rather too confidently asserted that i hoped to bag him also in the course of a few days. as it happened, there was no sign of our enemy for about ten days after this, and we began to hope that he had died of his wounds in the bush. all the same we still took every precaution at night, and it was fortunate that we did so, as otherwise at least one more victim would have been added to the list. for on the night of december 27, i was suddenly aroused by terrified shouts from my trolley men, who slept in a tree close outside my boma, to the effect that a lion was trying to get at them. it would have been madness to have gone out, as the moon was hidden by dense clouds and it was absolutely impossible to see anything more than a yard in front of one; so all i could do was to fire off a few rounds just to frighten the brute away. this apparently had the desired effect, for the men were not further molested that night; but the man-eater had evidently prowled about for some time, for we found in the morning that he had gone right into every one of their tents, and round the tree was a regular ring of his footmarks. the following evening i took up my position in this same tree, in the hope that he would make another attempt. the night began badly, as, while climbing up to my perch i very nearly put my hand on a venomous snake which was lying coiled round one of the branches. as may be imagined, i came down again very quickly, but one of my men managed to despatch it with a long pole. fortunately the night was clear and cloudless, and the moon made every thing almost as bright as day. i kept watch until about 2 a.m., when i roused mahina to take his turn. for about an hour i slept peacefully with my back to the tree, and then woke suddenly with an uncanny feeling that something was wrong. mahina, however, was on the alert, and had seen nothing; and although i looked carefully round us on all sides, i too could discover nothing unusual. only half satisfied, i was about to lie back again, when i fancied i saw something move a little way off among the low bushes. on gazing intently at the spot for a few seconds, i found i was not mistaken. it was the man-eater, cautiously stalking us. the ground was fairly open round our tree, with only a small bush every here and there; and from our position it was a most fascinating sight to watch this great brute stealing stealthily round us, taking advantage of every bit of cover as he came. his skill showed that he was an old hand at the terrible game of man-hunting: so i determined to run no undue risk of losing him this time. i accordingly waited until he got quite close--about twenty yards away--and then fired my .303 at his chest. i heard the bullet strike him, but unfortunately it had no knockdown effect, for with a fierce growl he turned and made off with great long bounds. before he disappeared from sight, however, i managed to have three more shots at him from the magazine rifle, and another growl told me that the last of these had also taken effect. we awaited daylight with impatience, and at the first glimmer of dawn we set out to hunt him down. i took a native tracker with me, so that i was free to keep a good look-out, while mahina followed immediately behind with a martini carbine. splashes of blood being plentiful, we were able to get along quickly; and we had not proceeded more than a quarter of a mile through the jungle when suddenly a fierce warning growl was heard right in front of us. looking cautiously through the bushes, i could see the man-eater glaring out in our direction, and showing his tusks in an angry snarl. i at once took careful aim and fired. instantly he sprang out and made a most determined charge down on us. i fired again and knocked him over; but in a second he was up once more and coming for me as fast as he could in his crippled condition. a third shot had no apparent effect, so i put out my hand for the martini, hoping to stop him with it. to my dismay, however, it was not there. the terror of the sudden charge had proved too much for mahina, and both he and the carbine were by this time well on their way up a tree. in the circumstances there was nothing to do but follow suit, which i did without loss of time: and but for the fact that one of my shots had broken a hind leg, the brute would most certainly have had me. even as it was, i had barely time to swing myself up out of his reach before he arrived at the foot of the tree. when the lion found he was too late, he started to limp back to the thicket; but by this time i had seized the carbine from mahina, and the first shot i fired from it seemed to give him his quietus, for he fell over and lay motionless. rather foolishly, i at once scrambled down from the tree and walked up towards him. to my surprise and no little alarm he jumped up and attempted another charge. this time, however, a martini bullet in the chest and another in the head finished him for good and all; he dropped in his tracks not five yards away from me, and died gamely, biting savagely at a branch which had fallen to the ground. by this time all the workmen in camp, attracted by the sound of the firing, had arrived on the scene, and so great was their resentment against the brute who had killed such numbers of their comrades that it was only with the greatest difficulty that i could restrain them from tearing the dead body to pieces. eventually, amid the wild rejoicings of the natives and coolies, i had the lion carried to my boma, which was close at hand. on examination we found no less than six bullet holes in the body, and embedded only a little way in the flesh of the back was the slug which i had fired into him from the scaffolding about ten days previously. he measured nine feet six inches from tip of nose to tip of tail, and stood three feet eleven and a half inches high; but, as in the case of his companion, the skin was disfigured by being deeply scored all over by the boma thorns. the news of the death of the second "devil" soon spread far and wide over the country, and natives actually travelled from up and down the line to have a look at my trophies and at the "devil-killer", as they called me. best of all, the coolies who had absconded came flocking back to tsavo, and much to my relief work was resumed and we were never again troubled by man-eaters. it was amusing, indeed, to notice the change which took place in the attitude of the workmen towards me after i had killed the two lions. instead of wishing to murder me, as they once did, they could not now do enough for me, and as a token of their gratitude they presented me with a beautiful silver bowl, as well as with a long poem written in hindustani describing all our trials and my ultimate victory. as the poem relates our troubles in somewhat quaint and biblical language, i have given a translation of it in the appendix. the bowl i shall always consider my most highly prized and hardest won trophy. the inscription on it reads as follows:-sir,--we, your overseer, timekeepers, mistaris and workmen, present you with this bowl as a token of our gratitude to you for your bravery in killing two man-eating lions at great risk to your own life, thereby saving us from the fate of being devoured by these terrible monsters who nightly broke into our tents and took our fellow-workers from our side. in presenting you with this bowl, we all add our prayers for your long life, happiness and prosperity. we shall ever remain, sir, your grateful servants, baboo purshotam hurjee purmar, overseer and clerk of works, on behalf of your workmen. dated at tsavo, january 30, 1899. before i leave the subject of "the man-eaters of tsavo," it may be of interest to mention that these two lions possess the distinction, probably unique among wild animals, of having been specifically referred to in the house of lords by the prime minister of the day. speaking of the difficulties which had been encountered in the construction of the uganda railway, the late lord salisbury said:-"the whole of the works were put a stop to for three weeks because a party of man-eating lions appeared in the locality and conceived a most unfortunate taste for our porters. at last the labourers entirely declined to go on unless they were guarded by an iron entrenchment. of course it is difficult to work a railway under these conditions, and until we found an enthusiastic sportsman to get rid of these lions, our enterprise was seriously hindered." also, the spectator of march 3, 1900, had an article entitled "the lions that stopped the railway," from which the following extracts are taken:-"the parallel to the story of the lions which stopped the rebuilding of samaria must occur to everyone, and if the samaritans had quarter as good cause for their fears as had the railway coolies, their wish to propitiate the local deities is easily understood. if the whole body of lion anecdote, from the days of the assyrian kings till the last year of the nineteenth century, were collated and brought together, it would not equal in tragedy or atrocity, in savageness or in sheer insolent contempt for man, armed or unarmed, white or black, the story of these two beasts. "to what a distance the whole story carries us back, and how impossible it becomes to account for the survival of primitive man against this kind of foe! for fire--which has hitherto been regarded as his main safeguard against the carnivora--these cared nothing. it is curious that the tsavo lions were not killed by poison, for strychnine is easily used, and with effect. (i may mention that poison was tried, but without effect. the poisoned carcases of transport animals which had died from the bite of the tsetse fly were placed in likely spots, but the wily man-eaters would not touch them, and much preferred live men to dead donkeys.) poison may have been used early in the history of man, for its powers are employed with strange skill by the men in the tropical forest, both in american and west central africa. but there is no evidence that the old inhabitants of europe, or of assyria or asia minor, ever killed lions or wolves by this means. they looked to the king or chief, or some champion, to kill these monsters for them. it was not the sport but the duty of. kings, and was in itself a title to be a ruler of men. theseus, who cleared the roads of beasts and robbers; hercules, the lion killer; st. george, the dragon-slayer, and all the rest of their class owed to this their everlasting fame. from the story of the tsavo river we can appreciate their services to man even at this distance of time. when the jungle twinkled with hundreds of lamps, as the shout went on from camp to camp that the first lion was dead, as the hurrying crowds fell prostrate in the midnight forest, laying their heads on his feet, and the africans danced savage and ceremonial dances of thanksgiving, mr. patterson must have realised in no common way what it was to have been a hero and deliverer in the days when man was not yet undisputed lord of the creation, and might pass at any moment under the savage dominion of the beasts." well had the two man-eaters earned all this fame; they had devoured between them no less than twenty-eight indian coolies, in addition to scores of unfortunate african natives of whom no official record was kept. chapter x the completion of the tsavo bridge when all the excitement had died down and there was no longer any dread of the man-eaters, work went on briskly, and the bridge over the tsavo rapidly neared completion. as the piers and abutments progressed in height, the question of how to lift the large stones into their positions had to be solved. we possessed no cranes for this purpose, so i set to work and improvised a shears made of a couple of thirty-foot rails. these were bolted together at the top, while the other ends were fixed at a distance of about ten feet apart in a large block of wood. this contrivance acted capitally, and by manipulation of ropes and pulleys the heavy stones were swung into position quickly and without difficulty, so that in a very short time the masonry of the bridge was completed. the next business was to span the sixty-foot distance between the piers with iron girders. as i had neither winches nor sufficient blocks and tackle to haul these over into position, i was driven to erect temporary piers in the middle of each span, built up crib-shape of wooden sleepers. great wooden beams were stretched across from the stone piers to these cribs, and laid with rails; and the girder was run over its exact place, while still on the trucks in which it had been brought up from the coast. it was next "jacked" up from the trucks, which were hauled away empty, the temporary bridge was dismantled, and the girder finally lowered gently into position. when the last girder was thus successfully placed, no time was lost in linking up the permanent way, and very soon i had the satisfaction of seeing the first train cross the finished work. curiously enough, only a day or so after the bridge had been completed and the intermediate cribs cleared away, a tremendous rain-storm broke over the country. the river started to rise rapidly, soon flooding its banks and becoming a raging murky torrent, tearing up trees by the roots and whirling them along like straws. steadily higher and higher rose the flood, and standing on my bridge, i watched expectantly for the two temporary trolley bridges--which, it will be remembered, we had built across the stream in order to bring stone and sand to the main work--to give way before the ever-rising volume of water. nor had i long to wait; for i soon caught sight of a solid mass of palm stems and railway sleepers sweeping with almost irresistible force round the bend of the river some little distance above the bridge. this i knew was the debris of the trolley crossing furthest up the river. on it came, and with it an additional bank of stormy-looking water. i held my breath for the space of a moment as it actually leaped at the second frail structure; there was a dull thud and a rending and riving of timbers, and then the flood rolled on towards me, leaving not a vestige of the two bridges behind it. the impact, indeed, was so great that the rails were twisted round the broken tree-trunks as if they had been so much ordinary wire. the double tier of wreckage now swept forward, and hurled itself with a sullen plunge against the cutwaters of my stone piers. the shock was great, but to my immense satisfaction the bridge took it without a tremor, and i saw the remnant of the temporary crossings swirl through the great spans and quickly disappear on its journey to the ocean. i confess that i witnessed the whole occurrence with a thrill of pride. we were never long without excitement of some kind or another at tsavo. when the camp was not being attacked by man-eating lions, it was visited by leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, wild cats, and other inhabitants of the jungle around us. these animals did a great deal of damage to the herds of sheep and goats which were kept to supply the commissariat, and there was always great rejoicing when a capture was made in one of the many traps that were laid for them. leopards especially are most destructive, often killing simply for pleasure and not for food: and i have always harboured animosity towards them since the night when one wantonly destroyed a whole herd of mine. i happened at the time to have a flock of about thirty sheep and goats which i kept for food and for milk, and which were secured at sundown in a grass hut at one corner of my boma. one particularly dark night we were startled by a tremendous commotion in this shed, but as this was before the man-eaters were killed, no one dared stir out to investigate the cause of the disturbance. i naturally thought that the intruder was one of the "demons," but all i could do was to fire several shots in the direction of the hut, hoping to frighten him away. in spite of these, however, it was some time before the noise died down and everything became still again. as soon as it was dawn i went to the shed to see what had happened, and there, to my intense anger, i found every one of my sheep and goats lying stretched dead, on the ground with its throat bitten through. a hole had been made through the frail wall of the shed, and i saw from this and from the tracks all round that the author of the wholesale slaughter had been a leopard. he had not eaten one of the flock, but had killed them all out of pure love of destruction. i hoped that he would return the next night to make a meal; and should he do so, i determined to have my revenge. i accordingly left the carcases exactly as they lay, and having a very powerful steel trap--like an enormous rat-trap, and quite strong enough to hold a leopard if he should put his foot in it--i placed this in the opening into the shed and secured it by a stout chain to a long stake driven into the ground outside. darkness found everyone in my boma on the alert and listening anxiously to hear the noise the leopard would make the moment he was caught in the trap. nor were we disappointed, for about midnight we heard the click of the powerful spring, followed immediately by frantic roaring and plunging. i had been sitting all evening with my rifle by my side and a lantern lighted, so i immediately rushed out, followed by the chaukidar (watchman) carrying the lamp. as we approached the shed, the leopard made a frantic spring in our direction as far as the chain would allow him, and this so frightened the chaukidar that he fled in terror, leaving me in utter darkness. the night was as black as had been the previous one, and i could see absolutely nothing; but i knew the general direction in which to fire and accordingly emptied my magazine at the beast. as far as i could make out, he kept dodging in and out through the broken wall of the goat-house; but in a short time my shots evidently told, as his struggles ceased and all was still. i called out that he was dead, and at once everyone in the boma turned out, bringing all the lanterns in the place. with the others came my indian overseer, who shouted that he too wanted revenge, as some of the goats had belonged to him. whereupon he levelled his revolver at the dead leopard, and shutting his eyes tightly, fired four shots in rapid succession. naturally not one of these touched the beast, but they caused considerable consternation amongst the onlookers, who scattered rapidly to right and left. next morning a party of starving wa kamba happened to be passing just as i was about to skin the leopard, and asked by means of signs to be allowed to do the job for me and then to take the meat. i of course assented to this proposal, and in a very few minutes the skin had been neatly taken off, and the famishing natives began a ravenous meal on the raw flesh. wild dogs are also very destructive, and often caused great losses among our sheep and goats. many a night have i listened to these animals hunting and harrying some poor creature of the wilds round my camp; they never relinquish a chase, and will attack anything, man or beast, when really driven by hunger. i was at tsavo station one day--unfortunately without my rifle--when one of these dogs came up and stood within about thirty yards of me. he was a fine-looking beast, bigger than a collie, with jet-black hair and a white-tipped bushy tail. i was very sorry that i had not brought my rifle, as i badly wanted a specimen and never had another chance of obtaining one. chapter xi the swahili and other native tribes i have always been very keenly interested in the different native races of africa, and consequently availed myself of every opportunity of studying their manners and customs. i had little scope for this at tsavo, however, as the district around us was practically uninhabited. still there was of course a good number of swahili among my workmen, together with a few wa kamba, wa n'yam wezi, and others, so i soon became more or less acquainted with the habits of these tribes. the swahili live principally along the coast of british east africa and at zanzibar. they are a mixed race, being the descendants of arab fathers and negro mothers. their name is derived from the arabic word suahil, coast; but it has also been said, by some who have found them scarcely so guileless as might have been expected, to be really a corruption of the words sawa hili, that is, "those who cheat all alike." however that may be, the men are as a rule of splendid physique and well qualified for the calling that the majority of them follow, that of caravan porters. they are a careless, light-hearted, improvident people, and are very fond of all the good things of this world, enjoying them thoroughly whenever they get the chance. their life is spent in journeying to and from the interior, carrying heavy loads of provisions and trade-goods on the one journey, and returning with similar loads of ivory or other products of the country. they are away for many months at a time on these expeditions, and consequently--as they cannot spend money on the march--they have a goodly number of rupees to draw on their return to mombasa. these generally disappear with wonderful rapidity, and when no more fun can be bought, they join another caravan and begin a new safari to the great lakes, or even beyond. many a time have i watched them trudging along the old caravan road which crossed the tsavo at a ford about half a mile from the railway station: here a halt was always called, so that they might wash and bathe in the cool waters of the river. nothing ever seems to damp the spirits of the swahili porter. be his life ever so hard, his load ever so heavy, the moment it is off his back and he has disposed of his posho (food), he straightway forgets all his troubles, and begins to laugh and sing and joke with his fellows as if he were the happiest and luckiest mortal alive. such was my cook, mabruki, and his merry laugh was quite infectious. i remember that one day he was opening a tin of biscuits for me, and not being able to pull off the under-lid with his fingers, he seized the flap in his magnificent teeth and tugged at it. i shouted to him to stop, thinking that he might break a tooth; but he misunderstood my solicitude and gravely assured me that he would not spoil the tin! the swahili men wear a long white cotton garment, like a night-shirt, called a kanzu; the women--who are too liberally endowed to be entirely graceful--go about with bare arms and shoulders, and wear a long brightly-coloured cloth which they wind tightly round their bosoms and then allow to fall to the feet. all are followers of the prophet, and their social customs are consequently much the same as those of any other mohammedan race, though with a good admixture of savagedom. they have a happy knack of giving a nickname to every european with whom they have to do, such nickname generally making reference to something peculiar or striking in his habits, temper, or appearance. on the whole, they are a kindly, generous folk, whom one cannot help liking. of the many tribes which are to be seen about the railway on the way up from the coast, perhaps the most extraordinary-looking are the wa nyika, the people who inhabit the thorny nyika (wilderness) which borders on the taru desert. they are exceedingly ugly and of a low type. the men wear nothing in the way of dress but a scanty and very dirty cloth thrown over the shoulders, while the women attire themselves only in a short kilt which is tied round them very low at the waist. both men and women adorn themselves with brass chains round the neck and coils of copper and iron wire round the arms. the nearest native inhabitants to tsavo are the wa taita, who dwell in the mountains near n'dii, some thirty miles away. my work often took me to this place, and on one of my visits, finding myself with some spare time on my hands, i set out to pay a long promised visit to the district officer. a fairly good road ran from n'dii station to his house at the foot of the mountains, about four miles away, and on my arrival i was not only most hospitably entertained but was also introduced to m'gogo, the head chief of the wa taita, who had just come in for a shauri (consultation) about some affair of state. the old fellow appeared delighted to meet me, and promptly invited me to his kraal, some way up the hills. i jumped at the prospect of seeing the wa taita at home, so presently off we started on our heavy climb, my indian servant, bhawal, coming with us. after a couple of hours' steady scramble up a steep and slippery goatpath, we arrived at m'gogo's capital, where i was at once introduced to his wives, who were busily engaged in making pombe (a native fermented drink) in the hollowed-out stump of a tree. i presented one of them with an orange for her child, but she did not understand what it was for on tasting it she made a wry face and would not eat it. still she did not throw it away, but carefully put it into a bag with her other treasures--doubtless for future investigation. as soon as the women saw bhawal, however, he became the centre of attraction, and i was eclipsed. he happened to have on a new puggaree, with lots of gold work on it, and this took their fancy immensely; they examined every line most carefully and went into ecstasies over it--just as their european sisters would have done over the latest parisian creation. we made a short halt for rest and refreshment, and then started again on our journey to the top of the hills. after a stiff climb for another two hours, part of it through a thick black forest, we emerged on the summit, where i found i was well rewarded for my trouble by the magnificent views we obtained on all sides. the great kilima n'jaro stood out particularly well, and made a very effective background to the fine panorama. i was surprised to find a number of well-fed cattle on the mountain top, but i fancy m'gogo thought i was casting an evil spell over them when he saw me taking photographs of them as they grazed peacefully on the sweet grass which covered the plateau. like most other natives of africa, the wa taita are exceedingly superstitious, and this failing is turned to good account by the all-powerful "witch-doctor" or "medicine-man." it is, for instance, an extraordinary sight to see the absolute faith with which a ki taita will blow the simba-dawa, or "lion medicine ", to the four points of the compass before lying down to sleep in the open. this dawa--which is, of course, obtainable only from the witch-doctor--consists simply of a little black powder, usually carried in a tiny horn stuck through a slit in the ear; but the ki taita firmly believes that a few grains of this dust blown round him from the palm of the hand is a complete safeguard against raging lions seeking whom they may devour; and after the blowing ceremony he will lie down to sleep in perfect confidence, even in the midst of a man-eater's district. in the nature of things, moreover, he never loses this touching faith in the efficacy of the witch-doctor's charm; for if he is attacked by a lion, the brute sees to it that he does not live to become an unbeliever, while if he is not attacked, it is of course quite clear that it is to the dawa that he owes his immunity. for the rest, the wa taita are essentially a peace-loving and industrious people; and, indeed, before the arrival of the british in the country, they hardly ever ventured down from their mountain fastnesses, owing to their dread of the warlike masai. each man has as many wives as he can afford to pay for in sheep or cattle; he provides each spouse with a separate establishment, but the family huts are clustered together, and as a rule all live in perfect harmony. the most curious custom of the tribe is the filing of the front teeth into sharp points, which gives the whole face a most peculiar and rather diabolical expression. as usual, their ideas of costume are rather primitive; the men sometimes wear a scrap of cloth round the loins, while the women content themselves with the same or with a short kilt. both sexes adorn themselves with a great quantity of copper or iron wire coiled round their arms and legs, and smear their bodies all over with grease, the men adding red clay to the mixture. many of the women also wear dozens of rows of beads, while their ears are hung with pieces of chain and other fantastic ornaments. the men always carry bows and poisoned arrows, as well as a seemie (a short, roughly-fashioned sword) hung on a leathern thong round the waist. a three-legged stool is also an important part of their equipment, and is slung on the shoulder when on the march. the next people met with on the road to the great lakes are the wa kamba, who inhabit the ukambani province, and may be seen from m'toto andei to the athi river. they are a very large tribe, but have little cohesion, being split up, into many clans under chiefs who govern in a patriarchal kind of way. in appearance and dress--or the want of it--they are very like the wa taita, and they have the same custom of filing the front teeth. as a rule, too, they are a peace-loving people, though when driven to it by hunger they will commit very cruel and treacherous acts of wholesale murder. while the railway was being constructed, a severe famine occurred in their part of the country, when hundreds of them died of starvation. during this period they several times swooped down on isolated railway maintenance gangs and utterly annihilated them, in order to obtain possession of the food which they knew would be stored in the camps. these attacks were always made by night. like most other native races in east africa, their only arms are the bow and poisoned arrow, but in the use of these primitive weapons they are specially expert. the arrow-head remains in the flesh when the shaft is withdrawn, and if the poison is fresh, paralysis and death very quickly follow, the skin round the wound turning yellow and mortifying within an hour or two. this deadly poison is obtained, i believe, by boiling down a particular root, the arrow-heads being dipped in the black, pitchy-looking essence which remains. i am glad to say, however, that owing to the establishment of several mission stations amongst them, the wa kamba are quickly becoming the most civilised natives in the country; and the missionaries have adopted the sensible course of teaching the people husbandry and the practical arts and crafts of everyday life, in addition to caring for their spiritual needs. chapter xii a night after hippo during my stay at tsavo i made many little excursions into the surrounding country, and used to go off on a short shooting and exploring expedition whenever i had the opportunity. i was especially anxious to bag a hippopotamus, so i made up my mind to try my luck on the banks of the sabaki. unfortunately, i possessed no heavy rifle, which is almost a necessity for hippo shooting, but it occurred to me to supply the deficiency by manufacturing a few cartridges for my smoothbore. in these i had double charges of powder and a hardened bullet made of lead mixed with about an eighth part of tin. i well remember the anxiety with which i fired the first round of my home-made ammunition. as i more than half expected that the barrel would burst, i lashed the gun in the fork of a tree, tied a piece of string a hundred feet long to the trigger, and then--taking shelter behind a friendly stump--pulled off. to my great satisfaction the barrel stood the test perfectly. more than that, on trying the penetrative effect of my bullets, i found that they would smash through a steel plate an eighth of an inch thick at thirty yards' range. this was quite good enough for my purpose, and gave me great confidence in the weapon. all the same, i had a very narrow escape one day while manufacturing some of this ammunition. my plan was to remove the shot from the cartridge, put in the additional powder, and ram this well in before replacing the wad and putting in the bullet. i had clamped my refilling machine to my rough-hewn table, and was stamping the double charge of powder well down into the cartridge, when suddenly, for some unknown reason, the whole charge exploded right into my face. everything became pitch dark to me, and i groped my way about the little hut in agony of mind as well as of body, for i thought i had been blinded. i am thankful to say, however, that gleams of light soon began to return to my eyes, and in a few hours' time i was almost all right again and able to go on with my cartridge making. all my preparations having been made, i set out for the sabaki, taking with me my indian gun-bearer mahina, my cook mabruki, a bhisti (water-carrier), and a couple of natives to carry our odds and ends. on these occasions i usually took no tent, but bivouacked in the open. we took some bread and a few tinned provisions with us, but i could always depend upon getting a paa, guinea-fowl, partridge or rock-rabbit for the larder on the march. these rock-rabbits are more like big rats than rabbits, and are found in great numbers among the rocks along the banks of the rivers. they are not at all bad eating, but the swahili will not touch them. they call them tupu (shameless, naked things), owing to their lack of a tail, of which indeed they possess not even a vestige. our route lay by the always interesting tsavo river. along the banks everything within reach of its moisture is delightfully fresh and green. palms and other trees, festooned with brilliant flowering creepers, flourish along its course; all kinds of monkeys chatter and jabber in the shade overhead as they swing themselves from branch to branch, while birds of the most gorgeous plumage flutter about, giving a very tropical aspect to the scene. on the other hand, if one is tempted to stray away from the river, be it only for a few yards, one comes immediately into the parched, thorny wilderness of stunted, leafless trees. here the sun beats down pitilessly, and makes the nyika of the tsavo valley almost intolerable. the river has its source at the foot of snow-crowned kilima n'jaro, whence it flows for about eighty miles in a northerly direction until it joins the athi river, about seven miles below tsavo station. from this point the united streams take the name of sabaki and flow more or less eastwards until they reach the indian ocean at malindi, some seventy miles north of mombasa. a narrow and tortuous masai warpath winds along its whole length, but although we followed this trail our journey was nevertheless a very slow one, owing to the overhanging branches and creepers, from which we had constantly to be disengaged. the march was full of interest, however, for it was not long before we came upon fresh tracks both of hippo and rhino. every now and again, also, we caught glimpses of startled bush-buck and water-buck, while occasionally the sound of a splash in the water told of a wary crocodile. we had gone about half the distance to the sabaki when we came upon an unexpected obstacle in the shape of a great ridge of barren, rugged rock, about a hundred feet high, which extended for about a mile or so on both banks of the river. the sides of this gorge went sheer down into the water, and were quite impossible to scale. i therefore determined to make a detour round it, but mahina was confident that he could walk along in the river itself. i hinted mildly at the possibility of there being crocodiles under the rocky ledges. mahina declared, however, that there was no danger, and making a bundle of his lower garments, he tied it to his back and stepped into the water. for a few minutes all went well. then, in an instant, he was lifted right off his feet by the rush of the water and whirled away. the river took a sharp bend in this gorge, and he was round it and out of our sight in no time, the last glimpse we caught of him showing him vainly trying to catch hold of an overhanging branch. although we at once made all the haste we could to get round the ridge of rocks, it took us nearly half an hour to do it. i had almost given up hope of ever seeing mahina again, and was much relieved, therefore, when we reached the river-side once more, to find him safe and sound, and little the worse for his adventure. luckily he had been dashed up against a rushy bank, and had managed to scramble out with no more serious damage than a bruised shin. eventually we arrived at the junction of the rivers and proceeded some way down the sabaki, beside which the tsavo looks very insignificant. several islands are dotted about in mid-stream and are overgrown with tall reeds and rushes, in which hippo find capital covert all the year round. as with the tsavo, the banks of the sabaki are lined with trees of various kinds, affording most welcome shade from the heat of the sun: and skirting the river is a caravan road from the interior--still used, i believe, for smuggling slaves and ivory to the coast, where dhows are in readiness to convey them to persia or arabia. after an early dinner, which mabruki soon got ready, i left my followers encamped in a safe boma a mile away from the river, and started out with mahina to find a suitable tree, near a hippo "run", in which to spend the night. having some difficulty in finding a likely spot, we crossed to the other side of the river--rather a risky thing to do on account of the number of crocodiles in it: we found a fairly shallow ford, however, and managed to get safely over. here, on what was evidently an island during flood time, we found innumerable traces of both hippo and rhino--in fact the difficulty was to decide which track was the best and freshest. at length i picked out a tree close to the river and commanding a stretch of sand which was all flattened down and looked as if at least one hippo rolled there regularly every night. as there was still about an hour before sundown, we did not take up our station at once, but proceeded along the bank to see if any other game was about. we had not gone very far when mahina, who was a little way ahead, signalled to me, and on joining him i saw a splendid-looking water-buck standing in a shallow pool of the river. it was the first time i had seen one of these fine antelope, and i was delighted with the sight. i might have got twenty yards or so nearer, but i thought i had better not risk moving, so i aimed at the shoulder and fired. the buck gave one leap into the air, and then turned and galloped quickly behind an island which completely hid him from view. we waited for him to clear the rushes at the other end of this island, but as he did not appear i got impatient and plunged into the river, regardless of crocodiles or anything else. on rounding the island, however, he was nowhere to be seen, and had evidently turned off while in the shelter of the reeds and so gained the opposite bank. i was keenly disappointed at my failure, for it was impossible to follow him up: to do so we should have had to make a long detour to get across the river, and by that time darkness would have set in. this incident shows the great drawback to the .303--namely, that it has very little knock-down effect unless it strikes a vital part; and even then, in a bush country, an animal may manage to go far enough to be lost. on the other hand, an animal wounded with a hard bullet is likely to make a speedy recovery, which is a great blessing. mahina was even more upset at the escape of the buck than i was, and as we trudged back through the sand to our tree, he was full of gloomy forebodings of an unlucky night. by the light of a splendid full moon we settled ourselves on a great outspreading branch, and commenced our vigil. soon the jungle around us began to be alive with its peculiar sounds--a night bird would call, a crocodile shut his jaws with a snap, or a rhino or hippo crash through the bushes on its way to the water: now and again we could even hear the distant roar of the lion. still there was nothing to be seen. after waiting for some considerable time, a great hippo at last made his appearance and came splashing along in our direction, but unfortunately took up his position behind a tree which, in the most tantalising way, completely hid him from view. here he stood tooting and snorting and splashing about to his heart's content. for what seemed hours i watched for this ungainly creature to emerge from his covert, but as he seemed determined not to show himself i lost patience and made up my mind to go down after him. i therefore handed my rifle to mahina to lower to me on reaching the ground, and began to descend carefully, holding on by the creepers which encircled the tree. to my intense vexation and disappointment, just as i was in this helpless condition, half-way to the ground, the great hippo suddenly came out from his shelter and calmly lumbered along right underneath me. i bitterly lamented my ill-luck and want of patience, for i could almost have touched his broad back as he passed. it was under these exasperating conditions that i saw a hippo for the first time, and without doubt he is the ugliest and most forbidding looking brute i have ever beheld. the moment the great beast had passed our tree, he scented us, snorted loudly, and dived into the bushes close by, smashing through them like a traction engine. in screwing myself round to watch him go, i broke the creepers by which i was holding on and landed on my back in the sand at the foot of the tree--none the worse for my short drop, but considerably startled at the thought that the hippo might come back at any moment. i climbed up to my perch again without loss of time, but he was evidently as much frightened as i was, and returned no more. shortly after this we saw two rhino come down to the river to drink; they were too far off for a shot, however, so i did not disturb them, and they gradually waddled up-stream out of sight. then we heard the awe-inspiring roar of a hungry lion close by, and presently another hippo gave forth his tooting challenge a little way down the river. as there seemed no likelihood of getting a shot at him from our tree, i made up my mind to stalk him on foot, so we both descended from our perch and made our way slowly through the trees in the semi-darkness. there were numbers of animals about, and i am sure that neither of us felt very comfortable as we crept along in the direction of the splashing hippo; for my own part i fancied every moment that i saw in front of me the form of a rhino or a lion ready to charge down upon us out of the shadow of the bush. in this manner, with nerves strung to the highest pitch, we reached the edge of the river in safety, only to find that we were again baulked by a small rush-covered island, on the other side of which our quarry could be heard. there was a good breeze blowing directly from him, however, so i thought the best thing to do was to attempt to get on to the island and to have a shot at him from there. mahina, too, was eager for the fray, so we let ourselves quietly into the water, which here was quite shallow and reached only to our knees, and waded slowly across. on peering cautiously through the reeds at the corner of the island, i was surprised to find that i could see nothing of the hippo; but i soon realised that i was looking too far ahead, for on lowering my eyes there he was, not twenty-five yards away, lying down in the shallow water, only half covered and practically facing us. his closeness to us made me rather anxious for our safety, more especially as just then he rose to his feet and gave forth the peculiar challenge or call which we had already heard so often during the night. all the same, as he raised his head, i fired at it. he whirled round, made a plunge forward, staggered and fell, and then lay quite still. to make assurance doubly sure, i gave him a couple more bullets as he lay, but we found afterwards that they were not needed, as my first shot had been a very lucky one and had penetrated the brain. we left him where he fell and got back to our perch, glad and relieved to be in safety once more. as soon as it was daylight we were joined by my own men and by several wa kamba, who had been hunting in the neighbourhood. the natives cut out the tusks of the hippo, which were rather good ones, and feasted ravenously on the flesh, while i turned my attention with gratitude to the hot coffee and cakes which mabruki had meanwhile prepared. chapter xiii a day on the n'dungu escarpment immediately after breakfast camp was struck, and accompanied by a few of the wa kamba, we started off for the n'dungu escarpment--a frowning ridge which runs for a great distance parallel to the sabaki, some three or four miles from its northern bank. we had not gone very far before i caught sight of a fine waterbuck and successfully bowled him over--a good omen for the day, which put us all in excellent spirits. mabruki cut off several strips of the tough meat and impaled them on a sharp stick to dry in the sun as he went along. i warned him that he had better be careful that a lion did not scent the meat, as if it did it would be sure to follow up and kill him. of course i did not mean this seriously; but mabruki was a great glutton, and by no means courageous, so i wanted to frighten him. as we trudged along towards the hill, i heard a peculiar noise behind a small rising on our right, and on looking over the crest, i was delighted to see two beautiful giraffe feeding peacefully a little distance away and straining their long necks to get at the tops of some mimosa-like trees, while a young one was lying down in the grass quite close to me. for some time i remained concealed, watching the full-grown pair with great interest: they had evidently just come up from the river, and were slowly making their way back to their home on the escarpment. they seemed on the most affectionate terms, occasionally entwining their great long necks and gently biting each other on the shoulders. much as i should have liked to have added a giraffe to my collection of trophies, i left them undisturbed, as i think it a pity to shoot these rather rare and very harmless creatures, unless one is required for a special purpose. we pushed on, accordingly, towards the escarpment, for i was very impatient to get to the top and explore a place where i felt convinced no other white man had ever set foot. from the river the ground rose gently upwards to the foot of the ridge, and was covered more or less densely with stunted trees and bushes, and of course the inevitable "wait-a-bit" thorns. i was fortunate enough, however, to find a rhino path which afforded a fairly comfortable and open road, on which we could walk upright the greater part of the way. the climb up the escarpment itself was a stiff one, and had to be negotiated principally on all-fours, but on the way up i discovered that there was an enormous cleft some miles to the right which would probably have afforded an easier ascent. i had not time to explore it on this particular day, but i made a mental note to do so on some future occasion. after a two hours' journey from the river we sat panting on the summit after our scramble and surveyed the valley of the tsavo, which lay spread out like a map about five hundred feet below us. our home tents, the bridge, tsavo station and other buildings were plainly visible, and the railway itself, like a shining snake, could be seen for many miles winding its way through the parched wilderness. having taken a few photographs of the scene, we turned and struck through the n'dungu plateau. here i found the same kind of nyika as that round tsavo, the only difference being that there were more green trees about. the country, moreover, was somewhat more open, and was intersected by hundreds of broad and well-beaten animal paths, along which we could walk upright in comfort. i was leading the way, followed closely by mahina and mabruki, when suddenly we almost walked upon a lion which was lying down at the side of the path and which had probably been asleep. it gave a fierce growl and at once bounded off through the bush; but to mabruki--who doubtless recalled then the warning i had given him in fun earlier in the day--the incident appeared so alarming that he flung down his stick-load of meat and fled for his life, much to the amusement of the others, even the usually silent wa kamba joining in the general laughter as they scrambled for the discarded meat. we saw nothing more of the lion, though a few steps further on brought us to the remains of a zebra which he had recently killed and feasted on; but after this mabruki kept carefully in the rear. curiously enough, only a short while later we had an exactly similar adventure with a rhino, as owing to the tortuous nature of the path, we walked right into it before we were aware. like the lion, however, it was more frightened than we, and charged away from us through the jungle. for about two hours we pursued our journey into the plateau, and saw and heard a wonderful variety of game, including giraffe, rhino, bush-buck, the lesser kudu, zebra, wart-hog, baboons and monkeys, and any number of paa, the last being of a redder colour than those of the tsavo valley. of natives or of human habitations, however, we saw no signs, and indeed the whole region was so dry and waterless as to be quite uninhabitable. the animals that require water have to make a nightly journey to and from the sabaki, which accounts for the thousands of animal paths leading from the plateau to the river. by this time we were all beginning to feel very tired, and the bhisti's stock of water was running low. i therefore climbed the highest tree i could find in order to have a good look round, but absolutely nothing could i see in any direction but the same flat thorny wilderness, interspersed here and there with a few green trees; not a landmark of any sort or kind as far as the eye could reach; a most hopeless, terrible place should one be lost in it, with certain death either by thirst or by savage beasts staring one in the face. clearly, then, the only thing to do was to return to the river; and in order to accomplish this before dark it was necessary that no time should be lost. but we had been winding in and out so much through the animal paths that it was no easy matter to say in which direction the sabaki lay. first i consulted my wa kamba followers as to the route back, they simply shook their heads. then i asked mahina, who pointed out a direction exactly opposite to that which i felt confident was the right one. mabruki, of course, knew nothing, but volunteered the helpful and cheering information that we were lost and would all be killed by lions. in these circumstances, i confirmed my own idea as to our way by comparing my watch and the sun, and gave the order to start at once. for two solid hours, however, we trudged along in the fearful heat without striking a single familiar object or landmark. mabruki murmured loudly; even mahina expressed grave doubts as to whether the "sahib" had taken the right direction; only the wa kamba stalked along in reassuring silence. for some time we had been following a broad white rhino path, and the great footmarks, of one of these beasts were fresh and plainly visible in the dust. he had been travelling in the opposite direction to us, and i felt sure that he must have been returning from drinking in the river. i accordingly insisted on our keeping to this path, and very soon, to my great relief, we found that we were at the edge of the escarpment, a couple of miles away from the place where we had made the ascent. here a halt was called; a sheet was spread over some of the stunted trees, and under its shade we rested for half an hour, had some food, and drank the last of our water. after this we pushed on with renewed vigour, and arrived at the sabaki in good time before sundown, having bagged a couple of guinea-fowl and a paa on the way to serve for dinner. after the long and fatiguing day my bathe in a clear shady pool was a real delight, but i might not have enjoyed it quite so much if i had known then of the terrible fate which awaited one of my followers in the same river the next day. by the time i got back to camp supper was ready and fully appreciated. the tireless mahina had also collected some dry grass for my bed, and i turned in at once, with my rifle handy, and slept the sleep of the just, regardless of all the wild beasts in africa. at dawn mabruki roused me with a cup of steaming hot coffee and some biscuits, and a start was at once made on our return journey to tsavo. the place where we had struck the sabaki the previous evening was some miles further down the stream than i had ever been before, so i decided to take advantage of the masai trail along its bank until the tsavo river was reached. i did not think we should meet with any further adventure on our way home, but in the wilds the unexpected is always happening. shortly after we started one of the wa kamba went down to the river's edge to fill his calabash with water, when a crocodile suddenly rose up out of the stream, seized the poor fellow and in a moment had dragged him in. i was on ahead at the time and so did not witness the occurrence, but on hearing the cries of the others i ran back as quickly as possible--too late, however, to see any sign of either crocodile or native. mahina philosophically remarked that after all it was only a washenzi (savage), whose loss did not much matter; and the other three wa kamba certainly did not appear to be affected by the incident, but calmly possessed themselves of their dead companion's bow and quiver of poisoned arrows, and of the stock of meat which he had left on the bank. i have since learned that accidents of this kind are of fairly frequent occurrence along the banks of these rivers. on one occasion while i was in the country a british officer had a very lucky escape. he was filling his water bottle at the river, when one of these brutes caught him by the hand and attempted to draw him in. fortunately one of his servants rushed to his assistance and managed to pull him out of the crocodile's clutches with the loss only of two of his fingers. as we made our way up the sabaki, we discovered a beautiful waterfall about a hundred and fifty feet high--not a sheer drop, but a series of cascades. at this time the river was in low water, and the falls consequently did not look their best; but in flood time they form a fine sight, and the thunder of the falling water can then be plainly heard at tsavo, over seven miles away, when the wind is in the right direction. we crossed the river on the rocks at the head of these falls, and after some hours' hard marching reached camp without further incident. chapter xiv the finding of the man-eaters' den there were some rocky-looking hills lying to the south-west of tsavo which i was particularly anxious to explore, so on one occasion when work had been stopped for the day owing to lack of material, i set off for them, accompanied by mahina and a punjaubi coolie, who was so stout that he went by the name of moota (i.e. "fattie"). in the course of my little excursions round tsavo i gradually discovered that i was nearly always able to make my way to any required point of the compass by following certain well-defined animal paths, which i mapped out bit by bit during my explorations. on this occasion, for instance, as soon as we had crossed the river and had struck into the jungle, we were fortunate enough to find a rhino path leading in the right direction, which greatly facilitated our progress. as we were making our way along this path through the dry bed of a nullah, i happened to notice that the sandy bottom sparkled here and there where the sunbeams penetrated the dense foliage. this at once filled my head with thoughts of precious stones, and as the spot looked likely enough, i started to dig vigorously at the gravel with my hunting knife. after a few minutes of this work, i came across what i at first took to be a magnificent diamond sparkling in the damp sand: it was about half an inch long, and its facets looked as if they had been cut by an amsterdam expert. i tested the stone on my watch glass and found that it cut my initials quite easily, and though i knew that quartz would do this as well, it did not seem to me to have either the general appearance or angles of any quartz i had ever seen. for a moment or two i was greatly delighted with my discovery, and began to have rosy dreams of a diamond mine; but i am sorry to say that on closer examination and testing i was forced to the conclusion that my find was not a diamond, though unlike any other mineral i had ever come across. my hopes of rapidly becoming a millionaire having thus been dashed to the ground, we proceeded on our way, getting further and further into the depths of a gloomy forest. a little distance on, i noticed through a break in the trees a huge rhino standing in full view near the edge of a ravine. unfortunately he caught sight of us as well, and before i could take aim, he snorted loudly and crashed off through the tangled undergrowth. as i followed up this ravine, walking stealthily along in the delightful shade of the overhanging palms, i observed on my left a little nullah which opened out of the main channel through a confused mass of jungle and creeper. through this tangle there was a well-defined archway, doubtless made by the regular passage of rhino and hippo, so i decided to enter and explore what lay beyond. i had not gone very far when i came upon a big bay scooped out of the bank by the stream when in flood and carpeted with a deposit of fine, soft sand, in which were the indistinct tracks of numberless animals. in one corner of this bay, close under an overhanging tree, stood a little sandy hillock, and on looking over the top of this i saw on the other side a fearsome-looking cave which seemed to run back for a considerable distance under the rocky bank. round the entrance and inside the cavern i was thunderstruck to find a number of human bones, with here and there a copper bangle such as the natives wear. beyond all doubt, the man-eaters' den! in this manner, and quite by accident, i stumbled upon the lair of these once-dreaded "demons", which i had spent so many days searching for through the exasperating and interminable jungle during the time when they terrorised tsavo. i had no inclination to explore the gloomy depths of the interior, but thinking that there might possibly still be a lioness or cub inside, i fired a shot or two into the cavern through a hole in the roof. save for a swarm of bats, nothing came out; and after taking a photograph of the cave, i gladly left the horrible spot, thankful that the savage and insatiable brutes which once inhabited it were no longer at large. retracing my steps to the main ravine, i continued my journey along it. after a little while i fancied i saw a hippo among some tall rushes growing on the bank, and quickly signed to mahina and moota to stay perfectly still. i then made a careful stalk, only to discover, after all my trouble, that my eyes had deceived me and made me imagine a black bank and a few rushes to be a living animal. we now left the bed of the ravine, and advanced along the top. this turned out to be a good move, for soon we heard the galloping of a herd of some animal or other across our front. i rushed round a corner in the path a few yards ahead, and crouching under the bushes saw a line of startled zebras flying past. this was the first time i had seen these beautifully marked animals in their wild state, so i selected the largest and fired, and as i was quite close to them he dropped in his tracks stone-dead. when i stood over the handsome creature i was positively sorry for having killed him. not so moota, however, who rushed up in ecstasy, and before i could stop him had cut his throat. this was done, as he remarked, "to make the meat lawful," for moota was a devout follower of the prophet, and no true mohammedan will eat the flesh of any animal unless the throat has been cut at the proper place and the blood allowed to flow. this custom has often caused me great annoyance, for mohammedan followers rush in so quickly when an animal is shot and cut the head off so short that it is afterwards quite useless as a trophy. by the time the zebra was skinned, darkness was fast approaching, so we selected a suitable tree in which to pass the night. under it we built a goodly fire, made some tea, and roasted a couple of quails which i had shot early in the day and which proved simply delicious. we then betook ourselves to the branches--at least, mahina and i did; moota was afraid of nothing, and said he would sleep on the ground. he was not so full of courage later on, however, for about midnight a great rhino passed our way, winded us and snorted so loudly that moota scrambled in abject terror up our tree. he was as nimble as a monkey for all his stoutness, and never ceased climbing until he was far above us. we both laughed heartily at his extraordinary haste to get out of danger, and mahina chaffed him unmercifully. the rest of the night passed without incident, and in the early morning, while the boys were preparing breakfast, i strolled off towards the rocky hills which i had seen from tsavo, and which were now only about half a mile distant. i kept a sharp look-out for game, but came across nothing save here and there a paa and a few guinea-fowl, until, just as i was about half-way round the hill, i saw a fine leopard lying on a rocky ledge basking in the morning sun. but he was too quick for me, and made off before i could get a shot; i had not approached noiselessly enough, and a leopard is too wary a beast to be caught napping. unfortunately i had no more time at my disposal in which to explore these hills, as i was anxious to resume work at tsavo as soon as possible; so after breakfast we packed up the zebra skin and began to retrace our steps through the jungle. it was an intensely hot day, and we were all very glad when at length we reached the home camp. most of my little trips of this sort, however, were made in a northerly direction, towards the ever-interesting athi or sabaki rivers. after a long and tiring walk through the jungle what a pleasure it was to lie up in the friendly shelter of the rushes which line the banks, and watch the animals come down to drink, all unconscious of my presence. i took several photographs of scenes of this kind, but unfortunately many of the negatives were spoiled. often, too, on a brilliant moonlight night have i sat on a rock out in the middle of the stream, near a favourite drinking place, waiting for a shot at whatever fortune might send my way. how exasperating it was, when the wind changed at the critical moment, and gave me away to the rhino or other animal i had sat there for hours patiently awaiting! occasionally i would get heartily tired of my weary vigil and would wade ashore through the warm water, to make my bed in the soft sand regardless of the snap, snap of the crocodiles which could plainly be heard from the deeper pools up and down the river. at the time, being new to the country, i did not realise the risks i ran; but later on--after my poor wa kamba follower had been seized and dragged under, as i have already described--i learned to be much more cautious. the shortest way of reaching the athi river from tsavo was to strike through the jungle in a north-westerly direction, and here there was luckily a particularly well-defined rhino path which i always made use of. i discovered it quite by accident on one occasion when i had asked some guests, who were staying with me at tsavo, to spend a night on the banks of the river. as we were making our way slowly and painfully through the dense jungle, i came across this well-trodden path, which appeared to lead in the direction in which i wished to go, and as i felt convinced that at any rate it would bring us to the river somewhere, i followed it with confidence. our progress was now easy, and the track led through fairly open glades where traces of bush-buck and water-buck were numerous; indeed once or twice we caught glimpses of these animals as they bounded away to the shelter of the thicket, warned by the sound of our approach. in the end, as i anticipated, the old rhino path proved a true guide, for it struck the athi at an ideal spot for a camping ground, where some lofty trees close to the bank of the river gave a most grateful and refreshing shade. we had a delightful picnic, and my guests greatly enjoyed their night in the open, although one of them got rather a bad fright from a rhino which suddenly snorted close to our camp, evidently very annoyed at our intrusion on his domain. in the morning they went off as soon as it was light to try their luck along the river, while i remained in camp to see to breakfast. after an hour or more, however, they all returned, empty-handed but very hungry; so when they had settled down to rest after a hearty meal, i thought i would sally forth and see if i could not meet with better success. i had gone only a short distance up the right bank of the river, when i thought i observed a movement among the bushes ahead of me. on the alert, i stopped instantly, and the next moment was rewarded by seeing a splendid bush-buck advance from the water in a most stately manner. i could only make out his head and neck above the undergrowth, but as he was only some fifty yards off, i raised my rifle to my shoulder to fire. this movement at once caught his eye, and for the fraction of a second he stopped to gaze at me, thus giving me time to aim at where i supposed his shoulder to be. when i fired, he disappeared so suddenly and so completely that i felt sure that i had missed him, and that he had made off through the bush. i therefore re-loaded, and advanced carefully with the intention of following up his trail; but to my unbounded delight i came upon the buck stretched out dead in his tracks, with my bullet through his heart. i lost no time in getting back to camp, the antelope swinging by his feet from a branch borne by two sturdy coolies: and my unlucky friends were very much astonished when they saw the fine bag i had secured in so short a time. the animal was soon skinned and furnished us with a delicious roast for lunch; and in the cool of the evening we made our way back to tsavo without further adventure. some little time after this, while one of these same friends (mr. c. rawson) happened to be again at tsavo, we were sitting after dark under the verandah of my hut. i wanted something from my tent, and sent meeanh, my indian chaukidar, to fetch it. he was going off in the dark to do so, when i called him back and told him to take a lantern for fear of snakes. this he did, and as soon as he got to the door of the tent, which was only a dozen yards off, he called out frantically, "are, sahib, burra sanp hai!" ("oh, master, there is a big snake here!) "where?" i shouted. "here by the bed," he cried, "bring the gun, quickly." i seized the shot-gun, which i always kept handy, and rushed to the tent, where, by the light of the lantern, i saw a great red snake, about seven feet long, gazing at me from the side of my camp-bed. i instantly fired at him, cutting him clean in half with the shot; the tail part remained where it was, but the head half quickly wriggled off and disappeared in the gloom of the tent. the trail of blood, however, enabled us to track it, and we eventually found the snake, still full of fight, under the edge of the ground-sheet. he made a last vicious dart at one of the men who had run up, but was quickly given the happy despatch by a blow on the head. rawson now picked it up and brought it to the light. he then put his foot on the back of its head and with a stick forced open the jaws, when suddenly we saw two perfectly clear jets of poison spurt out from the fangs. an indian baboo (clerk), who happened to be standing near, got the full benefit of this, and the poor man was so panic-stricken that in a second he had torn off every atom of his clothing. we were very much amused at this, as of course we knew that although the poison was exceedingly venomous, it could do no harm unless it penetrated a cut or open wound in the flesh. i never found out the name of this snake, which, as i have said, was of a dark brick-red colour all over; and i only saw one other of the same kind all the time i was in east africa. i came upon it suddenly one day when out shooting. it was evidently much startled, and stood erect, hissing venomously; but i also was so much taken aback at its appearance that i did not think about shooting it until it had glided off and disappeared in the thick undergrowth. chapter xv unsuccessful rhino hunts although the jungle round tsavo was a network of rhino paths i had never so far been successful in my efforts to obtain one of these animals, nor was my ambition yet to be realised. one day i was out exploring in the dense bush some six or seven miles away from camp, and found my progress more than usually slow, owing to the fact that i had to spend most of my time crawling on all-fours through the jungle. i was very pleased, therefore, to emerge suddenly on a broad and well-beaten track along which i could walk comfortably in an upright position. in this were some fresh rhino footprints which seemed barely an hour old, so i determined to follow them up. the roadway was beaten in places into a fine white dust by the passage of many heavy animals; and as i pushed cautiously forward i fully expected to come face to face with a rhino at every corner i turned. after having gone a little way i fancied that i really did see one lying at the foot of a tree some distance ahead of me, but on approaching cautiously found that it was nothing more than a great brown heap of loose earth which one of the huge beasts had raised by rolling about on the soft ground. this, however, was evidently a resting-place which was regularly used, so i made up my mind to spend a night in the overhanging branches of the tree. the next afternoon, accordingly, mahina and i made our way back to the place, and by dusk we were safely but uncomfortably perched among the branches directly over the path. we had scarcely been there an hour when to our delight we heard a great rhino plodding along the track in our direction. unfortunately the moon had not yet risen, so i was unable to catch sight of the monster as he approached; i knew, however, that there was light enough for me to see him when he emerged from the bushes into the little clearing round the foot of our tree. nearer and nearer we heard him coming steadily on, and i had my rifle ready, pointing it in the direction in which i expected his head to appear. but, alas, just at that moment the wind veered round and blew straight from us towards the rhino, who scented us immediately, gave a mighty snort and then dived madly away through the jungle. for some considerable time we could hear him crashing ponderously through everything that came in his way, and he must have gone a long distance before he recovered from his fright and slowed down to his usual pace. at any rate we neither heard nor saw anything more of him, and spent a wakeful and uncomfortable night for nothing. my next attempt to bag a rhino took place some months later, on the banks of the sabaki, and was scarcely more successful. i had come down from tsavo in the afternoon, accompanied by mahina, and finding a likely tree, within a few yards of the river and with fresh footprints under it, i at once decided to take up my position for the night in its branches. mahina preferred to sit where he could take a comfortable nap, and wedged himself in a fork of the tree some little way below me, but still some eight or ten feet from the ground. it was a calm and perfect night, such as can be seen only in the tropics; everything looked mysteriously beautiful in the glorious moonlight, and stood out like a picture looked at through a stereoscope. from my perch among the branches i watched first a water-buck come to drink in the river; then a bush-buck; later, a tiny paa emerged from the bushes and paused at every step with one graceful forefoot poised in the air--thoroughly on the alert and looking round carefully and nervously for any trace of a possible enemy. at length it reached the brink of the river in safety, and stooped to drink. just then i saw a jackal come up on its trail and begin carefully to stalk it, not even rustling a fallen leaf in its stealthy advance on the poor little antelope. all of a sudden, however, the jackal stopped dead for a second, and then made off out of sight as fast as ever he could go. i looked round to discover the cause of this hurried exit, and to my surprise saw a large and very beautiful leopard crouching down and moving noiselessly in the direction of our tree. at first i thought it must be stalking some animal on the ground below us, but i soon realised that it was mahina that the brute was intent on. whether, if left to himself, the leopard would actually have made a spring at my sleeping gun-bearer, i do not know; but i had no intention of letting him have a chance of even attempting this, so i cautiously raised my rifle and levelled it at him. absolutely noiseless as i was in doing this, he noticed it--possibly a glint of moonlight on the barrel caught his eye--and immediately disappeared into the bush before i could get in a shot. i at once woke mahina and made him come up to more secure quarters beside me. for a long time after this nothing disturbed our peace, but at last the quarry i had hoped for made his appearance on the scene. just below us there was an opening in the elephant grass which lined the river's edge, and through this the broad stream shone like silver in the moonlight. without warning this gap was suddenly filled by a huge black mass--a rhino making his way, very leisurely, out of the shallow water. on he came with a slow, ponderous tread, combining a certain stateliness with his awkward strides. almost directly beneath us he halted and stood for an instant clearly exposed to our view. this was my opportunity; i took careful aim at his shoulder and fired. instantly, and with extraordinary rapidity, the huge beast whirled round like a peg-top, whereupon i fired again. this time i expected him to fall; but instead of that i had the mortification of seeing him rush off into the jungle and of hearing him crash through it like a great steam-roller for several minutes. i consoled myself by thinking that he could not go far, as he was hard hit, and that i should easily find him when daylight arrived. mahina, who was in a wild state of excitement over the burra janwar (great animal), was also of this opinion, and as there was no longer any reason for silence, he chatted to me about many strange and curious things until the grey dawn appeared. when we got down from our perch, we found the track of the wounded rhino clearly marked by great splashes of blood, and for a couple of miles the spoor could thus be easily followed. at length, however, it got fainter and fainter, and finally ceased altogether, so that we had to abandon the search; the ground round about was rocky, and there was no possibility of telling which way our quarry had gone. i was exceedingly sorry for this, as i did not like to leave him wounded; but there was no help for it, so we struck out for home and arrived at tsavo in the afternoon very tired, hungry and disappointed. rhinos are extraordinary animals, and not in any way to be depended upon. one day they will sheer off on meeting a human being and make no attempt to attack; the next day, for no apparent reason, they may execute a most determined charge. i was told for a fact by an official who had been long in the country that on one occasion while a gang of twenty-one slaves, chained neck to neck as was the custom, was being smuggled down to the coast and was proceeding in indian file along a narrow path, a rhinoceros suddenly charged out at right angles to them, impaled the centre man on its horns and broke the necks of the remainder of the party by the suddenness of his rush. these huge beasts have a very keen sense of smell, but equally indifferent eyesight, and it is said that if a hunter will only stand perfectly still on meeting a rhino, it will pass him by without attempting to molest him. i feel bound to add, however, that i have so far failed to come across anybody who has actually tried the experiment. on the other hand, i have met one or two men who have been tossed on the horns of these animals, and they described it as a very painful proceeding. it generally means being a cripple for life, if one even succeeds in escaping death. mr. b. eastwood, the chief accountant of the uganda railway, once gave me a graphic description of his marvellous escape from an infuriated rhino. he was on leave at the time on a hunting expedition in the neighbourhood of lake baringo, about eighty miles north of the railway from nakuru, and had shot and apparently killed a rhino. on walking up to it, however, the brute rose to its feet and literally fell on him, breaking four ribs and his right arm. not content with this, it then stuck its horn through his thigh and tossed him over its back, repeating this operation once or twice. finally, it lumbered off, leaving poor eastwood helpless and fainting in the long grass where he had fallen. he was alone at the time, and it was not for some hours that he was found by his porters, who were only attracted to the spot by the numbers of vultures hovering about, waiting in their ghoulish manner for life to be extinct before beginning their meal. how he managed to live for the eight days after this which elapsed before a doctor could be got to him i cannot imagine; but in the end he fortunately made a good recovery, the only sign of his terrible experience being the absence of his right arm, which had to be amputated. chapter xvi a widow's story very shortly before i left tsavo i went (on march 11, 1899) on inspection duty to voi, which, as i have already mentioned, is about thirty miles on the mombasa side of tsavo. at this time it was a miserable, swampy spot, where fever, guinea-worm, and all kinds of horrible diseases were rampant; but this state of affairs has now been completely altered by drainage and by clearing away the jungle. dr. rose was in medical charge of the place at the time of my visit, and as it was the good old custom to put up with any friend one came across towards nightfall, i made him my host when my day's work was over. we spent a very pleasant evening together, and naturally discussed all the local news. amongst other things we chatted about the new road which was being constructed from voi to a rather important missionary station called taveta, near mount kilima n'jaro, and dr. rose mentioned that mr. o'hara (the engineer in charge of the road-making), with his wife and children, was encamped in the wa taita country, about twelve miles away from voi. early next morning i went out for a stroll with my shot-gun, but had not gone far from the doctor's tent when i saw in the distance four swahili carrying something which looked like a stretcher along the newly-made road. fearing that some accident had happened, i went quickly to meet them and called out to ask what they were carrying. they shouted back "bwana" ("the master"); and when i asked what bwana, they replied "bwana o'hara." on enquiring what exactly had happened, they told me that during the night their master had been killed by a lion, and that his wife and children were following behind, along the road. at this i directed the men to the hospital and told them where to find dr. rose, and without waiting to hear any further particulars hurried on as fast as possible to give what assistance i could to poor mrs. o'hara. some considerable way back i met her toiling along with an infant in her arms, while a little child held on to her skirt, utterly tired out with the long walk. i helped her to finish the distance to the doctor's tent; she was so unstrung by her terrible night's experience and so exhausted by her trying march carrying the baby that she was scarcely able to speak. dr. rose at once did all he could both for her and for the children, the mother being given a sleeping draught and made comfortable in one of the tents. when she appeared again late in the afternoon she was much refreshed, and was able to tell us the following dreadful story, which i shall give as nearly as possible in her own words. "we were all asleep in the tent, my husband and i in one bed and my two children in another. the baby was feverish and restless, so i got up to give her something to drink; and as i was doing so, i heard what i thought was a lion walking round the tent. i at once woke my husband and told him i felt sure there was a lion about. he jumped up and went out, taking his gun with him. he looked round the outside of the tent, and spoke to the swahili askari who was on sentry by the camp fire a little distance off. the askari said he had seen nothing about except a donkey, so my husband came in again, telling me not to worry as it was only a donkey that i had heard. "the night being very hot, my husband threw back the tent door and lay down again beside me. after a while i dozed off, but was suddenly roused by a feeling as if the pillow were being pulled away from under my head. on looking round i found that my husband was gone. i jumped up and called him loudly, but got no answer. just then i heard a noise among the boxes outside the door, so i rushed out and saw my poor husband lying between the boxes. i ran up to him and tried to lift him, but found i could not do so. i then called to the askari to come and help me, but he refused, saying that there was a lion standing beside me. i looked up and saw the huge beast glowering at me, not more than two yards away. at this moment the askari fired his rifle, and this fortunately frightened the lion, for it at once jumped off into the bush. "all four askaris then came forward and lifted my husband back on to the bed. he was quite dead. we had hardly got back into the tent before the lion returned and prowled about in front of the door, showing every intention of springing in to recover his prey. the askaris fired at him, but did no damage beyond frightening him away again for a moment or two. he soon came back and continued to walk round the tent until daylight, growling and purring, and it was only by firing through the tent every now and then that we kept him out. at daybreak he disappeared and i had my husband's body carried here, while i followed with the children until i met you." such was mrs. o'hara's pitiful story. the only comfort we could give her was to assure her that her husband had died instantly and without pain; for while she had been resting dr. rose had made a post-mortem examination of the body and had come to this conclusion. he found that o'hara had evidently been lying on his back at the time, and that the lion, seizing his head in its mouth, had closed its long tusks through his temples until they met again in the brain. we buried him before nightfall in a peaceful spot close by, the doctor reading the funeral service, while i assisted in lowering the rude coffin into the grave. it was the saddest scene imaginable. the weeping widow, the wondering faces of the children, the gathering gloom of the closing evening, the dusky forms of a few natives who had gathered round--all combined to make a most striking and solemn ending to a very terrible tragedy of real life. i am glad to say that within a few weeks' time the lion that was responsible for this tragedy was killed by a poisoned arrow, shot from a tree top by one of the wa taita. chapter xvii an infuriated rhino my work at tsavo was finished in march, 1899, when i received instructions to proceed to railhead and take charge of a section of the work there. for many reasons i was sorry to say good-bye to tsavo, where i had spent an eventful year; but all the same i was very glad to be given this new post, as i knew that there would be a great deal of interesting work to be done and a constant change of camp and scene, as the line progressed onward to the interior. in good spirits, therefore, i set out for my new headquarters on march 28. by this time railhead had reached a place called machakos road, some two hundred and seventy-six miles from mombasa and within a few miles of the great athi plains, the latter being treeless and waterless expanses, bare of everything except grass, which the great herds of game keep closely cropped. after leaving tsavo, the character of the country remains unaltered for some considerable distance, the line continuing to run through the thorny nyika, and it is not until makindu is reached--about two hundred miles from the coast--that a change is apparent. from this place, however, the journey lies through a fairly open and interesting tract of country, where game of all kinds abounds and can be seen grazing peacefully within a few hundred yards of the railway. on the way i was lucky enough to get some fine views of kilima n'jaro, the whole mountain from base to summit standing out clearly and grandly, with the lofty peak of kibo topping the fleecy clouds with its snowy head. at machakos road i found the country and the climate very different from that to which i had grown accustomed at tsavo. here i could see for miles across stretches of beautiful, open downs, timbered here and there like an english park; and it was a great relief to be able to overlook a wide tract of country and to feel that i was no longer hemmed in on all sides by the interminable and depressing thorny wilderness. as machakos road is some four thousand feet higher above the sea level than tsavo, the difference in temperature was also very marked, and the air felt fresh and cool compared with that of the sun-baked valley in which i had spent the previous year. my instructions were to hurry on the construction of the line as fast as possible to nairobi, the proposed headquarters of the railway administration, which lay about fifty miles further on across the athi plains; and i soon began to find platelaying most interesting work. everything has to move as if by clockwork. first the earth surface has to be prepared and rendered perfectly smooth and level; cuttings have to be made and hollows banked up; tunnels have to be bored through hills and bridges thrown across rivers. then a line of coolies moves along, placing sleepers at regular intervals; another gang drops the rails in their places; yet another brings along the keys, fishplates, bolts and nuts while following these are the men who actually fix the rails on the sleepers and link up from one to another. finally, the packing gang finishes the work by filling in earth and ballast under and around the steel sleepers to give them the necessary grip and rigidity. some days we were able to lay only a few yards, while on other days we might do over a mile; all depended on the nature of the country we had to cover. on one occasion we succeeded in breaking the record for a day's platelaying, and were gratified at receiving a telegram of congratulation from the railway committee at the foreign office. i made it my custom to take a walk each morning for some distance ahead of rails along the centre-line of the railway, in order to spy out the land and to form a rough estimate of the material that would be required in the way of sleepers, girders for temporary bridges, etc. it was necessary to do this in order to avoid undue delay taking place owing to shortage of material of any kind. about ten days after my arrival at machakos road i walked in this way for five or six miles ahead of the last-laid rail. it was rather unusual for me to go so far, and, as it happened, i was alone on this occasion, mahina having been left behind in camp. about two miles away on my left, i noticed a dark-looking object and thinking it was an ostrich i started off towards it. very soon, however, i found that it was bigger game than an ostrich, and on getting still nearer made out the form of a great rhinoceros lying down. i continued to advance very cautiously, wriggling through the short grass until at length i got within fifty yards of where the huge beast was resting. here i lay and watched him; but after some little time he evidently suspected my presence, for rising to his feet, he looked straight in my direction and then proceeded to walk round me in a half-circle. the moment he got wind of me, he whipped round in his tracks like a cat and came for me in a bee-line. hoping to turn him, i fired instantly; but unfortunately my soft-nosed bullets merely annoyed him further, and had not the slightest effect on his thick hide. on seeing this, i flung myself down quite flat on the grass and threw my helmet some ten feet away in the hope that he would perceive it and vent his rage on it instead of me. on he thundered, while i scarcely dared to breathe. i could hear him snorting and rooting up the grass quite close to me, but luckily for me he did not catch sight of me and charged by a few yards to my left. as soon as he had passed me, my courage began to revive again, and i could not resist the temptation of sending a couple of bullets after him. these, however, simply cracked against his hide and splintered to pieces on it, sending the dry mud off in little clouds of dust. their only real effect, indeed, was to make him still more angry. he stood stock-still for a moment, and then gored the ground most viciously and started off once more on the semi-circle round me. this proceeding terrified me more than ever, as i felt sure that he would come up-wind at me again, and i could scarcely hope to escape a second time. unfortunately, my surmise proved correct, for directly he scented me, up went his nose in the air and down he charged like a battering-ram. i fairly pressed myself into the ground, as flat as ever i could, and luckily the grass was a few inches high. i felt the thud of his great feet pounding along, yet dared not move or look up lest he should see me. my heart was thumping like a steam hammer, and every moment i fully expected to find myself tossed into the air. nearer and nearer came the heavy thudding and i had quite given myself up for lost, when from my lying position i caught sight, out of the corner of my eye, of the infuriated beast rushing by. he had missed me again! i never felt so relieved in my life, and assuredly did not attempt to annoy him further. he went off for good this time, and it was with great satisfaction that i watched him gradually disappear in the distance. i could not have believed it possible that these huge, ungainly-looking brutes could move so rapidly, and turn and twist in their tracks just like monkeys, had i not actually seen this one do so before my eyes. if he had found me he would certainly have pounded me to atoms, as he was an old bull and in a most furious and vicious mood. one day when dr. brock and i were out shooting, shortly after this incident and not far from where it occurred, we caught sight of two rhinos in a hollow some little distance from us, and commenced to stalk them, taking advantage of every fold of the ground in doing so and keeping about fifty yards apart in case of a charge. in that event one or other of us would be able to get in a broadside shot, which would probably roll the beast over. proceeding carefully in this manner, we managed to get within about sixty yards of them, and as it was my turn for a shot, i took aim at the larger of the two, just as it was moving its great head from one side to the other, wondering which of us it ought to attack. when at last it decided upon brock, it gave me the chance i had been waiting for. i fired instantly at the hollow between neck and shoulder; the brute dropped at once, and save for one or two convulsive kicks of its stumpy legs as it lay half on its back, it never moved again. the second rhino proved to be a well-grown youngster which showed considerable fight as we attempted to approach its fallen comrade. we did not want to kill it, and accordingly spent about two hours in shouting and throwing stones at it before at last we succeeded in driving it away. we then proceeded to skin our prize; this, as may be imagined, proved rather a tough job, but we managed it in the end, and the trophy was well worth the pains i had taken to add it to my collection. chapter xviii lions on the athi plains shortly after i took charge at railhead we entered the kapiti plain, which gradually merges into the athi plain, and, indeed, is hardly to be distinguished from the latter in the appearance or general character of the country. together they form a great tract of rolling downs covered with grass, and intersected here and there by dry ravines, along the baked banks of which a few stunted trees--the only ones to be seen--struggle to keep themselves alive. in all this expanse there is absolutely no water in the dry season, except in the athi river (some forty miles away) and in a few water-holes known only to the wild animals. the great feature of the undulating plains, however, and the one which gives them a never-failing interest, is the great abundance of game of almost every conceivable kind. here i myself have seen lion, rhinoceros, leopard, eland, giraffe, zebra, wildebeeste, hartebeeste, waterbuck, wart-hog, granti, thomsoni, impala, besides ostriches, greater and lesser bustard, marabout, and a host of other animals and birds too numerous to name; while along the athi and close to its banks may be found large numbers of hippo and crocodiles. at the time i was there, these great plains also formed the principal grazing ground for the immense herds of cattle owned by the masai. i am very glad to say that the whole of this country on the south side of the railway as far as the boundary of german east africa, from the tsavo river on the east to the kedong valley on the west, is now a strictly protected game reserve; and so long, as this huge expanse is thus maintained as a sanctuary, there can be no danger of any of these species becoming extinct. while crossing this dry expanse, the greatest difficulty i had to contend with was the provision of sufficient water for the three thousand workmen employed about railhead, for not a drop could be obtained on the way, nor could we hope for any until we had got to the other side of the plain and had reached the athi river, which could not be accomplished under a couple of months. as we progressed onwards into the waterless belt, this became a very serious matter indeed, as any breakdown in the supply would have had the most disastrous consequences among so large a body of men working all day under the blazing sun of a tropical climate. every day two trainloads of water in great tanks were brought up from the last stream we had passed, which, of course, daily fell further to the rear. this was a source of considerable delay, for the line was blocked all the time the water was being pumped into the tanks, and consequently no material for construction could come through; and a good deal of time was also wasted, when the trains returned to railhead, in distributing the water to the workmen, who often quarrelled and fought in their eagerness to get at it. at first i had most of the tank-filling done by night, but on one occasion a lion came unpleasantly close to the men working the pump, and so night work had to be abandoned. the coolies themselves were so anxious, indeed, to get a plentiful supply of water, that once or twice some of the more daring spirits among them ventured to go out on to the plains in search of waterholes, which, by reason of the large herds of game, we knew must exist somewhere. the only result of these expeditions, however, was that three of these men never returned; what befell them is not known to this day. when we had proceeded some distance across this dry land, and when i was experiencing to the full the disadvantage and delay caused by my tank trains, a native from some remote corner of the plains--with nothing by way of dress but a small piece of cowhide thrown over his left shoulder--came to my tent door one day and squatted down on his heels in the native fashion. on being asked his business, "i have heard," he replied, "that the great master wants water; i can show it to him." this was good news, if it could be relied upon; so i questioned him closely, and ascertained that some time previously--exactly how long ago i could not gather--he had been in the locality on a raiding expedition and had succeeded in finding water. i asked if the place was far away, and got the reply in swahili "m'bali kidogo" ("a little distance"). now, i had had experience of m'bali kidogo before; it is like the irishman's "mile and a bit." so i decided to start very early next morning on a search for this pond--for such my informant described it to be. in the meantime the poor fellow, who appeared starving--there was a sore famine among the natives of the district at the time--was given food and drink, and made a ravenous meal. in the evening i had a long talk with him in broken swahili round the camp fire, and obtained some insight into many of the strange and barbarous customs of the masai, to which interesting tribe he belonged. in the morning i started off betimes, taking my .303 rifle and being accompanied by mahina with the 12-bore shot-gun, and by another indian carrying the necessary food and water. our masai guide, whose name we found to be lungow, seemed to be quite certain of his way, and led us across the rolling plains more or less in the direction in which the railway was to run, but some miles to the right of its centre-line. the march was full of interest, for on the way we passed within easy range of herds of wildebeeste, hartebeeste, gazelle, and zebra. i was out strictly on business, however, and did not attempt a shot, reserving that pleasure for the homeward trip. late in the forenoon we arrived at lungow's pond--a circular dip about eighty yards in diameter, which without doubt had contained water very recently, but which, as i expected to find, was now quite dry. a considerable number of bones lay scattered round it, whether of "kills" or of animals which had died of thirst i could not say. our guide appeared very much upset when he found the pond empty, and gave vent to many exclamations in his peculiar language, in which the letter "r" rolled like a kettledrum. our search for water having thus proved a failure, i determined to try my luck with the game. the masai and the indian were sent back to camp, while mahina and i made a big detour from the dried-up water-hole. game abounded in all directions, but the animals were much more shy than they had been in the morning, and it was in vain that i stalked--if it can be called "stalking," when as a matter of fact one has to move in the open--splendid specimens of thomson's and grant's gazelle. i might have attempted a shot once or twice, but the probability was that owing to the long range it would have resulted only in a wound, and i think there is nothing so painful as to see an animal limping about in a crippled condition. in this fruitless manner we covered several miles, and i was beginning to think that we should have to return to camp without so much as firing a shot. just then, however, i saw a herd of wildebeeste, and with much care managed to get within three hundred yards of them. i singled out the biggest head and waiting for a favourable moment, fired at him, dropping him at once. i ran up to the fallen beast, which appeared to be dying, and told mahina to drive the hunting knife right through his heart so as to put him quickly out of all pain. as mahina was not doing this as skilfully or as quickly as i thought it might be done, and seemed unable to pierce the tough hide, i handed him my rifle and took the knife in order to do it myself. just as i raised the knife to strike, i was startled by the wildebeeste suddenly jumping to his feet. for a moment he stood looking at me in a dazed and tottery kind of way, and then to my amazement he turned and made off. at first he moved with such a shaky and uncertain gait that i felt confident that he could only go a few yards before dropping; so, as i did not wish to disturb the other game around us by firing a second shot, i thought it best just to wait. to my utter astonishment, however, after he had staggered for about sixty yards he seemed to revive suddenly, broke into his ordinary gallop and quickly rejoined the herd. from that time i lost all trace of him, though i followed up for four or five miles. the wildebeeste, in fact, is like kipling's fuzzy-wuzzy--"'e's generally shammin' when 'e's dead"; and my friend rawson about this time had an experience very similar to mine, but attended with more serious results. he had knocked his wildebeeste over in much the same way, and thought it was dead; and as he was very keen on obtaining photographs of game, he took his stand-camera from the indian who carried it and proceeded to focus it on the animal's head. when he was just about to take the picture, he was thunderstruck to see the wildebeeste jump up and come charging down upon him. he sprang quickly aside, and in an instant up went the camera into the air, followed the next moment by the unfortunate indian, the wildebeeste having stuck its horn right through the man's thigh and tossed him over its back. fortunately the brute fell dead after this final effort, leaving rawson grateful for his escape. after abandoning the chase of my wildebeeste, we had not gone far on our way towards the home camp when i thought i observed something of a reddish colour moving in a patch of long grass, a good distance to our left front. i asked mahina if he could make out what it was, but he was unable to do so, and before i could get my field-glasses to bear, the animal, whatever it was, had disappeared into the grass. i kept my eye on the spot, however, and we gradually approached it. when we were about a hundred yards off, the reddish object again appeared; and i saw that it was nothing less than the shaggy head of a lion peeping over the long grass. this time mahina also saw what it was, and called out, "dekko, sahib, sher!" ("look, master, a lion!"). i whispered to him to be quiet and to take no notice of him, while i tried my best to follow my own advice. so we kept on, edging up towards the beast, but apparently oblivious of his presence, as he lay there grimly watching us. as we drew nearer, i asked mahina in a whisper if he felt equal to facing a charge from the sher if i should wound him. he answered simply that where i went, there would he go also; and right well he kept his word. i watched the lion carefully out of the corner of my eye as we closed in. every now and then he would disappear from view for a moment; and it was a fascinating sight to see how he slowly raised his massive head above the top of the grass again and gazed calmly and steadily at us as we neared him. unfortunately i could not distinguish the outline of his body, hidden as it was in the grassy thicket. i therefore circled cautiously round in order to see if the cover was sufficiently thin at the back to make a shoulder shot possible; but as we moved, the lion also twisted round and so always kept his head full on us. when i had described a half-circle, i found that the grass was no thinner and that my chances of a shot had not improved. we were now within seventy yards of the lion, who appeared to take the greater interest in us the closer we approached. he had lost the sleepy look with which he had at first regarded us, and was now fully on the alert; but still he did not give me the impression that he meant to charge, and no doubt if we had not provoked him, he would have allowed us to depart in peace. i, however, was bent on war, in spite of the risk which one must always run by attacking a lion at such close quarters on an open plain as flat as the palm of the hand; so in a standing position i took careful aim at his head, and fired. the distance was, as i have said, a bare seventy yards; yet i must confess to a disgraceful miss. more astonishing still, the beast made not the slightest movement--did not even blink an eye, so far as i could see--but continued his steadfast, questioning gaze. again i took aim, this time for a spot below the tip of his nose, and again i fired--with more success, the lion turning a complete somersault over his tail. i thought he was done for, but he instantly sprang to his feet again, and to my horror and astonishment was joined by a lioness whose presence we had never even thought of or suspected. worse was still to follow, for to our dismay both made a most determined charge on us, bounding along at a great pace and roaring angrily as they came. poor mahina cried out, "sahib, do sher ata hai!" ("master, two lions are coming!"), but i told him to stand stock-still and for his life not to make the slightest movement. in the twinkling of an eye the two beasts had covered about forty yards of the distance towards us. as they did not show the least sign of stopping, i thought we had given the experiment of remaining absolutely motionless a fair trial, and was just about to raise the rifle to my shoulder as a last resort, when suddenly the wounded lion stopped, staggered, and fell to the ground. the lioness took a couple of bounds nearer to us, and then to my unmeasured relief turned to look round for her mate, who had by this time managed to get to his feet again. there they both stood, growling viciously and lashing their tails, for what appeared to me to be a succession of ages. the lioness then made up her mind to go back to the lion, and they both stood broadside on, with their heads close together and turned towards us, snarling in a most aggressive manner. had either of us moved hand or foot just then, it would, i am convinced, have at once brought on another and probably a fatal charge. as the two great brutes stood in this position looking at us, i had, of course, a grand opportunity of dropping both, but i confess i did not feel equal to it at the moment. i could only devoutly hope that they would not renew their attack, and was only too thankful to let them depart in peace if they would, without any further hostility on my part. just at this juncture the lion seemed to grow suddenly very weak. he staggered some ten yards back towards his lair, and then fell to the ground; the lioness followed, and lay down beside him--both still watching us, and growling savagely. after a few seconds the lion struggled to his feet again and retreated a little further, the lioness accompanying him until he fell once more. a third time the same thing took place, and at last i began to breathe more freely, as they had now reached the thicket from which they had originally emerged. accordingly i took a shot at the lioness as she lay beside her mate, partly concealed in the long grass. i do not think i hit her, but anyhow she at once made off and bounded away at a great rate on emerging into the open. i sent a few bullets after her to speed her on her way, and then cautiously approached the wounded lion. he was stretched out at full length on his side, with his back towards me, but i could see by the heaving of his flanks that he was not yet dead, so i put a bullet through his spine. he never moved after this; but for safety's sake, i made no attempt to go up to him for a few minutes, and then only after mahina had planted a few stones on his body just to make sure that he was really dead. we both felt very pleased with ourselves as we stood over him and looked at his fine head, great paws, and long, clean, sharp tusks. he was a young, but full-grown lion in fine condition, and measured nine feet eight and a half inches from tip of nose to tip of tail. my last shot had entered the spine close to the shoulder, and had lodged in the body; the first shot was a miss; as i have already said; but the second had caught him on the forehead, right between the eyes. the bullet, however, instead of traversing the brain, had been turned downwards by the frontal bone, through which it crashed, finally lodging in the root of the tongue, the lead showing on both sides. i cut out the tongue and hung it up to dry, intending to keep it as a trophy; but unfortunately a vulture swooped down when my back was turned, and carried it off. from the time i knocked the lion over until he first staggered and fell not more than a minute could have elapsed--quite long enough, however, to have enabled him to cover the distance and to have seized one or other of us. unquestionably we owed our lives to the fact that we both remained absolutely motionless; and i cannot speak too highly of mahina for the splendid way in which he stood the charge. had he acted as did another gun-boy i know of, the affair might not have had so happy an ending. this gun-boy went out with captain g---in this very neighbourhood, and not long after our adventure. g---came across a lion just as we did, and wounded it. it charged down on them, but instead of remaining absolutely still, the terrified gun-boy fled, with the result that the lion came furiously on, and poor g---met with a terrible death. while mahina was scouring the neighbourhood in search of some natives to carry the skin back to camp, i took a good look round the place and found the half-eaten body of a zebra, which i noticed had been killed out in the open and then dragged into the long grass. the tracks told me, also, that all the work had been done by the lion, and this set me thinking of the lioness. i accordingly swept the plain with my glasses in the direction in which she had bounded off, and after some searching i discovered her about a mile away, apparently lying down in the midst of a herd of hartebeeste, who grazed away without taking any notice of her. i felt much inclined to follow her up, but i was afraid that if i did so the vultures that were already hovering around would settle on my lion and spoil the skin, for the destruction of which these ravenous birds are capable, even in the space of only a few minutes, is almost beyond belief. i accordingly returned to the dead beast and sat down astride of him. i had read that a frontal shot at a lion was a very risky one, and on carefully examining the head it was easy to see the reason; for owing to the sharp backward slope of the forehead it is almost impossible for a bullet fired in this manner to reach the brain. as there were lots of lions about in this district and as i wanted to bag some more, i set myself to think out a plan whereby the risk of a frontal shot might be got rid of. about a fortnight afterwards i had an opportunity of putting my scheme into practice, happily with most excellent results; this, however, is another story, which will be told later on. i next commenced to skin my trophy and found it a very tough job to perform by myself. he proved to be a very fat beast, so i knew that mahina would make a few honest and well-earned rupees out of him, for indians will give almost anything for lion fat, believing that it is an infallible cure for rheumatism and various other diseases. when at length the skinning process was completed, i waited impatiently for the return of mahina, who had by this time been gone much longer than i expected. it is rather a nerve shattering thing--i am speaking for myself--to remain absolutely alone for hours on a vast open plain beside the carcase of a dead lion, with vultures incessantly wheeling about above one, and with nothing to be seen or heard for miles around except wild animals. it was a great relief, therefore, when after a long wait i saw mahina approaching with half-a-dozen practically naked natives in his train. it turned out that he had lost his way back to me, so that it was lucky he found me at all. we lost no time in getting back to camp, arriving there just at sundown, when my first business was to rub wood ashes into the skin and then stretch it on a portable frame which i had made a few days previously. the camp fire was a big one that night, and the graphic and highly coloured description which mahina gave to the eager circle of listeners of the way in which we slew the lion would have made even "bahram, that great hunter," anxious for his fame. chapter xix the stricken caravan not long after this adventure the permanent way reached the boundary of the kapiti plains, where a station had to be built and where accordingly we took up our headquarters for a week or two. a few days after we had settled down in our new camp, a great caravan of some four thousand men arrived from the interior with luggage and loads of food for a sikh regiment which was on its way down to the coast, after having been engaged in suppressing the mutiny of the sudanese in uganda. the majority of these porters were basoga, but there were also fair numbers of baganda (i.e. people of uganda) and of the natives of unyoro, and various other tribes. of course none of these wild men of central africa had either seen or heard of a railway in all their lives, and they consequently displayed the liveliest curiosity in regard to it, crowding round one of the engines which happened to be standing at the station, and hazarding the wildest guesses as to its origin and use in a babel of curious native languages. i thought i would provide a little entertainment for them, so i stepped on to the footplate and blew off the steam, at the same time sounding the whistle. the effect was simply magical. the whole crowd first threw themselves flat on the ground howling with fear, and then--with heads well down and arms well spread out--they fled wildly in all directions; nor did the stampede cease until i shut off steam and stopped the whistle. then, their curiosity gradually overpowering them, very cautiously they began to return, approaching the locomotive stealthily as though it were some living monster of the jungle. eventually, two of their chiefs summoned up courage enough to climb on to the engine, and afterwards thoroughly enjoyed a short run which i had to make down the line in order to bring up some construction material. just after this caravan had moved on we were subjected to some torrential rain-storms, which transformed the whole plain into a quaking bog and stopped all railway work for the time being. indeed, the effect of a heavy downpour of rain in this sun-baked district is extraordinary. the ground, which is of a black sub-soil, becomes a mass of thick mud in no time, and on attempting to do any walking one slides and slips about in the slush in a most uncomfortable manner. innocent-looking dongas, where half an hour previously not one drop of water was to be seen, become roaring torrents from bank to bank in an incredibly short time; while for many hours or even a few days the rivers become absolutely impassable in this land of no bridges. on this account it is the custom of the wise traveller in these parts always to cross a river before camping, for otherwise a flood may come down and detain him and his caravan on the wrong side of the stream for perhaps a week. of course when the rain ceases, the floods as quickly subside, the rivers and dongas dry up, and the country once more resumes its normal sun-cracked appearance. on leaving my tent one morning when work was at a standstill owing to the rain, i noticed a great herd of zebra about a couple of miles away on the north side of the railway. now, it had long been my ambition to capture one of these animals alive; so i said to myself, "here is my chance!" the men could do nothing owing to the rain, and the ground was very boggy, so i thought that if we could surround the herd judiciously and chase the zebra up and down from point to point through the heavy ground, some of them would soon get exhausted and we should then be able to catch them. i selected for the hunt a dozen fleet-footed indians who were employed on the earth works, and who at once entered with great zest into the spirit of the scheme. after having partially surrounded the herd, the half-circle of coolies began to advance with wild shouts, whereupon the zebras galloped madly about from side to side, and then did just what we wished them to do--made straight for an exceptionally boggy part of the ground, where they soon became more or less helpless. we singled out a few young ones and succeeded in running them to an absolute standstill, when we threw them down and sat on their heads until the other men came up with ropes. in this way we captured no less than six: they were very wild and fractious, giving us a great deal of trouble in getting them along, but eventually we managed to bring them in triumph to the camp, where they were firmly secured. the whole expedition lasted little more than a couple of hours. three of the captured zebras i kept for myself, while the other three were given to the surfacing engineer, whose men had assisted in the hunt. two of my three unfortunately died very shortly after; but the third, a sturdy two-year-old, flourished splendidly. at first he was exceedingly vicious, biting and kicking everyone who approached him; indeed, he once planted both his hind feet on my chest, but did me no serious damage beyond throwing me heavily to the ground. in time, however, he became very tame and domesticated, allowing himself to be led about by a rope and head collar, and would drink from a bucket and eat from my hand. he used to be left to graze picketed by a long rope to a stake in the ground; but one afternoon on returning to camp i found, much to my annoyance, that he had disappeared. on making enquiry, i learned from my servants that a herd of wild zebra had galloped close by, and that this had so excited him that he managed to tear the picketing peg out of the ground and so rejoin his brethren in freedom. some few days after our successful sortie against the zebra, the great caravan of basoga porters returned from the coast on their way back to their own country; but alas, with what a terrible difference in their appearance! all their gaiety and lightheartedness was gone, and the poor fellows were in a pitiable state. a frightful epidemic of dysentery had broken out amongst them, doubtless caused by their having eaten food to which they were entirely unaccustomed, their simple diet in their own homes consisting almost entirely of bananas, from which they also make a most refreshing and stimulating drink. the ranks of the caravan were terribly decimated, and dozens of men were left dead or dying along the roadside after each march. it was a case of the survival of the fittest, as of course it was quite impossible for the whole caravan to halt in the wilderness where neither food nor water was to be had. there was only one european with the party, and although he worked like a slave he could do very little among such a number, while the basoga themselves seemed quite indifferent to the sufferings of their comrades. thirteen poor wretches fell out to die close to my tent; they were in the most hopeless condition and far too weak to be able to do anything at all for themselves. as soon as i discovered them, i boiled a bucketful of water, added some tins of condensed milk and the greater part of a bottle of brandy to it, and fed them with the mixture. their feeble cries for some of this nourishment were heartrending; some could only whisper, "bwana, bwana" ("master, master"), and then open their mouths. one or two of them, indeed, could hardly do even this, and were so weak as to be unable to swallow the spoonful of milk which i put between their lips. in the end six proved to be beyond all help, and died that night; but the remaining seven i managed to nurse into complete recovery in about a fortnight's time. as our camp was moved on, they were brought along from place to place on the top of trucks, until finally they were well enough to resume their journey to usoga, very grateful indeed for the care which we had taken of them. the day after i first found these stricken natives i had arranged to ride on my pony for some miles in advance of the railway, in order to make arrangements for the building of a temporary bridge over the stony athi river--a tributary of the athi, and so-called on account of the enormous numbers of stones in its bed and along its banks. i ordered my tent to follow me later in the day, and left directions for the care of the sick basoga, as i knew i should be away all night. my road lay along the route taken by the home-returning caravan, and every hundred yards or so i passed the swollen corpse of some unfortunate porter who had fallen out and died by the wayside. before very long i came up with the rearguard of this straggling army, and here i was witness of as unfeeling an act of barbarism as can well be imagined. a poor wretch, utterly unable to go a step further, rolled himself up in his scarlet blanket and lay down by the roadside to die; whereupon one of his companions, coveting the highly-coloured and highly-prized article, turned back, seized one end of the blanket, and callously rolled the dying man out of it as one would unroll a bale of goods. this was too much for me, so i put spurs to my pony and galloped up to the scoundrel, making as if to thrash him with my kiboko, or whip made of rhinoceros hide. in a moment he put his hand on his knife and half drew it from its sheath, but on seeing me dismount and point my rifle at him, he desisted and tried to run away. i made it clear to him by signs, however, that i would fire if he did not at once go back and replace the blanket round his dying comrade. this he eventually did, though sullenly enough, and i then marched him in front of me to the main camp of the caravan, some little distance further on. here i handed him over to the officer in charge, who, i am glad to say, had him soundly thrashed for his brutality and theft. after performing this little act of retributive justice, i pushed on towards the stony athi. on the way--while still not far from the caravan camp--i spied a grant's gazelle in the distance, and by the aid of my glasses discovered that it was a fine-looking buck with a capital pair of horns. a few basoga from the caravan had followed me, doubtless in the hope of obtaining meat, of which they are inordinately fond; so, handing them my pony, i wriggled from tuft to tuft and crawled along in the folds of the ground until eventually i got near enough for a safe shot, which bowled the antelope over stone-dead. scarcely had he dropped when the basoga swooped down on him, ripped him open, and devoured huge chunks of the raw and still quivering flesh, lapping up the warm blood in the palms of their hands. in return for the meat which i gave them, two of them willingly agreed to go on with me and carry the head and haunch of the gazelle. when we had got very nearly to the place where i intended to camp for the night, a great wart-hog suddenly jumped up almost at my horse's feet, and as he had very fine and exceptionally long tusks, i dismounted at once and bagged him too. the basoga were delighted at this, and promptly cut off the head; but my own people, who arrived with my tent just at this juncture, and who were all good mohammedans, were thoroughly disgusted at the sight of this very hideous-looking pig. i camped for the night on the banks of the stony athi, close to where the railway was to cross, and made my notes of what was necessary for the temporary bridge. at the time the river was absolutely dry, but i knew that it might at any moment become a roaring torrent if rain should set in; it would therefore be necessary to span it with a forty-foot girder in order to prevent constant "washouts" during the rainy season. the next morning i started early on my return to railhead. on my way i had to pass the camp which the basoga caravan had just left, but the spectacle of about a dozen newly-made graves which the hyenas had already torn open caused me to put spurs to my horse and to gallop as fast as possible through the pestilential spot. when i had almost got back to railhead i happened to notice a huge serpent stretched out on the grass, warming himself, his skin of old gold and bright green sparkling brilliantly in the sunshine. he appeared to take little notice of me as i cautiously approached, and was probably drowsy and sated with a heavy meal. i shot him through the head as he lay, and the muscular contortions after death throughout his long body gave me a very vivid idea of the tremendous squeezing power possessed by these reptiles. skinning him was an easy process, but unfortunately his beautiful colouring soon disappeared, the old gold turning to white and the bright green to lustreless black. chapter xx a day on the athi river in spite of all our difficulties, rapid progress continued to be made with the line. each day railhead crept a mile or so further across the plains, and on april 24 we reached the stony athi river, where our great camp was pitched for a few days while the temporary bridge was being thrown across the dry bed of the stream. still another temporary bridge had to be arranged for the athi itself, which was some eight miles further on, so i had to make one or two expeditions to this river in order to select a suitable place for the crossing and to make various other arrangements. on one of these occasions i was busy attending to the pitching of my tent after arriving at the athi late in the evening, when on looking round i was very much surprised to see two european ladies sitting under the shade of some trees on the river bank. as i knew that this was anything but a safe place in which to rest, owing to the number of lions about, i went up to them to see if i could be of any assistance, and found that they were american missionaries journeying to their stations further inland. they were waiting for their camp equipment to arrive, but their porters had been considerably delayed by some very heavy rain, which of course made the roads bad and the tents about double their usual weight. the men of the party were expected every moment with the porters, but there was as yet no sign of the little caravan, and as a matter of fact it did not arrive until long after nightfall. in these circumstances it was perhaps a great blessing that i happened to be there; and as the ladies were both very tired and hungry, i was glad to be able to place my tent at their disposal and to offer them as good a dinner as it was possible to provide in the wilds. it is indeed wonderful what dangers and hardships these delicately nurtured ladies will face cheerfully in order to carry out their self-appointed mission. when they had left next morning to resume their journey, i started out and made a search up and down the river for the proper position for my temporary bridge. after a thorough examination of all the possible situations, i chose the most suitable and pitched my tent close to it for a night or two while i made the necessary calculations for carrying out the work. the crossing on which i had decided had to be approached by a somewhat sharp curve in the line, and in laying this out with the theodolite i experienced considerable difficulty, as for some reason or other i could not make the last peg on the curve come anywhere near the tangent point where the curve should link up with the straight. i repeated the whole operation time after time, but always with the same result. eventually i came to the conclusion that there must be some mistake in the table of angles from which i had been working, so i started to work them out for myself and soon discovered a serious misprint. this being rectified in my calculations, i proceeded to lay out the curve again, when at last everything came out accurately and to my satisfaction. after i had pegged out this temporary diversion of the line, i thought i richly deserved a few hours' play, and accordingly determined to try my luck after lions up-stream towards the source of the athi. the river--which runs almost due north here, before taking a turn eastward to the indian ocean--forms part of the western boundary of the athi plains, and is fringed all along its course by a belt of thorny hardwood trees. in some places this fringe is quite narrow, while in others it is about a quarter of a mile wide, with grassy glades here and there among the trees. every now and again, too, the stream itself widens out into a broad stretch of water, nearly always covered over with tall reeds and elephant grass, while along the banks are frequent patches of stunted bushes, which struck me as very likely places for the king of beasts to sleep in after having drunk at the river. i had noticed that after having eaten and drunk well, a lion would throw himself down quite without caution in the first shady spot he came to; of course nothing except man ever disturbs him, and even of man the lions in this part of the country had as yet no fear, for they had rarely if ever been hunted previous to my time. as i felt rather tired after my morning's work, i decided to use my pony on this expedition, although as a rule i went on foot. mahina and half-a-dozen natives to beat the belt of trees were to accompany me, and after a hasty lunch off we started up the left bank of the river. i walked for some distance at first, partly because the ground was very stony and partly because i thought a lion might suddenly bound out of some likely patches in front of the beaters; but after having gone about six miles in this way without adventure of any kind, i decided to mount again. at this time the beaters were in line about a hundred yards behind me, shouting and halloing with all their might as they advanced through the scrub and undergrowth, while i rode well to the flank so as to be ready for any emergency. just as the men got up to a rather thicker piece of jungle than usual, i fancied i saw a movement among the bushes and pulled up suddenly to watch the spot, but did not dismount. the next moment out bounded a lioness, who raced straight across the open strip into the next patch of jungle, quickly followed by another. throwing myself off my pony, i seized my rifle to get a shot at the second lioness as she galloped past, and was just about to pull the trigger, when to my utter amazement out sprang a huge black-maned lion, making all haste after his mates. before he could reach the further thicket, however, i fired, and had the satisfaction of hearing the deep growl that tells of a serious hit. the beaters and i now advanced with great care, taking advantage of every bit of cover and keeping a sharp look-out for the wounded animal as we crept from tree to tree. fully a quarter of an hour must have elapsed in this slow yet exciting search, before one of the men, some fifty or sixty yards to my left, and a little ahead of the line, called out that he could see the lion awaiting our approach, with his head just visible in a large bed of rushes only a short distance in front of where i then was. almost at the same moment i found blood marks left by the wounded animal, leading apparently to a kind of gap in the bank of the river, which had evidently been worn down by a rhino going to and fro to drink. i accordingly made for this with the greatest caution, ordering all the men, except mahina, to remain behind; and as noiselessly as possible i slipped from cover to cover in my endeavour to obtain a peep over the bank. i saw that it was no use to attempt to climb a tree, as the overspreading foliage would have prevented me from obtaining any view ahead; so i continued my slow advance with a fast-beating heart, not knowing where the huge brute was and expecting every moment that he would charge out at me over the bank from his reedy refuge. emboldened to a certain extent, however, by the fact that up till then i had heard no movement on the part of my enemy, i crept steadily forward and at last, from the shelter of a friendly tree behind the bole of which i hid myself, i was able to look over the bank. and there, not twenty yards from me, crouched the lion--luckily watching, not me, but the native who had first seen him and who had directed me to where he was. i raised my rifle very cautiously, without making the slightest sound, and steadying the barrel against the trunk of the tree and standing on tip-toe in order to get a better view, i fired plump at the side of his head. it was as if he had suddenly been hit with a sledgehammer, for he fell over instantly and lay like a log. on my calling out that the lion was done for, the beaters came running up shouting with joy; and although i warned them to be careful, as the two lionesses were probably still close at hand, they did not seem to care in the slightest and in a twinkling had the dead lion lifted from the reeds on to the dry bank. before i allowed anything further to be done, however, i had the patch of rushes thoroughly beaten out: but as no traces of the lionesses could be found, we commenced to skin my fine trophy. when this was about half done, i decided to let mahina finish the operation, while i went on ahead to try my luck either with more lions or with any other game that might come my way. i followed up the river almost to its source, but no more lions crossed my path. once indeed i felt convinced that i saw one, and gave chase to it with all my might as it rushed through the long grass: but a nearer view showed me nothing more than a huge wart-hog. as i wanted the tusks, which i noticed were very fine ones, i fired but only badly hipped him: so i ran up as fast as i could and at ten yards fired again. this time i missed him entirely, and was puzzled to account for my failure until i looked at my back sight and found that by some accident it had got raised and that i had the 200-yards sight up. on rectifying this, another shot quickly put the wounded animal out of pain. still my day's sport was not yet over. while rambling back through the trees i caught sight of a graceful-looking antelope in the distance, and on cautiously approaching closer saw that it was an impala. my stalk was crowned with success, the beautiful animal being bagged without much trouble; and on reaching my prize i was delighted to find that its horns were much above the average. on another occasion i was fortunate enough to get a successful snapshot of an impala just after it had been shot by a friend, and the photograph gives a very good idea of what mine was like. as it was now growing late, i made all haste back to where i had left mahina skinning the lion, but to my astonishment he was nowhere to be seen. i fired several shots and shouted myself hoarse, all without response; and the only conclusion i could come to was that he had returned to the camp at the temporary bridge. i accordingly pushed on, reaching home long after dark; and there i found mahina safe and sound, with the lion's skin already pegged out to dry, so that i could not find it in my heart to give him the severe scolding he deserved for having returned without me. next morning i packed up my trophies and returned to my work at railhead. on my way back i happened to meet one of the other engineers, who called out, "hallo! i hear you have got a fine line." my thoughts being full of my adventures of the day before, i answered: "yes, i did; but how on earth did you hear of it?" "oh!" he said, "reynolds told me." "good heavens," i replied, "why, he left before i shot it." "shot?" he exclaimed, "whatever do you mean?" "didn't you say," i asked, "that you heard i had got a fine lion?" "no, no," was his reply; "a fine line for the temporary bridge over the river." we both laughed heartily at the misunderstanding, and when he saw my trophy, which was being carried by my man just behind me, he agreed that it was quite fine enough to monopolise my thoughts and prevent me from thinking of anything else. chapter xxi the masai and other tribes a few masai may still be seen on the athi plains, but as a rule they keep away from the railway, the majority of the tribe being now settled on the laikipia plateau. formerly they were by far the most powerful native race in east africa, and when on the war-path were the terror of the whole country from the furthest limits of uganda to mombasa itself. their numbers have latterly become greatly reduced through famine and small-pox, but the remnant of the tribe, more especially the men, are still a fine, lithe, clean-limbed people. while i was stationed in the plains i managed to have an interview with the chief, lenana, at one of his "royal residences," a kraal near nairobi. he was affability itself, presenting me with a spear and shield as a memento of the occasion; but he had the reputation of being a most wily old potentate, and i found this quite correct, as whenever he was asked an awkward question, he would nudge his prime minister and command him to answer for him. i managed to induce him and his wives and children to sit for their photograph, and they made a very fine group indeed; but unfortunately the negative turned out very badly. i also got lenana's nephew and a warrior to engage in combat with the spear and shield, and both made fine play with their long keen blades, which more than once penetrated the opponent's shield. the masai have a wonderfully well-organised military system. the warriors (elmorani) of the tribe must attend strictly to their duties, and are not allowed to marry or to smoke or to drink until after their term of active service is completed. besides the spear and shield they generally carry a sword or knobkerrie, suspended from a raw-hide waist-belt; and they certainly look very ferocious in their weird-looking headdress when on the warpath. once or twice i met detachments out on these expeditions, but they were always quite friendly to me, even though i was practically alone. before the advent of british rule, however, sudden raids were constantly being made by them on the weaker tribes in the country; and when a kraal was captured all the male defenders-were instantly killed with the spear, while the women were put to death during the night with clubs. the masai, indeed, never made slaves or took prisoners, and it was their proud boast that where a party of elmorani had passed, nothing of any kind was left alive. the object of these raids was, of course, to capture live stock, for the masai are not an agricultural people and their wealth consists entirely in their herds of cattle, sheep and goats. curiously enough they do not hunt game, although the country abounds with it, but live principally on beef and milk; and it is also a common custom for them to drink daily a pint or so of blood taken from a live bullock. as they thus live entirely on cattle, and as cattle cannot thrive without good pasture, it is not unnatural to find that they have a great reverence for grass. they also worship a supreme being whom they call n'gai, but this term is also applied to anything which is beyond their understanding. perhaps the most curious of the customs of the masai is the extraction of the two front teeth from the lower jaw. it is said that this habit originated at a time when lockjaw was very prevalent among the tribe, and it was found that if these teeth were pulled out food could still be taken. this explanation seems scarcely satisfactory or sufficient, and i give it only for what it is worth: but whatever the reason for the custom, the absence of these two teeth constitutes a most distinctive identifying mark. i remember once being out with a masai one day when we came across the bleached skull of a long defunct member of his tribe, of course easily recognisable as such by the absence of the proper teeth. the masai at once plucked a handful of grass, spat upon it, and then placed it very carefully within the skull; this was done, he said, to avert evil from himself. the same man asked me among many other questions if my country was nearer to god than his. i am afraid i was unable conscientiously to answer him in the affirmative. formerly the masai used to spit in the face as a mark of great friendship, but nowadays--like most other native races--they have adopted our english fashion of shaking hands. another very common custom amongst them is that of distorting the lobe of the ear by stretching it until it hangs down quite five or six inches. it is then pierced and decorated in various ways--by sticking through it a piece of wood two or three inches in diameter, or a little round tin canister, and by hanging to it pieces of chain, rings, beads, or bunches of brass-headed nails, according to fancy. nearly all the men wear little bells on their ankles to give notice of their approach, while the women are very fond of covering themselves with large quantities of iron or copper wire. their limbs, indeed, are often almost completely encased with these rings, which i should think must be very heavy and uncomfortable: but no masai woman considers herself a lady of fashion without them, and the more she possesses the higher does she stand in the social scale. as a rule, the masai do not bury their dead, as they consider this custom to be prejudicial to the soil; the bodies are simply carried some little distance from the village and left to be devoured by birds and wild beasts. the honour of burial is reserved only for a great chief, over whose remains a large mound is also raised. i came across one of these mounds one day near tsavo and opened it very carefully, but found nothing: possibly i did not pursue my search deep enough into the earth. in general, the masai are an upright and honourable savage race, and it is a great pity that they are gradually dying out. more or less serfs of the masai are the wa n'derobbo, who, unlike their over-lords, are a race of hunters. they are seldom to be met with, however, as they hide away in caves and thickets, and keep constantly moving from place to place following the game. not long ago i saw a few of them in the neighbourhood of the eldama ravine: but these were more or less civilised, and the girls, who were quite graceful, had abandoned the native undress costume for flowing white robes. in the district from nairobi to the kedong river, and in the kenya province, dwell the wa kikuyu, who are similar to the masai in build, but not nearly so good-looking. like the latter, they use the spear and shield, though of a different shape; their principal weapon, however, is the bow and poisoned arrow. they also frequently carry a rudely made two-edged short sword in a sheath, which is slung round the waist by a belt of raw hide. their front teeth are filed to a sharp point in the same manner as those of nearly all the other native tribes of east africa, with the exception of the masai. they live in little villages composed of beehive huts and always situated in the very thickest patches of forest that they can find, and their cattle kraals are especially strongly built and carefully hidden. on one occasion i managed after a great deal of difficulty and crawling on all-fours to make my way into one of these kraals, and was much amazed to notice what labour and ingenuity had been expended on its construction. unlike the masai, the wa kikuyu have a fairly good idea of agriculture, and grow crops of m'tama (a kind of native grain from which flour is made), sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, and tobacco. the wa kikuyu have the reputation of being a very cowardly and treacherous people, and they have undoubtedly committed some very cruel deeds. a friend of mine, captain haslem, with whom i lived for a few months at tsavo, was barbarously murdered by some members of this tribe. he left me to go up to the kikuyu country in charge of the transport, and as he was keenly interested in finding out all about the tropical diseases from which the animals suffered, he made it his custom to dissect the bodies of those that died. the superstitious wa kikuyu were fully convinced that by this he bewitched their cattle, which at the time were dying in scores from rinderpest. so--instigated no doubt by the all-powerful witch-doctor--they treacherously killed him. for my part, however, i found them not nearly so black as they had been painted to me. i had about four hundred of them working at one thing or another at nairobi and never had any trouble with them. on the contrary i found them well-behaved and intelligent and most anxious to learn. as is the case with all other african races, the women of the wa kikuyu do the manual labour of the village and carry the heavy loads for their lords and masters, the bundles being held in position on their back by a strap passing round the forehead. notwithstanding this some of them are quite pleasant looking, and once they have overcome their fear of the european, do not object to being photographed. of the other tribes to be met with in this part of the world, the kavirondo are the most interesting. they are an industrious, simple people, devoted to agriculture and hospitable in the extreme--a little addicted to thieving, perhaps, but then that is scarcely considered a sin in the heart of africa. they are clothed (to use mark twain's expression) in little but a smile, a bead or two here and there being considered ample raiment; nevertheless they are modest in their ways and are on the whole about the best of the east african tribes. chapter xxii how roshan khan saved my life on may 12 railhead reached the athi river, where, as there was a great deal of miscellaneous work to be done, our headquarters remained established for some little time. one day not long after we had settled down in our new camp, i was joined quite unexpectedly by my friend dr. brock, who had shared the exciting adventure with me at tsavo the night we were attacked in the goods-wagon by one of the man-eaters. now brock had so far not been fortunate enough to bag a lion, and was consequently most anxious to do so. shortly after his arrival, accordingly, he suggested that we should go for a shooting expedition on the morrow, and that i should trot out for his benefit one of the local lions. of course i said i should be delighted--i was always ready for a hunt when it was possible for me to get away, and as just at the time we were "held up" by the athi river, i could manage a day off quite easily. so we made the usual preparations for a day's absence from camp--filled our water-bottles with tea, put a loaf of bread and a tin of sardines in our haversacks, looked carefully to our rifles and ammunition; and warned the "boys" who were to accompany us as beaters to be ready before dawn. i decided to make a very early start, as i knew that the most likely place for lions lay some distance away, and i wanted to get there if possible by daybreak. we should thus have a better chance of catching one of the lords of the plain as he returned from his nightly depredations to the kindly shelter of the tall grass and rushes which fringed the banks of the river. we therefore retired to rest early, and just as i was dozing off to sleep, one of my indian servants, roshan khan, put his head through the slit at my tent door and asked leave to accompany the "sahibs" in the morning so that he might see what shikar (hunting) was like. this request i sleepily granted, thinking that it could make little difference whether he came with us or stayed behind in camp. as things turned out, however, it made all the difference in the world, for if he had not accompanied us, my shikar would in all probability have ended disastrously next day. he was a very dusky-coloured young pathan about twenty years of age, lithe and active, and honest and pleasant-looking, as pathans go. he had been my "boy" for some time and was much attached to me, besides having a touching faith in my prowess in shikar: probably, indeed, this was the reason why he stuck so close to me throughout the hunt. we breakfasted by candle light and managed to get several miles on our way towards the source of the athi before dawn. as soon as it was thoroughly daylight, we extended in line, dr. brock, as the guest, being placed in the most likely position for a shot, while roshan khan followed close behind me with the day's provisions. in this order we trudged steadily forward for a couple of miles without coming across anything, though we advanced through many patches of rushes and long grass likely to conceal our expected quarry. it was most interesting and exciting work all the same, as we never knew but that a lion might the next moment jump up at our very feet. we had just beaten through a most hopeful-looking covert without success and had come out on to a beautiful open grassy glade which stretched away for some distance ahead of us, when i noticed a big herd of wildebeeste browsing quietly some distance to our right. i knew that brock also wanted a wildebeeste, so i whistled softly to him, and pointed out the weird-looking, bison-like antelopes. he came across at once and started off towards the herd, while i sat down to watch the proceedings. he made a beautiful stalk, which was rendered really very difficult by the open nature of the country, but still the wildebeeste quickly noticed his approach and kept steadily moving on, until at last they disappeared over one of the gentle rises which are such a feature of the athi plains. i still sat and waited, expecting every moment to hear the sound of brock's rifle. some time elapsed without a shot, however, and i was just about to follow him up and find out how things were going, when roshan khan suddenly exclaimed excitedly:--"dekko, sahib, shenzi ata hain!" ("look, sahib, the savages are coming!"). i was not in the least alarmed at this somewhat startling announcement, as the indians called all the natives of the interior of africa shenzi, or savages; and on looking round i saw five tall, slim masai approaching in indian file, each carrying a six-foot spear in his right hand. on coming nearer, the leader of the party eagerly asked in swahili, "what does the bwana makubwa ("great master") desire?" "simba" ("lions"), said i. "come," he replied, "i will show you many." this filled me with interest at once. "how far away are they?" i asked. "m'bali kidogo" ("a little distance"), came the stereotyped reply. i immediately had a good look round for brock, but could see no sign of him, so, in case the "many" lions should get away in the meantime, i told the masai to lead the way, and off we started. as usual, the m'bali kidogo proved a good distance--over two miles in this case. indeed, i began to get impatient at the long tramp, and called out to the masai to know where his lions were; but he vouchsafed me no answer and continued to walk steadily on, casting keen glances ahead. after a little i again asked, "where are the lions?" this time he extended his spear in a most dramatic manner, and pointing to a clump of trees just ahead, exclaimed: "look, master; there are the lions." i looked, and at once caught sight of a lioness trotting off behind the bushes. i also saw some suspicious-looking thing at the foot of one of the big trees, but came to the conclusion that it was only a growth of some kind projecting from the trunk. i was soon to be undeceived, however, for as i started to run towards the trees in order to cut off the fast disappearing lioness from a stretch of rushes for which she was making, a low and sinister growl made me look closer at the object which had first aroused my suspicions. to my surprise and delight i saw that it was the head of a huge black-maned lion peering out from behind the trunk of the tree, which completely hid his body. i pulled up short and stared at him. although he was not seventy yards away from me, yet owing to the nature of the background it was very difficult to make him out, especially as he kept his head perfectly still, gazing steadily at me. it was only when the great mouth opened in an angry snarl that i could see plainly what he really was. for a few seconds we stood thus and looked at each other; then he growled again and made off after the lioness. as i could not get a fair shot at him from where i stood, i ran with all my might for a point of vantage from which i might have a better chance of bagging him as he passed. now by this time i had almost got beyond the surprise stage where lions were concerned; yet i must admit that i was thoroughly startled and brought to a full stop in the middle of my race by seeing no less than four more lionesses jump up from the covert which the lion had just left. in the twinkling of an eye three of them had disappeared after their lord in long, low bounds, but the fourth stood broadside on, looking, not at me, but at my followers, who by this time were grouped together and talking and gesticulating excitedly. this gave me a splendid chance for a shoulder shot at about fifty yards' distance, so i knelt down at once and fired after taking careful aim. the lioness disappeared from sight instantly, and on looking over the top of the grass i saw that my shot had told, as she was on her back, clawing the air and growling viciously. as she looked to me to be done for, i shouted to some of the men to remain behind and watch her, while i set off once more at a run to try to catch up the lion. i feared that the check with the lioness might have lost him to me altogether, but to my relief i soon caught sight of him again. he had not made off very quickly, and had probably stopped several times to see what i was up to; indeed the men, who could see him all the time, afterwards told me that when he heard the growl of rage from the lioness after she was shot, he made quite a long halt, apparently deliberating whether he should return to her rescue. evidently, however, he had decided that discretion was the better part of valour. fortunately he was travelling leisurely, and i was delighted to find that i was gaining on him fast; but i had still to run about two hundred yards at my best pace, which, at an altitude of more than 5,000 feet above sea-level, leaves one very breathless at the end of it. when the lion perceived me running towards him, he took up his station under a tree, where he was half hidden by some low bushes, above which only his head showed. here he stood, watching my every movement and giving vent to his anger at my presence in low, threatening growls. i did not at all like the look of him, and if there had been another tree close by, i should certainly have scrambled up it into safety before attempting to fire. as a matter of fact, however, there was no shelter of any kind at hand; so, as i meant to have a try for him at all costs, i sat down where i was, about sixty yards from him, and covered his great head with my rifle. i was so breathless after my run, and my arms were so shaky, that it was all i could do to keep the sight on the fierce-looking target and i thought to myself, as the rifle barrel wobbled about, "if i don't knock him over with the first shot, he will be out of these bushes and down on me like greased lightning--and then i know what to expect." it was a most exciting moment, but in spite of the risk i would not have missed it for the world; so, taking as steady an aim as was possible in the circumstances, i pulled the trigger. instantly the shaggy head disappeared from view, and such a succession of angry roars and growls came up out of the bushes that i was fairly startled, and felt keenly anxious to finish him off before he could charge out and cover the short distance which separated us. i therefore fired half a dozen shots into the bushes at the spot where i imagined he lay, and soon the growling and commotion ceased, and all was still. i was confident the brute was dead, so i called up one of the men to stay and watch the place, while i again rushed off at full speed--jumping over such rocks and bushes as came in my way--to have a shot at a lioness that was still in sight. by this time my followers numbered about thirty men, as when one is hunting in these plains natives seem to spring from nowhere in the most mysterious manner, and attach themselves to one in the hope of obtaining same portion of the kill. by signal i ordered them to advance in line on the thicket in which the lioness had just taken refuge, while i took up my position on one side, so as to obtain a good shot when she broke covert. the line of natives shouting their native cries and striking their spears together soon disturbed her, and out she sprang into the open, making for a clump of rushes close to the river. unfortunately she broke out at the most unfavourable spot from my point of view, as some of the natives masked my fire, and i had consequently to wait until she got almost to the edge of the rushes. whether or not i hit her then i cannot say; at any rate, she made good her escape into the reeds, where i decided to leave her until brock should arrive. i now retraced my steps towards the spot where i had shot the lion, expecting, of course, to find the man i had told to watch him still on guard. to my intense vexation, however, i found that my sentry had deserted his post and had joined the other men of the party, having become frightened when left by himself. the result of his disobedience was that now i could not tell where lay the dead lion--or, rather, the lion which i believed to be dead; but i had no intention of losing so fine a trophy, so i began a systematic search, dividing the jungle into strips, and thus going over the whole place thoroughly. the task of finding him, however, was not so easy as might be thought; the chase after the lioness had taken us some distance from where i had shot him, and as there were numbers of trees about similar to that under which he fell, it was really a very difficult matter to hit upon the right place. at last one of the men sang out joyfully that he had found the lion at the same time running away from the spot as hard as ever he could. a number of those nearest to him, both indians and natives, had more courage or curiosity, and went up to have a look at the beast. i shouted to them as i hurried along to be careful and not to go too near, in case by any chance he might not be dead; but they paid little heed to the warning, and by the time i got up, some half-dozen of them were gathered in a group at the lion's tail, gesticulating wildly and chattering each in his own language, and all very pleased and excited. on getting near i asked if the lion was dead, and was told that he was nearly so, but that he still breathed. he was lying at full length on his side, and when i saw him at close quarters i was more delighted than i can tell, for he was indeed a very fine specimen. for a moment or two i stood with the group of natives, admiring him. he still breathed regularly, as his flanks heaved with each respiration; but as he lay absolutely still with all the men jabbering within a yard of him, i assumed that he was on the point of death and unable to rise. possessed with this belief, i very foolishly allowed my curiosity to run away with my caution, and stepped round to have a look at his head. the moment i came into his view, however, he suddenly became possessed of a diabolical ferocity. with a great roar he sprang to his feet, as if he were quite unhurt; his eyes blazed with fury, and his lips were drawn well back, exposing his tusks and teeth in a way i hope never to witness again. when this perilous situation so unexpectedly developed itself, i was not more than three paces away from him. the instant the lion rose, all the men fled as if the evil one himself were after them, and made for the nearest trees--with one exception, for as i took a step backwards, keeping my eye on the infuriated animal, i almost trod on roshan khan, who had still remained close behind me. fortunately for me, i had approached the lion's head with my rifle ready, and as i stepped back i fired. the impact of the .303 bullet threw him back on his haunches just as he was in the act of springing, but in an instant he was up again and coming for me so quickly that i had not even time to raise my rifle to my shoulder, but fired point blank at him from my hip, delaying him for a second or so as before. he was up again like lightning, and again at the muzzle of my rifle; and this time i thought that nothing on earth could save me, as i was almost within his clutches. help came from an unexpected and unconscious quarter, for just at this critical moment roshan khan seemed all at once to realise the danger of the situation, and suddenly fled for his life, screaming and shrieking with all his might. beyond all question this movement saved me, for the sight of something darting away from him diverted the lion's attention from me, and following his natural instinct, he gave chase instead to the yelling fugitive. roshan khan having thus unwittingly rescued me from my perilous position, it now became my turn to do all i could to save him, if this were possible. in far less time than it takes to tell the story, i had swung round after the pursuing lion, levelled my rifle and fired; but whether because of the speed at which he was going, or because of my over-anxiety to save my "boy", i missed him completely, and saw the bullet raise the dust at the heels of a flying masai. like lightning i loaded again from the magazine, but now the lion was within a spring of his prey, and it seemed hopeless to expect to save poor roshan khan from his clutches. just at this moment, however, the terrified youth caught sight of the brute over his left shoulder, and providentially made a quick swerve to the right. as the lion turned to follow him, he came broadside on to me, and just as he had roshan khan within striking distance and was about to seize him, he dropped in the middle of what would otherwise assuredly have been the fatal spring--bowled over with a broken shoulder. this gave me time to run up and give him a final shot, and with a deep roar he fell back full length on the grass, stone-dead. i then looked round to see if roshan khan was all right, as i was not sure whether the lion had succeeded in mauling him or not. the sight that met my eyes turned tragedy into comedy in an instant, and made me roar with laughter; indeed, it was so utterly absurd that i threw myself down on the grass and rolled over and over, convulsed with uncontrollable mirth. for there was roshan khan, half-way up a thorn tree, earnestly bent on getting to the very topmost branch as quickly as ever he could climb; not a moment, indeed, was he able to spare to cast a glance at what was happening beneath. his puggaree had been torn off by one thorn, and waved gracefully in the breeze; a fancy waistcoat adorned another spiky branch, and his long white cotton gown was torn to ribbons in his mad endeavour to put as great a distance as possible between himself and the dead lion. as soon as i could stop laughing, i called out to him to come down, but quite in vain. there was no stopping him, indeed, until he had reached the very top of the tree; and even then he could scarcely be induced to come down again. poor fellow, he had been thoroughly terrified, and little wonder. my followers now began to emerge from the shelter of the various trees and bushes where they had concealed themselves after their wild flight from the resuscitated lion, and crowded round his dead body in the highest spirits. the masai, especially, seemed delighted at the way in which he had been defeated, and to my surprise and amusement proved themselves excellent mimics, some three or four of them beginning at once to act the whole adventure. one played the part of the lion and jumped growling at a comrade, who immediately ran backwards just as i had done, shouting "ta, ta, ta" and cracking his fingers to represent the rifle-shots. finally the whole audience roared with delight when another bolted as fast as he could to roshan khan's tree with the pseudo lion roaring after him. at the end of these proceedings up came brock, who had been attracted to the place by the sound of the firing. he was much astonished to see my fine dead lion lying stretched out, and his first remark was, "you are a lucky beggar!" afterwards, when he heard the full story of the adventure, he rightly considered me even more lucky than he had first thought. our next business was to go back to the lioness which i had first shot and left for dead. like her mate, however, she was still very much alive when we reached her, so i stalked carefully up to a neighbouring tree, from whose shelter i gave her the finishing shot. we then left mahina and the other men to skin the two beasts, and went on to the rushes where the second lioness had taken cover. here all our efforts to turn her out failed, so we reluctantly abandoned the chase and were fated to see no more lions that day. our only other adventure was with a stolid old rhino, who gave me rather a fright and induced brock to indulge in some lively exercise. separated by about a hundred yards or so, we were walking over the undulating ground a short distance from the river, when, on gaining the top of a gentle rise, i suddenly came upon the ungainly animal as it lay wallowing in a hollow. it jumped to its feet instantly and came for where i stood, and as i had no wish to shoot it, i made a dash for cover round the knoll. on reaching the top of the rise, the rhino winded my companion and at once changed its direction and made for him. brock lost no time in putting on his best pace in an endeavour to reach the shelter of a tree which stood some distance off, while i sat down and watched the exciting race. i thought it would be a pretty close thing, but felt confident that brock, who was very active, would manage to pull it off. when he got about half-way to the tree, however, he turned to see how far his pursuer was behind, and in doing so put his foot in a hole in the ground, and to my horror fell head over heels, his rifle flying from his grasp. i expected the great brute to be on him in a moment, but to my intense relief the old rhino stopped dead when he saw the catastrophe which had taken place, and then, failing (i suppose) to understand it, suddenly made off in the opposite direction as hard as he could go. in the meantime brock had got to his feet again, and raced for dear life to the tree without ever looking round. it was a most comical sight, and i sat on the rise and for the second time that day laughed till my sides ached. after this we returned to the scene of my morning's adventure, where we found that the invaluable mahina had finished skinning the two lions. we accordingly made our way back to camp with our trophies, all of us, with perhaps the exception of roshan khan, well satisfied with the day's outing. whenever afterwards i wanted to chaff this "boy", i had only to ask whether he would like to come and see some more shikar. he would then look very solemn, shake his head emphatically and assure me "kabhi nahin, sahib" ("never again, sir"). chapter xxiii a successful lion hunt when the athi river had been bridged, the section of the line to nairobi was pushed forward as rapidly as possible, and from dawn to dark we all exerted ourselves to the very utmost. one day (may 28) the weather was exceptionally hot, and i had been out in the broiling sun ever since daylight superintending the construction of banks and cuttings and the erection of temporary bridges. on returning to my hut, therefore, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, i threw myself into a long deck chair, too tired for anything beyond a long cool drink. here i rested for an hour or so, amused by the bustle at the small wayside station we had just built, and idly watching our tiny construction engine forging its way, with a great deal of clanking and puffing, up a steep gradient just across the river. it was touch-and-go whether it would manage to get its heavy load of rails and sleepers to the top of the incline or not, and i became so interested in the contest between steam and friction and gravity, that i did not notice that a visitor had approached and was standing quietly beside me. on hearing the usual salutation, however, i turned round and saw a lean and withered half-bred masai, clothed in a very inadequate piece of wildebeeste hide which was merely slipped under the left arm and looped up in a knot over the right shoulder. he stood for a moment with the right hand held out on a level with his shoulder, the fingers extended and the palm turned towards me--all indicating that he came on a friendly visit. i returned his salutation, and asked him what he wanted. before answering, he dropped down on his heels, his old bones cracking as he did so. "i want to lead the great master to two lions," he said; "they have just killed a zebra and are now devouring it." on hearing this i straightway forgot that i had already done a hard day's work in the full blaze of an equatorial sun; i forgot that i was tired and hungry; in fact, i forgot everything that was not directly connected with the excitement of lion-hunting. even the old savage at my feet grinned when he saw how keen i was about it. i plied him with questions--were they both lions or lionesses? had they manes? how far away were they? and so on. naturally, to the last question he was bound to answer "m'bali kidogo." of course they were not far away; nothing ever is to a native of east africa. however, the upshot was that in a very few minutes i had a mule saddled, and with the old masai as guide, started off accompanied by my faithful mahina and another coolie to help to bring home the skin if i should prove successful. i also left word for my friend spooner, the district engineer, who happened to be absent from camp just at the moment, that i had gone after two lions, but hoped to be back by nightfall. we travelled at a good pace, and within an hour had covered fully six miles; still there was no sign of lions. on the way we were joined by some wa kamba, even more scantily attired than our guide, and soon a dispute arose between these hangers-on and the old masai, who refused to allow them to accompany us, as he was afraid that they would seize all the zebra-meat that the lions had not already eaten. however, i told him not to bother, but to hurry up and show me the lions, and that i would look after him all right. eventually, on getting to the low crest of one of the long swells in the ground, our guide extended a long skinny finger and said proudly, "tazama, bwana" ("see, master"). i looked in the direction in which he pointed, and sure enough, about six hundred yards off were a lion and a lioness busily engaged on the carcase of a zebra. on using my field-glasses, i was amused to observe a jackal in attendance on the pair. every now and then he would come too close to the zebra, when the lion would make a short rush at him and scare him away. the little jackal looked most ridiculous, scampering off before the huge beast with his tail well down; but no sooner did the lion stop and return to his meal than he crept nearer again. the natives say, by the way, that a lion will eat every kind of animal--including even other lions--except a jackal or a hyena. i was also interested to notice the way in which the lion got at the flesh of the zebra; he took a short run at the body, and putting his claws well into the skin, in this manner tore off great strips of the hide. while i was thus studying the picture, my followers became impatient at my inactivity, and coming up to the top of the rise, showed themselves on the sky-line. the lions saw them at once, turning round and standing erect to stare at them. there was not an atom of cover to be seen, nor any chance of taking advantage of the rolling ground, for it did not slope in the required direction; so i started to walk in the open in a sidelong direction towards the formidable-looking pair. they allowed me to come a hundred yards or so nearer them, and then the lioness bolted, the lion following her at a more leisurely trot. as soon as they left the body of the zebra, my african following made a rush for it, and began a fierce fight over the remains, so that i had to restore order and leave a coolie to see that our guide got the large share, as he deserved. in the meantime the lion, hearing the noise of the squabble, halted on the crest of the hill to take a deliberate look at me, and then disappeared over the brow. i jumped on to my mule and galloped as hard as i could after him, and luckily found the pair still in sight when i reached the top of the rise. as soon as they saw me following them up, the lioness took covert in some long grass that almost concealed her when she lay down, but the lion continued to move steadily away. accordingly i made for a point which would bring me about two hundred yards to the right of the lioness, and which would leave a deep natural hollow between us, so as to give me a better chance, in the event of a charge, of bowling her over as she came up the rise towards me. i could plainly make out her light-coloured form in the grass, and took careful aim and fired. in an instant she was kicking on her back and tossing about, evidently hard hit; in a few seconds more she lay perfectly still, and i saw that she was dead. i now turned my attention to the lion, who meanwhile had disappeared over another rise. by this time mahina and the other indian, with three or four of the disappointed wa kamba, had come up, so we started off in a body in pursuit of him. i felt sure that he was lurking somewhere in the grass not far off, and i knew that i could depend upon the native eye to find him if he showed so much as the tip of his ear. nor was i disappointed, for we had scarcely topped the next rise when one of the wa kamba spotted the dark brown head of the brute as he raised it for an instant above the grass in order to watch us. we pretended not to have seen him, however, and advanced to within two hundred yards or so, when, as he seemed to be getting uneasy, i thought it best to risk a shot even at this range. i put up the 200-yards sight and the bullet fell short; but the lion never moved. raising the sight another fifty yards, i rested the rifle on mahina's back for the next shot, and again missed; fortunately, however, the lion still remained quiet. i then decided to put into practice the scheme i had thought out the day i sat astride the lion i had killed on the kapiti plain: so i told all my followers to move off to the right, taking the mule with them, and to make a half-circle round the animal, while i lay motionless in the grass and waited. the ruse succeeded admirably, for as the men moved round so did the lion, offering me at last a splendid shoulder shot. i took very careful, steady aim and fired, with the result that he rolled over and over, and then made one or two attempts to get up but failed. i then ran up to within a few yards of him, and--helpless as he was with a bullet through both shoulders--he was still game, and twist round so as to face me, giving vent all the time to savage growls. a final shot laid him out, however, and we at once proceeded to skin him. while we were busy doing this, one of the wa kamba suddenly drew my attention to the fact that we were actually being stalked at that very moment by two other lions, who eventually approached to within five hundred yards' distance and then lay down to watch us skinning their dead brother, their big shaggy heads rising every now and again above the grass to give us a prolonged stare. at the time i little knew what a stirring adventure was in store for me next day while in pursuit of these same brutes. it was almost dark when the skinning process was finished, so without delay we started on our way back to camp, which was about seven miles off. the lioness i thought i should leave to be skinned the next day; but the men i sent out to do the job on the morrow were unable to find any trace of her--they probably missed the place where she lay, for i am sure that i killed her. it was a good two hours after night had fallen before we got anywhere near the railway, and the last few miles i was obliged to do by the guidance of the stars. tramping over the plain on a pitch-dark night, with lions and rhino all about, was by no means pleasant work and i heartily wished myself and my men safely back in camp. indeed, i was beginning to think that i must have lost my bearings and was getting anxious about it, when to my relief i heard a rifle shot about half a mile ahead of us. i guessed at once that it was fired by my good friend spooner in order to guide me, so i gave a reply signal; and on getting to the top of the next rise, i saw the plain in front of me all twinkling with lights. when he found that i had not returned by nightfall, spooner had become nervous about me, and fearing that i had met with some mishap, had come out with a number of the workmen in camp to search for me in the direction i had taken in the afternoon. he was delighted to find me safe and sound and with a lion's skin as a trophy, while i was equally glad to have his escort and company back to camp, which was still over a mile away. when we had settled down comfortably to dinner that night, i fired spooner's sporting ardour by telling him of the fine pair of lions who had watched us skinning their companion, and we agreed at once to go out next day and try to bag them both. spooner and i had often had many friendly arguments in regard to the comparative courage of the lion and the tiger, he holding the view that "stripes" was the more formidable foe, while i, though admitting to the full-the courage of the tiger, maintained from lively personal experience that the lion when once roused was unequalled for pluck and daring, and was in fact the most dangerous enemy one could meet with. he may at times slink off and not show fight; but get him in the mood, or wound him, and only his death or yours will end the fray--that, at least, was my experience of east african lions. i think that spooner has now come round to my opinion, his conversion taking place the next day in a very melancholy manner. chapter xxiv bhoota's last shikar long after i had retired to rest that night i lay awake listening to roar answering roar in every direction round our camp, and realised that we were indeed in the midst of a favourite haunt of the king of beasts. it is one thing to hear a lion in captivity, when one knows he is safe behind iron bars; but quite another to listen to him when he is ramping around in the vicinity of one's fragile tent, which with a single blow he could tear to pieces. still, all this roaring was of good omen for the next day's sport. according to our over-night arrangement, we were up betimes in the morning, but as there was a great deal of work to be done before we could get away, it was quite midday before we made ready to start. i ought to mention before going further that as a rule spooner declined my company on shooting trips, as he was convinced that i should get "scuppered" sooner or later if i persisted in going after lions with a "popgun," as he contemptuously termed my .303. indeed, this was rather a bone of contention between us, he being a firm believer (and rightly) in a heavy, weapon for big and dangerous game, while i always did my best to defend the .303 which i was in the habit of using. on this occasion we effected a compromise for the day, i accepting the loan of his spare 12-bore rifle as a second gun in case i should get to close quarters. but my experience has been that it is always a very dangerous thing to rely on a borrowed gun or rifle, unless it has precisely the same action as one's own; and certainly in this instance it almost proved disastrous. having thus seen to our rifles and ammunition and taken care also that some brandy was put in the luncheon-basket in case of an accident, we set off early in the afternoon in spooner's tonga, which is a two-wheeled cart with a hood over it. the party consisted of spooner and myself, spooner's indian shikari bhoota, my own gun-boy mahina, and two other indians, one of whom, imam din, rode in the tonga, while the other led a spare horse called "blazeaway." now it may seem a strange plan to go lion-hunting in a tonga, but there is no better way of getting about country like the athi plains, where--so long as it is dry--there is little or nothing to obstruct wheeled traffic. once started, we rattled over the smooth expanse at a good rate, and on the way bagged a hartebeeste and a couple of gazelle, as fresh meat was badly needed in camp; besides, they offered most tempting shots, for they stood stock-still gazing at us, struck no doubt by the novel appearance of our conveyance. next we came upon a herd of wildebeeste, and here we allowed bhoota, who was a wary shikari and an old servant of spooner's, to stalk a solitary bull. he was highly pleased at this favour, and did the job admirably. at last we reached the spot where i had seen the two lions on the previous day--a slight hollow, covered with long grass; but there was now no trace of them to be discovered, so we moved further on and had another good beat round. after some little time the excitement began by our spying the black-tipped ears of a lioness projecting above the grass, and the next moment a very fine lion arose from beside her and gave us a full view of his grand head and mane. after staring fixedly at us in an inquiring sort of way as we slowly advanced upon them, they both turned and slowly trotted off, the lion stopping every now and again to gaze round in our direction. very imposing and majestic he looked, too, as he thus turned his great shaggy head defiantly towards us, and spooner had to admit that it was the finest sight he had ever seen. for a while we followed them on foot; but finding at length that they were getting away from us and would soon be lost to sight over a bit of rising ground, we jumped quickly into the tonga and galloped round the base of the knoll so as to cut off their retreat, the excitement of the rough and bumpy ride being intensified a hundred-fold by the probability of our driving slap into the pair on rounding the rise. on getting to the other side, however, they were nowhere to be seen, so we drove on as hard as we could to the top, whence we caught sight of them about four hundred yards away. as there seemed to be no prospect of getting nearer we decided to open fire at this range, and at the third shot the lioness tumbled over to my .303. at first i thought i had done for her, as for a few minutes she lay on the ground kicking and struggling; but in the end, although evidently badly hit, she rose to her feet and followed the lion, who had escaped uninjured, into some long grass from which we could not hope to dislodge them. as it was now late in the afternoon, and as there seemed no possibility of inducing the lions to leave the thicket in which they had concealed themselves, we turned back towards camp, intending to come out again the next day to track the wounded lioness. i was now riding "blazeaway" and was trotting along in advance of the tonga, when suddenly he shied badly at a hyena, which sprang up out of the grass almost from beneath his feet and quickly scampered off. i pulled up for a moment and sat watching the hyena's ungainly bounds, wondering whether he were worth a shot. suddenly i felt "blazeaway" trembling violently beneath me, and on looking over my left shoulder to discover the reason, i was startled to see two fine lions not more than a hundred yards away, evidently the pair which i had seen the day before and which we had really come in search of. they looked as if they meant to dispute our passage, for they came slowly towards me for about ten yards or so and then lay down, watching me steadily all the time. i called out to spooner, "here are the lions i told you about," and he whipped up the ponies and in a moment or two was beside me with the tonga. by this time i had seized my .303 and dismounted, so we at once commenced a cautious advance on the crouching lions, the arrangement being that spooner was to take the right-hand one and i the other. we had got to within sixty yards' range without incident and were just about to sit down comfortably to "pot" them, when they suddenly surprised us by turning and bolting off. i managed, however, to put a bullet into the one i had marked just as he crested a bank, and he looked very grand as he reared up against the sky and clawed the air on feeling the lead. for a second or two he gave me the impression that he was about to charge; but luckily he changed his mind and followed his companion, who had so far escaped scot free. i immediately mounted "blazeaway" and galloped off in hot pursuit, and after about half a mile of very stiff going got up with them once more. finding now that they could not get away, they halted; came to bay and then charged down upon me, the wounded lion leading. i had left my rifle behind, so all i could do was to turn and fly as fast as "blazeaway" could go, praying inwardly the while that he would not put his foot into a hole. when the lions saw that they were unable to overtake me, they gave up the chase and lay down again, the wounded one being about two hundred yards in front of the other. at once i pulled up too, and then went back a little way, keeping a careful eye upon them; and i continued these tactics of riding up and down at a respectful distance until spooner came up with the rifles, when we renewed the attack. as a first measure i thought it advisable to disable the unhurt lion if possible, and, still using the .303, i got him with the second shot at a range of about three hundred yards. he seemed badly hit, for he sprang into the air and apparently fell heavily. i then exchanged my .303 for spooner's spare 12-bore rifle, and we turned our attention to the nearer lion, who all this time had been lying perfectly still, watching our movements closely, and evidently just waiting to be down upon us the moment we came within charging distance. he was never given this opportunity, however, for we did not approach nearer than ninety yards, when spooner sat down comfortably and knocked him over quite dead with one shot from his .577, the bullet entering the left shoulder obliquely and passing through the heart. it was now dusk, and there was no time to be lost if we meant to bag the second lion as well. we therefore resumed our cautious advance, moving to the right, as we went, so as to get behind us what light there was remaining. the lion of course twisted round in the grass in such a way as always to keep facing us, and looked very ferocious, so that i was convinced that unless he were entirely disabled by the first shot he would be down on us like a whirlwind. all the same, i felt confident that, even in this event, one of us would succeed in stopping him before he could do any damage; but in this i was unfortunately to be proved mistaken. eventually we managed to get within eighty yards of the enraged animal, i being about five yards to the left front of spooner, who was followed by bhoota at about the same distance to his right rear. by this time the lion was beside himself with fury, growling savagely and raising quite a cloud of dust by lashing his tail against the ground. it was clearly high time that we did something, so asking spooner to fire, dropped on one knee and waited. nor was i kept long in suspense, for the moment spooner's shot rang out, up jumped the lion and charged down in a bee-line for me, coming in long, low bounds at great speed. i fired the right barrel at about fifty yards, but apparently missed; the left at about half that range, still without stopping effect. i knew then that there was no time reload, so remained kneeling, expecting him to be on me the next moment. suddenly, just as he was within a bound of me, he made a quick turn, to my right. "good heavens," i thought, "he is going for spooner." i was wrong in this, however, for like a flash he passed spooner also, and with a last tremendous bound seized bhoota by the leg and rolled over and over with him for some yards in the impetus of the rush. finally he stood over him and tried to seize him by the throat, which the brave fellow prevented by courageously stuffing his left arm right into the great jaws. poor bhoota! by moving at the critical moment, he had diverted the lion's attention from me and had drawn the whole fury of the charge on to himself. all this, of course, happened in only a second or two. in the short instant that intervened, i felt a cartridge thrust into my hand by spooner's plucky servant, imam din, who had carried the 12-bore all day and who had stuck to me gallantly throughout the charge; and shoving it in, i rushed as quickly as i could to bhoota's rescue. meanwhile, spooner had got there before me and when i came up actually had his left hand on the lion's flank, in a vain attempt to push him off bhoota's prostrate body and so get at the heavy rifle which the poor fellow still stoutly clutched. the lion, however, was so busily engaged mauling bhoota's arm that he paid not the slightest attention to spooner's efforts. unfortunately, as he was facing straight in my direction, i had to move up in full view of him, and the moment i reached his head, he stopped chewing the arm, though still holding it in his mouth, and threw himself back on his haunches, preparing for a spring, at the same time curling back his lips and exposing his long tusks in a savage snarl. i knew then that i had not a moment to spare, so i threw the rifle up to my shoulder and pulled the trigger. imagine my utter despair and horror when it did not go off! "misfire again," i thought, and my heart almost stopped beating. as took a step backwards, i felt it was all over no for he would never give me time to extract the cartridge and load again. still i took another step backwards, keeping my eyes fixed on the lion's, which were blazing with rage; and in the middle of my third step, just as the brute was gathering himself for his spring, it suddenly struck me that in my haste and excitement, i had forgotten that i was using a borrowed rifle and had not pulled back the hammer (my own was hammerless). to do this and put a bullet through the lion's brain was then the work of a moment; and he fell dead instantly right on the top of bhoota. we did not lose a moment in rolling his great carcase off bhoota's body and quickly forced opening the jaws so as to disengage the mangled arm which still remained in his mouth. by this time the poor shikari was in a fainting condition, and we flew to the tonga for the brandy flask which we had so providentially brought with us. on making a rough examination of the wounded man, we found that his left arm and right leg were both frightfully mauled, the latter being broken as well. he was lifted tenderly into the tonga--how thankful we now were to have it with us!--and spooner at once set off with him to camp and the doctor. before following them home i made a hasty examination of the dead lion and found him to be a very good specimen in every way. i was particularly satisfied to see that one of the two shots i had fired as he charged down upon me had taken effect. the bullet had entered below the right eye, and only just missed the brain. unfortunately it was a steel one which spooner had unluckily brought in his ammunition bag by mistake; still one would have thought that a shot of this kind, even with a hard bullet, would at least have checked the lion for the moment. as a matter of fact, however, it went clean through him without having the slightest stopping effect. my last bullet, which was of soft lead, had entered close to the right eye and embedded itself in the brain. by this time it had grown almost dark, so i left the two dead lions where they lay and rode for camp, which i was lucky enough to reach without further adventure or mishap. i may mention here that early next morning two other lions were found devouring the one we had first shot; but they had not had time to do much damage, and the head, which i have had mounted, makes a very fine trophy indeed. the lion that mauled bhoota was untouched. on my arrival in camp i found that everything that was possible was being done for poor bhoota by dr. mcculloch, the same who had travelled up with me to tsavo and shot the ostrich from the train on my first arrival in the country, and who was luckily on the spot. his wounds had been skilfully dressed, the broken leg put in splints, and under the influence of a soothing draught the poor fellow was soon sleeping peacefully. at first we had great hope of saving both life and limb, and certainly for some days he seemed to be getting on as well as could be expected. the wounds, however, were very bad ones, especially those on the leg where the long tusks had met through and through the flesh, leaving over a dozen deep tooth marks; the arm, though dreadfully mauled, soon healed. it was wonderful to notice how cheerfully the old shikari, bore it all, and a pleasure to listen to his tale of how he would have his revenge on the whole tribe of lions as soon as he was able to get about again. but alas, his shikar was over. the leg got rapidly worse, and mortification setting in, it had to be amputated half way up the thigh. dr. winston waters performed the operation most skilfully, and curiously enough the operating table was canopied with the skin of the lion which had been responsible for the injury. bhoota made a good recovery from the operation, but seemed to lose heart when he found that he had only one leg left, as according to his ideas he had now but a poor chance of being allowed to enter heaven. we did all that was possible for him, and spooner especially could not have looked after a brother more tenderly; but to our great sorrow he sank gradually, and died on july 19. the hunt which had such a disastrous sequel proved to be the last occasion on which i met a lion in the open, as we got out of the hunting country shortly afterwards and for the rest of my stay in east africa i had too much work to do to be able to go any distance in search of big game. chapter xxv a man-eater in a railway carriage towards the end of my stay in british east africa, i dined one evening with mr. ryall, the superintendent of the police, in his inspection carriage on the railway. poor ryall! i little thought then what a terrible fate was to overtake him only a few months later in that very carriage in which we dined. a man-eating lion had taken up his quarters at a little roadside station called kimaa, and had developed an extraordinary taste for the members of the railway staff. he was a most daring brute, quite indifferent as to whether he carried off the station-master, the signalman, or the pointsman; and one night, in his efforts to obtain a meal, he actually climbed up on to the roof of the station buildings and tried to tear off the corrugated-iron sheets. at this the terrified baboo in charge of the telegraph instrument below sent the following laconic message to the traffic manager: "lion fighting with station. send urgent succour." fortunately he was not victorious in his "fight with the station"; but he tried so hard to get in that he cut his feet badly on the iron sheeting, leaving large blood-stains on the roof. another night, however, he succeeded in carrying off the native driver of the pumping-engine, and soon afterwards added several other victims to his list. on one occasion an engine-driver arranged to sit up all night in a large iron water-tank in the hope of getting a shot at him, and had a loop-hole cut in the side of the tank from which to fire. but as so often happens, the hunter became the hunted; the lion turned up in the middle of the night, overthrew the tank and actually tried to drag the driver out through the narrow circular hole in the top through which he had squeezed in. fortunately the tank was just too deep for the brute to be able to reach the man at the bottom; but the latter was naturally half paralysed with fear and had to crouch so low down as to be unable to take anything like proper aim. he fired, however, and succeeded in frightening the lion away for the time being. it was in a vain attempt to destroy this pest that poor ryall met his tragic and untimely end. on june 6, 1900, he was travelling up in his inspection carriage from makindu to nairobi, accompanied by two friends, mr. huebner and mr. parenti. when they reached kimaa, which is about two hundred and fifty miles from mombasa, they were told that the man-eater had been seen close to the station only a short time before their train arrived, so they at once made up their minds to remain there for the night and endeavour to shoot him. ryall's carriage was accordingly detached from the train and shunted into a siding close to the station, where, owing to the unfinished state of the line, it did not stand perfectly level, but had a pronounced list to one side. in the afternoon the three friends went out to look for the lion, but, finding no traces of him whatever, they returned to the carriage for dinner. afterwards they all sat up on guard for some time; but the only noticeable thing they saw was what they took to be two very bright and steady glow-worms. after-events proved that these could have been nothing else than the eyes of the man-eater steadily watching them all the time and studying their every movement. the hour now growing late, and there being apparently no sign of the lion, ryall persuaded his two friends to lie down, while he kept the first watch. huebner occupied the high berth over the table on the one side of the carriage, the only other berth being on the opposite side of the compartment and lower down. this ryall offered to parenti, who declined it, saying that he would be quite comfortable on the floor and he accordingly lay down to sleep, with his feet towards the sliding door which gave admission the carriage. it is supposed that ryall, after watching for some considerable time, must have come to the conclusion that the lion was not going to make its appearance that night, for he lay down on the lower berth and dozed off. no sooner had he done so, doubtless, than the cunning man-eater began cautiously to stalk the three sleepers. in order to reach the little platform at the end of the carriage, he had to mount two very high steps from the railway line, but these he managed to negotiate successfully and in silence. the door from this platform into the carriage was a sliding one on wheels, which ran very easily on a brass runner; and as it was probably not quite shut, or at any rate not secured in any way, it was an easy matter for the lion to thrust in a paw and shove it open. but owing to the tilt of the carriage and to his great extra weight on the one side, the door slid to and snapped into the lock the moment he got his body right in, thus leaving him shut up with the three sleeping me in the compartment. he sprang at once at ryall, but in order to reach him had actually to plant his feet on parenti, who, it will be remembered, was sleeping on the floor. at this moment huebner was suddenly awakened by a loud cry, and on looking down from his berth was horrified to see an enormous lion standing with his hind feet on parenti's body, while his forepaws rested on poor ryall. small wonder that he was panic-stricken at the sight. there was only one possible way of escape, and that was through the second sliding door communicating with the servants' quarters, which was opposite to that by which the lion had entered. but in order to reach this door huebner had literally to jump on to the man-eater's back, for its great bulk filled up all the space beneath his berth. it sounds scarcely credible, but it appears that in the excitement and horror of the moment he actually did this, and fortunately the lion was too busily engaged with his victim to pay any attention to him. so he managed to reach the door in safety; but there, to his dismay, he found that it was held fast on the other side by the terrified coolies, who had been aroused by the disturbance caused by the lion's entrance. in utter desperation he made frantic efforts to open it, and exerting all his strength at last managed to pull it back sufficiently far to allow him to squeeze through, when the trembling coolies instantly tied it up again with their turbans. a moment afterwards a great crash was heard, and the whole carriage lurched violently to one side; the lion had broken through one of the windows, carrying off poor ryall with him. being now released, parenti lost no time in jumping through the window on the opposite side of the carriage, and fled for refuge to one of the station buildings; his escape was little short of miraculous, as the lion had been actually standing on him as he lay on the floor. the carriage itself was badly shattered, and the wood-work of the window had been broken to pieces by the passage of the lion as he sprang through with his victim in his mouth. all that can be hoped is that poor ryall's death was instantaneous. his remains were found next morning about a quarter of a mile away in the bush, and were taken to nairobi for burial. i am glad to be able to add that very shortly afterwards the terrible brute who was responsible for this awful tragedy was caught in an ingenious trap constructed by one of the railway staff. he was kept on view for several days, and then shot. chapter xxvi work at nairobi although the lion which caused poor bhoota's death was the last i managed to shoot in east africa, i saw several others afterwards while travelling up and down the line at different times on construction work. in particular, i remember one very curious incident which happened early on the morning of june 2, when i was travelling towards nairobi, accompanied by dr. mcculloch. the doctor was going home on leave in the course of a few days, and was bemoaning to me his bad luck in never having shot or even seen a lion all the time he had been in the country. we were standing on the engine at the time, facing each other, he with his back to the north. "my dear mac," i said, "it is because you don't look out for them." "rubbish," he retorted; "i do nothing else when i am out hunting." "well," i replied, "are you really very anxious to shoot one before you go home?" "i would rather get a lion than anything else in the world," was the emphatic reply. "very good, then. sultan," i called to the driver, "stop the engine." "now, mac," i continued, as the train was quickly brought to a standstill, "here's a chance for you. just jump off and bag those two over there." he turned round in blank astonishment and could hardly believe his eyes when he saw two fine lions only about two hundred yards off, busily engaged in devouring a wildebeeste which they had evidently just killed. i had spotted them almost as soon as mac had begun to talk of his bad luck, and had only waited to tell him until we got nearer, so as to give him a greater surprise. he was off the engine in a second and made directly for the two beasts. just as he was about to fire one of them bolted, so i called out to him to shoot the other quickly before he too made good his escape. this one was looking at us over his shoulder with one paw on the dead wildebeeste, and while he stood in this attitude mac dropped him with a bullet through the heart. needless to say he was tremendously delighted with his success, and after the dead lion had been carried to the train and propped up against a carriage, i took a photograph of him standing beside his fine trophy. three days after this incident railhead reached nairobi, and i was given charge of the new division of the line. nairobi was to be the headquarters of the railway administration, so there was an immense amount of work to be done in converting an absolutely bare plain, three hundred and twenty-seven miles from the nearest place where even a nail could be purchased, into a busy railway centre. roads and bridges had to be constructed, houses and work-shops built, turntables and station quarters erected, a water supply laid on, and a hundred and one other things done which go to the making of a railway township. wonderfully soon, however, the nucleus of the present town began to take shape, and a thriving "bazaar" sprang into existence with a mushroom-like growth. in this, however, a case or two of plague broke out before very long, so i gave the natives and indians who inhabited it an hour's notice to clear out, and on my own responsibility promptly burned the whole place to the ground. for this somewhat arbitrary proceeding i was mildly called over the coals, as i expected; but all the same it effectually stamped out the plague, which did not reappear during the time i was in the country. with a little persuasion i managed to induce several hundred of the wa kikuyu, in whose country we now were, to come and work at nairobi, and very useful and capable they proved themselves after a little training. they frequently brought me in word that the shambas (plantations, gardens) at the back of the hill on which my camp was pitched were being destroyed by elephants, but unfortunately i could never spare time to go out in quest of them. on one occasion, however, i passed the news on to my friend, dr. winston waters, with the result that he had a most exciting adventure with a big bull elephant. he set out in quest of the depredator, and, guided by a few of the wa kikuyu, soon came upon him hidden among some shady trees. waters was a great believer in a close shot, so he stalked up to within a few yards of the animal and then fired his .577, aiming for the heart. the elephant responded by a prompt and determined charge, and although waters quickly let him have the left barrel as well, it proved of no effect; and on he came, screaming and trumpeting with rage. there was nothing for it, therefore, but to fly for dear life; so down a path raced waters for all he was worth, the elephant giving vigorous chase and gaining rapidly. in a few seconds matters began to look very serious for the sportsman, for the huge monster was almost on him; but at the critical moment he stepped on to the false cover of a carefully-concealed game pit and disappeared from view as if by magic. this sudden descent of his enemy apparently into the bowels of the earth so startled the elephant that he stopped short in his career and made off into the jungle. as for waters, he was luckily none the worse for his fall, as the pit was neither staked at the bottom nor very deep; he soon scrambled out, and, following up the wounded elephant, succeeded in finishing him off without further trouble. towards the end of 1899 i left for england. a few days before i started all my wa kikuyu "children", as they called themselves, came in a body and begged to be taken with me. i pictured to them the cold, wet climate of england and its great distance from their native land; but they assured me that these were nothing to them, as they only wished to continue my "children" and to go wherever i went. i could hardly imagine myself arriving in london with a body-guard of four hundred more or less naked savages, but it was only with difficulty that i persuaded them that they had better remain in their own country. the ever-faithful mahina, my "boy" roshan khan, my honest chaukidar, meeanh, and a few other coolies who had been a long time with me, accompanied me to the coast, where they bade me a sorrowful farewell and left for india the day before i sailed on my homeward journey. chapter xxvii the finding of the new eland during the early part of last year (1906) i revisited the scene of my former labours and adventures on a shooting trip. unfortunately the train by which i travelled up from mombasa reached tsavo at midnight, but all the same i got out and prowled about as long as time would permit, half wondering every moment if the ghosts of the two man-eaters would spring at me out of the bushes. i wanted very much to spend a day or two in the old place, but my companions were anxious to push on as quickly as possible to better hunting-grounds. i took the trouble, however, to wake them out of their peaceful slumbers in order to point out to them, by the pale moonlight, the strength and beauty of the tsavo bridge; but i fear this delicate little attention was scarcely appreciated as it deserved. naturally i could not expect them, or anyone else, to view the bridge quite from my point of view; i looked on it as a child of mine, brought up through stress and danger and troubles of all kinds, but the ordinary traveller of course knows nothing of this and doubtless thinks it only a very commonplace and insignificant structure indeed. we spent a few days at nairobi, now a flourishing town of some 6,000 inhabitants, supplied with every modern comfort and luxury, including a well laid-out race course; and after a short trip to lake victoria nyanza and uganda, we made our way back to the eldama ravine, which lies some twenty miles north of landiani station in the province of naivasha. here we started in earnest on our big game expedition, which i am glad to say proved to be a most delightful and interesting one in every way. the country was lovely, and the climate cool and bracing. we all got a fair amount of sport, our bag including rhino, hippo, waterbuck, reedbuck, hartebeeste, wildebeeste, ostrich, impala, oryx, roan antelope, etc.; but for the present i must confine myself to a short account of how i was lucky enough to shoot a specimen of an entirely new race of eland. our party of five, including one lady who rode and shot equally straight, left the eldama ravine on january 22, and trekked off in an easterly direction across the laikipia plateau. as the trail which we were to take was very little known and almost impossible to follow without a guide, mr. foaker, the district officer at the ravine, very kindly procured us a reliable man--a young uashin gishu masai named uliagurma. but as he could not speak a word of swahili, we had also to engage an interpreter, an excellent, cheery fellow of the same tribe named landaalu; and he in his turn possessed a kinsman who insisted on coming too, although he was no earthly use to us. our route took us through the solai swamp, over the multilo and subu ko lultian ranges, and across many unexpected rivers and streamlets. on our first march i noticed that uliagurma, our kirongozi (guide), was suffering extremely, though uncomplainingly, from earache, so i told him to come to me when we got to camp and i would see what i could do for him. strange to say, my doctoring proved most successful, and uliagurma was so grateful that he spread my fame as a "medicine-man" far and wide among the natives wherever we trekked. the consequence was that men, women and children in every state of disease and crippledom came and besieged our camps, begging for some of the magical dawa (medicine). i used to do what i could, and only hope i did not injure many of them; but it was heartrending to see some of the quite hopeless cases i was expected to cure. after we had climbed the subu ko lultian and got a footing on the plateau, we pitched our camp on the banks of the angarua river, where we found a big masai kraal, the inhabitants of which seemed much astonished at our sudden appearance in their neighbourhood. they were very friendly, however, and visited our camp in swarms an hour or so after our arrival. riding my pony and accompanied by landaalu as interpreter, and my gun-bearer juma, i returned their call in the afternoon, when the elmorani (warriors) gave for my entertainment an exhibition of the gymnastic exercises which they practise regularly in order more particularly to strengthen their legs and render them supple. after the performance i asked if there was any game about and was told that some might be found a few miles to the north of the kraal; so i set out at once with landaalu and juma to try my luck. it was a perfect afternoon, and no sooner had i cleared the belt of scrub which grew round the kraal, when by the aid of my glasses i saw a herd of zebra and other game away in the distance, feeding peacefully on the rolling prairie. i made my way steadily towards them, and noticed as i went that a couple of eland were gradually drawing away from the rest of the herd. i marked these for my own, and carefully noting the direction they were taking, i dismounted and made a detour round a rise so as to lie in wait for them and cut them off. my plan succeeded admirably, for the two fine animals continued to come straight towards me without suspicion, feeding quietly by the way. when they got to within eighty yards or so, i picked out the bigger head and was only waiting for him to make a slight turn before pulling the trigger, when bang went the heavy rifle of one of my companions about half a mile away. in an instant the two eland had bounded off, and i decided not to risk a shot, in the hope that they would soon settle down again and give me another chance. mentally blessing my friend for firing at this untimely moment, i watched them make for a belt of wood about a mile further on, hoping against hope that they would remain on the near side of it. no such luck, however, for they plunged into it and were quickly swallowed up out of my sight. running to my pony, which landaalu had dexterously brought up, i galloped in the direction of the spot in the trees where the eland had disappeared; but imagine my vexation when i found that i had to pull up sharp on the edge of a nasty-looking swamp, which at first sight appeared too boggy and treacherous to attempt to cross. i rode up and down it without being able to find anything like a really safe crossing place, so in desperation i at last determined to take the risk of crossing it along an old rhino path where the reeds were flattened down. my pony floundered bravely through, and eventually succeeded in getting safely to the other side. i then made my way cautiously through the belt of trees, and was relieved to find that it was only half a mile or so broad. i dismounted as i neared the further side, and, tying my pony to a tree, crept quietly forward, expecting to see the eland not far off; but to my disappointment there was no trace of game of any kind on the whole wide stretch of country that met my view. i therefore tried another direction, and, taking a half turn to my left, made my way carefully through some open glades to the top of a little rise not far off. the sight that now met my eyes fairly took my breath away; for there, not three hundred yards off and stalking placidly along at a slow walk, was a herd of fully a hundred eland of all ages and sizes. the rear of the column was brought up by a magnificent old bull, and my heart jumped for joy as i watched him from the shelter of the bushes behind which i lay concealed. the next thing to be done was to decide on a plan of attack, and this had to be thought of without loss of time, for the wind was blowing from me almost in the direction of the eland, who would certainly scent me very soon if i did not get away. quickly noting the direction in which they were moving, i saw that if all went well they ought to pass close to a little hillock about a mile or so off; and if i were very sharp about it, i thought i could make a circuit through the wood and be on this rise, in a good position for both wind and cover, before the herd could reach it. accordingly i crept away with the object of finding my mount, but to my delight--just behind me and well hidden--stood the undefeated landaalu, who in some mysterious way had followed me up, found the pony where i had left it tied to a tree, and brought it on to me. with a bright grin on his face he thrust the reins into my hand, and i was up and galloping off in an instant. i soon discovered that i had further to go than i expected, for i was forced to make a big detour in order to keep out of sight of the herd; but on halting once or twice and peeping through the trees i saw that all was going well and that they were still calmly moving on in the right direction. the last quarter of a mile had to be negotiated in the open, but i found that by lying flat down on my pony's back i was completely hidden from the advancing herd by an intervening swell in the ground. in this manner i managed to get unobserved to the lee of my hillock, where i dismounted, threw the reins over a stump, and crawled stealthily but as quickly as i could to the top. i was in great doubt as to whether i should be in time or not, but on peering, hatless, over the crest, i was overjoyed to find the whole herd just below me. one of the eland, not twenty yards off, saw me at once, and stood still to gaze at me in astonishment. it was a female, however, so i took no notice of her, but looked round to see if my great bull were anywhere near. yes, there he was; he had passed the spot where i lay, but was not more than forty yards off, moving in the same leisurely fashion as when i first saw him. an instant later, he noticed the general alarm caused by my appearance, and stopped and turned half round to see what was the matter. this gave me my opportunity, so i fired, aiming behind the shoulder. the way in which he jumped and kicked on feeling the lead told me i had hit him hard, and i got two more bullets into him from the magazine of my .303 before he managed to gain the shelter of a neighbouring thicket and was lost to sight. in the meantime the whole herd had thundered off at full gallop, disappearing in a few minutes in a cloud of dust. i was confident that there would be little difficulty in finding the wounded eland, and on landaalu coming up--which, by the way, he did almost immediately, for he was a wonderful goer--we started to make a rough search through the thicket. owing to the growing darkness, however, we met with no success, so i decided to return to camp, which was many miles away, and to resume the quest at daybreak the following morning. it turned out that we were even further from home than i thought, and black night came upon us before we had covered a quarter of the distance. fortunately the invaluable landaalu had discovered a good crossing over the swamp, so we were able to press on at a good pace without losing any time in overcoming the obstacle. after an hour or so of hard travelling, we were delighted to see a rocket go up, fired by my friends to guide us on our way. such a sight is wonderfully cheering when one is far away from camp, trudging along in the inky darkness and none too certain of one's direction; and a rocket equipment should invariably be carried by the traveller in the wilds. several more were sent up before we got anywhere near camp, and i remarked to landaalu that we must have gone a very long way after the eland. "long way," he replied; "why, master, we have been to baringo!" this lake as a matter of fact was fully fifty miles away. when finally we arrived i fired the ardour of my companions by relating the adventures of the afternoon and telling them of the wonderful herd i had seen; and it was at once agreed that we should stay where we were for a day or two in the hope of good sport being obtained. as soon as it was daylight the next morning i sent out a party of our porters with full instructions where to find my eland, which i was sure must be lying somewhere in the thicket close to the hill from where i had shot him; and very shortly afterwards we ourselves made a start. after a couple of hours' travelling we were lucky enough to catch sight of a portion of the herd of eland, when we dismounted and stalked them carefully through the long grass. all of a sudden one popped up its head unexpectedly about fifty yards away. one of my companions immediately levelled his rifle at it, but from where i was i could see better than he that the head was a poor one, and so called out to him not to fire. the warning came too late, however, for at that moment he pulled the trigger. it was rather a difficult shot, too, as the body of the animal could not be seen very well owing to the height of the grass; still, as the head instantly disappeared we hoped for the best and ran up to the place, but no trace of the eland could be found. accordingly we pushed on again and after a little rested for a short time under the shade of some trees. we had gone about three miles after resuming our search for game, when one of the porters remembered that he had left the water-bottle he was carrying at the trees where we had halted, so he was sent back for it with strict injunctions to make haste and to rejoin us as quickly as possible. curiously enough, this trifling incident proved quite providential; for the porter (whose name was sabaki), after recovering the water-bottle, found himself unable to trace us through the jungle and accordingly struck home for camp. on his way back he actually stumbled over the dead body of the eland which i had shot the previous day and which the search party i had sent out in the morning had failed to find. they were still looking for it close at hand, however, so sabaki hailed them and they at once set to work to skin and cut up the animal, and then carried it to the camp. meanwhile, of course, we knew nothing of all this, and continued our hunt for game. shortly after noon we had a light lunch, and while we were eating it our guides, uliagurma and landaalu, discovered a bees' nest in a fallen tree and proceeded to try to extract the honey, of which the masai are very fond. this interference was naturally strongly resented by the bees, and soon the semi-naked youths ran flying past us with the angry swarm in full pursuit. i laughed heartily at landaalu, and chaffed him unmercifully for allowing himself, a masai, to be put to flight by a few bees. this the jolly fellow took very good-humouredly, saying that if he only had a jacket like mine he would soon go and get the honey. i gave him my jacket at once, and a most comical figure he cut in it, as it was very short and he had practically nothing else on. when the nest was properly examined, however, it was found that the bees had eaten all the honey; so after taking some photographs of our guides at work among the bees we all proceeded homewards, reaching camp about dusk, with nothing to show for our long day's hunt. we were met by sabaki, who was in a great state of excitement, and who started to explain in very bad swahili how he had come across the dead eland. misunderstanding what he said, i told my friend that sabaki had found the eland which he had shot in the morning, and rejoiced heartily with him at this piece of good luck. on viewing the head, however, we could not understand it, as it was very much bigger than the one he had fired at; and it was not till later in the evening when i visited landaalu, curled up at the camp fire, that the mystery was explained. he greeted me by saying that after all we had not gone to baringo for nothing the previous day, and on my asking him what he meant he told me about the finding of the eland, taking, it for granted that i knew it was mine. i quickly called up sabaki and after some trouble got from him the whole story of how he had found the body close to my little hillock and near where my men were searching for it. so i broke the truth gently to my friend, who at once acknowledged my claim and congratulated me on my good fortune. how great this good fortune was i did not know till long after; but even then, when i came to examine the head and skin carefully, i found that they both differed materially from those of any other eland that i had ever seen. for one thing, there was no long tuft of hair on the forehead, while from the lower corner of each eye ran an incomplete white stripe similar to, though smaller than, those found in the giant eland. the sides of the forehead were of a reddish colour, and on the lower part of the face there was a much larger brown patch than is to be seen on the ordinary eland. the striping on the body was very slight, the chief markings being three lines across the withers. on my return to england in april. i sent the head to rowland ward's to be set up, and while there it was seen by mr. r. lydekker, f.r.s., of the british museum, the well-known naturalist and specialist in big game, who wrote to tell me that it possessed great zoological interest, as showing the existence of a hitherto unknown race of eland. mr. lydekker also contributed the following notice describing the animal to the field of september 29, 1906: "considerable interest attaches to the head of an eland, killed by colonel j.h. patterson in portuguese[1] east africa, and set up by mr. rowland ward, on account of certain peculiarities in colouring and markings, which indicate a transition from the ordinary south african animal in the direction of the giant eland (taurotragus derbianus) of the bahr-el-ghazal district and west africa. in the striped variety (taurotragus oryx livingstonianus) of the ordinary south african eland, the whole middle line of the face of the adult bull is uniformly dark, or even blackish-brown, with a tuft of long bushy hair on the forehead, and no white stripe from the lower angle of the eye. on the other hand, in the sudani form of the giant eland (t. derbianus gigas), as represented by a bull figured by mr. rothschild in novitates zoologicae for 1905, the upper part of the face has the hair rufous and shorter than in the ordinary eland, while from the lower angle of each eye a white stripe runs inwards and downwards, recalling the white chevron of the kudu, although the two stripes do not meet in the middle line. "in colonel patterson's eland (which may well be designated t. oryx pattersonianus) there is an incomplete white chevron similar to, although rather smaller than, the one found in the giant eland, while only a narrow stripe in the middle line of the face, above and between the eyes, is dark-brown, the sides of the forehead being rufous. on the lower part of the face there is a larger dark-brown area than in the ordinary eland, although there is a rufous fawn-coloured patch on each side above the nostril. in both the latter respects colonel patterson's specimen recalls the giant eland, although it apparently lacks the dark white-bordered band on the side of the neck, characteristic of the latter. if all the elands from that part of portuguese east africa where colonel patterson's specimen was obtained turn out to be of the same type, there will be a strong presumption that the true and the giant eland, like the various local forms of giraffe and bonte-quagga, are only races of one and the same species. while, even if the present specimen be only a 'sport' (which i consider unlikely), it will serve to show that the southern and northern elands are more nearly related than has hitherto been supposed." 1 in error for "british." as my eland thus proved to be of some considerable scientific value, and as the authorities of the british museum expressed a desire to possess its head, i gladly presented it to the trustees, so that all sportsmen and naturalists might have an opportunity of seeing it at the natural history museum at south kensington, where it now is. appendix i. sportsmen who think of visiting british east africa on a shooting trip may be glad of a few general hints on points of interest and importance. the battery, to be sufficient for all needs, should consist of a .450 express, a .303 sporting rifle, and a 12-bore shot gun; and i should consider 250 rounds of .450 (50 hard and 200 soft), 300 rounds of .303 (100 hard and 200 soft), and 500 12-bore shot cartridges of say, the 6 and 8 sizes, sufficient for a three months' trip. leather bandoliers to carry 50 each of these different cartridges would also prove very useful. a couple of hundred rockets of various colours should certainly be taken, as they are invaluable for signalling to and from camp after dark. these can be obtained so as to fire from a 12-bore shot gun or from a short pistol, and some should always be left with the camp neopara (headman) for use as occasion requires. the rifles, cartridges, and rockets should be consigned to an agent in mombasa, and sent off from london in tin-lined cases at least a month before the sportsman himself intends to start. it must be remembered that the customs house at mombasa charges a 10 per cent duty on the value of all articles imported, so that the invoices should be preserved and produced for inspection. the hunter's kit should include a good pith sunhat, a couple of suits of khaki, leather gaiters or a couple of pairs of puttees, wash-leather gloves to protect the hands from the sun, and two pairs of boots with hemp soles; long norwegian boots will also be found very useful. the usual underclothing worn in england is all that is required if the shooting is to be done in the highlands. a good warm overcoat will be much appreciated up-country in the cool of the evenings, and a light mackintosh for wet weather ought also to be included. for use in rocky or thorny country, a pair of knee and elbow pads will be found invaluable, and those who feel the sun should also provide themselves with a spine-protector. the latter is a most useful article of kit, for although the air may be pretty cool, the sun strikes down very fiercely towards midday. a well-filled medicine chest should of course not be forgotten. a good field glass, a hunting and skinning knife or two, and a kodak with about 200 films should also be carried. with regard to the last item, i should strongly advise all who intend to take photographs on their trip to pay a visit to mr. w.d. young on arriving at nairobi. he is an enthusiastic photographer, and will gladly give advice to all as to light and time of exposure; and as these are the two points which require most attention, hints from some one of experience in the country are most useful. i myself am much indebted to mr. young's kindly advice, and i am sure i should not have achieved much success in my pictures without it. i made it a practice on my last visit to the country to send him the exposed films for development whenever i reached a postal station, and i should recommend others to do the same, as films deteriorate rapidly on the voyage home; indeed i had nearly four hundred spoiled in this way, taken when i was in the country in 1898-99. as regards camp equipment, all that need be taken out from england are a small double-fly tent, three jaeger blankets, a collapsible bath, a wolseley valise, and a good filter; and even these can be obtained just as good locally. chop boxes (food) and other necessary camp gear should be obtained at mombasa or nairobi, where the agents will put up just what is necessary. about a month before sailing from england a letter should be sent to the agents, stating the date of arrival and what porters, etc., will be required. the sportsman will then find everything ready for him, so that an immediate start may be made. unless money is no object, i should not advise anyone to engage porters at mombasa, as equally good men can be obtained at nairobi, thus saving 20 rupees per head in return railway fares. it must be remembered that for transport work men are infinitely preferable to donkeys, as the latter are exasperatingly slow and troublesome, especially on rough ground or on crossing streams, where every load has to be unpacked, carried over, and then reloaded on the animal's back. the caravan for one sportsman--if he intends going far from the railway--is usually made up as follows, though the exact numbers depend upon many considerations: 1 headman ................ 50 rupees[1] per month. 1 cook ................... 35 " " 1 gun-bearer ............. 20 " " 1 "boy" (personal servant) 20 " " 2 askaris (armed porters). 12 " " each. 30 porters ................ 10 " " each. [1] the rupee in british east africa is on the basis of 15 to the pound sterling. the porters are all registered, the government taking a small fee for the registration; and according to custom half the wages due for the whole trip are advanced to the men before a start is made. the sportsman is obliged to provide each porter with a jersey, blanket and water-bottle, while the gun-bearer and "boy" get a pair of boots in addition. a cotton shelter-tent and a cooking pot must also be furnished for every five men. the food for the caravan is mostly rice, of which the headman gets two kibabas (a kibaba is about 1-1/2 lb.) per day; the cook, gun-bearer, "boy" and askaris one and a half kibabas, and the ordinary porters, one kibaba, each per day. it is the duty of the headman to keep discipline on the safari (caravan journey), both in camp and on the march, and to see to the distribution and safety of the loads, the pitching and striking of camp, the issue of posho (food) to the porters, etc. he always brings up the rear of the caravan, and on him depends greatly the general comfort of the sportsman. for our trip at the beginning of 1906, we managed to secure a splendid neapara, and never had the least trouble with the porters all the time. his only drawback was that he could not speak english, but he told me when he left us that he was going to learn. anybody securing him as headman will be lucky; his name is munyaki bin dewani, and he can easily be found at mombasa. the cook is also an important member of the caravan, and a good one should be procured if possible. it is wonderful what an experienced native mpishi (cook) can turn out in the way of a meal in a few minutes after camp is pitched. as gun-bearer, most hunters prefer a somali. i have never tried one, but am told that they are inclined to be troublesome; they certainly rate themselves very highly, and demand about four times as much wages as an equally good swahili. in camp, the duties of the askaris are to keep up the fire and watch at night, and to pitch and strike the bwana's (master's) tent. on the march one leads the caravan, the other brings up the rear; they give assistance in the event of any trouble with the loads, see that no desertions take place, allow no straggling and generally do what they can to protect the caravan. they are each armed with an old snider rifle and 10 rounds of ball cartridge, and are generally very dangerous men to their friends when they take it into their heads to fire their weapons. the ordinary porters will carry their 60-lb. loads day in and day out without complaint, so long as they are, well fed; but stint them of their rice, and they at once become sulky mutineers. in addition to carrying the loads, they pitch and strike camp, procure firewood and water, and build grass huts if a stay of more than a day is intended to be made at one place. on the whole, the swahili porter is one of the jolliest and most willing fellows in the world, and i have nothing but praise for him. it may be that our sportsman intends to confine his shooting trip to the neighbourhood of the railway; in this case, the best plan is to hire one of the special carriages from the traffic manager of the uganda railway. these carriages, which have good sleeping, cooking, and bath accommodation, can be attached to almost any train, and moved from station to station or left standing in a siding at the directions of the hunter. this is the cheapest and most comfortable way of spending a short time in the country, as no tent, camp equipment, or regular porters are required; and some quite good sport can be obtained into the bargain. again, if the hunter intends shooting, say, in the kenya province, as many porters as he requires may be obtained from the official in charge at fort hall. the pay of the kikuyu porter in such circumstances is only two annas a day, while he provides his own food; neither is the sportsman asked to furnish him with a blanket, jersey, and water-bottle so long as he is not taken out of his own province. each province is, in fact, governed as regards porters by its own special conditions, which can easily be ascertained on arrival in the country. there are three lines of steamers which have direct sailings to mombasa about once a month. two of these (the union-castle and the german east african lines) sail from southampton, calling at marseilles, while the third (the messageries-maritimes) starts from the latter port. as a rule travellers to east africa journey by the overland route to marseilles and thence on by steamer to mombasa--the whole journey from london averaging about eighteen days. the present fares for the best accommodation from london to mombasa by the union-castle line (including railway ticket to marseilles) are as follows first-class single, about 48 pounds; return (available for one year) about 93 pounds. the fares by the german east african line (including railway ticket to marseilles) are:--first-class; single, about 48 pounds. the return fare (available for one; year) is double the single fare, less 10 per cent, of ocean part of journey. by the messageries-maritimes line the through first-class single fare from london to mombasa (including railway ticket to marseilles) is about 48 pounds. the return fare (available for two years) is about 72 pounds. fairly good hotel accommodation can be had at both mombasa and nairobi. before any shooting can be done it is necessary to take out a game license, which may be obtained without difficulty at either of these two centres. this license (which costs 50 pounds) imposes an obligation on the sportsman to make a return before he leaves the country of every animal shot by him. by obtaining a special license two elephants, a giraffe, greater kudu, buffalo and eland may be shot; but there are various stipulations and fees attaching to this license which alter from time to time. fairly good maps of the country may be obtained at stanford's, long acre, w.c., while the game laws and regulations can be procured from the colonial office in downing street. passenger trains leave mombasa at 11 a.m. on mondays, wednesdays, fridays, and saturdays, and are timed to arrive at nairobi at 11:15 next morning and at kisumu (the railway terminus on lake victoria nyanza) at 9 o'clock on the morning following. the first-class return fares from mombasa to nairobi, kisumu, and entebbe are 5 pounds 17s. 9d., 10 pounds 10s. 3d., and 13 pounds 13s. 3d. respectively. it is unnecessary to specify district by district when particular species of game are to be found, for the sportsman can easily learn this for himself and get the latest news of game movements on his arrival at mombasa. as a matter of fact, the whole country abounds in game, and there cannot be lack of sport and trophies for the keen shikari. the heads and skins should be very carefully sun-dried and packed in tin-lined cases with plenty of moth-killer for shipment home. for mounting his trophies the sportsman cannot do better, i think, than go to rowland ward of piccadilly. i have had mine set up by this firm for years past, and have always found their work excellent. i consider that 400 pounds should cover the entire cost of a three months' shooting trip to east africa, including passage both ways. the frugal sportsman will doubtless do it on less, while the extravagant man will probably spend very much more. should time be available, a trip to the victoria nyanza should certainly be made. the voyage round the lake in one of the comfortable railway steamers takes about eight days, but the crossing to entebbe, the official capital of uganda, can be done in seventeen hours, though it usually takes twenty-seven, as at night the boats anchor for shelter under the lee of an island. the steamer remains long enough in entebbe harbour to enable the energetic traveller to pay a flying visit in a rickshaw to kampala, the native capital, some twenty-one miles off. i spent a most interesting day last year in this way, and had a chat with the boy king of uganda, daudi chwa, at mengo. he was then about nine years old, and very bright and intelligent. he made no objection to my taking his photograph, but it unfortunately turned out a failure. it is curious to find the baganda (i.e., people of uganda) highly civilised--the majority are christians--surrounded as they are on all sides by nations of practically naked savages; and it is a very interesting, sight to watch them in the "bazaar" at kampala, clad in long flowing cotton garments, and busily engaged in bartering the products of the country under the shade of tattered umbrellas. unfortunately the great scourge of the district round the shores of the lake is the sleeping sickness, which in the past few years has carried off thousands of the natives, and has quite depopulated the islands, which were once densely inhabited. the disease is communicated by the bite of an infected fly, but happily this pest is only found in certain well-defined regions, so that if the traveller avoids these he is quite as safe, as regards sleeping sickness, as if he had remained in england. on the return journey from entebbe, jinja, a port on the north side of the victoria nyanza, is usually called at. this place is of great interest, as it is here that the lake narrows into a breadth of only a few hundred yards, and, rushing over the ripon falls, forms the long-sought-for source of the nile. the magnificent view of the mighty river stretching away to the north amid enchanting scenery is most inspiring and one can well imagine how elated speke must have felt when after enduring countless hardships, he at last looked upon it and thus solved one of the great problems the ancients. ii. the following, is a literal translation of the hindustani poem referred to on p. 104:-in the name of allah, the merciful, the compassionate: first must i speak to the praise and glory of god, who is infinite and incomprehensible, who is without fault or error, who is the life, though without body or breath. he has no relatives, nor father nor son, being himself incomparable and passionless. his is the knowledge of the known and of the unknown, and although without a tongue, yet does he speak in mighty tones. i, roshan, came to this country of africa, and did find it indeed a strange land; many rocks, mountains, and dense forests abounding in lions and leopards; also buffaloes, wolves, deer, rhinoceroses, elephants, camels, and all enemies of man; gorillas, ferocious monkeys that attack men, black baboons of giant size, spirits, and thousands of varieties of birds; wild horses, wild dogs, black snakes, and all animals that a hunter or sportsman could desire. the forests are so dark and dreadful that even the boldest warriors shrink from their awful depths. now from the town of mombasa, a railway line extends unto uganda; in the forests bordering on this line, there are found those lions called "man-eaters," and moreover these forests are full of thorns and prickly shrubs. portions of this railway from mombasa to uganda are still being made, and here these lions fell on the workmen and destroyed them. such was their habit, day and night, and hundreds of men fell victims to these savage creatures, whose very jaws were steeped in blood. bones, flesh, skin and blood, they devoured all, and left not a trace behind them. because of the fear of these demons some seven or eight hundred of the labourers deserted, and remained idle; some two or three hundred still remained, but they were haunted by this terrible dread, and because of fear for their lives, would sit in their huts, their hearts full of foreboding and terror. every one of them kept a fire burning at night, and none dared to close his eyes in sleep; yet would some of them be carried away to destruction. the lion's roar was such that the very earth would tremble at the sound, and where was the man who did not feel afraid? on all sides arose weeping and wailing, and the people would sit and cry like cranes, complaining of the deeds of the lions. i, roshan, chief of my people, also complained and prayed to god, the prophet, and to our spiritual adviser. and now will i relate the story of the engineer in charge of the line. he kept some ten or twenty goats, for the sake of their milk; but one night a wild beast came, and destroyed them all, not one being left. and in the morning it was reported by the watchman, who also stated that the man-eater was daily destroying the labourers and workmen, and doing great injury; and they took the engineer with them and showed him the footprints of the animal. and after seeing what the animal had done, the englishman spoke, and said, "for this damage the lion shall pay his life." and when night came he took his gun and in very truth destroyed the beast. patterson sahib is indeed a brave and valiant man, like unto those persian heroes of old--rustem, zal, sohrab and berzoor; so brave is he, that the greatest warriors stood aghast at his action; tall in stature, young, most brave and of great strength is he. from the other side of the line came the noise and cries of those who complained that these savage beasts were eating and destroying men, for such has been the habit of lions from time immemorial, and groups of people have fallen victims to their fury. those who were proud or boastful, have but sacrificed their lives uselessly; but to-day patterson sahib will watch for the lion himself! for the people have complained loudly, and the valiant one has gone forth with his gun into the forest. soon after the people had retired at night to their tents, the fearless lion made his appearance; patterson sahib loaded both barrels of his gun and went forth against him. he fired many times in succession and totally paralysed the animal. the lion roared like thunder as the bullets found their way to his heart. this englishman, patterson, is most brave, and is indeed the very essence of valour; lions do not fear lions, yet one glance from patterson sahib cowed the bravest of them. he fled, making for the forest, while the bullets followed hard after him; so was this man-eater rendered helpless; he lay down in despair, and after he had covered a chain's distance, the savage beast fell down, a corpse. now the people, bearing lights in their hands, all ran to look at their dead enemy. but the sahib said "return, my children; the night is dark, do not rush into danger." and in the morning all the people saw the lion lying dead. and then the sahib said, "do not think of work to-day--make holiday, enjoy and be merry." so the people had holiday and made merry with friends from whom they had been long parted, on account of the lion: and the absence of those who had run away was forgiven, and their money allowed them--a generous action, comparable to the forgiveness of god and the prophet to sinners and criminals on the day of judgment. oh! poet, leave this kind of simile, it is too deep for thee; we mortals have the devil, like unto a fierce lion, ever after us; oh! roshan, may god, the prophet, and your spiritual adviser, safeguard you day and night! one lion, however, remained, and for fear of him all went in dread; sixteen days passed, all being well, and everyone enjoyed a peaceful mind; but again, on the seventeenth day, the lion appeared and remained from sunset to sunrise. he kept on roaming about in the neighbourhood like a general reconnoitring the enemy's position. on the following day the sahib sent for the people and warned them all to be careful of their lives; "do not go out from the afternoon even until the following morning," he said. now this was the night of shab-i-kadr, a muslim festival: and at night when all had retired to rest, the lion came in a rage, and patterson sahib went forth into the field to meet him. and when he saw the beast, he fired quickly, bullet after bullet. the lion made a great uproar, and fled for his life, but the bullets nevertheless found a resting-place in his heart. and everyone began to shriek and groan in their uneasy sleep, jumping up in fear, when unexpectedly the roaring of the lion was heard. all thought of sleep was banished, and fear came in its place: and the sahib gave emphatic orders that no one should go out, or roam about. and in the morning we followed the marks of blood that had flowed from the wounded animal, and some five or seven chains away, we found the lion, lying wounded and in great pain. and when the sahib saw the animal he fired bullets incessantly; but when the lion saw the sahib, the savage animal, burning with rage, and pain, came by leaps and bounds close to the sahib; but here he was to meet his match in a brave sahib who loaded his gun calmly, and fired again and again, killing the beast. all the punjaubis assembled together and agreed that the sahib was a man who appreciated and cared for others, so much so that he roamed about in the forests for our sake, in order to protect us. previously, many englishmen had come here to shoot but had been disappointed, because the lion was very courageous and ferocious, and the sahibs were afraid; but for the sake of our lives, patterson sahib took all this trouble, risking his own life in the forest. so they collected many hundreds of rupees, and offered it as a present to the sahib, because he had undergone such peril, in order to save our lives. oh! roshan, all the people appeared before the sahib saying, "you are our benefactor"; but the sahib declined to accept the present, not taking a pice of it. so then again the punjaubis assembled, and consulted as to how the service that the sahib had done them could most suitably he rewarded. and it was agreed to send all the money to england, in order that it might be converted into some suitable present, which should bear an engraving of the two lions, and the name of the mistari[1], head of the workmen. the present should be such, and so suitably decorated, as to be acceptable to patterson sahib; in colour it should resemble moon and sun; and that would indeed be a fit present, so that the sahib would be pleased to accept it. oh! roshan, i hope that he will accept this present for shooting the lions, as some small reward for his action. my native home is at chajanlat, in the thana of domli, which is in the district of jhelum, and i have related this story as it actually occurred. patterson sahib has left me, and i shall miss him as long as i live, and now roshan must roam about in africa, sad and regretful. [1] foreman-mason. composed by roshan mistari, son of kadur mistari bakhsh, native of the village of chajanlat, dakhli, post office domli, district of jhelum. dated 29th january, 1899. note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the numerous original illustrations. see 21254-h.htm or 21254-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/1/2/5/21254/21254-h/21254-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/1/2/5/21254/21254-h.zip) transcriber's note: words or phrases in italics are enclosed beetwee underscores, such as _italic_. [drawing: . . .] indicates a hand-drawn illustration in africa hunting adventures in the big game country by john t. mccutcheon cartoonist of the chicago tribune illustrated with photographs and cartoons by the author [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. one morning's bag] indianapolis the bobbs-merrill company publishers copyright 1910 the tribune company, chicago copyright 1910 the bobbs-merrill company press of braunworth & co. bookbinders and printers brooklyn, n.y. to those adventurous souls who resent the restraint of the beaten path these observations of an amateur are dedicated prefatory note this collection of african stories has no pretentious purpose. it is merely the record of a most delightful hunting trip into those fascinating regions along the equator, where one may still have "thrilling adventures" and live in a story-book atmosphere, where the "roar of the lion" and the "crack of the rifle" are part of the every-day life, and where in a few months one may store up enough material to keep the memory pleasantly occupied all the rest of a lifetime. the stories are descriptive of a four-and-a-half months' trip in the big game country and pretend to no more serious purpose than merely to relate the experiences of a self-confessed amateur under such conditions. john t. mccutcheon _august, 1910_ contents chapter one page the preparation for departure. experiences with willing friends and advisers 1 chapter two the first half of the voyage. from naples to the red sea, with a few side-lights on indian ocean travel 13 chapter three the island of mombasa, with the jungles of equatorial africa "only a few blocks away." a story of the world's champion man-eating lions 28 chapter four on the edge of the athi plains, face to face with herds of wild game. up in a balloon at nairobi 43 chapter five into the heart of the big game country with a retinue of more than one hundred natives. a safari and what it is 65 chapter six a lion drive. with a rhino in range some one shouts "simba" and i get my first glimpse of a wild lion. three shots and out 82 chapter seven on the tana river, the home of the rhino. the timid are frightened, the dangerous killed, and others photographed. moving pictures of a rhino charge 105 chapter eight meeting colonel roosevelt in the uttermost outpost of semi-civilization. he talks of many things, hears that he has been reported dead, and promptly plans an elephant hunt 123 chapter nine the colonel reads macaulay's "essays," discourses on many subjects with great frankness, declines a drink of scotch whisky, and kills three elephants 141 chapter ten elephant hunting not an occasion for lightsome merrymaking. five hundred thousand acres of forest in which the kenia elephant lives, wanders and brings up his children 164 chapter eleven nine days without seeing an elephant. the roosevelt party departs and we march for the mountains on our big elephant hunt. the policeman of the plains 184 chapter twelve "twas the day before christmas." photographing a charging elephant, cornering a wounded elephant in a river jungle growth. a thrilling charge. hassan's courage 201 chapter thirteen in the swamps of the guas ngishu. beating for lions we came upon a strange and fascinating wild beast, which became attached to our party. the little wanderobo dog 214 chapter fourteen who's who in jungleland. the hartebeest and the wildebeest, the amusing giraffe and the ubiquitous zebra, the lovely gazelle and the gentle impalla 233 chapter fifteen some natural history in which it is revealed that a sing-sing waterbuck is not a singing topi, and that a topi is not a species of head-dress 251 chapter sixteen in the tall grass of the mount elgon country. a narrow escape from a long-horned rhino. a thanksgiving dinner and a visit to a native village 269 chapter seventeen up and down the mountain side from the ketosh village to the great cave of bats. a dramatic episode with the finding of a black baby as a climax 291 chapter eighteen electric lights, motor-cars and fifteen varieties of wild game. chasing lions across the country in a carriage 313 chapter nineteen the last word in lion hunting. methods of trailing, ensnaring and otherwise outwitting the king of beasts. a chapter of adventures 325 chapter twenty abdullah the cook and some interesting gastronomic experiences. thirteen tribes represented in the safari. abdi's story of his uncle and the lions 341 chapter twenty-one back home from africa. ninety days on the way through india, java, china, manila and japan. three chow dogs and a final series of amusing adventures 360 chapter twenty-two ways and means. what to take and what not to take. information for those that wish, intend or hope to hunt in the african highlands 384 in africa chapter i the preparation for departure. experiences with willing friends and advisers ever since i can remember, almost, i have cherished a modest ambition to hunt lions and elephants. at an early age, or, to be more exact, at about that age which finds most boys wondering whether they would rather be indian fighters or sailors, i ran across a copy of stanley's _through the dark continent_. it was full of fascinating adventures. i thrilled at the accounts which spoke in terms of easy familiarity of "express" rifles and "elephant" guns, and in my vivid but misguided imagination, i pictured an elephant gun as a sort of cannon--a huge, unwieldy arquebus--that fired a ponderous shell. the old woodcuts of daring hunters and charging lions inspired me with unrest and longing--the longing to bid the farm farewell and start down the road for africa. africa! what a picture it conjured up in my fancy! then, as even now, it symbolized a world of adventurous possibilities; and in my boyhood fancy, it lay away off there--somewhere--vaguely--beyond mountains and deserts and oceans, a vast, mysterious, unknown land, that swarmed with inviting dangers and alluring romance. one by one my other youthful ambitions have been laid away. i have given up hope of ever being an indian fighter out on the plains, because the pesky redskins have long since ceased to need my strong right arm to quell them. i also have yielded up my ambition to be a sailor, or rather, that branch of the profession in which i hoped to specialize--piracy--because, for some regretful reason, piracy has lost much of its charm in these days of great liners. there is no treasure to search for any more, and the golden age of the splendid clipper ships, with their immense spread of canvas, has given way to the unromantic age of the grimy steamer, about which there is so little to appeal to the imagination. consequently, lion hunting is about the only thing left--except wars, and they are few and far between. and so, after suffering this "lion-hunting" ambition to lie fallow for many years, i at last reached a day when it seemed possible to realize it. the chance came in a curiously unexpected way. mr. akeley, a man famed in african hunting exploits, was to deliver a talk before a little club to which i belonged. i went, and as a result of my thrilled interest in every word he said, i met him and talked with him and finally was asked to join a new african expedition that he had in prospect. with the party were to be mrs. akeley, with a record of fourteen months in the big game country, and mr. stephenson, a hunter with many years of experience in the wild places of the united states, canada and mexico. my hunting experience had been chiefly gained in my library, but for some strange reason, it did not seem incongruous that i should begin my real hunting in a lion and elephant country. [drawing: _getting ready for lion shooting_] i had all the prowess of a tartarin, and during the five months that elapsed before i actually set forth, i went about my daily work with a mind half dazed with the delicious consciousness that i was soon to become a lion hunter. i feared that modern methods might have taken away much of the old-time romance of the sport, but i felt certain that there was still to be something left in the way of excitement and adventure. the succeeding pages of this book contain the chronicle of the nine delightful months that followed my departure from america. in the middle of august mr. stephenson and i arrived in london. mr. akeley had ordered most of our equipment by letter, but there still remained many things to be done, and for a week or more we were busy from morning till night. it is amazing how much stuff is required to outfit a party of four people for an african shooting expedition of several months' duration. first in importance come the rifles, then the tents and camp equipment, then the clothes and boots, then the medical supplies, and finally the food. perhaps the food might be put first in importance, but just now, after a hearty dinner, it seems to be the least important detail. many men outfitting for an african campaign among wild animals secure their outfits in london. it is there, in modest little shops, that one gets the weapons that are known to sportsmen from one end of the world to the other--weapons designed expressly for the requirements of african shooting, and which have long stood the test of hard, practical service. for two days we haunted these famous gun-makers' shops, and for two days i made a magnificent attempt to look learnedly at things about which i knew little. [drawing: _practising in the museum_] at last, after many hours of gun shopping, attended by the constant click of a taxicab meter, i assembled such an imposing arsenal that i was nervous whenever i thought about it. with such a battery it was a foregone conclusion that something, or somebody, was likely to get hurt. i hoped that it would be something, and not somebody. the old-time "elephant gun" which shot an enormous ball and a staggering charge of black powder has given way to the modern double-barreled rifle, with its steel bullet and cordite powder. it is not half so heavy or clumsy as the old timers, but its power and penetration are tremendous. the largest of this modern type is the .650 cordite--that is, it shoots a bullet six hundred and fifty thousandths of an inch in diameter, and has a frightful recoil. this weapon is prohibitive on account of its recoil, and few, if any, sportsmen now care to carry one. the most popular type is the .450 and .475 cordite double-barreled ejector, hammerless rifles, and these are the ones that every elephant hunter should have. we started out with the definite purpose of getting three .450s--one for mr. akeley, one for mr. stephenson, and one for myself; also three nine-millimeter (.375) mannlichers and two .256 mannlichers. what we really got were three .475 cordites, two nine-millimeter mannlichers, one eight-millimeter mauser, and two .256 mannlichers. we were switched off the .450s because a government regulation forbids the use of that caliber in uganda, although it is permitted in british east africa, and so we played safe by getting the .475s. this rifle is a heavy gun that carries a bullet large enough to jolt a fixed star and recoil enough to put one's starboard shoulder in the hospital for a day or so. theoretically, the sportsman uses this weapon in close quarters, and with a bullet placed according to expert advice sees the charging lion, rhino or elephant turn a back somersault on his way to kingdom come. it has a tremendous impact and will usually stop an animal even if the bullet does not kill it. the bullets of a smaller rifle may kill the animal, but not stop it at once. an elephant or lion, with a small bullet in its heart, may still charge for fifty or one hundred yards before it falls. hence the necessity for a rifle that will shock as well as penetrate. [drawing: _advice from a cheerful stranger_] several experienced african lion hunters strongly advise taking a "paradox," which in their parlance is affectionately called a "cripple-stopper." it looks like what one would suppose an elephant gun to look like. its weight is staggering, and it shoots a solid ball, backed up by a fearful charge of cordite. they use it under the following conditions: suppose that a big animal has been wounded and not instantly killed. it at once assumes the aggressive, and is savage beyond belief. the pain of the wound infuriates it and its one object in life is to get at the man who shot it. it charges in a well-nigh irresistible rush, and no ordinary bullet can stop it unless placed in one or two small vital spots. under the circumstances the hunter may not be able to hold his rifle steady enough to hit these aforesaid spots. that is when the paradox comes in. the hunter points it in a general way in the direction of the oncoming beast, pulls the trigger and hopes for the best. the paradox bullet hits with the force of a sledge hammer, and stuns everything within a quarter of a mile, and the hunter turns several back somersaults from the recoil and fades into bruised unconsciousness. we decided not to get the paradox, preferring to trust to hitting the small vital spots rather than transport the weapon by hand through long tropical marches. the nine-millimeter rifles were said to be large enough for nearly all purposes, but not reassuring in extremely close quarters. the .256 mannlichers are splendid for long range shooting, as they carry a small bore bullet and have enormous penetrating power. the presumption, therefore, was that we should first shoot the lion at long range with the .256, then at a shorter range with the nine-millimeter, then at close range with the .475 cordite, and then perhaps fervently wish that we had the paradox or a balloon. after getting our arsenal, we then had to get the cartridges, all done up in tin boxes of a weight not exceeding sixty pounds, that being the limit of weight which the african porter is expected to carry. there were several thousand rounds of ammunition, but this did not mean that several thousand lions were to be killed. allowing for a fair percentage of misses, we calculated, if lucky, to get one or two lions. after getting our rifles and ammunition under satisfactory headway, we then saw that our seventy-two "chop" boxes of food were sure to be ready in time to catch our steamer at southampton. and yet these preliminary details did not half conclude our shopping preliminaries in london. there were camping rugs, blankets, cork mattresses, pillows and pillow cases, bed bags, towels, lanterns, mosquito boots, whetstones, hunting and skinning knives, khaki helmets, pocket tapes to measure trophies, pasteur anti-venomous serum, hypodermic syringes, chairs, tables, cots, puttees, sweaters, raincoats, jaeger flannels, socks and pajamas, cholera belts, burberry hunting clothes, and lots of other little odds and ends that seemed to be necessary. the clothes were put up in air-proof tin uniform cases, small enough to be easily carried by a porter and secure enough to keep out the millions of ants that were expected to seek habitation in them. [drawing: _part of the equipment_] most of our equipment, especially the food supplies, had been ordered by letter, and these we found to be practically ready. the remaining necessities, guns, ammunition, camera supplies, medical supplies, clothes, helmets, and so on, we assembled after two days of prodigious hustling. there was nothing then to be done except to hope that all our mountainous mass of equipment would be safely installed on the steamer for mombasa. this steamer, the _adolph woermann_, sailed from hamburg on the fourteenth of august, was due at southampton on the eighteenth and at naples on the thirtieth. to avoid transporting the hundred cases of supplies overland to naples, it was necessary to get them to southampton on the eighteenth. it was a close shave, for only by sending them down by passenger train on that morning were they able to reach southampton. fortunately our hopes were fulfilled, and at last we received word that they were on board and were careening down toward naples, where we expected to join them on the thirtieth. [drawing: map] [drawing: map] [drawing: _studying the lion's vital spots_] after disposing of this important preliminary, we then had time to visit the zoo at south kensington and the british museum of natural history, where we carefully studied many of the animals that we hoped to meet later under less formal conditions. we picked out the vital spots, as seen from all angles, and nothing then remained to be done but to get down to british east africa with our rifles and see whether we could hit those vital spots. mr. akeley had an elaborate moving picture machine and we planned to get some excellent pictures of charging animals. the lion, rhino or other subject was to be allowed to charge within a few feet of the camera and then with a crack of our trusty rifles he was supposed to stop. we seemed safe in assuming, even without exaggeration, that this would be exciting. it was at least that. at last we said farewell to london, a one-sided ceremony, stopped at rheims to see the aviators, joined the akeleys at paris, and after touching a few of the high spots in europe, arrived in naples in ample time to catch our boat for mombasa. chapter ii the first half of the voyage. from naples to the red sea, with a few side lights on indian ocean travel lion hunting had not been fraught with any great hardships or dangers up to this time. the mediterranean was as smooth as a mill-pond, the suez canal was free from any tempestuous rolling, and the red sea was placid and hot. after some days we were in the indian ocean, plowing lazily along and counting the hours until we reached mombasa. perhaps after that the life of a lion hunter would be less tranquil and calm. the _adolph woermann_ was a six-thousand-three-hundred-ton ship, three years old, and so heavily laden with guns and ammunition and steel rails for the tanga railway that it would hardly roll in a hurricane. there were about sixty first-class passengers on board and a fair number in the second class. these passengers represented a dozen or so different nationalities, and were bound for all sorts of places in east, central, and south africa. some were government officials going out to their stations, some were army officers, some were professional hunters, and some were private hunters going out "for" to shoot. there were also a number of women on board and some children. i don't know how many children there were, but in the early morning there seemed to be a great number. these indian ocean steamers are usually filled with an interesting lot of passengers. at first you may only speculate as to who and what they are and whither they are bound, but as the days go by you get acquainted with many of them and find out who nearly everybody is and all about him. on this steamer there were several interesting people. first in station and importance was sir percy girouard, the newly appointed governor of british east africa, who was going out to nairobi to take his position. sir percy is a splendid type of man, only about forty-two years old, but with a career that has been filled with brilliant achievements. he was born in canada and was knighted in 1900. he looks as colonel roosevelt looked ten years ago, and, in spite of a firm, definite personality of great strength, is also courteous and kindly. he has recently been the governor of northern nigeria, and before that time served in south africa and the soudan. it was of him that lord kitchener said "the soudan railway would never have been built without his services." the new governor was accompanied by two staff officers, one a scotchman and the other an irishman, and both of them with the clean, healthy look of the young british army officer. there would be a big reception at mombasa, no doubt, with bands a-playing and fireworks popping, when the ship arrived with the new executive. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. "crossing the line" ceremonies] [photograph: mr. stephenson, mr. and mrs. akeley and mr. mccutcheon. courtesy of boyce balloonagraph expedition] [drawing: _before and after outfitting_] there were also several officials with high-sounding titles who were going out to their stations in german east africa. these gentlemen were mostly accompanied by wives and babies and between them they imparted a spirited scene of domesticity to the life on shipboard. the effect of a man wheeling a baby carriage about the deck was to make one think of some peaceful place far from the deck of a steamer. little tim was the life of the ship. he was a little boy aged eighteen months, who began life at sombra, in nyassaland, british central africa. just now he was returning from england with his father and mother. little tim had curly hair, looked something like a brownie, and was brimming over with energy and curiosity every moment that he was awake. if left alone five minutes he was quite likely to try to climb up the rigging. consequently he was never left alone, and the decks were constantly echoing with a fond mother's voice begging him not to "do that," or to "come right here, tim." one of tim's chief diversions was to divest himself of all but his two nearest articles of wear and sit in the scuppers with the water turned on. a crowd of passengers was usually grouped around him and watched his manoeuvers with intense interest. he was probably photographed a hundred times and envied by everybody on board. it was so fearfully hot in the red sea that to be seated in running water with almost no clothes on seemed about the nicest possible way to pass the time. [drawing: _little tim_] there was a professional elephant hunter on board. he was a quiet, reserved sort of man, pleasant, and not at all bloodthirsty in appearance. he had spent twenty years shooting in africa, and had killed three hundred elephants. on his last trip, during which he spent nearly four years in the congo, he secured about two and one-half tons of ivory. this great quantity of tusks, worth nearly five dollars a pound, brought him over twenty thousand dollars, after paying ten per cent. to the congo government. the belgians place no limit upon the number of elephants one may shoot, just so they get their rake-off. in british territory, however, sportsmen are limited to only two elephants a year to those holding licenses to shoot. our elephant hunter friend was now on his way back to shoot some more. [drawing: _the elephant hunter and his bag_] there was another interesting character on board who caused many of us to stop and think. he was a young british army officer who was mauled by a lioness several months ago in somaliland. he now walked with a decided limp and was likely to lose his commission in the army because of physical infirmities. he was cheerful, pleasant, and looked hopefully forward to a time when he could have another go at a lion. this is the way the thing happened: last march he was shooting in somaliland and ran across a lioness. he shot her, but failed to disable her. she immediately charged, chewed up his leg, arm and shoulder, and was then killed by his somali gunbearer. he was days from any help. he dressed his own wounds and the natives tried to carry him to the nearest settlement. finally his bandages were exhausted, the natives deserted, and it was only after frightful suffering that he reached help. in three weeks blood poisoning set in, as is usual after the foul teeth of a lion have entered the flesh, and for several months he was close to death. now he was up and about, cheerful and sunny, but a serious object lesson to the lion hunters bound for the lair of the lion. in the smoking-room of the _adolph woermann_ was a bronze bust of mr. woermann presented by himself. whether he meant to perpetuate his own memory is not vital to the story. the amusing feature lies in the fact that some irreverent passenger, whose soul was dead to the sacredness of art, put a rough slouch hat on mr. woermann one night, with side-splitting results. mr. w. is a man with a strong, intelligent german face, something like that of prince henry, and in the statue appears with bare neck and shoulders. the addition of a rakish slouch hat produced a startling effect, greatly detracting from the strictly artistic, but adding much to the interest of the bust. it looked very much as though he had been ashore at aden and had come back on board feeling the way a man does when he wants his hat on the side of his head. still, what can a shipowner expect who puts a nude bust of himself in his own ship? [drawing: _having fun with mr. woermann_] [drawing: _an african hair-cut_] the ship's barber was the associated press of the ship's company, and his shop was the park row of the vessel. he had plenty of things to talk about and more than enough words to express them. every vague rumor that floated about was sure to find lodgment in the barber shop, just as a piece of driftwood finally reaches the beach. he knew all the secrets of the voyage and told them freely. one day i went down to have my hair trimmed. he asked if i'd have it done african style. "how's that?" i inquired. "shaved," said he, and "no," said i. a number of the germans on board were adopting the african style of hair-cut, and the effect was something depressing. every bump that had lain dormant under a mat of hair at once assumed startling proportions, and red ears that were retiring suddenly stuck out from the pale white scalp like immense flappers. a devotee of this school of tonsorial art had a peeled look that did not commend him to favorable mention in artistic circles. but the flies, they loved it, so it was an ill wind that blew no good. the red sea has a well-earned reputation of being hot. we expected a certain amount of sultriness, but not in such lavish prodigality as it was delivered. the first day out from suez found the passengers peeling off unnecessary clothes, and the next day found the men sleeping out on deck. there wasn't much sleeping. the band concert lasted until ten-thirty, then the three germans who were trying to drink all the beer on board gave a nightly saengerfest that lasted until one o'clock, and then the men who wash down the decks appeared at four. between one and four it was too hot to sleep, so that there wasn't much restful repose on the ship until we got out of the red sea. [drawing: _we slept on deck in the red sea_] down at the end of the red sea are the straits of bab-el-mandeb. in the middle of the straits is the island of perim, a sun-baked, bare and uninviting chunk of land that has great strategic value and little else. it absolutely commands the entrance to the red sea, and, naturally, is british. nearly all strategic points in the east are british, from gibraltar to singapore. a lighthouse, a signal station, and a small detachment of troops are the sole points of interest in perim, and as one rides past one breathes a fervent prayer of thanksgiving that he is not one of the summer colony on perim. they tell a funny story about an english officer who was sent to perim to command the detachment. at the end of six months an official order was sent for his transfer, because no one is expected to last longer than six months without going crazy or committing suicide. to the great surprise of the war office a letter came back stating that the officer was quite contented at perim, that he liked the peace and quiet of the place, and begged that he be given leave to remain another six months. the war office was amazed, and it gladly gave him the extension. at the end of a year the same exchange of letters occurred and again he was given the extension. i don't know how long this continued, but in the end the war office discovered that the officer had been in london having a good time while a sergeant-major attended to the sending of the biannual letter. i suppose the officer divided his pay with the sergeant-major. if he did not he was a most ungrateful man. the _adolph woermann_ is a german ship and is one of the best ones that go down the east coast. its passengers go to the british ports in british east africa, to the german ports in german east africa, and to several other ports in south africa. consequently the passengers are about equally divided between the english and the germans, with an occasional portuguese bound for delagoa bay or mozambique. when we first went aboard our party of four desired to secure a table by ourselves. we were unsuccessful, however, and found it shared by a peaceful old gentleman with whiskers. by crossing with gold the palm of the chief steward, the old gentleman was shifted to a seat on the first officer's right. later we discovered that he was sir thomas scanlon, the first premier of south africa, the man who gave cecil rhodes his start. there were many interesting elements which made the cruise of the _woermann_ unusual. mr. boyce and his party of six were on board and were on their way to photograph east africa. they took moving pictures of the various deck sports, also a bird's-eye picture of the ship, taken from a camera suspended by a number of box kites, and also gave two evenings of cinematograph entertainment. there were also poker games, bridge games, and other forms of seaside sports, all of which contributed to the gaiety of life in the indian ocean. in the evening one might have imagined oneself at a london music-hall, in the daytime at the olympian games, and in the early morning out on the farm. there were a number of chickens on board and each rooster seemed obliged to salute the dawn with a fanfare of crowing. they belonged to the governor and were going out to east africa to found a colony of chickens. some day, years hence, the proud descendents of these chickens will boast that their ancestors came over on the _woermann_, just as some people boast about their ancestors on the _mayflower_. [drawing: _mauled by a lion_] when we crossed the equator, a committee of strong-arm men baptized those of the passengers who had never before crossed the line. those who had crossed the line entered into the fun of the occasion with much spirit and enthusiasm. on the hottest day of the trip, just as we left suez, when the mercury was sputtering from the heat, we heard that the north pole had been discovered. it cooled us off considerably for a while. chapter iii the island of mombasa, with the jungles of equatorial africa "only a few blocks away." a story of the world's champion man-eating lions in this voyage of the _woermann_ there were about twenty englishmen and thirty germans in the first class, not including women, and children. there was practically no communication between the two nationalities, which seemed deeply significant in these days when there is so much talk of war between england and germany. each went his way without so much as a "good morning" or a _guten abend_. and it was not a case of unfamiliarity with the languages, either, that caused this mutual restraint, for most of the germans speak english. it was simply an evidence that at the present time there is decidedly bad feeling between the two races, and if it is a correct barometer of conditions in europe, there is certain to be war one of these days. on the _woermann_, we only hoped that it would not break out while the weather was as hot as it was at that time. the germans are not addicted to deck sports while voyaging about, and it is quite unusual to find on german ships anything in the way of deck competition. the german, while resting, prefers to play cards, or sing, or sit in his long easy chair with the children playing about. the englishman likes to compete in feats of strength and takes to deck sports as a duck takes to water. i don't know who started it, but some one organized deck sports on the _woermann_, and after we left aden the sound of battle raged without cessation. some of the competitions were amusing. for instance, there was the cockfight. two men, with hands and knees hobbled with a stick and stout rope, seat themselves inside a circle, and the game is for each one to try to put the other outside the circle. neither can use his hands. [drawing: _the cock fight_] it is like wrestling in a sitting position with both hands tied, the mode of attack being to topple over one's opponent and then bunt him out of the circle. there is considerable skill in the game and a fearful lot of hard work. by the time the victor has won, the seat of the trousers of each of the two contending heroes has cleaned the deck until it shines--the deck, not the trousers. in a similar way the deck is benefited by the "are you there" game. two men are blindfolded, armed with long paper clubs, and then lie at full length on the deck, with left hands clasped. one then says, "are you there?" and when the other answers, "i am," he makes a wild swat at where he thinks the other's head to be. of course, when the man says "i am," he immediately gets his head as far away from where it was when he spoke as is possible while clasping his opponent's hand. the "are you there" man makes a wild swing and lands some place with a prodigious thump. he usually strikes the deck and seldom hits the head of the other man. if one of them hits the other's head three times he wins. in the meantime the deck has been thoroughly massaged by the two recumbent heroes as they have moved back and forth in their various offensive and defensive manoeuvers. [drawing: "_are you there?_"] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. a study in mombasa shadows] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. mombasa is a pretty place] [photograph: transportation in mombasa] [drawing: _the spar and pillow fight_] the pillow fight on the spar is the most fun. two gladiators armed with pillows sit astride a spar and try to knock each other off. it requires a good deal of knack to keep your balance while some one is pounding you with a large pillow. you are not allowed to touch the spar with your hands, hence the difficulty of holding a difficult position. when a man begins to waver the other redoubles his attack, and slowly at first, but surely, the defeated gladiator tumbles off the spar into a canvas stretched several feet below. it is lots of fun, especially for the spectator and the winner. then, of course, there were other feats of intellectual and physical prowess in the _woermann_ competition, such as threading the needle, where you run across the deck, thread a needle held by a woman, and then drag her back to the starting point. the woman usually, in the excitement of the last spirited rush, falls over and is bodily dragged several yards, squealing wildly and waving a couple of much agitated deck shoes, and so forth. similar to this contest is the one where the gentleman dashes across the deck with several other equally dashing gentlemen, kneels at the feet of a woman who ties his necktie and then lights his cigarette. the game is to see who can do this the quickest and get back to the starting place first. if you have ever tried to light a cigarette in a terrible hurry and on a windy deck, you will appreciate the elements of uncertainty in the game. these deck sports served to amuse and divert during the six days on the indian ocean, and then the ship's chart said that we were almost at mombasa. the theoretical stage of the lion hunt was nearly over and it was now a matter of only a few days until we should be up against the "real thing." i sometimes wondered how i should act with a hostile lion in front of me--whether i would become panic-stricken or whether my nerve would hold true. there is lots of food for reverie when one is going against big game for the first time. [drawing: _chalking the pig's eye_] we landed at mombasa september sixteenth, seventeen days out from naples. mombasa is a little island about two by three miles in extent. it is riotous with brilliant vegetation, and, as seen after a long sea voyage through the red sea and the indian ocean, it looks heavenly except for the heat. hundreds of great baobab trees with huge, bottle-like trunks and hundreds of broad spreading mango trees give an effect of tropical luxuriance that is hardly to be excelled in beauty anywhere in the east. large ships that stop at the island usually wind their course through a narrow channel and land their passengers and freight at the dock at kilindini, a mile and a half from the old portuguese town of mombasa, where all the life of the island is centered. there are many relics of the old days around the town of mombasa and the port of kilindini, but since the british have been in possession a brisk air of progress and enterprise is evident everywhere. young men and young women in tennis flannels, and other typical symptoms of british occupation are constantly seen, and one entirely forgets that one is several thousand miles from home and only a few blocks from the jungles of equatorial africa. we dreaded mombasa before we arrived, but were soon agreeably disappointed to find it not only beautiful and interesting, but also pleasantly cool and full of most hospitable social life. when our ship anchored off kilindini there was a great crowd assembled on the pier. there were many smart looking boats, manned with uniformed natives, that at once came out to the ship, and we knew that the town was _en fãªte_ to welcome the newly appointed governor, sir percy girouard. he and his staff landed in full uniform. there were addresses of welcome at the pier, a great deal of cheering and considerable photographing. then the rest of the passengers went ashore and spent several hours at the custom house. all personal luggage was passed through, and we embarked on a little train for mombasa. the next day we registered our firearms and had smith, mackenzie and company do the rest. this firm is ubiquitous in mombasa and zanzibar. they attend to everything for you, and relieve you from much worry, vexation and rupees. they pay your customs duties, get your mountains of stuff on the train for nairobi, and all you have to do is to pay them a commission and look pleasant. the customs duty is ten per cent. on everything you have, and the commission is five per cent. but in a hot climate, where one is apt to feel lazy, the price is cheap. thanks to the governor, our party of four was invited to go to nairobi on his special train. it left mombasa on the morning of the nineteenth of september, and at once began to climb toward the plateau on which nairobi is situated, three hundred and twenty-seven miles away. we had dreaded the railway ride through the lowlands along the coast, for that district has a bad reputation for fever and all such ills. but again we were pleasantly disappointed. the country was beautiful and interesting, and at four o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at voi, a spot that is synonymous with human ailments. it is one of the famous ill health resorts of africa, but on this occasion it was on its good behavior. we stopped four hours, inspected everything in sight, and at eight o'clock the special began to climb toward the plateau of east africa. at nine o'clock we stopped at tsavo, a place made famous by the two man-eating lions whose terrible depredations have been so vividly described by colonel patterson in his book, _the man eaters of tsavo_. these two lions absolutely stopped all work on the railroad for a period of several weeks. they were daring beyond belief, and seemed to have no fear of human beings. for a time all efforts to kill them were in vain. twenty-eight native workmen were eaten by them, and doubtless many more were unrecorded victims of their activity. the whole country was terrorized until finally, after many futile attempts, they were at last killed. no book on africa seems complete unless this incident is mentioned somewhere within its pages. we looked out at tsavo with devouring interest. all was still, with the dead silence of a tropical night. then the train steamed on and we had several hours in a berth to think the matter over. in the early hours of morning, we stopped at simba, the "place of lions," where the station-master has many lion scares even now. in the cold darkness of the night we bundled up in thick clothes and went forward to sit on the observation seat of the engine. slowly the eastern skies became gray, then pink, and finally day broke through heavy masses of clouds. it was intensely cold. in the faint light we could see shadowy figures of animals creeping home after their night's hunting. a huge cheetah bounded along the track in front of us. a troop of giraffes slowly ambled away from the track. a gaunt hyena loped off into the scrub near the side of the railroad and then, as daylight became brighter, we found ourselves in the midst of thousands of wild animals. zebras, hartebeests, grant's gazelles, thompson's gazelles, impalla, giraffes, wildebeests, and many other antelope species cantered off and stood to watch the train as it swept past them. it was a wonderful ride, perhaps the most novel railway ride to be found any place in the world. on each side of the uganda railroad there is a strip of land, narrow on the north and wide on the south, in which game is protected from the sportsman, and consequently the animals have learned to regard these strips as sanctuary. there were many tales of lions as we rode along, and the imagination pictured a slinking lion in every patch of reeds along the way. i heard one lion story that makes the man-eaters of tsavo seem like vegetarians. it was told to me by a gentleman high in the government service--a man of unimpeachable veracity. he says the story is absolutely true, but refused to swear to it. once upon a time, so the story goes, there was a caravan of slaves moving through the jungles of africa. the slave-drivers were cruel and they chained the poor savages together in bunches of ten. each slave wore an iron ring around his neck and the chain passed through this ring and on to the rest of the ten. for days and weeks and months they marched along, their chains clanking and their shoulders bending beneath the heavy weight. from time to time the slave-drivers would jog them along with a few lashes from a four-cornered "hippo" hide _kiboko_, or whip. quite naturally the life was far from pleasant to the chain-gang and they watched eagerly for a chance to escape. finally one dark night, when the sentinels were asleep, a bunch of ten succeeded in creeping away into the darkness. they were unarmed and chained from neck to neck, one to another. for several days they made their way steadily toward the coast. all seemed well. they ate fruit and nuts and herbs and began to see visions of a pleasant arrival at the coast. [drawing: _they made their way steadily toward the coast_] but, alas! their hopes were soon to be dispelled. one night a deep rumbling roar was heard in the jungle through which they were picking their unanimous way. a shudder ran through the slaves. "_simba_," they whispered in terror. a little while later there was another rumble, this time much closer. they speedily became more frightened. here they were, ten days' march from the coast, unarmed, and quite defenseless against a lion. presently the lion appeared, his cruel, hungry eyes gleaming through the night. they were frozen with horror, as slowly, slowly, slowly the great animal crept toward them with his tail sibilantly lashing above his back. they were now thoroughly alarmed and realized to the utmost that the lion's intentions were open to grave suspicion. breathlessly they waited, or perhaps they tried to climb trees, but being chained together they could not climb more than one tree. and there was not a single tree big enough to hold more than nine of them. the record of the story is now obscure, but the horrid tale goes on to relate that the lion gave a frightful roar and leaped upon the tenth man, biting him to death in a single snap. the dilemma of the others is obvious. they knew better than to disturb a lion while it is eating. to do so would be to court sudden death. so they sat still and watched the beast slowly and greedily devour their comrade. having finished his meal the great beast, surfeited with food, slowly moved off into the jungle. [drawing: _the lion's intentions were open to grave suspicions_] immediately the nine remaining slaves took to their heels, dragging the empty ring and chain of the late number ten. all night long they ran until finally they became exhausted and fell asleep. in the afternoon they again resumed their march, hopeful once more. but alas! again. along about supper-time they heard the distant roar of a lion. presently it sounded nearer and soon the gleaming eyes of the lion appeared once more among the jungle grass. once again they were frozen with horror as the hungry beast devoured the last man in the row--number nine. again they sat helpless while the man-eater slowly finished his supper, and again they were overjoyed to see him depart from their midst. as soon as the last vestige of his tail had disappeared from view they scrambled up and hiked briskly toward the coast, nine days away. [drawing: _while the man-eater finished his supper_] they were now thoroughly alarmed, and almost dreaded the supper hour. the next night the lion caught up with them again and proceeded to devour number eight. he then peacefully ambled away, leaving another empty ring. the next night there was a spirited contest to see which end of the chain should be last, but a vote was taken and it was decided six to one in favor of continuing in their original formation. the one who voted against was eaten that night and the remaining six, with the four empty rings clanking behind them, resumed their mournful march to the coast, six days away. [drawing: _two to one_] for five nights after this, the lion caught up with them and diminished their number by five. finally there was only one left and the coast was a full day's march away. could he make it? it looked like a desperate chance, but he still had hopes. he noticed with pleasure that the lion was becoming fat and probably could not travel fast. but he also noticed with displeasure that he had forty feet of chain and nine heavy iron neck rings to lug along and that extra weight naturally greatly handicapped him. it was a thrilling race--the coast only one day away and life or death the prize! who can imagine the feelings of the poor slave? but with a stout heart he struggled on through poisonous morasses, and pushed his way through snaky creepers. the afternoon sun slowly sank toward the western horizon and-the locomotive at this point of the story screeched loudly. the wheels grated on the track and my official friend leaped off the cow-catcher. "here!" i shouted, "what's the finish of that story?" "i'll tell you the rest the next time i see you," he sang out, and so i don't know just how the story ended. chapter iv on the edge of the athi plains, face to face with great herds of wild game. up in a balloon at nairobi before colonel roosevelt drew the eyes of the world on british east africa nairobi was practically unheard of. the british colonial office knew where it was and a fair number of english sportsmen had visited it in the last six or eight years. perhaps twenty-five or thirty americans had been in nairobi on their way to the rich game fields that lie in all directions from the town, but beyond these few outsiders the place was unknown. now it is decidedly on the map, thanks to our gallant and picturesque theodore. it has been mentioned in book and magazine to a degree that nearly everybody can tell in a general way where and what it is, even if he can not pronounce it. before coming to nairobi i had read a lot about it, and yet when i reached the place it seemed as though the descriptions had failed to prepare me for what i saw. we arrived under unusual conditions. files of native soldiers were lined up on the platform of the station to welcome the new governor, and the whole white population of the town, several hundred in number, were massed in front of the building. the roofs and trees were filled with natives and the broad open space beyond the station was fringed with pony carts, bullock carts, rickshaws, cameras, and some hotel 'buses. several thousand people, mostly east indians and natives, were among those present. lord delamere, who has adopted east africa as his home, and who owns a hundred thousand acres or so of game preserves, read an address of welcome, and sir percy, in white uniform and helmet, responded with a speech that struck a popular note. there were dozens of cameras snapping and the whole effect was distinctly festive in appearance. [drawing: _in the back yard of nairobi_] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. dressed to kill] [photograph: courtesy of boyce balloonagraph expedition. the balloon ascension] [photograph: courtesy of boyce balloonagraph expedition. the norfolk hotel, nairobi] the town lies on the edge of the athi plains, a broad sweep of sun-bleached grass veldt many miles in extent. from almost any part of the town one may look out on plains where great herds of wild game are constantly in sight. in an hour's leisurely walk from the station a man with a gun can get hartebeest, zebra, grant's gazelle, thompson's gazelle, impalla, and probably wildebeest. one can not possibly count the number of animals that feed contentedly within sight of the town of nairobi, and it is difficult to think that one is not looking out upon a collection of domesticated game. sometimes, as happened two nights before we reached nairobi, a lion will chase a herd of zebra and the latter in fright will tear through the town, destroying gardens and fences and flowers in a mad stampede. we met one man who goes out ten minutes from town every other day and kills a kongoni (hartebeest) as food for his dogs. if you were disposed to do so you could kill dozens every day with little effort and almost no diminution of the visible supply. nairobi is new and unattractive. there is one long main thoroughfare, quite wide and fringed with trees, along which at wide intervals are the substantial looking stone building of the bank of india, the business houses, the hotels, and numbers of cheap corrugated iron, one-story shacks used for government purposes. a native barracks with low iron houses and some more little iron houses used for medical experiments and still some more for use as native hospitals are encountered as one takes the half-mile ride from the station to the hotel. a big square filled with large trees marks the park, and a number of rather pretentious one-story buildings display signs that tell you where you may buy almost anything, from a suit of clothes to a magazine rifle. [drawing: _the main street is a busy place_] goanese, east indian, and european shops are scattered at intervals along this one long, wide street. rickshaws, pedestrians, bullock carts, horsemen, and heavily burdened porters are passing constantly back and forth, almost always in the middle of the street. bicycles, one or two motorcycles, and a couple of automobiles are occasionally to be seen. the aspect of the town suggests the activity of a new frontier place where everybody is busy. at one end the long street loses itself in the broad athi plains, at the other it climbs up over some low hills and enters the residence district on higher ground. here the hills are generously covered with a straggly growth of tall, ungraceful trees, among which, almost hidden from view, are the widely scattered bungalows of the white population. [photograph: an embo apollo] [photograph: the askari patrols the camp] branching off from the main street are side streets, some of them thronged with east indian bazaars, about which may be found all the phases of life of an indian city. still beyond and parallel with the one main street are sparsely settled streets which look ragged with their tin shacks and scattered gardens. nairobi is not a beautiful place, but it is new and busy, and the people who live there are working wonders in changing a bad location into what some day will be a pretty place. it is over five thousand feet high, healthy, and cold at night. away off in the hills a mile or more from town is government house, where the governor lives, and near by is the club and a new european hospital, looking out over a sweep of country that on clear days includes kilima-njaro, over a hundred miles to the southeast, and mount kenia, a hundred miles northeast. you are still in civilization in nairobi. anything you want you may buy at some of the shops, and almost anything you may want to eat or drink may easily be had. there are weekly newspapers, churches, clubs, hotels, and nearly all the by-products of civilization. one could live in nairobi, only a few miles from the equator, wear summer clothes at noon and winter clothes at night, keep well, and not miss many of the luxuries of life. the telegraph puts you in immediate touch with the whole wide world, and on the thirtieth of september you can read the chicago _tribune_ of august thirty-first. at present the chief revenue of the government is derived from shooting parties, and the officials are doing all they can to encourage the coming of sportsmen. each man who comes to shoot must pay two hundred and fifty dollars for his license as well as employ at least thirty natives for his transport. he must buy supplies, pay ten per cent. import and export tax, and in many other ways spend money which goes toward paying the expenses of government. the government also is encouraging various agricultural and stock raising experiments, but these have not yet passed the experimental stage. almost anything may be grown in british east africa, but before agriculture can be made to pay the vast herds of wild game must either be exterminated or driven away. no fence will keep out a herd of zebra, and in one rush a field of grain is ruined by these giant herds. experiments have failed satisfactorily to domesticate the zebra, and so he remains a menace to agriculture and a nuisance in all respects except as adding a picturesque note to the landscape. colonel roosevelt, in a recent speech in nairobi, spoke of british east africa as a land of enormous possibilities and promise, but in talks with many men here i found that little money has been made by those who have gone into agriculture in a large way. drought and predatory herds of game have introduced an element of uncertainty which has made agriculture, as at present developed, unsatisfactory. colonel roosevelt has become a popular idol in east africa. everywhere one meets englishmen who express the greatest admiration for him. he has shrewdly analyzed conditions as they now exist and has picked out the weak spots in the government. for many years prior to the arrival of sir percy girouard the country has been administered by weak executives, and its progress has been greatly retarded thereby. the last governor was kind, but inefficient, and some months ago was sent to the west indies, where he is officially buried. roosevelt came, sized up the situation, and made a speech at a big banquet in nairobi. nearly two hundred white men in evening clothes were there. they came from all parts of east africa, and listened with admiration to the plain truths that theodore roosevelt told them in the manner of a dutch uncle. since then he has owned the country and could be elected to any office within the gift of the people. he talked for over an hour, and it must have been a great speech, if one may judge by the enthusiastic comments i have heard about it. when an englishman gets enthusiastic about a speech by an american it must be a pretty good speech. newland and tarlton is the firm that outfits most shooting parties that start out from nairobi. they do all the preliminary work and relieve you of most of the worry. if you wish them to do so, they will get your complete outfit, so you need not bring anything with you but a suitcase. they will get your guns, your tents, your food supplies, your mules, your head-man, your cook, your gunbearers, your askaris (native soldiers), your interpreter, your ammunition, and your porters. they will have the whole outfit ready for you by the time you arrive in nairobi. when you arrive in british east africa, a-shooting bent, you will hear of newland and tarlton so often that you will think they own the country. mr. newland met us in mombasa, and through his agents sent all of our london equipment of tents and guns and ammunition and food up to nairobi. when we arrived in nairobi he had our porters ready, together with tent boys, gunbearers, and all the other members of our _safari_, and in three days we were ready to march. the firm has systematized methods so much that it is simple for them to do what would be matters of endless worry to the stranger. in course of time you pay the price, and in our case it seemed reasonable, when one considers the work and worry involved. most english sportsmen come out in october and november, after which time the shooting is at its height. two years ago there were sixty _safaris_, or shooting expeditions, sent out from nairobi. when we left, late in september, there were about thirty. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. the great white way in nairobi] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce the busiest place in nairobi] [photograph: umbrella acacias] [drawing: _the new governor looks something like roosevelt_] each party must have from thirty to a couple of hundred camp attendants, depending upon the number of white men in the party. each white man, requires, roughly, thirty natives to take care of him. in our party of four white people we had one hundred and eighteen. one would presume that the game would speedily be exterminated, yet it is said that the game is constantly increasing. after one day's ride on the railway it would be hard to conceive of game being more plentiful than it was while we were there. mr. roosevelt carried nearly three hundred men with him, collected a great quantity of game, and necessarily spent a great deal of money. it is said that the expenses of his expedition approached ten thousand dollars a month, but the chances are that this figure is much more than the actual figure. at the time of our arrival there was a shortage in the porter supply, and we were obliged to take out men from a number of different tribes. swahili porters are considered the best, but there are not enough to go round, so we had to take swahilis, bagandas, kikuyus, kavirondos, lumbwas, minyamwezis, and a lot more of assorted races. each porter carries sixty pounds on his head, and when the whole outfit is on the trail it looks like a procession of much importance. the norfolk hotel is the chief rendezvous of nairobi. in the course of the afternoon nearly all the white men on hunting bent show up at the hotel and patronize the bar. they come in wonderful hunting regalia and in all the wonderful splendor of the britisher when he is afield. there is nearly always a great coming and going of men riding up, and of rickshaws arriving and departing. usually several tired sportsmen are stretched out on the veranda of the long one-storied building, reading the ancient london papers that are lying about. professional guides, arrayed in picturesque buffalo bill outfits, with spurs and hunting-knives and slouch hats, are among those present, and amateur sportsmen in crisp khaki and sun helmets and new puttees swagger back and forth to the bar. there is no denying the fact that there is considerable drinking in nairobi. there was as much before we got there as there was after we got there, however. after the arrival of the european steamer at mombasa business is brisk for several days as the different parties sally forth for the wilds. [drawing: _at the norfolk hotel bar_] on our ship there were four different parties. a young american from boston, who has been spending several years doing archã¦ological work in crete, accompanied by a young english cavalry officer, were starting out for a six-weeks' shoot south of the railway and near victoria nyanza. two professional ivory hunters were starting for german east africa by way of the lake. mr. boyce and his african balloonograph party of seven white men were preparing for the photographing expedition in the sotik, and our party of four was making final preparations for our march. consequently there was much hurrying about, and newland and tarlton's warehouse was the center of throngs of waiting porters and the scene of intense activity as each party sorted and assembled its mountains of supplies. seager and wormald got off first, going by train to kijabe, where they were to begin their ten days' march in the sotik. here they were to try their luck for two or three weeks and then march back, preparatory to starting home. the professional ivory hunters were slow in starting. there was delay in getting mules. one of them had shot three hundred elephants in the belgian congo during the last four years, and it was suspected he had been poaching. the other had been caught by the belgian authorities on his last trip, lost all his ivory and guns by confiscation, but was ready to make another try. the ivory game is a rich one and there are always venturesome men who are willing to take chances with the law in getting the prizes. the boyce party with its two balloons and its great number of box kites and its moving picture equipment and its twenty-nine cameras and its vast equipment was slow in starting, but it expected to get away on september twenty-fourth, the day after we left. they planned to fill their balloon in nairobi and tow it at the end of a special train as far as kijabe, where they were to strike inland from the railway. they were encamped on a hill overlooking the city, with their two hundred and thirty porters ready for the field and their balloon ready to make the first ascension ever attempted in east africa. throngs of natives squatted about, watching the final preparations, and doubtless wondered what the strange, swaying object was. on the evening of the twenty-second the party gave a moving picture show at one of the clubs for the benefit of st. andrew's church. a great crowd of fashionably dressed people turned out and saw the motion picture records of events which they had seen in life only a couple of days before. there were moving pictures of the arrival of the governor's special train, his march through the city, and many other events that were fresh in the minds of the audience. there were also motion pictures taken on the ship that brought us down from naples to mombasa, and it was most interesting to see our fellow passengers and friends reproduced before us in their various athletic activities while on shipboard. mr. boyce gave an afternoon show for children, an evening show for grown-ups, and was to give another for the natives the following night. the charities of nairobi were much richer because of mr. boyce and his african balloonograph expedition. while in nairobi we visited the little station where experiments are being made in the "sleeping sickness." an intelligent young english doctor is conducting the investigations and great hopes are entertained of much new information about that most mysterious ailment that has swept whole colonies of blacks away in the last few years. in many little bottles were specimens of the deadly tsetse fly that causes all the infection. and the most deadly of all was the small one whose distinguishing characteristic was its wings, which crossed over its back. these we were told to look out for and to avoid them, if possible. they occur only in certain districts and live in the deep shade, near water. they also are day-biting insects, who do their biting only between eleven o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon. in the station there were a number of monkeys, upon which the fly was being tried. they were in various stages of the disease, but it seemed impossible to tell whether their illness was due to the sleeping sickness germ or was due to tick fever, a common malady among monkeys. in one of the rooms of the laboratory there were natives holding little cages of tsetse flies against the monkeys, which were pinioned to the floor by the natives. the screened cages were held close to the stomach of the helpless monkey, and little apertures in the screen permitted the fly to settle upon and bite the animal. there are certain wide belts of land in africa called the "tsetse fly belts," where horses, mules and cattle can not live. these districts have been known for a number of years, long before the sleeping sickness became known. in the case of animals, the danger could be minimized by keeping the animals out of those belts, but in the case of humans the same can not be done. one infected native from a sleeping sickness district can carry the disease from one end of the country to the other, and when once it breaks out the newly infected district is doomed. consequently the british authorities are greatly alarmed, for by means of this deadly fly the whole population of east africa might be wiped out if no remedy is discovered. it has not yet been absolutely proven that east africa is a "white man's country," and in the end it may be necessary for him to give up hope of making it more than a place of temporary residence and exploration. we were also shown some ticks. they are the pests of africa. they exist nearly every place and carry a particularly malicious germ that gives one "tick fever." it is not a deadly fever, but it is recurrent and weakening. there are all kinds of ticks, from little red ones no bigger than a grain of pepper to big fat ones the size of a finger-nail, that are exactly the color of the ground. they seem to have immortal life, for they can exist for a long time without food. doctor ward told us of some that he had put in a box, where they lived four years without food or water. he also told us of one that was sent to the british museum, put on a card with a pin through it, and lived over two years in this condition. it is assumed, however, that it sustained fatal injuries, because after a two years' fight against its wound it finally succumbed. we were told to avoid old camping grounds while on _safari_, because these spots were usually much infested with ticks waiting for new camping parties. wild game is always covered with ticks and carries them all over the land. as you walk through the grass in the game country the ticks cling to your clothes and immediately seek for an opening where they may establish closer relations with you. some animals, like the rhino and the eland, have tick birds that sit upon their backs and eat the ticks. the egrets police the eland and capture all predatory ticks, while the rhino usually has half a dozen little tick birds sitting upon him. however, we were starting out in a day or so, and in a few days expected to learn a lot more about ticks than we then knew. it is supposed to require a certain amount of nerve to go lion shooting. it is also supposed to require an additional amount to face an angry rhino or to attempt to get african buffalo. the last-named creature is a vindictive, crafty beast that is feared by old african hunters more than they fear any other animal. in consequence of these dangers we decided that it might be well to give our nerves a thorough test before going out with them. if they were not in good condition it would be well to know of it before rather than after going up against a strange and hostile lion. that is why we went up in the balloon in nairobi. the balloon was one of the two boyce balloons and had never been tried. it was small, of twelve thousand cubic feet capacity, as compared with the seventy thousand foot balloons that do the racing. it was also being tried at an altitude of over five thousand feet under uncertain wind and heat conditions, and so the element of uncertainty was aggravated. we felt that if we could go up in a new balloon of a small size it might demonstrate whether we should later go up a tree or stand pat against a charging menagerie. there was a great crowd gathered on the hill where this balloon was being inflated. since five o'clock in the morning the gas had been generating in the wooden tanks, and from these was being conducted by a cloth tube to the mouth of the balloon. the natives squatted wonderingly about in a circle, mystified and excited. at three o'clock the balloon was over half filled and was swaying savagely at its anchorage. a strong wind was blowing, and mr. lawrence, who had charge of the ascension, was apprehensive. he feared to fill the balloon to its capacity lest the expansion of the gas due to the hot sun should explode it. at half past three the basket was attached and it looked small--about the size of a large bushel basket, three feet in diameter and three feet deep. the balloon, heavily laden with sand-bags, was lightened until it could almost rise, and in this condition was led across to an open spot sufficiently far from the nearest trees. the crowd thronged up pop-eyed and quivering with excitement. then there was a long wait until the wind had died down a bit, which it did after a while. the eventful moment had arrived, and mr. stephenson, of our party, climbed into the basket. he is only six feet five inches in height and weighs only two hundred and thirty pounds. he had on a pair of heavy hunting boots, for we were leaving for the hunting grounds immediately after the ascension. one by one the restraining bags of sand were taken off, but still the balloon sat on the ground without any inclination to do otherwise. a wave of disappointment spread over the crowd. suddenly a brilliant inspiration struck the gallant aã«ronaut. he took off one of his heavy hunting boots and cast it overboard. the balloon arose a foot or two and then sagged back to earth. then the other boot was cast over and the balloon rose several feet, swaying and whipping savagely over the heads of the crowd. the wind was now blowing pretty hard, and when the wire was run out the balloon started almost horizontally for the nearest tree, rising slightly. [drawing: _throwing out ballast_] the wire was stopped at once and the balloon thus suddenly restrained, changed its horizontal course to an upward one. at about sixty feet up the wire was again paid out and the balloon made a dash for the trees again. once more the balloon was stopped and rose to a height of one hundred and fifty feet, where it swayed about with the pleasant face of stephenson looking over the edge of the basket. he had to sit down, as there was not room to stand. the ascension seemed a failure with the handicap of two hundred and thirty pounds, and so the balloon was reeled down to the earth again. it was not a great ascension, but the amateur aã«ronaut had gained the distinction of making the first balloon ascension ever made in east africa. he would have gone higher if his shoes had been heavier. to me fell the next chance, and i knew that my one hundred and forty pounds would not seriously handicap the balloon. once more there was a long wait until the wind died down, and all of a sudden the cylinder of wire was released and the ground sank hundreds of feet below me. the horizon widened and the whole vast plain of the african highlands stretched out with an ever-widening horizon. new mountain peaks rose far away and native villages with ant-like people moving about appeared in unexpected quarters. away below, the crowd of people looked like little insects as they gazed up at the balloon. grasping the ropes that led from the basket to the balloon, i stood and waved at them and could hear the shouts come up from a thousand feet below. i was not frightened. there was no sensation of motion as long as the balloon was ascending. aside from looking at the wonderful scene that opened out before me, i believe i thought chiefly about where i should land in case the wire broke. the balloon would undoubtedly go many miles before descending, and five miles in any direction would lead me into a primitive jungle or veldt. a hundred miles would take me into almost unexplored districts in some directions, where the natives would greet me as some supernatural being. perhaps i might be greeted as a god and--just in the midst of these reflections they began to reel in the balloon. the sudden stopping was not pleasant, for then the balloon began to sway. slowly the earth came nearer and the wind howled through the rigging and the partly filled bag flapped and thundered. the wire, about as thick as a piano wire, looked frail, but at last after a slow and tedious descent a safe landing was made amid the wondering natives. cameras clicked and the moving picture machine worked busily as the balloon was secured to earth again. to mrs. akeley of our party fell the next chance to go up. as she was lifted into the basket the feminine population of nairobi gazed in wonder that a woman should dare venture up in a balloon. the cameras clicked some more, somebody shook hands with her, and it began to look quite like a leave-taking. just when all was ready the wind sprang up savagely and an ascension seemed inexpedient. there was a long wait and still the wind continued in gusts. at last it was determined that we might as well settle down for better conditions, so mrs. akeley was lifted out and we waited impatiently for the wind to die down. at last it died down, all was hurriedly prepared for the ascension, and mrs. akeley took her place again in the basket. in an instant the balloon shot up a couple of hundred feet and was held there for a moment. the wind once more sprang up and the balloon was drawn down amid the cheers of the crowd. she had been the first woman to make an ascension in british east africa, if not in all of africa. we then mounted our mules and rode out on the open plains. several hours before, our entire camp had moved and we were to join them at a prearranged spot out on the athi plains. all our preliminary worries were over and at last we were actually started. at six o'clock, far across the country we saw the gleaming lights of our camp-fires and the green tents that were to be our homes for many weeks to come. enormous herds of hartebeest and wildebeest were on each side, and countless zebras. that night two of us heard the first bark of the zebra, and we thought it must be the bark of distant dogs. it was one of our first surprises to learn that zebras bark instead of neigh. chapter v into the heart of the big game country with a retinue of more than one hundred natives. a safari and what it is when i first expressed my intention of going to east africa to shoot big game some of my friends remarked, in surprise: "why, i didn't know that you were so bloodthirsty!" they seemed to think that the primary object of such an expedition was to slay animals, none of which had done anything to me, and that to wish to embark in any such project was an evidence of bloodthirstiness. i tried to explain that i had no particular grudge against any of the african fauna, and that the thing i chiefly desired to do was to get out in the open, far from the picture post-card, and enjoy experiences which could not help being wonderful and strange and perhaps exciting. the shooting of animals merely for the sake of killing them is, of course, not an elevating sport, but the by-products of big game hunting in africa are among the most delightful and inspiring of all experiences. for weeks or months you live a nomadic tent life amid surroundings so different from what you are accustomed to that one is both mentally and physically rejuvenated. you are among strange and savage people, in strange and savage lands, and always threatened by strange and savage animals. the life is new and the scenery new. there is adventure and novelty in every day of such a life, and it is that phase of it that has the most insistent appeal. it is the call of the wild to which the pre-adamite monkey in our nature responds. even if one never used his rifle one would still enjoy life on _safari_. _safari_ is an arabic word meaning expedition as it is understood in that country. if you go on any sort of a trip you are on _safari_. it need not be a shooting trip. of course everybody who has read the magazines of the last year has been more or less familiarized with african hunting. he has read of the amount of game that the authors have killed and of the narrow escapes that they have had. he also has read about expeditions into districts with strange names, but naturally these names have meant nothing to him. i know that i read reams of african stuff about big game shooting and about _safari_, yet in spite of all that, i remained in the dark as to many details of such a life. i wanted to know what kind of money or trade stuff the hunter carried; what sort of things he had to eat each day; what he wore, and how he got from place to place. most writers have a way of saying: "we equipped our _safari_ in nairobi and made seven marches to such and such a place, where we ran into some excellent eland." all the important small details are thus left out, and the reader remains in ignorance of what the tent boy does, who skins the game that is killed, and what sort of a cook stove they use. the purpose of this chapter is to tell something about the little things that happen on _safari_. first of all, at the risk of repeating what has been written so often before, i will say a few words about the personnel of a _safari_, such as the one i was with. there were four white people in our expedition--mr. and mrs. akeley, mr. stephenson, and myself. mr. akeley's chief object was to get a group of five elephants for the american museum of natural history and incidentally secure photographic and moving picture records of animal life. both he and mrs. akeley had been in africa before and knew the country as thoroughly perhaps as any who has ever been there. mr. akeley undoubtedly is the foremost taxidermist of the world, and his work is famous wherever african animal life has been studied. mr. stephenson went for the experience in african shooting, and i for that experience and any other sort that might turn up. to supply an expedition of four white people, we had one head-man, whose duty it was to run the _safari_--that is, to get us where we wanted to go. the success and pleasure of the _safari_ depends almost wholly upon the head-man. if he is weak, the discipline of the camp will disappear and all sorts of annoyances will steadily increase. if he is strong, everything will run smoothly. [drawing: _the cook--a toto--the head-man_] our head-man was a young somali, named abdi. for several years he was with mr. mcmillan of juja farm, and he spoke english well and knew the requirements of white men. he was strikingly handsome, efficient, and ruled the native porters firmly and kindly. each day we patted ourselves on the back because of abdi. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. it is tropical along the athi river] [photograph: hippos in the tana river] [photograph: our camp down on the tana] second in the list came our four gunbearers, all somalis, they being considered the best gunbearers. the duty of the gunbearer is always to be with you when you are hunting, to carry your gun, and to have it in your hand the instant it is needed. then there were four second gunbearers, who came along just behind the first gunbearers. the second men were, in our case, selected from the native porters, and were subject to the orders of the first gunbearer. the first gunbearer carries your field-glasses and your light, long-range rifle; the second gunbearer carries your camera, your water bottle, and your heavy cordite double-barreled rifle. in close quarters, as in a lion fight, the first gunbearer crouches at your elbow, hands the big rifle to you; you fire, and he immediately takes the rifle and places in your hands the other rifle, ready for firing. by the time you have fired this one the first is again ready, and in this way you always have a loaded rifle ready for use. there frequently is no time for turning around, and so the first gunbearer is at your elbow with the barrel of one rifle pressed against your right leg that you may know that he is there. sometimes they run away, but the somali gunbearers are the most fearless and trustworthy, and seldom desert in time of need. the gunbearer has instructions never to fire unless his master is disarmed and down before the charge of a beast. when an animal is killed the gunbearers skin it and care for the trophy. usually when on a shooting jaunt of several hours from camp several porters go along to carry home the game. third in the social scale came the askaris--armed natives in uniforms who guard the camp at night. one or more patrol the camp all night long, keep up the fires and scare away any marauding lion or hyena that may approach the camp. we had four askaris, one of whom was the noisiest man i have ever heard. he reminded me of a congressman when congress is not in session. [drawing: _gunbearer--askari--tent boy--porter_] then came the cook, who is always quite an important member of the community, because much of the pleasure of the _safari_ depends upon him. our cook was one that the akeleys had on their former trip. his name was abdullah, he had a jovial face and a beaming smile, cooked well, and was funny to look at. he wore a slouch hat with a red band around it, a khaki suit and heavy shoes. when on the march he carried his shoes and when in camp he wore a blue jersey and a polka-dotted apron which took the place of trousers. he was good-natured, which atoned somewhat for his slowness. the suggestion may be made that he might not have been slow, but that our appetites might have been so fast that he seemed slow. the cook usually picks out a likely porter to help him, or a _toto_, which means "little boy" in swahili. there are always a lot of boys who go along, unofficially, just for the fun and the food of the trip. they are not hired, but go as stowaways, and for the first few days out remain much in the background. gradually they appear more and more until all chance of their being sent back has disappeared, and then they become established members of the party. they carry small loads and help brighten up the camp. then there are the tent boys, personal servants of the white people. each white person has his tent boy, who takes care of his tent, his bedding, his bath, his clothes, and all his personal effects. a good tent boy is a great feature on _safari_, for he relieves his master of all the little worries of life. the tent boys always wait on the table and do the family washing. they also see that the drinking water is boiled and filtered and that the water bottles are filled each evening. last of all come the porters, of whom we had eighty. there were swahilis, wakambas, kikuyus, masai, minyamwezis, lumbwas, bagandas, kavirondos, and doubtless members of various other tribes. it was their duty to carry the camp from place to place, each porter carrying sixty pounds on his head. when they arrive at the spot selected for camp they put up the tents, get in firewood, and carry in what game may later be shot by the white men. then, lowest in the social scale, are the saises, or grooms. there is one for each mule or horse, of which we had four. the sais is always at hand to hold the mount and is supposed to take care of it after hours. the foregoing members of our personally conducted party, therefore, included: head-man 1 gunbearers 4 askaris 4 cook 1 tent boys 4 porters 80 saises 4 "totos" 20 the head-man and the four gunbearers get seventy-five rupees a month, the askaris fifteen rupees, the cook forty rupees, the tent boys twenty and twenty-five rupees, depending upon experience, the porters ten rupees, and the saises twelve rupees. the _totos_ get nothing except food and lodging, as well as experience, which may be valuable when they grow up to be porters at ten rupees a month. a rupee is about thirty-three cents american. we were also required by law to provide a water bottle, blanket, and sweater for each porter, as well as uniforms and water bottles, shoes and blankets for all the other members of the party. we also supplied twenty tents for them. for the first day or two on _safari_ there may be little hitches and delays, but after a short time the work is reduced to a beautiful system, and camp is broken or pitched in a remarkably short time. the porters get into the habit of carrying a certain load and so there is usually little confusion in distributing the packs. [photograph: at the edge of the athi river] [photograph: the totos are not fastidious] life and activity begin early in camp. you go to bed early and before dawn you are awakened by the singing of countless birds of many kinds. the air is fresh and cool, and you draw your woolen blankets a little closer around you. the tent is closed, but through the little cracks you can see that all is still dark. in a few moments a faint grayness steals into the air, and off in the half darkness you hear the somali gunbearers chanting their morning prayers--soft, musical, and soothing. then there are more voices murmuring in the air and the camp slowly awakens to life. some one is heard chopping wood, and by that time day breaks with a crash. all is life, and the birds are singing as though mad with the joy of life and sunshine. a little later a shadowy figure appears by your cot and says, "_chai, bwana_" which means, "tea, master." you turn over and slowly sip the hot tea, while outside in the clear morning air the sound of voices grows and grows until you know that eighty or a hundred men are busy getting their breakfasts. the crackling of many fires greets your ears and the pungent smell of wood fires salutes your nostrils. you look at your watch and it is perhaps five or half past. the air is still cold and you hasten to slip out of your cot. it is never considered wise to bathe in the morning here. your shoes or boots are by your bed, all oiled and cleaned, and your puttees are neatly rolled, ready to be wound around you from the tops of the shoes to the knee. your clean flannels (one always wears heavy flannel underclothes and heavy woolen socks in this climate) are laid out and your clothes for the day's march are ready for you. you get into your clothes and boots, go out of your tent, and find there a basin of hot water and your toilet equipment. the basin is supported on a three-pronged stick thrust into the ground and makes a thoroughly satisfactory washstand. the fire in front of the cook's tent is burning merrily and he and his assistants are busily at work on the morning breakfast. twenty other camp-fires are burning around the twenty small white tents that the porters and others occupy, and scores of half-clad natives are cooking their breakfasts. the ration that we were required to give them was a pound and a half of ground-corn a day for each man, but in good hunting country we got them a good deal of meat to eat. they are very fond of hartebeest, zebra, rhino, and especially hippo. in fact, they are eager to eat any kind of meat, so that anything we killed was certain to be of practical use as food for the porters. this fact greatly relieves the conscience of the man who shoots an animal for its fine horns. six porters sleep in each of the little shelter tents which we were required to supply them, and this number sleeping so closely packed served to keep them warm through the cold african highland nights. by six o'clock our folding table in the mess tent is laid with white linen and white enamel dishes for breakfast. so we take our places. if we are in a fruit country we have some oranges and bananas or papayas, a sort of pawpaw that is most delicious; it is a cross between a cantaloupe and a mango. then we have oatmeal with evaporated cream and sugar; then we have choice cuts from some animal that was killed the day before--usually the liver or the tenderloin. then we have eggs and finish up on jam or marmalade and honey. we have coffee for breakfast and tea for the other meals. while we are eating the tent boys have packed our tin trunks, our folding tent table, our cots and our pillows, cork mattresses and blankets. the gunbearer gets our two favorite rifles and cameras, field-glasses and water bottles. then down comes the double-roofed green tents, all is wrapped into closely-packed bags, and before we are through with breakfast all the tented village has disappeared and only the mess tent and the two little outlying canvas shelters remain. it is a scene of great activity. porters are busily making up their packs and the head-man with the askaris are busy directing them. in a half-hour all that remains is a scattered assortment of bundles, all neatly bound up in stout cords. one man may carry a tent-bag and poles, another a tin uniform case with a shot-gun strapped on top; another may have a bedding roll and a chair or table, and so on until the whole outfit is reduced to eighty compact bundles which include the food for the porters, the ant-proof food boxes with our own food, and the horns and skins of our trophies. the work of breaking camp is reduced to a science. our gunbearers are waiting and the saises with the mules are in readiness. so we start off, usually walking the first hour or two, with gunbearers and saises and mules trailing along behind. soon afterward we look back to see the long procession of porters following along in single file. our tent boys carry our third rifle, and behind them all comes the head-man, ready to spur on any lagging porters. [drawing: _our safari on the march_] the early morning hours are bright and cool, but along about nine o'clock the equatorial sun begins to beat down upon our heavy sun helmets and our red-lined and padded spine protectors. but it is seldom hot for long. a cloud passes across the sun and instantly everything is cooled. a wave of wind sweeps across the hill and cools the moist brow like a camphor compress. an instant later the sun is out again and the land lies swimming in the shimmer of heat waves. distant hills swim on miragic lakes, and if we are in plains country the mirages appear upon all sides. we rarely shot while on a march from camp to camp. we walked or rode along, watching the swarms of game that slowly moved away as we approached. the scenery was beautiful. sometimes we wound along on game trails or native trails through vast park-like stretches of rolling hills; at other times we climbed across low hills studded with thorn scrub, while off in the distance rose the blue hills and mountains. to the northward, always with us, was the great mount kenia, eighteen thousand feet high and nearly always veiled with masses of clouds. on her slopes are great droves of elephants, and we could pick out the spot where three years before mrs. akeley had killed her elephant with the record pair of tusks. our marches were seldom long. at noon or even earlier we arrived at our new camping place, ten or twelve miles from our starting of the morning. frequently we loitered along so that the porters might get there first and the camp be fully established when we arrived. at other times we arrived early and picked out a spot, where ticks and malaria were not likely to be bothersome. we usually camped near a river. our first camp was on the athi plains, near nairobi; our second at nairobi falls, where the river plunges down a sixty-foot drop in a spot of great beauty. our third camp was on the induruga river, in a beautiful but malarious spot; our fifth was on the thika thika river, where it was so cold in the morning that the vapor of our breathing was visible; and our sixth on a wind-blown hill where a whirlwind blew down our mess tent and scattered the cook's fire until the whole grass veldt was in furious flames. it took a hundred men an hour to put out the flames. our next camp was at fort hall, where a poisonous snake came into my tent while i was working. it crawled under my chair and was by my feet when i saw it. it was chased out and killed in the grass near my tent, and a porter cut out the fangs to show me. for a day or two i looked before putting on my shoes, but after that i ceased to think of it. after that time our camps were along the tana river, in a beautiful country thronged with game, but, unhappily, a district into which comparatively few hunters come on account of the fever that is said to prevail there. we were obliged to leave our mules at fort hall because it was considered certain death to them if we took them into this fly belt. when the porters arrive at a camping place a good spot is picked out for our four tents and mess tent, the cook tent is located, and in a short time the camp is ready. in my tent the cot is spread, with blankets airing; the mosquito net is up, the table is ready, with toilet articles, books and cigars laid out. the three tin uniform cases are in their places, my cameras are in their places, as are also the guns and lanterns. a floor cloth covers the ground and a long easy chair is ready for occupancy. towels and water are ready, and pajamas and cholera belt are on the pillow of the cot. everything is done that should be done, and i am immediately in a well established house with all my favorite articles in their accustomed places. [drawing: _the safari in camp_] a luncheon, with fruit, meat, curry and a pastry is ready by the time we are, and then we smoke or sleep through the broiling midday hours. mr. stephenson--or "fred," as he is with us--and i go out on a scouting expedition and look for good specimens to add to our collection of horns or to get food for the porters. sometimes the whole party went out, either photographing charging rhinos or shooting, but this part of the daily program was usually too varied to generalize as part of the daily doings. several porters went with each of us to bring in the game, which there is rarely any uncertainty of securing. in the evening we return and find our baths of hot water ready. we take off our heavy hunting boots and slip into the soft mosquito boots. after which dinner is ready and our menu is strangely varied. sometimes we have kongoni steaks, at other times we have the heart of waterbuck or the liver of bushbuck or impalla. twice we had rhino tongue and once rhino tail soup. we eat, and at six o'clock the darkness of night suddenly spreads over the land. we talk over our several adventures of the afternoon, some of which may be quite thrilling, and then, with camp chairs drawn around the great camp-fire, and with the sentinel askari pacing back and forth, we spend a drowsy hour in talking. gradually the sounds of night come on. off there a hyena is howling or a zebra is barking, and we know that through all those shadowy masses of trees the beasts of prey are creeping forth for their night's hunting. the porters' tents are ranged in a wide semicircle, and their camp-fires show little groups of men squatting about them. somewhere one is playing a tin flute, another is playing a french harp, and some are singing. it is a picture never to be forgotten, and rich with a charm that will surely always send forth its call to the restless soul of the man who goes back to the city. sometimes the evening program is different. when one of us brings in some exceptional trophy there is a great celebration, with singing and native dances, and cheers for the bwana who did the heroic deed. the first lion in a camp is a signal for great rejoicing and celebrating--however, that is another story--the story of my first lion. at nine o'clock the tents are closed and all the camp is quiet in sleep. outside in the darkness the askari paces to and fro, and the thick masses of foliage stand out in inky blackness against the brilliant tropic night. we are far from civilization, but one has as great a feeling of security as though he were surrounded by chimneys and electric lights. and no sleep is sweeter than that which has come after a day's marching over sun-swept hills or through the tangled reed beds where every sense must always be on the alert for hidden dangers. chapter vi a lion drive. with a rhino in range some one shouts "simba" and i get my first glimpse of a wild lion. three shots and out like every one who goes to africa with a gun and a return ticket, i had two absorbing ambitions. one was to kill a lion and the other to live to tell about it. in my estimation all the other animals compared to a lion as latitude eighty-seven and a half compares to the north pole. i wanted to climb out of the tartarin of tarascon class of near lion hunters into the ranks of those who are entitled to remark, "once, when i was in africa shooting lions," etc. a dead lion is bogey in the big game sport--the score that every hunter dreams of achieving--and i was extremely eager to make the dream a reality. when speaking with english sportsmen in london my first question was, "did you get any lions?" if they had, they at once rose in my estimation; if not, no matter how many elephants or rhinos or buffaloes they may have shot, they still remained in the amateur class. on the steamer going down to mombasa the hunting talk was four-fifths lion and one-fifth about other game. the cripple who had been badly mauled by a lion was a person of much distinction, even more so than the ivory hunter who had killed three hundred elephants. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. mr. stephenson's lion] [photograph: a post mortem inquiry] on the railway to nairobi every eye was on the lookout for lions and every one gazed with intense interest at the station of tsavo and remembered the famous pair of man-eaters that had terrorized that place some years before. in nairobi the men who had killed lions, and those who had been mauled by them (and there are many of the latter), were objects of vast concern, and the little cemetery with its many headstones marked "killed by lion" added still greater fire to my interest. [drawing: _the jolly little cemetery_] consequently, when we marched out of nairobi on the evening of september twenty-third, with tents and guns and a hundred and twenty men, the dominating thought was of lions. if ever any one had greater hope and less expectation of killing a lion i was the one. we had planned a short trip of from three to five weeks northeast of nairobi in what is called the tana river country. while there are some lions in that section, as there are in most parts of british east africa, it is not considered a good lion country. buffaloes, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, and many varieties of smaller game are abundant, largely because the tana river is in a bad fever belt and hunting parties generally prefer to go elsewhere. this preliminary trip was intended to perfect our shooting, so that later, when in real lion country, we might be better equipped to take on the king of beasts with some promise of hitting him. [drawing: _peering for lions_] the tree-tops and corrugated iron roofs of nairobi had hardly dropped behind a long, sun-soaked hump of the athi plains when i began to peel my eyes inquiringly for lions. all the lion stories that i had heard for the preceding few months paraded back and forth in my memory, and if ever a horizon was thoroughly scanned for lion, that horizon just out of nairobi was the one. hartebeests in droves loped awkwardly away from the trail and then turned and looked with wondering interest at us. zebras, too fat to run, trotted off, and also turned to observe the invaders. gazelles did the same, and away off in the distance a few wildebeests went galloping slowly to a safe distance. they were probably safe at any distance had they only known it, for up to the hour when i cantered forth from nairobi in quest of lions and rhinos i had not shot at anything for three years, nor hit anything for ten. night came on--the black, sudden night of africa--and we went into camp four miles from nairobi without ever having heard the welcome roar of a lion. it was a distinct disappointment. i remembered the story about the lions that stampeded the zebras through the peaceful gardens of nairobi only a few nights before--also the report that some man-eaters had been recently partaking of nourishment along the very road upon which we were now camping. i also remembered hearing that lions had been seen prowling around the edge of the town and that the athi plains are a time-honored habitat of the lion family. on the other hand, i thought of mr. roosevelt, who had recently been reducing the supply. i also remembered how many hunters had spent years in africa without ever seeing a lion, and how doctor rainsford had made two different hunting trips to africa, always looking for lions, but without success. during our first three days of marching, we looked industriously for lions. on broad, grassy plain, in low scrub, on the slopes of low hills--everywhere we looked for them. if a flock of vultures circled above a distant spot we went over at once in the hope of surprising a lion at his kill. every reed bed was promptly investigated, every dry nullah was explored. mcmillan's farm, which is a farm only in name, was scoured without ever a sign or a hint that a lion lurked thereabouts. mr. mcmillan has four lions in a cage, but they snarled so savagely that we hastened away to look for lions elsewhere. the second day we crossed the nairobi river, the third day we crossed the induruga river, and the fourth day we camped down on the athi river. here we struck a clue. two english settlers came over and told us that lions had been heard the night before near their ranch house, on the slopes of donyo sabuk, a high solitary round top mountain rising from the athi plains, and we determined to organize our first lion hunt. it was here that mr. lucas was killed by a lion a short time before. a lion hunt, or a lion drive, is quite a ceremony. you take thirty or forty natives, go to the place where the lion was heard, and then beat every bit of cover in the hope of scaring out the beasts. lions are fond of lying up during the day in dry reed beds, and when you go out looking for them, you are most likely to find them in such places. [photograph: mr. stephenson's splendid buffalo] [photograph: "lion camp"] [photograph: the lion and lioness in camp] we started, three of us, with forty porters, at about daybreak. at seven o'clock we had climbed up the side of the mountain to the spot where the lions were supposed to be lurking--a long, reed-filled cleft in the side of the slope. the porters were sent up to one end of the reed bed, twenty on each side, while we went below to where the lion would probably be driven out by their shouting and noise. the porters bombarded the reeds with stones while we waited with rifles ready for the angry creature to dash out in our vicinity. it was an interesting wait, with plenty of food for thought. i wondered why the englishmen had not come out to get the lions themselves, and then remembered that one of them had been mauled by a lion and had henceforth remained neutral in all lion fights. i wondered many other things which i have now forgotten. i was quite busy wondering for some time as i waited. in the meantime the lions failed to appear. bushbuck, waterbuck, and lots of other herbivora appeared, but no carnivora. we raked the reed bed fore and aft, and combed the long grass in every direction. a young rhino was startled in his morning nap, ran around excitedly for a while, and then trotted off. birds of many varieties fluttered up and wondered what the racket was about. at ten o'clock we decided that the lions had failed to do their part of the program, and that no further developments were to be expected. so we marched back homeward, got mixed up with another rhino, and finally gained camp, seven miles away, just as our hunger had reached an advanced stage. the next day we marched to the thika thika river, then to punda milia, and then to fort hall. some one claimed to have heard a lion out from fort hall early in the morning, but i more than half suspect it was one of our porters who reverberates when he sleeps. from fort hall we crossed the tana and made three marches down the river. rhinos were everywhere jumping out from behind bushes when least expected and in many ways behaving in a most diverting way. for a time we forgot lions while dodging rhinos. there were dozens of them in the thick, low scrub, with now and then a bunch of eland, or a herd of waterbuck, or a few hundred of the ubiquitous kongoni. we camped in a beautiful spot down on the tana. the country looked like a park, with graceful trees scattered about on the rolling lawn-like hills. on all sides was game in great profusion. hippos played about in the river, baboons scampered about on the edge of the water, monkeys chattered in the trees, and it seemed as though nearly all of the eight hundred varieties of east african birds gave us a morning serenade. a five-minutes' walk from camp would show you a rhino, while from the top of any knoll one could look across a vast sweep of hills upon which almost countless numbers of zebras, kongoni, and other animals might be seen. but never a lion. it certainly looked discouraging. as a form of pleasant excitement, we began to photograph rhinos, mr. akeley took out his moving-picture machine, advanced it cautiously to within a few yards of the unsuspecting rhino, and then we tried to provoke a charge. we took a dozen or more rhinos in this way, often approaching to within a few yards, and if there is any more exciting diversion i don't know what it is. i've looped the loop and there is no comparison. it is more like being ambushed by filipino insurgents--that is, it's the same kind of excitement, with more danger. one day it was necessary to shoot a big bull rhino. he staggered and fell, but at once got up and trotted over a hill. having wounded him, it was then necessary for me to follow him, which i did for three blazing hours. from nine o'clock till twelve i followed, with the sun beating down on the dry, grass-covered hills as though it meant to burn up everything beneath it. if any one had asked me, "is it hot enough for you?" i should have answered "yes" without a moment's hesitation. the horizon shimmered in waves of heat. from the top of one hill i could see my rhino half a mile away on the slope of another. when i reached the slope he was a mile farther on. i began to think he was a mirage. for a wounded animal, with two five-hundred-grain shells in his shoulder, he was the most astonishing example of vitality i have ever seen. he would have been safe against a gatling gun. there were more low trees a mile farther on, and i plodded doggedly on in the hope of getting a little relief from the sun. as i drew near i noticed a rhino standing under the trees, but he was not the wounded one. i decided that the shade was insufficient for both of us and moved swiftly on. across the valley on the slope of another blistered hill stood the one i was looking for. he didn't seem to be in the chastened mood of one who is about to die. he seemed vexed about something, probably the two cordite shells he was carrying. i at last came up within a hundred yards of him. he had got my wind and was facing me with tail nervously erect. the tail of a rhino is an infallible barometer of his state of mind. with his short sight, i knew that he could not see me at that distance, but i knew that he had detected the direction in which the danger lay. by slowly moving ahead, the distance was cut to about seventy yards, which was not too far away in an open country with a wounded rhino in the foreground. i resolved to shoot before he charged or before he ran away, and so i prepared to end the long chase with an unerring shot. suddenly a sound struck my ear that acted upon me like an electric shock: "_simba!_" it was the one word that i had been hoping to hear ever since leaving nairobi, for the word means "lion." my somali gunbearer was eagerly pointing toward a lone tree that stood a hundred yards off to the left. a huge, hulking animal was slowly moving away from it. it was my first glimpse of a wild lion. he was half concealed in the tall, dry grass and in a few seconds had entirely disappeared from view. we rushed after him. the rhino was completely forgotten and was left to charge or run away as he saw fit. when we reached the spot where the lion was last seen there was no trace of him. he apparently was not "as brave as a lion." we followed the course that he presumably took and presently reached the crest of a ridge. then the second gunbearer, a keen-eyed kikuyu, discovered the lion three hundred yards off to the right. after reaching the top of the hill the animal had swung directly off at right angles with the idea of reaching cover in a dry creek bed some distance away. i started to shoot at three hundred yards, but before i could take a careful aim the lion had disappeared in the grass. for an hour we thrashed the high reeds in the dry creek bed with never a sign of the king of beasts. he had apparently abdicated. he had vanished so completely that i thought he had escaped toward some low hills a mile farther on. the disappointment of seeing a lion and not getting it, or at least shooting at it, was keen to a degree that actually hurt. [drawing: _game was plenty for a minute or two_] there was nothing left but to resume our chase after the wounded rhino. it was like going back to work after a pleasant two weeks' vacation. we presently found him on a far distant hill, and after an hour's tramp in the sun we came up to him in the middle of the rolling prairie. there was not a tree for a mile, nor a single avenue of escape in case he charged. horticulture had never interested me especially, but just at this moment i think a tree, even a thorn tree, would have been a pleasant subject for intimate study. however, to make a long story longer, i shot him at a hundred yards and felt certain that both shells struck. yet he wheeled around and, stumbling occasionally, was off like a railway train. again we followed, two miles of desperate tramping in that merciless sun, up hills and down hills, until finally we entirely lost all trace of him. it was now two o'clock. i had eaten nothing since five o'clock in the morning, my water bottle was so nearly empty that i dared take only a swallow at a time, my knees were sore from climbing hills and wading through the tall, dry prairie grass, and i decided to give up this endless pursuit of a rhino who wouldn't die after being hit with four cordite shells. the dry creek bed lay in the course of our homeward march, and we resolved to take a final look at it. there seemed no likelihood that the lion was there, and i walked into the place with the supreme courage of one who doesn't expect to find anything hostile. my head gunbearer and i had crossed and were walking down in the grass at one side. my second gunbearer was on the opposite side, and the stillness of death hung over the burning plain. there was not a sign of life in any direction. the second gunbearer was instructed to set fire to the grass in the hope of awakening some protest from the lion in case he was still in the vicinity. there was a dry crackling of flames, and before we could count ten a deep growl came from somewhere in front of me, evidently on one of the edges of the creek bed. the second gunbearer was the first to locate him, and he signaled for me to come over on his side of the creek. in a moment i had dashed down and had climbed out on the other side and was eagerly gazing at a clump of bushes indicated by the kikuyu. at first i could distinguish nothing, but soon i saw the tawny flanks and the lashing tail of the lion. his head was hidden by the bushes. at that time we were about a hundred yards from him and it was necessary to circle off to a point where the rest of his body could be seen. a little side ravine intervened, and i had to cross it and come directly down through the clump of bushes. the grass was high, and it was not until i had come within forty yards of the lion that i could get a clear view of him. he was glaring at me, with tail waving angrily, and his mouth was opened in a savage snarl. i could see that he didn't like me. i raised the little .256 mannlicher, aimed carefully at his open mouth and fired. the lion turned a back somersault and a great thrill of exultation suffused me. already i saw the handsomely mounted lion-skin rug ornamenting my den at home. we approached cautiously, always remembering that the real danger of lion hunting comes after the lion has been shot. we threw stones in the grass where he had lain, but no answering growl was heard. i thought he was dead, but when we finally reached the spot where he had been there was no sign of him. he had vanished again. i searched the ravine and then crossed to the high grass on the other side. then we saw him for an instant, half-concealed, just in front of us. his head was hanging, and he looked as though he had been hard hit. again he disappeared and we searched high and low for him. for several hundred feet we beat the grass without result. then the grass was again fired and again the hoarse growl came in angry protest. walking slowly, with guns ready for instant use, we advanced until we could see him under a tree seventy yards ahead on my side of the ravine. he was growling angrily. this time i used the double-barreled cordite rifle and the first shot struck him in the forehead without knocking him down. he sprang up and the second shot stretched him out. he was still alive when i came up to him, and a small bullet was fired into the base of his brain to reduce the danger of a final charge. old hunters always caution one about approaching a dying lion, for often the beast musters up unexpected vitality, makes a final charge, kills somebody, and then dies happy. so we waited a few feet away until the last quiver of his sides had passed. one of the boys pulled his tail and shook him, but there was no sign of life. he was extinct. a new danger now threatened. the grass fire that the second gunbearer had started was sweeping the prairie, fanned by a strong wind, and there seemed to be not only the danger of abandoning the lion, but of being forced to flee before the flames. so we fell to work beating out the nearest fires, and trusted that a shifting of the wind would send the course of the flames in another direction. it was now four o'clock. we were nine miles from camp and food, and we knew that at six o'clock darkness would suddenly descend, leaving us out in a rhino-infested country, far from camp. the water was nearly gone and the general outlook was far from pleasing. the gunbearers skinned the lion. my first shot had struck one of his back teeth, breaking it squarely off, and then passed through the fleshy part of the neck. it was a wound that would startle, but not kill. the second shot had hit him between the eyes, but had glanced off the skull, merely ripping open the skin on the forehead for five inches. the third shell had killed him, except for the convulsive heaving that was finally stilled by the small bullet in the base of the brain. [drawing: _as i planned to look in the photograph of "my first lion"_] the skinning was interesting. all the fat in certain parts of the body was saved, for east indians bid high for it and use it as a lubricant for rheumatic pains. the two shoulder blades are always saved and are considered a valuable trophy. they are little bones three inches long, unattached and floating, and have long since ceased to perform any function in the working of the body. the broken tooth was found and saved, and, of course, a photograph was taken. my gunbearer took the picture, and when it was developed there was only a part of the lion and part of the lion slayer visible. it was a good picture of the tree, however. [drawing: _as i looked--from photograph by gunbearer_] at four-thirty the homeward march was begun. at five-thirty two rhinos blocked the path and one of them had to be shot. at six we were still several miles from camp, with the country wrapped in darkness. the water was gone and only one shell remained for the big gun. somewhere ahead were miles of thorn scrub in which there might be rhinos or buffaloes. two days before i had killed two large buffaloes in the district through which we must pass, and there was every likelihood of others still being there. at seven we were hopelessly lost in a wide stretch of hippo grass, and i had to fire a shot in the hope of getting an answering shot from camp. in a couple of moments we heard the distant shot, and then pressed on toward camp. the lion had been carried on ahead while we stopped with the rhino, and so the news reached the camp before us. a long line of porters came out to greet us and a great reception committee was waiting at the camp. it was the first lion of the expedition, and as such was the signal for great celebration. that night there were native dances and songs around the big central camp-fire and a wonderful display of pagan hilarity. it had been a hard day. fourteen hours without food, several hours without water, and miles of hard tramping through thorn scrub in the darkness and of long, broiling stretches in the blazing sunlight. it seemed a good price to pay even for a lion, but that night, as i finally stretched out on my cot, i was conscious from time to time of a glow of pleasure that swept over me. it seemed that of all human gratifications there was none equal to that experienced by the man who has killed his first lion. my second lion experience came three days later. with a couple of tents and about forty porters our party of four had marched across to a point a couple of miles from where i had killed the lion. we hoped to put in a day or two looking for lions, some of which had been reported in that district. the porters went on ahead with the camp equipment, while we came along more slowly. mr. akeley had taken some close-range photographs of rhinos, and we were just on the point of starting direct for the new camp when we ran across two enormous rhinos standing in the open plain. one was extremely large, with an excellent pair of horns, and it was arranged that i should try to secure this one as a trophy, while mr. akeley secured a photograph of the event. at thirty-five yards i shot the larger one of the two, and it dropped in its tracks. the other started to charge, but was finally driven away by shouting and by shots fired in the air. the photograph was excellent and quite dramatic. for an hour the gunbearers worked on the dead rhino and finally secured the head and feet and certain desirable parts of the skin. at noon we resumed our march for camp, two or three miles away. we had hardly gone half the distance when one of the tent boys was seen far ahead, riding the one mule that we had dared to bring down the tana river. it was evident that something important had occurred and we hurried on to meet him. "_simba!_" he shouted, as soon as he could be heard. in a moment we had the details. one of the saises had seen two lions, a large male and female, quite near the camp. porters were instructed to watch the beasts until we should arrive, and now were supposed to be in touch with them. we omitted luncheon and struck off at once in the direction indicated by the tent boy. we soon came up to the porters and an instant later saw the lions. it was a beautiful sight. the two animals were majestically walking up the rocky slope of a low, fire-scorched hill a few hundred yards away. the male was a splendid beast, with all the splendid dignity of one who fears nothing in the whole wide world. from time to time the two lions stopped and looked back at us, but with no sign of fear. several times they lay down, but soon would resume their stately course up among the rocks. i shall never forget the picture that lay before me. it was as though some famous lion painting of gã©rã´me or landseer had come to life, sometimes the animals being outlined clearly against the blue sky and at other times standing, with splendid heads erect, upon the rocks of the low ridge that rose ahead of us. we stalked them easily. several porters were left where the lions could constantly see them, while we three, akeley, stephenson and i, with our six gunbearers, worked around the base of the hill until we were able to climb up on the crest of it, being thus constantly screened from view of the lions. at the crest was an abrupt outcropping of blackened rocks, where we stopped to locate the two animals. they were nowhere to be seen. twenty-five yards farther along on the crest was another little ledge of rocks, and we worked our way silently along to it in the expectation that the lions might have advanced that far. but even then our search disclosed nothing. for some time we waited, scouring the neighborhood with our glasses, and had almost reached the conclusion that the lions had made off down the other side of the hill and had reached the cover of a shallow ravine some distance away. then we saw them--exactly where we had last seen them before we had started our stalk. they were still together and showed no sign of alarm nor knowledge of our presence so near them. at this time they were one hundred and ten yards away. they lay down again behind the rocks and we waited twenty minutes for them to show themselves. off to our right and in the valley another large male lion appeared and moved slowly away among the low scrub trees. finally we decided to rouse the two lions by shouting, but before this decision could be carried out the male rose above the rocks and stood plainly in view. it had previously been arranged that mr. stephenson should try for the male, while i should try for the female. in an instant he fired with his big rifle, the lion whirled around and then started running down the hill to the right. then the lioness appeared and i wounded her with my first shot. she ran out in the open toward us, but evidently without knowing from where the firing came. a second shot was better placed and i saw her collapse in her tracks. leaving the lioness, i went down to where stephenson had followed the lion. several shots had been fired, but the lion was still running, although badly wounded. just as it reached a small tree down on the slope a shot was put into a vital spot, and the lion went wildly over on his side. even then he managed to drag himself under the small bushes surrounding the tree, where a moment later mr. stephenson killed him with a shot from his .318 mauser. [drawing: _"a very interesting experience," said i coolly, a couple of days later_] we measured and photographed the lion, and then i took my camera to get a picture of the dead lioness up on the ridge. she was sitting up snarling, and i was the most surprised person in the world. i shot at her and she ran fifty yards to a small tree, where she came to a stop. two more shots from my big gun finished her, and the photograph was finally secured. leaving the porters to watch the two lions, we followed the third lion that had been seen in the valley. he had not gone far and we soon found him, but too far away to get a shot. for an hour we followed him, but he finally disappeared and could not be located again. it was sundown when our porters reached camp with the two lions, and it was then that we ate our long-deferred luncheon. a week later, while marching from the tana river to the zeka river, mr. and mrs. akeley and i came across a large lion, accompanied by a lioness. they were first seen moving away across a low sloping ridge of the plains within a couple of miles of where we had killed the lion and lioness a week before. we followed them and came up with them after a brisk walk of ten minutes. both were hiding in the grass near the crest of the slope, and we could see their ears and eyes above the long grass. we crouched down a hundred yards away and the lion rose to see where we had gone. mrs. akeley fired and missed, but her second shot pierced his brain and he fell like a log. we expected a charge from the lioness and waited until she should declare herself. but she did not appear and her whereabouts remained an anxious mystery until she was finally seen several hundred yards away making her way slowly up a distant hill. half-way up she sat down and watched us as we made our way cautiously in the grass to where her mate lay as he fell, stone dead. we afterward followed her, but she escaped from view and could not be located. this lion was the largest we had seen and measured nine feet from tip to tip. this was our last experience with lions in the trans-tana country. after that we went up in the elephant country on mount kenia, but that is a story all in itself. lion hunting is the best kind of african hunting in one respect. one feels no self-reproach in having killed a lion, for there is always the comforting thought that by killing one lion you have saved the lives of three hundred other animals. every lion exacts an annual toll of at least that number of zebras, hartebeests, or other forms of antelopes, all of which are powerless to defend themselves against the great creature that creeps upon them in cover of darkness. so a lion hunter may consider himself something of a benefactor. chapter vii on the tana river, the home of the rhino. the timid are frightened, the dangerous killed, and others photographed. moving pictures of a rhino charge down on the tana river the rhinos are more common than in any other known section of africa. in two weeks we saw over one hundred--perhaps two hundred--of them--so many, in fact, that one of the chief diversions of the day was to count rhinos. one day we counted twenty-six, another day nineteen, and by the time we left the district rhinos had become such fixtures in the landscape as to cause only casual comment. perhaps there were some repeaters, ones that were counted twice, but even allowing for that there were still some left. we saw big ones and little ones, old ones and young ones, and middle-aged ones; ones with long ears, short horns, double horns, and single horns; black ones and red ones--in fact, all the kinds of rhinos that are resident in british east africa. one had an ear gone and another had a crook in his tail. if we had stayed another week we might have got out a tana river rhino directory, with addresses and tree numbers. we studied them fore and aft, from in front of trees and from behind them, from close range and long range, over our shoulders, and through our cameras, every way whereby a conscientious lover of life and nature can study a prominent member of the mammalia. we called the place rhino park because the country looks like a beautiful park studded with splendid trees and dotted with rhinos. [drawing: _a morning walk on the tana river_] when i went to africa i was equipped with the following fund of knowledge concerning the rhinoceros: first, that he is familiarly called "rhino" by the daring hunters who have written about him; second, that he is a member of the perissodactyl family, whose sole representatives are the horse, the rhino, and the tapir; third, that he savagely charges human beings who write books about their thrilling adventures in africa, and, finally, that he looks like a hang-over from the pterodactyl age. the books and magazine stories that have come out since mr. roosevelt made african hunting the vogue invariably describe the rhino as being one of the most dangerous of african animals. a charging rhino, a wounded lion, a cape buffalo, and a frenzied elephant are the four terrors of the african hunters. all other forms of danger are slight compared with these, and i was full to the guards with a vast and fearful respect for the rhino. i fancied myself spinning around like a pinwheel with the horn of a rhino as a pivot, and the thought had little to commend itself to a lover of longevity--such as myself, for instance. [photograph: a comfortable hammock of zebra skin] [photograph: mrs. akeley and her tana river monkey] after going to africa and meeting some of the best members of the rhino set i was able to form some conclusions of my own, chief of which is the belief that he is dangerous only if he hits you. as long as you can keep out of his reach you are in no great danger except from the thorns. the prevailing estimate of the rhino is that he is an inoffensive creature who likes to bask under the shade of a tree and watch the years go parading by. his thick skin and fierce armament of horns seem to make of him a relic of some long-forgotten age--the last survivor of the time when mammoths and dinosauruses roamed the manless waste and time was counted in geological terms instead of days and minutes. his eyes are dimmed and he sees nothing beyond a few yards away, but his hearing and sense of smell are keen, and he sniffs danger from afar in case danger happens to be to windward of him. his sensitive nose is always alert for foreign and, therefore, suspicious odors, and when he smells the blood of an englishman, or even an american, his tail goes up in anger, he sniffs and snorts and races around in a circle while he locates the direction where the danger lies--and then, look out. a blind, furious rush which only a well-sped bullet can prevent causing the untimely end of whatever happens to be in the way. that is the popular estimate of the rhino. [drawing: _popular conception of rhino_] here are some of the conclusions i have formed: if the hunter carefully approaches the rhino from the leeward he may often come within a few yards of the animal and might easily shoot him in a leisurely way. the rhino can see only at close range and can smell only when the wind blows the scent to him. consequently he would be defenseless and at the mercy of the hunter if it were not for one thing. nature, in her wisdom, has sent the little rhino bird to act as a sentinel for the great pachyderm. these little birds live on the back of the rhino and, as recompense for their vigilance, are permitted to partake of such ticks and insects as inhabit the hide of their host. whenever danger, or, in other words, whenever a hunter tries to approach their own particular rhino from any direction, windward, leeward, or any other way, the ever alert and watchful rhino birds sound a tocsin of warning. the rhino pricks up his ears and begins to show signs of taking notice. he doesn't know where or what the danger may be, but he knows the c.q.d. code of danger signals as delivered to him from the outposts on his back and hastens to get busy in an effort to locate the foe. as a general thing the little birds, on sight of danger, begin a wild chatter, rising from the back of the rhino and flying in an opposite direction from the danger. then they return, light on the rhino's back, and repeat, often several times, the operation of flying away from the danger. if the rhino is a wise rhino he learns from the birds which is the safe way to go and soon trots swiftly off. in a measure the habits of the rhino bird are as interesting as those of the rhino itself, and as an example of the weak protecting the strong, the damon and pythias relationship between bird and beast is without parallel in the animal kingdom. [drawing: _before and after the rhino birds give the alarm_] the rhino is a peaceful animal. he browses on herbs and shrubs and dwells in friendly relationship with the rest of the animal kingdom. perhaps once or twice a day he ambles down to some favorite drinking place for a drink, but the rest of the time he grazes along a hillside or stands or lies sleepily under a tree. at such times as the latter he may be approached quite near without much danger. each day he also goes to a favorite wallowing place, where he rolls in the red dirt and emerges from this dirt bath a dull red rhino. in the rhino country dozens of these red dirt rolling places may be found, each one trampled smooth for an area of fifteen or twenty feet in evidence of the great number of times it has been used by one or more rhinos. this dirt bath is a defensive measure against the hordes of ticks that infest the rhino. it is a subject for wonder that the six or eight tick birds do not keep the rhino free of ticks, and it has even been argued by some naturalists that the rhino bird does not eat ticks, but merely uses the rhino as a convenient resting-place. also perhaps they enjoy the ride. we had planned to get a rhino bird and perform an autopsy on him in order to analyze his contents, but did not do so. [photograph: the ford of tana river] [photograph: the baby rhino] after the rhino has taken his dirt wallow, and looks fine in his new red coat, he then slowly and painstakingly proceeds to kill time during the rest of the day. if danger threatens he becomes exceedingly nervous and excited. his anxiety is quite acute. in vain he tries to locate the danger, rushing one way for a few yards, then the other way, and finally all ways at once. his tail is up and he is snorting like a steam engine. when he rushes toward you in this attitude it looks very much as though he were charging you with the purpose of trampling you to flinders. as a matter of fact, or, rather, opinion, he is merely trying to locate where you are in order that he may run the other way. he looks terrifying, but in reality is probably badly terrified himself. he would give a good deal to know which way to run, and finally becomes so excited and nervous that he starts frantically in some direction, hoping for the best. if this rush happens to be in your direction you call it a charge from an infuriated rhino; if not, you say that he looked nasty and was about to charge, but finally ran away in another direction. in most rhino charges it is my opinion that the rhino is too rattled to know what he is doing, and, instead of charging maliciously, he is merely trying to get away as fast as possible. and in such cases the hunter blazes away at him, wounds him, and the rhino blindly charges the flash. [drawing: _trying to provoke a charge_] it was our wish to get moving pictures of a rhino charge. mr. akeley had a machine and our plan of action was simple. we would first locate the rhino, usually somnolent under a thorn tree or browsing soberly out in the open. we would then get to the leeward of him and slowly advance the machine; mr. akeley in the middle and stephenson and i on each side with our double-barreled cordite rifles. in case the charge became too serious to escape we hoped to be able to turn him or kill the rhino with our four bullets. if we were unsuccessful in doing so--well, we had to manage the situation by jumping. our first experience was most thrilling, chiefly because we expected a charge. we thought all rhinos charged, as per the magazine articles, and so prepared for busy doings. a rhino cow and half-grown calf were discovered on a distant hillside. we stopped in a ravine to adjust the picture machine and then crept cautiously up the hill until we were within about seventy yards of the unsuspecting pair. then the rhino birds began to flutter and chatter and the two beasts began to sniff nervously. finally they turned toward us, with tails erect and noses sniffing savagely. now for the charge, we thought, for it was considered an absolute certainty that a rhino cow accompanied by its calf would always attack. we moved forward a few yards, clapped our hands to show where we were, and their attitude at once became more threatening. they rushed backward and forward a couple of times and faced us again. by this time we knew that they saw us and our fingers were within the trigger guards. it was agreed that, if they charged, they should be allowed to come within forty feet before we fired, thus giving the picture machine time to get a good record. the situation was intense beyond description, and seconds seemed hours. when they started trotting toward us we thought the fatal moment had come, but instead of continuing the "charge," they swung around and trotted swiftly off in an opposite direction. as far as we could see them they trotted swiftly and with the lightness of deer, sometimes zigzagging their course, but always away from us. the charge had failed in spite of all our efforts to provoke it. the whistling and hand-clapping which we had hoped would give them our location without doubt had merely served to tell them the way not to go. the moving picture record of a "charging rhino" would have been a brilliant success but for one thing--the rhino refused to charge. during the following ten days we made many similar attempts to get a charge and always with nearly the same results. once or twice we got within thirty yards before they finally turned tail after a number of feints that looked much like the beginning of a nasty charge. it was always intensely thrilling work because there was the likelihood that we might get a charge in spite of the fact that a dozen or so previous experiences had failed to precipitate one. in several cases the first rush of the rhino was toward us, but instead of continuing, he would soon swing about and make off, four times as badly scared as we were. it seemed as though these preliminary rushes toward us were efforts to verify the location of danger in order to determine the right direction for escape. in all, we made between fifteen and twenty different attempts on different rhinos to get a charge, but with always practically the same result, yet with always the same thrill of excitement and uncertainty. [drawing: _the end of the charge_] comprehensive statistics on a rhino's charges are hard to obtain. the district commissioner at embo told me that he had been ordered to reduce the number of rhinos in his district in the interest of public safety and that he had killed thirty-five in all. out of this number five charged him. that would indicate that one rhino in seven will charge. captain dickinson, in his book, _big game shooting on the equator_, tells of a rhino that charged him so viciously that he threw down his bedding roll and the rhino tossed it and trampled it with great emphasis, after which it triumphantly trotted away, elated probably in the thought that it had wiped out its enemy. a number of fatalities are on record to prove that the rhino is a dangerous beast at times, and so i must conclude that the rhino experiences we had were exceedingly lucky ones, and perhaps exceptional ones in that respect. in only one instance was it necessary for us to kill a rhino and even then it was done more in the interest of photography than of urgent necessity. on our game licenses we were each allowed to kill two rhinos, and as i wanted, one of the tana river variety it was arranged that i should try to get the first big one with good horns. after a hunt of several hours we found two of them together out on the slope of a long hill. our glasses showed that one of them was quite large and equipped with a splendid front horn nearly two feet long and a rear horn about a foot long. at the lower slope of the hill were two or three trees that screened our approach so that we were easily enabled to get within about one hundred and fifty yards of them without danger of discovery. from the trees onward the country was an open prairie for two or three miles. armed with a double-barreled cordite rifle and the comforting reflection that the chances were seven to one that the rhinos would not charge, i slowly advanced alone toward the two rhinos. behind me about fifty yards was the long range camera and a second gun manned by mr. stephenson. when fifty yards from the rhinos i stopped, but as no offensive tactics were apparent in the camp of the enemy, i slowly walked forward to thirty-five yards. then they saw me. they faced me with what seemed like an attitude of decided unfriendliness. their tails were up and they were snorting like steam engines. when the big one started toward me i fired and it fell like a log. the other one, instead of thundering away, according to expectations, became more belligerent. it ran a few steps, then swung around, and i felt certain that it was going to avenge the death of its comrade. the camera brigade rushed forward, clapping their hands to scare it away, as there was no desire to kill both of the animals. but it refused to go. it would sometimes run a few steps, then it would turn and come toward us. it was evidently in a fighting mood, with no intention of deserting the field of action. finally by firing shots in the air and yelling noisily it turned and dashed over the side of the hill. the photograph, taken at the instant the big rhino was struck, was remarkably dramatic and showed one rhino in an aggressive attitude and the other just plunging down from the shot of the big bullet. the front horn of the dead rhino was twenty and three-quarters inches long and in many places the animal's hide was over an inch thick. strips of this were cut off to make whips, and a large section was removed to be made into a table top. these table tops, polished and rendered translucent by the curing processes, are beautiful as well as extremely interesting. the rhino's tongue is even more delicious to eat than ox tongue and rhino tail soup is a great luxury on any white man's table; while the native porters consider rhino meat the finest of any meat to be had in africa. the conscience of one who slays a rhino is somewhat appeased by the fact that a hundred native porters will have a good square meal of wholesome meat to help build up their systems. [drawing: _a real rhino charge_] our expedition sustained only one real rhino charge. one day mr. stephenson stumbled on a big cow rhino that was lying in the grass. the meeting was as unexpected to him as to her, and before he could count five she was rushing headlong toward him. he clapped his hands, whistled, and shouted to turn her course, but she came on, snorting loudly and with head ready to impale everything in its way. stephenson did not want to kill her, neither did he desire to be killed, so when all other means had failed he fired a soft nose bullet into her shoulder in the hope that it would turn her away without seriously hurting her. the bullet seemed to have no effect and she did not change her course in the slightest degree. by this time she was within a short distance of stephenson, who was obliged to run a few feet and take refuge behind a tree. [photograph: the sultan looked like an american indian] [photograph: in the thorn brush on the tana] [photograph: the dummy rhino] the gunbearers and porters, who had fled in all directions, thought that stephenson was caught, but the rhino, passing him with only a small margin of five feet, continued thunderously on her way. in a few yards she slowed down, and when last seen was walking. she had evidently been hit very hard by the soft nose bullet and was already showing signs of sickness. suddenly a terrific squealing made the party aware that the cow rhino had been accompanied by a little rhino calf. the calf, only a couple of weeks old, charged savagely at every one in sight and every one in sight took refuge behind trees and bushes. instead of trying to escape, the animal turned and continued to attack in all directions whenever a man showed himself. when a man leaped behind a tree the calf would charge the tree with such force that it would be hurled back several feet, only to spring up and charge again. his squealing could be heard for a mile. after a long time the porters succeeded in capturing it and they conveyed it back to camp strung on a pole. if that little rhino was any criterion of rhino pugnacity, then surely the rhino is born with the instinctive impulse to charge and to fight as savagely as any animal alive. we fed our little pet rhino on milk and then swung it in a comfortable hammock made of zebra skin. in this more or less undignified fashion it was carried by eight strong porters to fort hall, two marches away, where it lived only a week or ten days and then, to our sorrow and regret, succumbed from lack of proper nourishment. [drawing: _retiring in favor of rhino_] sometimes, when the _safari_ is marching through bush country, the rhino becomes an element of considerable anxiety; an armed party must precede the caravan and clear the route of rhinos, otherwise the porters are likely to be scattered by threatened charges. it is no uncommon sight to see a crowd of heavily laden porters drop their loads and shin up the nearest tree in record time. consequently, strong protective measures are always demanded when a long train of unarmed natives is moving through bush or scrub country where there are many rhinos. [drawing: _favorite way of being photographed_] the lower tana river country is admirably adapted to the life habits of the rhinos. formerly the district was well settled by natives, but now, owing to the fever conditions prevailing there, the natives have all moved away to more wholesome places and only the forlorn remains of deserted villages mark where former prosperity reigned. the country has been abandoned to game, with the result that it has been enormously increasing during the last few years. in addition to the great numbers of rhinos there are big herds of buffalo, enormous numbers of hippo in the river, and many small droves of eland. waterbuck, bushbuck, steinbuck, impalla, hartebeest and zebra dwell in comparative immunity from danger and may be seen in hundreds, grazing on the hills or in the woods that fringe the river. it is a sportsman's paradise, if he manages to escape the fever, and we enjoyed it tremendously, even though we shot only a hundredth part of what we might easily have shot. the charm of hunting in such a region lies in what one sees rather than in what one kills. chapter viii meeting colonel roosevelt in the uttermost outpost of semi-civilization. he talks of many things, hears that he has been reported dead, and promptly plans an elephant hunt after one has been in british east africa two months he begins to readjust his preconceived ideas to fit real conditions. he discovers that nothing is really as bad as he feared it would be, and that distance, as usual, has magnified the terrors of a far-away land. in spite of the fact that he is in the heart of a primitive country, surrounded by native tribes that still are mystified by a glass mirror, and perhaps many days' march from the nearest white person, he still may feel that he is in touch with the great world outside. his mail reaches him somehow or other, even if he is in the center of some vast unsettled district devoid of roads or trails. how it is done is a mystery; but the fact remains that every once in a while a black man appears as by magic and hands one a package containing letters and telegrams. he is a native "runner," whose business it is to find you wherever you may be, and he does it, no matter how long it may take him. a telegram addressed to any sportsman in east africa would reach him if only addressed with his name and the words "british east africa." there are only four or five thousand white residents in the whole protectorate, and the names of these are duly catalogued and known to the post-office officials both in mombasa and nairobi. [photograph: _in the forest_] if a strange name appears on a letter or despatch, inquiries are made and the identity of the stranger is quickly established. if he is a sportsman, the outfitters in nairobi will know who he is. they will have equipped him with porters and the other essentials of a caravan, and they will know exactly in which section of the protectorate he is hunting. so the letter is readdressed in care of the _boma_ or government station, nearest to that section. the letter duly arrives at the _boma_, and a native runner is told to go out and deliver the message. he starts off, and by inquiry of other natives and by relying on a natural instinct that is little short of marvelous he ultimately finds the object of his search and delivers his message. if you look at a map of british east africa you will be amazed at the number of names that are marked upon it. you would quite naturally think that the country was rather thickly settled, whereas in fact there are very few places of settlement away from the single line of railroad that runs from mombasa to victoria nyanza. the protectorate is divided into subdistricts, each one of which has a capital, or _boma_, as it is called. this _boma_ usually consists of a white man's residence, a little post-office, one or two indian stores where all the necessities of a simple life may be procured, and a number of native grass huts. there is usually a small detachment of askaris, or native soldiers, who are necessary to enforce the law, repress any native uprising, and collect the hut tax of one dollar a year that is imposed upon each household in the district. other names on the map may look important, but will prove to be only streams, or hills, or some landmarks that have been used by the surveyors to signify certain places. in our five weeks' trip through trans-tanaland we found only two _bomas_, fort hall and embo, and three or four ranches where one or more white men lived. in our expedition to mount elgon we encountered only two places where the mark of civilization showed--eldoma ravine and sergoi. in the former place the only white man was the subcommissioner, and in the latter there was one policeman, and a general store kept by a south african. a number of boer settlers are scattered over the plateau, trying to reclaim little sections of land from its primitive state. between sergoi and londiani, on the railroad, ninety miles south, there is one little store where caravans may buy food for porters and some of the simpler necessities that white men may require. all the rest of the country for thousands of square miles is given up to the lion and zebra and the vast herds of antelope that feed upon the rich grass of the plateau. yet in spite of the sparsity of settlement the native runner manages to find you, even after days of traveling, without compass or directions to aid him. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. an askari who looked like a tragedian] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. mr. akeley] hunters who come to east africa usually are sent to certain districts where game is known to be abundant. these districts are well defined and oftentimes there may be a number of _safaris_ in them at the same time, but so large are the districts that one group of hunters very rarely encroaches upon the others. some parties are sent to mount kilima-njaro, in the vicinity of which there is good hunting. others are sent out from points along the railroad for certain classes of game that may be found only in those spots. simba, on the railroad, is a favorite place for those who are after the yellow-maned or "plains" lion. muhorini, also on the railroad, is a favorite place for those who want the roan antelope; naivasha is a good place for hippo, and south of kijabe, in what is called the sotik, is a district where nearly all sorts of game abound. the tana river is a favorite place for rhino, buffalo, nearly all sorts of antelope, and some lion; mount kenia is an elephant hunting ground, and the aberdare range, between kenia and naivasha, also is good for elephant. north of kenia is the guas nyiro river, a rich district for game of many kinds. and so the country is divided up into sections that are sure to attract many sporting parties who desire certain kinds of game. our first expedition out from nairobi was across the athi plains to the tana river and mount kenia, a wonderful trip for those who are willing to take chances with the fever down the tana river. in five weeks we saw lion, rhino, buffalo, and elephant--the four groups of animals that are called "royal game"; also hippo, giraffe, eland, wildebeest, and many varieties of smaller game. it is doubtful whether there is any other section of east africa where one could have a chance for so many different species of game in such a short time as the tana river country. for our second expedition we selected the guas ngishu plateau, the nzoia river, and mount elgon. it is a long trip which involves elaborate preparation and some difficulty in keeping up supplies for the camp and the porters. it is the most promising place, however, for black-maned lion and elephant, and on account of these two capital prizes in the lottery of big game hunting occasional parties are willing to venture the time and expense necessary to reach this district. we disembarked, or "detrained," as they say down there, at a little station on the railroad called londiani, eight miles south of the equator and about eighty miles from victoria nyanza. then with two transport wagons drawn by thirty oxen, our horses for "galloping" lions, and one hundred porters, we marched north, always at an altitude of from seventy-five hundred to ninety-two hundred feet, through vast forests that stretched for miles on all sides. the country was beautiful beyond words--clean, wholesome, and vast. in many places the scenery was as trim, and apparently as finished as sections of the wooded hills and meadows of surrey. one might easily imagine oneself in a great private estate where landscape gardeners had worked for years. [drawing: _one of the transport wagons_] at night the cold was keen and four blankets were necessary the night we camped two miles from the equator. in the day the sun was hot in the midday hours, but never unpleasantly so. after two days of marching through forests and across great grassy folds in the earth we reached eldoma ravine, a subcommissioner's _boma_ that looks for all the world like a mountain health resort. from the hill upon which the station is situated one may look across the great rift valley, two thousand feet below, and stretching away for miles across, like a grand caã±on of arizona without any mountains in it. strong stone walls protect the white residence, for this is a section of the country that has suffered much from native uprisings during the last few years. we called on the solitary white resident one evening, and, true to the creed of the briton, he had dressed for dinner. the sight of a man in a dinner-coat miles from a white man and leagues from a white woman was something to remember and marvel at. northward from eldoma ravine for days we marched, sometimes in dense forests so thick that a man could scarcely force himself through the undergrowth that flanked the trail, and sometimes through upland meadows so deep in tall yellow grass as to suggest a field of waving grain, then through miles of country studded with the gnarled thorn tree that looks so much like our apple trees at home. it was as though we were traversing an endless orchard, clean, beautiful, and exhilarating in the cool winds of the african highlands. and then, all suddenly, we came to the end of the trees, and before us, like a great, heaving yellow sea, lay the guas ngishu plateau that stretches northward one hundred miles and always above seven thousand feet in altitude. far ahead, like a little knob of blue, was sergoi hill, forty miles away, and beyond, in a fainter blue, were the hills that mark the limit of white man's passport. on the map that district is marked: "natives probably treacherous." off to the left, a hundred miles away, the dim outline of mount elgon rose in easy slopes from the horizon. elgon, with its elephants, was our goal, and in between were the black-maned lions that we hoped to meet. it would be hard to exaggerate the charm of this climate. and yet this, one thought, was equatorial africa, which, in the popular imagination, is supposed to be synonymous with torrential rains, malignant fevers, and dense jungles of matted vegetation. it was more like the friendly stretches of colorado scenery at the time of year when the grasses of the valley are dotted with flowers of many colors and the sun shines down upon you with genial warmth. [drawing: _a night on the equator_] each morning we marched ten or twelve miles and then went into camp near some little stream. in the afternoon we hunted for lions, beating out swamps, scouting every bit of cover and combing the tall grass for hours at a time. hartebeest, topi, zebra, eland, oribi, reedbuck, and small grass antelope were upon all sides and at all times. the herds of zebra and hartebeest literally numbered thousands, but, except as the latter were occasionally required for food for the porters, we seldom tried to shoot them. every boer settler we saw was interviewed and every promising lion clue was followed to the bitter end, but without result. sometimes we remained in one camp a day or more in order to search the lion retreats more thoroughly, but never a black-maned lion was routed from his lair. a few weeks later, when the dry grass had been burned to make way for new grass, as is done each year, the chances would be greatly improved, and we hoped for better luck when we retraced our steps from elgon in december. before that time it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack to find a lion in the tall grass, and a good deal more dangerous if we did find one. there were lots of them there, but they were taking excellent care of themselves. in july, three months previous, mr. mcmillan, mr. selous, and mr. williams were in this same district after black-maned lions. they heard them every night, but saw only one in several weeks. this one, however, made a distinct impression. williams saw it one day and wounded it at two hundred yards. the lion charged and could not be stopped by williams' bullets. it was only after it had leaped on the hunter and frightfully mauled him that the lion succumbed to its wounds. and it was only after months of suffering that williams finally recovered from the mauling. we felt that if frederick selous, the world's greatest big game hunter, could not find the lion, then our chances were somewhat slim. [drawing: _lion hunting in tall grass_] there had been few parties in this district since mcmillan's party left. captain ashton came in two months before us, and we met him on his way out. with him was captain black, a professional elephant hunter, who, three years before, on the aberdare, had had a bad experience with an elephant. it was a cow that he had wounded but failed to kill. she charged him and knocked him down in a pile of very thick and matted brush. three times she trampled him under her feet, but the bushes served as a kind of mattress and the captain escaped with only a few hones broken; although he was laid up for five weeks. ashton and black did not have much luck in the present trip and failed to get a single lion. two spaniards passed our camp one day, inward bound. they were the duke of peã±aranda and sr. de la huerta, and reported no lions during their few days in the district. prince lichtenstein was also somewhere on the plateau, but we didn't run across him. in addition to these three parties and ours, the only other expedition in the guas ngishu plateau was colonel roosevelt's party, toward which, by previous agreement, we made our way. a number of months before mr. akeley, who headed our party, was dining with president roosevelt at the white house. in the course of their talk, which was about africa and mr. akeley's former african hunting and collecting experiences, the latter had told the president about a group of elephants that he was going to collect and mount for the american museum of history in new york. president roosevelt was asked if he would coã¶perate in the work, and he expressed a keen willingness to do so. when our party arrived at nairobi, in september, a letter awaited mr. akeley, renewing colonel roosevelt's desire to help in collecting the group. it was in answer to this invitation that mr. akeley and our party had gone to the mount elgon country to meet mr. roosevelt and carry out the elephant-hunting compact made many months before at the white house. [photograph: kermit, leslie tarlton and colonel roosevelt] [photograph: winding through unbroken country] [photograph: our safari on the march] eleven days of marching and hunting from the railroad brought us to sergoi, the very uttermost outpost of semi-civilization. here we found another letter in which mr. akeley was asked to come to the roosevelt camp, and which suggested that a native runner could pilot him to its whereabouts. the letter had been written some days before and had been for some time at sergoi. whether the roosevelt camp had been moved in the meantime could not be determined at sergoi, and we knew only in a general way that it was probably somewhere on the nzoia river (pronounced enzoya), two or three days' march west of sergoi, toward mount elgon. so we started across, meeting no natives who possibly could have given any information. on the afternoon of november thirteenth we went into camp on the edge of a great swamp, or _tinga-tinga_, as the natives call it, only a couple of hours' march from the river. many fresh elephant trails had been discovered, and the swamp itself looked like a most promising place for lions. a great tree stood on one side of the swamp, and in its branches was a platform which an englishman had occupied seven nights in a vain quest for lions some time before. a little grass shelter was below the tree, and as we approached a wanderobo darted out and ran in terror from us. the wanderobos are native hunters who live in the forests, and are as shy as wild animals. so we could not question him as to colonel roosevelt's camp. later in the afternoon a native runner appeared from the direction of sergoi with a message to the colonel, but he didn't know where the camp was and didn't seem to be in any great hurry to find out. he calmly made himself the guest of one of our porters and spent the night in our camp, doing much more sitting than running. on the morning of the fourteenth we marched toward the river, two hours away, the native runner slowly ambling along with us. we had been on the trail about an hour and a half when a shot was heard off to our left; at first we thought it was our spanish friends, but a few moments later we came to a point where we could see, about a mile away, a long string of porters winding along in the direction from which we came, it was plainly a much larger _safari_ than the spanish one, and we at once concluded that it was colonel roosevelt's. three or four men on horses were visible, but could not be recognized with our glasses. the number corresponded to the colonel's party, however, which we knew to consist of himself and kermit, edmund heller and leslie tarlton. a messenger was sent across the hills to establish their identity and we marched on to the river, a half-hour farther, where we found the smoldering fires of their camp. a transport wagon of supplies for the duke of peã±aranda's _safari_ was also there, and from the drivers it was definitely learned that the late occupants of the camp were mr. roosevelt and his party. in the meantime the messenger had reached colonel roosevelt, and when the latter learned that mr. akeley's _safari_ was in the vicinity he at once ordered camp pitched forty-five minutes from our camp, and started across to see akeley. the latter had also started across to see the colonel, and they met on the way. and during all this time the native runner with the message to colonel roosevelt was loafing the morning away in our camp. what the message might be, of course, we didn't know, but we hoped that it was nothing of importance. it was only when the colonel and his party reached our camp that the message was delivered. as we stood talking and congratulating everybody on how well he was looking the colonel casually opened the message. he seemed amused, and somewhat surprised, and at once read it aloud to us. it was from america, and said: "reported here you have been killed. mrs. roosevelt worried. cable denial american embassy, rome." it was dated november sixth, eight days before. "i think i might answer that by saying that the report is premature," he said, laughing, and then told the story of a texas man who had commented on a similar report in the same words. colonel roosevelt certainly didn't look dead. if ever a man looked rugged and healthy and in splendid physical condition he certainly did on the day that this despatch reached him. his cheeks were burned to a ruddy tan and his eyes were as clear as a plainsman's. he laughed and joked and commented on the news that we told him with all the enthusiasm of one who knows no physical cares or worries. [drawing: _reading the report that he had been killed_] "if i could have seen you an hour and a half ago," he told akeley, "i could have got you the elephants you want for your group. we passed within only a few yards of a herd of ten this morning, and kermit got within thirty yards to make some photographs." they had not shot any, however, as they had received no answer to the letter sent several days before to mr. akeley and consequently did not know positively that his party had reached the plateau. the colonel asked about george ade, commented vigorously and with prophetic insight on the cook-peary controversy, and read aloud, in excellent dialect, a dooley article on the subject, which i had saved from an old copy of the chicago _tribune_. he commented very frankly, with no semblance at hypocrisy, on mr. harriman's death, told many of his experiences in the hunting field, and for three hours, at lunch and afterward, he talked with the freedom of one who was glad to see some american friends in the wilderness and who had no objection to showing his pleasure at such a meeting. he talked about the tariff and about many public men and public questions with a frankness that compels even a newspaper man to regard as being confidential. our _safari_ was the only one he had met in the field since he had been in africa, and it was evident that the efforts of the protectorate officials to save him from interference and intrusion had been successful. arrangements were then made for an elephant hunt. colonel roosevelt was working on schedule time, and had planned to be in sergoi on the seventeenth. he agreed to a hunt that should cover the fifteenth, sixteenth, and possibly the seventeenth, trusting that they might be successful in this period and that a hard forced march could get him to sergoi on the night of the eighteenth. it was arranged that he and mr. akeley, with kermit and tarlton and one tent should start early the next morning on the hunt, trusting to luck in overtaking the herd that he had seen in the morning. the hunt was enormously successful, and the adventures they had were so interesting that they deserve a separate chapter. chapter ix the colonel reads macaulay's "essays," discourses on many subjects with great frankness, declines a drink of scotch whisky, and kills three elephants on the afternoon of november fourteenth, a little cavalcade of horsemen might have been seen riding slowly away from our camp on the nzoia river. one of them, evidently the leader, was a well-built man of about fifty-one years, tanned by many months of african hunting and wearing a pair of large spectacles. his teeth flashed in the warm sunlight. a rough hunting shirt encased his well-knit body and a pair of rougher trousers, reinforced with leather knee caps and jointly sustained by suspenders and a belt, fitted in loose folds around his stocky legs. on his head was a big sun helmet, and around his waist, less generous in amplitude than formerly, was a partly filled belt of winchester cartridges. his horse was a stout little abyssinian shooting pony, gray of color and lean in build, and in the blood-stained saddle-bag was a well-worn copy of macaulay's _essays_, bound in pigskin. our hero--for it was he--was none other than bwana tumbo, the hunter-naturalist, exponent of the strenuous life, and ex-president of the united states. [drawing: _improving each shining hour_] if i were writing a thrilling story of adventure that is the way this story would begin. but as this is designed to be a simple chronicle of events, it is just as well at once to get down to basic facts and tell about the roosevelt elephant hunt, the hyena episode, and the pigskin library, together with other more or less extraneous matter. [photograph: a flag flew over the colonel's tent] [photograph: kermit and mr. stephenson diagnosing the case] colonel roosevelt, his son kermit, leslie tarlton, who is managing the roosevelt expedition, and edmund heller, the taxidermist of the expedition, came to our camp on the fourteenth of november to have luncheon and to talk over plans whereby colonel roosevelt was to kill one or more elephants for mr. akeley's american museum group of five or six elephants. the details were all arranged and later in the afternoon the colonel and his party left for their own camp, only a short distance from ours. mr. akeley, with one of our tents and about forty porters, followed later in the evening and spent the night at the roosevelt camp. the following morning colonel roosevelt, mr. akeley, mr. tarlton and kermit, with two tents and forty porters and gunbearers, started early in the hope of again finding the trail of the small herd of elephants that had been seen the day before. the trail was picked up after a short time and the party of hunters expected that it would be a long and wearisome pursuit, for it was evident that the elephants had become nervous and were moving steadily along without stopping to feed. in such cases they frequently travel forty or fifty miles before settling down to quiet feeding again. the country was hilly, deep with dry grass, and badly cut up with small gullies and jagged out-croppings of rock on the low ridges. at all times the ears of the hunting party were alert for any sound that would indicate the proximity of the herd, but for several hours no trumpeting, nor intestinal rumbling, nor crash of tusks against small trees were heard. finally, at about eleven o'clock, tarlton, who, strangely enough, is partly deaf, heard a sound that caused the hunting party to stop short. he heard elephants. they were undoubtedly only a short distance ahead, but as the wind was from their direction there was little likelihood that they had heard the approach of the hunters. so tarlton, who has had much experience in elephant hunting, led the party off at a right angle from the elephant trail and then, turning, paralleled the trail a few hundred feet away. they had gone only a short distance when it became evident that they had passed the herd, which was hidden by the tall grass and the thickly-growing scrub trees that grew on all sides. the wooded character of the country rendered it easy to stalk the elephant herd, and with careful attention to the wind, the four hunters and their gunbearers advanced under cover until the elephants could be seen and studied. each of the four hunters carried a large double-barreled cordite rifle that fires a five-hundred-grain bullet, backed up by nearly a hundred grains of cordite. as was expected, the herd consisted solely of cows and calves. there were eight cow elephants and two _totos_, or calves, a circumstance that was particularly fortunate, as colonel roosevelt was expected to secure one or two cows for the group, while some one else was to get the calf. for some moments the hunting party studied the group of animals and finally decided which ones were the best for the group. two of the largest cows and the calf of one of them were selected. it is always the desire of collectors who kill groups of animals for museums to kill the calf and the mother at the same time whenever practicable, so that neither one is left to mourn the loss of the other. it is one of the unpleasant features of group collecting that calves must be killed, but the collector justifies himself in the thought that many thousands of people will be instructed and interested in the group when it is finished. elephant hunting is considered by many african hunters as being the most dangerous of all hunting. when a man is wounded by an elephant he is pretty likely to die, whereas the wounds inflicted by lions are often not necessarily mortal ones. also, in fighting a wounded lion one may sometimes take refuge in the low branches of a tree, but with a wounded elephant there is rarely time to climb high enough and quick enough to escape the frenzied animal. in elephant shooting, also, the hunter endeavors to approach within twenty or thirty yards, so that the bullets may be placed exactly where their penetration will be the most instantaneously deadly. consequently, a badly placed bullet may merely infuriate the elephant without giving the hunter time to gain a place of safety, and thus be much worse than if the hunter had entirely missed his mark. among elephant hunters it is considered more dangerous to attack a cow elephant than a bull, for the cow is always ready and eager to defend its calf, hence when colonel roosevelt prepared to open fire on a cow elephant, accompanied by a calf, at a range of thirty yards, in a district where the highest tree was within reach of an elephant's trunk, the situation was one fraught with tense uncertainty. colonel roosevelt is undoubtedly a brave man. the men who have hunted with him in africa say that he has never shown the slightest sign of fear in all the months of big game hunting that they have done together. he "holds straight," as they say in shooting parlance, and at short range, where his eyesight is most effective, he shoots accurately. this, then, was the dramatic situation at about twelve o'clock noon on november fifteenth, eight miles east of the nzoia river, near mount elgon: eight cow elephants, two _totos_, one ex-president with a double-barreled cordite rifle thirty yards away, supported by three other hunters similarly armed, with native gunbearers held in the rear as a supporting column. the colonel opened fire; the biggest cow dropped to her knees and in an instant the air was thunderous with the excited "milling" of the herd of elephants. for several anxious minutes the spot was the scene of much confusion, and when quiet was once more restored colonel roosevelt had killed three elephants and kermit had killed one of the calves. it had not been intended or desired to kill more than two of the cows, but with a herd of angry elephants threatening to annihilate an attacking party, sometimes the prearranged plans do not work out according to specifications. kermit was hastily despatched to notify our camp and the work of preparing the skins of the elephants was at once begun. in the meantime, we at our camp, eight miles away from the scene of battle, were waiting eagerly for news of the hunting party, although expecting nothing for a day of so. it seemed too much to expect that the hunt should have such a quick and successful termination. so when kermit rode in with the news late in the afternoon it was a time for felicitation. we all solemnly took a drink, which in itself was an event, for our camp was a "dry" camp when in the field. only the killing of a lion had been sufficient provocation for taking off the "lid," but on the strength of three elephants for the group the "lid" was momentarily raised with much ceremony and circumstance. the burden of kermit's message was "salt, salt, salt!" and porters and second gunbearers to help with the skinning. so james l. clark, who has been connected with the american museum of history for some time and who was with us on the mount elgon trip to help mr. akeley with the preparation of the group, started off with a lot of porters laden with salt for preserving the skins. it was his plan to go direct to the main roosevelt camp, get a guide, and then push on to the elephant camp, where he hoped to arrive by ten o'clock at night. he would then be in time to help with the skinning, which we expected would be continued throughout the entire night. kermit stopped at his own camp and gave clark a guide for the rest of the journey, after which he went to bed. at eleven o'clock the sound of firing was heard some place off in the darkness. the night guard of the roosevelt camp, rightly construing it to be a signal, answered it with a shot, and, guided by the latter, clark and his party of salt-laden porters once more appeared. they had traveled in a circle for three hours and were hopelessly lost. kermit was routed out and again supplied more guides--also a compass and also the direction to follow. unfortunately he made a mistake and said northwest instead of southeast--otherwise his directions were perfect. for three hours more clark and his porters went bumping through the night, stumbling through the long grass and falling into hidden holes. the porters began to be mutinous and the guides were thoroughly and hopelessly lost. it was then that they one and all laid down in the tall grass, made a fire to keep the lions and leopards away, and slept soundly until daylight. even then the situation was little better, for the guides were still at sea. about the time that clark decided, to return to the river, miles away, and take a fresh start, he fired a shot in the forlorn hope of getting a response from some section of the compass. a distant shot came in answer and he pushed on and soon came up with the colonel and tarlton returning home after a night in the temporary elephant camp. the colonel gave him full directions and at nine o'clock the relief party arrived at their destination. in the meantime we, mrs. akeley, stephenson and myself, had left our camp on the river at six-fifteen, gone to the roosevelt camp, and with kermit guiding us proceeded on across country toward the elephant camp. on our way we also met the colonel and tarlton, the former immensely pleased with the outcome of the hunt and full of enthusiasm about the adventure with the elephants. but the most remarkable thing of all, he said, was the hyena incident. he told us the story, and it is surely one that will make all nature fakers sit up in an incredulous and dissenting mood. during the night, the story goes, many hyenas had come from far and near to gorge on the carcasses of the elephants. their howls filled the night with weird sounds. lions also journeyed to the feast, and between the two they mumbled the bones of the slain with many a howl and snarl. early in the morning the colonel went out in the hope of surprising a lion at the spread. instead, to his great amazement, he saw the head of a hyena protruding from the distended side of the largest elephant. it was inside the elephant and was looking out, as through a window. a single shot finished the hyena, after which a more careful examination was made. there are two theories as to what really happened. one is that the hyena ate its way into the inside of the elephant, then gorged itself so that its stomach was distended to such proportions that it couldn't get through the hole by which it had entered the carcass. [drawing: _the hyena episode_] the other theory is that, after eating its way into the elephant, it started to eat its way out by a different route. when its head emerged the heavy muscles of the elephant's side inclosed about its neck like a vise, entrapping the hyena as effectively as though it had its head in a steel trap. in the animal's despairing efforts to escape it had kicked one leg out through the thick walls of the elephant's side. [photograph: kermit roosevelt] [photograph: "peeling" an elephant] the colonel, in parting, asked us to stop with him for lunch on our way back and he would tell us all about the elephant hunt and show us his pigskin library. in return we promised to photograph the hyena and thus be prepared to render expert testimony in case, some time in the future, he might get into a controversy with the nature fakers as to the truth of the incident. we then resumed our journey and arrived at the elephant camp at nine-thirty. it was a scene of industry. the skins of the two largest elephants and that of the calf had been removed the afternoon before and were spread out under a cluster of trees. twenty or thirty porters were squatted around the various ears and strips of hide and massive feet, paring off all the little particles of flesh or tissue that remained. as fast as a section of hide was stripped it was thickly covered with salt and rolled up. this is the preliminary step. afterwards the skin, in many places an inch in thickness, is pared down to a condition of pliable thinness. this work requires hours or even days of hard labor by many skilful wielders of the paring knife. the skulls and many of the bones are saved when an animal is being preserved for a museum, but when we arrived they had not yet been removed from the carcasses. our first object was to visit the hyena, which we found still protruding from the side of his tomb. we photographed him from all angles, after which he was disinterred and exposed to full view. he had certainly died happy. he had literally eaten himself to death, and his body was so distended from gorging that it was as round as a ball. colonel roosevelt also photographed it, so that there will be no lack of evidence if the incident ever reaches the controversial stage. the third cow killed by colonel roosevelt was too small for the group, so the skin was divided up as souvenirs of the day. we each got a foot, fifteen square feet of skin, and one of the ears was saved for the colonel. we then started on the long two hours' ride back to the roosevelt camp, arriving there at a few minutes before one o'clock. we had not been in camp ten minutes before a whirlwind came along, blew down a tent, and in another minute was gone. a big american flag was flying from the colonel's tent, and he came out and, greeted us with the utmost cordiality and warmth. in honor of the occasion he had put on his coat and a green knit tie. he was beaming with pleasure at the result of the elephant hunt and seemed proud that he was to have elephants in the american museum group to be done by mr. akeley. heller was stuffing some birds and mice and was as slouchy, deliberate and as full of dry humor as any one i've ever seen. he is a character of a most likable type. tarlton, small, with short cropped red hair--a sort of scotchman in appearance--is also a remarkable type. he has a quiet voice, never raised in tone, and talks like the university man that he is. he is a famous lion hunter and has killed numbers of lions and elephants, but now he says he is through with dangerous game. "i've had enough of it," he says. the colonel, tarlton, heller, and kermit were the only members of the expedition present, mearns and loring having been engaged in a separate mission up in the kenia country for several weeks, while cuninghame had gone to uganda to make preparations for the future operations of the party in that country. mrs. akeley washed up in the colonel's tent, while stephenson and i used kermit's tent, and as we washed and scrubbed away the memories of the elephant carcasses the colonel stood in the door and talked to us. we told him that each of us had taken a drink of scotch whisky the evening before in honor of the elephants--the first drinks we had taken for weeks. "i'd do the same," said the colonel, "but i don't like scotch whisky. as a matter of fact, i have taken only three drinks of brandy since i've been in africa, twice when i was exhausted and once when i was feeling a little feverish. before i left washington there were lots of people saying that i was a drunkard, and that i could never do any work until i had emptied a bottle or two of liquor." we told him that we had heard these rumors frequently during the closing months of his administration, and he laughed. "i never drank whisky," he said; "not from principle, but because i don't like it. i seldom drink wine, because i'm rather particular about the kind of wine i drink. we have some champagne with us, but the thought of drinking hot champagne in this country is unpleasant. sometimes, when i can get wines that just suit my taste, i drink a little, but never much. the three drinks of brandy are all i've had in africa, and i'm sure that i've not taken one in the last four months. they had all sorts of stories out about me before i left washington--that i was drinking hard and that i was crazy. i may be crazy," he said, laughing, "but i most certainly haven't been drinking hard." the luncheon was a merry affair. heller had been out in the swamp in front of the camp and had shot some ducks for luncheon. "on my way in," said the colonel, "i shot an oribi, but when i heard that heller had shot some ducks i knew that my oribi would not be served." it was evident that the most thorough good fellowship existed among the members of the colonel's party. his fondness for all of them was in constant evidence--in the way he joked with them and in the complete absence of restraint in their attitude toward him. "they were told that i would be a hard man to get along with in the field," colonel roosevelt said, "but we've had a perfectly splendid time together." i asked him whether he had been receiving newspapers, and, if not, whether he would like to see some that i had received from home. he answered that he had not seen any and really didn't want to see any. "i don't believe in clinging to the tattered shreds of former greatness," he said, laughing. he had not heard that governor johnson, of minnesota, had died, and when we told him he said that johnson would undoubtedly have been the strongest presidential candidate the democrats could have nominated the next time. he wanted to know where he could address a note of sympathy to mrs. johnson. later, in speaking of a prominent public man who loudly disclaimed responsibility for an act committed by a subordinate, he said: "it would have been far better to have said nothing about it, but let people think he himself had given the order. very often subordinates say and do things that are credited to their superiors, and it is never good policy to try to shift the blame. do you remember the time root was in south america? well, some president down there sent me a congratulatory telegram which reached washington when i was away. mr. ---of the state department answered it in my name and said that i and 'my people' were pleased with the reception they were giving mr. root. well, the new york _sun_ took the matter up and when the fleet went around the world they referred to it as 'my fleet,' and that 'my fleet' had crossed 'my equator' four times and 'my ocean' a couple of times. it was very cleverly done and some people began to call for a brutus to curb my imperialistic tendencies." [drawing: _writing his adventures while they're hot_] he told a funny story about john l. sullivan, who came to the white house to intercede for a nephew who had got into trouble in the navy. john l. told what a nice woman the boy's mother was and what a terrible disgrace it would be for himself and his family if the boy was dropped from the navy. "why, if he hadn't gone into the navy he might have turned out very bad," said john l.; "taken up music or something like that." we also told him that some of the american papers were keeping score on the game he had killed, and that whenever the cable reported a new victim the score up to date would be published like a base-ball percentage table. in the last report he was quoted as having killed seven lions, while kermit had killed ten. this seemed to amuse him very much, although the figures were not strictly accurate. his score was nine and kermit's eight up to date. he was also amused by the habit the american papers have of calling him "bwana tumbo," which means "the master with the stomach," a title that did not fit him nearly so appropriately then as it might have done before he began his active days in the hunting field. he said, so far as he knew, the porters called him "bwana mkubwa," which means "great master," and is applied to the chief man of a _safari_, regardless of who or what he is. it is merely a title that is always used to designate the boss. we told him that many natives we had met would invariably refer to him as the sultana mkubwa, or great sultan, because they had heard that he was a big chief from america. he also laughingly quoted the attitude of wall street as expressed in the statement that they "hoped every lion would do his duty." later, in speaking generally of the odd experiences he had had in africa, he spoke of one that will surely be regarded as a nature fake when he tells it. it was an experience that he and cuninghame had with a big bull giraffe which they approached as it slept. when they were within ten feet of it it opened its eyes and stared at them. a slight movement on their part caused it to strike out with its front foot, but without rising. then, as they made no offensive moves, it continued to regard them sleepily and without fear. even when they threw sticks at it it refused to budge, and it was only after some time that it was chased away, where it came to a stop only fifty yards off. "i suppose w.j. long will call that a nature fake," he said, "and i wish that i had had a camera with me so that i could have photographed it. i'm afraid they won't believe cuninghame, because they don't know him." in the course of the luncheon the conversation ranged from politics, public men, his magazine work, some phases of illinois politics, as involved in the recent senatorial election, his future plans of the present african trip and many of the little experiences he had had since arriving in the country. much that was said was of such frankness, particularly as to public men, as to be obviously confidential. [photograph: kermit led the way to the elephant camp] [photograph: the elephants' skulls were saved] [photograph: removing an elephant's skin] he was asked whether he had secured, among his trophies, any new species of animal that might be named after him. in africa there is a custom of giving the discoverer's name to any new kind or class of animal that is killed. for instance, the name "granti" is applied to the gazelle first discovered by the explorer grant. "thompsoni" is applied to the gazelle discovered by thompson. "cokei" is the name given the hartebeest discovered by coke, and so on. if colonel roosevelt had discovered a new variation of any of the species it would be called the "roosevelti ----." the colonel said that he had not discovered any new animals, but that heller, he thought, had found some new variety of mouse or mole on mount kenia. he supposed that it would be called the mole helleri. he then told about an exciting adventure they had with a hippo two nights before. away in the night the camp was aroused by screams coming from the big swamp in front. kongoni, his gunbearer, rushed in and shouted: "lion eat porter!" the colonel grabbed his gun and dashed out in the darkness. kermit and one or two others, hastily armed, also appeared, and they charged down the swamp, where a hippo had made its appearance in the neighborhood of a terrified porter. kermit dimly made out the hippo and shot at it, but it disappeared and could not be found again. after luncheon the colonel said, "now, i want to inflict my pigskin library on you," and together we went into his tent and he opened an oilcloth-covered, aluminum-lined case that was closely packed with books, nearly all of which were bound in pigskin. it was a present from his sister, mrs. douglas robinson. the tent was lined with red, evidently kermit's darkroom when he was developing pictures. a little table stood at the open flaps of the entrance and upon it were writing materials, with which mr. roosevelt already had started to write up the elephant hunt of the day before. his motto seems to be, "do it now, if not sooner." [drawing: _the pigskin library_] i sat on his cot, mrs. akeley on a small tin trunk, and stephenson on another. the colonel squatted down on the floor cloth of the tent and began to show us one by one the various literary treasures from his pigskin library. the whole box of books was so designed that it weighed only sixty pounds, and was thus within the limit of a porter's load. some of the books were well stained from frequent use and from contact with the contents of his saddle-bags. whenever he went on a hunt he carried one or more of these little volumes, which he would take out and read from time to time when there was nothing else to do. he never seemed to waste a moment. his pride in the library was evident, and the fondness with which he brought forth the books was the fondness of an honest enthusiast. "some people don't consider longfellow a great poet, but i do," he said, as he showed a little volume of the poet's works. "lowell is represented here, but i think, toward the end of his life, he became too much bostonian. the best american," he said later, "is a bostonian who has lived ten years west of the mississippi." he then showed us his work-box, a compact leather case containing pads of paper, pens, lead pencils, and other requirements of the writer. i did not see a type-writing machine such as we cartoonists have so often represented in our cartoons of mr. roosevelt in africa. but, then, cartoonists are not always strictly accurate. later on he spoke of the lectures he was to deliver in berlin, at the sorbonne in paris, and in oxford the following spring. i told him how surprised i had been to hear that he had prepared these lectures during the rush of the last few weeks of his administration. he said that he probably would be regarded as a representative american in those lectures and that he wanted to do them just as well as he possibly could. he knew that there would be no time nor library references in africa, and so he had prepared them in washington before leaving america. in regard to his future movements he seemed sorry that he was obliged to take the nile trip, and that he was only doing it as a matter of business--that he had to get a white rhino, which is found only along certain parts of the nile. "going back by the nile is a long and hard trip. for the first twelve days we will not fire a shot, probably. it will mean getting started every morning at three o'clock, marching until ten, then sweating under mosquito bars during the heat of the day, with spirillum ticks, sleeping-sickness flies, and all sorts of pests to bother one; then long days on the nile, with nothing to see but papyrus reeds on each side." and speaking of "rhinos" suggests a little incident that the colonel told and which he considers amusing. "one day one of the party was stalking a buffalo, when a rhino suddenly appeared some distance away and threatened to charge or do something that would alarm the buffalo and scare it away. so they told me to hurry down and shoo the rhino off while they finished their stalk and got the buffalo. so, you see, there's an occupation. that settles the question as to what shall we do with our ex-presidents. they can be used to scare rhinos away." on hearing this story i remembered that the thick-skinned rhino is sometimes used by cartoonists as a symbol for "the trusts," and the story seemed doubly appropriate as applied to this particular ex-president. some member of our party then modestly advanced the suggestion that the colonel might some day be back in the white house again. he laughed and said that the kaleidoscope never repeats. "they needn't worry about what to do with this ex-president," he said. "i have work laid out for a long time ahead." another member of our party then told about the roosevelt act in _the follies of 1909_, in one part of which some one asks kermit (in the play) where the "ex-president" is. "you mean the 'next president,' don't you?" says kermit. when colonel roosevelt heard this he was immensely interested, not so much in the words of the play, but in the fact that kermit had been represented on the stage--dramatized, as it were. and as we left for our own camp the colonel called out: "now, don't forget. just as soon as we all get back to america we'll have a lion dinner together at my house." chapter x elephant hunting not an occasion for lightsome merrymaking. five hundred thousand acres of forest in which the kenia elephant lives, wanders and brings up his children the peril and excitement of elephant hunting can not be realized by any one who has known only the big, placid elephants of the circus, or fed peanuts to a gentle-eyed pachyderm in the park. to the person thus circumscribed in his outlook, the idea of killing an elephant and calling it sport is little short of criminal. it would seem like going out in the barnyard and slaying a friendly old family horse. that was my point of view before i went to africa, but later experiences caused the point of view to shift considerably. if any one thinks that elephant hunting is an occasion for lightsome merrymaking he had better not meet the african elephant in the rough. most people are acquainted with only the indian elephant, the kind commonly seen in captivity, and judge from him that the elephant is a sort of semi-domesticated beast of burden, like the camel and the ox. yet the indian elephant is about as much like his african brother as a tomcat is like a tiger. [photograph: the hyenas had feasted well] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. great stretches of dense forest] [drawing: _being killed by an elephant is a very mussy death_] many african hunters consider elephant hunting more dangerous than lion, rhino, or buffalo hunting, any one of which can hardly be called an indoor sport. these are the four animals that are classed as "royal game" in game law parlance, and each one when aroused is sufficiently diverting to dispel any lassitude produced by the climate. it is wakeful sport--hunting these four kinds of game--and in my experience elephant hunting is the "most wakefullest" of them all. in my several months of african hunting i had four different encounters with elephants. the first two were on mount kenia and the last two were on the guas ngishu plateau, near where it merges into the lower slopes of mount elgon. the first and the fourth experiences were terrifying ones, never to be forgotten. an englishman, if he were to describe them, would say "they were rather nasty, you know," which indicates how really serious they were. the second and the third experiences were interesting, but not particularly dangerous. mount kenia is a great motherly mountain that spreads over an immense area and raises its snow-capped peaks over eighteen thousand feet above the equator. the lower slopes are as beautiful as a park and are covered with the fields and the herds of the prosperous kikuyus and other tribes. scores of native villages of varying sizes are picturesquely planted among the banana groves and wooded valleys on this lower slope, each with its local chief, or sultan, and each tribe with its head sultan. in a day's "trek" one meets many sultans with their more or less naked retinues, and every one of them spits on his hand, presses it to his forehead, and shakes hands with you. it is the form of greeting among the kikuyus, and, in my opinion, might be improved. these people lead a happy pastoral life amid surroundings of exceptional beauty. above the cultivated _shambas_, or fields of sweet potatoes and tobacco and sugar and groves of bananas, comes a strip of low bush country. it is a mile or two wide, scarcely ten feet high, and so dense that nothing but an elephant could force its way through the walls of vegetation. most of the bushes are blackberry and are thorny. [drawing: _following the trail_] the elephants in their centuries of travel about the slopes have made trails through this dense bush, and it is only by following these trails that one can reach the upper heights of the mountain. above the bush belt comes the great forest belt, sublimely grand in its hugeness and beauty, and above this belt comes the encircling band of bamboo forest that reaches up to the timber line. there are probably five hundred thousand acres of forest country in which the kenia elephant may live and wander and bring up his children. he has made trails that weave and wind through the twilight shades of the forest, and the only ways in which a man may penetrate to his haunts are by these ancient trails. mount kenia, as seen from afar, looks soft and green and easy to stroll up, but no man unguided could ever find his way out if once lost in the labyrinth of trails that criss-cross in the forest. for many years the elephants of kenia have been practically secure from the white hunter with his high-powered rifles. warfare between the native tribes on the slopes has been so constant that it was not until three or four years ago that it was considered reasonably safe for the government to allow hunting parties to invade the south side of the mountain. prior to that time the elephant's most formidable enemies were the native hunter, who fought with poisoned spears and built deep pits in the trails, pits cleverly concealed with thin strips of bamboo and dried leaves, and the ivory hunting poachers. in 1906 the government granted permission to mr. akeley to enter this hitherto closed district to secure specimens for the field museum, and even then there was only a narrow strip that was free from tribal warfare. it was at that time that his party secured seven splendid tuskers, one of which, a one-hundred-fifteen-pound tusker shot by mrs. akeley, was the largest ever killed on mount kenia. and it was to this district that mr. akeley led our _safari_ late in october to try again for elephants on the old familiar stamping ground. we pitched our camp in a lovely spot where one of his camps had stood three years before, just at the edge of the thick bush and on the upper edge of the _shambas_. news travels quickly in this country, and in a short time many of his old kikuyu friends were at our camping place. one or two of the old guides were on hand to lead the way into elephant haunts and the natives near our camp reported that the elephants had been coming down into their fields during the last few days. some had been heard only the day before. so the prospects looked most promising, and we started on a little hunt the first afternoon after arriving in camp. [drawing: _the old wanderobo guide_] we took one tent and about twenty porters, for when one starts on an elephant trail there is no telling how long he will be gone or where he may be led. we expected that we would have to climb up through the strip of underbrush, and perhaps even as far up as the bamboos, in which event we might be gone two or three days. in addition to the porters we had our gunbearers and a couple of native guides. one of these was an old wanderobo, or man of the forest, who had spent his life in the solitudes of the mountain and was probably more familiar with the trails than any other man. he wore a single piece of skin thrown over his shoulders and carried a big poisoned elephant spear with a barb of iron that remains in the elephant when driven in by the weight of the heavy wooden shaft. the barb was now covered with a protective binding of leaves. he led the way, silent and mild-eyed and very naked, and the curious little skin-tight cap that he wore made him look like an old woman. as we proceeded, other natives attached themselves to us as guides, so that by the time we were out half an hour there were four or five savages in the van. [photograph: he was a very important sultan] [photograph: saying good-bye to colonel roosevelt] [photograph: a visiting delegation of kikuyus] no words can convey to the imagination the density of that first strip of bush. it was like walking between solid walls of vegetation, matted and tangled and bright with half-ripened blackberries. the walls were too high to see over except as occasionally we could catch glimpses of tree-tops somewhere ahead. we wound in and out along the tortuous path, and it was also torture-ous, for the thorn bushes scratched our hands and faces and even sent their stickers through the cloth into our knees. the effect on the barelegged porters was doubtless much worse. after a couple of hours of marching in those caã±ons of vegetation we entered the lower edge of the forest and left the underbrush behind. we soon struck a fairly fresh elephant trail and for an hour wound in and out among the trees, stumbling over "monkey ropes" and gingerly avoiding old elephant pits. there were dozens of these, and if it had not been for the fact that our old guide carefully piloted us past them i'm certain more than one of us would have plunged down on to the sharpened stakes at the bottom. some of the traps were so cleverly concealed that only a wanderobo could detect them. in places the forest was like the stately aisles of a great shadowy cathedral, with giant cedars and camphor-wood trees rising in towering columns high above where the graceful festoons of liana and moss imparted an imposing scene of vastness and tropical beauty. in such places the ground was clean and springy to the footfall and the impression of a splendid solitude was such as one feels in a great deserted cathedral. at times we crossed matted and snaky-looking little streams that trickled through the decaying vegetation, where the feet of countless elephants had worn deep holes far down in the mud. then, after long and circuitous marching, we would find ourselves traversing spots where we had been an hour before. [drawing: _elephant pits_] the elephant apparently moves about without much definition of purpose, at least when he is idling away his time, and the trail we were following led in all directions like a mystic maze. at this time i was hopelessly lost, and if left alone could probably never have found my way out again. so we quickened our steps lest the guides should get too far ahead of us. in those cool depths of the forest, into which only occasional shafts of sunlight filtered, the air was cold and damp, so much so that even the old wanderobo got cold. it made me cold to look at his thin, old bare legs, but then i suppose his legs were as much accustomed to exposure as my hands were, and it's all a matter of getting used to it. our porters, especially those that were most heavily loaded, were falling behind and there was grave danger of losing them. in fact, a little later we did lose them. the trail became fresher and, to my dismay, led downward again and into that hopeless mass of underbrush which at this point extended some distance into the lower levels of the forest. we could not see in any direction more than twenty-five feet--except above. if our lives had depended on it we could not have penetrated the dense matted barriers of vegetation on each side of the narrow trail. the bare thought of meeting an elephant in such a place sent a cold chill down the back. if he happened to be coming toward us our only hope was in killing him before he could charge twenty-five feet, and, if we did kill him, to avoid being crushed by his body as it plunged forward. without question it was the worst place in the world to encounter an elephant. and i prayed that we might get into more open forest before we came up with the ones we were trailing. you can't imagine how earnestly we all joined in that prayer. it was at this unpropitious moment that we heard--startlingly near--the sharp crash of a tusk against a tree somewhere just ahead. it was a most unwelcome sound. there was no way of determining where the elephant was, for we were hemmed in by solid walls of bush and could not have seen an elephant ten feet on either side of the narrow trail. we also didn't know whether he was coming or going or whether he was on our trail or some other one of the maze of trails. we quickly prepared for the worst. with our three heavy guns we crouched in the trail, waiting for the huge bulk of an elephant to loom up before us. then came another thunderous crash to our right--and it seemed scarcely fifty yards away. then a shrill squeal of a startled elephant off to our left and still another to the rear. some elephants had evidently just caught our scent, and if the rest of the elephants became alarmed and started a stampede through the bush the situation would become extremely irksome for a man of quiet-loving tendencies. the thought of elephants charging down those narrow trails, perhaps from two directions at once, was one that started a copious flow of cold perspiration. we waited for several years of intense apprehension. there was absolute silence. the elephants also were evidently awaiting further developments. [photograph: a clearing in the forest] [photograph: a kikuyu "cotillion"] [photograph: kikuyu women flailing grain] then we edged slowly onward along the trail, approaching each turning with extreme caution and then edging on to the next. somewhere ahead and on two sides of us there were real, live, wild elephants that probably were not in a mood to welcome visitors from chicago. how near they were we didn't know--except that the sounds had come from very near, certainly not more than a hundred yards--and we hoped that we might go safely forward to where the bush would be thin enough to allow us to see our surroundings. but there was no clearing. several times a crash of underbrush either ahead or to one side brought us to anxious attention with fingers at the trigger guards. at last, after what seemed to be hours of nervous tension, we came to a crossing of trails, down which we could see in four directions thirty or forty feet. a large tree grew near the intersection of the trails, and here we waited within reach of its friendly protection. it was much more reassuring than to stand poised in a narrow trail with no possibility of sidestepping a charge. we waited at the crossing for further sounds of the elephants--waited for some time with rifles ready and then gradually relaxed our taut nerves. a line of porters with their burdens were huddled in one of the trails awaiting developments. i took a picture of the situation and had stood my rifle against the tree, and sat down to whisper the situation over. all immediate danger seemed to have passed. it seemed to, but it hadn't. [drawing: _the porters came down the trail_] like a sudden unexpected explosion of a thirteen-inch gun there was a thundering crash in the bushes behind the porters, then a perfect avalanche of terrified porters, a dropping of bundles, a wild dash for the protection of the tree, and a bunch of the most startled white men ever seen on mount kenia. i reached the tree in two jumps, and three would have been a good record. the crashing of bushes and small trees at our elbows marked the course of a frenzied or frightened elephant, and to our intense relief the sounds diminished as the animal receded. i don't think i was ever so frightened in my life. but i had company. i didn't monopolize all the fright that was used in those few seconds of terror. we then decided that there was no sane excuse for hunting elephants under such conditions. we at least demanded that we ought to see what we were hunting rather than blindly stumble through dense bush with elephants all around us. so we beat a masterly retreat, not without two more serious threats from the hidden elephants. a boy was sent up a tree to try to locate the elephants, but even up there it was impossible to distinguish anything in the mass of vegetation around. we fired guns to frighten away the animals, but at each report there was only a restless rustle in the brush that said that they were still there and waiting, perhaps as badly scared as we were. my second elephant experience came the next day. we started forth again, with a single tent, our guides and gunbearers, a cook and a couple of tent boys and twenty porters. this time we politely ignored all elephant trails in the dense bush and pushed on through the forest. here it was infinitely better, for one could see some distance in all directions. we climbed steadily for a couple of thousand feet, always in forest so wild and grand and beautiful as to exceed all dreams of what an african forest could be. it more than fulfilled the preconceptions of a tropical forest such as you see described in stories of the congo and the amazon. the air was cold in the shadows, but pleasant in the little open glades that occasionally spread out before us. once or twice in the heart of that overwhelming forest we found little circular clearings so devoid of trees as to seem like artificial clearings. once we found the skull of an elephant and scores of times we narrowly escaped the deep elephant traps that lay in our paths. many times we saw evidences of the giant forest pig that lives on mount kenia and has only once or twice been killed by a white man. sometimes we came to deep ravines with sides that led for a hundred feet almost perpendicularly through tangles of creepers and bogs of rotted vegetation. we dragged ourselves up by clinging to vines and monkey ropes. on all sides was a solitude so vast as almost to overpower the senses. the sounds of bird life seemed only to intensify the effect of solitude. once in a while we came upon evidences of human habitation, little huts of twigs and leaves, where the wanderobo, or man of the forest, lived and hunted. up in some of the trees were thin cylindrical wooden honey pots, some of them ages old and some comparatively new. and in the lower levels of the forest we saw where the kikuyu women had come up for firewood. for some strange reason the elephants are not afraid of the native women and will not be disturbed by the sight of one of them. after seeing the women i am not surprised that they feel that way about it, but i don't see how they can tell the women from the men. possibly because they know that only the women do such manual labor as to carry wood. in the afternoon we reached the bamboos which lie above the forest belt. here the ground is clean and heavily carpeted with dry bamboo leaves. the bamboos grow close together, all seemingly of the same size, and are pervaded with a cool, greenish shadow that is almost sunny in comparison with the deep, solemn shades of the great forest. then we struck a trail. the old wanderobo guide said it was only an hour or so old and that we should soon overtake the elephant. it was evidently only one elephant and not a large one. it is fascinating to watch an experienced elephant hunter and to see how eloquent the trail is to him. a broken twig means something, the blades of grass turned a certain way will distinguish the fresh trail from the old one, the footprints in the soft earth, the droppings--all tell a definite story to him, and he knows when he is drawing down upon his quarry. as we proceeded his movements became slower and more cautious, and the plodding drudgery of following an elephant trail gave way to suppressed excitement. [drawing: _it looked like the rear elevation of a barn_] slower and slower he went, and finally he indicated that only the gunbearers and ourselves should continue. the porters were left behind, and in single file we moved on tiptoe along the trail. then he stopped and by his attitude said that the quest was ended. the elephant was there. one by one we edged forward, and there, thirty yards away, partly hidden by slender bamboos, stood a motionless elephant. he seemed to be the biggest one i had ever seen. he was quartering, head away from us, and we could not see his tusks. if they were big, we were to shoot; if not, we were to let him alone. as we watched and waited for his head to turn we noticed that his ears began to wave slowly back and forth, like the gills of a fish as it breathes. the head slowly and almost imperceptibly turned, and akeley signaled me to shoot. from where i stood i could not see the tusks at first, but as his head turned more i saw the great white shafts of ivory. the visible ivory was evidently about four feet long, and indicated that he carried forty or fifty pounds of ivory. then, quicker than a wink, the great dark mass was galvanized into motion. he darted forward, crashing through the bamboo as though it had been a bed of reeds, and in five seconds had disappeared. for some moments we heard his great form crashing away, farther and farther, until it finally died out in the distance. it was the first wild elephant i had ever seen, and it is photographed on my memory so vividly as never to be forgotten. i was more than half glad that i had not shot and that he had got away unharmed. that night we camped in a little circular clearing which the akeleys called "tembo circus," for it was near this same clearing that one of their large elephants had been killed three years before, and in the clearing the skin had been prepared for preservation. all about us stretched the vast forest, full of strange night sounds and spectral in the darkness. in the morning we awoke in a dense cloud and did not break camp until afternoon. our kikuyu and wanderobo guides were sent out with promises of liberal backsheesh to find fresh trails, but they returned with unfavorable reports, so we marched back to the main camp again. thus ended our kenia elephant experience, for a letter from colonel roosevelt, asking mr. akeley if he could come to nairobi for a conference on their elephant group, led to our departure from the mount kenia country. the other two elephant experiences were much more spectacular and perhaps are worthy of a separate story. chapter xi nine days without seeing an elephant. the roosevelt party departs and we march for the mountains on our big elephant hunt. the policeman of the plains the mount elgon elephants have a very bad reputation. the district is remote from government protection and for years the herds have been the prey of swahili and arab ivory hunters, as well as poachers of all sorts who have come over the uganda border or down from the savage turkana and suk countries on the north. as a natural consequence of this unrestricted poaching the herds have been hunted and harassed so much that most of the large bull elephants with big ivory have been killed, leaving for the greater part big herds of cows and young elephants made savage and vicious by their persecution. elephant hunters who have conscientiously hunted the district bring in reports of having seen herds of several hundred elephants, most of which were cows and calves, and of having seen no bulls of large size. the government game license permits the holder to kill two elephants, the ivory of each to be at least sixty pounds. this means a fairly large elephant and may be either a bull or a cow. the cow ivory, however, rarely reaches that weight and consequently the bulls are the ones the hunters are after and the ones that have gradually been so greatly reduced in numbers. the elephants of this district roam the slopes of the mountains and often make long swinging trips out in the broad stretches of the guas ngishu plateau to the eastward, in all a district probably fifty miles wide by sixty or seventy miles long. the hunters who invade this section usually march north from the railroad at a point near victoria nyanza, turn westward at a little settlement called sergoi, and continue in that direction until they reach the nzoia river. naturally, these names will mean nothing to one not familiar with the country, but perhaps by saying that the trip means at least ten days of steady marching in a remote and unsettled country, far from sources of supplies, i will be able to convey a faint idea of how hard it is to reach the elephant country. our purpose in making this long trip of ten weeks or more was to try for black-maned lion on the high plateau and to collect elephants for the group that mr. akeley is preparing for the american museum of natural history. the government gave him a special permit to collect such elephants as he would require, two cows, a calf, a young bull, and, if possible, two large bulls. one or more of these were to be killed by colonel roosevelt and one by myself. it seemed promising that the cows, calf, and young bull could be got on mount elgon, but the likelihood of getting the big bulls was far from encouraging. lieutenant-governor jackson thought we might be successful if we directed our efforts to the southeastern slopes of the mountain and avoided the northeastern slopes along the river turkwel, which had been hunted a good deal by sportsmen and poachers. if we were unable to get the big bulls on elgon it might be necessary to make a special trip into uganda for them. however, we determined to try, and try we did, through eight weeks of hard work and wonderful experiences in that remote district. [photograph: a kikuyu spearman] [photograph: the porters like elephant meat] [photograph: my masai sais and gunbearers] at sergoi, the very outpost of crude civilization, we were warned not to go up the southern side of the mountain on account of the natives that live there. we were told that they were inclined to be troublesome. we met captain ashton and captain black coming out after six weeks on the northern slopes. they reported seeing big herds, but mostly cows and calves. at sergoi we also received word from colonel roosevelt and at once marched to the nzoia river, where we met him. during our march we saw no elephants, but as we neared the river there were fresh signs of elephant along the trail. it is strikingly indicative of the "roosevelt luck" that he saw, on the morning we met him, the only elephants that he had seen in the district, and that within twenty-four hours from that time he had killed three elephants and kermit one. of this number two cows killed by colonel roosevelt were satisfactory for the group, and also the calf killed by his son, kermit. this left one young bull and two large bulls still to be secured, and to that end we addressed our efforts during the succeeding weeks. for nine days we hunted the nzoia river region, but without seeing an elephant. there were kongoni, zebra, topi, waterbuck, wart-hogs, reedbuck, oribi, eland, and uganda cob, but scour the country as we would, we saw no sign of elephant except the broad trails in the grass and the countless evidences that they had been in the region some time before. the country was beautiful and wholesome. there was lots of game for our table, from the most delicious grouse to the oribi, whose meat is the tenderest i have ever eaten. there were ducks and geese and kavirondo crane; and sometimes eland, as fine in flavor as that of the prize steer of the fat-stock show. then there were reedbuck and cob, both of which are very good to eat. so our tins of camp pie and kippered herring and ox tongue remained unopened and we lived as we never had before. when the day's hunt was over the sun in a splendid effort painted such sublime sunsets above mount elgon as i had never dreamed of. and the music of hundreds of african birds along the river's edge greeted us with the cool, delightful dawn. purely from an ã¦sthetic standpoint, our days on the nzoia were ones never to be forgotten, while from the standpoint of the man who loves to see wild game and doesn't care much about killing it, the bright, clear days on the nzoia were memorable ones. the roosevelt party went its way back to civilization; the spaniards, de la huerta and the duke of peã±aranda, came and made a flying trip up the mountain for elephant, then returned and went their way. the young baron rothschild came on to the plateau for a couple of weeks and then disappeared. and still we lingered on, happy, healthy, generally hungry, and intoxicated with the languorous murmur of africa. [drawing: _with sharp stakes in them_] then we marched for the mountain on our big elephant hunt. the details of those twelve days of adventuring in districts, some of which were probably never traversed before by white men, our experiences with the natives, our climb up the side of the mountain and our camp in the crater; our icy mornings, our ascent of the highest peak, and our explorations of the ancient homes of the cave-dwellers--all are part of a remarkable series of events that have nothing to do with an elephant story. in the forests we saw numberless old elephant pits, and on the grassy slopes there were mazes of elephants' trails, some so big that hundreds of elephants must have moved along them. but we saw no elephants. we scanned the hills for miles and tramped for days in ideal elephant country, but our quest was all in vain. then our food supplies ran low, our last bullock was killed, and we hurried back to the base camp on the river, a hungry, tired band of a hundred and twenty men. the matter of provisioning a large number of porters far from the railroad is a serious one. in addition to carrying the _safari_ outfit, the porters must carry their _posho_, or cornmeal ration, and it is impossible for them to carry more than a limited number of days' rations. so the farther one gets from the base of supplies the more difficult it is to move, and a relay system must be employed. porters must be sent back for food, often six or eight days; or else a bullock wagon must be used for that purpose. in our _safari_ we used two wagons, drawn by thirty oxen, to supplement the porters in keeping up food supplies, and even by so doing there were times when rations ran low. in such times we would shoot game for them, either kongoni or zebra, both of which are considered great delicacies by the black man. however, this is not telling about my memorable elephant experiences in the guas ngishu plateau. we got back to the nzoia river on december third. on the fifteenth, after many more unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with a herd, mr. akeley and i resolved to try the mountain again. we thought that perhaps the elephants might have moved northward along the eastern slope, and so we thought we'd push clear up to the turkwel river and find out beyond question. we outfitted for an eight days' march, carried only one tent and a small number of good porters. only the absolute necessaries were taken, for we expected to move fast and hard. the first day we marched eight hours, crossed the nzoia river, and by a curious chance at once struck a fresh trail which was diagnosed as being only a few hours old. the bark torn from trees was fresh and still moist; the leaves of the branches that had been broken off as the elephants fed along the way were still unwithered, and the flowers that had been crushed down by the great feet of the herd had lost little of their freshness and fragrance. the trail led us first in one direction, then in another; sometimes it was a big trail that plowed through the long grass like a river, with little tributaries branching in and out where the individual members of the herd had swerved out of the main channel to feed by the way. and sometimes when all the herd were feeding, the main trail disappeared, to be replaced by a maze of lesser trails leading in all directions. but by the skilful tracking of our gunbearers the main trail would be found again some distance onward. we followed the trail for hours, and then, night coming on, we went into camp near a small stream, choked with luxuriant vegetation. akeley thought he heard a faint squeal of an elephant far off, and while the porters made camp we went on for a mile or so to investigate. but no further sounds indicated the proximity of the herd. early the next morning we took up the trail again, and in less than an hour my masai sais pointed off to a distant slope a couple of miles away, where a black line appeared. it looked like an outcropping of rock. akeley looked at it and exclaimed, "by george, i believe he's got them!" and a moment later, after he had directed his glasses on the distant spot, he said briskly, "that's right, they're over there." and so, for the first time, after having scanned suspicious-looking spots in the landscape for weeks and always with disappointment, i saw a herd of real live elephants. to the naked eye they looked more like little shifting black beetles than anything else, but in the glasses they were plainly revealed with swaying bodies and flapping ears and swinging trunks. in elephant hunting the first important thing to consider is the wind, for the elephant is very keen-scented and is quick to detect a breath of danger in the breeze. fortunately we had seen them in time. if we had gone ahead a few hundred yards they would have got our wind and gone away in alarm, but this had not occurred. we could see that they were feeding quietly and without the slightest evidence of uneasiness. [photograph: some kikuyu belles] [photograph: wanderobo guides] we left our horses and the porters under a big tree and told the latter to come on if they heard any firing; otherwise, they were to await our return. then, with only our gunbearers and a man carrying akeley's large camera, we circled in a wide detour until we were safely behind the elephants. the wind continued favorable, and we cautiously approached the brow of a hill near where we had last seen them. they had disappeared, but their trail was as easy to follow as an open road. before reaching the brow of the next hill one of the gunbearers was sent up a tree to reconnoiter the country beyond. "_hapa_," he whispered, as he carefully climbed down and indicated with his hand that they were near. again we swung in a wide circle and came over the brow of the next hill. there, four or five hundred yards away, was the herd of elephants, standing idly under the low trees that studded the opposite slope. there were between forty and fifty of them, and from the number of _totos_, or calves, we assumed that many of the big ones were cows. we studied the herd for some minutes, estimating the ivory and trying in vain to pick out the bulls. there is very little difference between the appearance of a cow and a bull elephant when the latter has only moderate-sized tusks. usually the tusks of the male are heavier and thicker, but except for this distinction there is very little noticeable difference between the two. of course, an elephant with gigantic tusks is at once known to be a bull, but if he has small tusks it is a matter of considerable guesswork. [drawing: _two kongoni on guard_] we could not tell which ones of this herd were bulls, but assumed that there must surely be several small-sized or young bulls among them. we decided to go nearer, knowing that the elephant's eyesight is very poor, and with such a favoring wind his sense of smell was useless. it seemed amazing that they did not see us as we walked up the slope toward them. when a couple of hundred yards away we climbed a tree to study them some more. they were in three separate groups, each of which was clustered sleepy and motionless under the trees. they had ceased feeding and had evidently laid up for their midday rest, although the hour was hardly ten in the morning. from our "observation tower" in the tree we studied the three groups as well as we could. so far as we could judge there were at least three bulls of medium size, but as we looked those three lazily moved off toward the group on the extreme left. at that time we were within about a hundred yards of the nearest group with the wind still favorable, and except for one thing we might easily have crept up through the grass to within thirty or forty yards. directly between us and the elephants were two kongoni, one lying down and the other alert and erect. [drawing: _the policemen of the plains_] the kongoni is the policeman of the plains. he is the self-appointed guardian of all the other animals, and for some strange, unselfish reason, he always does sentinel duty for the others. his eyes are so keen that he sees your hat when you appear over the horizon two miles away, and from that moment he never loses sight of you. if you approach too near he whistles shrilly, and every other animal within several hundred yards is on the alert and apprehensive. the kongoni often risks his own life to warn other herds of animals of the approach of danger, and if i were going to write an animal story i'd use the kongoni as my hero. the hunters hate him for the trouble he gives them, but a fair-minded man can not help but recognize the heroic, self-sacrificing qualities of the big, awkward, vigilant antelope. why these two sentinels had not seen us is still and always will be a mystery, but it is certain that they had not. at the same time we knew that any attempt to approach nearer would alarm them and they in turn would sound the shrill tocsin of warning to the unsuspecting elephant herd, in which event we might have to track the elephants for miles until they settled down again. so we cautiously climbed down, retreated below the edge of the hill, and worked our way up in the lee of the group farthest to our left in the expectation of finding the three bulls. from tree to tree, and in the protection of large ant-hills, we moved forward until we were less than fifty yards from the elephants. then we studied them again, but could not locate the bulls. probably at this time something may have occurred to make the elephants nervous. perhaps the warning cry of a bird or the suspicious rustling of our footsteps in the tall grass, but at any rate the herd began to move slowly away. two of the larger groups marched solemnly down the slope away from us and the other disappeared among the low scrub trees to our right. we followed the two larger groups and soon were again within a few yards of them. an ant-hill four or five feet high gave us some protection, and over the top of this we watched the enormous animals as they stood under the trees ahead of us. while watching these two large groups we forgot about the one that had disappeared to the right. suddenly one of the gunbearers whispered a warning and we turned to see this group only a few yards from us and bearing directly down toward the ant-hill where we crouched in the grass. they had not yet seen us, but it seemed a miracle that they did not. if one of us had moved in the slightest degree they would have charged into us with irresistible force. we held our guns and our breath while these big animals, by a most fortunate chance, passed by us to the windward of the ant-hill, not more than thirty feet away. if they had passed to the leeward side they would have got our wind and trouble would have been unavoidable. i took a surreptitious snap-shot of them after they had passed by, and for the first time in some minutes took a long breath. then we circled the herd again and came up to them. they were now thoroughly uneasy. they knew that some invisible hostile influence was abroad in the land, but they could not locate in which direction it lay. we saw the sensitive trunks feeling for the scent and saw the big ears moving uneasily back and forth. one large cow with a broken tusk was facing us, vaguely conscious that danger lay in that direction. and then, by some code of signals known only to the elephant world, the greater number of elephants moved off down the slope and up the opposite slope. only the big, aggressive cow and four or five smaller animals remained behind as a rear-guard. she stood as she had stood for some moments, gazing directly at us and nervously waving her ears and trunk. [drawing: _the rear-guard_] akeley climbed to the top of an ant-hill and made some photographs showing the big cow and her companions in the foreground, while off on the neighboring hillside three distinct groups of elephants were in view. the latter were thoroughly alarmed and moved away very swiftly for some distance and then came to a pause. the big cow and her attendants then moved off, feeling that the retreat had been successfully effected. once more we followed them and came up to them, and then once more we were flanked by a number of elephants that had previously disappeared over the hill. they had swung around and were returning directly toward where we stood, unsuspecting. we barely had time to fall back to some small bushes, where we waited while the flanking party approached. they came almost toward us, and when only about fifty feet away i ventured a photograph, feeling that, if successful, it would be the closest picture ever made of a herd of wild elephants. i used a verascope, a small stereoscopic french machine whose "click" is almost noiseless. the elephants advanced and we huddled together with rifles ready in the patch of bushes. it seemed a certainty that they would charge, and that if our bullets could not turn them we would be completely annihilated. but as yet there was no sign that they saw us, or, if they did, they could not distinguish our motionless forms from the foliage of the scrub. at last, the foremost elephant, barely thirty feet from us, came to the trail in the grass by which we had retreated when we first saw them. the trunk, sweeping ahead of it as if feeling for the scent of danger, paused an instant as it reached the trail and then the animal drew back sharply as though stung. then it whirled about and the herd went crashing away through the sparse undergrowth. it was a time of the utmost nervous tension, and i don't believe the human system could undergo a prolonged strain of that severity. [drawing: _it started back as though stung_] during all this time we had not succeeded in positively locating a bull elephant. of all the forty-four elephants that were visible at any one time, there was not one that we could feel safe in identifying as the elephant needed for the group. three more times we stalked the herd to very close range, but they were now so restless that nothing could be ascertained. so finally we decided to get ahead of them and watch them as they passed us, but just as we had reached a point where they were approaching, the two kongoni gave a shrill alarm and the entire herd made off in tremendous haste. later, on our way back to camp, we came up with one group of six or seven, but they seemed too angry and aggressive to take needless chances with, so we watched them a while and then left them behind. during all that day we were with the herd nearly five hours, five hours of intense nervous strain, during which time there was never a moment when we were not in some danger of discovery. but in spite of the aggressive bearing of some of them at one time or another, i had the feeling that the elephants would run away from us the instant they definitely determined where we were. and it was while laboring under this impression that i met my second mount elgon herd of elephants and learned by bitter experience that the impression was wholly false. but that is still another story, the story of being charged five times in one day by angry elephants, and how i killed a bull elephant for the akeley group. chapter xii "'twas the day before christmas." photographing a charging elephant. cornering a wounded elephant in a river jungle growth. a thrilling charge. hassan's courage. on the night of december the twenty-third i sat out in a boma watching for lions. none came and at the first crack of dawn my two gunbearers and i crawled out of the tangled mass of thorn branches, and prepared to return to camp two miles away. we were expecting my sais to arrive with my horse soon after daybreak, and while waiting for him to come, and for my gunbearers to get the blankets tied up, i went across to a neighboring swamp in the hope of getting a bushbuck. i was about three hundred yards from the boma when my attention was drawn to a movement in the trees about a quarter of a mile away. i looked and saw what i first thought was a herd of zebras coming toward me. they looked dark against the faint light of early dawn and seemed surprisingly big. then i realized! they were elephants! i had only my little gun and my big double-barreled cordite was at the boma, three hundred yards away. breathlessly i ran for it, fearing that the elephants might cut me off before i could reach it. there seemed to be from seven to ten of them, but they soon disappeared in the trees, going at a fast swinging walk. hassan, my first gunbearer, stopped to slip a couple of solid shells in the gun while i ran to the top of a hill in the hope of catching sight of the herd. but they had disappeared entirely. we soon found the trail strongly marked in the dew-covered grass. my sais then appeared with my horse. he had seen two elephants and they had taken alarm at his scent and were rapidly fleeing. so i galloped back to camp to tell the rest of the party and to prepare for a systematic pursuit. after breakfast, with akeley, stephenson, clark and our gunbearers, the trail was again picked up where i had left it. it was then a little past nine and the elephants had two hours' start of us. their trail indicated that they were moving fast and so we prepared for a long chase. for nearly two hours we followed, akeley tracking with remarkable precision. sometimes the trail was faint and merged with older trails, but by looking carefully the fresh trail was kept. soon we began to see newly broken branches from the trees which indicated that the elephants were getting quieted down and were beginning to feed. it must have been about eleven o'clock when stephenson saw the herd far across on another slope. there were two of the animals distinctly visible and another partly visible. they were resting under some of the many acacia trees that dappled the slope of the hill. we stopped to examine them with our glasses. one seemed to have no tusks, but we finally saw that it had very small ones. the other and larger one had one good tusk and one that was broken off. after about twenty minutes we left our horses and with only our gunbearers moved across toward them, thinking that there must be others that we had not yet seen. the wind was bad, sometimes sweeping up in our direction through the depression between the two slopes and a moment later coming from another direction. at one time the wind blew from us directly toward the elephants and we expected to see them take alarm and run away. but they did not. we circled around and approached them from a better direction and advanced to within a couple of hundred yards without being detected. we then stopped for a conference. if there was a young bull i was to kill it for the akeley group; if there was a large bull stephenson was to kill it for himself; if there were only cows we were not to shoot unless absolutely necessary. in this event, akeley was to take his camera, and with "fred," "jimmy" clark, and i as escorts with our double-barreled cordite rifles, was to advance until he could get a photograph that would show an elephant the full size of the plate. if the elephants charged we were to yell and try to turn them without shooting; if they came on we were to shoot to hurt, but not to kill. fred was on one side of "ake," jimmy on another, and i on fred's left. thus we slowly moved toward the elephants. a reedbuck was startled out of the grass and noisily ran away, giving the alarm. the elephants began feeling in the air with their trunks and their ears began to wave uneasily. finally they turned and seemed about to go away. then fred saw, a short distance to the right, some more elephants that had previously been hidden by the trees. we both whispered to ake to stop, but he either did not hear us on account of his heavy sun hat or else was too intent upon the elephants in front to heed. [photograph: a nandi spearman] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce in the deep jungle growth] [photograph: as the elephant fell] "ake," whispered fred, "there's a good bull over there with good tusks. wait a minute." but ake, camera in position, continued to advance and so we followed. the elephants, a big cow and a half-grown one, were now facing us with ears wide spread. they looked very nasty. i thought they would turn and run away and was not uneasy about the outcome. but to my great surprise they started toward us, first slowly and then at a rapid trot, steadily gaining in swiftness. it was a real charge and we yelled to scare them off. the big cow was in the lead and she had not the slightest intention of being scared. her one idea was to annihilate us. we raised our rifles and continued to yell, but on she rushed. she was only thirty yards away when jimmy fired, fred fired, and then i. the huge animal sank on her four knees and the half-grown one turned off and stopped, confused and angry. akeley had got a splendid photograph of the charging cow and now he took one of the smaller beast before we approached the cow. upon our advance the smaller one ran away but the big cow never moved again. she was stone dead. the three bullets had struck her, jimmy's high as she was head on, fred's between the eye and ear as she swung, and mine just behind the orifice of the ear as the head was still further swung by the shock of fred's bullet. the elephant rested on her four knees in an upright position, quite lifelike in appearance. the small elephant ran off toward those that we had seen on our right. i suggested that we immediately follow the herd in the hope that a young bull might be found among them. so off we went and in a few moments we saw them to our right, apparently returning to where the cow had been killed. it is entirely likely that the big broken-tusked cow was going back to make trouble for us. colonel roosevelt had a similar experience with a bull elephant that returned and charged the hunters as they were standing about one that they had just killed. [drawing: _they whirled around_] as the elephants moved along slowly we paralleled them and studied them as well as we could. one was the big cow with the one broken and one good tusk. she was leading the group, and was doubtless a vicious animal. she was an enormous beast, probably over eleven feet in height. another was the half-grown elephant, then a smaller one, and lastly a good-sized elephant with two fairly good tusks. we tried to determine the sex of this last one, i hoping that it was a bull, but fearing otherwise. ake thought it was a cow with tusks about twelve or fourteen inches long, but the fact that its breasts showed no signs of milk fullness led me to hope that it was a young bull, and i determined to act on that supposition. i at once advanced with my big gun in readiness. the two largest elephants at the same moment whirled around and started swiftly toward us. i rested my gun against the side of a small tree and after their onward rush had brought them within fifty yards i fired as ake suggested, "just between the eye and ear." the animal swerved but did not fall. akeley and stephenson fired at the big cow and under the shock of their heavy shells she dropped to her knees, then sprang up and came on again. once more they shot and she again went down on her knees, but got up, shaking her head and turned a little to one side. stephenson started to shoot her again, but ake shouted, "don't shoot her again. she's got enough." mr. stephenson followed her for some distance and decided that she was going to recover, and so came back. in the meantime my elephant, with the two smaller ones, was moving off to the left, and with my small rifle i fired at its backbone, the only vulnerable spot visible. a spurt of dust rose, but the elephant did not stop. so, accompanied by hassan and sulimani, my two gunbearers, i started after the wounded elephant and the two younger ones. the big one was moving slowly, as though badly wounded. the wind was bad, so we circled around to head them off and in doing so completely lost them. presently we struck their trail and followed them by the blood-stains on the grass. after some minutes we saw them moving along in the tall grass near the nzoia river. again we swiftly circled to head them off before they could cross the river, but when we reached a point where they had last been seen they had disappeared in the dense tangle of trees and high reeds that grew at the river's edge. we thought they would cross the river, so we rushed after them. suddenly hassan yelled "here they come!" and, ahead of us, came the large elephant, its head rising from above the sea of grass like the bow of a battleship bearing rapidly down upon us. the two smaller ones were almost invisible, only the back of one appearing above the reeds. we were out in the open and the situation looked decidedly dangerous. i hastily drew a bead on the big one's forehead, fired, but it didn't stop. there was barely time for us to get out of the way. i ran sideways toward a little mound that furnished some protection, while hassan, with a coolness and courage that i both admired and envied, stood still until the big elephant was within ten feet of him and then leaped to one side as the three beasts swept by him, carried onward by the impetus of their mad rush. as the big one passed it made a vicious swing at him with its trunk. [photograph: bow on] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. the bull elephant] [photograph: cooking elephant meat] fortunately the elephants continued in their course and we followed them with my big rifle again reloaded and ready. once more they turned in toward the river and were completely swallowed up in the tall reeds. we again waded in after them and had gone only a few yards when we once more saw the angry head of the big one looming up as it came toward us. i fired point-blank at the base of the trunk and the beast stopped suddenly. then it slowly turned and as it was about to disappear in the tall elephant grass again i fired at its backbone. the huge bulk collapsed and disappeared, buried in the reeds. hassan yelled that it was dead, but we couldn't see for the grass. the situation now was perilous in the extreme. the river made a sharp bend at this point like an incomplete letter o, with a narrow neck of land through which the elephants had passed when i had shot. at the narrow neck it was about a hundred feet across while the depth of the "o" was about three hundred feet and the width about two hundred and fifty feet. this small peninsula was matted with a jungle growth of high grass and reeds six or eight feet tall, while the edges of the river were thickly wooded with small trees tangled together and interlacing their branches over the narrow but deep waters of the nzoia. [drawing: _awaiting the charge_] down in the jungle depths of this peninsula there was a violent commotion among the low branches of these trees, an indication that the animal was not dead, but was thrashing madly about as if desperately wounded. hassan said it was the young elephant and that the older one was dead, but this could not be determined without pushing on through the reeds until we would be almost upon them. this course seemed too dangerous to try. the river at this point was absolutely impassable for animals. the banks were ten feet high and perpendicular. the water was perhaps five or six feet deep and the width of the swift stream not over twenty or thirty feet. the trees had interlaced their roots and branches across the river and in the water. no animal, not a tree climber, could possibly cross the stream on account of the straight up and down banks. so after a time we crept along through the grass at the edge of the stream until we reached a point probably forty yards from where the elephants doubtless were, although quite hidden from our view. there was still a tremendous threshing in the low branches of the trees and in order to see the animals we had to creep cautiously across the peninsula to a point about half-way, where a large, rotten, dead tree stood. this gave us cover and from its screen we could see the three elephants, only fifteen yards away. the head of the big one was still up and it was turned directly at us. it was so close and so big that the effect was terrifying. "_mkubwa_," whispered sulimani, and that means "big." so the big elephant, instead of being dead, was still alive, with an impassable river at its feet on one side, a dense tangle of trees on two other sides, and with a narrow open aisle between it and ourselves. the two smaller elephants were at its side. to see to fire i had to step out from the tree and expose myself, and as i stepped out the wounded beast saw me and reared its head as if to make a final rush. i fired point-blank; it swung around and a second shot sent it down. hassan grabbed my arm and told me to hurry back before the two smaller elephants charged. if they did so it might be necessary to shoot them, which we didn't want to do. so we ran swiftly back to the edge of the river and waited. but all was quiet, and after a time we climbed across the river on the interlacing branches, circled around to where the elephants were visible just across the stream and scared the two smaller ones away. once more we swung across from branch to branch over the swift waters of the river and reached the other bank where lay the mountainous bulk of the dead elephant. it was a young bull about eight feet high and with two well-shaped tusks twenty-two inches long in the open, or approximately thirty-eight inches in all. sulimani was sent to notify mr. akeley and mr. clark, and after a long search found them, and together they arrived a couple of hours later, followed by gunbearers and saises. mr. stephenson had gone back to camp to see that salt and supplies, with one tent, were sent out. then began the work of measuring the elephant, a work that must be done most thoroughly when the trophy is to be mounted entire. there were dozens of measurements of every part of the body, enough to make a dress for a woman, and then came the skinning, a prodigious task that took all of the late afternoon and evening. we investigated the position of an elephant's heart which kermit roosevelt had said was up in the upper third or at the top of the second third of the body, a spot which must be reached by a shot directed through the point of the ear as it lay back. as a matter of fact, an elephant's heart lies against the brisket, about ten or eleven inches from the bottom of the breast. a broadside shot through the front leg at the elbow would penetrate the heart. at nine o'clock, christmas eve, the tent arrived and was soon put up in the jungle of high grass at the middle of the little peninsula. a more african scene can not be imagined. the porter's fires, over each of which sticks spitted with elephant meat _en brochette_ were cooking, imparted a weird look to the river jungle grass and spectral trees. at ten o'clock we had our dinner and at eleven we put on our pajamas and with the camp-fire burning before the tent and the armed askaris pacing back and forth, gave ourselves up to lazy talk, then meditation and then sound sleep. it was a wonderful day--one always to be remembered. the next day, christmas, came without the usual customs of christmas morn. in the forenoon we stuck with the bull elephant, getting its skin and bones ready for transportation back to camp; and in the afternoon came the work of saving the skull and part of the skin of the cow elephant. the porters must have thought the day a wonderful one, for they ate and gorged on elephant meat until they could hardly move. chapter xiii in the swamps on the guas ngishu. beating for lions we came upon a strange and fascinating wild beast, which became attached to our party. the little wanderobo dog one of the most exciting phases of african hunting is the beating of swamps for lion. a long skirmish line of native porters is sent in at one end of the swamp and, like a gigantic comb, sweeps every live thing ahead of it as it advances through the reeds. all kinds of swamp life are stirred into action, and a fairly large swamp will yield forth the contents of a pretty respectable menagerie. sometimes a hyena or two will be flushed and once in a while a lion will be driven out. it is the constant expectation of the last-named animal that gives such keen and long sustained interest to the work of beating a swamp. one never knows what to expect. a suspicious stir in the reeds may mean a lion or only a hyena; an enormous crashing may sound like a herd of elephants, but finally resolve itself into a badly frightened reedbuck. most of the time you expect reedbuck, but all the time you have to be ready for lion. as a general thing a lion will slink along in the reeds ahead of the beaters and not reveal himself until he is driven to the end of the cover. then he will grunt warningly or show an ear or a lashing tail above the reeds, and instantly every one is in a state of intense expectancy. what the next move will be no one knows, but it is more than likely to be something of a supremely dramatic sort. one day we were beating swamps on the guas ngishu plateau. lions seemed to be numerous in that district. two days before i had killed two lions near by, and during the morning stephenson and i had each killed a lioness in the same line of marshy reed beds. we now intended advancing to the next large swamp of the chain and see whether a large, black-maned lion might not be routed out. conditions seemed propitious, for in this selfsame swamp colonel roosevelt had seen the best lion of his trip some weeks before. perhaps the lion might still be there. the campaign was planned with great thoroughness. forty or fifty porters were formed into the customary skirmish line and on each side we paralleled the beaters with our rifles. at the word of command the column began to advance and the interest reached a fever heat. the swamp was five or six hundred yards long, and for the first three hundred yards nothing of a thrilling sort occurred. the shouts of the beaters blended into a rhythmic, melodious chant and the swish of their sticks as they thrashed the reeds was enough to make even the king of beasts apprehensive. [photograph: abdi, the somali head-man] [photograph: along the nzoia river] [photograph: beating a swamp for lions] over on my side of the swamp there was a wide extension of dry reeds and bushes through which i was obliged to go in order to keep in touch with the skirmish line of porters. we had got three-quarters the full length of the swamp and any moment might reasonably expect to hear from a lion if there was one ahead of us. every rifle was at readiness and the porters were advancing less impetuously. in fact, they were pretending to go forward without doing so. suddenly a wild shout from a porter near by, then a hurried retreat of other porters, and then a cautious advance gave sign that something desperate was about to happen. we caught a glimpse of reeds moving about and then saw something crouched in the grass beneath. two ears were finally distinguished among the tangle of rushes, and there was no further doubt about it. it was not a lion. it wasn't even a hyena. it was a little dog. his presence in the middle of that swamp was about as logical as if he had been a musk-ox or a walrus. however, there he was, gazing up at us from the bulrushes, with mild, friendly eyes and a little tail that was poised for wagging at the slightest provocation. he was instantly christened "moses" for obvious reasons. later the name was changed to mosina, also for obvious reasons. after the line of porters had regained their composure the lion beat continued, but no lion appeared. the sum total of the wild beasts yielded by that promising swamp was one (1) little black and tan dog with white feet. [drawing: _it was not a lion_] some of our genealogical experts addressed themselves to the task of figuring out the why and wherefore of little mosina and what in the world she was doing out in a lion and leopard infested place. leopards in particular are fond of dogs, not the way you and i are fond of them, but in quite a different way. a leopard, so it is said, prefers a dog to any other food and will take daring chances in an effort to secure one for breakfast, dinner, or supper. therefore, how little mosina escaped so long is a mystery yet unsolved. the experts decided after a thorough consideration of the case, viewing it from all possible angles, that the little dog was a wanderobo dog. the wanderobo are natives who live solely by hunting and generally have the most primitive sort of a grass hut at the edge of a swamp or deep in the solitudes of the forest. they put rude honey boxes up in the trees to serve as beehives, and it is from this honey and from the game that they kill with their bows and arrows and traps and spears that they manage to eke out a meager living. like all true hunters, they keep dogs, and it is more than likely that little mosina was the ex-property of some wild-eyed, naked wanderobo who lived in the swamp. when our great crowd of noisy beaters appeared at the other end of the swamp the wanderobo had doubtless crawled out of his hole and made off for the nearest tall grass. in going he had left behind mosina as a rear-guard to cover his retreat or to stay the invaders' advance until he could reach the nearest spot available to a hasty man. so we adopted this theory as to why mosina was in the bulrushes, and in honor of her wanderobo associations we again changed her name to "little wanderobo dog." so far as i know, she is the only dog in history who has had three separate and distinct names within two hours. of course, there are people who have called dogs more than three different names in much less time, but they were not christian names. one of the bachelor members of the committee, who is known to be a woman-hater, conferred the honorary title of the pronoun "he" on little wanderobo dog, and she has been "he" ever since. but not without a bitter fight by those of the committee who think the pronoun "she" is infinitely more to be admired. little wanderobo dog did not wait to be adopted. he adopted us, but not ostentatiously at first--just a friendly wag here and there to show that he had at last found what he was looking for. by degrees he became more friendly and genial, so that at the end of an hour he was thoroughly one of us. i have never seen a milder-eyed dog than little wanderobo. innocence and guilelessness struggled for supremacy, with "confidence in strangers" a close third. you couldn't help liking him, for with those meek and gentle eyes, together with manners above reproach, he simply walked into your heart and made himself at home. i think that we were a good deal of a surprise to him. in all his short young life he had probably never known anything but kicks and cuffs. when he met a stranger he naturally expected to have something thrown at him, or to have a stubby toe or hard sandal projected into his side. imagine his wonderment to find people who actually petted him and played with him. at first he didn't know how to play, but it was amazing to see how fast he learned. he was ready to play with any and all comers at any and all times. you could arouse him from a deep slumber and he would be ready to engage in any form of gaiety at a second's notice. they talk about "charm." some people have it to a wonderful degree. you like them the minute you meet them, and often don't really know why. perhaps because you simply can't help it. well, that was the chief characteristic of little wanderobo dog. he had more charm than anything i've ever met, and so it is only natural that he should have walked into our affections in the most natural, unaffected sort of way. i don't know what he thought of us, but i really believe that he thought he had gone to heaven. we fed him and played with him, and finally he gained a little assurance, and actually barked. he barked at one of our roosters, and then we knew that he considered himself past the probation stage. he had confidence enough to assert himself in a series of lusty barks without fearing a hostile boot or an angry shout. the first time he barked we all rushed out of our tents in wonder and admiration. it was the most important event of the day, and it caused a great deal of talk of a friendly nature. there was one umbrageous cloud on little wanderobo dog's horizon, however--a cloud that he soon learned to evade. the mohammedans didn't like him. it is a part of their creed to hate dogs almost as much as pork, and to be touched by a dog means many prayers to allah to wipe away the stain of contact. but little wanderobo dog was not conversant with the mohammedan creed at first, and in his gladness and joy of life he embraced everybody in the waves of affection and friendliness that radiated from him like a golden aura. the somali gunbearers were disciples of allah, and they began to kick at him before he was within eight feet of them. two of the tent boys were also mohammedans, but they had to be more circumspect in their hostility. whenever little wanderobo dog came around they would edge away, which gave the former a certain sense of importance because it was flattering to have a number of grown-up men fear him so much. then there were a number of the porters who were mohammedans of a sort, but these were wont to say, "o, what is a creed among friends?" it was quite cold up on the plateau at night. sometimes the wind swept down from the distant fringe of mountains and shook the tents until the tent pegs jumped out of the ground. the night guard would pile more wood on the big central camp-fire near our tents and the porters, in their eighteen or twenty little tents, would huddle closer together for warmth. they were nights for at least three blankets, and even four were not too many. consequently little wanderobo dog was confronted by the necessity of adopting a place to sleep where he would be safe from those sharp arrows of the north wind that swept across the high stretches of the plateau. so he ingratiated himself into my tent with many friendly wags of his tail and a countenance of such benign faith in human nature that he was allowed to remain. at many times in the night i was awakened and i knew that little wanderobo dog was dreaming about some wicked swamp ogre that was trying to kick him. at first he was not a silent sleeper, but later on these awful nightmares came with less frequency and i presume his dreams took on a more beatific character. as a watch-dog i don't believe he had great value, because of his readiness to make friends with anything and anybody. if a leopard had come into the tent he would have said, "excuse me, but i think you are in the wrong place," but he would never have barked or conducted himself in an ungentlemanly way. one could never tell what was likely to come into one's tent at night, even with armed askaris patrolling the camp all night long. one cold night, before little wanderobo dog had come to live with us, i was awakened by a curious rustle of the tent flaps. i listened and then watched the tent flap for some moments, thinking that the wind might have been responsible. but there was no wind and it seemed beyond doubt that some animal had entered. for a long time i listened, but could hear nothing; and yet at the same time i had a positive conviction that i was not alone in the tent. i wondered if it could be a leopard, or some small member of the cat tribe. i knew that it wasn't a dog, for there were no dogs anywhere in the vicinity of the camp. as the minutes went by without any hostile move from the darkness, i decided to let whatever it was stay until it got ready to depart. so i went to sleep. once more in the night i was awakened by a noise in the tent and as nearly as i could diagnose the situation, the noise came from under my cot. but, i reasoned, if the animal is there, it's behaving itself and if it were on mischief bent it would have transacted its business long before. so i went to sleep again. just at dawn the clarion crow of a rooster came from under my bed. it was one of the roosters the cook had bought from a boer settler and had come in to escape the coldness of the night air without. it was a most agreeable surprise, for there was a homelike sound in the crow of the rooster that was pleasantly reminiscent of the banks of the wabash far away. after little wanderobo dog became "acclimated" to the warm and friendly atmosphere of hospitality of the camp, he began to show evidences of tact and diplomacy. he bestowed his attentions, with unerring impartiality to all of us. in the evening, and frequently during the day, he would pay ceremonial visits to each of the four tents of the _msungu_, as the white people are called. first he would approach the threshold of one tent, cock an inquiring ear at the occupant, and upon receiving the customary sign of welcome would wag himself in and pay his respects. after a short call he would wag his way out and call at the next tent, where the same performance was repeated. [drawing: _a ceremonial call_] he never burst into a place like a cyclone of happiness, but rather, he sort of oozed in and oozed out, his mild brown eyes brimming with gentleness and his tail, that eloquent insignia of canine gladness, wigwagging messages of good cheer. in one of the tents of the _msungu_ there was a pet monkey. it had been captured down on the tana river months before and at first was wild and vicious. as time went by it lost much of its wildness and to those it liked was affectionate and friendly. to all others it presented variable moods, sometimes friendly and sometimes unexpectedly and unreasonably hostile. we feared that little wanderobo dog would have some bad moments with the little tana river monkey, and their first meeting was awaited with keen interest. we thought the monkey would scratch all the gentleness out of the little wanderobo dog's eyes and that the two animals would become bitter enemies. but nothing of the sort happened. little wanderobo dog managed the matter with rare tact. he succeeded in slowly overcoming the monkey's prejudices, then in inspiring confidence, and finally in establishing play relations. it was worth a good deal to see the dog and monkey playing together, the latter scampering down from his tent-pole aery, leaping on the dog, and scampering hurriedly over the latter, with a quick retreat to the invulnerable heights of the tent-pole. little wanderobo dog would allow the monkey to roam at will over his features and anatomy, thereby showing tolerance which i thought impossible for any animal to show. after little wanderobo dog had paid his devoirs to his host, which he did each day with great punctiliousness, he would then retire to some sunny spot and enjoy his siesta. he was great on siestas and usually had several each day. [drawing: _the entente cordiale_] in time he learned to distinguish between mohammedans and other dark-complexioned people and held himself aloof from the former, thereby escaping any humiliating races with the heavy boots of the gunbearers and other followers of allah. he made friends with little ali, the monkey's valet, a small swahili boy who looked like a chocolate drop in color, and like a tooth-powder ad in disposition. it was ali's duty to carry the monkey on our marches. the little gray monkey, with its venerable looking black face fringed with a sunburst of white hair, would be tied to an old umbrella of the sairey gamp pattern, and would sit upon it as the small boy carried it along the trails on his shoulder, like a musket. sometimes when the sun was strong the umbrella would be raised to shield the monkey's eyes, which could not stand the fierce glare incident to a long march upon sun-baked trails. at such times the monkey, who rejoiced in the brief name of j.t. jr.--the same being emblazoned on the little silver collar around its neck--at such times the monkey would scamper from shoulder to shoulder of the small boy, with occasional excursions up in the woolly kinks of the heights above. it was a funny picture and one that never failed to amuse those who watched it. well, little wanderobo dog, by some prescient instinct hardly to be expected in one brought up in a swamp, decided that little ali and the monkey were to be his "companions of the march." so, when the tents were struck and abdi, the head-man, shouted "_funga nizigo yaka!_" and the tented city of yesterday became a scattered heap of sixty-pound porters' loads, little wanderobo would seek out ali and prepare to bear him company during the long stretches of the march. and then when the long line of horsemen, native soldiers, porters, tent boys, gunbearers, ox gharries, and all began to wind their sinuous way over veldt or through forest, there was none in the line more picturesque than ali and j.t. jr. surrounded by the affable little wanderobo dog. [photograph: being posed for a post mortem picture] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. the triumvirate] [drawing: _the three comrades_] it is little wonder that friendship soon ripened into love, and that we all became speedily and irrevocably attached to the little swamp angel. his presence in any gathering was like a benediction of good cheer, and when his tail was in full swing he looked like a golden jubilee. as i say, it was no wonder we liked him, and i think i may also say, without flattering ourselves, that the sentiment was reciprocated. i don't believe the joy he showed at all times could have been assumed. it must have been pure joy, without alloy. his table manners were above reproach. he would, never grab or show unseemly greed. he awaited our pleasure and each bone or chop that fell his way was received with every token of mute but eloquent gratitude. you were constantly made to feel that he loved you for yourself and not for what he hoped you would give him. if i were to be wrecked on a desert island, i believe there is hardly more than one person that i'd prefer to have as my sole companion than little wanderobo dog. perhaps a few words about the architecture of the little dog might not come amiss. he was built somewhat on the lines of the german renaissance, being low and rakish like a dachshund, but with just a little more freeboard than the dachshund. his legs were straight instead of bowed, as are those of his distinguished german cousin. his ears were hardly as pendulous, being rather more trenchant than pendulous, and therefore more mobile in action. his tail was facile and retroussã©, with a lateral swing of about a foot and an indicated speed of seventeen hundred to the minute. when you add to these many charms, those mild eyes, surcharged with love light, and a bark as sweet as the bark of the frangipanni tree and as cheerful as the song of the meadow-lark, you may realize some of the estimable qualities that distinguished little wanderobo dog. for some weeks he stayed with us, tray-like in his faithfulness, and always in the vanguard when danger threatened the rear. one day our caravan passed through a group of migrating wanderobos. there were a dozen or so of men, all armed with spears and bows and arrows; also fifteen or twenty women, thirty or forty _totos_, and about a score of dogs. here was the test. would little wanderobo dog, reclaimed from the swamp, harken to the call of the blood and join the band of his own kind? if he did, we could only bow our heads in grief and submission, for after all were not we only foster friends and not blood relations? but little wanderobo dog never wavered in his allegiance to us. he had planted his lance by our colors and with these he would stick till death. he passed those other wanderobo dogs as if they were creatures from another world. if he felt tempted to join his fellow dogs, there was no indication of it, and at night when we reached our camp we found our faithful follower at his accustomed post, stanch, firm and true to his colors, which were black and tan. but alas, there comes a time when the best of friends must part. and the dark day came when i saw little wanderobo dog for the last time. it was at escarpment. our long months of hunting were over. our horses and porters and all our equipment were on the train bound for nairobi, where we were to settle our affairs and leave africa and its happy hunting ground. little wanderobo dog had been let out of his first-class compartment in the train and was running up and down the platform, wigwagging messages of gladness with his tail and sniffing friends and strangers with dog-like curiosity. some friends of ours were at the train to say howdy-do and to shake our hands, and with these the little dog was soon on friendly terms. when the train whistle blew and the bell was rung and some more whistles blew and more bells were rung, little wanderobo dog was taken back into his car. the last good-bys were said and we were off for nairobi. suddenly there was a startled cry, a whisk of a tail, and the dog was gone--out of the car window. he lit on his nose, but as far back as we could see he sat in the middle of the next track and gazed at the receding train. two days later mrs. tarlton came down from escarpment and said that she had rescued the dog and that he was installed in the hospitable home of mrs. hampson, where he would remain until he rejoined those members of our party who were to remain in africa some months longer. it is likely that little wanderobo dog may be taken on a great elephant hunt in uganda and, who knows, some time he may visit america. i hope so, for i'd like to give him a dinner. [drawing: _our last view_] chapter xiv who's who in jungleland. the hartebeest and the wildebeest, the amusing giraffe and the ubiquitous zebra, the lovely gazelle and the gentle impalla in the course of the average shooting experience in british east africa the sportsman is likely to see between twenty and thirty different species of animals. from the windows of the car as he journeys from mombasa to nairobi, three hundred and twenty-seven miles, he may definitely count upon seeing at least seven of these species: wildebeest, hartebeest, grant's gazelle, thompson's gazelle, zebra, impalla, and giraffe, with the likelihood of seeing in addition some wart-hogs and a distant rhinoceros, and the remote possibility of seeing cheetah, lion, and hyena. of the bird varieties the traveler will be sure of seeing many ostriches, some giant bustards, and perhaps a sedate secretary-bird or two. [photograph: hassan and a hartebeest] [photograph: the author's home in africa] [photograph: beautiful upland country] these animals are the common varieties, and after a short time in the country the stranger learns to tell them apart. he knows the zebra from his previous observation in circuses; he also does not have to be told what the giraffe is, but the other ones of the seven common varieties he must learn, for most of them are utterly strange to an american eye. [drawing: _gazelle, with wildebeest in background_] he soon learns to pick out the wildebeest, or gnu, by its american buffalo appearance; he comes to know the little thompson's gazelle by its big black stripe on its white sides and by its frisky tail that is always flirting back and forth. the grant's gazelle is a little harder to pick out at first, and one is likely to get the grant's and tommy's confused. but after a short time the difference is apparent, the grant's being much larger in stature and has much larger horns and is minus the thompsonian perpetual motion tail. it certainly is a stirring tail! the impalla is about the same size as the grant's gazelle, but has horns of a lyrate shape. the hartebeest is speedily identified, because he is unlike any other antelope in appearance and exists in such large numbers in nearly every part of east africa. indeed, if a returned traveler were asked what animal is most typical of the country he would at once name the hartebeest. he sees it so much and so often that after a time it seems to be only a necessary fixture in the landscape. a horizon without a few hartebeests on it would seem to be lacking in completeness. furthermore, the stranger soon learns that the hartebeest is commonly called by its native name, kongoni, and by the time his shooting trip is over the sight of the ubiquitous kongoni has become as much of his daily experience as the sight of his tent or his breakfast table. to me the kongoni appealed most strongly because of his droll appearance and because of a many-sided character that stirs one's imagination. he is big and awkward in appearance and action; his face is long and thin and always seems to wear a quizzical look of good humor, as if he were amused at something. others besides myself have remarked upon this, so i am hoping that the kongoni wore this amused look even at times when he was not looking at me. his long, rakish horns are mounted on a pedicle that extends above his head, thus accentuating the droll length of his features. his withers are unusually high and add to the awkward appearance of the animal. standing, the kongoni is a picture of alert, interested good humor; running, he is extremely funny, as he bounces along on legs that seem to be stiffened so that he appears to rise and fall in his stride like a huge rubber ball. we made quite a study of the kongoni, for he is a most interesting animal. he is unselfish and vigilant in protecting the other creatures of the plain. his eyes are as keen as those of a hawk, and when a herd is feeding there are always several kongoni sentinels posted on ant-hills in such a strategic way that not a thing moves anywhere on the plains that escapes their attention. oftentimes i have cautiously crept to the top of a ridge to scan the plains, and there, a mile away, a kongoni would be looking at me with great interest. if you try to approach he will remain where he is until his warning sneezes have alarmed all the other animals, and finally, when all have fled, he goes gallumphing along in the rear. he is the self-appointed protector of his fellow creatures, the sentinel of the plains. i have seen him run back into danger in order to alarm a herd of unsuspecting zebras. he leads the wildebeests to water and he lends his eyes to the elephants as they feed. with nearly every herd of game, or near by, will be found the faithful kongoni, always alert, watchful, and vigilant, and it is nearly always his cry of warning that sends the beasts of the plains flying from dangers that they can not see. the sportsman swears at the kongoni because it so often alarms the quarry he is stalking. how very often it happens! the hunter sees afar some trophy that he is eager to secure and straightway begins a careful stalk of many hundred yards. at last, after much patient work, he reaches a point where he feels that he can chance a shot. he takes a careful sight and at that moment a kongoni that has been silently watching him from some place or other gives the alarm, and away goes the trophy beyond reach of a bullet. and then how the hunter curses at the kongoni, who has stopped some little distance away and is regarding him with that quaint, lugubriously funny look. it almost seems to be laughing at him. one day i tried to shoot a topi. it was a broiling hot day and the sun hung dead above and drove its burning javelins into me as i crept along. for seven hundred yards, on hands and knees, i slowly and painfully made my way. the grass wore through the knees of my trousers and the sharp stubbles cut my palms; once a snake darted out of a clump of grass just as my hand was descending upon it, and lizards frequently shot away within a yard of my nose. my neck was nearly broken from looking forward while on my hands and knees, and it was nearly an hour of creeping progress that i spent while stalking that topi. when i got within two hundred and fifty yards, and was just ready to take a careful aim, with an ant-hill as a rest, a kongoni somewhere gave the alarm, and away went the topi, safe and sound but badly scared. the kongoni went a little way off and then turned and grinned broadly. i was momentarily tempted to shoot him, but on second thought i realized that he had acted nobly from the animal point of view, so i forgave him. [drawing: _outward bound--reading your thoughts--concluding your intentions are hostile_] the kongoni seems to be gifted with a clairvoyant instinct. he knows when you don't want to shoot him and when you do. if you start out in the morning with no hostile intentions toward him he will allow you to approach to within a short distance. he will be alert and watchful, but he will show no anxiety. but just suppose for an instant that you change your mind. suppose you say to yourself that the porters have had no meat for several days and that it might be well to shoot a kongoni. the latter knows what is passing in your mind long before you have made a single movement to betray your intentions. he begins to edge away, ready in an instant to go bounding rapidly beyond rifle shot. i've seen a herd of kongoni standing quite near, watching me with curious interest, but without fear. perhaps i was intent upon something else and hardly noticed them. suddenly a villainous thought might enter my head, such as "that big kongoni has enormous horns," and instantly the herd would prick up their ears, run a few steps, and then turn to verify their suspicions. then, if the villainous thought still lurked in my brain, they would sneeze shrilly and go galloping away in the distance. there is no way to explain this except to attribute it to thought transference, and this in spite of the fact that the kongoni doesn't understand english. the kongoni is found nearly every place in east africa. along the railway between makindu and nairobi the species is called coke's hartebeest. farther up the railway the species is neumann's hartebeest, while still beyond, on the guas ngishu plateau and the mau escarpment, the species is called jackson's hartebeest. in the main the three varieties are almost the same; it is in the horns that the chief distinction lies, with lesser differences in color and stature. the hunter has been allowed to kill ten of each on his license, but under the new game ordinance in force since december, 1909, only four jackson's are allowed and twenty coke's instead of ten. [drawing: _the young kongoni is very funny_] when we went across the guas ngishu plateau in early november we saw thousands of jackson's hartebeest, and never a calf. when we came back in late december and early january we saw hundreds and hundreds of calves, many of them less than a day old. the stork must have been busy, for they all arrived at once. these little calves come into the world fully equipped for running, and almost immediately after birth go bounding along after their mothers, so awkward and so funny that i'm not surprised that their own mothers look perpetually amused. the hartebeest, or kongoni, is hard to kill. the dutch gave him the name for that reason. it often seems as if bullets have no effect on him. he will absorb lead without losing a trace of his good-humored look, and after he has been shot several times he will go bounding earnestly away, as if nothing was the matter. if he succeeds in joining a herd there is little way of distinguishing which one has been shot, unless he suddenly exhibits signs or falls over. otherwise he is quite likely to gallop away, far beyond pursuit, and then slowly succumb to his wounds. again i've seen them knocked over and lie as if dead, but before one could approach they would be up and off as good as ever. this is the great tragedy of the conscientious hunter's life--the escape of a wounded animal beyond pursuit--and the thought of it is one that keeps him awake at night with a remorseful heart and saddened thoughts. whenever i shall think of africa in the future, i shall think of my old friend, the kongoni, dotting the landscape and sticking his inquiring ears over various spots on the horizon. in four and a half months i think i must have seen at least a hundred thousand kongoni. the giraffe is also a creature of most amusing actions. you are pretty certain to see a bunch of them as you come up the railway from the coast. they were the first wild animals i saw in british east africa--a group of four or five quietly feeding within only a hundred yards of the thundering railway engine. they were in the protected area, however, and seemed to know that no harm would reach them there. later on in the morning we saw other herds, but invariably at long range, sometimes teetering along the sky line or appearing and disappearing behind the flat-topped umbrella acacias. [drawing: _they run loosely but earnestly_] the giraffe is most laughable when in action. he first looks at you, then curls his tail over his back, and then lopes off with head and neck stuck out, and with body and legs slowly folding and unfolding in a most ungainly stride. it is hard to describe the gait of a giraffe to one who has never seen it, but any one would at once know without being told that a giraffe couldn't help being funny when running. as a general thing it is difficult to approach a giraffe. with their keen eyes and great height they almost invariably see you before you see them, and that will be at seven or eight hundred yards' distance. from the moment they see you they never lose sight of you unless it is when they disappear behind a hill a mile or two away. when seen on the sky-line a herd of giraffe will suggest a line of telegraph poles; when seen scattered along a hillside, partly sheltered under the trees, they blend into the mottled lights and shadows in such a way as to be almost invisible. i have been within two hundred yards of a motionless giraffe and, although looking directly at it, was not aware that it was a giraffe until it moved. it might easily have been mistaken for a bare fork of the tree, with the mottled shadows of the leaves cast upon it. along the tana river i saw several herds of giraffe, perhaps fifty head in all, but it was on the great stretches of the scrub country that slopes down from mount elgon that i saw the great herds of them. one afternoon i saw twenty-nine together, big black males, beautifully marked tawny females, and lots of little ones that loomed up like lamp posts amidst a group of telegraph poles. within two hours i saw two other herds of seven and nine each, and every day thereafter it was quite a common thing to run across groups of these strange-looking animals browsing among the trees. one is not allowed to kill a giraffe except under a special license, which costs one hundred and fifty rupees, or fifty dollars. one of our party had a commission to secure a specimen for a collector and had been unsuccessful in getting it. that circumstance led to an amusing adventure that i had with a giant giraffe. one day, with my gunbearers, i had ridden out from camp in search of wild pigs. ten minutes after leaving camp i drew rein hastily, for off to my left and in front a lone giraffe of great size and of splendid black color was slowly careening along toward me. if he continued in his course and did not see us he would pass within a hundred yards of me. so i hastily but quietly dismounted to try for a photograph as he passed. a moment or two later he saw me for the first time and at once swung into a funny trot. i took the picture, and then the thought struck me, "why not drive him into camp, where he could be secured by the one having a special license?" i jumped on my horse and galloped around him, but in a few moments struck a ravine so rocky that i had to walk my horse through the worst of it. by the time i had crossed the giraffe was some hundred yards ahead. still farther ahead the prairie was burning and the long line of fire extended a mile or more across our front. i thought this fire would swing the giraffe off, and so it became a race to reach the fire line first, in order to swing him in the right direction. the ground was deep with prairie grass, as dry as tinder, and scattered throughout were innumerable holes in the ground made by the ant-bears and wart-hogs. any one of these holes was enough to throw a horse head over heels if he went into it. i had no gun, having left it with my gunbearer when i took the picture. so there was nothing to hinder me as we swept across the great plain. we passed the camp half a mile away at a furious pace, the giraffe holding his own with the horse and keeping too far in front to be turned. by degrees we approached the prairie fire and the flames were leaping up three or four feet in a line many hundred yards long. the giraffe hesitated and then breasted the walls of fire; i didn't know whether my horse would take the salamander leap or not, and as we rushed down toward it i half-expected that he would stop suddenly and send me flying over his shoulders. but he never wavered. the excitement of the chase was upon him and he took the leap like an antelope. there was a moment of blinding smoke, a burning blast of air, and then we were galloping madly on across the blackened dust where the fire had already swept. for two miles i galloped the giraffe, vainly endeavoring to swing him around, but once a swamp retarded me and another time a low hill shut the giraffe from view. when i passed the hill he had disappeared and could not be found again. there was no deep regret at having lost him, for i felt particularly grateful to him for having given me the most exhilarating and the most joyous ride i had in africa. the large male giraffes often appear solid black at a distance, for the yellow bands separating the splotches of black are so slender as to be invisible at even a short distance. the females are much lighter and usually look like the giraffes we see in the circuses at home. then there's the ubiquitous zebra, almost as numerous as the kongoni. you see vast herds of zebra at many places along the railway, and thereafter, as you roam about the level spots of east africa, you are always running into herds of them. at first, the sight of a herd of zebras is a surprise, for you have been accustomed to seeing them in the small numbers found in captivity. it is a source of passing wonder that these rare animals should be roaming about the suburbs of towns in hundred lots. you decide that it would be a shame to shoot a zebra and determine not to join in this heartless slaughter. later on your sentiments will undergo a change. everybody will tell you that the zebra is a fearful pest and must be exterminated if civilization and progress are to continue. the zebra is absolutely useless and efforts to domesticate him have been without good results. he tramps over the plains, breaks down fences, tears up the cultivated fields, and really fulfills no mission in life save that of supplying the lions with food. as long as the zebras stay the lions will be there, but the settlers say that the lions are even preferable to the zebras. under the old game ordinance expiring december fifteenth, 1909, a sportsman was allowed two zebras under his license; under the new one he is allowed twenty! that reveals the attitude of east africa toward the jaunty little striped pony. [drawing: _zebra, wildebeest and gazelle (wildebeest in middle)_] in action the zebra is dependent upon his friend, the kongoni. when the latter signals him to run, he trots off and then turns to look. if the kongoni sends out a 4-11 alarm, the zebra will hike off in a shetland-pony-like gallop and run some distance before stopping. they have no endurance and may be easily rounded up with a horse. on the athi plains may be found the bones of scores of zebras, each spot marking where a lion has fed; and in the barb-wire fences of the settlers other scores of withered hides and whitened skulls mark where they have fallen before the grim march of civilization. with each sportsman granted an allowance of twenty zebras, it may not be so long before the zebra will be forced to seek the sanctuary of the game reserves, which, happily, are large enough to insure his escape from extinction. the zebra's chief peculiarity, aside from his beautiful markings, is a dog-like bark which is much more canine than equine in its sound. the zebra's chief charm is its colt, for there is nothing alive that is prettier or more graceful than a young zebra a few weeks old. the only grant's gazelles that i saw were those along the railway at kapiti plains and athi plains. this animal is graceful and beautiful, with a splendid sweep of horns. with them, and in much greater numbers, is the little "tommy," or thompson's gazelle, a graceful, buoyant, happy, bounding little antelope with an ever active tail flirting gaily in the sunshine. the tommy is small, about twice as big as a fox terrier, and is of a fawn color. along the lower parts of his sides is a broad white belt, along the middle of which runs a bold black stripe. the effect is strikingly handsome. the impalla is much bigger than the tommy, and he usually travels in large herds of fifty or more. it is no uncommon sight to see one buck with twenty or thirty females, and it is probably due to the fact that hunters try to get the male specimens as trophies that accounts for the vast preponderance of females in the various antelope herds. the impalla is seen along the railroad and in enormous numbers out along the thika thika and tana rivers. there are also many up in the rift valley and doubtless in other sections. from my own experience and observation they were most abundant on the tana river. [drawing: _impalla buck and lady friends_] the wildebeest, or gnu, is found on the athi plains and northward along the athi river and the thika thika. one need never travel more than two hours' drive or walk from nairobi to see wildebeest, but it's a different thing to get them. you would have to travel many hours, most likely, before you succeeded in bringing down a wildebeest. my first shot in africa was at a wildebeest at three hundred yards. the bullet struck, but so did the wildebeest. he struck out for northern africa, and when last seen was still headed earnestly for the north pole. i am consoled in thinking that my shot must have inflicted more surprise than injury and so i hope he has now fully recovered, wilder and beastier than of yore. my last shot in africa, the day before leaving for the coast, was at a wildebeest an hour or so out of nairobi. this time i missed entirely and repeatedly and the wildebeest remains unscathed to roam the broad plains of the athi until some better or luckier shot passes his way. if i have anything on my conscience, it is certainly not the remorse of having reduced the supply of wildebeests. [drawing: _wildebeest with the white man only eight miles away_] in our last few days' shooting out on the athi plains we saw perhaps fifty or seventy-five of these great bison-like animals. their bodies and legs and tails are slender and graceful, like those of a horse, but the heads are heavy-featured, heavy-horned and heavy-bearded. they are wild and when they see you a mile or so away will start and run for the nearest vanishing point, usually arriving there long before you do. the foregoing seven species of animals are the ones most commonly seen in east africa. perhaps something about some of the less common ones will have some instructive value. chapter xv some natural history in which it is revealed that a sing-sing waterbuck is not a singing topi, and that a topi is not a species of head-dress while reading an account of the trophies secured by colonel roosevelt on the guas ngishu plateau, i was mystified by seeing the name of an animal i had never heard tell of--a singing topi. for a time i puzzled over this strange creature and finally evolved a satisfactory explanation of how the animal made its appearance in the despatches. briefly, "there haint no sich animal," as the old farmer said when he saw his first dromedary in a circus; it was merely a mistake, due to the telegraphic abbreviations which foreign correspondents employ to save cable tolls. what the correspondent meant to say was that the colonel had secured a sing-sing waterbuck _and_ a topi. the word "waterbuck" was omitted because he assumed that everybody at home would know that a "sing-sing" was a species of waterbuck, wherein he was mistaken, for comparatively few people in america know what a sing-sing is, or, for that matter, what a topi is, or what a uganda cob is. when his despatch had been transmitted through several operators on its way to the states the word "sing-sing" became "singing" and was supposed to be an adjective describing the topi. hence the "singing topi." the american paragraphers also had fun with the word "topi," for they thought a topi was a sun hat much worn in the hot countries. from this course of reasoning it was probably assumed that colonel roosevelt had shot some kind of a singing sun hat, which was certainly enough to cause comment. there are two kinds of waterbuck that the east african hunter will find in the course of his travels, the common waterbuck which we saw in such numbers on the tana river, and the defassa, or "sing-sing" waterbuck, which is found in the higher altitudes up toward the mau escarpment and mount elgon. both of these varieties of waterbuck are beautiful animals, almost as large as a steer, and with great sweeping horns that often exceed twenty-five inches in length. in some instances the horns have been nearly three feet long, but the longest one that our party secured was only twenty-nine inches in length. as a trophy for a wall there are few heads in africa more noble than that of the waterbuck. in all our wanderings, during which we saw at least two thousand waterbuck, we found that the does outnumbered the males by ten to one and that usually in a herd of twenty there would be only one big male and one or two smaller ones. we also never saw them in water, but usually not a great distance from a marsh or stream. they were much shier than the hartebeest and zebra, and upon seeing our approach would be the first to run away. and by a curious chance the does seemed to know that it was the buck only that was in danger. they would often turn to watch us, while the buck himself would keep on running until he had put many hundreds of yards between himself and the threatened danger. then, and then only, would he turn to watch, and it usually required careful stalking to get within gunshot of him again. [drawing: _waterbuck_] the doe is not pretty, being thickly and clumsily built, with a heavy, ungraceful neck, but the buck is like a painting by landseer, noble, graceful, and beautifully marked with white and black on his dark gray coat. we didn't kill many waterbuck, because there is no excuse for doing so except to secure the heads as trophies. the meat is so coarse and tough that even the porters, who seldom draw the line at eating anything their teeth can penetrate, do not care for waterbuck meat except under the stress of great hunger. they do like the skin, however, for it is of the waterbuck skin that their best sandals are made. consequently, when a waterbuck is killed there is a fierce scramble among the porters to secure portions of the hide for this purpose. the male waterbucks are savage fighters among themselves, and it was not uncommon to see big bulls with one horn gone or with both horns badly broken or marred as a result of the jealous struggle for dominance of a herd of does. the topi is something like the hartebeest, but much more beautiful and much more rare. it is over four feet high, with skin of a dark reddish brown, with a silklike bluish gray gloss. on the shoulders and thighs are bluish black patches and the forehead and nose are blackish brown. the under parts are bright cinnamon. we ran across this beautiful antelope only on the guas ngishu plateau, although it is found in one or two other districts in east africa. in all our weeks of rambling on the high plains near mount elgon i think i saw several hundred head of topi, always shy and quick to take alarm. [photograph: a uganda cob] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce the lordly eland] the meat is the most delicious of any of the large antelopes, and the skin, when properly cared for, is as soft as kid and as brilliant as watered silk. the head is a fine trophy on account of its rich coloring rather than because of its horns, which are not particularly graceful in curve or proportion, but which are wonderfully ridged. [drawing: _topi_] i am sure that if i were a beautiful topi with a skin like watered silk i should be deeply humiliated to be mistaken for a singing sun hat. the topi's nearest relations are the sasseby, the tiang, and the korrigum. and now you know all about the topi. the game ordinance allows the sportsman to kill two topi, and the holder of a license will work hard to get his two, for they are splendid trophies. the duiker is another little antelope that one meets frequently in the grassy places of east africa. it is small, with dark complexion, and goes through the high grass in a way that strongly suggests the diving of a porpoise at sea. in fact, it gets its dutch name for that reason, _duiker bok_, meaning "diving buck" in dutch. there are a dozen or more different species of duikers, and they may be found scattered all over south and east africa. they are difficult to shoot, for their diving habits make them a fleeting target; also their size, about twenty or thirty pounds in weight, makes them a small target. quite often the little duiker will hide in the grass until you have almost stepped on him, and then, if he considers discovery inevitable, he will spring away with his little huddled-up back rising and disappearing over the grass exactly as the porpoise does in the water. one day while we were beating some tall grass for lions, one of the porters stepped on a duiker, and its sharp horns, twisting suddenly, cut him on the ankle. the horns of the bucks are short and straight, from four to six inches long, but most often about four and a half inches. it would take an expert mathematician to keep track of all the different kinds of duikers, for there's the crowned duiker, the yellow-backed duiker, the red duiker, jentink's duiker, abbott's duiker, the ituri red duiker, the black-faced duiker, alexander's duiker, the ruddy duiker, weyn's duiker, johnston's duiker, isaac's duiker, harvey's duiker, roberts' duiker, leopold's duiker, the white-bellied duiker, the bay duiker, the chestnut duiker, the white-lipped duiker, ogilby's duiker, brooke's duiker, peter's duiker, the red-flanked duiker, the banded duiker, walker's duiker, the white-faced duiker, the black duiker, maxwell's duiker, the black-rumped duiker, the uganda duiker, the blue duiker, the nyasa duiker, heck's duiker, the urori duiker, erwin's duiker, and i suppose a lot more that the naturalists have not had time to catalogue. [drawing: _like a popular cemetery_] one would assume that with all these duikers there would hardly be room left in africa for any other animals. but there is. for instance, there's the oribi and the dik-dik, to say nothing of the steinbuck and the klipspringer. the last named is a rock-jumping antelope, the others little grass antelopes, and all of them are as pretty and cute as animals can be. they are all small, the dik-dik being scarcely larger than a rabbit, and they are divided into as many subspecies as the duiker. a list of the different kinds of oribi would take up several lines of valuable space without conveying any illuminating intelligence to the lay mind. we found thousands of oribi on the guas ngishu plateau. you couldn't go half a mile in any direction without stirring up large family parties of them, and a landscape looked lonely unless one could see a few oribi bounding over the ant-hills or rising and falling as they leaped through the grass. when we first went into the plateau the grass was long and the oribi were for the most part fleeting streaks of yellow over the tops of it, but later when we came out the grass had been burned and the young, tender grass had spread a green carpet over the plains. then the oribi were visible everywhere, usually in groups of four or six. also the mamma oribis had given birth to bouncing baby oribis, and the sight of the little ones was most pleasing to the eyes. [drawing: _mamma and the little one_] one day i was hot on the trail of a big waterbuck. the grass was deep at that part of the plateau and i was pushing rapidly through it. suddenly one of my gunbearers, who was behind, called out and pointed to something in the grass. i hurried back, and there lay a little oribi only a few hours old and with big, wondering eyes that looked gravely up at me as i bent over it. it was plenty old enough to run and could easily have leaped away, but there it lay as tight as if nothing in the world could make it budge. [photograph: a museum specimen must be preserved entire] [photograph: the eland is the largest of the african antelopes] the whole thing was as plain as could be. it was acting under instructions. i could almost hear the mother of the oribi tell the little one when it heard us coming to lay perfectly quiet and not to move the least bit until she came back. then mamma hurried away to cover. the little oribi remembered his instructions and followed them out to the letter. its mamma had told it not to move and it hadn't. we looked at it a little while and then said good-by and went our way. some place near by an anxious mother oribi was watching us with her heart in her mouth, no doubt, and i'm sure that we had not gone many yards before she was back to see what had happened to the little one. it was quite an exciting adventure for the little oribi and quite incomprehensible to the mother that he had emerged from the peril so safely. another night i was going out to watch for lions. a bait had been placed near the tree where i was stationed and i had some hopes of seeing, if not killing, a lion. night had already fallen, but there was still a trace of twilight in the air as i walked through the low scrub trees that lay between our camp and the tree, a mile and a half away. as i was walking along i heard a loud screaming to my left, and, looking across, i saw an oribi trying to beat off two jackals that had seized her young baby oribi. the jackals paid little attention to her and she was frantic in her efforts to save her little one. it was too dark to see my sights plainly, but i shot at both of the jackals and sent them slinking away. i didn't go over to see if the little oribi was still alive, for i was certain that it had been killed. if it were dead i didn't want to see it and could not help either it or its mother; if it were alive its mother could get it safely away from the jackals. since that moment i have hated jackals above all animals, not even excepting the odious hyena, and it is the chief regret of my hunting experience in east africa that i did not kill those two cowardly vandals. when the american reader picks up his paper and reads that colonel roosevelt has shot a uganda cob, it is quite natural that he should not know what kind of a thing a cob is. if the colonel was out shooting "singing topis" or "singing sun hats," why, then, should he not also shoot corn cobs or cob pipes? the cob, sometimes spelled kob, however, is only an antelope, although a graceful and handsome one. it is divided into several subspecies which live in different parts of the country. in one part will be found the large cob, almost the size of a waterbuck, which is called mrs. gray's cob, in honor of the wife of one of the former keepers in the london zoo; in another part is the species known as vaughan's cob, and in still other parts are the dusky cob, the puku cob, the lechwi cob, the black lechwi, the uganda cob and buffon's cob. it was lady constance stewart-richardson, the remarkable young english woman who is now dancing barefooted on the london music stage, who killed the record head of this last named species in nigeria. [drawing: _the gregarious cob_] it is of the uganda cob only that i am able to write about from my own observation and experience. we found them only in one place, on the banks of the nzoia river near mount elgon and the uganda border. they never were more than four or five hundred yards from the river and could not be driven away. if they were startled at one point they would circle around and quickly get back to the river at some other point. they seemed to become homesick unless they could see the river near by. we found them only in a short stretch of five or six miles, although they doubtless are found all the way down the nzoia river to victoria nyanza. the cob is a curiously reliable animal. he likes one certain place that he is accustomed to, and nothing can drive him away. if you see him there one afternoon, you are reasonably certain of coming back the next afternoon and seeing him there again. usually they graze in some sheltered meadow along the river's edge, and for recreation, so far as i could see, amuse themselves by seeing how many can get on top of one ant-hill at one time. some of those ant-hills were literally bristling with cobs, one male to each five females, and in herds of from thirty to fifty. in architecture, the cob is nearly three feet high at the shoulder, has beautiful, sweeping horns of a lyrate shape, has a white patch around each eye, a white belly, and a coat of yellow with black on the forelegs. there is no handsomer antelope in africa than the uganda cob, and because it is found in such a restricted and remote district is accountable for the fact that one seldom sees a cob head in a collection of horns. comparatively few sportsmen have killed them, although they are not hard to kill if one reaches a district where they are found. the extreme beauty of this antelope led us to secure a group of them for the field museum. the reedbuck is another of the smaller antelopes that carries a beautiful head, and, like nearly all of the antelopes, comes in many varieties, or subspecies. [photograph: a wounded wart hog] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce a grass fire] [photograph: a maribou stork] our own relations with the reedbuck were limited to the high altitudes near the mau escarpment and the broad, rolling, grassy downs along the numerous streams of the guas ngishu plateau. this subspecies is called the uganda race of the bohor reedbuck--sometimes abbreviated to "bohor." if you say you've shot a "bohor" you will be understood to mean a bohor reedbuck. [drawing: _reedbuck_] you will find the reedbuck in the tall reeds and bulrushes of the swamps and low places, where he finds good cover and good feeding; and also you will find him along the low, undulating, grass-covered hills near his water supply. in the heat of the day they are up in the tall grass, where they remain until along in the afternoon. they lie close, and, if discovered, will dart off with neck outstretched in such a way as to make it difficult to tell which is male and which female. i have also seen the females use every means for protecting their lords and masters, standing up before them as they lie secreted in the grass and seeking to divert the attention of the hunter from the bucks to themselves. this desire to protect the male is common to many of the antelope family, and numberless times i have seen a band of does attempt to screen the male and shield him from harm. the reedbuck never travels in large numbers, seldom more than two or three, or at most, five or six, being bunched together. [drawing: _they watched while the buck ran away_] we had most of our reedbuck experiences while driving swamps for lions. on these occasions many reedbuck would be driven out of the cover of the reeds and rushes, and go crashing up the slopes leading away from the swamp. on one occasion a reedbuck lay so close that it did not stir until one of the beaters was almost upon it, when it sprang up, nearly knocking him over, and escaped behind the skirmish line of beaters. at other times, after the skirmish line apparently had traversed every foot of a swamp, reedbuck would spring up after the line had passed, thus illustrating how close they can lie and how effectually they can escape detection. the reedbuck has short horns, usually between seven and ten inches in length, but one of our party secured one set of horns ten and a quarter inches long--an exceptionally fine head. the reedbuck's distinguishing characteristic is a sharp whistle, which he sounds shrilly when alarmed. another beautiful antelope that we met in small numbers on the tana river and on the guas ngihsu plateau was the bushbuck, found in thick scrub along rivers and also in the swamps and wet places. this animal belongs to a select little coterie of highly prized and rare antelopes, all of which have the distinguishing feature of a spiral horn. the bushbuck is the smallest, and is found over nearly all of east africa except upon the open plains and deserts. the females are of a dark chestnut color, and the males dark, almost black, with white markings on the neck and forelegs. a bushbuck with fifteen-inch horns is considered a fine prize, although horns of nineteen inches are on record. the other members of the same family of spiral-horned antelopes are the kudu, the lesser kudu, the situtunga, the nyala, the bongo, and the lordly eland, king of all antelopes in size. the kudu is largely protected in east africa, and in my shooting experience i was not in a district where he was to be found. the same was true with respect to the lesser kudu. the nyala is a south african species and is not to be found in british east africa. the situtunga is a swamp dweller and is found chiefly in uganda and, to my knowledge, infrequently in the east african protectorate. the bongo is to the white sportsman what the north pole has been to explorers for centuries. in all records of game shooting there has been, until recently, only one white man who has killed a bongo, although the wanderobo dwellers of the deep forests have killed many. the bongo lives in the densest part of dense forests, can drive his way through the worst tangle of vegetation, and has a hearing and eyesight so keen that usually he sees the hunter long before the latter sees him. a hunt after bongo means long hours or even days of hunting the forests, with hardships of travel so disheartening that comparatively few white sportsmen attempt to go in after the elusive antelope. kermit roosevelt, however, with the good fortune that has followed his hunting adventures, succeeded in killing a cow and calf bongo after only a few hours of hunting with a wanderobo. a few days after i heard of this piece of good luck i was traveling across victoria nyanza on one of the little steamers that ply the lake. my cabin mate was a stoical englishman who told me quite calmly that he had just killed a large bull bongo a few days before. he had been visiting lord delamere, and after a few hours in the forest had succeeded in doing what only two white men had done before. the englishman who had this good luck was george grey, a brother of sir edward grey, one of the present cabinet ministers of england. [drawing: _eland_] the eland is the largest of all antelopes, and we ran across a few on the tana river and a few on the guas ngishu plateau. under the old game ordinance the sportsman was allowed to kill one bull eland; under the new ordinance he is allowed to kill none except in certain restricted districts and by special license. the eland is as big as a bull, with spiral horns and beautifully marked skin, and both the male and female carry horns. those of the latter are usually larger and slenderer, but the skin of the female is not so handsomely marked as that of the male. it is hard to get near an eland, but as the bull is nearly six feet high at the shoulders it is not especially difficult to hit him at three hundred yards or more. the one i shot was three hundred and sixty-five yards away and carried beautiful horns, twenty-four and one-quarter inches in length. the head of the great bull eland makes a wonderfully imposing trophy when placed in your baronial halls. in the foregoing list of antelopes i have tried to tell a little about the types of that class of animal that i met in my african travels--in all, sixteen species of antelope. my chief excuse for doing it is to enable people at home to know the difference between a topi and a sun hat and between a sing-sing and a cob. the names of many of the african antelope family are strange and confusing, so that it is little wonder that they mystify people in america. there are a hundred or more kinds, and no one can hope to know them unless he makes a business of it. i have not seen the grysbok, or the suni, or the dibitag, or the lechwi, or the aoul, or the gerenuk, or the blaauwbok, or the chevrotain, or lots of others, but who in the world could guess what they were or what they looked like, judging only from the names? chapter xvi in the tall grass of the mount elgon country. a narrow escape from a long-horned rhino. a thanksgiving dinner and a visit to a native village mount elgon is one of the four great mountains of africa. you can find it on the map of the dark continent, standing all alone, just a little bit north of victoria nyanza, and surrounded by names that one has never heard of before. the mountain is distinctly out of the picture-post-card belt--in fact, the only belt that one will find around elgon is the timber belt that encircles the mountain, and perhaps also a few that the local residents wear on sundays and national holidays. the function of the latter class of belt is to keep up a gay appearance. it is worn for looks, not warmth. the traveler who goes to mount elgon will not be distracted by sounds of civilization, except such as he takes with him. he will travel for days without seeing a sign of human life beyond his own following. the country west of the nzoia river is uninhabited and is abandoned to the elephant and the giraffe and other animals that care not for the madding crowd. thomas cook and son have not yet penetrated that district with schedules and time cards and luggage labels; so if your purpose in traveling is to get a grand assortment of stickers on your trunks and hand-bags, it is useless to include mount elgon in your itinerary. there will be days of marching through high grass, often so deep as almost to bury yourself and your horse; hours of delay at marshy rivers densely choked with a tangle of riotous vegetation, and much groping about in a trackless waste for a suitable course to follow. owing to intertribal warfare the elgon district has been closed for some time and it has only been during the last year or so that hunting parties have again been allowed to enter. since that time a number of parties have been in, the duke of alba among the first, and later doctor rainsford, frederick selous and, mr. mcmillan, captain ashton, the duke of peã±aranda, mr. roosevelt, and a few others. colonel roosevelt went only as far as the nzoia river, but most of the others crossed and swung up along the northeastern slopes of the mountain where elephants are most frequently found. our party decided to take the southern slope, notwithstanding we were warned that we might find the natives troublesome and treacherous. we were also warned that we should be going through an untraveled district where there were no trails and where native guides could not be secured. [photograph: a native granary] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. a chair is a sure sign of rank] nevertheless we started and brilliantly blundered into some most diverting adventures. the first day's march after crossing the nzoia river was through scrub country and what we considered high grass. the next day we struck _real_ high grass! it was so deep that we had to burrow through it. only the helmets of those on horseback marked where the caravan was passing. the long line of porters carrying their burdens were buried from view. it was a terrible place to meet a rhino and perhaps for that very reason we promptly proceeded to meet one. we were riding ahead, followed by the cook and the tent boys, and behind them was the long string of a hundred or more porters, askaris, _totos_, and so forth. the end of the line was some hundred yards behind the head. suddenly there was a wild cry of "_faru!_" (rhino). it was disconcerting, but after one or two hurried and flurried moments we got our heavy batteries in readiness and prepared to sell his life as cheaply as possible. but no rhino came. the grass was too deep to have seen him if he had come, but we thought it was well to have a reception committee ready just the same. then the rear ranks began to telescope into the front ranks. they came forward two or three jumps at a time. they were visibly perturbed, but presently they recovered enough to give expert testimony. a huge rhino had been in the grass by the trail as we came along and had waited until the whole line had passed. then he jumped into the trail and charged furiously after the porters. the latter, severally, collectively, and frantically, leaped for their lives, dropping packs and uttering hurried appeals to allah. [drawing: _he estimated the length at four feet_] after scattering a few dozen of the rank and file from his line of march the rhino veered off and plunged out of sight in the tall grass. one of the porters whose veracity is unquestioned by those who don't know him estimated the forward horn to be four feet long. he said the rhino charged earnestly and with hostile intent. a rhino charging a _safari_ is always a pleasing diversion--pleasing after it's all over and diverting while it lasts. the cry of "_faru_" is a good deal like "car coming" at an automobile race. instantly everybody is all attention, with the attention equally divided between the rhino and the nearest tree. if there is no tree the interest in the rhino becomes more acute. the thought of being impaled _en brochette_ on the horn of a rhino is one of the least attractive forms of mental exertion that i know of. it is a close second to the thought of being stepped on by a herd of elephants marching single file. well, we survived the charge of the heavy brigade, and then moved onward, ever and anon casting an alert glance at the deep clumps of thicket along the way. fortunately no more rhinos appeared and the next thing we struck was thanksgiving day. the proper way to celebrate that deservedly popular holiday is not by sitting in tall grass with a can of beans and a bottle of pickles in the foreground. this is said with all respect to the manufacturers of beans and pickles who may advertise in the papers. for a time, however, beans and pickles seemed to be the nearest outlook for us, but after a while the cook, whose nerves had been shaken by the impetuous advance of the rhino, arose to the demands of the occasion and set up a table upon which soon appeared some hot tea, some bread and honey, some beans and deviled ham, and a few knickknacks in the line of jam and cheese. that was luncheon, and we resolved to do better for dinner. we told the cook all about thanksgiving day and what its chief purpose was. we also told him of the beautiful significance of the occasion, what happy thoughts it inspired, and how much sentiment was attached to it. then we told him to get busy. we were in a thanksgiving mood, being grateful that we were not riding around on the bowsprit of the rhino, and also because our relatives and friends at home were well at last reports, two months old. true, our guide, who had never been over the trail before and who was trying to guess the way by instinct, had got us hopelessly becalmed in a sea of high grass so that we didn't know where we were. but we knew what we were. we were hungry! in the meantime we planned and carried into brilliant execution a grouse hunt. there were lots of grouse in the country through which we had come and all day long coveys of them had been whirring away from our advancing outposts. it seemed a simple thing to go out and get a few for our thanksgiving dinner, so we gave orders to make camp and consecrated the afternoon to a grouse quest. i'll never forget what a formidable looking party it was. when we had spread out to comb the grass by the river side we looked like a skirmish line of an army. there were four of us, supported by seventeen gunbearers and porters. our battery consisted of four elephant guns, four heavy rifles, three light rifles, and four shotguns. the latter were for grouse and the others were for incidental big game which one must always be prepared for, whether one goes out to shoot grouse or take snapshots with one's camera. [drawing: _the grouse hunt_] we spread out and beat two miles of perfect cover. then we beat it back again and finally, after all our herculean efforts, one lonely bird flew up and was knocked over. that was the astounding total of our slaughter and when the army marched back into camp with its one little grouse the effect was laughable in the extreme. i took a photograph of the entire group and by good luck the grouse is faintly seen suspended in the middle. that night, with the camp-fires burning and with our tents almost buried in the tall grass, we celebrated thanksgiving in a way that must have made old lucullus fidget in his mausoleum. the wealth of the plains was compelled to yield tribute to our table; eland, grouse and uganda cob appeared and disappeared as if by magic; the vast storehouses of europe and america poured their treasures upon our groaning board, and one by one we safely put away succulent lengths of asparagus, cakes and chocolate, wine and olives, pickles and honey, nuts and cheese, plum pudding and coffee, and soup and salad, all in their proper sequence and in sufficient quantities to go round and round. a soft moon shone down from the velvet sky and the trees of the river bed were bathed in white moonlight as we sat by the great camp-fire and smoked and talked and dreamed of the folk at home. it was an unusual occasion, one that called for a special dispensation in the way of late hours, so it was almost nine when we turned in and dreamed of armies of rhinos playing battledore and shuttlecock with our bulging forms. it was a great dinner, and to be on the safe side we complimented the cook before we went to bed. [photograph: a group of ketosh ladies] [photograph: nearly buried in grass] [photograph: building a grass house] a day or two later, after blindly floundering about in a sea of waving grass for miles and miles, and getting more and more hopelessly lost, we stumbled upon signs of human habitation. the first sign was a great stretch of valley in which a number of smoke columns were ascending. where there's smoke there's folk, we thought, patting ourselves on the back for cleverness. we knew we were approaching fresh eggs and chickens. a little later we came upon another sign of human agitation. over a rise in a hill we saw a large spear, and in a few minutes we overhauled a native guarding a herd of cattle. he carried a spear and a shield, and over his shoulders he wore a loose dressing sack that hung down nearly to his armpits. civilization had touched him lightly, in fact it had barely waved at him as it brushed by. we tried him with several languages--swahili, kikuyu, the language of flowers, american, masai, and the sign language, none of which he was conversant with. then we tried a relay system of dialects which established a vague, syncopated kind of intellectual contact. one of our porters spoke kavirondo, so he held converse with the far from handsome stranger, translated it into swahili, and this was retranslated into english for our benefit. the stranger was a ketosh. we didn't know what a ketosh was, but it sounded more like something in the imperative mood than anything ethnological. it developed later in the day, however, that a ketosh is a member of the tribe of that name, and their habitat is on the southern slopes of elgon. [drawing: _lady and gentleman ketosh_] the ketoshites, or ketoshians, as the case may be, are a cattleand sheep-raising tribe. in other words, a tribe in which the women do all the manual labor while the men folk sit on a hillside with a shield and spear and watch the herds partake of nourishment. they are the standing army. [drawing: _the standing army sat around all day_] we followed the man with the spear to a little village hard by. the village, like all the numerous other ones that we came to in the next few days, was inclosed in a zareba, or wall of tangled thorn branches that encircled the village. within the wall were a number of low houses, six feet high, built of mud and wattle; and within the houses, spilling over plentifully, were large numbers of children and babies and a few women. a gateway of tangled boughs led into the inclosure, while in one part of the village were the curious woven wickerwork granaries in which the community store of kaffir corn is kept. there were no street signs on the lamp posts, probably because there were no streets and no lamp posts. in the first village all the men were away, evidently waiting to see whether our visit was a hostile or a peaceful one. we soon established ourselves on a peace footing and after that the warriors began to appear out of the tall grass in large numbers from all points of the compass. they all carried spears and shields, neither of which they would sell for love or money. at least they wouldn't for money. we resolved not to try the other unless the worst came to the worst and we had to fall back on it as a last desperate measure. i suppose they didn't know how soon they might need their weapons, and we heard that the sultan had just sent out a positive order forbidding them to sell their means of defense. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. the ketosh are gracefully nonchalant] [photograph: little shelters of mud and sticks] [photograph: a family party] the first procedure when entering a district where the natives may be unfriendly is to send out for the chief, or sultan, as he is known in africa. there is always a sultan to preside over the destinies of his tribe and to take any money that happens along. so we sent for the sultan, who was off in a neighboring village, so they said. after a long wait, during which we pitched our camp and offered a golden reward for eggs and chickens, a sultan drifted in. [drawing: _slowly being cremated_] we knew he was sultan because he carried a chair--an unfailing sign of rank among a nation of expert sitters. he also wore an old woolen dressing gown that had worked its way from civilization many years before. it was built for arctic regions, but the sultan of all the ketoshians wore it right straight through the ardent hours when the sun kisses one with the fiery passion of a mustard plaster. he was slowly being cremated and it was fascinating to watch him sizzle. after the sultan came and seated himself with his retinue of spearmen (dressed in the altogether save for the futile cloth around their shoulders) grouped around him we took our seats and began a _shauri_. _shauri_ (rhyming with bow'ry) is a native word meaning a powwow or a parley and is a word that works overtime. everything that you do in africa has to be preceded by a _shauri_. you have a _shauri_ if you ask a native which road to take. other natives hurry up, and then you stand around and talk about it for an hour or so. if you want to buy a chicken or a cluster of eggs there must first be a prolonged _shauri_ with much interchange of views and conversation and aã«rated persiflage. the native loves his _shauri_, and if he asks you a certain price for a chicken and you give the price without haggling he is greatly disappointed. in fact i have often seen them offer an article for a certain price and then refuse to accept the money if it is at once tendered. later the native will accept much less if the _shauri_ goes with it. well, we had _shauris_ to burn for a couple of days. as soon as the first sultan had departed with presents and words of good cheer there was a flock of other sultans that hurried in to receive presents and to assist in _shauris_. they came from far and near, and they all carried chairs, thus proving that they were not impostors; and the worst of it was that we couldn't find out exactly which was the real, most exalted sultan of the bunch. hence we had to give presents to many who perhaps were only amateur or 'prentice sultans, sultans whose domains were only a little village of half a dozen families. [drawing: _the camp was clogged with sultans_] for two days our camp was clogged with _shauris_ and sultans sitting around. we couldn't step out of our tents without stumbling over a sultan or two. when we would take our baths in our tents there would be sultans and warriors peeping in modestly from all sides. there was not a secret of our inner life that remained intact. even the ladies, from the banana-bellied little girls of five and six up to the leathery-limbed old matrons, inclusive, were not above a feminine curiosity in things which doubtless interested them, but didn't concern them. the standing army of the ketoshians sat around all day wearing out the grass and being frequently stumbled over. if we asked a sultan if there were any elephants in the neighborhood it meant at least fifteen minutes of loose conversation through a relay of interpreters, with the final answer boiled down to a "no" in english. for a language that has only a few words like _shauri_, _backsheesh_, _apana_, and _chukula_ the native lingo is a most elastic one. there were two or three things that we had come to mount elgon for and about which we desired information. the first was "elephants," and we found, after hours of talk, that there was none in the vicinity. secondly, we wanted to get food for our men, and thirdly, we wanted guides to take us up to the ancient cave-dwellings in the mountain and more guides to take us up to the top of the mountain itself. it seemed almost impossible to get satisfactory information upon either of the last two subjects. the natives didn't want to part with their grain, while for their cattle they asked outrageous prices. we were almost tempted to boycott them by stopping eating meat for two months. they also seemed reluctant to let us have guides to take us up to the caves and none of them seemed to know the trails that led up into the forests and the heights of the mountain. it was evident that only a few ever had been up the mountain upon the slopes of which they had spent their lives. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. at the entrance of the great cave] [photograph: there were granaries in the cave] [photograph: in one of the elgon caves] we began to think that they wanted us to stay in their village just so they could have the pleasure of their daily _shauris_. finally one sultan promised to get us guides and accepted a generous present on the strength of it; but when the time came he failed to produce them. it was at precisely this point, to be strictly accurate, that we abandoned the polite phraseology of the court and told him with many exclamation points that he would have to guide us himself or we would take steps to dethrone him. of course, all of this had to be strained through two interpreters, but even then i think he caught the gist of it. he said that he himself would guide us to the nearest and largest cave. we told him that we would be ready to start immediately after luncheon. only ourselves and a few men to carry cameras and guns were to constitute our party, the rest of the _safari_ remaining in camp, from which certain embassies were sent out to buy grain for the porters' food. soon after lunch the sultan arrived and we marched away. little by little groups of his janissaries, mamelukes, and other members of his official entourage joined us and by the time we reached the slope leading up to the great cave-dwelling we had quite an imposing procession. most of the natives were armed with spears and knives, and some of them had painted their bodies with red dirt and mutton grease, and when this coating had partly dried they had traced with their fingers many designs in stripes down their arms and legs. some were a light mauve in color, but most were of a rich chocolate brown. the effect of these designs was rather pretty, but the dripping red oil from their hair was not pretty and on a hot day exuded a strong, overpowering odor. above us, nearly a thousand feet from where we stood, boldly visible in the face of the great cliff, was the broad ledge and black opening of the cave. a short distance to the right of it was a bright waterfall, looking like a ribbon, but in reality quite broad and dropping in three stages several hundred feet. an incline of forty-five degrees led up to the cave, while up beyond that was the great stratum of solid rock that extends for miles along the south of mount elgon and which is honey-combed with hundreds of prehistoric cave-dwellings. a determined foe stationed at the mouth of any one of the caves could defend it against an enormous attacking force. it was nearly an hour's climb to the ledge where the cave entrance appeared. several naked men armed with spears stood upon the rocks, outlined in bold and striking relief against the velvety blackness of the cave entrance. they appeared curious but not unfriendly as we breathlessly panted our way on to the ledge where they stood waiting, spears in hand. [drawing: _like a great stage_] our first impression was one of gasping wonderment. we seemed to stand upon a great stage of an immensity which words can not describe. it was a stage proportioned for giants. the rock prosscenium arched above us seventy feet and the stage was nearly two hundred feet wide. as an audience chamber one could look out over twenty-five thousand square miles of central africa. the dimensions and the imposing magnitude of the place almost took one's breath away. two regiments of soldiers could have marched upon that stage. there was even room for a squadron of cavalry to manoeuver. upon the well-beaten floor were the tracks of cattle, showing that from time immemorial the cave people had driven in their herds for shelter or for safety in times of tribal warfare; and in places the solid rock was worn smooth and deep by the bare feet of centuries of naked people. and yet, in spite of the titanic proportions of the cave, there was something quite homelike about it. it almost suggested a prosperous farm-yard. there were chickens walking about, with little chickens trotting alongside. there were wickerwork graneries standing here and there, while around the inner edge of the great entrance hall were little mud and stick woven houses five feet high, which gave the effect of a small village street. from the front of the stage back to the row of little houses was a distance of about one hundred feet. by stooping down one could enter one of the little openings, to be surprised to find himself in another little farm-yard where cattle had been housed and where there were many evidences of the thrift and industry of the occupants. gourds of milk were present in generous numbers, and as one's eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness all sorts of domestic paraphernalia were revealed. little separate inclosures were fenced off for human tenantry, and the glow of embers gave a pleasant, homelike look to the place. cavern after cavern extended back into the cliff, a network of them, but how far they went would be hard to tell. perhaps the cave in all its subterranean ramifications has never been entirely explored. we wandered back through some of the caverns, sometimes stooping to get through and sometimes standing beneath domes thirty and forty feet high. and always that queer, mystical light, with exaggerated shadows and sometimes black darkness ahead, where could be heard the drip, drip, drip of water in invisible lakes. in time of siege the holders of this cave, with granaries filled and with herds of cattle and lakes of water, could hold the place for ever. the tenants of the place soon became pleasant and hospitable. perhaps many of them had never seen white people before, but they sat down and watched us with friendly interest. there were many babies and they were all bright-eyed and rugged looking. while we were there the cattle were out on the open hills grazing, but in the evening the long herds are driven up to their airy stronghold and made snug for the night. and who knows but that a great herd of cattle would add much to the heat of the cave and make its nearly naked tenants forget that they were high on the chilly slopes of one of africa's greatest mountains? they certainly do not dress warm. around their arms and legs are all sorts of brass and nickel wire wound in scores of circles. chains of wire and necklaces of beads encircle the women's throats and elephant ivory armlets are often clasped about the arms so tight that it would seem that the natural circulation would be hopelessly retarded. but they must be healthy, these people who go about with only a thin sheet of dyed cotton thrown about them, while we northerners shivered with sweaters and warm woolen things about us. it's all a case of getting used to it, just as it is a case of getting used to seeing people frankly and unconsciously naked, as many of these people are. but after a while one even gets used to seeing them so and regards their nakedness as one would regard the nakedness of animals. chapter xvii up and down the mountain side from the ketosh village to the great cave of bats. a dramatic episode with the finding of a black baby as a climax for days we had heard of wonderful places higher up in the mountain. the information had been so vague and uncertain we hardly knew whether to credit the reports or simply put them down as native folk lore or superstition. one night we interviewed askar, one of the somali gunbearers. he said he had been up the mountain a year or two before with a frenchman who wanted to see the mysterious natural wonders of mount elgon. the frenchman had to threaten to kill his native guides before they would consent to lead him up in the cold heights of the mountain to show him the places that filled the native imagination with such fear and superstitious dread. there was one place, askar said, where the water boiled out of the ground far, far up in the mountain heights, and any native who looked at it fell dead. askar said he went up and looked at it through the glasses, and then ran away. all this queer information came out at one of our evening camp-fire _shauris_. the great central camp-fire of a _safari_ is usually in front of the tents of the _msungu_, or white people, and around it in the evening the _msungu_ discuss the adventures of the day and the plans for the morrow. each night abdi, the _neapara_ or head-man, comes up to get his instructions for the next morning, and soon afterward abdullah, the cook, appears and waits for his orders for the breakfast hour. abdullah is the color of night, and no one ever sees him approach or go away. he simply appears and often stands only a few feet away before any one is aware of his presence. and even after he speaks, one sees only a row of white teeth looming up five feet above the ground. if any important matters are to be adjusted it is usually at the camp-fire that the things are settled. if punishment is to be meted out to a transgressor, it is there that the trial is held and judgment rendered. well, on, this night as we sat talking by the camp-fire, abdi, our head-man, suddenly appeared and squatted down. soon after up came askar, who also squatted down, and we knew that we were in for some unusual sort of a _shauri_. it was then that askar told of the strange mystery of the mountain. [photograph: curious as to our home life] [photograph: on the rim of the crater] [photograph: a birthday dinner] "askar says," spoke abdi, interpreting askar's imperfect english, "that up in the mountain there is a big door and a great cave. he went up with a frenchman, and the guides refused to go. then the frenchman threatened to kill them if they would not go. they were frightened, because all the natives die who go to the big door and see the boiling fountain through the door. askar say all the natives ran away, but the frenchman go on." "did askar see the door?" "askar says he see the door and he see the fountain through some glasses. then he ran away." [drawing: _camp in the forest_] "can askar take us up to the cave and the big door?" there was then a long discussion in somali between askar and abdi, which finally was briefly rendered into english. askar would show us the way. we then sent for the sultan of the ketosh tribe and interviewed him. he was singularly reticent about the subject, and both he and the other natives called in used all their crude intelligence to discourage any attempt to go up into those districts that were so full of strange, forbidding influences. they said there were no trails, and when we said we would go anyway, they said there was a trail, but that it was so tangled with undergrowth and vines that one had to creep through it, like an animal. we still said we would go, and told the sultan to get us guides, for which we would pay well. all this happened while we were in the ketosh village that lies on the slope of the mountain just beneath the great rock wall, a thousand feet high, whose upper rim is honeycombed with the ancient caves of the aborigines. for days we had stopped there, endeavoring to get food and guides, and for days the sultan and his people had placed every obstacle in the way of our ascending higher the mysterious and comparatively unknown mountain. the great rock escarpment shut off the view of the peaks beyond, but we felt that if once we could scale the first precipitous slope we would find traveling much easier on the gentle slope of the mountain. at last, after persuasion, threats, money, and pleading had in turn been tried, the sultan brought his son and said that his son would guide us. the son was the craftiest and crookedest looking native i had seen in africa. after one look at him, you were filled with such distrust and suspicion that you would hardly believe him if he said he thought it was going to rain, or that crops were looking up. with this man as a guide, and with four more who were tempted by the bright red blankets we gave, our caravan started on one of the strangest and perhaps most foolhardy trips that presumably sane people ever made. in the first place, probably fewer than half a dozen white men had ever ascended mount elgon. there were no adequate maps of the region, and the one we had was woefully inaccurate. it was made as if from telegraphic description, and the only thing in which it proved trustworthy was that there was a mountain there and that it was about fourteen thousand two hundred feet high, and that the line separating british east africa from uganda ran through the crater at the top. our delay at the ketosh village had greatly reduced our food supplies for the porters, and there was only enough left to last six days. in that time we should have to ascend the mountain and descend to some place where food supplies could be procured. it all looked quite quixotic. we bought two bullocks, a sheep, and a goat, and, with our guides ahead, our entire _safari_ of over a hundred souls turned toward the grim heights that shot up before us. [drawing: _up to the rim of the crater_] the trail for the first thousand feet of ascent was steep and hard to climb. the rocks high above us were specked with natives, who gazed down in wonder at the strange spectacle. these were the cave-dwellers. after an hour or more we reached the crest of the rim and then continued through elephant grass ten feet high, then dense forest, and finally through miles of clean, cool, shadowy bamboos--always steadily climbing. the trail was fairly good and our progress was encouraging. [photograph: in the belt of bamboo] [photograph: giant cactus growth in the crater] [photograph: up twelve thousand feet in the crater] there were many elephant pits in the bamboo forest, but they were all ancient ones, half-filled with decayed leaves and obviously unused for half a century or more. from some of them fairly large-sized trees had grown. sometimes in the midst of these great, silent, light-green forests we came upon giant trees, tangled and gnarled, with trunks twenty or thirty feet in circumference. in vain we looked for the impassable trail the natives had warned us to expect. late in the afternoon we came to a wonderful cave, over the mouth of which a wonderful fan-shaped waterfall dropped seventy feet or more. my aneroid barometer indicated an elevation of eighty-two hundred feet, showing that we had climbed twenty-seven hundred feet since morning. we found a little clearing in the bamboo forest and pitched our tents on ground that sloped down like the roof of a house. the clearing was barely fifty yards long, yet our twenty or more tents were pitched, our horses tethered in the middle, and the camp-fires crackled merrily as the chill air of night came down upon us. from the forest came the multitude of sounds that told of strange birds and animals that were out on their nocturnal hunt for food. early in the morning the _safari_ was sent on with the guides while we remained to explore the cave. it was an immense cavern, with an entrance hall, or foyer, about thirty feet high and a hundred feet in length. along the inner edge were the crumbling remains of little mud and wattle huts that had been occupied by people a long time before. beyond this great entrance hall were passages that led into other vast, echoing caverns with domes like those of a cathedral. countless thousands of bats darted about us as our voices broke the silence of ages, and in places the deposits of bats were two or three feet deep. it staggered one's senses to think how long these creatures had dwelt within the labyrinth of caverns and passageways. we explored the cave for a quarter of a mile or so, stumbling, stooping, climbing, and sliding down precipitous slopes. far off in the darkness sounded the steady drip, drip, drip of water, and several times our progress was stopped by black lakes into which a tossed stone would tell of depths that might be almost bottomless. we fired our shotguns and the loosened dirt and rocks and the thunder of thousands of bats' wings were enough to terrify the senses. there is no telling how many centuries or ages these caverns have stood as they stand to-day. doubtless the wild tribes of the mountain have occupied them for thousands of years, and doubtless a thousand years from now the descendants of these tribes of people and bats will still be there in the cisternlike caverns with the broad fan of sparkling water spreading like a beautiful curtain across the great archway of an entrance. that night, after hours of climbing through great forests and across grassy slopes gay with countless varieties of beautiful and strange flowers, we pitched our camp on a wind-swept height eleven thousand feet up. the peaks of the mountain rose high above us only a mile or so farther on. when the night fell the cold was intense, and we huddled about the camp-fire for warmth. around each of the porters' camp-fires the humped-up natives crouched and dreamed of the warm valleys far below in the darkness. i suppose the cold made them irritable, for just as we were preparing to turn in there suddenly came a succession of screams from one of the groups--screams of a boy in mortal terror. the sounds breaking out so unexpectedly in the silent night were enough to freeze the blood in one's veins. i never heard such frantic screams--like those that might come from a torture-chamber. one of the porters had become infuriated by one of the _totos_--small boys who go along to help the porters--and had started in to beat him. the boy was probably more frightened than hurt, but the matter was one demanding instant punitive action. so abdi immediately inflicted it in a most satisfying manner. once more the silence of the mountain fell upon the camp, but it was hours before the shock to one's senses could be forgotten. i never before, nor never again expect to hear screams more harrowing or terrifying. the next day a martian sitting upon his planet with a powerful glass might have seen the amazing sight of three horses, one mule, two bullocks, a goat, and a sheep, preceded and followed by over a hundred human beings, painfully creep over the rim of the crater and breathlessly pause before the great panorama of africa that lay stretched out for hundreds of miles on all sides. it was as though an army had ascended mont blanc, and thus hannibal crossing the alps was repeated on a small scale. leaving our horses on the rim of the crater, a few of us climbed the highest peak, fourteen thousand three hundred and seventy-five feet high, as registered by my aneroid barometer, and stood where very few had stood before. even the official height of the mountain, as given on the maps, was found to be inaccurate, and illustrated how vaguely the geographers knew the mountain. that night we camped in the crater, twelve thousand feet up, and washed in a boiling sulphur spring that sprang from the rocks on the uganda side. perhaps this was the boiling fountain the superstitious natives feared, for it was the only one we saw. and perhaps the great gorge through which the river turkwel, or suam, flowed on its long journey north was the door that askar had told us about. it was the only door we saw, but askar said the door he meant was away off somewhere else, and he was so vague and confused in his bearings that we felt his information was unreliable. the crater of mount elgon has long since lost any resemblance to a volcanic crater. it is a great valley, or bowl, surrounded by a lofty rim that in reality is a considerable chain of mountains. the bowl is two or three miles long and as much wide, with tall grass growing on the small hills inside and thousands upon thousands of curious cactus-like trees. several mountain streams tumble down from the gorges between the peaks and, uniting, flow out of the big gap in one stream, the river turkwel, which separates uganda from british east africa. [drawing: _in the crater of mount elgon_] mount elgon is not an imposing mountain and on most occasions there is no snow on its peaks. only one time during the several weeks that we were in sight of it was its summit capped with snow. a few species of small animals live in the crater, but no human beings. at night ice formed in the little pools where we camped and a furious wind, biting cold, swept down from the peaks and eddied out of the great gap where the turkwel flows. to all of our _safari_ it was a welcome hour when we struck camp, preparatory to leaving the crater for the lower levels. the guides said there were only two ways out--one by the turkwel gorge and the other by the route up which we came. the former might lead us far from any sources of food supplies, which by that time were becoming imperatively necessary, and the latter was undesirable unless as a last resort. after some deliberation we resolved to climb over the eastern rim and strike for the nzoia river. no one had ever been known to take this course, but we felt that we could cut our way out and make trails sufficient to follow. the guides refused to go, because by doing so they would enter a district where they might encounter tribes that were hostile to their own. on one side of this mountain there was a bitter tribal war even then under way. so we cheerfully said good-by to the elgonyi guides and slowly climbed the rock rim and started for the unknown. [photograph: a deserted wanderobo village] [photograph: where we had our thanksgiving day lunch] for two days we climbed downward, sometimes along ancient elephant trails and sometimes along the sheep trails made by the flocks of mountain tribes. several times we came upon deserted wanderobo villages, and it was evident the natives who occupied them were abandoning their homes in terror before our descending column. sometimes we groped our way through great forests in which there was no trail to follow, and sometimes we cut our way through dense jungle thickets like a solid wall of vegetation. [drawing: _galloping lions_] upon several occasions we came to impassable places where an abrupt cliff would necessitate a tiresome return and a new attempt. once we came to a little clearing in the vast forest where the grass was like a lawn and where towering trees rose like the arches of a great cathedral a hundred feet above. it was the most beautiful, serene and majestic spot i have ever seen. even the religious grandeur of nikko's cryptomeria aisles was incomparable to this. one afternoon our column found itself hopelessly lost in a jungle growth so dense that one could penetrate it only by cutting a tunnel through, and for hours we hacked and hacked and made microscopic progress. at last the head of the column came to an abrupt drop of a couple of hundred feet which seemed an effectual bar to all further progress. the cliff fell off at an angle of sixty degrees, with the slope densely matted with heavy scrub and underbrush. it was necessary either to retrace our steps through that long and heart-breaking jungle or else find a way down the cliff. the water was gone and the horses must be got to water before night. then, followed the most dramatic episode of our trip. we simply fell over the cliff, plunging, caroming, and ricocheting down through the masses of vegetation. how the horses got down i shall never know and shall always consider as a miracle. and how the burden-bearing porters managed to get their loads down is even more of a mystery. somewhere down below we heard the cry of a baby! that meant that there must be human habitation near and, of course, a mountain stream, and perhaps guides to lead us out of the mountain fastness. a few moments more of falling and sliding and plunging, and the advance guard came into a tiny clearing where a fire was burning. a rude wanderobo shack, built around the base of a towering tree from which fell great festoons of giant creepers, stood in the center of the clearing. some food, still hot, was found in the vessels in which it had been cooking. the people had fled and had been swallowed up in the silent depths of the forest. [drawing: _coming down the mountain_] we called and shouted, but no answer came. some of our porters proceeded to rob the shack of its store of wild honey, but were apprehended in time and were threatened with violent punishment if it continued. then we prepared to make camp. there was no space for our tents, and trees had to be cut down and a little clearing made. here the tents were huddled together, clinging to the sloping mountain side. darkness fell, and then a most wonderful thing happened. one of the tent boys who was searching for firewood in the darkening forest found a little naked baby, barely three months old. it had been thrown away as its mother, as she thought, fled for her life. the baby was brought into camp, wrapped up, and cared for, and it will never know how near it came to being devoured by a leopard or a forest hog. it was the crying of this baby that we heard, and we assumed that its mother had cast it aside so that its wailing would not betray the hiding-place of the remainder of her family. one can only imagine what her terror must have been to make this sacrifice in the common interest. now, a three-months-old baby is a good deal of a problem for a _safari_ to handle. in our equipment we had made no provision for the care of infants. we could wrap it up and keep it warm, and feed it canned milk, but i imagine the proper care of a little babe requires even more than that. it was imperative that we find the mother before the baby died. [drawing: _a tent boy found it_] so we first enjoined our mob of porters, who are chronically noisy, to be quiet under penalty of a severe _kiboko_ punishment. we then sent out kavirondo, the big, good-natured porter who always acted as our interpreter when dealing with the natives of the mountain district. he spoke the dialects of the wanderobo tribes. he was a messenger of peace, and he was told to shout out through the forest that we were friendly, that we had the baby, and that the mother should come and get it. we felt absolutely certain that the sound of his voice would carry to where the mother was hidden. for an hour or more we heard the strong voice of kavirondo crying out his message of peace, and yet no answering cry came from the black depths of the forest. it began to look as if we were one little black baby ahead. in the meantime the baby was behaving beautifully. it was wrapped warmly in a bath towel and seemed to enjoy the attention it was receiving. some one suggested that we leave it in the shack and then all retire so that the mother could creep in and recover it. but this had one objection--a leopard might creep in first. we cooked our dinner and away off in the forest came the echoing shouts of kavirondo. the camp settled down to quiet and the camp-fires twinkled among the towering trees. then some one rushed in to say that the father and mother had come in. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. "kavirondo"] [photograph: outlined against the sky] [photograph: a reception committee] kavirondo had restored the baby! there was an instant impulse to rush down to see the glad reunion, but better counsel prevailed. such a charge, _en masse_, even though friendly, might frighten the natives away. so akeley alone went down and assured the father and mother that we were friendly and that nothing would harm them. and when he came back it was to report that the parents and the little baby were peacefully installed in their forest home again. [drawing: _she threw her baby away_] early in the morning we went down to see our strange friends. they had greatly increased in number during the night. there were now one man, two of his wives, an old woman, and eight children, and the tiny baby. all fear had vanished, and they seemed certain that no harm was likely to come to them. the man was a good-looking, strongly built native with fine honest eyes. the women were comely and the children positively handsome. i have never seen such a healthy, fine-eyed, well-built assortment of childhood, ranging all the way from three months up to eight or nine years of age. he was the president of the anti-race suicide club. we gave them all presents--beads to the children and brass wire to the women. we also made up a little fund of rupees for the baby, although money seemed to mean nothing to any of them. they had never seen white men before and probably knew nothing of metal money. beads and brass wire were the only currency they knew. we tried to photograph them, but the shades in the forest were deep and the light too was bad for successful pictures. little by little we got their story. there was warfare between the forest people and the savage kara mojas to the north. neither side could ever tell when a band of the foe would swoop down upon them, killing the men, stealing the sheep and seizing the women. only a few months before one of the kara mojas had come in and stolen some sheep and in return our wanderobo friend had sallied forth, killed the kara moja, and captured his wife. it was the latter who was now the mother of the little baby, and she seemed quite reconciled to the change. [drawing: _the wanderobos' home_] when, the night before, the little family around the camp-fire heard the crashing of brushes and the hacking of underbrush and the shouts of our porters they thought a great force of the kara mojas was upon them. so they fled in terror. the baby cried, and, fearful that its wails would betray their hiding-place, they had cast it away in the bushes. then they had fled into the depths of the forest and, huddled together in silent fear, waited in the hope that the kara mojas would leave. finally they heard kavirondo's shouts and then after hours of indecision they decided to come in. that is the end of the story. the wanderobo, grateful to us, led us by secret trails out of the wilderness, or as far as he dared to go. he led us to the edge of the enemy's country and then returned to his forest home. in a couple of days of hard marching, one of which was through soaking torrents of rain, without food for ten hours, we reached the nzoia river. our mountain troubles were overs. chapter xviii electric lights, motor-cars and fifteen varieties of wild game. chasing lions across country in a carriage nairobi is a thriving, bustling city, with motor cars, electric lights, clubs, race meets, balls, banquets, and all the frills that constitute an up-to-date community. carriages and dog-carts and motorcycles rush about, and lords and princes and earls sit upon the veranda of the leading hotel in hunting costumes. lying out from nairobi are big grazing farms, many of them fenced in with barbed wire; and the peaceful rows of telegraph poles make exclamation points of civilization across the landscape. it doesn't sound like good hunting in such a district, does it? yet this is what actually happened: we had discharged our _safari_, packed up our tents, and were just ready to start to mombasa to catch a ship for bombay. a telegram unexpectedly arrived, saying that the boat would not sail until three days later, so we decided to put in two or three more mornings of shooting out beyond the limits of the city. we got a carriage, a low-necked vehicle drawn by two little mules. it was driven by a young black boy, and we got another boy from the hotel to go along for general utility purposes. into this vehicle we placed our guns, and at seven o'clock in the morning drove out of the town. in fifteen or twenty minutes we had passed through the streets and had reached the pleasant roads of the open plains. soon we passed the race-track and then bowled merrily along between peaceful barbed-wire fences. occasional groups of kikuyus were tramping along the road, bringing in eggs or milk to nairobi. a farm-house or two lay off to either side, and once or twice we passed boys herding little bunches of ostriches. at about a quarter to eight we drove up the tree-lined avenue of a farm-house and a pleasant-faced woman responded to our knock. we asked for permission to shoot on the farm and were told that we were quite welcome to shoot as much as we wished. five minutes later, less than an hour's drive from nairobi, we drove past a herd of nearly sixty impalla. they watched us gravely from a distance of two hundred yards. at this point we left the well-traveled road and drove into the short prairie grass that carpeted, the athi plains. the carriage bumped pleasantly along, and as we reached a little rise a few hundred feet away, the great stretch of the plains lay spread out before us. mount kenia, eighty or ninety miles north, was clear and bright with its snow-capped peaks sparkling in the early sunlight. off to its left rose the aberdare range, with the dominating peak of kinangop; to its right rose the lone bald uplift of donyo sabuk, and to the east were the blue lukenia hills. the house-tops of nairobi waved miragically in the valley, with a low range of blue hills beyond. across the plains ran the row of telegraph poles that marked the course of the railway and a traveling column of smoke indicated the busy course of a railway train. this was the setting within which lay the broad stretches of the athi plains, billowing in waves like a grass-covered sea. [photograph: a nest of ostrich eggs] [photograph: a herd of ostriches] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce we bumped merrily along] as we drove along big herds of zebras paused in their grazing to regard the carriage as it merrily bumped across the hills. as long as we remained in the vehicle they showed no alarm, for they had seen many carriages along the neighboring roads. it was only when the carriage stopped that they showed an apprehensive interest. great numbers of coke's hartebeest watched us with humorous interest. an eland grazed peacefully upon a distant hill, and a wart-hog trotted away as we approached. immense numbers of thompson's gazelle skipped away merrily and then turned to regard us with widespread ears and alert eyes. two grant's gazelles were seen, while far off upon a grassy hillside were many wildebeest--the animal that we were seeking. it was impossible to get close enough to shoot effectively, and after a time we gave up our attempts in that direction. the wildebeest, although living so near nairobi, are most wild, and with miles of plains stretching out upon all sides it is easy for them to keep several hundred yards of space between themselves and danger. we spent a couple of hours of fruitless stalking and then were obliged to hurry back to town in order to be at the hotel when the tiffin bell rang. i had not yet secured a thompson's gazelle, so we stopped and each of us shot one on our way to the road. then we returned to town. people along the streets regarded us with surprised interest, for there were two gazelles hanging out of the carriage and our four rifles gave the vehicle an incongruously warlike aspect. [drawing: _shooting wildebeest (cross marks location of wildebeest, outward bound)_] the next morning at seven o'clock we were again in our carriage. we drove out to the same place and at a few minutes after eight we were amazed to see a wild dog rise from the grass and look at us. we hastily jumped out of the carriage and walked toward him. in a moment a number of others rose from the grass, until we saw seventeen of them. this animal is seldom seen by sportsmen, and i believe it is considered quite rare. in four months only one of our party had previously seen any. sometimes they savagely attack human beings, and when they do their attack is fierce and hard to repel. they watched us narrowly as we approached them and then moved slowly away. they seemed neither afraid nor ferocious. we each shot and missed. the pack split, and stephenson followed one little bunch while i followed another. my course led me toward a shallow, rock-strewn nullah, and once or twice i fired again at the wild dogs. but i couldn't hit them. there was nothing remarkable in my failure to make a good shot, but stephenson, who is a celebrated rifle shot, seemed to be equally unfortunate in his work. he was some distance away and his bullets would not go where he wanted them to go. suddenly my attention was riveted upon three forms that walked slowly out of the nullah and climbed the slope on the other side, about three hundred and fifty yards away. i was transfixed with amazement and could hardly believe my eyes. they were lions! one was a female and the other two immense males. they were walking slowly, and once or twice they stopped to look back at me. then they resumed their stately retreat. as soon as i recovered from my astonishment i shouted to stephenson, who had been lured far away by the wild dogs. "_simba!_" i yelled, pointing to the three lions. he seemed not to comprehend, and i saw him reluctantly turn from the dogs and fix his glasses upon the direction i indicated. in no time he was hurrying up to join me, and we hastily formed a plan of campaign. the lions had now disappeared over the brow of the hill. i looked at my watch and the hour was not yet nine o'clock. we were still in sight of the distant house-tops of nairobi. it seemed unbelievable. we crossed the nullah and the carriage jolted down and across a few minutes later. we took our seats and studied the plains with our glasses. the lions were not in sight. then we studied the herds of game and saw that many of them were looking in a certain direction. we drove in that direction and whipped up the mules to a lively trot. in a few minutes stephenson picked up the three lions far to the left, where they were slowly making their way toward another ravine a mile or so beyond. then began one of the strangest lion hunts ever recorded in african sporting annals. you may have read of the practice of "riding" lions. doctor rainsford, in his splendid book on lion hunting, describes this thrilling sport in such vivid words that you shiver as you read them. mounted men gallop after the lion, bring it to bay, and then hold it there until the white hunter comes up to a close range and shoots it. in the meantime the cornered beast is charging savagely at the horsemen, who trust to the speed and quickness of their mounts to elude the angry rushes of the infuriated animal. it is a most spectacular method of lion hunting and is only eclipsed in danger and daring by the native method of surrounding a lion and spearing it to death. [photograph: a kikuyu woman uses her head] [photograph: on the athi plains] [photograph: it was a rakish craft] to my knowledge, no one has ever "galloped" a lion in a carriage drawn by two mules, and probably few hunters have ever galloped three lions at one time under any conditions. it was a memorable chase. the mules were lashed into a gallop and the carriage rocked like a channel steamer. we were gaining rapidly and the distance separating us from the lions was quickly diminishing. it seemed as if the three lions were not especially eager to escape, for they moved away slowly, as if half-inclined to turn upon us. [drawing: _it rocked like a channel steamer_] we hoped to overtake them before they reached the ravine or such uneven ground as would compel us to abandon the carriage. five hundred yards! then four hundred yards, and soon three hundred yards. the mules were doing splendidly, and we knew that we should soon be within good shooting distance. at two hundred and fifty yards the largest of the two males, a great, black-maned lion, stopped and turned toward us. his two companions continued moving away toward the ravine. thinking it a good moment to strike, we leaped from the carriage and knelt to fire. stephenson shot at the big black-mane and i at the male that was retreating. both shots missed. the black-mane resumed his retreat and we got in a couple more ineffectual shots before the three lions disappeared over the brow of the ravine. [drawing: _at two hundred and fifty yards_] once more in the carriage and another wild gallop as far as the vehicle would go. for a few moments we lost sight of the lions, but presently we saw them climbing up the opposite slope, four hundred yards away. it was a long distance to shoot, but we hoped to bring them to bay at least by wounding them into a fighting mood. the large lion turned and swung along the brow of the hill; the others disappeared over the opposite side, but they soon reappeared some distance farther to the right. little spurts of dirt showed where our bullets were striking. once i kicked up the ground just under him and once a shot from stephenson passed so close to his nose that he ducked his head angrily. we became frantic with eagerness and continued disappointment. the thought of losing the finest lion we had seen on the whole trip was maddening, yet it seemed impossible to hit him. then he disappeared and probably rejoined his companions in a retreat that led down into the ravine where it wound far away from us. there were patches of reeds in the ravine and it was there that i thought they would hide. sending the carriage in a wide detour, we climbed across a spur of the ravine and tried to pick up the trail. once i fell upon the rocks that lined the steep sides of the gully and cut my hand so deeply that the scar will always remain as a reminder of that eventful day. stephenson kept to the top of the ridge, believing that the lions would continue across the ravine; i went into the ravine, thinking they would take cover in the reeds and might be scared out with a shot or two. but nothing could be seen of them, and after half an hour we rejoined on the top of the hill, where a wide view of the whole country was revealed. we sat down in despair. the greatest chance of the whole trip was gone. "that's the last we'll see of them," said i oracularly as i sat upon a stone. my hand was covered with blood, but alas! it was mine and not the lion's. the carriage appeared and we held a prolonged consolation meeting. suddenly our general utility boy, happy bill, uttered a low cry of warning. we turned, and there, in the valley ahead of us, the three lions were again seen. they had evidently passed through the reeds without stopping and had continued across only a few yards from where we were now standing. fate seemed determined to give us plenty of chances to get these lions. again we opened fire on them at about four or five hundred yards. my big-gun ammunition was gone, so i fired with my .256. no result! the distance was too great and our bombardment was fruitless. the black-maned lion was in a bad humor and repeatedly turned as if intent to stop and defend his outraged dignity. in a few moments the three lions disappeared in the tall grass that fringed a big reed bed many acres in extent. for an hour we raked the reed bed with shot, hoping to drive them from cover. but that was the last we saw of the lions. a little bunch of waterbuck does were scared up, but nothing else. the lions were now safe, for nothing less than fifty beaters could hope to dislodge them from the dense security of the swamp. [drawing: _it would have been historic_] talk about dejection! our ride back to town was as mournful as a ride could be. we thought of the glory of driving through the streets of nairobi with a lion or two hanging over the back of the carriage. it would have been historic. citizens would have talked of it for years. it would have taken an honored place in the lion-hunting literature of africa, for no lion hunters have ever pursued a band of lions in a carriage and brought back a carriage-load of them. we almost regretted having had the chance that we so heartbreakingly lost. but we told about it when we struck town, and before the day was over it was the topic in hotels and clubs throughout the whole town of nairobi. everybody who had a gun was resolved to go out the next day, and interest was at a fever pitch. we went out again the following morning, shot at wildebeests at all known ranges, from two hundred yards up to five hundred yards--but our luck was against us. we came back empty-handed, and our chief reward for the morning's work was the great privilege of seeing both mount kenia, ninety miles north, and kilima-njaro, nearly two hundred miles southeast, as clear as a cameo against the lovely african sky. the lesson of this story is not so much a review of bad shooting or of bad luck. the thing that seems most noteworthy is that within six or seven miles from nairobi, nearly all the time within sight of the house-tops of that town, we had seen fifteen varieties of wild game, some of which were present in great numbers. wildebeest hartebeest hyena jackal thompson's gazelle lion rabbit waterbuck impalla giant bustard ostrich wart-hog wild dog steinbuck grant's gazelle surely there is still some game left in africa. chapter xix the last word in lion hunting. methods of trailing, ensnaring and otherwise outwitting the king of beasts. a chapter of adventures if some one were to start a correspondence course in lion hunting he would give diagrams and instructions showing how to kill a lion in about six different styles--namely: the boma method. the tall grass method. the riding method. the tree method. the lariat method. the spear method. this list does not include the ananias method, formerly popular. the tree and boma methods are much esteemed by those sportsmen who wish to reduce personal danger to the least common denominator--the sportsmen who think discretion is the better part of valor and a hunter in a tree is worth two in the bush. the sportsman who confines himself to the tree method is entitled to receive a medal "for conspicuous caution in times of danger," and the loved ones at home need never worry about his safe return. for safe lion hunting the "tree" method would get "first prize," while the "boma" method would receive honorable mention. the "tall grass" method is less popular in that the lion has some show and often succeeds in getting away to tell about it. it involves danger to all concerned. [drawing: _spearing lions_] the "riding" method is also dangerous, for in it the hunter endeavors to "round up" or "herd" a lion by riding him to a standstill. when the lion is fighting mad he stops and turns upon his persecutors. this is when the obituary columns thrive. the "lariat" method is not as yet in general vogue, but i understand that "buffalo" jones, an american, succeeded in roping a lion as they rope cattle out west. it sounds diverting. [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. a dead lion is a sign for jubilation] [photograph: a dethroned king of beasts] the "spear" method is that employed by natives, who, armed with spear and shield, surround a lion and then kill it with their spears. they invariably succeed, but not until a few of the spear-bearers are more or less fletcherized by the lion. this method does not appeal to those who wish to get home to tell about it, and need not be considered at length in any correspondence course. [drawing: _the tree method_] the tree method is comparatively simple. you build a platform in a tree and place a bait near it. then you wait through the long, silent watches of the night for felis leo to appear. the method has few dangers. the chief one lies in falling asleep and tumbling out of the tree, but this is easily obviated by making the platform large enough for two or three men, two of whom may stretch out and sleep while the other one remains awake and keeps guard. when i went to africa i resolved never to climb a tree. later i resolved to try the tree method in order to get experience in a form of lion hunting that has many advocates among the valiant hunters who want lion skins at no expense to their own. of course, there are some perils connected with this method of lion slaying. mosquitoes may bite you, causing a dreadful fever that may later result in death in some lingering and costly form. also the biting ants may pursue you up to your aery perch and take small but effective bites in many itchable but unscratchable points. these elements of danger are about the only ones encountered in the tree method of lion hunting, but then who could expect to kill lions without some degree of personal discomfort? my one and only tree experience was not particularly eventful. a large and commodious platform was built in the forks of a great tree in a district where the questing grunt of lions could be heard each night. the platform was comfortable; it only needed hot and cold running water to be a delightful place to spend a tropic night. i shot a hartebeest and had it dragged beneath the tree. then my two native gunbearers and i made a satisfactory ascent to the platform. we had a thermos bottle filled with hot tea, and some odds and ends in the way of solid refreshments. we then stretched out in positions that commanded a view of the hartebeest and waited patiently for an obliging lion to come and be shot. night came on and soon the landscape became shadowy and indistinct. trees and bushes fused into vague black masses and the carcass of the bait could be located only because it seemed a shade more opaque than the opaque gloom around it. the more you looked at it the more elusive and shifting it seemed. the sights of the rifle were invisible, and the only way one could find the sight was by aiming at a star and then carefully lowering the direction of the weapon until it approximately pointed at the carcass. of course, we were very still; even the stars were not more silent than we. and little by little the noises of an african night were heard, growing in volume until from all sides came the cries of night birds and the songs of insects and tree-toads. it was the apotheosis of loneliness. and thus we sat, with eyes straining to pierce the gloom that hedged us in. we could see no sign of life, yet all about us in those dark shadows there were thousands of creatures moving about on their nightly hunt. suddenly there came the soft crescendo of a hyena's howl some place off in the night. it was answered by another, miles away; then another, far off in a still different direction. the scent of the bait was spreading to the far horizon and the keen-scented carrion-eaters had caught it and were hurrying to the feast. then, after moments of waiting, the howls came from so near that they startled us. there seemed to be dozens of hyenas--a regular class reunion of them--yet not one could be seen in the "murky gloom." and then, a moment later, we heard the crunching of teeth and the slither of rending flesh, and we knew that a supper party of hyenas was gathered about the festal board below us. i was afraid that they would eat up the carcass and thus keep away the lions, so i fired a shot to scare them away. there was a quick rush of feet--then that dense, expectant silence once more. soon some little jackals came and were shooed away. then more hyenas came, were given their congã©, and hurried off to the tall grass. and yet no lion. it was quite disappointing. at midnight, far off to the north, came the grunting voice of a lion. i waited eagerly for the next sound which would indicate whether the lure of the bait was beckoning him on. and soon the sound came, this time much nearer, and after a long silence there was a sharp, snarling grunt of a lion, followed by the panic-stricken rush of a hundred heavy hoofs. the conjunction of sounds told the story as definitely as if the whole scene lay bared to view. the lion had leaped upon a hartebeest, probably instantly breaking its neck, while the rest of the herd had galloped away in terror. and it had all happened within two or three hundred yards of the tree--yet nothing could be seen. at two o'clock the grunt of a lion was again heard far off to the south. it came steadily toward us, and at last there was no doubt about its destination. it was coming to the bait. how my eyes strained to pierce the darkness and how breathlessly i waited with rifle in readiness! but the lion only paused at the bait, and as i waited for it to settle down to its feast it went grunting away and the chance was gone. perhaps it had already fed, or perhaps it was an unusually fastidious lion which desired to do its own killing. an hour or two later, both gunbearers asleep and one snoring peacefully, i became aware of a large animal feeding at the bait. although no sound had preceded its coming, i thought it might be a lion, but feared that it was a hyena. i fired at the dark, shifting, black shadow and the roar of the big rifle shattered the silence like a clap of unexpected thunder. then there was such a dense silence that it seemed to ring in one's ears. had i hit or missed? that could not be decided until daybreak, for it is the height of folly to climb down from a tree to feel the pulse of a wounded lion. when daybreak came we made an investigation. only the mangled remains of the carcass lay below. later in the day some members of our party came across the dead body of a hyena lying about a hundred yards from the tree, partly hidden by a little clump of bushes. its backbone was shattered by a .475 bullet. thus ended my first and only adventure in the "tree method." the boma method is slightly more dangerous and much more exciting. a lot of thorn branches are twisted together in a little circle, within which the hunter sits and waits for his lion. as in the tree method, a bait is placed near the boma, twelve or fifteen yards away, and a little loophole is arranged in the tangle of thorn branches through which the rifle may be trained upon the bait. [drawing: _the boma method_] the lion can not get into the boma unless he jumps up and comes in from the top. it is the function of the hunter to prevent this strategic manoeuver by killing the lion before he gets in. if he does not, he is likely to find himself engaged in a spirited hand-to-hand fight with an unfriendly lion in a space about as big as the upper berth of a sleeping-car. my first boma was a meshwork of thorns piled and interwoven together with the architectural simplicity of an eskimo igloo. when it was finished there didn't seem to be the ghost of a chance of a lion getting in; but at night, as i looked out, it seemed frail indeed. some dry grass was piled inside, with blankets spread over it to prevent rustling; and when night came we three, myself and two gunbearers, wormed our way in and then pulled some pieces of brush into the opening after us. the rifles were sighted on the bait while it was still daylight and at a spot where the expected lion might appear. then we waited. the customary nocturne by birds, beasts and insects began before long, and several times hyenas and jackals came to the bait, but no lions. the boma was on the edge of a great swamp, miles in extent and a great rendezvous for game of many kinds. theoretically, there couldn't be a better place to expect lions, but nary a lion appeared that night. upon a later occasion--christmas night, it was--i watched from a boma near an elephant we had killed, but except for the distant grunting of lions, there was nothing important to chronicle. lion hunting goes by luck. one man may sit in a boma night after night without getting a shot, while another may go out once and bring back a black-mane. i spent two nights in a boma without seeing a lion; stephenson spent seven nights and saw only a lioness. he held his fire in the expectation that the male was with her and would soon appear. presently a huge beast appeared, vague in the dark shadows; he thought it was the male lion, shot, and the next morning found a large dead hyena. mrs. akeley went out only once, had a night of thrilling experiences, and killed a large male lion. the lion appeared early in the evening and her first shot just grazed the backbone. an inch higher and it would have missed, but as it was, the mere grazing of the backbone paralyzed the animal, preventing its escape. all night long it crouched helplessly before them, twelve yards away, insane with rage and fury. its roars were terrifying. a number of times she shot, but in the darkness none of the many hits reached a vital spot. once in the night two other lions came, but escaped after being fired at. as soon as daylight appeared and she could see the sights of her rifle she easily killed the lion. it was the largest one of the eleven killed in our hunting trip, and was killed with a little .256 mannlicher, the same weapon with which she shot her record elephant on mount kenia. in the tall-grass method, native beaters are sent in long skirmish line through swamps and such places as lions like to lay up in during the hours of daylight. the beaters chant a weird and rather musical refrain as they advance and thrash the high reeds with their sticks. reedbuck, sometimes a bushbuck, frequently hyenas, and many large owls are driven out of nearly every good-sized swamp. the hunters divide, one or more on each side of the swamp and slightly ahead of the line of beaters. as the lion springs out it is up to the hunter nearest to it to meet it with the traditional unerring shot. [photograph: the tree method of lion shooting] [photograph: dragged a zebra to the boma] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. the rifle was sighted on the bait] in our experience we beat dozens of swamps and reed beds. stephenson would take one side of the swamp, i the other, while akeley with his moving-picture machine, would take the side best suited to photographic purposes. he got some wonderful results, two of which were records of the death of two lionesses. upon the first of these occasions the beaters had worked down a long stretch of swamp and had almost reached the end. suddenly they showed an agitated interest in something in front of them. they thought it was a lion until an innocent by-stander made an unauthorized guess that it was a hyena. this reassured the beaters and they advanced boldly in the belief that it was a harmless hyena. my valor rose in proportion and for the same reason, and i strolled bravely over to the edge of the reeds where a little opening appeared. it was something of a shock to see two lions stroll suddenly into view. i fired, hitting the last one. then they both disappeared in the reeds ahead. it was amazing to note the sudden epidemic of caution upon the part of all concerned. the beaters refused to advance until stephenson joined them with his big rifle. i moved forward on the side lines and the moving-picture machine reeled off yards of film. a man has to appear brave when a camera is turned on him, but with two lions a few feet away there was not a tendency to advance with that impetuous dash that one would like to see in a moving picture of oneself. anyway, i tried to keep up an appearance of advancing without actually covering much territory. one of my gunbearers suddenly clutched my arm and pointed into the reeds. there, only a few feet away, was the tawny figure of a lion, either lying down or crouching. i fired and nearly blew its head off. it was the one i had wounded a few minutes before. [drawing: _photographed in times of danger_] there was still the other lion in the reeds. so i joined the beaters while stephenson came out and took a commanding position at the side of the reeds. in a moment or two there was a tawny flash and the lion was seen as it broke from the reeds and sprang away up the hill. it was on the opposite side of the reeds from stephenson, but his first shot hit it and it stopped and turned angrily. in another instant it would have charged, but a second shot from his rifle killed it instantly. both of the animals were young lionesses of the same age and nearly full grown. sometimes, when a lion is driven to bay in the tall grass at the end of a swamp, the beaters refuse to advance, and it then becomes necessary for the hunter to go in and take the lead. an occasion of this sort was among the most thrilling of my african experiences. an immense swamp had been beaten out and nothing had developed until the beaters were almost at the end of the swamp. extending from the end and joining it was a patch of wire-like reeds, eight or ten feet high and covering two or three acres. this high grass was almost impenetrable by a man, and it was only possible to go through it by throwing one's weight forward and crushing down the dense growth. the grass grew from hummocks, between which were deep water channels. an animal could glide through these channels, but a man must batter his way through the stockade of dense grass that spread out above. it was in this place that the lion was first heard and the beaters refused to follow it in. guttural grunts and snarls came from that uninviting jungle, and we knew that the only way to force the lion out was to go in and drive it out. at about this time another lion came out of the swamp behind and loped up the hill. the saises were sent galloping after it to round it up, but they reappeared after a few moments and reported that it had got away in the direction of a huge swamp a mile or so beyond. we began to think we had struck a nest of lions. then we went in to drive out that lion in the deep grass. the native beaters, encouraged by seeing armed white men leading the way, came along with renewed enthusiasm. that grass was something terrible. one would hardly care to go through it if he knew that a bag of gold or a fairy princess awaited him beyond; with a lion there, the delight of the job became immeasurably less. we could not see three feet ahead. from time to time we were floundering down into channels of water hidden by the density of the grass. some of these channels were two feet deep. and with each yard of advance came the realization that we were coming to an inevitable show-down with that lion. akeley and i were in with the beaters, stephenson was beyond the patch of grass to intercept the lion should it break forth, from cover. it was not until we had nearly traversed the entire patch of reeds that the lion was found. it evidently lay silently ahead of us until we were almost upon it. then, almost beneath my feet, came the angry and ominous growl, and my somali gunbearer leaped in terror, falling as he did so. i expected to see a long, lean flash of yellow body and to experience the sensation of being mauled by a lion. all was breathlessly silent for a moment. then a shot from stephenson's rifle said that the lion had burst from the reeds and into view. we pushed our way out to see what had happened. the lion had come out, then turned suddenly back into the cover of reeds, working its way along the front of the beaters. for an instant stephenson saw it and fired into the grass ahead of it without result. the track of the lion was followed, but the animal had succeeded in getting around the beaters and back into the swamp. fires were lighted, but the reeds were too green to burn except in occasional spots. a few minutes later the saises, posted like sentinels high on the hills that flanked the swamp, saw the lion again and galloped down to head it off. it left the swamp and continued on down the rush-lined banks of a stream, zigzagging its way back and forth. after a pursuit of a couple of miles it was cornered in a small patch of reeds. further retreat was impossible and it knew that it had to fight. the moving-picture machine was set up on one side and i was detailed to guard that side. if the lion came out it was to be allowed to charge a certain distance, within forty feet, before i was to fire. if it didn't charge at us, but attempted to escape, it was to be allowed to run across the strip of open ground in front of the camera before i was to shoot. stephenson took his place on the other bank, twenty-five or thirty yards from the edge of the reeds. then the beaters were told to advance, and they moved forward, throwing rocks and sticks into the reeds ahead of them. the lion appeared on stephenson's side. like a flash it sprang out. he fired and the lion stopped momentarily under the impact of a heavy ball. then it sprang a few yards onward, when a second shot laid it out. the last shot was fired at less than twenty yards. the moving-picture machine recorded the thrilling scene and there was an hour of great rejoicing and jubilation. the animal was an old lioness and the first shot had torn her lower jaw away and had gone into the shoulder. it is amazing that she was not instantly killed--but that's a way lions have. they never know when to quit. chapter xx abdullah the cook and some interesting gastronomical experiences. thirteen tribes represented in the safari. abdi's story of his uncle and the lions our cook was a dark-complexioned man between whom and the ace of spades there was considerable rivalry. he was of that deadly night shade. he was the darkest spot on the dark continent. after dark he blended in with the night so that you couldn't tell which was cook and which was night. his name was abdullah, his nature was mild and gentle, and his skill in his own particular sphere of action was worthy of honorable mention by all refined eaters. he was about fifty or sixty years of age, five feet tall, with a smile varying from four to six inches from tip to tip. it was a smile that came often, and when really unfurled to its greatest width it gave the pleasing effect of a dark face ambushed behind a row of white tombstones. when abdullah joined our _safari_ it was freely predicted that he would do well for the first month or so, after which he would fade away to rank mediocrity; but, strangely enough, he became better and better as time went on, and during our last two weeks was springing culinary coups that excited intense interest on our part. he had a way of assembling a few odds and ends together that finally merged into a rice pudding par excellence, while his hot cakes were so good that we spoke of them in rapt, reverential whispers. there wasn't a twinge of indigestion in a "three by six" stack of them, and when flooded with a crown of liquid honey they made one think of paradise and angels' choruses. quite naturally, in my wanderings of nine months there were moments when my thoughts dwelt upon such material things as "vittles," and it was instructive to compare the various kinds of food served on a dozen ships, a score of hotels, and a hundred camps. some were good and some were bad, but as viewed in calm retrospect i think that abdullah excelled all other chefs, taking him day in and day out. upon only three occasions was he vanquished, but these were memorable ones. as food is a pleasant topic, perhaps i may be pardoned if i dwell fondly upon these three red-letter days in my memory. one was in paris. the night that we started for africa a merry little company dined at henry's. that distinguished master was given _carte blanche_ to get up the best dinner known to culinary science, and he had a day's start. everything was delicious. the dinner was a symphony, starting in a low key and gradually working up in a stirring crescendo until the third course, where it reached supreme heights in climacteric effect. that third course, if done in music, would have sent men cheering to the cannon's mouth or galloping joyously in a desperate cavalry charge. [photograph: one of our askaris] [photograph: by courtesy of w.d. boyce. hassan mohammed] the dish was called "poulet archduc," although i should have called it at least poulet archangel. in this divine creation henry reached the nirvana of good things to eat. i beseeched him for the recipe, which he cheerfully wrote out, so now i am happy to pass it along that all may try it. it really ought to be dramatized. i transcribe it in m. henry's own verbiage: the chicken must be well cleaned inside. next put in it some butter, salt and pepper, a little paprika, and into full of sweet corn, then close the chicken. next put it in a saucepan with other more sweet corn, against butter, salt, pepper, a little whisky; cook about half of one hour. the best sweet corn is the california sweet corn in can. the sauce is done with white of chicken. squeeze two yolks of eggs and butter like for a sauce mousseline and finish it with a little whisky. and there you are. the second occasion came some months later. we had been on _safari_ for several weeks and had returned to nairobi for two or three days. it was the "psychological moment" for something new in the way of food. the stage was all set for it, and it came in the form of a pudding that would have delighted all the gastronomes and epicures of history. we called it the newland-tarlton pudding, because it was the joint creation of mrs. newland and mrs. tarlton. one wrote the poetry in it and the other set it to music. we ate it so thoroughly that the plates looked as clean as new. cuninghame was there, dressed up for the first time in months, and the way that pudding disappeared behind his burly beard was suggestive of the magic of kellar or herrmann. the recipe of this pudding is worthy of export to the united states, so here it is. it really is a combination of two puddings, served together and eaten at the same time. the newland banana custard boil three large cupfuls of milk. mix a tablespoonful of corn flour with a little cold milk just to make it into a paste. add four eggs well beaten and mix together with three tablespoonfuls of sugar. put into the boiled milk and stir until it thickens, but don't let it boil. when taken off add one teaspoonful of vanilla essence. cut up ten bananas and put in a dish. pour custard on when cool. prune shape (a la tarlton) stew one-half pound prunes until quite soft. remove stones and cut prunes small. dissolve one-half ounce gelatin and add to one-quarter pound sugar, prunes, and kernels. pour into wetted mold to cool, first adding one-half glass of sherry. must be served with banana cream (the newland). the third occasion made memorable by a delicious epoch-making dish i shall not specify, as we have dined with many friends during the last nine months. let it be sufficient if i say that it was at one of these dinners or luncheons. in our varied gastronomical experiences we found that the cooking on the english ships was usually bad, while that on the german ships was good, excepting the ship that took us from naples to mombasa. the dutch ships were the best of all and the dutch hotels in java were the best we struck outside of paris and london. in comparison with the hotel des indes, in batavia, all the rest of the hotels of the orient can be mentioned only in a furtive way. it was a revelation of excellence, in perfect keeping with the charm and beauty of java as a whole. but we were speaking of things to eat. at the hotel des indes they served us a modest little dish called rice tafel, or "rijs-tafel." you have to go to luncheon early in order to eat it before dinner time. it was served by twenty-four waiters, marching in single file, the line extending from the kitchen to the table and then returning by a different line of march to the kitchen. it was fifteen minutes passing a given point. each waiter carried a dish containing one of the fifty-seven ingredients of the grand total of the rice tafel. you helped yourself with one arm until that got tired, then used the other. when you were all ready to begin your plate looked like a rice-covered bunker on a golf course. [drawing: _the rice tafel in java_] rice tafel is a famous dish in java. it is served at tiffin, and after you have eaten it you waddle to your room in a congested state and sleep it off. after my first rice tafel i dreamed i was a log jam and that lumber jacks with cant hooks were trying to pry me apart. as the recipe for rice tafel is not to be found in any cook book on account of its length, we give it here even if you won't believe it. to a large heap of rice add the following: meat and fish spiced beef, deviled soup meat, both fried with cocoanut shreds. minced pork, baked. fried fish, soused fish, and baked fish. fried oysters and whitebait. spices red fish. deviled shrimps, chutney. deviled pistachio nuts. deviled onions sliced with pimentos. deviled chicken giblets. deviled banana tuft. pickled cucumbers. cucumber plain (to cool the palate after hot ingredients). fowl, fruit, etc. roast chicken, plain. steamed chicken with chilis. monkey nuts fried in paste. flour chips with fish lime (called grapak and kripak). fried brinjals without the seeds. fried bananas. juices yellow--(one) of curry powder with chicken giblets and bouillon. brown--(two) of celery, haricot beans, leeks and young cabbage. one quart of american pale ale to drink during the "rice tafel." our cook abdullah was not the only interesting type in our _safari_. among our dusky colleagues there were thirteen different tribes represented. it was a congress of nations and a babel of tongues. some of the porters became conspicuous figures early in the march, while some were so lacking in individuality that they seemed like new-comers even after four months out. [drawing: _the "chantecler" of our safari_] of this latter class hassan mohammed was not one. hassan was my chief gunbearer, and for pious devotion to the mohammedan faith he was second to none. he was the "chantecler" of our outfit. every morning at four o'clock, regardless of the weather, he would crawl out of his tent, drape himself in a white sheet, and cry out his prayers to mecca. it was his voice that woke the camp, and the immediate answer to his prayers was sometimes quite irreverent, especially from the wakamba porters, who were accustomed to sit up nearly all night gambling. hassan was a somali, strictly honest and faithful. he had the somali's love of a rupee, and there was no danger or hardship that he would not undergo in the hope of backsheesh. it is the african custom to backsheesh everybody when a lion is killed, so consequently the somalis were always looking for lions. perhaps he also prayed for them each morning. when we started we had four somali gunbearers, each of whom rose at dawn to pray. as we got up in the high altitudes, where the mornings were bitter cold, the number of suppliants dwindled down to one, and hassan was the sole survivor. no cold or rain or early rising could cool the fierce religious ardor that burned within him. long before daybreak we would hear his voice raised in a singsong prayer full of strange runs and weird minors. the lions that roared and grunted near the camp would pause in wonder and then steal away as the sound of hassan's devotions rang out through the chilly, dew-laden dawn. and as if fifteen minutes of morning prayer was not enough to keep him even with his religious obligations, he went through two more long recitals in the afternoon and at night. i sometimes thought that behind his fervent ardor there was a considerable pride in his voice, for he introduced many interesting by-products of harmony that sounded more or less extraneous to both music and prayer. nevertheless, hassan was consistent. he never lied, he never stole, and it was part of his personal creed of honor to stand by his master in case of danger. somali gunbearers are a good deal of a nuisance about a camp, partly because they are the aristocrats of africa and demand large salaries, but chiefly because they require certain kinds of food that their religion requires them to eat. this is often difficult to secure when far from sources of supplies, and in consequence the equilibrium of camp harmony is sorely disturbed. they are avaricious and money loving to a deplorable degree, but there is one thing that can be said for the somali. he will never desert in time of danger and will cheerfully sacrifice himself for his master. he has the stamina of a higher type of civilization, and in comparison to him the lately reclaimed savage is not nearly so dependable in a crisis. i sometimes suspected that hassan was not really a gunbearer, but was merely a "camel man" who was tempted from his flocks by the high pay that african gunbearers receive. notwithstanding this, he was courageous, faithful, willing, honest, good at skinning, and personally an agreeable companion during the months that we were together. i got to like him and often during our rests after long hours afield we would talk of our travels and adventures. [photograph: jumma, the tent boy] [photograph: abdullah, the cook] one day we stopped at the edge of the molo river. a little bridge crossed the stream and i remembered that the equator is supposed to pass directly across the middle of this bridge. it struck me as being quite noteworthy, so i tried to tell hassan all about it. i was hampered somewhat because he didn't know that the world was round, but after some time i got him to agree to that fact. then by many illustrations i endeavored to describe the equator and told him it crossed the bridge. he got up and looked, but seemed unconvinced as well as unimpressed. then i told him that it was an imaginary line that ran around the world right where it was fullest--half way between the north pole and the south pole. he brightened up at this and hastened to tell me that he had heard of the north pole from a man on a french ship. as i persevered in my geographical lecture he gradually became detached from my point of view, and when we finished i was talking equator and he was talking about a friend of his who had once been to rotterdam. the lecture was a "draw." but i noticed with satisfaction that when we walked across the bridge he looked furtively between each crack as if expecting to see something. it was rather a curious thing, speaking of hassan, to observe the respect with which the other natives treated his daily religious devotions. he was the only one in camp who prayed--at least openly--and as he knelt and bowed and went through the customary form of a mohammedan prayer there was never the slightest disposition to make fun of him. in a camp of one hundred white men i feel sure that one of them who prayed aloud three times a day would hardly have escaped a good deal of irreverent ridicule from those about him. the natives in our camp never dreamed of questioning hassan's right to worship in any way he pleased and the life and activities of the camp flowed along smoothly as if unconscious of the white-robed figure whose voice sang out his praises of allah. the whole camp seemed to have a deep respect for hassan. abdi, our head-man, was also a somali, but of a different tribe. he was from jubaland and had lived many years with white men. in all save color he was more white than black. he was handsome, good-tempered, efficient, and so kind to his men that sometimes the discipline of the camp suffered because of it. it was abdi's duty to direct the porters in their work of moving camp, distributing loads, pitching camp, getting wood for the big camp-fires, punishing delinquents and, in fact, to see that the work of the _safari_ was done. one night after we had been most successful in a big lion hunt during the day abdi came to the mess tent, where we were lingering over a particularly good dinner. abdi asked for his orders for the following day and then, seeing that we were in a talkative mood, he stopped a while to join in the stories of lion hunting. after a time he told two of his own that he had brought from his boyhood home in jubaland. they were so remarkable that you don't have to believe them unless you want to. [drawing: _abdi's uncle and the man-eaters_] abdi's story about his uncle and the lions "once upon a time my uncle, who was a great runner, encountered six man-eating lions sitting in the road. he took his spear and tried to kill them, but they divided, three on each side of the road. so he took to his heels. to the next town it was twelve hours' march, but he ran it in ten hours, the lions in hot pursuit every minute of the time. when he reached the town he jumped over the thorn bush zareba, and the lions, close behind him, jumped over after him and were killed by his spear, one after the other." abdi's story about the wily somali and the lion "once upon a time there was a somali who was warned not to go down a certain road on account of the man-eating lions. but he started out, armed with knife and spear. for a week he marched, sleeping in the trees at night and marching during the day. one day he suddenly came upon a big lion sitting in the road. he stopped, sharpening a little stick which he held in his left hand. then he wrapped his 'tobe' or blanket around his left hand and arm. he then advanced to the lion and when it opened its mouth to bite him he thrust the sharp stick inside, up and down, thus gagging the lion. then with his two hands he held the lion by its ears for three days. he couldn't let go because the lion would maul him with its heavy paws. he was thus in quite a fix. [drawing: _he hastily cut a stick_] "finally another somali came along and he asked the new-comer to hold the lion while he killed it with his spear. the other somali consented and seized the lion by the ears. then the first somali laughed long and loud and said, 'i've held him three days, now you hold him three days.' then he strolled down the road and disappeared. for seven days the second somali held the lion and then by the same subterfuge turned it over to a third somali. by this time the lion was pretty tired, so after one day the somali shook the lion hard and then took out his knife and stabbed it to death." * * * * * sulimani was my second gunbearer. his name wasn't sulimani, but some one gave him that name because his own kikuyu name was too hard to pronounce and impossible to remember. sulimani was quite a study. he had the savage's love of snuff, and when not eating or sleeping he was taking pinches of that narcotic from an old kodak tin. in consequence he had the chronic appearance of being full of dope. he walked along as though in a trance. he never seemed to be looking anywhere except at the stretch of trail directly in front of him. his thoughts were far away, or else there were no thoughts at all. i often watched him and wondered what he was thinking about. sulimani was really one of the best natural hunters in the whole _safari_. he had a native instinct for tracking that was wonderful; he had courage that was fatalistic, and he seemed to know what an animal would do and where it would go under certain conditions. beneath that dopy somnolence of manner his senses were alert and his eyes were usually the first to see distant game. he had originally been a porter when we started out, but i gave him a new suit of khaki and promoted him to the position of second gunbearer. as long as we were in touch with civilization he kept that khaki suit in a condition of spotlessness, but when we got out in the wilds, away from the girls, it soon became stiff with blood-stains and dirt. the natural savage instinct became predominant; he reverted to type. his jaunty red fez was replaced by a headgear made of the beautiful skin of a uganda cob. ostrich and maribou feathers stuck out from the top, while upon his feet were sandals made from the thick skin of a waterbuck. a zebra tail was fashioned into a sheath for his skinning-knife, so that, little by little, he resolved himself back into a condition of savage splendor. he usually did most of my skinning, and that being dirty work, i was disposed to be tolerant with the disgraceful condition of his khaki suit. finally we approached civilization once more, and i told sulimani that he'd have to clean up, otherwise the girls wouldn't like him. i gave him half a day off to wash his clothes, and he dutifully disappeared from society for that period. when he once more turned up he was resplendent in his clean clothes. as we marched along toward nairobi he broke his long silence by bursting into song. for a day or two it was the wonder of the camp, but he was quite unconscious of it. music was in his soul and the germ of love was churning it up. and so he sang as he marched along, and his thoughts were racing ahead of him to the "sing sing" girls who wait in nairobi for returning porters with rupees to spend. the general average of health in the _safari_ was high. only one porter died in the four months or more that we were out. but in spite of the low mortality there were many cases that came up for treatment. akeley, with his long experience as a hunter and explorer, acted as the health department of the camp. his three or four remedies for all ills were quinine, calomel, witch-hazel, and zinc oxide adhesive plaster. and it was simply amazing what those four things could do when applied to the naturally healthy constitutions of the blacks. he cured a bowed tendon with witch-hazel and adhesive plaster in three or four days. a white man would have gone to a hospital for weeks. there were two common complaints. one was fever, but the fiercest fever took to its heels when charged by general quinine and general calomel. the other and more common complaint rose from abrasions and cuts. there was always a string of porters lined up for treatment and each went away happy with large pieces of adhesive plaster decorating his ebony skin. a simple piece of this plaster cured the worst and most inflamed cut, and it was seldom that a man came back for a second treatment. the plaster remained on until, weeks afterward, it fell off from sheer weariness. and once in a while there would be knife wounds, for whenever we killed a zebra as meat for the porters there would be a frenzied fight over the body. each man, with knife out, was fighting for the choice pieces. it was like a scrimmage of human vultures--fighting, clawing, slashing and rending, with blood and meat flying about in a horrifying manner. i used to marvel that many were not killed, because each one was armed with a knife and each one was frenzied with savage greed. however, only once in a while did we have to treat the injured from this cause. two men could fight for ten minutes over a piece of meat or a bone, but when finally the ownership was settled the victor could toss his meat to the ground with the certainty that no one else would take it. jumma was my tent boy--a wakamba with filed teeth. jumma is the swahili word for friday and is about as common a name in east africa as john is in white communities. i suppose i ought to call him "my man friday," but he was so dignified that no one would dream of taking such a liberty with him. jumma's thoughts ran to clothes. he wore a neat khaki suit--blouse and "shorts," a pair of blue puttees, a pair of stout shoes, and a dazzling red fez, from which sprang a long waving ostrich feather. my key ring hung at his belt, while around his wrist a neat watch was fastened. the longest march, through mud and rain and wind and sun, would find him as trim and clean at the finish as though he had just stepped out of a bandbox. jumma had the happy faculty of never looking rumpled, a trick which i tried hard to learn, but all in vain. he was as black as ebony, yet his features were like those of a caucasian; in fact, he strikingly resembled an old chicago friend. [photograph: sulimani--second gunbearer] [photograph: the mess tent] [photograph: where the equator crosses the molo] among our porters there were many types of features, and in a curious way many of them resembled people we had known at home. one porter had the eyes and expression of a young north-side girl; another had the walk and features of a prominent young chicago man; and so on. saa sitaa was one of our brightest porters. his name means "six o'clock" in swahili, six o'clock in the native reckoning being our noon and our midnight. just why he was given this significant name i never discovered. perhaps he was born at that hour. it always used to amuse me to hear abdi calling out, "_enjani hapa, saa sitaa_"--"come here, six o'clock." baa baa was a porter who always used to sing a queer native chant in which those words were predominant. he would sing it by the hour while on the march, and before long his real name was replaced by the new one. henceforth he will, no doubt, continue to be baa baa. he was promoted from porter to camera-bearer, but one day he could not be found when most needed, and he was reduced back to the ranks. i never heard him sing again. his heart was broken. chapter xxi back home from africa. ninety days on the way through india, java, china, manila and japan. three chow dogs and a final series of amusing adventures at last the day came for us to say good-by to the happy hunting grounds and return to the perils and dangers of civilization. occasional newspapers had filtered into the wild places and in the peaceful security of our tents we had read of frightful mining disasters in america, of unparalleled floods in france, of the clash and jangle of rival polar explorers, of disasters at sea, of rioting and lynching in illinois. automobile accidents were chronicled with staggering frequency, and there were murmurs of impending rebellions in india, political crises in england, feverish war talk in germany, volcanic threats from mount etna, and a bewildering lot of other dreadful things. in contrast to this dire picture of life in civilized places, our pleasant days among the lions and wild beasts of africa seemed curiously peaceful and orderly. now we were to leave--to go back into the maelstrom of the busy places and bid farewell to our friendly savages and genial camp-fires. the akeleys were remaining some months longer, but stephenson and i were scheduled to leave. [photograph: just before saying good-by to my horse] [photograph: manila bay] [photograph: the boro boedoer ruins] there were a few busy days in nairobi. the horses were sold, the porters were paid off, the trophies were prepared for shipment, and our camp outfits and guns were either sold or packed for their journey homeward. there were affectionate and rather tearful partings from good friends, then a quick railway trip to the coast and a day or two of waiting in mombasa. the hunting was over. now it was a mere matter of getting home in ninety days, and for variety's sake we elected to go home through india, java, china, and japan. i was curious to note the changes that those countries had undergone since i had last seen them years before. we had some mild adventures. the first occurred in mombasa, and concerns the strange conduct of two little white dogs that flashed in and out of our lives. one day when i returned to my room in the hotel at mombasa i was surprised to find that two small dogs had established themselves therein. the room boy knew nothing about them; the people around the hotel did not remember having ever seen them before. no clue to their owner was obtainable, and we regarded their advent as something of a mild kind of miracle. they played about the room as if they had long been there. when we went out they were at our heels and in the course of our wanderings through the old streets of the town the two dogs were always close at hand, or, rather, close at feet. when i worked in the room at the hotel they lay on the floor or played near my table and made no effort to rush away to the many temptations of the warm sunshine outside. i became much attached to them. such steadfast devotion from strange dogs is always flattering. then our ship, the _umzumbi_, south africa to bombay, came into the harbor and anchored a quarter of a mile out from the custom-house dock. we decided to go out and visit her and accordingly shut the door to prevent the two little dogs from joining us. before we reached the dock they were with us, however, having escaped some way or other. and when we got into the rowboat to go out they looked appealingly after us from the dripping steps of the boat landing. we were sorry, but really we couldn't take them to the ship. [drawing: _the two dogs of mombasa_] suddenly there was a splash, and one of the little dogs was bravely swimming after us. he wasn't built for swimming, but he was making a gallant effort. we stopped and picked him up, a drippy but grateful little creature. then we had to row back to get the other one. by much strategy we succeeded in getting on board the _umzumbi_ without taking them with us, but as we were not sailing until the afternoon we stayed on board only long enough to see that our state-room arrangements were satisfactory and to meet the chief steward. on our way back through the town the dogs got lost from us, but when we reached the room at the hotel they were comfortably installed in the square of sunshine that streamed through the window. they refused to break home ties. several more times that day we executed elaborate manoeuvers to lose them without the painful formality of saying good-by. but all in vain. we tried to give them away and finally succeeded in persuading one woman from up uganda way that they would be useful to her. she was considering the matter when we, feeling like heartless criminals, stole away from the room, leaving it locked, and leaving two trustful and trusting little dogs incarcerated within. we told the proprietor of our dastardly conduct, but cautioned him not to liberate the captives until the steamer was hull down on the horizon. so by this time i suppose there are two little white dogs searching mombasa for two missing americans and wondering at the duplicity of human nature. we imagined that the ship from mombasa to bombay would be nearly uninhabited by passengers. few people are supposed to cross that part of the indian ocean. but when we embarked on the _umzumbi_ on february first we found the ship full. there were british army officers bound for india, rich parsees bound from zanzibar to bombay, two elderly american churchmen bound from the missionary fields of rhodesia to inspect the missionary fields of india; two or three traveling men, a south african legislator bound for india on recreation bent, and a few others. after leaving mombasa our travels were upon crowded ships, on crowded trains, and from one crowded hotel to another crowded hotel. it seemed as if the whole world had suddenly decided to see the rest of the world. bombay was crowded and we barely succeeded in getting rooms at the taj mahal. there were swarms of americans outward bound and inward bound. you couldn't go down a street without encountering scores of new sun hats and red-bound "murrays." the taxicabs were full of eager faces peering out inquiringly at the monuments and points of interest that flashed past. the train to agra was crowded and we succeeded in getting reservations only by the skin of our teeth. also the hotels at agra were jammed and many people were being turned away, while the procession of carriages jogging out toward the taj mahal was like an endless chain. upon all sides as you paused in spellbound rapture before the most beautiful building in the world, you heard the voice of the tourist explaining the beauties of the structure. [drawing: _during the tourist rush_] the taj mahal is justly called the most beautiful edifice in the world. it is so exquisite in its architecture and its ornamentation that one may believe the story that it was designed by a poet and constructed by a jeweler. it was built by shah jehan as a memorial to his wife and for centuries it has stood as a token of his great love for her. when i visited it this year i was surprised to find that lord curzon had placed within the great marble dome a hanging lamp as a memorial to his own wife. it seemed like a shocking piece of presumption--much as if the president of france should hang a memorial to one of his own family over the sarcophagus of napoleon, or a president of the united states should do the same at washington's tomb at mount vernon. it seemed like an inexpensive way of diverting the most beautiful structure of the world to personal uses. and yet later i was compelled to modify this opinion when i saw how much excellent work lord curzon did toward restoring the old palaces of agra and preserving them for future generations. as a reward for this work, perhaps, there may have been some justification in placing a memorial lamp in the dome of the taj, especially as the lamp is exquisite in workmanship and adds rather than detracts from the stately beauty of the interior. but just the same the first verdict of the spectator is that lord curzon displayed a colossal egotism in so doing. the tourist's beaten track in india was as thronged with american sightseers as the chã¢teau country in france. lucknow was crowded, benares was crowded, calcutta was crowded, and the trains that ran in all directions were crowded. a traveler wore a look of perpetual anxiety lest he should fail to get hotel or railway accommodations. the india of one's imagination--the somber land of mystery, of untold riches, of eastern enchantment, of far-away romance--was gone, buried under picture post-cards, hustling tourists, and all the commonplaces of a popular tourist track. it was distinctly disappointing from one point of view, and yet, i suppose, one should rejoice that his fellow countrymen have cash and energy enough to travel in distant places, even though they destroy the romantic charm of those places by so doing. [drawing: _tourists in india_] the rush of americans through india was as brisk as was the rush of americans through europe ten years ago. age was no handicap. there were old couples, sixty, seventy, and eighty years old, jogging along as eagerly and excitedly as young bridal couples. the conversation one encountered was always pretty much the same--how such a train was crowded, how accommodations could not be secured at such a hotel, how poor the hotels were, and how long they would have to wait to get a berth on some outgoing ship. there were many people hung up in bombay and calcutta vainly trying to get away, but the boats were booked full for two or more voyages ahead. one of the peculiarities of indian travel has been the fact that most tourists plan to be in india during december, january and february. hence they arrive in bunches, and try to get away in a bunch, which is impossible owing to the limited capacity of the steamships. this year the swarms of tourists have been so great that many of them could not get out of the country until late in march and along in april. the americans have become the great travelers of the world. in india there are two american tourists for one of all other nationalities. the hotel registers bristle with u.s.a. addresses and the shops and hotels regard the american trade as being the most profitable. one desirable result of the american tendency to fare afield has been the steady improvement in hotel and railway accommodations in the far east. we said good-by to india without much regret; in fact, we were elated to secure accommodations on a small indo-china boat that made the run to penang and singapore in about eight days. no berths could be secured on the ships that go by the way of burma. those ships were booked full for several trips ahead. so we settled down comfortably on the good ship lai sang and droned lazily down through the bay of bengal. there were accommodations for only twelve first-class passengers, and there were only six on board. we had elbow room for the first time since leaving africa. when we stopped at penang there were two distinct sensations. one was that georgetown, the capital of the island of penang, is the prettiest tropical city i have ever seen; and the other was the first shock of the rubber craze. from that time on we were constantly in a seething roar of rubber talk; everybody was buying rubber shares and everybody else was talking about starting rubber plantations. the fever was epidemic. planters were destroying profitable cocoanut groves in order to replace them with rubber trees. nearly every local resident was putting his last cent in rubber shares and the tales of suddenly increased wealth inflamed the imaginations and cupidity of every one who heard them. i mentally jotted down the names of one or two companies that are going to declare enormous dividends soon, but that's as far as i've got in my rubber investments. penang, like hongkong, is an island. the city on the island is georgetown, while the city on hongkong is victoria; but you will never hear any one speak of georgetown or victoria. it is just penang and hongkong, and the other names are useless incumbrances. singapore was crowded with americans fighting for accommodations on the china and japan steamers; other americans fighting to get reservations on the java steamers; still other americans who, in despair, were going to hongkong by way of borneo and the philippines. they were willing to go first, second or third class--any way at all to get on a ship. [drawing: _at raffles' hotel_] the singapore hotels were crowded and we got the last room in the raffles hotel. the great and stately veranda, which serves the double purpose of a bar and an out-of-door reception-room, was usually crowded. that veranda is the redeeming feature of raffles hotel. in other respects this great hotel, situated at the cross-roads where east and west and north and south meet, is not up to what a good hotel should be. we got the last state-room on a steamer to java, and to our great surprise we found the ship to be the nicest we had traveled on, and the cooking to rival that of the great restaurants of paris. cholera was rampant in certain parts of java, but that didn't stop the sightseers. nothing less than an earthquake or a lost letter of credit could have stopped them. our adventures in java were a repetition of "crowds." the hotel des indes in batavia was crowded and we got the last room. the railways were crowded, but not so much as the ones in india, and the carriages are most comfortable. for a week we did volcanoes and gorgeous scenery, and realized what a delightful place java is. it is even nicer than japan, and the hotels are the best in the east. my chief purpose in going to java was to get a javanese waterwheel. they had one at the world's fair in chicago, and i have remembered it ever since as one of the most musical things i have ever heard. a friend of mine wanted me to get him one and i volunteered to do so. i supposed that we would hear waterwheels just as soon as we got off the ship. but i was evidently mistaken. nobody in java, so far as i could discover, had ever seen or heard of a javanese waterwheel. i inquired of dozens of people--people who had lived there all their lives--but they looked blank when i spoke of waterwheels. i drew pictures of it, but that didn't enlighten them. finally in despair, after a week of vain searching, i drew the plans for a waterwheel and had it made. and i am taking it home with me, hoping that it may make music. next year, owing to the demand i created for waterwheels, i suppose the javanese will start making them for the tourist trade. [drawing: _java in a state of high cultivation_] just as russia is the land of "nitchevo," spain the land of "maã±ana," and china the land of "maskee," so java is the land of "never mind." you will hear the expression dozens of times in the course of a talk between residents of java--at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of sentences. "i think it will rain to-morrow, but--never mind." "i missed the train, but--never mind." "i'm not feeling well, but--never mind." you hear it all the time, all through java. in java we had the best coffee we had struck since leaving paris, in fact, the first real good coffee we had found. even worthy abdullah, our camp cook, was considerable of a failure at coffee making. the boro boedoer ruins are among the most stupendous in the world; the volcanoes of java are like chimneys in pittsburg, the terraced rice fields are beautiful beyond belief, but--never mind. i think i shall remember java chiefly for its delicious coffee and for my house-to-house hunt for a waterwheel. i was sitting one day in the singapore club talking to colonel glover of the british army, when a hand tapped me on my shoulder. i looked around and there stood the king of christmas island. i no more expected to see him than i did the great emperor charlemagne, for it had been many years since we were college mates at purdue university. his story is romantic. he is the nephew of sir john murray, who owns immense phosphate deposits in christmas island, two hundred miles south of java head. years ago he went out to help work these great deposits and has climbed up until now he is the virtual head of the island. his authority is absolute and he has come to be called the king of christmas island. his every-day name is that of his distinguished uncle, sir john, but his sunday name is "king." for a day or two we motored around singapore and it was worth seeing to note how the tourists stared when i casually said, "well, king, let's have a bamboo." in a day or two he was going to meet his wife, who was just coming from england with a little three-months-old crown prince whom he had not yet seen. then, together, the royal family was going back to christmas island on one of the king's ships. [drawing: _the call of the east_] the china coast is distinguished for its excellent united states consular officials. and it hasn't been so for many years. our representative in singapore, mr. dubois, is one of the best men i have yet encountered in one of our consulates. he is a new-comer in singapore and yet in his few months he has added more prestige to our consulate general than all the former men put together. one can not but wonder why he is not a minister or an ambassador, instead of only a consul general. hongkong has been fortunate in having an excellent representative in mr. rublee, and his recent untimely death is a distinct loss to the country. mr. wilder is in shanghai and he is decidedly a man of the best mental and temperamental equipment. so now an american traveler may go up and down the china coast and "point with pride" to his nation's representatives. how different it was ten or twelve years ago! we barely managed to get on board the _prinz ludwig_--singapore to hongkong. it is one of the n.d. lloyd's crack ships and everybody tries to take it. we got the last cabin, as usual, and spent hours thanking our lucky stars. the china sea is chronically disposed to be disagreeable, but on this occasion it was quite well behaved. there were three days of delightful sunshine and then a sudden blighting chill in the air. we landed in hongkong with overcoats buttoned up and with garments drenched by the rains and mist clouds that battled around the great peaks of this little island. the hotels were jammed to the sidewalks and we got the last room at the hongkong hotel, while throngs were turned away; the steamers for the states were booked full for several voyages ahead and tourists were rushing around in despair. the _asia_ had been booked up to the limit for weeks and it seemed as if we might have to wait a long time before getting berths on any ship. but some one unexpectedly had to give up a state-room and we were fortunate in getting it. i had a great desire to see manila again. it had been ten years since i left there in the "days of the empire" and everything in me quivered with longing to revisit the place where i spent my golden period of adventure. we booked on the old _yuen sang_, a friend of former days, and the skipper, captain percy rolfe, handsome, cultured, and capable, was still in command. he loves the china sea and has steadfastly refused to be lured away by offers of greater ships and more important commands. when we engaged our passage the agent warned us that the vessel was carrying a cargo of naphtha and kerosene and that we might not wish to risk it; but we went. a jap and a chinaman were the only two other passengers, and they were invisible during the sixty hours to cross. we steamed out of hongkong in a chilling wind and at once plunged into a fog, but the next morning we ran into smooth seas and warm weather. a full moon hung over the empty waste of waters and the nights were gorgeous. as we neared the coast of luzon i became much excited, for in my memory were those vivid, expectant days of old when our little american fleet crossed this selfsame stretch of sea to find and destroy the spanish ships. i lived over again those boding days when the air was electric with impending danger. it was long before daylight when the _yuen sang_, at half-speed, arrived at corregidor. the captain wished to report his number to the signal station, and we had to wait until light had come before the ship could enter. so the engines were stopped and for an hour we drifted on under the ship's momentum. the silencing of the engines on a ship is always ominous, and just now, with the dim bulk of corregidor looming grimly before us, it seemed as if there was something particularly sinister about our stealthy approach. from five o'clock onward we stood on the bridge, our voices unconsciously hushed as we spoke. here was where the _baltimore_ had dropped a greek fire life preserver and for a long time it had bobbed about on the tumbling sea, weird and terrifying to those who didn't know what it was. there was where the soot in the mcculloch's funnel had suddenly blazed up like the chimney of a blast furnace. and over there on the lower edge of the black bulk of the island was where a little signal light had flared up and then died out, leaving every man on our ships tense with expectant dread, and all about us here had reigned a silence so penetrating that it in itself was harder to bear than the thunder and flash of guns. and still we drifted on, nearer and nearer to boca chica, the northern passage into manila bay. dawn and light came slowly. in poetry the dawn of the tropics may come up like thunder and the transition of darkness to light may be startling and sudden, but in my own experience the tropic dawn comes slowly and pervadingly. first a faint grayness, gradually growing brighter until the sun shoots up joyous and golden in its glory, painting the skies with flaming banners and penciling the tips and edges of clouds with the fires of morning. when we lazily drifted in toward corregidor from the china sea that morning, it was light enough to see distinctly for nearly an hour before the sun rose. presently a fluttering string of signal flags appeared on the top of the island, and a moment later our engines resumed their throbbing and we headed boldly into boca chica. here on the left was mariveles bay, the scene of the famous german ship, _irene_, incident, which electrified the world. every point that rose before my eyes was pregnant with historic memories and suggestions. i was thrilled and yet i half-dreaded my return to manila, for fear that the peace and commercialism of the present days would be disappointing to one who knew it when each day was filled with trouble and threats of trouble; when the city lay always as if under an impending cloud and when the borders of the bay rang with the thunder of guns and the sputter of musketry. as the _yuen sang_ steamed across the twenty-five miles of the bay it seemed as if it were only yesterday that i had been there. the waters were glassy and smooth, just as the bay used to be every morning of the long blockade, when the air was still and the broad glistening water was tranquil and at rest. the surprises came in manila. great changes had taken place in the harbor, new breakwaters were where there had been none before, new buildings were up, and still more were building. big electric cars rushed along where formerly the snail-like horse cars crept painfully by. the city was unbelievably clean and the main streets were full of busy life. i visited the old houses where we had once lived in economical splendor, with servants and carriages and expenses that were microscopic as compared to those of the present day. upon all sides were the visible evidences that some day manila will be the finest city of the orient if the time ever comes when capital may feel assured that our occupation has some prospect of permanence. in my old days i used to know a beautiful mestiza girl in manila. she was very pretty and very nice. i used to draw pictures of her and struggle bravely with the spanish language. and she was kind and patient with my efforts to learn. her name was victoria and she kept a little shop where she and her ancestors for generations before had sold silk jusi and piã±a cloth. i visited her often there and sometimes went out to her home, a beautiful big spanish house in calle zarigoza. i determined to find her and went over to her shop. fatal mistake! ten years and the tropics work many changes in the soft-eyed daughters south of the fifteenth degree of latitude. i once read a story by pierre loti, a sad and haunting story of how he sought, after years of absence, to find an old-time sweetheart in stamboul. he didn't find her and he should be grateful for his failure. [drawing: _ten years after_] i found victoria. she recognized me at once, although i hardly knew in her the slender, pretty victoria of old. her eyes were soft and nice, but smallpox had pitted her nose and cheeks and the deadly incubus of flesh had upholstered her in many soft and cushiony folds. i asked her if she had married and she said she never had, which information i matched with promptness. she spoke english quite well and seemed prosperous and--yes, motherly. there's no other word for it, although she is now hardly thirty. it was a terrible disappointment, a collapse of delightful memories, and as i walked away from her little silk shop with a vague promise to call again i knew perfectly well that i should never go back. i left manila after less than two days and rolled and plunged and tumbled back across the china sea to hongkong. i bought a little chow dog puppy from the chinese steward on board, but i suppose it will grow up and get fat one of these days, too. allison armour and his nephew, norman armour, were with us and in hongkong the latter bought two chow dog puppies to send home. they looked exactly like teddy bears. later he resolved that the trouble and risk were too great, inasmuch as he was not returning by the pacific, so he gave them to me. and with three chow dogs and my friend stephenson i embarked on the _asia_ for the twenty-eight day trip to frisco. the ship was jammed and we found a little fat man consigned to the sofa in our state-room. he was pleasant looking, but we little realized what hours of nocturnal horror were in store for us. he was the champion snorist of the five continents. he could snore in all keys, all languages, all directions, and it was like trying to sleep in the same room with a fog-horn. nothing could waken him and he went to sleep before he struck the bed. and from that moment on through the night he tried the acoustic properties of that end of the ship to the utmost. after two or three nights of sleeplessness we resolved to rebel, mutiny, revolt, and if necessary joyfully to commit justifiable homicide. [drawing: _never an american flag_] one night stephenson turned on the light and reached for his cane. "what are you going to do? kill him?" i asked eagerly. but he only poked at the quivering form to awaken it, and merely succeeded in changing the key from b flat to a discord of minors. at yokohama somebody got off and by buying an extra berth we moved into another state-room and slept for twenty-four hours. we called him "snoring cupid," because of his cherubic appearance and proficiency in snoring. it was the cherry blossom season in japan. through the constant rain we saw the hillsides pink with loveliness. but it was cold and disheartening and after five days in japan we turned with relief to the voyage homeward. and it was very pleasant. lots of pleasant things happened, but nothing more. it is good to be back where the american flag is a familiar sight and not a curiosity. we saw thousands and thousands of merchant ships, but except in manila and honolulu we never saw a solitary american flag on one of them. * * * * * and that's the end of our hunting trip. we are now back where we have to pay two or three times as much for things as we did in the orient. a cigar that costs three cents gold in manila costs twelve and one-half cents gold in san francisco! but--never mind. a pleasant time was had. chapter xxii ways and means. what to take and what not to take, information for those that wish, intend or hope to hunt in the african highlands when one returns to america after some time in the african game country, he is assailed by many questions from others who wish, intend, or hope to make a similar trip. almost without variation the questioner will ask about the cost, about the danger from fever and sickness, about snakes and insects, about the tempers of the tribes one encounters, and then, if he be a specialist, he will ask about the rifles and the camp equipment. as these familiar and oft repeated inquiries have been made by friends who had read my african letters, i must assume that the features of an african hunting trip, about which people are most curious, were very imperfectly answered in the preceding chapters. hence, this supplementary chapter, dealing briefly with the ways and means of such a trip, is added for the enlightenment of such readers as may be planning a journey into those fascinating regions of africa where i have so recently been. as to the cost of a trip of three or more months in the field i should say that about one thousand dollars a month would amply cover the total expenses from new york back to new york. this amount would include passage money, guns, ammunition, landing charges, commissions, camera expenses on a reasonable scale, tents, customs--in fact all the incidental items which are not customarily included in the estimate given by the nairobi outfitters. these firms, chief of which are the newland, tarlton and company, limited, which directed colonel roosevelt's _safari_, and the boma trading company, which directed the duke of connaught's hunt, agree to outfit a party at a cost of about five-hundred dollars a month for each white man. for this amount they furnish everything except your ammunition, clothes, medicines, camera supplies, export and import duties, mounting of trophies, passage money to and from africa, and such items. to particularize, they agree to supply for this amount, a complete outfit of tents, foods, porters, camp attendants, gunbearers, horses, mules or ox teams, as may be required, and a native head-man or overseer. one who wished to do so could telegraph ahead to have one of the nairobi outfitting firms prepare a one, two or three months' hunt, or _safari_, and then, with only a suit-case he could arrive, with the certainty that everything would be in readiness. there would be no worry or concern about any feature of that part of the work. he would be relieved of the anxiety of preparation, and it is hardly likely that he would ever regret having taken this course. the dealings of our _safari_ with messrs. newland and tarlton were most satisfactory in all respects and the charges they made were entirely reasonable. to the one who desires to make this trip in this, the simplest way, there is the need of giving only one suggestion: let him write to one of the outfitting firms, stating the length of time that he can spend in the field, the class of game that he chiefly wishes to get, the number of white men in his party, and the season of the year that he plans to be in africa. the outfitters will then answer, giving all the particulars of cost and equipment. this is the course that i should recommend for the average hunter who has had no previous experience in africa. it will save him the trouble of making an endless amount of preparation, much of which will be useless because of his ignorance of conditions in that field of sport. in the case of our own _safari_, we bought our guns, tents, ammunition, foods and entire equipment in london and had it shipped to nairobi. this equipment contemplated a trip of six months in the field, and included sixty-five "chop boxes" of sixty pounds each, containing foods. these chop boxes were of wood, with lids and locks, twenty of which were tin lined for use in packing specimens later in the trip, and all marked with bands of various colors to identify their contents. the boxes contained the following supplies: twenty cases (red band) two tins imperial cheese. one pound ceylon tea. one three-quarter pound tin ground coffee. one four-pound tin granulated sugar. two tins ox tongue. one tin oxford sausage. two tins sardines. two tins kippered herrings. three tins deviled ham (underwood's). two tins jam (assorted). two tins marmalade (dundee). three half-pound tins butter. three half-pound tins dripping. ten half-pound tins ideal milk. two tins small captain biscuit. two tins baked beans, heinz (tomato sauce). one half-pound tin salt. one two-pound tin chocolate (army and navy). two parchment skins pea soup. one one and one-half pound tin scotch oatmeal. twenty cases (blue band) two tins baked beans (heinz) (tomato sauce). one tin bologna sausage. one tin sardines. one tin sardines, smoked. two one-pound tins camp, pie. five tins jam, assorted. two tins marmalade (dundee). five half-pound tins butter. three half-pound tins dripping. ten half-pound tins ideal milk. two tins imperial cheese. one one and one-quarter pound tin ceylon tea. one three-quarter pound tin ground coffee. one four pound tin granulated sugar. one quarter-pound tin cocoa. two tins camp biscuit. one half-pound tin salt. one one and one-half tin scotch oatmeal. one one-pound tin lentils. one tin mixed vegetables (dried). one two-pound tin german prunes. six soup squares. one ounce w. pepper. two sponge cloths. one-half quire kitchen paper. one two-pound tin chocolate (army and navy). sixteen cases (green band) three fourteen-pound tins self-raising flour. two cases (black band) containing fifteen bottles lime juice (plain) montserrat. two cases, each containing one dozen scotch whisky. two cases (red and blue band) thirty pounds bacon, well packed in salt. two cases (yellow and black band) five ten-pound tins plaster of paris for making casts of animals. one case (red and green band) fifty pounds sperm candles--large size (carriage). four folding lanterns. the following items to be equally divided into as many lots as necessary to make sixty-pound cases: eight edam cheeses. twenty tins bovril. twenty two-pound tins sultana raisins. ten two-pound tins currants. ten one-pound tins macaroni. thirty tins underwood deviled ham. eighty tablets carbolic soap. eighty packets toilet paper. ten bottles enos' fruit salt. twenty one-pound tins plum pudding. six tins curry powder. twenty one-pound tins yellow dubbin. six one-pound tins veterinary vaseline. six one-pound tins powdered sugar. six tin openers. twelve tins asparagus tips. twelve tins black mushrooms. six large bottles pond's extract. twelve ten-yard spools zinc oxide surgeon's tape one inch wide. two small bottles worcestershire sauce. in addition to the foregoing we added the following equipment of table ware: eight white enamel soup plates--light weight. eight white enamel dinner plates--light weight. three white enamel vegetable dishes--medium size. six one-pint cups. eight knives and forks. twelve teaspoons. six soup spoons. six large table-spoons. one carving knife and fork. six white enamel oatmeal dishes. as our tent equipment and some of the miscellanies necessary to our expedition, the subjoined articles were procured: four double roof ridge tents 10 by 8--4 feet walls, in valises. one extra fly of above size, with poles, ropes, etc, complete. five ground sheets for above, one foot larger each way, _i.e._, 11 by 9. four mosquito nets for one-half tents, 9 feet long. four circular canvas baths. twelve green, round-bottom bags 43 by 30. four hold-all bags with padlocks. two fifty-yard coils 1 1-4 manila rope. one pair wood blocks for 1 1-4 brass sheaves, strapped with tails. four four-quart tin water bottles. two eight-quart uganda water bottles. four large canvas water buckets. one gross no. 1 circlets. one punch and die. the foregoing lot of supplies were ordered through newland, tarlton and company's agent at 166 piccadilly, london, and were ready when we reached london. medicines and surgical equipment it is well to provide a good store of medicines and some instruments, even though, as in our case, we had little occasion to use any of it. one of the burroughs and wellcome medicine cases "for east africa" is compact and well selected. in addition there should be plenty of zinc oxide adhesive plaster, some bandages and some hypodermic syringes for use in case of wounds which might lead to blood poisoning. in our first experience with lions we always went prepared for wounds of this sort, but later we took no precautions whatever and fortunately had no occasion for heroic measures. at the same time, it is far wiser always to be prepared. we were also well supplied with tick medicines, but in spite of the fact that we encountered millions of ticks, they gave us no concern and no tick preventatives were used. quinine and calomel are essentials and may be bought in nairobi. rifles it is important that each hunter include in his battery one heavy double-barreled cordite rifle for use at close quarters where a shocking impact is desirable. each of our party had a .475 jeffery, which we found to be entirely satisfactory, and which served us as well as though we had used the more expensive holland and holland's .450. i do not presume to know much about the relative merits of rifles, but after an experience of four and a half months with the jeffery's .475, i feel justified in saying that this type would meet all requirements reliably. these rifles cost thirty-five guineas each. mr. akeley and i each had a nine millimeter mannlicher, which we found to be unsatisfactory, either through fault of our own or of the rifle. we had a feeling that the weight of the ball was too great for the charge of powder. others may favor it, but i should not include it in my battery if i were to go again. this type costs twelve guineas. mr. stephenson used a .318 mauser, which he found most satisfactory. we also had three .256 mannlichers, which in my experience is a type for which too much praise can not be given. it is also a twelve guinea rifle. in mentioning these three rifles of foreign make, i do not wish to imply that they are superior to our own american guns. colonel roosevelt used a winchester .405 and a springfield, both of which he considered most desirable. i think if i were to go again i should take a .405 as my second gun, heavy enough for all purposes except the close-quarter work where the big cordite double-barrels are necessary. the matter of a battery is one which each sportsman should determine for himself. there are many good types and a man is naturally inclined to favor those with which he is familiar. we also carried shot guns, one ten-gauge which, with buck shot, makes a formidable weapon for stopping charges of soft-skinned animals at close range; and two twenty-gauge parkers for bird shooting. in addition, we included revolvers, none of which we fired or needed at any time in africa. perhaps a heavy six-shooter might some time be a valuable reserve, but our experience leads me to think that it would generally repose quietly in camp at all times. in the way of ammunition for a six-months' shoot, we took for each cordite rifle, 200 full mantle, 200 soft nose and 100 split cartridges. for the 9 millimeter, we took for each rifle 450 solids, 500 splits and 500 soft-nosed bullets, and practically the same for the .256 mannlichers. we found that we had far more ammunition than we required, especially the solids for the smaller rifles, but it is better to have too much than to have the fear of running short. one should not forget that he is likely to shoot more than in his wildest dreams he supposed possible and the meanest feeling on a hunt is to have constantly to economize cartridges. none of us used telescope sights but by many sportsmen they are considered highly desirable in african shooting where often the range is great and the light confusing. personal equipment when we stopped in new york on our way to africa, we talked with mr. bayard dominick, who had just returned from such a trip as we had in mind, and from him secured a list of articles which he found to be sufficient and equal to all needs. we used this list to guide us and except in minor details, assembled a similar equipment: two suits--coat and breeches--gabardine or khaki. one belt. two knives--one hunting-knife, one jack-knife. three pair cloth putties. three flannel shirts (i actually only used two). six suits summer flannels, merino, long drawers. three pair abercrombie lightest shoes (one pair rubber soles). three colored silk handkerchiefs. two face towels--two bath towels. three khaki cartridge holders to put on shirts to hold big cartridges, one for each shirt. one pair long trousers to put on at night, khaki. two suits flannel pajamas. eight pair socks (i used gray jaeger socks, fine). one light west sweater. one mackinaw coat (not absolutely necessary). one rubber coat. one pair mosquito boots (lawn and alder, london). soft leather top boots for evening wear in camp. five leather pockets to hold cartridges to go on belt. three whetstones (one for self and two for gunbearers). one helmet (we used gyppy pattern army and navy stores). one double terai hat, brown (army and navy stores). one six-_or_eight-foot pocket tape of steel to measure horns. one compass. one diary. writing materials. toilet articles. articles for personal use, however, may be determined by the wishes and experiences of the individual. we each had good zeiss glasses, which are essential, and later, in nairobi, were able to obtain a satisfactory replenishment of hunting clothes and shoes. cameras everybody who goes shooting will want at least one camera if only for the purpose of having his picture taken with his first lion, if he is successful in getting one. mr. akeley made special preparations for taking fine photographs, and for this reason carried a complete outfit, even to a dark-room equipment for developing negatives and moving picture films in the field. he carried a naturalist's graflex, a small hand camera and a moving-picture machine. mr. stephenson had a 3a kodak, i had the same and also a verascope stereoscopic camera. we used films and plates and found no deterioration in them even after several months in the field. films and camera supplies may be purchased in nairobi; and also the developing and printing may be done most satisfactorily in the town. fevers and sickness it is my belief that the dangers of this sort are magnified in the imaginations of those who contemplate a trip to east africa. very little of the hunting is done in jungles--in fact there are few jungles except on the slopes of the mountains and along the course of streams. our _safari_ went into the athi plains, along the athi river down the tana river, up on mount kenia and later on the guas ngishu plateau, along the nzoia river, and up mount elgon. coming out of this district, we passed through the rift valley and part of our _safari_ went up to lake hannington. so, from personal experience, i can speak with knowledge of only these sections. along the tana we were in fever country, the altitude being only about thirty-five hundred feet. and yet only two of our party had touches of fever, so light that they readily yielded to quinine. this was tick country, and we had been led to believe that we should be fearfully pestered with these insects. but there was almost no annoyance from them, due, perhaps, to a good deal of care in keeping them out of our clothes. there were many mosquitoes in this section, but effective mosquito nets over our cots protected us from them. on mount kenia, the high guas ngishu plateau and mount elgon, the thought of sickness was entirely absent. these districts were found to be salubrious and free from ticks and mosquitoes. snakes before going to africa, i must admit that the thought of serpents occasioned much anxiety. i didn't like the idea of tramping around through grass and reeds where poisonous snakes might be found. and yet, after a few days in the field, i never seriously thought of snakes as a possible, or rather probable, source of danger. in four and a half months, in all kinds of country, much of the time on foot, i saw only six live snakes. they were all small and only two, a puff adder and a little viper, were known to be venomous. our porters, with bare feet and legs, penetrated all kinds of snaky-looking spots and yet not one was bitten. in fact, i have never heard of any one being bitten by snakes in east africa, and for this reason i can not avoid the conclusion that the fear of snakes need not be seriously considered as an element of danger in the country. the natives so many hunting parties have gone over the game fields that the natives are familiar with white men and are not at all likely to be hostile or troublesome. our _safari_ at one time went into a district where we were warned to expect trouble, but there was none and i think there never need be any if the white men are considerate and fair. if a district is known to be particularly troublesome, the government authorities would not permit a hunting party to go into it, so for that reason the hunters need apprehend no dangers from that source. game game is found in varying degrees of abundance in most parts of the east african highlands. within two hours of nairobi the sportsman may find twelve or fifteen species, while within the space of four weeks a lucky hunter might secure elephant, lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, eland and hippopotamus. it is hardly _likely_ that he would, but it is quite within the range of possibilities. it all depends upon luck. the hunter is allowed under his two hundred and fifty dollar license, about one hundred and ninety-five animals, comprising thirty-five species, and not including lion, leopard, wart-hog and hyena. there is no restriction on the number of these last-named species that one is allowed to shoot, but there is on the number that he gets the opportunity of shooting. the success of an expedition should not be measured by the number of trophies, but rather by the quality of them. for example, the new license allows twenty zebras, but no one would want to kill more than two unless as food for the porters. the same is true of many other species, and a temperate sportsman should have no desire to kill more than a couple of each species, say sixty or eighty head in all, unless, of course, he is making collections for museums or for other scientific purposes. the gunbearers are usually fairly good skinners and if carefully watched and directed can treat the heads and skins so that they may be safely got in to nairobi. here they should be overhauled carefully and packed in brine for shipment out of the country. the agents in nairobi should be consulted about these details and will give competent instructions covering this phase of the work. game laws these are of necessity under frequent revision, but the latest available information allows the holder of a fifty-pound license, which lasts for one year from date of issue, to kill or capture the following: buffalo (bull), 2; [a]rhinoceros, 2; [a]hippopotamus, 2; [a]eland, 1; zebra (grevey's), 2; zebra, (common), 20; oryx callotis, 2; oryx beisa, 4; waterbuck (of each species), 2; sable antelope (male), 1; [a]roan antelope (male), 1; [a]greater kudu (male), 1; lesser kudu, 4; topi, 2; topi (in jubaland, tanaland and loita plains), 8; coke's hartebeest, 20; [a]neumann's hartebeest, 2; jackson's hartebeest, 4; hunter's antelope, 6; thomas' kob, 4; bongo, 2; impalla, 4; sitatunga, 2; wildebeest, 3; grant's gazelle (typica, notata bright's, robertsi), each, 3; gerenuk, 4; duiker (harvey's, isaac's, and blue), each, 10; dik-dik (kirk's, guenther's, hinde's, cavendish's), each, 10; oribi (abyssinian, haggard's, kenia), each, 10; suni (nesotragus moschatus), 10; klipspringer, 10; reedbuck (ward's, chanler's), each, 10; gazelle (thompson's, peter's, soemmering's), each, 10; bushbuck (common, haywood's), each, 10; colobi monkeys, of each species, 6; marabou, 4; egret, of each species, 4. [footnote a: can not be killed in certain districts.] special licenses these can be taken out for ten pounds each and entitle the holder to kill or capture: elephant with tusks over thirty pounds, each, 1; bull giraffe in certain districts, 1. a second elephant is allowed on payment of a further fee of twenty pounds, this fee being returnable in the event of the elephant not being obtained. lions and leopards are classed as vermin, and consequently no license to kill them is required. the season for shooting "practically any time of the year will do for shooting in british east africa, but the season of the 'big rains' from the end of january to the end of april, is not one to choose willingly from the point of view of comfort. there is also a short spell of rainy weather about october and november which, however, is not looked upon as an obstacle to a _safari_, and we may say that from may to february constitutes the shooting season." the foregoing is quoted from a pamphlet on east africa game shooting. in our own experience the weather between september and february was perfectly delightful and i judge, from reading accounts of colonel roosevelt's trip, that his operations between april and december were never seriously hampered by bad weather. from the experiences of these two _safaris_, one might reasonably conclude that any time is good except february, march and april, the season of the "big rains." heat on the athi plains in september, we found the heat in the middle of the day to be very ardent, to say the least. but with the exception of fewer than a dozen days in all, we never were obliged to consider this phase of the hunting experience as an objectionable feature. we found the cold of the high altitudes to be severe in the evenings and in contrast to it, the warm days were most welcome. along the coast, of course, the heat is intense, but all of the shooting is done at altitudes exceeding thirty-five hundred feet and one merely pauses at the coast town long enough to catch his train. in september even mombasa was delightful, but in january it was very hot. in conclusion, i might say that all one needs for an african hunting trip is sufficient time, sufficient money, and a fair degree of health. also the services of a reliable outfitting firm which will furnish enlightenment upon all subjects not specifically included in the foregoing chapter of advice and information. _with the exception of the photographs, all of which are here reproduced for the first time, a great part of this material appeared originally in the chicago tribune, and is now published in book form by the courtesy of that paper._ transcriber's note single characters following '^' or mutiple characters following '^' enclosed within '{ }' denote superscript text. hyphenation has been standardised. work issued by the hakluyt society. description of the coasts of east africa and malabar. a description of the coasts of east africa and malabar in the beginning of the sixteenth century, by duarte barbosa, a portuguese. translated from an early spanish manuscript in the barcelona library with notes and a preface, by the hon. henry e. j. stanley. london: printed for the hakluyt society. johnson reprint corporation johnson reprint company ltd. 111 fifth avenue, new york, n.y. 10003 berkeley square house, london, w1x6ba _landmarks in anthropology_, a series of reprints in cultural anthropology _general editor_: weston la barre first reprinting 1970, johnson reprint corporation printed in the united states of america _note to thirty-fifth publication of the hakluyt society, "description of the coasts of east africa and malabar."_ this volume was published by the hakluyt society as the work of duarte barbosa on the authority of ramusio, for neither the three spanish mss. of barcelona and munich, nor the portuguese ms., give his name; it is probable that barbosa contributed a largo part of it, for damian de goes refers his readers for an account of malabar and its religion and customs to a book by duarte barbosa, who is stated to have spoken the language of malabar with great correctness, and who resided a long time in that country; yet the authorship must be ascribed to magellan, for i have just seen, in the possession of don pascual de gayangos, another spanish ms. which states at the top of the first page,--"este libro compuso fernando magallanes portugues piloto lo qual el vio y anduvo." "this book was composed by the portuguese fernando magellan the pilot, the things narrated in which he saw and visited." this heading is in the same writing as the rest of the ms., which is clear handwriting of the sixteenth century, and like that of the second part of the ms. no 571 of the munich library. the ms. of mr. gayangos appears to be part of a larger book, since its second leaf is numbered 111 (the corner of the first is worn off), and the last is numbered 170, and ends with the description of the lequeos. the _epitome de la biblioteca oriental, occidental, nautica y geografica_ of d. antonio de leon pinelo, madrid, 1737, mentions, at p. 667 a work of magellan's under the following heading: _fernando de magallanes, efemerides, or diary of his navigation_, a ms. which existed in the possession of antonio moreno, cosmographer of the house of trade, according to don nicolas antonio. the translator. _madrid, february 1867._ errata. page iii, line 11, _for_ "dearer," _read_ "clearer." " 44 " 34, " "atuxsia," " "atauxia." " 73, " 19, " "albejas," " "mussels." " 96, " 13, " "laced," " "placed." " 159, " 8, " "antoridade," " "autoridade." " 200, " 7, " "they burn," " "they burn it." " 232, " 10, " "et d'aller," " "est d'aller." note to pp. 228-229.--see pages 249-251 of _the travels of ludovico de varthema_ hakluyt society, and notes, also mr. r. major's able introduction to the _early voyages to terra australis, now called australia_. this passage, written about five years later than when varthema wrote, is a fuller statement than varthema's: and taking the two together, there can be little doubt that the information they contain was based on actual knowledge of australia. council of the hakluyt society. sir roderick impey murchison, k.c.b., g.c.st.s., f.r.s., d.c.l., corr. mem. inst. f., hon. mem. imp. acad. sc. petersburg, etc., etc., president. rear-admiral c. r. drinkwater bethune, c.b.}vice-presidents. the rt. hon. sir david dundas, m.p. } rev. g. p. badger, f.r.g.s. j. barrow, esq., f.r.s. rear-admiral r. collinson, c.b. sir henry ellis, k.h., f.r.s. general c. fox. r. w. grey, esq. john winter jones, esq., f.s.a. john w. kaye, esq. his excellency the count de lavradio. thomas k. lynch, esq. r. h. major, esq., f.s.a. sir william stirling maxwell, bart., m.p. sir charles nicholson, bart. major-general sir henry c. rawlinson, k.c.b. viscount strangford. william webb, esq. allen young, esq., r.n.r. clements r. markham, esq., f.s.a., honorary secretary. translator's preface. the spanish manuscript from which this volume has been translated is in the handwriting of the beginning of 1500, full of abbreviations, and without punctuation or capital letters at the beginnings of sentences or for the proper names, which adds much to the difficulty of reading it. it contains eighty-seven leaves. the handwriting more resembles an example of the year 1510 than those dated 1529 and 1531, given at p. 319 of the "escuela de leer letras cursivas antiguas y modernas desde la entrada de los godos en españa, por el p. andres merino de jesu christo, madrid, 1780." this work was translated into spanish from the original portuguese in 1524, at vittoria, by martin centurion, ambassador of the community of genoa, with the assistance of diego ribero, a portuguese, cosmographer and hydrographer to his majesty charles v. there are reasons (as will be shewn in the notes) for supposing that the spanish translation, probably this copy and not the portuguese original, assisted the compilers of the early atlases, especially that of abraham ortelius, of antwerp, 1570, other editions of which were published in succeeding years.[1] the similarity of the orthography of this manuscript and of that of the names in maps as late as that of homann, nuremberg, 1753, shews how much geography up to a recent period was indebted to the portuguese and spaniards. it may also be observed that from their familiarity at that time with the sounds of arabic, the proper names are in general more correctly rendered in european letters, than used to be the case in later times. this ms. is in the barcelona library and is there catalogued "viage por malabar y costas de africa, 1512: letra del siglo xvi." it was supposed to be an original spanish work, for the statement of its having been translated is in the body of the ms., no part of which can be read without more or less difficulty. this work is not a book of travels as the title given in the catalogue, though not on the ms., indicates; it is rather an itinerary, or description of countries. it gives ample details of the trade, supplies, and water of the various seaports mentioned in it. it contains many interesting historical details, some of which, such as the account of diu, the taking of ormuz, the founding of the portuguese fort in calicut, their interruption of the indian trade to suez by capturing the indian ships, the rise of shah ismail, etc., fix pretty nearly the exact date at which this narrative was composed as the year 1514. two other ms. copies of this work are preserved in the royal library at munich: the first of these, no. 570 of the catalogue of that library, is in a handwriting very similar to that of the barcelona ms., and apparently of the same period. it consists of one hundred and three leaves, and is stated to have proceeded from the episcopal library of passau. this ms. does not contain the appendix respecting the prices of the precious stones. the other ms. no. 571, is of fifty-three leaves, and is written in two handwritings, both of which are much rounder and clearer than that of no. 570; the catalogue states that this ms. came from the library of the jesuits of augsburg. there are several verbal differences between the two mss., and perhaps no. 571 agrees more exactly with the barcelona ms. the two munich mss. frequently write words such as rey with a double r, as _rrey_, which does not occur in the barcelona ms., where, however, words begin with a large r, which is also used for a double r in the middle of a word. the piracies of the portuguese are told without any reticence, apparently without consciousness of their criminality, for no attempt is made to justify them, and the pretext that such and such an independent state or city did not choose to submit itself on being summoned to do so by the portuguese, seems to have been thought all sufficient for laying waste and destroying it. this narrative shows that most of the towns on the coasts of africa, arabia, and persia were in a much more flourishing condition at that time than they have been since the portuguese ravaged some of them, and interfered with the trade of all. the description of the early introduction of the cultivation and weaving of cotton into south africa by the arab traders will be read with interest; and the progress then beginning in those regions three hundred and fifty years ago, and the subsequent stand still to which it has been brought by the portuguese and by the slave-trade to america, may be taken as supporting the views lately put forward by captain r. burton and others at the anthropological society. the greater part of this volume was printed in italian by ramusio in 1554 in his collection of travels (venetia, nella stamperia de' giunti), as the narration of duarte barbosa, and a large part of this work must have been written by barbosa; and a portuguese manuscript of his was printed at lisbon in 1812 in the "collecção de noticias para a historia e geografia das nações ultramarinas." this manuscript of barbosa's, however, is much less full than this spanish ms. of barcelona, or than the italian version of ramusio, and the lisbon editors have added from ramusio translations of the passages which were wanting in their ms. these publications do not contain the number of leagues between one place and another which are given in the spanish translation. that the portuguese manuscript printed at lisbon in 1812 belongs to barbosa, stands only on the authority of ramusio, who gives an introduction by odoardo barbosa of the city of lisbon, which is not to be found either in the barcelona ms. or in the portuguese ms., and which has been translated from the italian of ramusio and published in the lisbon edition. the introduction to the lisbon edition states that the portuguese ms. is not an autograph ms., and that the account of barbosa is bound up along with other papers. this introduction refers to the passages in the portuguese ms. which are not to be found in ramusio, and says it may be doubted whether these were additions posterior to the work of duarte barbosa. it had occurred to me that this work might be attributed to the famous navigator magellan, and that it must have been through him that it found its way to charles the fifth's court: there are several reasons for this supposition, and some difficulties in the way of it; i will, however, follow sr. larrañaga's advice, and state both sides of the question. duarte barbosa, cousin of magellan, alvaro de mezquita, estevan gomez, juan rodrigues de carvalho were portuguese employed by spain along with magellan[2] in the fleet which sailed on the 21st september 1519, from san lucar de barrameda to brazil and the straits which bear the name of that admiral. now the _panorama_ or spanish version of the _univers pittoresque_ states (page 140): "it was at that time, although it has not been possible to ascertain exactly the year, when the illustrious viceroy of the indies sent francisco serrano to the moluccas, a friend, and also, as it is believed, a relation of magellan, the same person who by reason of the exact and precise data which he furnished to the celebrated navigator deserved later to see his name inscribed amongst those of other notable persons, whose fame will last as long as history endures." * * * * * "at the beginning of the same century duarte barbosa also proceeded to the moluccas, and cruised among those countries for the space of sixteen years, collecting interesting notes, which although they were not published till three centuries after the event, are not on that account the less admirable and precious; these reports were published in lisbon in a work which bears the following title: _collecção de noticias para a historia e geografia das nações ultramarinas_; those reports which relate to barbosa are contained in the second volume." now this barcelona ms. contains in an appendix the voyage of three portuguese, a spaniard, and five malays, whose captain was francisco serrano, to the moluccas in the year 1512: this supplies the date of his voyage which the above quoted paragraph says could not be ascertained, and this account is not in ramusio's collection, and there is every reason to suppose that it was as yet unpublished. in addition to what has been said by the writers of the _panorama_ and _univers pittoresque_, in which statement they follow the 3rd decade of the "asia" of barros, lib. v. cap. 8:- "we wrote before how francisco serrão wrote some letters from the maluco islands where he was, to fernão de magalhães, on account of being his friend from the time when both were in india, principally at the taking of malaca:" it was to be expected that barbosa and serrano would furnish their information to magellan, whether as the head of their family, or as the portuguese who had been longest at the spanish court, and through whom they might hope for advancement and further employment, such as duarte barbosa obtained with the fleet which discovered the straits of magellan. magellan returned to europe in 1512. duarte barbosa probably did not return till 1517, since he is said to have remained sixteen years in the indian ocean, and in that case he could not have returned before 1515--however, it is said in the introduction to the lisbon edition that he is the son of diego barbosa, named in the decades as having sailed in 1501 with the first fleet with joão de nova: the same introduction also says that the time of his departure to and return to india are unknown. ramusio's edition of barbosa's narrative says the writing of it was finished in 1516; it does not, however, mention any facts which occurred later than the year 1514. there is reason to suspect that ramusio obtained his copy from the same source as the barcelona manuscript, because the name of the precious stone zircon is spelled differently, giagonza, jagonza, and gegonza, and this difference of orthography coincides in the same places in the spanish manuscript and in ramusio. ramusio gives an appendix containing the prices of precious stones and of spices, but has not got the voyage to the moluccas of francisco serrano. the only reason i can conjecture for this not having reached ramusio is, that it was a confidential paper, on account of the rivalry of spain and portugal with regard to those islands; and it is stated in history that serrano increased the distances so as to enable magellan to persuade the spaniards that the moluccas were more to the eastward, and that they fell within the demarcation of territories assigned by the pope to castille. this account of francisco serrano's voyage, and of his remaining behind married at maluco, was either written by the spaniard who accompanied him, or was translated by some other person than diego ribero and the genoese ambassador centurione, since all the points of the compass which in the body of the work are indicated by the names of winds, are here described by their names, as este, sudoeste, etc. tramontana, greco, maestro, siloque, are all spanish terms, but are less literate than the names of the points of the compass, and seem to be owing to the genoese translator, to whom they would be familiar. it must be observed that the handwriting and paper of the narrative and two appendices of the barcelona ms. are identical, and the leaves are numbered consecutively, so that there is no reason for supposing that the whole papers were not originally, as they now are, placed together. ramusio in various parts of the narrative leaves a blank with the words, _here several lines are wanting_; this may be owing to passages having been struck out for political reasons. the portuguese edition has a short passage not in the spanish ms., the only apparent motive for its omission being that it was to the glorification of the portuguese. since so large a portion of the present volume is contained in the portuguese manuscript of barbosa printed at lisbon, it would be natural to follow ramusio in attributing the work to him: at the same time it is not easy to understand how barbosa, who was in the indian ocean at the time, should have confounded the two naval actions at diu in 1508 and 1509, which he relates as one only, although the portuguese were beaten in the first and victorious in the second. it is also difficult to imagine that one person visited all the places described in this volume, even in the space of sixteen years, at a period when travelling was slower than at present: and the observations on the manners and customs show a more intimate knowledge than what could be acquired by touching at a port for a few days only. this work is that of no ordinary capacity; it shews great power of observation, and also the possession by the writer of great opportunities for inquiry into the manners and habits of the different countries described. it could hardly have been drawn up by an ecclesiastic, there is too great an absence of condemnation of idolatrous practices, and the deficiencies of st. thomas's christians are too lightly spoken of. an ecclesiastic would not have been so indifferent to their mode of communion and to the sale of the sacraments, which caused many to remain unbaptized. the scanty mention of albuquerque and of goa, and its being the sort of political memorandum which a person in magellan's position, seeking service from spain, and desirous of pushing the spanish government to eastern as well as western enterprise, would be likely to write; the commercial details, which are not those of a merchant, but rather of a soldier, for the prices given chiefly relate to provisions, horses and elephants, things useful in war, whilst the prices of jewels and spices, drawn up in a business-like manner, are in an appendix and not referred to in the narrative,--all these circumstances seem almost to justify the conclusion that this volume was drawn up by magellan, or under magellan's guidance, for the purpose of being laid before charles v, at the time that magellan was seeking the command which he received a short time later. this volume derives additional value from the numerous passages in which it runs parallel to the _lusiad_, so that the two confirm one another, and this prose description serves as a commentary to camoens. several passages descriptive of the customs of the nairs of malabar in this work present very forcibly the connection between plato and the hindus. the travels of varthema, a former publication of the hakluyt society, gave evidence of the good administration of india especially in regard to justice in olden times; similar testimony will be found in this volume. the expedient of the king of narsinga for correcting his high officials, without either removing them or lowering them in the eyes of those they had to rule, has not, i believe, been before narrated. though suttee has been so often described, the account of it in these pages possesses much interest and novelty, probably from having been written by an eye-witness, before that institution was disturbed by european influence. an allusion to the english longbow as to a weapon in actual use, gives an appearance of antiquity to this narrative even greater than that which belongs to its date. the orthography of the manuscript is not always uniform, therefore where a name is spelt in two different ways, i have left them as they are given. i have altered the original spelling of the names of only a few familiar places, and have retained the portuguese expressions of moor and gentile, which mean mussulman and heathen, one of which has survived up to the present time in southern india as moorman. any further observations i may have to make on this manuscript will be found in the notes. i wish to express my thanks to sr. d. gregorio romero larrañaga, the head of the barcelona library, and to the other gentlemen of his department, for the cordial manner in which they have supplied me with the contents of their library, and for their assistance in discussing doubtful points. london, october 21, 1865. [illustration: facsimile of handwritten manuscript.] [illustration: facsimile of handwritten manuscript.] preface. (translated from the portuguese edition, lisbon, 1812.) i, duarte barbosa, a native of the very noble city of lisbon, having navigated for a great part of my youth in the indies discovered in the name of the king our lord, and having travelled through many and various countries neighbouring to the coast, and having seen and heard various things, which i judged to be marvellous and stupendous, and which had never been seen nor heard of by our ancestors, resolved to write them for the benefit of all, as i saw and heard of them from day to day, striving to declare in this my book the towns and limits of all those kingdoms to which i went in person, or of which i had trustworthy information; and also which were kingdoms and countries of the moors and which of the gentiles, and their customs. neither have i left in silence their traffic, the merchandise which is met with in them, the places where they are produced, nor whither they are transported. and besides what i saw personally, i always delighted in inquiring of the moors, christians, and gentiles, as to the usages and customs which they practised, and the points of information thus gained i endeavoured to combine together so as to have a more exact knowledge of them, this being always my special object, as it should be of all those who write on such matters; and i am convinced that it will be recognized that i have not spared any diligence in order to obtain this object, as far as the feeble extent of the power of my understanding allows of. it was in the present year of 1516 that i finished writing this my book. description of the east indies and countries on the seabord of the indian ocean in 1514.[3] the cape of st. sebastian after passing the cape of good hope. having passed the cape of good hope in a north-easterly direction, at cape san sebastian, there are very fair mountain lands, and fields, and valleys, in which there are many cows and sheep, and other wild animals; it is a country inhabited by people who are black and naked. they only wear skins with the fur of deer, or other wild animals, like some cloaks in the french fashion, of which people the portuguese, up to the present time, have not been able to obtain information, nor to become acquainted with what there is in the interior of the country. they have no navigation, neither do they make use of the sea, neither have the moors of arabia and persia, or the indies, ever navigated as far as this, nor discovered them, on account of the strong currents of the sea, which is very stormy. islands of the great uciques.[4] having passed cape san sebastian towards the north-east for india, there are some islands close to the mainland to the east, which are called the great uciques; in which, on the side towards the mainland there are a few small towns of moors, who deal with the people of the continent, and they provision themselves from them. in these uciques much amber is found of good quality, which the moors collect and sell in other places, and likewise many pearls and small seed pearls are found in the sea in beds (crusts), which they cannot gather or fish up, and whenever they do get them out they boil them, and extract the said pearls and seed pearls dingy and burnt, and there is no doubt that there are many and good ones, if they knew how to extract them, as is done in sael, cochoromandel, and in barahe,[5] which will be mentioned hereafter. the little vciques islands in rivers. having passed the vciques grandes towards sofala, a fortress which the king of portugal made there, and where there is much gold, at xvii or xviii leagues from it there are some rivers, which make between their branches, islands, called the little vciques, in which there are some villages of the moors, who also deal with the gentiles of the mainland in their provisions, which are rice, millet, and meat, and which they bring in small barks to sufala.[6] sofala. having passed the little vciques, for the indies, at xviii leagues from them there is a river which is not very large, whereon is a town of the moors called sofala,[7] close to which town the king of portugal has a fort. these moors established themselves there a long time ago on account of the great trade in gold which they carry on with the gentiles of the mainland: these speak somewhat of bad arabic (garabia), and have got a king over them, who is at present subject to the king of portugal.[8] and the mode of their trade is that they come by sea in small barks which they call zanbucs (sambuk), from the kingdoms of quiloa, and mombaza, and melindi; and they bring much cotton cloth of many colours, and white and blue, and some of silk; and grey, and red, and yellow beads, which come to the said kingdoms in other larger ships from the great kingdom of cambay, which merchandise these moors buy and collect from other moors who bring them there, and they pay for them in gold by weight, and for a price which satisfies them; and the said moors keep them and sell these cloths to the gentiles of the kingdom of benamatapa who come there laden with gold, which gold they give in exchange for the before mentioned cloths without weighing, and so much in quantity that these moors usually gain one hundred for one. they also collect a large quantity of ivory, which is found all round sofala, which they likewise sell in the great kingdom of cambay at five or six ducats the hundred weight, and so also some amber, which these moors of sofala bring them from the vciques. they are black men, and men of colour--some speak arabic, and the rest make use of the language of the gentiles of the country. they wrap themselves from the waist downwards with cloths of cotton and silk, and they wear other silk cloths above named, such as cloaks and wraps for the head, and some of them wear hoods of scarlet, and of other coloured woollen stuffs and camelets, and of other silks. and their victuals are millet, and rice, and meat, and fish. in this river near to the sea there are many sea horses, which go in the sea, and come out on land at times to feed. these have teeth like small elephants, and it is better ivory than that of the elephant, and whiter and harder, and of greater durability of colour. in the country all round sofala there are many elephants, which are very large and wild, and the people of the country do not know how to tame them: there are also many lions, ounces, mountain panthers, wild asses, and many other animals. it is a country of plains and mountains, and well watered. the moors have now recently begun to produce much fine cotton in this country, and they weave it into white stuff because they do not know how to dye it, or because they have not got any colours; and they take the blue or coloured stuffs of cambay and unravel them, and again weave the threads with their white thread, and in this manner they make coloured stuffs, by means of which they get much gold. kingdom of benamatapa. on entering within this country of sofala, there is the kingdom of benamatapa, which is very large and peopled by gentiles, whom the moors call cafers. these are brown men, who go bare, but covered from the waist downwards with coloured stuffs, or skins of wild animals; and the persons most in honour among them wear some of the tails of the skin behind them, which go trailing on the ground for state and show, and they make bounds and movements of their bodies, by which they make these tails wag on either side of them. they carry swords in scabbards of wood bound with gold or other metals, and they wear them on the left hand side as we do, in sashes of coloured stuffs, which they make for this purpose with four or five knots, and their tassels hanging down, like gentlemen; and in their hands azagayes, and others carry bows and arrows: it must be mentioned that the bows are of middle size, and the iron points of the arrows are very large and well wrought. they are men of war, and some of them are merchants: their women go naked as long as they are girls, only covering their middles with cotton cloths, and when they are married and have children, they wear other cloths over their breasts. zinbaoch.[9] leaving sofala for the interior of the country, at xv days journey from it, there is a large town of gentiles, which is called zinbaoch; and it has houses of wood and straw, in which town the king of benamatapa frequently dwells, and from there to the city of benamatapa there are six days journey, and the road goes from sofala, inland, towards the cape of good hope. and in the said benamatapa, which is a very large town, the king is used to make his longest residence; and it is thence that the merchants bring to sofala the gold which they sell to the moors without weighing it, for coloured stuffs and beads of cambay, which are much used and valued amongst them; and the people of this city of benamatapa say that this gold comes from still further off towards the cape of good hope, from another kingdom subject to this king of benamatapa, who is a great lord, and holds many other kings as his subjects, and many other lands, which extend far inland, both towards the cape of good hope and towards mozambich. and in this town he is each day served with large presents, which the kings and lords, his subjects, send to him; and when they bring them, they carry them bareheaded through all the city, until they arrive at the palace, from whence the king sees them come from a window, and he orders them to be taken up from there, and the bearers do not see him, but only hear his words; and afterwards, he bids them call the persons who have brought these presents, and he dismisses them. this king constantly takes with him into the field a captain, whom they call sono, with a great quantity of men-at-arms, and amongst them they bring six thousand women, who also bear arms and fight. with these forces he goes about subduing and pacifying whatever kings rise up or desire to revolt. the said king of benamatapa sends, each year, many honourable persons throughout his kingdoms to all the towns and lordships, to give them new regulations, so that all may do them obeisance, which is in this manner: each one of the envoys comes to a town, and bids the people extinguish all the fires that there are in it; and after they have been put out, all the inhabitants go to this man who has been sent as commissary, to get fresh fire from him in sign of subjection and obedience; and, whoever should not do this is held as a rebel, and the king immediately sends the number of people that are necessary to destroy him, and these pass through all the towns at their expense: their rations are meat, rice, and oil of sesame.[10] river zuama. leaving sofala for mozambich, at forty leagues from it, there is a very large river, which is called the zuama;[11] and it is said that it goes towards benamatapa,[12] and it extends more than 160 leagues. in the mouth of this river there is a town of the moors, which has a king, and it is called mongalo.[13] much gold comes from benamatapa to this town of the moors, by this river, which makes another branch which falls at angos, where the moors make use of boats (almadias), which are boats hollowed out from a single trunk, to bring the cloths and other merchandise from angos, and to transport much gold and ivory. angoy. after passing this river of zuama, at xl leagues from it, there is a town of the moors on the sea coast, which is called angoy,[14] and has a king, and the moors who live there are all merchants, and deal in gold, ivory, silk, and cotton stuffs, and beads of cambay, the same as do those of sofala. and the moors bring these goods from quiloa, and monbaza, and melynde, in small vessels hidden from the portuguese ships; and they carry from there a great quantity of ivory, and much gold. and in this town of angos there are plenty of provisions of millet, rice, and some kinds of meat. these men are very brown and copper coloured; they go naked from the waist upwards, and from thence downwards, they wrap themselves with cloths of cotton and silk, and wear other cloths folded after the fashion of cloaks, and some wear caps and others hoods, worked with stuffs and silks; and they speak the language belonging to the country, which is that of the pagans, and some of them speak arabic. these people are sometimes in obedience to the king of portugal, and at times they throw it off, for they are a long way off from the portuguese forts. mozambique island. having passed this town of anguox, on the way to india, there are very near to the land three islands, one of which is inhabited by moors, and is called mozambique.[15] it has a very good port, and all the moors touch there who are sailing to sofala, zuama, or anguox. amongst these moors there is a sheriff, who governs them, and does justice. these are of the language and customs of the moors of anguox, in which island the king of portugal now holds a fort, and keeps the said moors under his orders and government. at this island the portuguese ships provide themselves with water and wood, fish and other kinds of provisions; and at this place they refit those ships which stand in need of repair. and from this island likewise the portuguese fort in sofala draws its supplies, both of portuguese goods and of the produce of india, on account of the road being longer by the mainland. opposite this island there are many very large elephants and wild animals. the country is inhabited by gentiles, brutish people who go naked and smeared all over with coloured clay, and their natural parts wrapped in a strip of blue cotton stuff, without any other covering; and they have their lips pierced with three holes in each lip, and in these holes they wear bones stuck in, and claws, and small stones, and other little things dangling from them. island of quiloa. after passing this place and going towards india, there is another island close to the mainland, called quiloa,[16] in which there is a town of the moors, built of handsome houses of stone and lime, and very lofty, with their windows like those of the christians; in the same way it has streets, and these houses have got their terraces, and the wood worked in with the masonry, with plenty of gardens, in which there are many fruit trees and much water. this island has got a king over it, and from hence there is trade with sofala with ships, which carry much gold, which is dispersed thence through all arabia felix, for henceforward all this country is thus named on account of the shore of the sea being peopled with many towns and cities of the moors; and when the king of portugal discovered this land, the moors of sofala, and zuama, and anguox, and mozambique, were all under obedience to the king of quiloa, who was a great king amongst them. and there is much gold in this town, because all the ships which go to sofala touch at this island, both in going and coming back. these people are moors, of a dusky colour, and some of them are black and some white; they are very well dressed with rich cloths of gold, and silk, and cotton, and the women also go very well dressed out with much gold and silver in chains and bracelets on their arms, and legs, and ears. the speech of these people is arabic, and they have got books of the alcoran, and honour greatly their prophet muhamad. this king, for his great pride, and for not being willing to obey the king of portugal, had this town taken from him by force, and in it they killed and captured many people, and the king fled from the island, in which the king of portugal ordered a fortress to be built, and thus he holds under his command and government those who continued to dwell there. island of mombaza. passing quiloa, and going along the coast of the said arabia felix towards india, close to the mainland there is another island, in which there is a city of the moors, called bombaza,[17] very large and beautiful, and built of high and handsome houses of stone and whitewash, and with very good streets, in the manner of those of quiloa. and it also had a king over it. the people are of dusky white, and brown complexions, and likewise the women, who are much adorned with silk and gold stuffs. it is a town of great trade in goods, and has a good port, where there are always many ships, both of those that sail for sofala and those that come from cambay and melinde, and others which sail to the islands of zanzibar, manfia, and penda, which will be spoken of further on. this monbaza is a country well supplied with plenty of provisions, very fine sheep, which have round tails, and many cows, chickens, and very large goats, much rice and millet, and plenty of oranges, sweet and bitter, and lemons, cedrats, pomegranates, indian figs, and all sorts of vegetables, and very good water. the inhabitants at times are at war with the people of the continent, and at other times at peace, and trade with them, and obtain much honey and wax, and ivory. this king, for his pride and unwillingness to obey the king of portugal, lost his city, and the portuguese took it from him by force, and the king fled, and they killed and made captives many of his people, and the country was ravaged,[18] and much plunder was carried off from it of gold and silver, copper, ivory, rich stuffs of gold and silk, and much other valuable merchandize. melinde. after passing the city of mombaza, at no great distance further on along the coast, there is a very handsome town on the mainland on the beach, called melinde,[19] and it is a town of the moors, which has a king. and this town has fine houses of stone and whitewash, of several stories, with their windows and terraces, and good streets. the inhabitants are dusky and black, and go naked from the waist upwards, and from that downwards they cover themselves with cloths of cotton and silk, and others wear wraps like cloaks, and handsome caps on their heads. the trade is great which they carry on in cloth, gold, ivory, copper, quicksilver, and much other merchandise, with both moors and gentiles of the kingdom of cambay, who come to their port with ships laden with cloth, which they buy in exchange for gold, ivory, and wax. both parties find great profit in this. there are plenty of provisions in this town, of rice, millet, and some wheat, which is brought to them from cambay, and plenty of fruit, for there are many gardens and orchards. there are here many of the large-tailed sheep, and of all other meats as above; there are also oranges, sweet and sour. this king and people have always been very friendly and obedient to the king of portugal, and the portuguese have always met with much friendship and good reception amongst them.[20] island of san lorenzo.[21] opposite these places, in the sea above the cape of the currents,[22] at a distance of eighty leagues, there is a very large island, which is called san lorenzo, and which is peopled by gentiles, and has in it some towns of moors. this island has many kings, both moors and gentiles. there is in it much meat, rice, and millet, and plenty of oranges and lemons, and there is much ginger in this country, which they do not make use of, except to eat it almost green. the inhabitants go naked, covering only their middles with cotton cloths. they do not navigate, nor does any one do so for them; they have got canoes for fishing on their coast. they are people of a dark complexion, and have a language of their own. they frequently are at war with one another, and their arms are azagayes, very sharp, with their points very well worked; they throw these in order to wound, and carry several of them in their hands. they are very well built and active men, and have a good method of wrestling. there is amongst them silver of inferior quality. their principal food is roots, which they sow, and it is called yname,[23] and in the indies of spain it is called maize. the country is very beautiful and luxuriant in vegetation, and it has very large rivers. this island is in length from the part of sofala and melinde three hundred leagues, and to the mainland there are sixty leagues. penda, manfia, and zanzibar. between this island of san lorenzo and the continent, not very far from it, are three islands, which are called one manfia, another zanzibar, and the other penda;[24] these are inhabited by moors; they are very fertile islands, with plenty of provisions, rice, millet, and flesh, and abundant oranges, lemons, and cedrats. all the mountains are full of them; they produce many sugar canes, but do not know how to make sugar. these islands have their kings. the inhabitants trade with the mainland with their provisions and fruits; they have small vessels, very loosely and badly made, without decks, and with a single mast; all their planks are sewn together with cords of reed or matting, and the sails are of palm mats. they are very feeble people, with very few and despicable weapons. in these islands they live in great luxury, and abundance; they dress in very good cloths of silk and cotton, which they buy in mombaza of the merchants from cambay, who reside there. their wives adorn themselves with many jewels of gold from sofala, and silver, in chains, ear-rings, bracelets, and ankle rings, and are dressed in silk stuffs: and they have many mosques, and hold the alcoran of mahomed. pate. after passing melinde, and going towards india, they cross the gulf (because the coast trends inwards) towards the red sea, and on the coast there is a town called pate,[25] and further on there is another town of the moors, called lamon;[26] all these trade with the gentiles of the country, and they are strongly-walled towns of stone and whitewash, because at times they have to fight with the gentiles, who live in the interior of the country. brava. leaving these places, further on along the coast is a town of the moors, well walled, and built of good houses of stone and whitewash, which is called brava. it has not got a king; it is governed by its elders,[27] they being honoured and respectable persons. it is a place of trade, which has already been destroyed by the portuguese, with great slaughter of the inhabitants, of whom many were made captives, and great riches in gold, silver, and other merchandise were taken here, and those who escaped fled into the country, and after the place was destroyed they returned to people it. magadoxo.[28] leaving the before-mentioned town of brava, on the coast further on towards the red sea, there is another very large and beautiful town, called magadoxo, belonging to the moors, and it has a king over it, and is a place of great trade in merchandise. ships come there from the kingdom of cambay and from aden with stuffs of all sorts, and with other merchandise of all kinds, and with spices. and they carry away from there much gold, ivory, beeswax, and other things upon which they make a profit. in this town there is plenty of meat, wheat, barley, and horses, and much fruit; it is a very rich place. all the people speak arabic; they are dusky, and black, and some of them white. they are but bad warriors, and use herbs with their arrows to defend themselves from their enemies. afuni.[29] having passed the district and town of magadoxo, further on along the coast is another small town of the moors, called afuni, in which there is abundance of meat and provisions. it is a place of little trade, and has got no port. cape guardafun. after passing this place the next after it is cape guardafun,[30] where the coast ends, and trends so as to double towards the red sea. this cape is in the mouth of the strait of mecca, and all the ships which come from india, that is to say, from the kingdom of cambay, of chaul, dabul, baticala, and malabar, ceylon, choromandel, bengal, sumatra, poggru, tanaseri, malacca, and china, all come to meet at this cape, and from it they enter into the before-mentioned red sea with their merchandise for aden, berbera, and zeyla, and guida, the port of mecca, for which ships the ships of the king of portugal sometimes go and lie in wait and take them with all their riches. met. in doubling this cape of guardafun, towards the inner part of the red sea, there is, just near the said cape, a town of the moors called met,[31] not very large, where there is plenty of meat; it is of little trade. barbara. further on, on the same coast, is a town of the moors called barbara;[32] it has a port, at which many ships of adeni and cambay touch with their merchandise, and from there those of cambay carry away much gold, and ivory, and other things, and those of aden take many provisions, meat, honey, and wax, because, as they say, it is a very abundant country. zeyla. having passed this town of berbara, and going on, entering the red sea, there is another town of the moors, which is named zeyla,[33] which is a good place of trade, whither many ships navigate and sell their cloths and merchandise. it is very populous, with good houses of stone and whitewash, and good streets; the houses are covered with terraces, the dwellers in them are black. they have many horses, and breed much cattle of all sorts, which they make use of for milk, and butter, and meat. there is in this country abundance of wheat, millet, barley, and fruits, which they carry thence to aden. dalaqua. after continuing along the coast from the town of zeyla, there is another place of the moors, called dalaqua,[34] the seaport which is most made use of by the abaxins[35] of the country of prester john. and all round this place there are much provisions, and much gold comes there from the country of prester john. masava savaquin[36] and other places. leaving dalaqua for the interior of the red sea, there are massowa, suakin, and other towns of the moors; and this coast is still called arabia felix, and the moors call it barra ajan,[37] in all which there is much gold which comes from the interior of the country of prester john, whom they call abexi. all these places on this coast trade with the country with their cloths and other merchandise, and they bring from it gold, ivory, honey, wax and slaves; and sometimes they are at war with them, for they are christians, and they capture many of them; and such captives are much valued by the moors, and amongst them are worth much more money than other slaves because they find them sharp and faithful, and well-built men in body, and when they turn moors, they become greater emperors than the original moors. these moors of arabia felix are all black[38] and good fighting men; they go bare from the waist upwards, and from thence downwards they cover themselves with cloths of cotton; and the more honourable men amongst them wear their cloths over them like almalafas,[39] and the women are covered in the same way:[40]... kingdom of prester john. leaving these towns of the moors and entering into the interior of the country, the great kingdom of prester john is to be found, whom the moors of arabia call abexi;[41] this kingdom is very large, and peopled with many cities, towns, and villages, with many inhabitants: and it has many kings subject to it and tributary kings. and in their country there are many who live in the fields and mountains, like beduins: they are black men, very well made: they have many horses, and make use of them, and are good riders, and there are great sportsmen and hunters amongst them. their provisions are flesh of all kinds, milk, butter, and wheaten bread, and of these things there is a great abundance. their clothes are of hides because the country is wanting in cloths; and there is a law amongst them by which certain families and ranks of persons may wear cloths, and the rest of the people may wear only hides well dressed and tanned. amongst them there are men and women who have never drunk water, but only milk, which greatly supports them, and quenches the thirst, on account of its being more healthy and substantial, and there is great abundance of it in the country. these people are christians of the doctrine of the blessed saint bartholomew, as they say; and their baptism is in three kinds, of blood, fire, and water: that is to say, that they circumcise themselves, and mark themselves on the temples and forehead with fire, and also in water, like the catholic christians. many of them are deficient in our true faith, because the country is very large, and whilst in the principal city of babel malech, where prester john resides, they may be christians, in many other distant parts they live in error and without being taught; so that they are only christians in name. babel melech. in the interior of this country is the great city of babel melech,[42] where prester john holds his residence. the moors call him the great king of the habeshys: he is christian, and lord of many extensive countries and numerous people, with whom he makes subject many great kings. he is very rich, and possesses more gold than any other prince. this prester john holds a very large court, and he keeps many men at arms continually in his pay, whom he takes about with him. he goes out very rarely from his dwelling; many kings and great lords come to visit him. in this city a great feast takes place in the month of august, for which so many kings and nobles come together, and so many people that they are innumerable: and on this day of the feast in august they take an image out of a church, which is believed to be that of our lady, or that of st. bartholomew, which image is of gold and of the size of a man; its eyes are of very large and beautiful rubies of great value, and the whole of it is adorned with many precious stones of much value, and placing it in a great chariot of gold, they carry it in procession with very great veneration and ceremony, and prester john goes in front of this car in another gold car, very richly dressed in cloth of gold with much jewellery. and they begin to go out thus in the morning, and go in procession through all the city with much music of all sorts of instruments, until the evening, when they go home. and so many people throng to this procession, that in order to arrive at the car of the image many die of being squeezed and suffocated; and those who die in this wise are held as saints and martyrs; and many old men and old women go with a good will to die in this manner. suez. leaving this country of prester john and the coast of the sea of arabia felix, and turning to the other part of the red sea, which is also called arabia, and the moors call it barra arab, there is a village, a seaport called suez,[43] and thither the moors of guida, the port of mecca, bring all the spices, drugs, precious stones, seed pearl, amber, musk, and other merchandise of great value from the parts about india; and from there they load them on camels to carry them by land to cairo, and from cairo other merchants carry them to alexandria; and from there the venetians and other christians usually export them. and this trade now, in a great measure, ceases on account of the portuguese, whose fleets prohibit the navigation of the moors from india to the red sea.[44] and the great sultan, lord of cairo, who loses most by this, ordered a fleet to be built in the port of suez, for which he had the wood and artillery, and other equipments transported by land, in which much money was expended; and this fleet was of ships and galleys, in order to pass with it to india and there forbid the portuguese from cruising. and when this fleet was built many people of different nations went with it to the first india, which is the kingdom of cambay; and the captain of it was amir uçen,[45] and with this fleet they met that of portugal in front of a city named dyu, and there they fought vigorously, and many people were killed, and at last the moors, turks, and mamelukes were conquered and all their fleet was taken and part of it burned, and on this account and several other victories which the portuguese gained over the before-mentioned moors, they lost their navigation in the red sea, and the said port of suez remains without the trade in spices. mount sinai. near the said city of suez there is in the country of arabia on the red sea, the mountain of sinai, where lies the blessed saint catharine in a church, in which there are christian friars, under the lordship of the sultan, to which building the devout of all christian countries come in pilgrimage, and the chief part of those that throng thither are from the country of prester john and armenia, babilonia, constantinople, and jerusalem. eliobon and medina. having passed mount sinai, which the moors call tur, along the coast of the red sea going out of it, there is a village of the moors, a seaport called eliobon,[46] and it is a port where they disembark for medina, which is another town of the moors, up the country at three days' journey from the port, and the body of mahomed is buried in it. guida port of meca. leaving the port of eliobon to go out of the red sea, there is a town of the moors, called guida, and it is the port of mecca, whither the ships used to come every year from india with spices and drugs, and they returned thence to calicut with much copper, quicksilver, vermillion, saffron, rose-water, scarlet silks, camelots, tafetans and other goods, of stuffs used in india, and also with much gold and silver; and the trade was very great and profitable. and from this port of guida these spices and drugs were transported in small vessels to suez, as has been already said. meca. at one day's journey up the country from the port of guida is the great city of meca, in which there is a very large mosque, to which all the moors from all parts go in pilgrimage, and they hold for certain that they are saved by washing with the water of a well which is in this mosque: and they carry it away from there in bottles to their countries as a great relic. in the aforesaid guida port of mecca a fortress has been lately built by emir hussein, the moorish captain of the ships of the sultan, which the portuguese destroyed in india: this captain when he saw himself defeated, did not dare return to his country without performing some service to his king, and he decided on begging of the king of cambay (who is called sultan mahamud) assistance in money, and so also from the nobles and merchants of his kingdom and from other moorish kings, in order to construct this fortress, saying: that since the portuguese, (whom they call franks) were so powerful, it would not be wonderful if they were to come into this port and were to go and destroy the house of mahomet. and these moorish kings and people hearing his petition, and seeing the power of the king of portugal, it seemed to them that this might come to pass, and thus all gave him great gifts, by means of which he loaded three ships with spices and other merchandise, and went with them to the red sea, and arrived at guida, where he sold them, and with the money he made the said fortress, and during the time that he was building it, the portuguese were making another inside the town of calicut,[47] and the king of calicut begged the captain major of the king of portugal to give him permission to send then a ship laden with spices to mecca. and this permission was given him, and the ship was sent. and there went in it as captain an honourable person of the moors named califa, and he arrived at guida the port of mecca, where he came on shore very well dressed out, along with his people, and he found emir hussein building his fortress, and was asked by him news of the portuguese. and this califa answered him, telling him how they were in great peace at calicut, and making a handsome fortress. and emir hussein asked him, how dare you come to mecca being a friend of the portuguese? califa answered him, i am a merchant and am unable to do anything, but you who are a captain of the great sultan if you go to india to turn them out of it, how came you to leave them there, and to make a fortress here? at which emir hussein was much put out, and ordered califa immediately, and well dressed as he was, to take stones and mortar, he and his people, and help to build the fortress: and he made him work for the space of an hour.[48] and califa related this in calicut later when he returned there.[49] jazan, hali, alhor. leaving jiddah the port of mekkah, to go out of the red sea there are three towns of the moors, which have got kings over them, one is called jazan,[50] another hali, and the other alhor; in these there are many horses and plenty of provisions. this king does not obey the sultan nor any other king whatever; he holds many countries under him in which he has many towns with many sea ports, from which the moorish merchants used to export a few horses to india in their merchant ships, because there they are worth a good deal. hodeyda, maha, babel mende. having passed these places and kingdom, there are three places further on the coast which belong to the kingdom of aden; the one they call hodeyda, the other maha,[51] the other babelmende, which is in the mouth of the strait of the red sea where the ships enter it, and at this place the ships take pilots as far as jiddah, who live by it. island of camaron. in the sea of these other places, there is a small island called camaron,[52] inhabited by moors, in which the ships were accustomed to take refreshments when they passed by it to jiddah. this island was ravaged by alonso de alboquerque, captain of the king of portugal; and he staid there for some days repairing his fleet in order to leave the red sea, for the season did not allow him to go as far as jiddah, to which he wished to arrive. adem. coming out of the red sea by babelmendel, which is in the straits, as has been said, towards the open sea, further on the coast there are several towns of moors, which all belong to the kingdom of aden, and having passed these villages you arrive at the town of aden, which belongs to the moors, and has a king over it. it is a very handsome city, with very large and fine houses, and a place of much trade, with good streets, and surrounded with a strong wall in their fashion. this city is on a point between a mountain and the sea; and this mountain ridge on the side of the main land is a precipitous rock, in such manner that on that side it has no more than one entrance, and on the top of this ridge, where the town is, there are many small towers, which look very pretty from the sea. inside the city there is no water at all, and outside of the gate towards the main land there is a building to which they make water come in pipes from another mountain at some little distance from there, and between one ridge and the other ridge there was a great plain. in this city there are great moorish merchants, and many jews.[53] they are white men, a few of them black, they dress in cloth of cotton, silk, scarlet wool, and camelots. their clothes are long robes, and they wear caps on their heads, and with low shoes on their feet. their victuals are plenty of meat, wheaten bread, and rice which comes from india: there is plenty of fruit as in our parts, and there are in this place many horses and camels. the king is always in the interior of the country, and he maintains his governor in this city. many ships, great and small, come there from many parts; that is to say, from jiddah, whence they bring them much copper and quicksilver, and vermillion, coral, cloths of wool and silk. and they take from here in return spices, drugs, cotton cloths, and other things from cambay, with provisions and other goods. many ships also touch there from zeyla and berbera with provisions and other goods, and carry away from there stuffs from cambay, alaquequas,[54] and large and small beads perforated for stringing, with which they trade in arabia felix, and in the country of prester john. some ships from ormuz likewise touch there to trade, and also from cambay, whence they bring much cotton stuff, spices, drugs, jewels and pearls, alaquequas, spun cotton, and unspun; and they take from these madder, opium, raisins, copper, quicksilver, vermillion, rose-water which they make there, woollen and silk stuffs, coloured stuffs from mecca, and gold in ingots or coined, and thread and camelots. and these ships of cambay are so many and so large, and with so much merchandise, that it is a terrible thing to think of so great an expenditure of cotton stuffs as they bring. there come likewise to this port of aden many ships from chaul and dabul, and from bengal and the country of calicut; they used to come there with the before-mentioned goods and with a large quantity of rice and sugar, and cocoa-nuts which grow on the palm trees, and which are like nuts in flavour, and with the kernels[55] they make drinking cups. there also arrive there ships from bengal, samatra, and malaca, which bring much spices and drugs, silks, benzoin, alacar,[56] sandal-wood, aloes-wood, rhubarb, musk, and much cotton stuffs from bengal and mangala,[57] so that it is a place of as much trade as there can be in the world, and of the richest merchandise. the fleet and armament of the king of portugal came to this city, and took and burned in its harbour several ships laden with much merchandise, and several empty ships, and it made an assault to enter the town, and mounted the walls with scaling ladders, which broke with the weight of the many people on them; so that the portuguese went out again, and abandoned the town: and at this entry the moors defended themselves very vigorously, and many of them died, and some of the christians. kingdom of fartach. having passed the said kingdom of aden, going out of the strait towards the east, there is another kingdom of the moors about twenty-five leagues off, near the sea, it has three or four towns on the coast, and they are called xebech, diufar,[58] and fartach.[59] these moors have got a king over them and are very good fighting men: they have got horses which they make use of in war, and good arms with short blades; the said king is subject to the king of aden and is his servant. cape fartach and the island of sacotora. in this country and kingdom there is a cape which is called cape fartach, where the coast turns and makes a bend towards the said sea between north-east and east,[60] and between this cape and that of guardafun, is the mouth of the strait of mecca, which runs north-west and south-east,[61] and it is xl leagues in width, where all the ships pass for those voyages and to the red sea. above cape guardafun, to the north-east by east, twenty-seven leagues off, is an island called sacotora, with very high mountains, it is inhabited by dusky people, who are said to be christians; but they are deficient in the teaching of the christian law and baptism, and have got only the name of christians: they have in their chapels crosses, +.[62] it was in former times a country of christians, and the christian doctrine was lost there on account of christian navigation having ceased there; and the moors say that this was an island of amazons, who later in the course of time mixed with men, and something of this appears to be the case, since there the women administer property and manage it, without the husbands having a voice in the matter. these people have a language of their own; they go without clothes, and only cover their nakedness with cotton cloths and skins: they have many cows and sheep, and date palms. their victuals are meat, milk, and dates. in this island there is much dragon's blood[63] and aloes of socotra. and the moors of fartach built in it a fortress, to subjugate them, and turn them moors; and some of those that lived around the fortress were moors, and served the moors of the fort like their slaves, both in their persons and property. a fleet of the king of portugal arrived at this island, and took this fortress by force of arms from the moors of fartach, fighting with them: and they defended themselves much more vigorously than any men of these parts; so that they never would give themselves up, and all died in the fight, for none of them escaped; so that they are very good and daring fighting men. the captain of this fleet left troops and artillery in this fortress in order to keep it in the name of the king of portugal. and quite near to this island of sacotora there are two other islands inhabited by coloured people and blacks, like the people of the canary islands, without law or knowledge, and they have no dealings with any other people. in these two islands much amber and of good quality is found, and many shells of the valuable and precious kind in the mine, and much dragon's blood and aloes of socotra; and there are large flocks of sheep and oxen. diufar. leaving cape fartach towards the coast of the open sea to the north-east by east, going along the coast l leagues off is a town of the moors and seaport called diufar,[64] a city of the kingdom of fartach, in which the moors of cambay trade in cotton stuffs, rice, and other goods. xeher.[65] further on from this place, in the direction of the same wind, at xx leagues off, along the same coast, is another town of the moors, called xeher; it also belongs to the kingdom of fartach, and is very large; it has a large trade in the stuffs, which the moors of cambay, chaul, dabul, and baticala, and the country of malabar, bring in their ships to this port and town of xeher; these are coarse and fine cotton stuffs, with which they clothe themselves; granates on strings and several other jewels of small value, much rice, sugar, and spice of all kinds, cocoa-nuts, and other goods, which they sell there to the merchants of the country, who carry them from there to aden and all this part of arabia. and the importers afterwards employ the money in horses for india: these are very large and very good, and each one of them in india is worth five or six hundred ducats. and they also take from there much wormwood,[66] which grows in that country. and in the interior of the country all the people are beduins: in this country there is much wheat and plenty of meat and dates, grapes, and all other fruits which are in our parts. and all the ships which sail from india for the red sea, and having been delayed cannot arrive in good time[67] with their merchandise at the place of their destination, remain to sell them in this port of xeher, and from there they go to india along the coast to cambay. and so this port is large and of much trade at all times. this king of fartach is, with the whole of his kingdom, in obedience to the king of aden, because he holds a brother of his a prisoner. the wormwood which grows in this country of xeher is carried from here to all the world, and the ships of this place load[68] the said wormwood, which is there worth a hundred and fifty maravedis the hundred weight. fasalhad. having passed this town of xeher, along the coast there are other small towns, and beduins in the interior of the country. this coast lasts as far as cape fasalhat, which is xxv leagues from xeher, between north-east and east, where the kingdom and rule of the king of ormuz begins. at this cape there is a fortress which the king of ormuz holds there which is called cor: and from there the coast begins to bend inwards towards ormuz. kingdom of ormuz. after passing this cape of fasalhat along the coast to the north-east, there are many towns and castles of the kingdom of ormuz in arabia, fifty leagues to the north-east, and then twenty-five leagues to the east, and as much again to the north-east and north, and then it makes a bay to the north-west for twelve leagues, and turns to the north-east twenty-five leagues as far as cape refalcate,[69] and then it turns to the north-west, making bays until madea, which are eighty-six leagues off, and from there it trends to the north-east by north thirty leagues until cape mocondon,[70] which is at the mouth of the sea of persia, which is twelve leagues in width, and on this sea also further on, this rule and lordship continue to extend, and there are in it many towns and forts; and islands which are in the midst of the said sea of persia, inhabited by moors. these places belonging to this kingdom are the following. in the beginning of this kingdom on the coast outside of this sea of persia, is:-first calhat,[71] a very large town of handsome houses, and well situated; the inhabitants are rich nobles and merchants: it is forty-four leagues from cape fasalhat. thirty-two leagues further on there is another small place called tybi, which has good water with which the ships navigating all this coast provide themselves. twenty-five leagues further on is another small place called daxnia, also a seaport. thirty leagues further on is another large place which is a very good town of much trade in merchandise, which is called curiat,[72] in which, as well as in the others in the neighbourhood, there is plenty of meat, wheat, dates, and other fruit in abundance: there are plenty of horses, which are bred in the country, and they are very good, and the moors of ormuz come to buy them for exportation to india. leaving this town of curiat, at twelve leagues along the coast is another place with a fortress which is called sar,[73] which the king of ormuz keeps there. having doubled the cape of resalcate, the coast turns to the sea of persia. forty leagues further on from this cape is another town upon the coast itself called mazquate. it is a large town, and of very honourable people, and of much trade in merchandise, and a place of great fisheries: they catch large fish there, which they export dried and salted to other parts. going along the coast further on to the sea of persia there is at a distance of ten leagues another place called sohar.[74] leaving this town of sohar, further inland from the coast, at fourteen leagues off is another fortress of the king of ormuz called rosach; and with these fortresses this king is better able to keep all this country in subjection. having passed the fortress of rosach, there is another fortress called nahel twelve leagues off. twelve leagues further on is another place they call madeha; it is a small place, of few inhabitants, inside the mouth of the sea of persia, thirty leagues to the south-west.[75] further on, there is a large place of many inhabitants called corfasan,[76] around which and the other neighbouring places are many very agreeable country houses belonging to the chief men and most honoured of the moors of ormuz, who come during certain months of the year there to repose, and to collect their provisions, and enjoy their fruit. fifteen leagues further on there is another place on the coast, called dadena. as much again further on to the south-west, another place called daba. further on, on the coast to the south-west by west, at a distance of lxxxv leagues, is another very large town called julfar,[77] where there are many very respectable people, and many merchants and sailors. and there they fish up many large pearls and seed pearls, which the merchants of the city of ormuz come there to buy, to carry them to india and other parts. this place is one of much trade, and produces a great deal to the king of ormuz. further along the coast of the persian sea, in the before-mentioned inner part, are three other places belonging to the king of ormuz: raçolhiman,[78] which is a good town, at a distance of twenty-four leagues, and another beyond this, called melquehoan,[79] and six leagues further on there is a fortress called calba,[80] which the king maintains to defend his country from the bedouins, who live in the interior of the country, and who are governed by sheikhs; and at times they go against these towns of the kingdom of ormuz, and make war upon them, and sometimes they make them rebel against the king. this king of ormuz possesses, besides these places already mentioned, on the coast of arabia, many other towns in the country of persia, on the sea-coast, and in the midst of the persian sea many islands inhabited by moors, in which he has many large towns, very rich and handsome, all of which are named separately further on, and afterwards the island and city of ormuz and its customs are mentioned. on this coast the king of ormuz has a town called baha,[81] in which he maintains his governors. having passed this place, further along the coast is another place called dexar. further on another place called xahen. further on another place called ygun.[82] further on another place called el-guadun. further on another place called nabani,[83] from which place they carry much water to drink to ormuz, because there is no drinkable water there; and from this and all those other places they carry to ormuz all its supplies. further on is another place called guan-meda, and from there further on there are also some other places belonging to the king of ormuz, which are the following--lefete, quesebi,[84] and from here further on the coast turns to the north-west by north as far as the mouth of the river eufrates, and it begins here to be a wide estuary. berohu,[85] caljar, xuza, mohimasim,[86] lima,[87] gorbaz, alguefa, carmon.[88] which lasts two hundred and forty leagues, and then bazera, a castle of sophi. at the entrance of the river eufrates the land turns to the sea in a southerly direction eighty leagues, and then returns as much again to the north, and after that turns again to the south, when there begin these towns--cohomo, barque guex,[89] ganguan, basido,[90] goxtaque, conch, conga, ebrahemi,[91] and as far as this there are one hundred and sixty-five leagues, and after that xenase,[92] menahao xamile, leytam, bamtani, doani,[93] and from this point the coast trends to the east for a distance of thirty leagues as far as lorom.[94] between these places there are many large towns with much trade, and very respectable inhabitants, and great merchants; and many castles, which the king of ormuz maintains for the defence of his country, and they are all on the coast of the persian sea. they are places abundantly supplied with meat and wheaten bread, barley, vines, and all other things which are found in our parts, and many dates; and the inhabitants of these towns are white, and very polite people; they dress in long clothes of silk and cotton stuffs and camelots; and this is a very rich country. the islands of the kingdom of ormuz. in the mouth of this sea of persia there are the following islands belonging to the king of ormuz. cuyx, andrany,[95] baxeal, _quiro_,[96] _lar_,[97] cojar,[98] tomon,[99] _firror_ guolar, melugan,[100] gory, queximi,[101] baharem.[102] these two islands of queximi and baharem are large; and queximi has eight inhabited towns and has plenty of provisions. baharem has a large town of many moors, important and honourable personages. and it is distant from lorom to the north-east xxxiv leagues, and to the island of queximi fifty leagues of channel; and between it and the mainland from two to four leagues; and after that the coast turns between north-east and east, until the island of ormuz for xxxv leagues, of which island mention is made lower down.[103] merchants from many parts reside in this island, and it is situated in the middle of this sea, and many ships with great merchandise sail to it; and here and in the neighbourhood much seed pearl and many pearls are produced, and they fish them on the island itself, from which there is a great profit to the inhabitants; and the king draws from this island and from all the others large revenues. the merchants of ormuz go to this island of baharem to buy the pearls and seed pearl for india and other parts where they find it profitable, and for the kingdom of narsinga; and also those of persia and arabia go there to buy them, and in all this sea of persia these pearls are found, but not in such quantity as in this island of baharem. country of sheikh ismail. after passing these countries along the coast of persia, there are many towns, places, and villages of the moors, very handsome and rich enough. from here further on it is no longer the country of the king of ormuz, but belongs to other lords, of whom we do not possess so much information, except that xeque yzmael[104] subjugates and governs them. he is a moor, and a young man, who in a short time has subjugated these parts, and a great part of persia and arabia, and many kingdoms and lordships of the moors, not being a king nor the son of a king, except that he was only a sheikh of the house and lineage of aly, the brother-in-law[105] of mahomed; and, being poor, he united with other young moors, and they took up the habit of going without clothes, which is a custom amongst them; they abandoned their property, honours, and clothes, and only covered themselves with skins of goats, and leopards, and deer with the fur, which many are in the habit of carrying, and they mark their arms and breasts with many scars of burns; and they carry heavy iron chains, and in their hands some weapons, different from those of other people, such as small battle-axes of much workmanship, and iron maces; they go as pilgrims, and do not sustain themselves except by alms; and to such people, wherever they go, much honour and entertainment is shown by the other moors; and they always go shouting and crying out in the villages the name of mahomet. so this sheikh ismail took this habit, and determined to shout and cry out for aly, whilst he took no heed of mahomed. many people began to collect round him, so that he began soon to take towns and to grant property to the persons who flocked to him, and were with him at a conquest; and, in case they took nothing, he decided on making some hoods of scarlet wool, of ample dimensions, and ordering them to be worn by the persons who followed him;[106] thus he collected many people, and with them he went on taking many towns, and making war in many parts; and he did not choose to be called king, but the leveller of property, who took from those who had much, and gave to those who had little; neither did he choose to rest in any place. but all that he conquered he gave away and distributed to those who followed and obeyed him; whenever he found any very rich people whose riches did not profit any one, he took them away and distributed them amongst honourable people and the poor; and to the owners of the property he left a share equal to that which he gave to each one of the others; this he did many times, on which account they called him the equaller. this king sent ambassadors to all the moorish kings to persuade them to wear those coloured hoods, and if they did not choose to accept them, he sent to challenge them, and to say that he would come against them, to take their country, and make them believe in aly. he sent this embassy to the great sultan of cairo and to the grand turk, who gave him a hostile answer and made a league against him. as soon as sheikh ismail saw their answers he determined to go against the grand turk, and he went against him with large forces, horse and foot, and the turk came out to receive him, and they had a great battle,[107] in which the grand turk was the conqueror, on account of the quantity of artillery which he brought with him, which sheikh ismail did not bring, and he only fought with his men with the strength of their arms. they killed there many of his people, and he took to flight, and the turk followed him, killing many of his troops, until he left him within persia, when he returned thence to turkey. this was the first time that this sheikh ismail was routed, for which he said that he wished to return to turkey with greater power and provided with artillery. this king ruled over a part of babilonia, and armenia, and persia, and a large part of arabia, and of india, near to the kingdom of cambay. his design was to get into his hands the house of mekkah. this sheikh sent an embassy with many presents to the captain of the king of portugal, who was exercising his functions in india, and asked him to agree to peace and friendship. and the portuguese captain-major received this embassy and presents, and in return sent another embassy.[108] at the extremity of this sea of persia there is, as has been said, a fortress called basera, inhabited by moors, in subjection to sheikh ismail, at which there comes out from the mainland to the sea a very large and beautiful river of good fresh water, which is called frataha.[109] this is said to be one of the four rivers which flow out of the terrestrial paradise, which river is the eufrates, and these moors say it has sixty thousand branches, and that one of the principal ones comes out at the kingdom of dahulcino, in which is the first india, which we call the river indus; and the river ganges is the other branch, which comes out in the second india to the sea; and the nile, which is another branch, which comes through the country of prester john, and waters cairo.[110] island and city of ormuz. on coming out of the sea and strait of persia, in its mouth there is a small island, in which is the city of ormuz, which is small and very handsome, and with very pretty houses, lofty, of stone, whitewash, and mortar, covered with terraces, and because the country is very hot, they have fans made in such a manner that they make the air come from their summits to the lower part of the houses and rooms. it is a very well situated town, which has very good streets and squares. outside of this city, in the island itself, there is a small mountain, which is entirely of rock salt and sulphur; this salt is in great lumps, and very white and good: they call it indian salt, because nature produces it there; and the ships which come there from all parts take this salt as ballast, because in all other parts it is worth much money. the inhabitants of this island and city are persians and arabs, and they speak arabic and another language which they call persian. they are very white, and good-looking people, of handsome bodies, both men and women; and there are amongst them black and coloured people also, who are from the country of arabia. and the persians, who are very white, are fat and luxurious people, who live very well. they are very voluptuous, and have musicians with various instruments. there are among them very rich merchants, and many ships, because they have a good port, and they trade in many kinds of goods, which are imported there from many parts, and exported thence to other parts of india. they bring there all sorts of spices, drugs, precious stones, and other goods, such as pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, long pepper, aloes-wood, sandal-wood, brasil-wood, balsam, tamarinds, indian saffron, beeswax, iron, sugar, rice, cocoa-nuts, rubies, sapphires, giagonzas,[111] amethysts, topazes, chrysolites, hyacinths, porcelain, benzoin; and upon all these goods much money is made, and many stuffs from the kingdom of cambay, chaul, dabul, and bengala, which are called sinabasos, chautars, mamonas, dugasas, soranatis, which are kinds of stuffs of cotton very much valued amongst them for caps and shirts, which are much made use of by the arabs and persians, and people of cairo, aden, and alexandria. they also bring to this city of ormuz, quicksilver, vermillion, rose-water, brocade and silk stuffs, scarlet woollens, coarse camelots, and silk. and from china and catuy they bring to this city by land much fine silk in skeins, and very rare musk and rhubarb;[112] and they bring from babilonia very fine torquoises, and some emeralds, and very fine lapis lazuli from acar. and from baharem and julfar they bring much seed pearl and large pearls, and many horses from arabia and persia, of which they carry away to india every year as many as five or six hundred, and at times a thousand; and the ships which export these horses load much salt, dates, and raisins, and sulphur, and of the other goods which the indians are pleased with. these moors of ormuz are very well dressed, with very white, long, and fine cotton shirts, and their fine drawers[113] of cotton, and above that, very rich silk clothes and camelots, scarlet cloth, and very rich gauzes, with which they wrap their waists[114], and they wear in their girdles daggers and knives, ornamented with gold and silver, and some heavy short swords, all adorned with gold and silver, according to the rank of the wearers: and large round shields, richly garnished with silk, and in their hands they carry turkish bows, painted with gold and very pretty colours, and their cords are of silk. these bows are of stiff wood and of buffaloe's horn; they carry very far, and these people are very good archers; their arrows are slender and well worked. others carry in their hands iron maces, well wrought and elegant; others again, battle-axes of various patterns and of very good temper, and inlaid or enamelled.[115] they are very agreeable and polite people, and very civil in their mutual relations. their food is of very good meats, very well cooked, wheaten bread, and very good rice, and many other dishes very well prepared, and many kinds of conserves, and preserved fruits, and others fresh: that is to say, apples, pomegranates, peaches, apricots, figs, almonds, melons, radishes, salads, and all the other things which there are in spain; dates of many kinds, and other eatables and fruits not used in our parts. they drink wine of grapes in secret, because their law forbids it them; and the water which they drink is flavoured with pistachio nuts, and set to cool, for which purpose they employ and seek many methods for cooling and preserving it cool. and all the noblemen and honourable merchants always take, wherever they go, both in the streets and public places, and on the road, a page with a bottle of water, which is covered underneath with silver, or with a silver cup, as much for state and show as for use and comfort. all these people possess gardens and farms, to which they go to enjoy themselves for some months of the year.[116] this city of ormuz is, as has been said, very rich and well supplied with everything in the way of provisions, but everything is very dear, because it is brought by sea from the towns of arabia and persia, for in the island there is nothing that can be made use of except salt; neither have they water to drink, for they bring it each day in boats from the mainland or other neighbouring islands. but for all that, the squares are full of all sorts of things, and everything is sold by weight, and with great order and regulation. and they give a very proper punishment to whoever falsifies the weights or sells above the regulation price; and they also sell cooked and roasted meat by weight, and so with all other cooked victuals; and all these so well arranged and so clean that many people do not have cooking done in their houses, but eat in the squares. the king is always in this city of ormuz, in which he has some beautiful palaces, and a fortress, where he has his residence, and where he keeps his treasury; and there he holds all his court, and out of it provides governors or judges for all his states and lordships. but it is his council that does everything; and he does not meddle with any affair, but only amuses himself, neither would it have been in his power to do otherwise; for if he wished to govern in person, and wished to be free and exempt like other kings, immediately they would put his eyes out, and would put him in a house with his wife, and maintain him there miserably; and they would raise up another son of his as king, or some one else more fitting for it, of his lineage, in order that his council may govern all his kingdoms and territories peacefully in his name. and with respect to all the other heirs of the kingdom, as they grow up and become persons able to command and govern, if it should appear to the council that they desire to meddle with the government, they take them and put their eyes out also, and put them also in a house; so that there are always ten or twelve of these blind men, and those who reign live with this fear before them.[117] they give food there to them and to their wives and children. this king has many men-at-arms, and many gentlemen who guard and serve him, and they receive very good pay and rations, and are always at the court with their arms; and they send some to the frontiers on the mainland whenever they are required. they make gold and silver money in this city; the gold coins are called sarafin, and are worth three hundred maravedis, and most of them are halves, which are worth a hundred and fifty, a round coin like ours,[118] and with moorish letters on both sides, and about the size of a fanon of calicut, with moorish letters, and it is worth fifty-five maravedis; they call these tanga, and they are of very fine silver, and of the standard of twelve dinars.[119] there is a large quantity of this money, both gold and silver, and much of it goes out to india, where it has much currency. there came a portuguese fleet to this kingdom of ormuz, and its captain-major was alfonso de alborquerque, who attempted to come to an understanding with this kingdom of ormuz, but the moors would not agree, and on that account this captain began to make war upon the whole kingdom at all the seaports, and he did them much injury, and at last he came and touched at the port of ormuz with his fleet, and there was a great battle there, with many and great ships full of many and smart well-armed men. and the said captain routed the fleet of the moors, and killed many of them, and sunk many of their ships, and took and burned many which were moored in the harbour, drawn up by the wall of the city. and when the king and the governors of the country saw such great destruction of their people and ships, without being able to assist them, they offered peace to the before-mentioned captain, who accepted it under the condition that they should let him make a fortress at one extremity of the city; and they agreed, and this began to be done; and the work having commenced, the moors repented again, and did not choose that more should be built; and then the portuguese began again to make war upon them, and they did them so great damage, and slaughtered so many people, that they made them tributary to the king of portugal to the amount of fifteen thousand serafins of gold each year. some years from that time the king and governors of ormuz sent an ambassador with offers of services and letters to the king of portugal, and the before-named captain returned with his answer and a good fleet to the city of ormuz,[120] and there they received him very peacefully in this city, and at once gave him permission and a place in which to built the fortress, which on a former occasion the portuguese had begun to build: and he ordered it to be built at once, very large and magnificent. at this time the king, who was a moor, and very young, and in the power of the governors, and so ruined that he did not dare do anything of himself, found the means to inform the captain-major secretly of the little liberty he enjoyed, and that the governors kept him like a prisoner, and that they had forcibly taken the government which belongs to others who were accustomed to exercise it, and that it appeared that they were exchanging letters with sheikh ismail in order to give him the kingdom. the captain-major kept this very secret, and determined to have an interview with the king; and they agreed that this interview should be in some large houses near the sea. on the day on which the interview was to take place, the captain-major entered the houses with ten or fifteen captains, leaving his people well arranged, and all concerted as was most convenient. so the king and his principal governor came there with many people, and the king and the governor entered the houses with ten or twelve honourable moors, and the door was well shut and guarded. then the captain-major ordered them to kill the governor[121] with their daggers in his presence and that of the king: and he said to the king, "have no fear, sir, for i do this to make you absolute king." however those who were without heard the noise, and began to raise a disturbance, that it to say, the relations, servants, and friends of the said governor, who were many in number, and all came armed, so that it was necessary for the captain-major to take the king by the hand; they went up on to the roof, both of them armed, in order that the king might speak thence to the moors, and might pacify them; so he spoke to them, but could do nothing with them. they, on the contrary, required that he should confide to them his brother and lord: and they went thence to establish themselves in the king's palace, saying they would make another king. the captain-major wished to lay hands upon them, and thus they remained a great part of the day, and the king sought how to turn them out, and the captain-major determined to kill them by force or to drive them out, as they did not choose to go out of the fortress. so when the moors saw that the captain-major, with the king, was determined to attack them, they resolved to give the fortress to the king; and when they gave it up, the king commanded that they should be banished immediately, they and their families; and this was done, and they went to the mainland. the captain-major conducted the king from these houses to the palace in triumph and honourably, and with many people, both of ours and of his, and entrusted him to the other governor who was so before. he then committed to him his palaces and the city very freely, and told the governor to serve the king very honourably, and to leave him to govern his country at his pleasure, and only give him advice, as happens with other moorish kings: and thus he put him at liberty. he then left in the fortress that was built a captain and many men of portugal, and ships, in order to favour this king, who does nothing without the advice of the captain of the fort. and he is in submission to the king of portugal, with all his kingdoms and territories. after the captain-major had put everything in quiet and order, and under his command, he then had banished by the public crier, and turned out of the island all the paiderastoi, with a warning that if they returned there again they would be burned, at which the king showed great satisfaction. he likewise ordered all the blind kings who were in the city to be taken, and there were thirteen or fourteen of them, and put in a large ship, and he sent them to india, and they were landed at goa, where he gave orders for them to be maintained at the expense of his revenues, so that they might end their days there, and not cause any disturbance in the kingdom of ormuz, and be in peace and quietness. diulcindi. leaving the kingdom of ormuz, from the mouth of the sea of persia the coast goes to the south-east for a hundred and seventy-two leagues as far as diulcinde,[122] entering the kingdom of ulcinde,[123] which is between persia and india. it is a kingdom, and has a moorish king over it, and most of the inhabitants of the country are moors, and there are some gentiles subject to the moors. this king has an extended rule over the country in the interior, and few seaports. they have many horses. on the eastern side this country is bounded by the kingdom of cambay, and on the west by persia. it is in obedience to sheikh ismail. the moors are white and coloured; they have a language of their own, and also speak that of the persians and of arabia. there is much wheat and barley in this country, and plenty of meat. it is a level country, with little timber. they make little practice of navigating the sea; they possess extensive sea-beaches, where there are great fisheries, and they catch large fish, which they dry and salt, both for consumption in the country and for exportation in small vessels to other kingdoms. in this country they give dried fish to their horses to eat. a few ships which sail to this country from india, bring rice, sugar, and some spices, timber, planks, and indian canes, which are as thick as a man's leg. and in all this trade they make much money; and from this place they carry away cotton, horses, and cloth. a great river comes into the sea through this kingdom; it comes through the middle of persia, and they say that it comes out of the river eufrates. along this river there are many large and rich towns of moors. it is a very fertile and fruitful land, and very abundant in provisions. kingdom of guzerat, in india. leaving the kingdom of ulcinde, in the same direction, at a distance of fifty leagues, the traveller enters the first[124] india, in the great kingdom of guzarat, which kingdom had belonged to king darius. and the indians have long histories of him and of king alexander. this kingdom has many cities and towns in the interior of the country, as well as ports along the sea; and very much shipping. it has many merchants and shipowners, both moors and gentiles. the king, and the men-at-arms, and nobles of the country were all gentiles formerly, and now they are moors, since the moors conquered the country in war, and hold the gentiles subject to them, and molest them and treat them ill. there are three qualities of these gentiles, that is to say, some are called razbutes, and they, in the time that their king was a gentile, were knights, the defenders of the kingdom, and governors of the country; they used to carry on war, and even now there remain some towns of them in the mountains, which have never chosen to pay obedience to the moors, but, on the contrary, make war upon them; and the king of cambaya is not sufficiently powerful to destroy them or subject them. they are very good knights and great archers, and they have many other kinds of arms with which they defend themselves from the moors, without owning any king or lord to govern them. the others are called banians, and are merchants and traders. these live amongst the moors, and trade with them in their goods. they are men who do not eat meat nor fish, nor anything that has life; neither do they kill anything, nor like to see it killed, because their idolatry forbids it them; and they observe this to such an extreme that it is something marvellous. for it often happens that the moors bring them some worms or little birds alive, saying they intend to kill them in their presence; and they ransom them, and buy them to set them flying, and save their lives for more money than they are worth. and in the same way, if the governor of the country has got a man to be executed, these banians unite together and buy him from the officers of justice, that he may not die; and frequently they sell him to them. and in the same manner the moors who beg for alms, when they want alms from these people, take great stones and strike themselves with them on the shoulders and the breast, and on their stomachs, as if they were going to kill themselves with them, and they receive alms not to do it, and to go away in peace. and others bring knives and stab themselves in the arms and legs before them, in order to extract alms; and others come to their doors to decapitate rats and snakes and other reptiles, and they give them money not to do it, so that they are very ill-treated by the moors. if these people meet with a band of ants in the road, they hasten out of the road, and go and look for a place to pass without treading upon them. they likewise sup in the daytime because they do not light candles at night, in order that the mosquitoes and other insects may not come and die in the flame; and if of necessity they must have a candle, they keep them in lanterns of paper, or of stuff dipped in gum, so that no living thing can get there to suffer. if these people have lice they do not kill them, and if they worry them very much, they send to fetch some men whom they have amongst them, also gentiles, whom they esteem of holy lives, like hermits, and who live in much abstinence for the love of their idols, and these people pick out their insects, and all those that they extract they put in their own heads, and they nourish them on themselves and on their flesh for the service of their idols. and so this law of not killing anything is held in great observance. on the other hand, they are great usurers and falsifiers of weights and measures, and merchandise, and coin; and liars and cheats. these gentiles are brown people, well built and of good proportions, smart in their dress, and delicate and temperate in their food. their victuals are milk, butter, sugar, rice, preserves of many kinds, many fruits, bread, vegetables, and field herbs; they all have gardens and orchards wherever they live, and many pools of water where they bathe twice every day, both men and women; and having ended their washing, they hold the belief that they are pardoned for all the sins which they have committed up to that time. they wear the hair very long like the women in spain, and they wear it gathered on the top of the head, and made into a band which is much adorned, and upon this a cap to fasten it; and they always wear many flowers stuck into their hair, and sweet smelling things. they also anoint themselves with white sandal mixed with saffron and other scents; they are much given to fall in love. they go bare, only covering themselves from the waist downwards with very rich silk stuffs; they wear embroidered shoes of very good leather, well worked, and some short silk skirts, and other short ones of cotton, with which they cover their bodies. they do not carry arms, only some small knives garnished with gold and silver, for two reasons: one because they are persons who make little use of arms, the other because the moors forbid it to them. they use many ear-rings of gold and jewellery in the ears, and many rings, and belts of gold and jewellery upon the cloths with which they gird themselves. the women of these gentiles have very pretty, delicate faces, and well made bodies, a little dark. their dress is silk stuff like their husbands' as far as the feet, and jackets[125] with narrow sleeves of silk stuff, open at the shoulders, and other silk cloths with which they cover themselves in the manner of morisco almalafas; their heads bare, the hair gathered up upon the head; they wear thick ankle rings of gold and silver on the legs, and rings on their toes, and large coral beads on their arms, with beads of gold filigree, and gold and silver bracelets; and round their necks, necklaces of gold and jewellery, fitting closely; they have large holes pierced in their ears, and in them rings of gold or silver large enough for an egg to pass through them. they are modest women, and when they go out of their houses they are much covered up with their wraps over their heads. the other set of people are called bramans, and are priests and the persons who administer and direct the idolatry; they have very large houses of prayer, some of them with revenues, others are maintained by alms. in these they keep many idols: some of stone, some of wood, and other of copper. in these houses and monasteries they always perform many ceremonies to their gods; they make feasts for them magnificently, with instruments and songs, and with many lights of oil, and they have bells in our fashion. these bramans have got images which represent the holy trinity: they pay much honour to the number three, and in trine make their adoration to god, whom they confess to be the true god, creator, and maker of all things, which are three things in one sole person; and they say that there are many other gods governed by him, in which they also believe. these bramans, wherever they find our churches, enter willingly into them, and adore our images; and they always ask for santa maria, our lady, like men who have some knowledge of her. and as they see our manner of honouring the churches, they say that there is no great difference between them and us. these bramans go bare from the waist upwards; they wear upon their shoulder a thread of three threads, which is a sign by which they are known to be bramans. they are men who also do not eat anything which receives death, nor do they kill anything. they hold it to be a great ceremony to wash their bodies, and say that they wash on that account. these bramans, and also the banians, marry in our fashion, with one woman only, and only once. they make great feasts at their weddings, which last many days, and there are many people assembled at these very well dressed and decked out. these festivities are magnificent. for the most part they are married when very young, both men and women, and on the day of the betrothal, and of the wedding, the couple are both of them seated on a platform,[126] very much bedizened with gold and jewellery and precious stones, and in front of them is a small table with an idol covered with flowers, and many lighted oil lamps all round it; and both of them have to remain there with their eyes fixed on that idol from the morning until the evening, without eating or drinking, or speaking to anybody during that time. the people make great rejoicings over them with their instruments and songs and dances; they let off many cannons, rockets and other fireworks to divert themselves. and if the husband dies the woman does not marry again, and so also does the husband should the wife die. and the children are his rightful heirs; and bramans must be sons of bramans, amongst whom there are some of a lower rank who serve as messengers and travellers, and they go in security to all parts without any one vexing them in any way. even if there should be war or thieves, they always pass safely. these are called _pater_. of the king and the lords of guzarat, which is of the kingdom of cambay. the king of guzarat is a great lord, both in revenue and people, and extensive and rich territory. he is a moor, as also are his men-at-arms, as has been said. he has a large court of many knights, and he is the lord of many horses and elephants, which are brought for sale to this kingdom from the country of malabar and ceylon. and with the horses and elephants he makes war upon the gentiles of the kingdom of guzarat who do not pay obedience to him, and upon some other kings with whom at times he is at war. and they make wooden castles on the top of the elephants, which hold four men, who carry bows and guns, and other weapons, and fight thence with the enemy. and the elephants are so well trained, that they know how to take part in the battle, and with their tusks wound the men and horses so severely, that in a very short time they put any array into confusion. but they are so timid, and subject to pain when wounded, that they take to flight at once, and put one another into confusion, and rout their own side. this king has four or five hundred of these at his residence, very large and fine. they buy them for one thousand five hundred ducats each, at the seaports where the malabars bring them for sale. and they make war much with the horses bred in the country, for it has a wonderful quantity; and the moors and gentiles of this kingdom are bold riders, ride small saddles,[127] and use whips. they carry very thick round shields, edged with silk, and two swords each man, a dagger, and a turkish bow, with very good arrows; and some carry steel maces, and many of them coats of mail, and others tunics quilted with cotton. and the horses have housings and steel head pieces, and so they fight very well and are light in their movements; and they are so supple in their saddles that they can play on horseback at the choga[128] or at any other game. they have amongst them the game of the jerid, as in spain. these moors are white, and of many countries: both turks and mamelukes, arabs, persians, khorasanys, turkomans, and from the great kingdom of dily, and others born in the country itself. these people come together there on account of the country being very rich, and well supplied; and the king gives good pay and rations, and regularly paid. these people are very well dressed, with very rich stuffs of gold, silk, cotton, and goats' wool, and all wear caps on their heads, and their clothes long, such as morisco shirts and drawers, and leggings to the knee of good thick leather, worked with gold knots and embroidery; and their swords are borne in their girdles, or in the hands of their pages. they are richly ornamented with gold and silver. their women are very white and pretty, also very richly decked out. they may marry as many as they like and are able to maintain, to honour the sect of mahomed; and so there are many of them who have three or four or five wives, and of all of them they have sons and daughters. and these moors of cambay speak many languages, that is to say, arabic, persian, turkish,[129] and guzaraty. they eat wheaten bread, rice, meat of all kinds, leaving aside pork, which is against their law. they are luxurious people, who live well and spend much money. they always go with their heads shaved, and the women with very fine hair. when they go out of their houses, they go on horses, or in cars, and so covered up that nobody can see them. they are very jealous men, and can unmarry themselves when they please, on paying to the wife a certain sum of money (which is promised when they marry them), if at any time they repent of it; and the women have also the same liberty. this king of cambay has been king since a short time only, and his father was called sultan mahomed, who was brought up from a child and nourished with poison, for his father desired that he should so be brought up in order that it should not be possible to kill him with poison; for the moorish kings of these parts often have one another killed by poison. and this king began to eat it in such a small quantity that it could not do him any harm, and from that he went on increasing this kind of food in such manner that he could eat a great quantity of it; for which cause he became so poisonous that if a fly settled on his hand it swelled and immediately fell dead. and many wives with whom he slept died at once of his poison, which he was unable to leave off eating, for he feared if he did not use it, to die soon after; as we see by experience with the opium which the indians eat, for if they leave off eating it they die immediately, that is, if they begin as children to eat it in such a small quantity that it can do them no harm, for some length of time, and then increasing the quantity by degrees until they remain accustomed to it. this anfion is cold in the fourth degree, and on account of being so cold it kills. we call it opio, and the women of india when they wish to kill themselves in any case of dishonour or of despair, eat it with oil of sesame, and so die sleeping without feeling death. city of champaver.[130] this king possesses great cities in his kingdom, and especially the city of champaver, where he resides continually, with all his court. this city is to the north of guzerat, eighty leagues inland. it is a very fertile country: of abundant provisions, wheat, barley, millet, rice, peas and other vegetables, and many cows, sheep, goats, and plenty of fruit, so that it is very full of all things; and it has in its neighbourhood many hunting grounds, and deer and other animals, and winged game. and this country possesses dogs and falcons for the chase, and tame leopards for hunting all sorts of game. and the king for his pastime keeps many animals of all kinds, which they send to find and bring up. this king sent a ganda[131] to the king of portugal, because they told him that he would be pleased to see her. andavat. leaving this city and going further inland there is another city called andavat, which is larger than the said city of champaver, and it is very rich, and well supplied. the former kings used always to reside in this city. these towns are walled, and embellished with good streets and squares, and houses of stone and whitewash, with roofs in our fashion; and they have large courts, and much water in wells and pools. they make use of horses, donkeys, mules, camels and carts, and have fine rivers, with plenty of fresh water fish, and many orchards and gardens. there are also in this kingdom, inland, many cities, towns and villages, in which the king keeps his governors and collectors of his revenue. if these commit a fault he summons them, and after having heard them he bids them drink a cup of poison, with which anyone dies immediately; and in this way he chastises them, so that they are in great fear of him. patemxi. the places which this king has on the sea coast are these. firstly, leaving the kingdom of ulcinde for india at a distance of thirty-seven leagues, is a river, on the shore of which there is a great city called patemxi, a good seaport, very rich, and of great trade. in this city many silk stuffs are made, coloured with much embroidery, which are used over the whole of india, malacca, bengal, and also many cotton stuffs. to this port come many indian ships laden with cocoa nuts, sugar of palms which they call xagara[132], and from there they carry away a great quantity of cloth and much cotton, horses, wheat, and vegetables, by which much money is made. their voyage, with the delays, is of four months. suratimangalor. passing by this city, further on the coast to the east and south, at fifteen leagues distance, there is another town of commerce, which has a very good port, and is called suratimangalor, where also many ships from malabar touch, for horses, wheat, rice, cotton cloths, vegetables and other goods which are of use in india. and they bring cocoa nuts, hurraca[133] (which is something to drink), emery, beeswax, cardamums, and all sorts of spices, in which trade and voyage great profit is made in a short time. duy. fifty leagues further along the coast, towards the south, there is a promontory, and joining close to it is a small island, which contains a very large and fine town, which the malabars call diuixa[134], and the moors of the country call it diu. it has a very good harbour, and is a port of much trade in merchandise, and of much shipping from malabar, baticala, goa dabul and cheul; and the people of diu sail to aden, mekkah, zeyla, barbara, magadoxo, brava, melinde, mombaza, xer[135], ormuz, and all parts of the kingdom. and the malabars bring hither rice, cocoa nuts, jagara, wax, emery, iron, and sugar from baticala, and all the spices that can be got in india and malacca; and from chaul and dabul they bring a large quantity of cotton stuffs, which they call _beyranies_, and caps for women, which are carried from this place to arabia and persia. and they load at this port for the return voyage cotton cloths of the country and silk stuffs, horses, wheat, vegetables, sesame, cotton, oil of sesame, and opium, both that which comes there from aden, and that which is made in the kingdom of cambay, which is not so fine as that of aden; and they export many coarse camlets and silk stuffs made in this kingdom of cambay, and thick carpets,[136] taffeta, scarlet cloth, and of other colours. they also export the spices and things brought to them from india, by the people of the country, to aden, ormuz, and all parts of arabia and persia, so that this town is the chief emporium of trade which exists in all these parts. this town gives such a large sum of money as revenue to the king, for the loading and unloading of such rich goods, that it is a subject of marvel and amazement; for they also bring to it from mekkah much coral, copper, quicksilver, vermillion, lead, alum, madder, rose-water, saffron, and much gold and silver coined and uncoined. the king keeps a moorish governor in this place called melquiaz; an old man, and a very good gentleman, discreet, industrious, and of great information, who lives with great order and regularity in all his affairs. he makes much artillery, and has many rowing barges, very well arranged, small and very light, which are called talayas.[137] he has had constructed in the port a very strong and fine bulwark, in which he has very good artillery, with many lombards,[138] and he always keeps with him many men-at-arms, to whom he pays very good appointments. they are very well armed. he is always on his guard, and is very apprehensive of the power of the king of portugal.[139] he shows great honour and attention to the ships and people of portugal who come to his port. the people of his country are kept in very good order, and governed with much justice and good treatment; he dispenses many favours and presents to voyagers and strangers in his country. a large fleet of the great sultan[140] of sailing ships and row galleys arrived at this port, well equipped, with large crews and a good armament; its captain was emir hussein. he came to reinforce himself in this port with the assistance of the king of cambay and the before-mentioned governor meliquiaz, and from thence to go to calicut, to fight with the portuguese, and turn them out of india. he was for some time in the port making many preparations, and the portuguese fleet came there to seek for them, of which don francisco de almeyda, viceroy of india, was the captain major. and the moors put out to sea to meet them, and the two fleets fought in the entrance of this roadstead vigorously, and many people were killed and wounded on both sides; and at the end the moors were beaten and captured with great slaughter, and the portuguese took their ships and galleys, with all their arms and heavy artillery. they captured there many moors, and the said emir hussein escaped, and left his fleet to suffer as has been told; and when meliquiaz, who assisted and favoured them with his guard-boats and forces, saw the havoc, he at once sent messengers to the before-mentioned viceroy to seek peace of him, and he sent many provisions and refreshments and other presents as a sign of peace.[141] gogari. further on after this the coast begins to make a bend into cambay towards the north, in which bend are several seaports of the same king, and towns of great trade. one of these is guogari, at a distance of twenty-five leagues (from diu), which is a very large town and a good port, where they always load many ships from malabar and other parts of india; and many other ships bound for mekkah and aden. at this place all sorts of merchandise are dealt in, as at diu. barbesy. another is called barbesy, a seaport twelve leagues further on to the north, in which stretch of coast are several seaports of the king of cambay. all sorts of goods are traded in for all parts, and the dues upon them produce very much to the king, who has in each of these two places his custom houses, and all are well supplied with provisions. buendari. further on, to north-west by north, there is another place in the mouth of a small river which is called guendari, twenty leagues distant from barbesy. and it is a very good town, a seaport of the same trade, because further up that river is the great city of cambay. there arrived there many zambucos,[142] which are small vessels of the malabar country, with areca (nuts), spices, wax, sugar, cardamums, emery, ivory, and elephants:[143] and these goods are sold there very well. and from there they carry away cotton, sesame, thread, wheat, peas, horses, alaquequas, and many other goods. the navigation of these places is very dangerous, especially for ships with keels which draw much water, because in this gulf which the coast here makes, the ebb and flow is so great, that in a very short space of time the sea leaves uncovered four or five leagues of dry land, and in some places less; and it is expedient for those who go in there to take country pilots, because, when the tide runs down, they may know how to remain in pools of deep water[144] such as there are there, and sometimes they make mistakes and remain upon rocks, where they are lost. city of cambay. entering this river of guendari, to the north-east is the great city of cambay, inhabited by moors and gentiles. it is a very large city of handsome houses of stone and whitewash, very lofty, with windows, and covered with roofs in the spanish fashion; it has very good streets and squares, and is situated in a rich, fertile, and pretty country, full of abundant provisions. there are in it rich merchants and men of great property, both moors and gentiles; and there are many workmen and mechanicians of subtle workmanship of all sorts, after the fashion of flanders, and all very cheap. they make there many cloths of white cotton, fine and coarse, and other woven and coloured fabrics of all kinds; also many silk fabrics, of all kinds and colours; and camlets of silk and velvets of all colours, both smooth and fluffy, coloured tafetans, and thick alcatifas. the inhabitants of this city are all white, both men and women, and there are many people from outside living in it who are very white and very well dressed, and of luxurious lives, much given to pleasure and amusement. they are very much accustomed to wash themselves; they eat very well, and always go perfumed and anointed with sweet smelling things. they wear in their hair, both men and women, many jessamine and other flowers that grow amongst them. they have many musicians, and various kinds of instruments and songs. there are always carts with oxen and horses going about the city, of which they make use for everything; and they go in these with rich mattrasses, shut up and well fitted up with their windows, after the manner of cabins; furnished and ornamented with silk stuffs, and the seats within with cushions and pillows of silk and stamped kid skins:[145] and with their waggoners. men and women go in these to see amusements and diversions, or to visit their friends, or wherever they wish, without being known, and they see all that they wish. and they go singing and playing on instruments in these same waggons for their amusement. and these people possess many orchards and gardens, where they go to take their ease, and where they grow much fruit and vegetables for the sustenance of the gentiles, who do not eat meat nor flesh. in this city a very large quantity of ivory is employed in very delicate works, well known in commerce, like inlaid works of gold, and things made by turning, and handles of knives and daggers, bracelets, games of chess and chess-boards. there are also great artists with the turning lathe, who make large bedsteads, and they make beads of great size, brown, yellow, blue and coloured, which they export to all parts. there are also great lapidaries, and imitators of precious stones of all kinds, and makers of false pearls which seem real. so also there are very good silversmiths of very skilful workmanship. in this city they make very delicate cushions, and pretty ceilings (or canopies) of bedsteads, of delicate workmanship and paintings, and quilted clothes for wearing. there are many moorish women who produce very delicate needlework. they work there too in coral alaquequas and other stones. limadura. leaving this city of cambay there is a town inland called limadura, where there is a stone with which they make aquequas, for making beads for berberia. it is a stone white as milk, and has some red in it, and with fire they heighten the colour, and they extract it in large blocks. in these places there are great artists who manufacture and pierce these beads in various fashions, oval, octagonal, round, and of other shapes; and with this stone they make rings, buttons, and knife handles. and the cambay merchants go there to buy them, and they harden[146] them to take them away to sell in the red sea, from whence they are in the habit of arriving in our parts by way of cairo or alexandria: and they also carry them throughout all arabia, persia, and nubia, and now they take them to india, because our people buy them. they also find in this town much chalcedony, which they call _babagore_. they make beads with it, and other things which they wear about them, so that they touch the skin, as they say that it is good for chastity. these stones are of little value there, for there are many of them. ravel. returning to the towns on the sea, and passing gandar, to the east there is a good river twenty leagues further along the coast, and on this side of it there is a good town of the moors, called ravel,[147] built of very pretty houses and squares. it is a rich and agreeable place, because the moors of this town trade with their ships at malacca, bengal, tarvasery, pegu, martaban, and samatara, in all sorts of spices, drugs, silks, musk, benzoin, porcelain, and all other valuable merchandise. they possess very large and fine ships, so that those who would wish to get chinese articles, will find them there more completely than in any other part, and at very fair prices. the moors of this place are white and well dressed, and very rich. they have very pretty wives, and in the furniture[148] of their houses they have many china vases of different shapes, and they keep them in glass cupboards very well arranged. these women are not secluded like those of other moors and other places, but go about the city in the daytime attending to their business, with the face uncovered as in our parts. surati. having passed this river of ravel, at twenty leagues to the south is a city called surat, at the mouth of a river. this also is a city of very great trade, in all classes of merchandise. many ships of malabar and all other parts sail thither continually, and discharge and take in goods, because this is a very important seaport, and there are in it very vast quantities of merchandise. moors, gentiles, and all sorts of people live in this city. its custom-house, which they call the divana,[149] produces a very large revenue for the king of guzarat: and until now malaguioy, a gentile, commands in, and governs it, as lord of it. and he is the greatest nobleman in all india, and he gave orders to kill the king of guzerat for some gossip which they reported respecting him. denvy.[150] after leaving the town of surat, at ten leagues along the coast to the south, there is place called denvy, of moors and gentiles, also of great trade, where many merchant ships from malabar and many other parts always take in cargo. baxay. having passed this town of dendi, twenty leagues further on to the south[151] is another town of moors and gentiles, a good seaport, which also belongs to the king of guzarat, in which much goods are exchanged; and there is a great movement of the shipping which comes there from all parts, and many zambucs from the malabar country laden with areca, cocoas, and spices, which they delight in, and they take thence others which are used in malabar. tanamayambu. twenty-five leagues further on the coast is a fortress of the before named king, called tanamayambu, and near it is a moorish town, very pleasant, with many gardens, and very fertile--a town of very great moorish mosques, and temples of worship of the gentiles. it is nearly at the extremity of the kingdom of cambay or guzarat, and it is likewise a seaport, but of little trade. and there are in this port small vessels of rovers like watch boats, which go out to sea, and if they meet with any small ship less strong than themselves, they capture and plunder it, and sometimes kill their crews. kingdom of dacani. on coming out of this kingdom of guzarat and cambay, towards the south and the inner parts of india, is the kingdom of dacani, which the indians call decani. the king is a moor, and a large part of his people is gentile. he is a great lord, and possesses many subjects and an extensive territory, which stretches far inland. it has very good seaports, of great trade in the goods used on the mainland, and they are the following places: cheul. leaving the kingdom of cambay, along the coast towards the south, at eight leagues distance, there is a fine large river, and on it is a place called cheul,[152] not very large, of handsome houses, which are all covered with thatch. this place is one of great commerce in merchandise, and in the months of december, january, february and march there are many ships from the malabar country and all other parts, which arrive with cargoes. that is to say, those of malabar laden with cocoa nuts, arecas, spices, drugs, palm sugar, emery, and there they make their sales for the continent and for the kingdom of cambay; and the ships of cambay come there to meet them laden with cotton stuffs, and many other goods which are available in malabar, and these are bartered for the goods which have come from the malabar country. and on the return voyage they fill their ships with wheat, vegetables, millet, rice, sesame, oil of sesame, of which there is much in this country; and these malabars also buy many pieces of fine muslin[153] for women's head dress, and many beyranies, of which there are plenty in this kingdom. a large quantity of copper is sold in this port of cheul, and at a high price, for it is worth twenty ducats the hundred weight, or more, because in the interior money is made of it, and it is also used throughout the country for cooking pots. there is also a great consumption in this place of quicksilver and vermilion for the interior, and for the kingdom of guzarat, which copper, quicksilver and vermilion is brought to this place by the malabar merchants, who get it from the factories of the king of portugal; and they get more of it by way of the mekkah, which comes there from diu. these people wear the beyranies put on for a few days nearly in the raw state, and afterwards they bleach them and make them very white, and gum them to sell them abroad, and thus some are met with amongst them which are torn. in this port of chaul there are few inhabitants, except during three or four months of the year, the time for putting in cargo, when there arrive merchants from all the neighbourhood, and they make their bargains during this period, and despatch their goods, and after that return to their homes until the next season, so that this place is like a fair in those months. there is a moorish gentleman as governor of this place, who is a vassal of the king of decani, and collects his revenues, and accounts to him for them. he is called xech, and does great service to the king of portugal, and is a great friend of the portuguese, and treats very well all those that go there, and keeps the country very secure. in this place there is always a portuguese factor appointed by the captain and factor of goa, in order to send from this place provisions and other necessaries, to the city of goa, and to the portuguese fleets; and at a distance of about a league inland from cheul is a place where the moors and gentiles of the cities and towns throughout the country come to set up their shops of goods and cloths at cheul during the before-mentioned months; they bring these in great caravans of domestic oxen, with packs like donkeys, and on the top of these long white sacks placed crosswise, in which they bring their goods; and one man drives thirty or forty beasts before him. damda. having passed this place, cheul, at twelve leagues further on along the coast to the south towards malabar is another town and seaport, also belonging to the kingdom of dacani, called damda; where there enter and go out many moorish ships, both guzaratis and malabaris, with cloth and other goods, as at cheul. mandabad. five leagues further on is a river called mandabad, on which is a town of moors and gentiles, of the same kingdom of decani; likewise a seaport. many ships from various parts congregate at this harbour to buy stuffs, particularly from the malabar country. and they bring there many cocoa-nuts, arecas, and also a few spices, copper and quicksilver: for the merchants of the country buy all these goods. dabul. having left this place, mandabad, and going along the coast to malabar and the south, at eight leagues distance is another fine large river, at the mouth of which is a large town of moors and gentiles, belonging to the same kingdom of decani. it is called dabul,[154] and in the mouth of the river near this same town there is a rampart, with artillery to defend the entrance of the river. this town of dabul has a very good harbour, where there always congregate many moorish ships from various parts, and especially from mekkah, aden, and ormuz with horses, and from cambay, diu, and the malabar country. it is a place of very great trade in all sorts of merchandise; there are in it very respectable moors and gentiles, and guzarati merchants. much copper, quicksilver, and vermilion is sold here for the interior of the country: a great quantity of country fabrics are brought to this town down the river for embarcation in the ships, and also much wheat and vegetables of all sorts. the custom-house of this port produces much money, and the collectors take the dues there for the lord of the town. and this town is pretty and well situated, but its houses are covered with thatch, and it also has very beautiful mosques. higher up this river, on either bank there are many pretty towns, plentifully supplied, and owning much cultivated land and flocks. a fleet of the king of portugal arrived at this city, of which the viceroy was the captain, and landed his people on the shore for the purpose of taking and destroying this town.[155] and the moors put themselves on the defensive, and fought very courageously with the portuguese. in the fight many moors and gentiles died, and at last the portuguese took this city by assault, making a great slaughter of the inhabitants, and plundering and burning the city, in which much wealth and merchandise were burned, and at the same time several ships which were lying in the river. and those who escaped thence returned later to restore this city, so that now it is already inhabited as before. singuycar. ten leagues further on from this river, along the coast southwards, is another river called singuycar, upon which is a town of much commerce and merchandise. and many ships from divers parts put in there; and it is a town of moors and gentiles, and belongs to the kingdom of dacani. river dobetala. twelve leagues further along the coast, to the south, is another river called dobetela; and there are along its course several small places, with very pretty gardens and orchards, where they gather a great quantity of betel; this is a leaf which they eat, and it is put on board small vessels, and carried away for sale in other towns and seaports. we call this betel indian leaf, and it is as large as a leaf of the plantain,[156] and about of the same pattern; and it grows like ivy, and climbs up other trees by means of poles placed for that purpose: it does not give any fruit or seed. it is a very favourite leaf, and all the indians both men and women eat it both day and night in their houses, in the streets, and on the road, and in their beds. they always go about eating this leaf, which they mix with some small fruits called arecas, and the leaf is smeared with moistened lime, which is made with sea-shells, and the shells of oysters and mussels. and these three things being added together, they eat this betel, not swallowing more than the juice; and it colours the mouth and makes the teeth brown: and they say that it is good for drying and purging the stomach, and for preserving the brain, and it drives out flatulence, and quenches thirst: so that it is very much esteemed among all indians, and in general use from this place further on throughout india. there are great quantities of it, and it is one of the principal revenues which the kings of the country possess. the moors and arabs and persians call it tanbul. after passing this river of betala, further along the coast are other small places and seaports, likewise belonging to the kingdom of dacani, in which small vessels from malabar enter to take on board inferior rice and vegetables which are found there: and one of them is called arapatani, and another munaryni.[157] banda. after leaving these places, about six leagues along the coast southwards is a river, upon which is a town of moors and gentiles called banda, in which there are many merchants who trade on the continent with the merchants whom the malabars bring thither. and many ships come there from many parts on account of its being a good harbour, and there is a great exportation of goods and provisions from the interior of the country. many ships fill here with rice, coarse millet, and other vegetables that are profitable to them; and they bring to this place cocoa-nuts, pepper, and other spices and drugs which have a good sale there, because thence they ship them for diu, aden, and ormuz. and leaving this place, between it and goa there is another river called bardes, on which there are other towns which are not of much trade. guoa. leaving these places, there are twenty leagues of coast southwards as far as a cape, which must be doubled to enter goa; and after that ten leagues to the north-west, then ten more to the east, and south-south-west twenty leagues, then seventeen leagues to the north-west, as far as the cape rama. and in this gulf there are many small islands, the chief of which is goa. there is a large river which issues by two branches into the sea, between which is formed the island of the city of goa, which belonged to the kingdom of decani, and was a lordship of itself along with other towns in the neighbourhood; and the king gave it to a vassal of his, a great lord called vasabaxo, who was a very good knight, and on account of his being very distinguished and skilful in warlike matters, this lordship of goa was given him, in order that he might carry on war thence with the king of narsinga, as he always did until his death. this city then remained to his son, sabaym delcani, and it was inhabited by many moors, respectable men, and foreigners, white men and rich merchants, and several of them are very good gentlemen. there are also many great gentile merchants, and others, gentlemen and cultivators, and men-at-arms. it was a place of great trade in merchandise. it has a very good port, to which flocked many ships from mekkah, aden, ormuz, cambay, and the malabar country. and the before mentioned sabaym delcani resided much in this place, and he kept there his captain and men-at-arms, and no one entered or went out of this island and city, either by sea or by land, without his permission; and all those who entered there were registered with all their signs and particulars, and from whence they came; and so, with this precaution and arrangement, they allowed them to return. this town was very large, with goodly edifices and handsome streets and squares, surrounded by walls and towers. there is a very good fortress in it, and in the environs many gardens and orchards of fine trees and fruits, and many pools of good water. there were many mosques and houses of worship of the gentiles. the country all round was very fruitful and well cultivated, and enjoyed much produce both from sea and land. this sabaym, as soon as he knew that the portuguese viceroy had routed the rumes[158] and the fleet of the great sultan before diu, immediately sent to call the rumes, knights, and other people of the sultan, who having escaped thence, arrived, leaving their captain in the kingdom of guzarat. and this sabaym delcani received them very well, and determined on putting all india at their disposition for their assistance, and to refit them again with the aid of all the moors and kings of india, in order to again carry on war against the portuguese. they then collected together much money and began to build in this city of goa very large ships, and handsome galleys and brigantines, all after the manner and fashion of ours, and likewise to prepare much artillery of brass and iron, and all other munitions of maritime war. and the moors were so expeditious in this that they had got a large part of the fleet made, and vast magazines of munitions for the fleet; and they already went out with guard boats and rowing galleys, to take the sambuks which passed by, because they carried portuguese safe-conducts. and alfonso de albuquerque, who was then captain-major in india, had information of all this, and determined to go and seek them, and drive them from their design. he therefore collected the most that he could of a fleet of ships, caravels, and galleys, and with these entered the before mentioned river, and attacked the city of goa[159] and took it. upon which many great things occurred, which i say nothing about, in order not to be more prolix. he captured many people, and all the ships and galleys of the rumes, and he burned some of them; and the city submitted to the commands of the king of portugal, as it now is. and he fortified it with several castles. this city is inhabited by portuguese, moors and gentiles; and the fruits of the earth and provisions now produce a yearly revenue to the king of portugal of twenty thousand ducats, without the port, which has much trade in merchandise of malabar, cheul, dabul, cambay and diu. they sell there many horses for other parts, at two, three and four hundred ducats each, according to their quality, and upon each the king of portugal levies forty ducats as duty; and although they pay less dues than in the time of the moors, this harbour produces much revenue to the king of portugal.[160] in this kingdom of decani there are many great cities, and many other towns within the country inhabited by moors and gentiles. it is a country very well cultivated, and abundantly supplied with provisions, and it has an extensive commerce, which produces much revenue to the king, who is called mahamuza, and is a moor; and he lives very luxuriously, and with much pleasure, in a great city inland, which is called mavider. this king holds the whole of his kingdom, divided amongst moorish lords, to each one of whom he has assigned cities, towns, and villages; and these lords govern and rule, so that the king does not give any orders in his kingdom, nor does he meddle except in giving himself a pleasant life and amusement. and all these lords do obeisance to him, and bring him the revenue, with which they have to come into his presence. and if any one of them were to revolt or disobey, the others go against him and destroy him, or reduce him again to obedience to the king. these lords frequently have wars and differences among one another, and it happens that some take villages from others; but afterwards the king makes peace, and administers justice between them. each one has many horsemen, very good archers with the turkish bow, white people, of good figures. their dress is of cotton stuffs, and they wear caps on their heads. they give large pay to the soldiers: they speak arabic, persian and the decani language, which is the natural language of the country. these moorish lords take tents of cotton cloth into the field, in which they dwell when going on a journey, or to war. they ride a small saddle, and fight tied to their horses. they carry in their hands very long light lances, with four-sided iron points, very strong, and three palms in length. they wear tunics quilted with cotton, which they call _laudes_, and some wear tunics of mail, and their horses caparisoned; some carry iron maces and battle-axes, two swords and a buckler, turkish bows supplied with many arrows, so that each man carries offensive weapons for two persons. many of these take their wives with them to the wars; they make use of pack oxen, on which they carry their chattels when they travel. they are frequently at war with the king of narsinga, so that they are at peace but for a short time. the gentiles of this kingdom of decani are black, well made and courageous; most of them fight on foot, and some on horseback: and these foot soldiers carry swords and shields, bows and arrows, and are very good archers. their bows are long, after the fashion of englishmen. they go naked from the waist upwards, and wear small caps on their heads; they eat all meats except cow; they are idolaters, when they die their bodies are burned, and their wives burn themselves alive with them voluntarily, as will be related further on. cintacola. seventeen leagues further along the same coast to the south-east, and towards malabar, there is another river called aliga,[161] which separates the kingdom of decani from the kingdom of narsinga, and at the mouth of the river on the top of a hill is a fortress, cintacola;[162] and it belongs to the zabayo, for the defence of his country. in it he continually keeps horse and foot soldiers. here the said kingdom of decani comes to an end at its southern portion, and the northern part ends at cheul; and from one place to the other along the coast there are eighty leagues. kingdom of narsinga. beyond this river commences the kingdom of narsinga, which contains five very large provinces, with a language of their own. one province is along the coast, and is called tulinat; another has the name of legni, which confines with the kingdom of tisa; another is canari, in which is the great city of visenagar,[163] and the other is chomendel,[164] a kingdom which they call tamul. this kingdom of narsinga is very rich and well supplied with provisions, and is very full of cities and large townships; and all the country is very fertile and brought into cultivation. the province of tulinat contains many rivers and seaports, in which there is much trade and shipping bound for all parts, and many rich merchants dwell in them. between the others there is a very large river called mergeo, from which is produced a large quantity of inferior rice for the common people, which the malabars come here to buy, with their sambuks, in exchange for cocoa nuts, oil, and jagra, which are much used in this country. honor. having passed this river aliga,[165] and going along the coast to the south-east, there is another river, at ten leagues distance, with a good town near the sea, called honor,[166] and the malabars call it povaran; many of them come to this place to fetch cargoes of inferior brownish rice, which is their peculiar food: and they bring cocoa nuts, oil and jagra, and wine of the palm trees, from which grow the cocoa nuts. batecala. ten leagues further along this coast to the south is another small river, with a large town called baticala,[167] of very great trade in merchandise, inhabited by many moors and gentiles, very commercial people. and at this port congregate many ships from orguz, to load very good white rice, sugar in powder, of which there is much in this country, for they do not know how to make it in loaves; and it is worth at the rate of two hundred and forty maravedis the arroba.[168] they likewise load much iron, and these three kinds of goods are what are chiefly shipped at this place: and also some spices and drugs, which the malabars import. there are many myrobalans of all sorts, and very good preserves are made with them, which the ships of ormuz, which traffic at this place, export for the arabs and persians. they used each year to bring to this port many horses and pearls, which were there sold for the whole kingdom of narsinga, and now they take them all to the city of goa, on account of the portuguese. some ships are also laden at this place for aden, risking themselves, although it is forbidden them by the portuguese. many malabar ships and sambuks also come to this port to take in rice, sugar, and iron; and they bring cocoa nuts, palm sugar, cocoa nut oil, and palm wine, in return for these things, and spices and drugs, concealed from the portuguese who prohibit them. this town produces much revenue to the king. its governor is a gentile; he is named damaqueti. he is very rich in money and jewels. the king of narsinga has given this place and others to a nephew of his, who rules and governs them, and lives in great state and calls himself king, but he is in obedience to the king his uncle. in this kingdom they make a great practice of duelling, for on account of anything they at once challenge one another, and the king at once grants them a field and arms, and appoints a time for killing each other, and gives them seconds, who back up each his own man. they go to fight one another bare from the waist upwards, and from the waist downwards wrapped in cotton cloths drawn tightly round, and with many folds, and with their arms, which are swords, bucklers and daggers.[169] and the king appoints them of equal length. they enter the lists with great pleasure, first saying their prayers, and in a very few passes they kill each other in the presence of the king and many people, without any one speaking except the seconds, of whom each encourages his own man. this town of baticala pays a yearly tribute to the king of portugal; much copper is also sold in it each year, which is taken into the interior of the country to make money, and cauldrons and other pans which they use. there is also sold there much quicksilver, vermilion, coral, alum and ivory. this town is situated in level country, it is very populous, and not walled; it is surrounded with many gardens, very good estates, and very fresh and abundant water. there is in this place gold coin called pardan,[170] and it is worth three hundred and twenty maravedis; and there is another silver coin called _dama_, worth twenty. the weights are called bahars, and each bahar is equal to four quintals of portugal.[171] mayandur. having passed baticala, at ten leagues towards the south is another small river, on which there is a town called mayandur, under the jurisdiction of baticala, in which much rice is gathered of a good quality, which is shipped at baticala. the people of this town sow it principally in certain watery valleys, which they plough with oxen and with buffaloes, two and two, in couples, with their ploughs after our fashion, and they put the rice for seed in some hollow irons placed in the ploughshare, which entering the earth ploughing it and making a furrow, leave behind the seed in it, because otherwise they would not be able to sow it on account of the quantity of water; and on dry land they sow it by hand. they gather the harvest twice every year from this watery land, and it is of four sorts of rice. the first they call girazat, which is the best; the second jani bazal,[172] the third camagar, and the fourth pachari: each one has its price, and there is a great difference between one and the other. bacavor bazalor. there are two small rivers ten leagues further along the coast to the south, and on both of them towns, one of which is called bacavor, and the other basalor;[173] both belong to the kingdom of narsinga. in these also there is much rice of good quality, which is there shipped for all parts: and many ships come from malabar, and sambuks great and small, which take this rice on board in sacks of a fanega[174] each, which is worth from one hundred and fifty to two hundred maravedis each fanega, according to its goodness. ships also put in here from ormuz, aden, xeher, and many other places, to take in cargo for canaor and calicut. they also ship there much rice in exchange for copper, cocoa nuts, jagra, oil of cocoa nuts, for the malabars maintain themselves with scarcely anything else but rice, since the country of malabar is small and very populous: so full of inhabitants, that it may almost be said that all the country is one single city from the mountain deli to coulam. mangalor. having left these places, at ten leagues distance there is another large river towards the south, along the sea-shore, where there is a very large town, peopled by moors and gentiles, of the kingdom of narsinga, called mangalor.[175] there many ships always load brown rice, which is much better and more healthy than the white, for malabar, for the common people, and it is very cheap. they also ship there much rice in moorish ships for aden, also pepper, which henceforward the earth begins to produce, but little of it, and better than all the other which the malabars bring to this place in small vessels. the banks of this river are very pretty, and very full of woods and palm trees, and are very thickly inhabited by moors and gentiles, and studded with fine buildings and houses of prayer of the gentiles, which are very large, and enriched with large revenues. there are also many mosques, where they greatly honour mahomed. cunbala. ten leagues further along the same coast to the south, is another town of the gentiles, of the kingdom of narsinga, which is called cunbala. in it also much brown and very bad rice is harvested, which the malabars go to buy there, and load it in their vessels for the lowest people amongst them, and of the mahaldiu islands, which are across from malabar, because it is very cheap, and the people poor; and they sell it there in exchange for thread for making cordage for ships. this thread is made of a covering and integument which grows upon the cocoa nuts of the palm trees, and a great quantity of it is produced; and in that place it is a great article of commerce with all parts. this town of cunbala has a lord to rule and govern it for the kingdom of narsinga, and it is frontier to the kingdom of cananor: because here the kingdom of narsinga comes to an end along the coast of this province of tulinat. of the customs and greatness of this kingdom of narsinga in the interior of the country. leaving this sea coast, and going inland into the kingdom of narsinga, at twelve or fifteen leagues distance there is a very high mountain range, precipitous and difficult of ascent, which stretches from the beginning of this kingdom to cape comeri,[176] which is beyond the malabar country; and the before-mentioned province of tulinat is at the foot of this range, between it and the sea. and the indians say that in former times all these low grounds were sea, which reached to the said range, and that in process of time the sea uncovered it, and swelled it up in other parts, and to the foot of those mountains. there are many traces of things of the sea, and all the low ground is very level like the sea, and the mountain chain is very craggy, and seems to rise to the heavens; and it is not possible to ascend, except in a few parts, and with difficulty, which is a cause of great strength to the malabars, for were it not for the difficulty of entering their country on account of the roughness of these mountains, the king of narsinga would already have conquered them. this range is peopled in several parts, with good towns and villages, very luxuriant in water and delicious fruit: and in it there are many wild boars, and large and fine deer, many leopards, ounces, lions, tigers, bears, and some animals of an ashy colour, which look like horses, very active, and which cannot be caught.[177] there are serpents with wings, which fly, very venomous, so that their breath and looks kill whatever person places himself very near them, and they always go amongst the trees. there are also many wild elephants, and many stones of gegonzas,[178] amethysts, and soft sapphires, are found in the rivers where they are deposited. they carry them from the mountains to sell them in the malabar towns, where they are wrought. after passing this mountain range, the country is almost entirely plain, very fertile and abundantly supplied in the inland districts, which belong to the kingdom of narsinga, in which there are many cities and villages and forts, and many large rivers run through it. there is in this country much cultivation of rice and other vegetables, with which they maintain themselves, and many cows, buffaloes, pigs, goats, sheep, asses, and diminutive ponies, all of which they make use of; and they carry their goods by means of buffaloes, oxen, asses, and ponies, and do their field work with them. almost all the villages are of gentiles, and among them are a few moors; some of the lords of these villages are of these last, to whom the king of narsinga has granted the villages, and others are his, and he keeps his governors and tax collectors in them. bijanaguer. forty-five leagues from these mountains inland, there is a very large city which is called bijanaguer, very populous and surrounded on one side by a very good wall, and on another by a river, and on the other by a mountain. this city is on level ground, the king of narsinga always resides in it. he is a gentile and is called raheni: he has in this place very large and handsome palaces, with numerous courts in which are many mounds, pools of water with plenty of fish, gardens of shrubs, flowers, and sweet-smelling herbs. there are also in the city many other palaces of great lords who live there. and all the other houses of the place are covered with thatch, and the streets and squares are very wide: they are constantly filled with an innumerable crowd of all nations and creeds; for, besides many moorish merchants and traders, and the gentile inhabitants of the country who are very rich, an infinite number of others flock there from all parts, who are able to come, dwell, trade, and live very freely and in security, without anyone molesting them, or asking or requiring of them any account of whence they come, or in what creed they live, whether they be moors, christians, or gentiles; and each one may live according to any creed, or as he pleases. there is an infinite trade in this city, and strict justice and truth are observed towards all by the governors of the country. in this city there are very many jewels which are brought from pegu and celani, and in the country itself many diamonds are found, because there is a mine of them in the kingdom of narsinga and another in the kingdom of dacani. there are also many pearls and seed-pearls to be found there, which are brought from ormus and cael; and all these jewels and pearls are much esteemed among them, because they adorn themselves much with them, and on that account a great quantity are poured in. in this city they wear many silks and inferior brocades, which are brought from china and alexandria, and much scarlet cloth, and of other colours, and much coral worked into round beads; and they import copper, quicksilver, vermilion, saffron, rose-water, much anfiani which is opium, sandal and aloes wood, camphor, musk, because the inhabitants of this country are much in the habit of anointing themselves with these perfumes. there is also a great consumption in this place, and in the whole kingdom, of pepper, which is brought from malabar on oxen and asses. the money is of gold, and is called parda, and is worth three hundred maravedis;[179] it is coined in certain cities of this kingdom of narsinga, and throughout all india they use this money, which passes in all those kingdoms; its gold is a little inferior. this coin is round, and made in a mould. some of them have some indian letters on one side, and two figures on the other of a man and a woman, and others have nothing but the lettering on one side. customs of this kingdom of narsinga and of its inhabitants. this king constantly resides in the before-mentioned palaces, and very seldom goes out of them: he lives very luxuriously and without any labour, because he discharges it all upon his governors. he and all the dwellers in this city are gentiles, coloured men and nearly white, of long and very smooth black hair; they are well proportioned men, of features and ----[180] similar to our own, and so likewise are the women. the costume of the men is from the waist downwards with many folds and very tight, and a short shirt which reaches half way down the thigh, made of white cotton stuff, silk, or brocade, open down the front, small caps on their heads, and the hair gathered up on the top, some caps of silk or brocade, and their sandals on their bare feet, cloaks of cotton stuff or silk on their arms, and their pages with their swords behind them, and their bodies anointed with white sandal, aloes-wood, camphor, musk, and saffron; all ground together with rose-water. they bathe every day, and after bathing, anoint themselves. they wear small gold chains and jewels round their necks, and bracelets on their arms, and rings on their fingers of very valuable jewels, and also many jewels in their ears of pearls and precious stones. and they take a second page who carries for them a slender canopy with a long handle with which to shade them and protect them from the rain. these shades are of silk stuff, much ornamented with gold fringes, and some of them have jewels and seed-pearls, and made in such a manner that they shut up and open; and some of these cost three or four hundred gold pieces, according to the quality of the persons. the women wear a cloth of very fine white cotton, or of silk of pretty colours, which may be about six cubits long; they gird themselves with part of this cloth from the waist below, and the other end of the cloth they cast over the shoulder and the breasts, and one arm and shoulder remain uncovered; on their feet sandals of gilt and well-worked leather; their heads bare, only their hair combed, and they put a plait of it over their heads, and in this many flowers and scents; and in the nostrils a small hole on one side, and in it a gold thread with a drop, either a pearl, or a ruby, or a sapphire drilled with a hole; their ears also are bored and in them they wear many gold rings with pearls and precious stones; and jewel necklaces round their throats, bracelets on their arms of the same fashion, and also strings of fine round coral on their arms, many rings with precious stones on their fingers; and girt over their clothes with belts of gold and jewels; and rings of gold on their legs; so that for the most part these are very rich and well-dressed people. they are great dancers; they sing and play on various instruments; they are taught to tumble and to perform many feats of agility. they are pretty women, and of a grand presence. these people marry in our manner; they have a marriage law, but the great men marry as many women as they can maintain, and the king has with him in his palaces many wives, daughters of the great lords of his kingdom; and, besides these, he has many others as concubines, and others as serving women who are chosen throughout the kingdom as the most beautiful. and all the attendance on the king is done by women, who wait upon him within doors; and amongst them are all the employments of the king's household: and all these women live and find room within these palaces, which contain apartments for all. they bathe every day in the pools of water, they sing and play on their instruments, and in a thousand ways amuse the king: and he goes to see them bathe, and from thence sends to his chamber the one that pleases him most; and the first son that he has from any of these, inherits the kingdom. amongst them there is so much envy and rivality for the preference of the king, that sometimes they kill themselves with poison. this king has a house in which he meets with the governors and his officers in council upon the affairs of the kingdom; and there all the great men of the realm go to see him with great gifts; and he dispenses great favours and likewise great punishments to those that deserve them. these great men, his relations and those of great lineage, when they do anything ill-done or prejudicial to his service, are summoned to him; and they have to come immediately: and they come in very rich litters on men's shoulders, and their horses are led by the bridle before them, and many horsemen go in front of them. they get down at the door of the palace and wait there with their trumpets and musical instruments, until word is brought to the king, and he commands them to come to his presence; and if they do not give a good excuse and account of themselves and of the evil of which they are accused, he commands them to be stripped and thrown on the ground, and there bids them to receive many stripes. if such a person were a near relation of the king's or a very great personage, the king himself scourges him with his own hand, and after he has been well beaten, the king orders very rich garments to be given him from his own clothes chests, and then directs him to be reconducted to his litter, and carried with great honour and great clang of musical instruments and festivity to his abode. many litters and many horsemen always stand at the door of this palace: and the king keeps at all times nine hundred elephants and more than twenty thousand horses, all which elephants and horses are bought with his money: the elephants, at the price of fifteen hundred to two thousand ducats each, because they are very great and well-fitted for war, and for taking about with him continually for state. and the horses cost from three to six hundred ducats each, and some of the choicest for his personal use, nine hundred or a thousand ducats. these horses are distributed amongst the great lords who are responsible for them, and keep them for the gentry and knights to whom the king bids them to be given: and he gives to each knight a horse and a groom and a slave girl, and for his personal expenses four or five pardaos of gold per month, according to who he is; and, besides that, each day's provisions for the horse and groom; and they send to the kitchen for the rations both for the elephants and horses. the kitchens are very large and numerous, they contain many cauldrons of copper, and several officials who cook the food of the elephants and horses; which, it must be said, is rice, chick-peas, and other vegetables. in all this there is much order and arrangement, and if the knight to whom the king has given a horse cares for it and treats it well, they take away that one and give him another and a better one; and if he is negligent, they take his away and give him another that is worse. and thus all the king's horses and elephants are well fed and cared for, at his cost: and the grandees, to whom he gives a great quantity of them, act in the same manner with their knights. these horses live but a short time; they are not bred in this country, for all of them are brought there from the kingdom of ormuz and that of cambay, and on that account, and for the great need of them, they are worth so much money. this king has more than a hundred thousand men, both horse and foot, to whom he gives pay: and fully five or six thousand women, to whom also he gives pay. and wherever there is war, according to the number of men-at-arms whom he sends there, he likewise sends with them a quantity of women; because they say that it is not possible to bring together an army, nor carry on war well, without women. these women are like enchantresses, and are great dancers; they play and sing, and pirouette. and whenever the king's officers take and enrol any man, they strip him and look what marks he has got on his body, and measure what his stature is, and set it all down in writing, and from whence he comes, and the names of his father and mother: and so he remains enrolled with all these particulars in the pay books. and after being enrolled, it is with difficulty that he can again obtain permission to go to his country; and if he flies and is taken, he runs great danger, and is very ill treated. among these men-at-arms there are many knights, who arrive there from many parts to take service, and these do not cease to live in their creeds. in this kingdom there are three sects of gentiles, and each one of them is distinguished from the others, and their customs are different. in the first place, the king and the grandees, and lords and chief people of the men-at-arms, can marry more than one wife, especially the grandees, who can maintain them: their children are their heirs. the wives are bound to burn themselves and to die with their husbands when they decease, because when the people die, their bodies are burned, both of men and women. and the wives burn themselves alive with them to honour them, in this manner: that is to say, if she is a poor woman of little rank, when the body of the husband is borne out to be burned in an open space outside the city, where there is a great fire, and whilst the body of the husband is being consumed, the wife casts herself, of her own will, into the fire, and burns there with him. and if she is some honourable woman, and of much property, and whether she be a young woman of beautiful presence, or old, when her husband dies, the relations all go to the before mentioned open space, and make a wide grave as deep as a man's height, and fill it with sandal and other wood, and place the dead body within and burn it; and his wife, or wives, weep for him, and then, should she desire to honour her husband, she asks for a term of a certain number of days to go and be burnt with him. and they bid all her relations, and those of her husband, come and do her honour, and give her a festal reception. and in this manner all collect together, and entertain and pay court to her, and she spends what she possesses among her relations and friends, in feasting and singing, in dances and playing on musical instruments, and amusements of jugglers. and when the term fixed has ended, she dresses herself in her richest stuffs, and adorns herself with many precious jewels, and the rest of her property she divides amongst her children, relations, and friends, and then mounts a horse, with a great sound of music, and a large following. the horse must be grey, or very white if possible, for her to be seen better. and so they conduct her through the whole city; paying court to her as far as the place where the body of her husband was burned; and in the same grave they place much wood, with which they light a very great fire, and all round it they make a gallery with three or four steps, whither she ascends with all her jewels and robes; and when she is upon the top she takes three turns round it, and raises her hands to heaven, and worships towards the east three times. and having ended this, she calls her relations and friends, and to each she gives a jewel of those which she wears: and all this with a very cheerful demeanour, not as though she were about to die. and after she has given them away, and there only remains a small cloth with which she is covered from the waist downwards, she says to the men, "see, gentlemen, how much you owe to your wives, who, whilst enjoying their freedom, burn themselves alive with their husbands." and to the women she says, "see, ladies, how much you owe to your husbands, for in this manner you ought to accompany them even in death." and when she has concluded uttering these words, they give her a pitcher full of oil, and she places it on her head and says her prayer, and takes three more turns and worships to the east, and casts the pitcher of oil into the pit where the fire is: and she springs into it, after the pitcher, with as much good will as though she were jumping into a pool of water. and the relations have ready for this occasion many pitchers and pots full of oil and butter, and dry wood, which they immediately throw in, so that so great a flame is at once kindled, that she is suddenly reduced to ashes. and afterwards they collect these ashes, and cast them into flowing rivers. all perform this in general, and if any women do not choose to do this, their relations take them, shave their heads, and turn them out of their houses and families with disgrace. and so they wander through the world as lost ones. and those of this sort to whom they may wish to show favour, are sent to the houses of prayer of the idols, to serve and gain for that temple with their bodies, if they are young women. and of these houses there are many, which contain fifty or a hundred women of this sort; and others, who of their own accord, being unmarried, place themselves there.[181] these have to play and sing, for certain hours of the day, before their idols, and the rest of the time they work for themselves. so also when the king dies, four or five hundred women burn themselves with him in the same manner, and they throw themselves suddenly into the pit and fire where they burn the body of the king: for the pit and fire are very large, and a great quantity can be burned in it, with great abundance of wood, sandal, brasil, eagle wood, aloes wood, and much oil of sesame and butter to make the wood burn well. so great is the haste of those who wish to burn themselves first, that it is something wonderful, and many men, confidants of the king, burn themselves with him. these people eat meat, fish, and all other viands, only cow is forbidden them by their creed. there is another sect of gentiles who are called bramans, who are priests and directors of the houses of prayer. these do not eat meat or fish, they marry only one wife, and if she dies they do not marry again: their children inherit their property. they wear over the shoulder three threads as a sign of being bramans. these do not die for any cause, or crime which they may commit; they are very free and easy, and are very much venerated amongst the people. they enjoy amongst them large alms from the kings, lords, and honourable people, with which they maintain themselves; and many of them are rich, and others live in the houses of prayer which there are about the country, after the manner of monasteries. these temples also have great revenues. these people are great eaters, and do no work except in order to eat: and they at any time go eight leagues to satisfy themselves with food, which they can eat on the road. their food is rice, butter, sugar, vegetables, and milk. in this country there is another sect of people, who are like bramans: they wear round their necks hung with silk cords and wrapped in coloured cloth, a stone of the size of an egg, and they say that it is their god. these people are much venerated and honoured in this country; they do them no harm for any offence which they may commit, out of reverence for that stone, which they call tabaryne.[182] neither do these people eat flesh nor fish; they go safely in all countries, and they transport from one kingdom to another much merchandise and money of the merchants, on account of their greater security from thieves. and there are some of them who deal in merchandise with their tani bar ine round their necks. these likewise marry only one woman, and if they die before their wives, they bury these alive in this manner.[183] it must be said, that they make a grave for her a little deeper than she is tall, and put her in it standing, and while she is quite alive they throw in earth all around her, and press it down with their feet until she is walled in with earth much pressed down, which reaches to her neck, and then they put some large stones above her, and leave her there alive covered with earth until she dies; and on this occasion they perform great ceremonies for them. the women of this country are so enterprising and idolatrous, that they do marvellous things for the love of their idols, in this manner. there are amongst them young girls who desire to marry some man for whom they have a liking, and one of these will promise her idol to do it a great service if she should marry such a one whom she wishes for. and if she marries that one, she then says to him, i have to make a feast for such a god, and i have to offer my blood before i deliver myself to you. and so they appoint a day for celebrating that feast. and she takes a large waggon with oxen, and they fix it in a very high crane, such as those with which they draw water, and they fasten it to an iron chain with two iron hooks, and she comes out of her house with great honour, accompanied by all her relations and friends, men and women, with much singing and playing of instruments, and many dancers and jesters; and she comes wrapped very tightly round the waist with her white stuffs, covered from the waist to the knees, the rest bare, and at the door of her house, where the car stands, they lower the crane, and stick the two hooks into her in the loins between the skin and the flesh, and put into her left hand a small round shield, and a little bag with lemons and oranges. they then raise the crane with great shouting and sound of instruments, firing guns, and making other festal demonstrations: and in this manner the car begins its march on the way to the house of the idol to which the promise was made, and she goes suspended by those hooks fastened into her flesh, and the blood runs down her legs. and she continues to sing and shout for joy, and to strike upon the shield, and to throw oranges and lemons to her husband and to her relations, who go with her in this manner to the door of the said house of prayer, where they take her down, and cure her, and deliver her to her husband; and she gives at that place great alms to the bramans and offerings to the idols, and a great feast to as many as accompanied her. there are other persons also who offer the virginity of their daughters to an idol, and as soon as they are ten years of age they take her to a monastery and the house of prayer of that idol, with great honour, and accompanied by her relations, entertaining her like one that is going to be married. and outside of the monastery, at the door, there is a bench of hard black stone, square, of half a man's height, and surrounded with wooden steps, with many oil lamps placed on the steps, which are lit at night.[184] * * * * * this king of narsinga is frequently at war with the king of dacani, who has taken from him much of his land; and also with another gentile king of the country of otira,[185] which is the country in the interior. and he always sends his captains and troops to this war, and on some occasions, if of necessity, he goes to the war in person; and as soon as it is determined on, he goes out to the country, on a certain day, on an elephant or in a litter, very richly adorned with gold and jewels, accompanied by many knights and horse and foot-men: and many elephants go before him, all covered with scarlet cloth and silk, and much bedizened and dressed out as for a feast. and as they go through the fields they bring the king a horse, on which he rides, and a bow and an arrow, which he shoots towards the part where he intends to go and make war. and they name the day of his setting out, and this news immediately runs throughout all the kingdom. he then pitches his tents and camp in the country, and there remains until the appointed term of days is accomplished for his departure. when this is concluded he orders the city to be set on fire, and directs it all to be burned except the royal palaces, castles, houses of prayer, and those of some of the grandees which are not covered with thatch, in order that all may go to the war to die with him, and with his wives and children, whom he has with him in the wars. in order that these may not take to flight he directs large pay to be given to all: in the first place, to the enchanting single women, who are numerous, and who do not fight, but their lovers fight for love of them very vigorously. and it is also said that many men come from all the other kingdoms to this king's camp for the love of these women,[186] amongst whom there are many very honourable ones, great confidantes of the king, who come of great houses, and are very rich. each one of them keeps seven or eight pretty waiting women, who are given to them by their mothers to bring them up, and put them in the court enrolled on the pay list. they hold this service in great honour, and it is but a short time since one of them died who had no son nor heir, and left the king for her heir; and he gathered from the inheritance sixty thousand gold pardaos, besides twelve thousand which he gave to a waiting woman of his, whom he had brought up from a girl: which is not to be wondered at for the great wealth of the kingdom. in this kingdom jewels are esteemed as treasure by the king and also by the rich, who buy them at large prices. the people of this kingdom are great hunters both of flying game and wild beasts. there are many small hacks, and very good ones to go. hotisa. having passed the said kingdom of narsynga inland, there is next another kingdom called hotisa,[187] which confines with it on one side, and on another with the kingdom of bengal, and on the other with the kingdom of dely: and it is inhabited by gentiles. the king is also a gentile, very rich and powerful, who has many foot soldiers; he is frequently at war with the kingdom of narsinga, from which he has taken lands and villages; and the king of narsinga has taken others from him: so that they are rarely at peace. of the customs of these people i have little information, on account of their being placed so much in the interior of the country. it is only known that in that country there are very few moors, and that they are almost all gentiles and very good fighting men. kingdom of dely. having passed this kingdom of otisa, more inland there is another great kingdom, which is called dely, of many provinces, and of large and rich cities of great trade. this kingdom is of the moors, and has a moorish king, a great lord; and in former times this kingdom was of the gentiles, of whom there are still many who live amidst the moors, with much vexation. and many of them nobles and respectable people, not to be subject to the moors, go out of the kingdom and take the habit of poverty, wandering the world; and they never settle in any country until their death; nor will they possess any property, since they lost their lands and property, and for that go naked, barefooted, and bareheaded; they only cover their nakedness with coverings[188] of brass, in this manner: it must be said, that they wear belts of moorish brass of pieces fitted together, of four fingers in breadth, carved with many images of men and women, sculptured and shining: and they wear it so tight that it makes their guts rise high up; and from the girdle below the hips there comes a bandage of the same brass, and in front it forms a sort of braguette, which comes and fastens in the girdle in front with its fastenings: all very tight. besides this, they carry very heavy chains round their necks, and waists, and legs; and they smear all their bodies and faces with ashes. and they carry a small brown horn at their necks, after the fashion of a trumpet, with which they call and beg for food at the door of any house where they arrive: chiefly at the houses of kings and great lords and at the temples; and they go many together, like the gipsies.[189] they are accustomed to stop very few days in each country. these people are commonly called jogues, and in their own speech they are called zoame, which means servant of god. they are brown, very well made and proportioned, of handsome faces; they wear their hair without ever combing it, and made into many plaits, wound round the head. and i asked them many times why they went in this fashion. and they answered me, that they wore those chains upon their bodies as penance for the sin which they committed for allowing themselves to be captured by such bad people as the moors, and that they went naked as a sign of dishonour, because they had allowed their lands and houses to be lost, in which god brought them up; and that they did not want more property since they had lost their own, for which they ought to have died; and that they smeared themselves with ashes in order to remind themselves perpetually that they were born of earth and had to return again to the earth, and that all the rest[190] was falsehood. and each one of them carries his little bag of these ashes with him; and all the gentiles of the country honour them greatly, and receive from them some of these ashes, and put it on their heads,[191] shoulders, and breasts, making a few lines with it. and throughout all the country the gentiles are in the habit of doing this. and so also throughout all india among the gentiles, many of them turn jogues; but most of them are from the kingdom of dely. these jogues eat all meats and do not observe any idolatry, and they mingle with all kinds of people: neither do they wash like other gentiles, except when the wish to do so comes to them. in this kingdom of dely there are many very good horses, which are born and bred there. the people of the kingdom, both moors and gentiles, are very good fighting men and good knights, armed with many kinds of weapons; they are great bowmen, and very strong men; they have very good lances, swords, daggers, steel maces, and battle-axes, with which they fight; and they have some steel wheels, which they call chacarani, two fingers broad, sharp outside like knives, and without edge inside; and the surface of these[192] is of the size of a small plate. and they carry seven or eight of these each, put on the left arm; and they take one and put it on the finger of the right hand, and make it spin round many times, and so they hurl it at their enemies, and if they hit anyone on the arm or leg or neck, it cuts through all. and with these they carry on much fighting, and are very dexterous with them. this king of dely confines with tatars, and has taken many lands from the king of cambay; and from the king of dacan, his servants and captains, with many of his people, took much, and afterwards in time they revolted and set themselves up as kings. in this kingdom of dely there are some trees, the root of which is called baxarague,[193] and it is so poisonous that any one who eats it dies at once; and its fruit is called nirabixy,[194] and it is of such virtue that it extinguishes all poison, and gives life to any one poisoned with the said root or with other poisons. these jogues, who come from the kingdom of dely, carry this root and fruit; some of them give it to some indian kings; and so likewise they carry with them sometimes rhinoceros' horn and pajar stone, which possess great virtue against all poisons. and this stone, pajar, is grey and soft, of the size of an almond; and they say that it is found in the head of an animal: it is greatly esteemed amongst the indians.[195] country of malabar. having passed the province of tulynate, which is of the kingdom of narsinga, along the coast of the sea, which province begins from cinbola near the mountain dely, and ends at the cape of conmery, which is a distance of seventy leagues along the coast towards the south and south-east. and there begins the country of malabar, which was governed by a king who was called sernaperimal,[196] who was a very great lord. and after that the moors of mekkah discovered india, and began to navigate near it, which was six hundred and ten years ago; they used to touch at this country of malabar on account of the pepper which is found there. and they began to load their ships with it in a city and seaport, coulom,[197] where the king used frequently to be. and so for some years these moors continued their voyages to this country of malabar, and began to spread themselves through it, and became so intimate and friendly with the said king, that they made him turn moor, and he went away with them to die at the house of mekkah, and he died on the road. and before he set out from his country, he divided the whole of his kingdom of malabar amongst his relations; and it remained divided amongst them and their descendants as it now is. and when he distributed the lands, he abandoned those that he gave, never to return to them again; and at last, when he had given away all, and there did not remain anything more for him to give, except ten or twelve leagues of land all round the spot from which he embarked, which was an uninhabited beach, where now stands the city of calicut. and at that moment he was accompanied by more moors than gentiles, on account of having given to the latter almost all that he possessed, and he had with him only one young nephew, who waited on him as a page, to whom he gave that piece of land; and he told him to get it peopled, especially that very spot whence he embarked. and he gave him his sword and a chandelier, which he carried with him for state. and he left an injunction to the other lords, his relations to whom he had made grants of lands, that they should obey him, only leaving exempt the king of coulam and the king of cavanor:[198] so that he instituted three kings in the country of malabar, and commanded that no one should coin money except the king of calicut. and so he embarked at the same place where the city of calicut was founded; and the moors held this time and place in much veneration, and would not after that go and load pepper any more in any other part since the said king embarked there after becoming a moor and going to die at mekkah. this city of calicut is very large, and ennobled by many very rich merchants and great traffic in goods. this king became greater and more powerful than all the others: he took the name of zomodri,[199] which is a point of honour above all other kings. so that this great king of malabar did not leave more kings than these three: that is to say, the zomodry, who was named cunelava-dyri, and the king of culaon, who was named benate-diry, and the king of cananor, who was named coletry.[200] and there are many other lords in the country of malabar, who wish to call themselves kings; and they are not so, because they are not able to coin money, nor cover houses with roofs under penalty of all the others rising up against whomsoever should do such a thing, or of having to destroy them. and these kings of culam and cananor afterwards struck money for a certain time in their countries without having the power of doing so. in all the country they use one language, which is called maleama, and all the kings are of one sect, and almost of the same customs. in these kingdoms of malabar there are eighteen sects of gentiles, each one of which is much distinguished from the others in so great a degree that the ones will not touch the others under pain of death or dishonour or loss of their property: and all of them have separate customs in their idol-worship, as will be set forth further on. customs of the said kingdoms and country of malabar. in the first place, the kings of malabar are, as has been said, gentiles, and honour their idols: they are brown, almost white, others are darker; they go naked from the waist upwards, and from the waist downwards are covered with white cotton wraps and some of them of silk. sometimes they clothe themselves with short jackets open in front, reaching halfway down the thigh, made of very fine cotton cloth, fine scarlet cloth, or of silk and brocade. they wear their hair tied upon the top of their heads, and sometimes long hoods like galician casques, and they are barefooted. they shave their beards and leave the moustaches[201] very long, after the manner of the turks. their ears are bored, and they wear in them very precious jewels and pearls set in gold, and on their arms from the elbows upwards gold bracelets, with similar jewels and strings of very large pearls. at their wrists over their clothes they wear jewelled girdles three fingers in width, very well wrought and of great value. and on their breasts, shoulders, and foreheads, they make marks by threes with ashes, which they wear in accordance with the custom of their sect, saying that they do it to remind themselves that they have to turn to ashes: for when they die they burn their bodies, and so this ceremony continues among them. and many use it mixed with sandal wood, saffron, aloes wood, and rose water, all this ground up. when they are in their houses they always sit on high benches, and in houses without stories; these benches are very smooth, and are slightly smeared once every day with cow dung. and they keep there a stand very white and four fingers high, and a cloth of brown wool undyed, after the manner of a carpet of the size of a horsecloth[202] folded in three folds; and upon this they sit, and they lean upon pillows, round and long, of cotton, silk, or fine cloth. and they also sit on carpets of cloth of gold and silk; but they always keep under them, or near them, that cloth of brown wool, on account of their sect, and for state. and frequently they happen to be lying on couches and cushions of silk and very fine white sheets, and when any one comes to see them, they bring him this brown woollen cloth and put it near him, and when he goes out, a page carries the cloth folded before him for state and ceremony. and likewise he always keeps a sword near him, and when he changes from one spot to another, he carries it in his hand naked, as they always keep it. these kings do not marry, nor have a marriage law, only each one has a mistress, a lady of great lineage and family, which is called nayre, and said to be very beautiful and graceful. each one keeps such a one with him near the palaces in a separate house, and gives her a certain sum each month, or each year, for expenses, and leaves her whenever she causes him discontent, and takes another. and many of them for honour's sake do not change them, nor make exchanges with them; and they seek much to please their king, for that honour and favour which they receive. and the children that are born from these mistresses are not held to be sons, nor do they inherit the kingdom, nor anything else of the king's; they only inherit the property of the mother. and whilst they are children, they are favoured by the king like children of other people whom he might be bringing up; but not like his own, because since they are men, the children are not accounted for more than as children of their mothers.[203] the king sometimes makes grants of money to them, for them to maintain themselves better than the other nobles. the heirs of these kings are their brothers, or nephews, sons of their sisters, because they hold those to be their true successors, and because they know that they were born from the body of their sisters. these do not marry, nor have fixed husbands, and are very free and at liberty in doing what they please with themselves. in this wise the lineage of the kings of this country, and the true stock, is in the women: that is to say, if a woman[204] gives birth to three or four sons and two or three daughters, the first is king, and so on, all the other brothers inherit from one another; and when all these have died, the son of the eldest sister, who is niece of the king, inherits, and so also his other heirs after him; and when these have deceased, the children of the next sister. and the kingdom always goes in this way to brothers, and nephews sons of sisters, and if by good or evil fortune these women happen not to give birth to male children, they do not consider them as capable of inheriting the kingdom; and these ladies, in such a case, all unite in council and institute some relation of theirs as king, if they have one, and if there is none, they name any other person for this office. and on this account the kings of malabar are old men when they succeed to reign, and the nieces or sisters from whom has to proceed the lineage of the kings are held in great honour, guarded and served, and they possess revenues for their maintenance. and when one of these is of age to bring forth, on arriving at from thirteen to fourteen years, they prepare to make festivity and entertainment for her, and to make her enceinte. and they summon some young man, a nobleman and honourable person, of whom there are many deputed for this. and they send to fetch him that he may come for this purpose. and he comes, and they give him a great entertainment, and perform some ceremonies, and he ties some gold jewel to the neck of the damsel, and she wears it all her life in sign of her having performed those ceremonies, in order to be able to do with herself whatever she chooses; because, until the performance of this ceremony, she could not dispose of herself. and the before mentioned youth remains with her for some days, very well attended to, and then returns to his land. and she sometimes remains in the family way, and sometimes not, and from this time forth for her pleasure she takes some braman, whomsoever she likes best, and these are priests among them, and of these she has as many as she likes. this king of calicut, and so also the other kings of malabar, when they die, are burned in the country with much sandal and aloes wood; and at the burning all the nephews and brothers and nearest relations collect together, and all the grandees of the realm, and confidantes of the king, and they lament for him and burn him. and before burning him they keep him there when dead for three days, waiting for the assembling of the above mentioned persons, that they may see him if he died of a natural death, or avenge his death if any one killed him, as they are obliged to do in case of a violent death. and they observe this ceremony very rigidly. after having burned him, all shave themselves from head to foot, excepting the eyelashes, from the prince, the heir to the throne, to the smallest child of the kingdom: that is, those who are gentiles, and they also clean their teeth, and universally leave off eating betel for thirteen days from that time; and if in this period they find any one who eats it, his lips are cut off by the executioner. during these thirteen days the prince does not rule, nor is he enthroned as king, in order to see if in this time any one will rise up to oppose him; and when this term is accomplished, all the grandees and former governors make him swear to maintain all the laws of the late king, and to pay the debts which he owed, and to labour to recover that which other former kings had lost. and he takes this oath, holding a drawn sword in his left hand, and his right hand placed upon a chain lit up with many oil wicks, in the midst of which is a gold ring, which he touches with his fingers, and there he swears to maintain everything with that sword. when he has taken the oath, they sprinkle rice over his head, with many ceremonies of prayer and adoration to the sun, and immediately after certain counts, whom they call caymal,[205] along with all the others of the royal lineage, and the grandees, swear to him in the same manner to serve him, and to be loyal and true to him. during these thirteen days one of the caymals governs and rules the state like the king himself: he is like an accountant-general of the king, and of all the affairs of the kingdom. this office and dignity is his by right and inheritance. this person is also the chief treasurer of the kingdom, without whom the king cannot open or see the treasury; neither can the king take anything out of the treasury without a great necessity, and by the counsel of this person and several others. and all the laws and ordinances of the kingdom are in the keeping of this man. no one eats meat or fish in these thirteen days, nor may any one fish under pain of death. during that period large alms are given from the king's property, of food to many poor people, and to bramans; and when the thirteen days are ended, all eat what they please, except the new king, who observes the same abstinence for one year, neither does he shave his beard, nor cut a hair of his head nor of his body, nor his nails: and he says prayers for certain hours of the day, and does not eat more than once a day. and before he eats he has to wash himself, and after washing, he must not drink anything until he has eaten. this king is always in the city of calicut, in some very large palaces which he possesses outside of the city, and when the year of this mourning is accomplished, the prince who is to succeed him, and all those of the royal family and all the other grandees and nobles of the country, come to see him, and to perform a ceremony, which takes place at the end of the year, in honour of the death of his predecessor: at which great alms are given, and much money is spent in giving food to many bramans and poor people, and to all those who come to visit him, and to their retinues, so that more than a hundred thousand people are assembled there. and on this occasion he confirms the prince as the heir, and likewise the others as his successors step by step. and he confirms to all the lords their estates, and he confirms or changes as he sees fit the governors and officers who were under the former king. and he then dismisses them, and sends each to his duties, and he sends the prince to the estates which are assigned to him. and he must not re-enter calicut until the king dies; and all the other successors may go and come to the court, and reside with the king. when the before mentioned crown prince departs, after he has left calicut, and on passing the bridge of a river, he takes a bow in his hand and shoots an arrow towards the residence of the king, and then says a prayer with uplifted hands in the manner of prayer, and then goes on. this prince, when he comes to visit the king at the said feast and ceremony, brings all his nobles with him, and his instruments of music, which are kettle-drums,[206] drums of many shapes, trumpets, horns, flutes, small brass plates,[207] and lutes;[208] these come making a great harmony, and the nobles in front, all drawn up in order, as they regulate processions here. that is to say, the bowmen in the van, next the lancers, after them the bearers of sword and buckler. and the king issues from the palaces and places himself at a great door, on foot, and there he stands looking at all these people who come up to him with great reverence, and do as though they worshipped him. all retire after a while, and so he remains for the space of two hours, until all have done, and the prince appears at a considerable distance[209] with a drawn sword in his hand, which he brandishes as he advances, with his face raised up, and eyes fixed upon the king. and on seeing him, he worships him and throws himself with his face upon the ground, and with outstretched arms; and he lies thus for a short time, then gets up again, and goes forward very slowly brandishing his drawn sword in his hand, and with his eyes still fixed upon the king, and at half way he does the same thing again, and the king looks at him fixedly, without making any movement, and the prince gets up again, and so arrives where the king stands: and there he again throws himself on the ground in front of him. the king then goes forward two steps and takes him by the hand, and raises him up, and so they enter both together into the palaces. the king then sits on his dais, and the prince with all the other heirs, stand in front with their drawn swords in their right hands, and their left hands placed upon their mouths out of respect, withdrawn a little from the king's dais. they speak there to the king with much reverence, without speaking to one another, and if it is necessary for one to say anything to another, they speak so softly that no one hears them: so much so, that there are two thousand men before the king in the palace, and no one hears them; and they may not spit or cough before the king. this king of calicut keeps many clerks constantly in his palace, they are all in one room, separate and far from the king, sitting on benches, and there they write all the affairs of the king's revenue, and his alms, and the pay which is given to all, and the complaints which are presented to the king, and, at the same time, the accounts of the collectors of taxes. all this is on broad stiff leaves of the palm tree, without ink, with pens of iron: they make lines with their letters, engraven like ours. each of these clerks has great bundles of these leaves written on, and blank, and wherever they go they carry them under their arms and the iron pen in their hand: in this way they are known to all people as scribes of the palace. and among these there are seven or eight who are great confidants of the king, and the most honoured, and who always stand before him with their pens in their hand, and writings under their arm, ready for the king's orders to do anything, as he is in the habit of doing. these clerks always have several of these leaves subscribed[210] by the king in blank, and when he commands them to despatch any business, they write it on those leaves. these accountants are persons of great credit, and most of them are old and respectable: and when they get up in the morning and want to write anything, the first time that they take the pen and the leaf in their hand, they cut a small piece off it with the knife which is at the end of the pen, and they write the names of their gods upon it and worship them towards the sun with uplifted hands; and having finished their prayer, they tear the writing and throw it away, and after that begin writing whatever they require. this king has a thousand waiting women, to whom he gives regular pay, and they are always at the court, to sweep the palaces and houses of the king: and this he does for state, because fifty would be enough to sweep. these women are of good family, they come into the palace to sweep and clean twice every day, and each one carries a broom and a brass dish with cow dung dissolved in water; and all that they sweep, after having swept it, they smear it with their right hand, giving a very thin coating, which dries immediately. and these women do not all serve, but take turns in the service; and when the king goes from one house to another, or to some temple, on foot, these women go before him with these dishes of the said cow dung, spilling it on the road by which he has to pass. and these thousand women give a great feast to the king when he newly comes to the throne, after he has finished his year of mourning and abstinence. it is fitting to know that all the thousand assemble together, both the old and the young ones, in the king's house, very much adorned with jewellery, gold belts, pearls, and many bracelets of gold, and many rings with precious stones, and ankle rings of gold on their legs, and dressed from the waist downwards with very rich silk stuffs, and others of very fine cotton, and from the waist upwards bare, and anointed with sandal and perfumes, and their hair wreathed with flowers, and rings of gold and precious stones in their ears, the feet bare, as they always are accustomed to be. and they have there all sorts of musical instruments, and many guns and other fireworks of various kinds. many nobles who accompany them come there very smart and gay, and are their admirers: and seven or eight elephants covered with silk housings and small bells in great quantity hanging to them, and large chains of iron suspended from their backs. and the ladies take an idol for their protector,[211] and put it on the top of the biggest elephant, and a priest who carries it in his arms sits on the back of the elephant. so they set out in procession with their music and rejoicing, and much firing of guns, going along a very broad street to a house of prayer. there they lower the idol which is to be seen with another which is in that temple, and they perform to them great ceremonies, and many people assemble to see and adore those idols, and pay honour to their images. these thousand women have each got a brass dish full of rice, and on the top of the rice lamps full of oil, with many lighted wicks, and between the chandeliers are many flowers. and at nightfall they set out from the temple with their idol for the king's palace, where they have to place it; and all come in procession before the idol which is set upon the elephant, in bands of eight, with the before mentioned salvers, and many men accompany them with oil, with which they replenish the lamps. and the nobles, their admirers, go along with them, talking to them with much courtesy; and they remove the perspiration from the ladies' faces, and from time to time put into their mouths the betel, which both men and women are constantly eating; and they fan them with fans, because their hands are fully occupied with the salvers. and all the instruments are sounding, and there is a great firing of rockets, and they carry some burning shrubs, so that it is a very pretty sight. also at night some gentlemen go in front of the idol inflicting wounds with their swords upon their own heads and shoulders, and shouting like madmen, and foaming at the mouth like persons possessed: and they say that the gods enter into them and make them do this. many tumblers and buffoons also go along performing feats of agility, and the governors and chief men of the city go there to direct and arrange that procession, which is conducted with much order until it arrives at the king's palace, where it disperses. this king is for the most part sitting on his dais, and sometimes his confidential advisers are there, rubbing his arms and legs, or his body, and a page with a napkin round his neck full of betel, which he gives him to chew, and sometimes it is kept in a gilt and coloured casket edged with silver, and at times in a gold plate, and the page gives it to him leaf by leaf, smeared with a little lime of sea shells diluted with rose water, like a sauce, which he keeps in a small box[212] of gold; and he also gives him areca, which is a small fruit, cut into pieces, and he chews it all together; and it colours his mouth, and what he spits is like blood. and another page holds in his hand a large gold cup, into which he spits the juice of that leaf which he does not swallow, and he washes his mouth from time to time, so that he is almost always munching these leaves. his manner of eating is that no one sees him eat: only four or five servants wait upon him. first of all, when he wishes to eat, he bathes in a pool of water which he has in his palaces, very clean and prettily kept; and there, when undressed, he performs his ceremonies and worships three times to the east, and walks three times round, and plunges three more times under the water, and after that dresses in clean clothes, each time fresh washed; and then he goes and sits in the place which he has appointed for eating, the ground having been swept, or on a very low, round stand. there they bring him a large silver tray, and upon it are many small silver saucers, all empty. and they are set before him on the ground upon another low stand: and the cook comes, who is a braman, and brings a copper pot with cooked rice, which is very dry and entire, and with a spoon they take it out, and make a pile of it in the middle of the said large tray; afterwards they bring many other pans with divers viands, and put portions of them into the small saucers. he then begins to eat with the right hand, taking handfuls of the rice without a spoon, and with the same hand he takes some of all the dishes and mixes it with the rice; and with his left hand he must not touch anything of what he eats; and they set near him a silver pitcher of water; and when he wants to drink, he takes it with the left hand, and raises it in the air, and pours the water into his mouth in a small jet; thus he drinks without the pitcher touching his mouth;[213] and the viands which they give him, both of flesh and fish, or vegetables and herbs, are done with so much pepper, so that no one from our parts could endure them in his mouth. and he never cleans his right hand, nor uses a napkin or cloth for that, whilst eating, until he has done eating, when he washes his hand. and if, during his meals, there should be present with him any honourable bramans, in his confidence, he bids them eat there apart from himself on the ground; and they set before them leaves of the indian fig-tree, which are very large and stiff, a leaf for each man, and upon these they set food before them, the same as for the king; and he who is not going to eat there goes away, because no one else may be where the king eats; and when he has ended his meal, the king returns to his dais, and is almost always chewing betel. whenever the king goes out of the palace to amuse himself, or to pray to some idol, all his gentlemen are summoned who are in waiting, and also the minstrels, and they carry the king in a litter, which is borne by men, and is covered with silk stuffs and jewels. many jugglers and tumblers go before the king, with whom he amuses himself, and he stops frequently to look at them, and praises the one who performs best. and one braman carries a sword and shield, and another a long gold sword, and another a sword in his right hand, which the king of all malabar, who went to die at mekkah, left behind him; and in his left hand a weapon which is like a fleur-de-lis. and on each side go two men with two fans, very long and round, and two others with two fans made of white tails of animals, which are like horses, and which are much valued amongst them, set on gold spears; these men fan the king, and close to them is a page with a gold pitcher full of water, and on the left side another with a silver one; and a page with a napkin, for when the king wishes to clean his nose, or if he touch his eyes or mouth, they pour water and wash his fingers, and the other gives him the napkin to dry them; they also carry vases, in which the king spits the betel. his nephews, governors, and other lords go along with him, and all accompany him with their swords drawn and shields. and a great quantity of buffoons, musicians, tumblers, and musqueteers firing guns accompany the king; and if he goes by night, they carry four large chandeliers of iron full of oil with many lighted wicks. on the fashion of justice in the kingdom of malabar. in the said city of calicut there is a governor, whom they call talaxe, a gentleman appointed by the king,[214] who has under him five thousand gentlemen, to whom he pays their salaries from the revenue, which is assigned for that purpose. this person administers justice in the city of calicut, and gives an account of everything to the king. and justice is administered according to the qualities of the persons, because there are divers sects and laws amongst them; that is to say, of gentlemen, chetres, guzurates, brabares, who are very honourable people; and thence downwards there are also divers sects of low and base people who are all serfs of the king, or of the other lords and governors of the country. and if any of these low people commits a robbery, concerning which a complaint has been made to the king or to the governor, they send to take the robber, and if they find the thing stolen in his hands, or if he confess that he did it, if he is a gentile, they take him to a place where they carry out executions, and there they set some high posts with sharp points and a small stand, through which passes one of those points; and there they cut off his head with a sword, and spit him through the back and the pit of the stomach, and that point comes out about a cubit, and on it they also spit his head. and they tie ropes to his legs and arms, and fasten them to four posts, so that the limbs are stretched out and the body on its back upon the stand. and if the malefactor is a moor, they take him to a field, and there kill him by stabbing him; and the stolen property is appropriated to the governor without its owner recovering anything; because their law so disposes, doing justice on the thief. and if the stolen property is found and the thief escapes, it is for a certain number of days in the charge of the governor; and if during that time they do not catch the thief, they return the stolen goods to its owner, a fourth part of it, however, remaining for the governor; and if the thief denies the robbery, they keep him eight days in prison, making his life uncomfortable, to see if he will confess, and throwing him his food; and when the eight days are passed without his confessing, they call the accuser, and he is told that the accused does not confess, and they ask him if he requires them to take his oath or let him go. if the accuser then requires the accused to swear, they make him wash and commend himself to his gods, and eat no betel, and cleanse his teeth from the blackness caused by the betel, in order that he may swear next day, and that he may prepare himself for it. next day they take him out of prison, and take him to a pool of water where he washes, performing his ceremony, and from there they take him to a house of prayer where his idols are kept, before which he takes his oath in this manner. it must be known that, if he is a gentile, they heat a copper-pot full of oil until it boils, and they throw in a few leaves of trees, and with the great heat of the pot the leaves fly out, and this is in order that the parties may see that the oil is hot and boiling; and then two scribes come near, and take the right hand of the accused and look if he has any wound of itch or other disease, and write down in what condition his hand is, in the presence of the party. then they bid him look at the idol, and say three times "i did not commit this theft of which i am accused, nor do i know who did it," and then put his two fingers up to the middle joints in the oil which is boiling upon the fire; and he does so; and they say that if he did not commit the theft, that he does not burn himself, and that if he did it, he burns his fingers. [and then the scribes, and governor and party, look at him again, and the scribes write down the condition in which his hand is, and they tie it up with a cloth whether it is burned or not, and put seals on the fastenings of the cloth, and send him back to prison. and three days later, all return to the same place where the oath was taken, and they untie his hand before the governor and party, and if they find it burned they kill him, but first give him so many torments that they make him confess where he has got the stolen property, or that he did it. and even if he does not confess, all the same he suffers the penalty because his hand was burned; and if they find his hand not burned, then they let him go, and he who accused him pays a certain sum as a fine to the governor. and they have the same method for him who kills another, or for him who kills a cow, or raises his hand in anger against bramans or noblemen. and this is to be understood as amongst the gentile peasants and low people. and if it is a moor who does such things, he passes through the same examinations, only that instead of putting his fingers in oil, they make him lick with his tongue a red-hot axe, and if he does not burn himself he remains free, and if he burns his tongue he suffers death. and if any of the common people, whether gentiles or moors, commit other offences for which they do not deserve death, they punish them with a pecuniary penalty for the governor, and this produces much revenue to him; and he lays hold of vagabonds as slaves, and he has the power of selling them, and sells them without any opposition whatever, at a price of from four to five ducats. the nobles enjoy exemption and the privilege, that they cannot be taken and put in irons for anything which they do. and if a noble were to rob or kill any one, or kill a cow, or were to sleep with a woman of low caste, or of the bramans, or if he eat or drank in the house of a low caste man, or spoke ill of his king--this being established by his own words--they call three or four honourable gentlemen in whom the king places confidence, and he bids them go and kill this noble wherever they may meet with him, and they give them a warrant[215] signed by the king for them to kill him without penalty. they then kill him with daggers or spears, or shoot him with arrows, because at times these men who are accused are such that before being put to death, they wound two or three of the slaughterers, if they have been forewarned. and after he is dead they lay him on his back and place that king's warrant upon his breast. and if they kill him in the country they leave him there, and no one comes near him, so that the fowls and dogs devour him. and if they kill him in the city, the people of the street where he lies dead go and beg the king to order his removal; and the king gives the orders, sometimes as a favour, sometimes with a fine.[216]] and if any noble comes to the king or to the governor, and complains to him of any other noble who has robbed or murdered or done any other evil deed, the governor reports it to the king, and the king gives orders to summon the accused, and if he absents himself they hold him guilty, and he is ordered to be executed in the same manner without further investigation. and if he presents himself, they summon the accuser, and examine both of them together. and the accuser takes a small branch of a tree or green herbs in his hand, and says, such a one did such a thing; the other one takes another branch, and denies it. the king then bids them return eight days thenceforward to the house of the governor to take oath and prove that which each one asserts; and so they depart, and return on the day fixed to the house of the governor, where the accused swears in the manner already described with boiling butter, and having concluded taking the oath, they tie up his fingers as has been said, and both of them are detained in a house under a guard, so that neither of them can run away. and on the third day they untie his fingers, and clear up the truth, and if they find the fingers burned, they kill the accused; and not finding them injured, they kill the accuser. and if the accused is not of as great value, they do not kill the accuser, on whom in such case they inflict a pecuniary penalty and that of banishment. and if such a noble was accused of a great robbery of the king's property, they have him imprisoned in a close room and well guarded, and conduct him thence to take the oath. in this kingdom of calicut there is another governor, who is like the chief justice of all the kingdom, with the exception of the city of calicut. this chief justice is called coytoro tical carnaver; he has his lieutenants in all the villages, to whom he farms the administration of justice: that is to say, the fines, not capital penalties. and people come to this chief justice for any injury, and he gives an account of it and reports to the king, and renders justice in the manner followed at calicut. in this kingdom of calicut no women ever die by sentence of law for any offence whatever; they are only subject to pecuniary penalties. and if any woman of nayr family should offend against the law of her sect, and the king know of it before her relations and brothers, he commands her to be taken and sold out of the kingdom to moors or christians. and if her male relations or sons know of it first, they shut her up and kill her with dagger or spear wounds, saying that if they did not do so they would remain greatly dishonoured. and the king holds this to be well done. section of the bramans and their customs. the gentile bramans are priests all of one lineage, and others cannot be priests, but only their own sons. and when these are seven years old, they put round their necks a strap two fingers in width of an animal which they call cressua-mergan,[217] with its hair, which is like a wild ass; and they command him not to eat betel for seven years, and all this time he wears that strap round the neck, passing under the arm, and when he reaches fourteen years of age they make him a braman, removing from him the leather strap round his neck, and putting on another of three threads, which he wears all his life as a mark of being a braman. and they do this with much ceremony and festivity, just as here at the first mass,[218] and from this time forward he may eat betel. they do not eat flesh nor fish, they are much reverenced and honoured by the indians, and they are not executed for any offence which they may commit: but their chief, who is like a bishop, chastises them in moderation. they marry only once, and only the eldest brother has to be married, and of him is made a head of the family like a sole heir by entail,[219] and all the others remain bachelors, and never marry. the eldest is the heir of all the property. these bramans, the elder brothers, keep their wives very well guarded, and in great esteem, and no other man can approach them; and if any of the married ones die, the person who becomes widowed does not marry again. and if the wife commits adultery, the husband kills her with poison. these young men who do not marry, nor can marry, sleep with the wives of the nobles, and these women hold it as a great honour because they are bramans, and no woman refuses them. and they must not sleep with any woman older than themselves. and these live in their houses and estates, and they have great houses of prayer, in which they do service as abbots, and whither they go to recite their prayers at fixed times of the day, and worship their idols and perform their ceremonies. and these temples have their principal doors to the west, and each temple has three doors, and in front of the principal gate, outside of it, is a stone of the height of a man, with three steps all round it, and in front of that stone inside the church is a small chapel, very dark, inside of which they keep their idol, of gold, silver, or metal, and three lamps burning. and no one may enter there except the minister of that church, who goes in to set before the idol flowers and scented herbs, and they anoint it with sandal and rose water, and take it out once in the morning, and another time in the evening with sound of trumpets and drums, and horns. and he who takes it out first washes thoroughly, and carries it on his head with the face looking backwards, and they walk with it three times in procession round the church, and certain wives of the bramans carry lighted lamps in front, and each time that they reach the principal door, they set the idol on that stone and there worship it, and perform certain ceremonies; and having ended the three turns with music and rejoicing, they again place it in the chapel, and each day they do this twice, by day and at night. and around this church there is a stone wall, between which and the church they walk in the before mentioned procession, and they carry over the idol a very lofty canopy upon a very long bamboo for state as for kings. they place all the offerings upon the stone before the principal gate of the temple, and twice a day it is washed, and they set cooked rice upon it to feed the crows twice a day with great ceremony. these bramans greatly honour the number trine: they hold that there is a god in three persons, and who is not more than one. all their prayers and ceremonies are in honour of the trinity, and they, so to say, figure it in their rites, and the name by which they call it is this, berma besnu maycereni, who are three persons and one sole god,[220] thus they confess him to be from the beginning of the world. they have no knowledge or information of the coming of jesus christ. they believe many more vain things, which they speak of. these people each time that they wash put some ashes upon their heads, foreheads and breasts, in token that they have to turn again into ashes; and when they die they have their bodies burned. when the wife of a braman is in the family way, as soon as the husband knows it he cleans his teeth, and eats no more betel nor trims his beard, and fasts until his wife gives birth to her child. the kings make great use of these bramans for many things, except in deeds of arms. only bramans can cook the king's food, or else men of the king's own family, and so all the king's relations have this same custom of having their food cooked by bramans. these are the messengers who go on the road from one kingdom to another, with letters and money and merchandise, because they pass in safety in all parts, without any one molesting them, even though the kings may be at war. these bramans are well read in the law of their idolatry, and possess many books, and are learned and masters of many arts: and so the kings honour them as such. section of the nairs of malabar, who are the gentry, and their customs. in these kingdoms of malabar there is another sect of people called nairs, who are the gentry, and have no other duty than to carry on war, and they continually carry their arms with them, which are swords, bows, arrows, bucklers, and lances. they all live with the kings, and some of them with other lords, relations of the king, and lords of the country, and with the salaried governors; and with one another. and no one can be a nair if he is not of good lineage. they are very smart men, and much taken up with their nobility. they do not associate with any peasant, and neither eat nor drink except in the houses of other nairs. these people accompany their lords day and night; little is given them for eating and sleeping, and for serving and doing their duty; and frequently they sleep upon a bare bench to wait for the person whom they serve, and sometimes they do not eat more than once a day; and they have small expenses for they have little pay. many of them content themselves with about two hundred maravedis[221] each month for themselves and the servant that attends to them. these are not married nor maintain women or children; their nephews the sons of their sisters are their heirs. the nair women are all accustomed to do with themselves what they please with bramans or nairs, but not with other people of lower class under pain of death. after they are ten or twelve years old or more, their mothers perform a marriage ceremony for them in this manner. they advise the relations and friends that they may come to do honour to their daughters, and they beg some of their relations and friends to marry these daughters, and they do so. it must be said they have a small gold jewel made, which will contain half a ducat of gold, a little shorter than the tag of a lace, with a hole in the middle passing through it, and they string it on a thread of white silk; and the mother of the girl stands with her daughter very much dressed out, entertaining her with music and singing, and a number of people. and this relation or friend of hers comes with much earnestness, and there performs the ceremony of marriage, as though he married with her, and they throw a gold chain round the necks of both of them together, and he puts the above mentioned jewel round her neck, which she always has to wear as a sign that she may now do what she pleases.[222] and the bridegroom leaves her, and goes away without touching her nor having more to say to her, on account of being her relation; and if he is not so, he may remain with her if he wish it, but he is not bound to do so if he do not desire it. and from that time forward the mother goes begging some young men, "que le desvirguen aquella hija, porque lo an entre sy por cosa sucia y casi vileza a desvirgar mugeres." and after she is already a woman the mother goes about seeking who will take her daughter to live with him. but when she is very pretty three or four nairs join together and agree to maintain her, and to live all of them with her; and the more she has the more highly is she esteemed, and each man has his appointed day from midday till next day at the same hour, when the other comes; and so she passes her life without anyone thinking ill of it. and he who wishes to leave her, does so whenever he pleases, and goes to take another. and if she takes a dislike to any of them she dismisses him. the children which she has remain at the expense of the mother and of the brothers of the mother, who bring them up, because they do not know the fathers, and even if they should appear to belong to any persons in particular, they are not recognised by them as sons, nor do they give anything for them. and it is said that the kings made this law in order that the nairs should not be covetous, and should not abandon the king's service.[223] these nairs, besides being all of noble descent, have to be armed as knights by the hand of the king, or lord with whom they live, and until they have been so equipped they cannot bear arms nor call themselves nairs, but they enjoy the freedom and exemption and advantages of the nairs in many things. in general when these nairs are seven years of age they are immediately sent to school to learn all manner of feats of agility and gymnastics for the use of their weapons. first they learn to dance, and then to tumble, and for that purpose they render supple all their limbs from their childhood, so that they can bend them in any direction. and after they have exercised in this, they teach them to manage the weapons which suit each one most. that is to say bows, clubs, or lances; and most of them are taught to use the sword and buckler, which is of more common use among them. in this fencing there is much agility and science. and there are very skilful men who teach this art, and they are called panicars;[224] these are captains in war. these nairs when they enlist to live with the king, bind themselves and promise to die for him; and they do likewise with any other lord from whom they receive pay. this law is observed by some and not by others; but their obligation constrains them to die at the hands of anyone who should kill the king or their lord: and some of them so observe it; so that if in any battle their lord should be killed, they go and put themselves in the midst of the enemies who killed him, even should those be numerous, and he alone by himself dies there: but before falling he does what he can against them; and after that one is dead another goes to take his place, and then another: so that sometimes ten or twelve nayrs die for their lord. and even if they were not present with him when he was killed, they go and seek him who killed him, or the king who ordered him to be killed: and so one by one they all die. and if anyone is in apprehension of another man, he takes some of these nairs, as many as he pleases, into his pay; and they accompany and guard him; and on their account he goes securely, since no one dares to molest him; because if he were molested they and all their lineage would take vengeance on him who should cause this molestation. these guards are called janguada:[225] and there are some people who sometimes take so many of these nairs, and of such quality, that on their account they no longer fear the king, who would not venture to command the execution of a man who was guarded by these, in order not to expose many nairs to danger for it. and even if the nairs were not in his company when the man they guard was killed, they would not any the less revenge his death. these nayrs live outside the towns, separate from other people, on their estates which are fenced in. they have there all that they require; they do not drink wine. when they go anywhere they shout to the peasants that they may get out of the way where they have to pass; and the peasants do so, and if they did not do it the nayrs might kill them without penalty. if a young man of family who is very poor meets a rich and respectable peasant, one favoured by the king, he makes him get out of the road in the same manner, as if he were a king. these nayrs have great privileges in this matter, and the nayr women even greater with the peasants, and the nairs with the peasant women. this, they say, is done to avoid all opportunity of mixing their blood with that of peasants. and if a peasant were by misfortune to touch a nayr lady, her relations would immediately kill her and likewise the man that touched her, and all his relations. when these nayrs order any work to be done by the peasants, or buy anything of them which they take, being between man and man, they are not exposed to any other penalty on touching one another than the not being able to enter their houses without first washing themselves and changing their clothes for others that are clean. and likewise as regards the nair women and the peasant women: these practices are more observed in the country. no nair woman ever enters the towns under pain of death except once a year, when they may go for one night with their nayrs wherever they like. on that night more than twenty thousand nair women enter calicut to see the town, which is full of lamps in all the streets, which the inhabitants set there to do honour to the nairs, and all the streets are hung with cloth. and the nair women come in to see the houses of their friends and of their husbands, and there they receive presents and entertainment, and are invited to eat betel: and it is held to be a great politeness to receive it from friends. some of them come wrapped up,[226] and others uncovered; and the women relations of the kings and great lords come also to see the city on this night, and to walk about it, looking at the property of the great merchants, from whom they receive presents, in order that they may favour them with the king. those nayrs whom the king has received as his, he never dismisses however old they may be; on the contrary, they always receive their pay and rations, and he grants favours to whoever has served well. and if some years should pass without their being paid, some four or five hundred of the aggrieved rise up, and go in a body to the palace, and send word to the king that they are going away dismissed, to take service with another king, because he does not give them food. then the king sends to beg them to have patience, and that he will send and pay them immediately. and if he does not immediately give them a third part of what is due, and an order for the payment of the rest, they go away to another king, wherever it appears to them that they can best suit themselves; and they engage with him, and he receives them willingly, and gives them food for thirteen days before he has them enrolled for pay. and during this time this king sends to inquire of their king if he intends to send and pay them; and if he does not pay them, then he receives them in his pay, and gives them the same allowances which they had in their own country, from which and from their king in such a case they remain disnaturalized. and many undertake, but few perform this, because their king grants them a remedy, and holds it to be a great disgrace should they go away. when these nayrs go to the wars their pay is served out to them every day as long as the war lasts; it is four taras per day each man, which are worth five maravedis each,[227] with which they provide for themselves. and during the time that they are at war, they may touch any peasant, and eat and drink with them in their houses, without any penalty. and the king is obliged to maintain the mother and family of any nayr who may die in the war, and those persons are at once written down for their maintenance. and if these nayrs are wounded, the king has them cured at his expense, besides their pay, and has food given them all their lives, or until they are cured of their wounds. these nayrs show much respect to their mothers,[228] and support them with what they gain, because besides their allowances, most of them possess houses and palm trees and estates, and some houses let to peasants, which have been granted by the king to them or to their uncles, and which remain their property. they also have much respect for their elder sisters, whom they treat as mothers. and they do not enter into a room with those that are young girls, nor touch them nor speak to them, saying that it would give occasion to sin with them, because they are younger and have less understanding, which could not happen with the elder ones, on account of the respect they have for them. these nair women every month set themselves apart in their houses for three days without approaching anyone; at which time a woman has to prepare her food in separate pots and pans. and when the three days are ended, she bathes with hot water which is brought there, and after bathing dresses in clean clothes, and so goes out of the house to a pool of water and bathes again, and again leaves those clean clothes, and takes other fresh ones, and so returns home, and talks with her mother and sisters and the other people. and the room where she was for those three days is well swept and wetted, and plastered with cow dung, because otherwise no one would dwell there. these women when they are confined, three days afterwards are washed with hot water, and after getting up from their confinement they bathe many times each day from head to foot. they do no business, eat the bread of idleness, and only get their food to eat by means of their bodies: because besides each one having three or four men who provide for them, they do not refuse themselves to any braman or nayr who pays them. they are very clean and well dressed women, and they hold it in great honour to know how to please men. they have a belief amongst them that the woman who dies a virgin does not go to paradise.[229] section of the brabares who are merchants of the kingdom of malabar, of their customs and sect. in this kingdom of calicut, and in all the other malabar kingdoms, there is a sect of gentile merchants who are called amongst them brabares, who trafficked also before foreign persons came to port or navigated in these seas. these still deal, especially in the interior, in all sorts of goods, and collect all the pepper and ginger from the nayrs and cultivators, and frequently buy them in advance in exchange for cotton stuffs, and other goods which come from beyond the sea. these people are also great changers, and gain much upon coin. they enjoy such freedom in this country that the kings cannot sentence them to death, but the chief men of these brabares assemble together in council, and having arrived at the knowledge that the offender deserves death, they kill him, the king having information thereof: and if the king knows first of the offence before them, he informs them of it, and they kill him with dagger or lance thrusts. for the most part they are very rich people, and possess in the country many estates inherited from old times. they marry only one wife in our fashion, and their sons are their immediate heirs; and when they die their bodies are burned, and their wives accompany the body weeping for him: and she takes from her neck a small gold jewel which he gave her when he married her, and she throws it into the fire upon him, and then returns to her house, and never more can be married, however young she may be. and if she were to die before her husband he has her burned, and may marry again. these people are of as pure lineage as the nairs, men and women, and they may touch one another. section of the cujaven, who are potters and workers of clay. there is another sect of people among the indians of malabar, which is called cujaven, and which is only separated from the nayrs on account of a fault which they committed.[230] for this reason they remained as a separate sect. their business is to work at baked clay, and tiles for covering houses, with which the temples and royal buildings are roofed; and by law no other persons may roof their houses except with palm branches. their idolatry and their idols are different from those of the others; and in their houses of prayer they perform a thousand acts of witchcraft and necromancy; they call their temples pagodes, and they are separate from the others. their descendants cannot take any other sect nor any other occupation. in their marriages they follow the law of the nayrs. the nayrs may cohabit with their women, provided that they do not re-enter their houses without washing themselves from that sin, and putting on a change of clean garments. section of the washermen. in this country there is another sect of gentiles whom they call manatamar,[231] and their business is only to wash the clothes of the bramans, kings, and nayrs; and they live by this business, and they cannot adopt other employments, nor can their descendants. the men are those that wash, and they wash in their houses in large tanks and reservoirs which they have got for this purpose. they have constantly in their houses such a large quantity of clothes to wash, both of their own and of strangers, that they hire out many of them day by day to the nayrs who have not got their own, and they pay so much a day for them when clean; and so each day they return them the dirty ones, and fetch away clean clothes. and the clothes have to be suitable to each person. they wash for a great many people for money, so that they serve all with cleanliness, and they all gain their livelihoods very sufficiently. their lineage does not mix with any other, neither can any other with theirs; only the nayrs can have mistresses from amongst the women of this lineage, with the condition that each time that they approach them, they have to bathe themselves and change their garments before entering their houses. these washermen have got idolatries of their own, and their houses of prayer are separate, and they believe in many extravagant things. they marry like the nairs, their brothers and nephews inherit their property, and they do not recognise their sons. section of the weavers of the malabar country. there is another set of gentiles, still lower, whom they call chalien, who are weavers and have no other business except to weave cloths of cotton, and some of silk, which are of little value, and are used by the common people. and these also have a sect and form of idolatry apart. their lineage does not mix with any others; only the nairs may have mistresses amongst the women of these people, so that they do not enter their houses without bathing and changing their clothes, whenever they have visited them. many of these are sons of nairs, and so they are very fine men in their figures; and they bear arms like the nayrs and go to the wars, and fight very well. in marriages they have the law of the nairs, and their sons do not inherit. their wives have the power of doing what they please with themselves with the nairs, or with other weavers: and they cannot mix with any other lineage under pain of death.[232] section of low people: zivil tiver. of low people zevil tiver,[233] there are eleven sects, which no respectable people touch under pain of death: and between each other there is a great difference and separation, and one family does not mix with another. the best of these are labourers, whom they call tiver. their principal employment is to till the palm trees, and gather their fruits; and to carry everything for hire from one point to another, because they are not in the habit of transporting them with beasts of burden, as there are none: and they hew stone, and gain their livelihood by all kinds of labour. some of them learn the use of arms, and fight in the wars when it is necessary. they all carry a staff in their hand of a fathom's length as a sign of their lineage. most of them are serfs of the nayrs, to whom the king of the country gives them, in order that their masters may be supported by their labour, and these protect and shew favour to these slaves. these people have an idolatry of their own, and believe in their idols. their nephews are their heirs, and their sons do not inherit, because the wives whom they marry get their livelihood with their bodies, and give themselves to the moors, natives of the country, and also to foreigners of all kinds; and this very publicly, and with the knowledge of their husbands who give them opportunities for so doing. they make wines in the country, and they alone can sell it. they take much care not to touch other people lower than themselves; and live separate from other people. of this sect sometimes two brothers have one wife only and both of them live with her. moguer. i find another sect of people still lower, moguer, which they call moguer,[234] who are almost like the tivers, but they do not touch one another. these are the people who transport the king's property from one place to another when he moves. there are very few of these in the country, they have a sect of their own, and have no law of marriage; their wives are public for all, and for strangers. these people for the most part get their living at sea, they are mariners and fishermen. they have a separate idolatry: they are slaves of the kings and nayrs and bramans. there are some of them very rich men who have got ships with which they navigate, for they gain much money with the moors. their nephews are their heirs, and not their sons, because they do not marry. they take care not to touch other people lower than themselves. these people live in separate villages: their women are very pretty, and whiter than others of this country, because they are for the most part daughters of foreigners who are white: they are very smartly dressed and adorned with gold. canion. there is another lower set of gentiles called canion. their business is to make shields and shades[235]: they learn letters and astronomy, and some of them are great astrologers, and they foretell many future things, and form very accurate judgments upon the births of men. kings and great persons send to call them, and come out of their palaces to the gardens and pleasure grounds to see them and ask them what they desire to know: and these people form judgments upon these things in a few days, and return to those that asked of them, but they may not enter the palaces, nor may they approach the king's person on account of being low people. and the king is then alone with them. they are great diviners, and pay great attention to times and places of good and bad luck, which they cause to be observed by these kings and great men, and by the merchants also: and they take care to do their business at the times which these astrologers advise them, and they do the same in their voyages and marriages. and by this means these men gain a great deal. they reckon the months, seasons, signs and planets as we do, except that they have months of twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one and thirty-two days: and their first month of the year is april. from may till the middle of october they have their winter, and during this time it rains much in that country, and there are frequent storms, without any cold: and from the middle of october till the end of april is the summer, of great heat and little wind. and on the coast there are many land breezes, and frequent changes in the sea breezes. they navigate their ships in the summer, and in the winter they draw them up on shore, and cover them up on account of the heavy falls of rain. ajare. another lower lineage amongst these gentiles is called ajare. their business is that of quarry men and carpenters, and others are blacksmiths, carvers of metals, and silversmiths. these are all of a sect different from the idolatry of the other people. these people marry and their sons inherit their property and employments which they teach them from their childhood. they are slaves of the king and the nairs, and very skilful in their business. mucoa. there is another lower sect of gentiles called mucoa, who are fishermen and mariners, without other business. they sail in ships of moors and gentiles, and are quite at home on the sea: they also live in separate villages. they are great thieves, and shameless: they marry and their children inherit, and their wives sleep with whom they like without their thinking ill of it. they have a separate sect and form of idolatry, and are also slaves of the king and the nayrs of the country. they do not pay any duty on the fresh fish which they sell, and if they dry it they pay four per cent. duty: and the fresh fish is very cheap. this is the chief food in use amongst the indians, for they are people who eat very little meat on account of the country being very populous[236] and of few flocks. there are some of these fishermen who are very rich and well supplied, they have large houses and property. the king takes them when he pleases, and puts much pressure on them because they are slaves. betua. there is another lower sect of gentiles called betua. their business is to make salt, to plough and sow rice, and they do not live by anything else: they have houses in the country apart from the roads where respectable people pass. these people have a form of idolatry of their own: they also are slaves of the king and of the nayrs. they live very miserably: the nayrs make them keep far aloof from them, and speak to them from a great distance: they have no intercourse with other people. they are married and their children inherit. paneu. there is another sect even lower of these people, called paneu,[237] who are great practisers of witchcraft, and they do not gain their living by anything else than charms. they visibly speak with devils who put themselves within them, and make them do awful things. when any king falls ill of fevers or any other illness, he immediately sends to call these men and women; of whom the most accomplished charmers come with their wives and children. twenty-two families establish their dwellings at the gate of the palace of the king, or house of the person who is suffering, and has sent to call them: and there they set up a tent of coloured cloth in which they all place themselves. and there they paint their bodies with colours, and make crowns of painted paper and cloth, and other inventions of many sorts, with plenty of flowers and herbs, and great bonfires, and lighted lamps, and kettle-drums, trumpets, horns, and lutes, which they sound; and in this manner they come out of the tent two and two, with their swords in their hands, shouting and jumping, and running about the place or the court of the palace, and they jump upon one another's backs, and go on this way for some time, sticking one another with knives, and pushing one another naked and barefooted into the fire, until they are tired; and so they come out both men and boys two and two together to do the same thing again: and the women shout and sing with a great noise. and they go on this way for two or three days, night and day, always performing together, and they make rings of earth, and lines of red ochre and white clay, and spread upon them rice and flowers of various colours, and put lights all round, and go on this way until the devil, for whose service they do all this, enters into one of them, and makes him say what the king is suffering from, and what must be done to cure him. and then they tell it to the king, and he remains satisfied and gives them many presents, and does what they tell him, either as to making offerings to their idols, or any other matter which they enjoin him to do. and so he gets well by the work of the devil, to whom they all belong. these also live separated from intercourse with the nayrs and respectable people, and do not touch any other sect. they are great hunters and archers: they kill many boars and stags upon which they maintain themselves. they are married and their children inherit. renoleni. there is another sect of people still lower, who are called renoleni,[238] who live in the mountains very poorly and miserably. and they have no other occupation than bringing wood and grass to the city for sale, to support themselves. and these people have no intercourse with any others, nor others with them, under pain of death; and they go naked, covering only their middles, many of them do so with only leaves of trees, and some with small and very dirty cloths. they marry and their children are their heirs. the women wear much brass on their ears, necks, arms, and legs, in bracelets, rings, and beads. puler. there is another lower sect of gentiles called puler.[239] these are held as excommunicated and accursed; they live in swampy fields and places where respectable people cannot go: they have very small and abject huts, and plough and sow the fields with rice, they use buffaloes and oxen. they do not speak to the nairs, except from a long way off, as far as they can be heard speaking with a loud voice. when they go along the road they shout, so that whoever comes may speak to them, and that they may withdraw from the roads, and put themselves on the mountains. and whatever woman or man should touch these, their relations immediately kill them like a contaminated thing: and they kill so many of these pulers until they are weary of it, without any penalty. these low people during certain months of the year try as hard as they can to touch some of the nair women, as best they may be able to manage it, and secretly by night, to do harm. so they go by night amongst the houses of the nayrs to touch women, and these take many precautions against this injury during this season. and if they touch any woman, even though no one see it, and though there should be no witnesses, she, the nair woman herself, publishes it immediately, crying out, and leaves her house without choosing to enter it again to damage her lineage. and what she most thinks of doing is to run to the house of some low people, to hide herself, that her relations may not kill her as a remedy for what has happened, or sell her to some strangers as they are accustomed to do. and touching is in this manner, that even if there is no contact from one person to another, yet by throwing anything, such as a stone or a stick, if the person is hit by it, he remains touched and lost. these people are great charmers, thieves, and very vile people. pareni.[240] there is yet another sect of people among them still lower, who live in desert places, called pareni. these likewise do not converse with any one. they are looked upon as worse than the devil, and as altogether condemned:[241] so that by looking at them only they consider themselves as defiled and excommunicated, which they call contaminated. they support themselves on yname, which is like the root of the maize which is found in the island of antilla, and on other roots and wild fruits, and they cover themselves with leaves and eat the flesh of wild animals. and with these ends the diversity of the sects of the gentiles, which are in all eighteen, each one by itself: they live without intercourse or intermarriage of one with another. other kinds of people. in these kingdoms of malabar, besides the races of the kings and gentiles and natives of the country, there are other foreign people who are merchants and traders in this country, in which they possess houses and estates; and they live like natives of the country, and observe their own sect and customs, which are the following. chetis. some of these are called chetis,[242] who are gentiles, natives of the province of cholmender, which will be mentioned further on. for the most part they are brown men, and some of them are almost white; they are tall and stout. these people are considerable merchants and changers, they deal in precious stones of all sorts, and in seed pearl, coral, and other valuable merchandise; and in gold, silver, either bullion or coined, which is a great article of trade amongst them, because they rise and fall many times. they are rich and respected, and live very decently; they have very good houses in streets set apart for themselves; and also their temples and idols are different from those of the country. they go bare from the waist upwards, and have cotton cloths many cubits in length wrapped round them; on their heads they wear small caps, and very long hair gathered up inside the caps; their beards shaved, and a few pinches of ashes with sandal and saffron, on their heads, breasts, and arms. they have holes in their ears, so large that they would almost hold an egg, full of rings of gold and jewelry, and many gold rings with jewels on their fingers, and round their waists gold belts, some of them studded with precious stones. they also carry with them continually large bags in which their scales and weights are kept, and their money, and jewels and pearls. and their sons as soon as they have passed the age of ten do the same, and go about changing small coin. they are great clerks and accountants, and make out all their accounts on their fingers: they are great usurers, so much so that from one brother to another they do not lend a real without gain. they are very orderly people in their food and expenditure; they keep account of everything, and are very subtle in their dealings. their language differs from that of the malabars, like that of castilians and portuguese. they marry in our fashion, and their children are their heirs: and if their wives become widows, they never marry again, however young they may be; but if the husband becomes a widower he may marry again. should the wife commit adultery the husband may kill her with poison. and these people have their own jurisdiction, and the king cannot have anything to say in their deeds and faults; they do justice amongst one another, with which the king is well-satisfied. when they die their bodies are burned. they eat all flesh except cow. guzurates. there is another sect of gentile merchants in the city of calicut, which they call guzarates, who are natives of the kingdom of cambay, whose customs have already been related; and they observe them in this city as in their own country. they are men who possess ships, and trade in spices, drugs, cloth, copper, and other kinds of merchandise from this place to the kingdom of cambay, and that of decan, where they have other correspondents; and they at the same time are correspondents of others. they have very good houses in separate streets, and their temples and idols different from the others, and many large and small bells in our fashion. the king shows them great honour and favour, and is much pleased with them because they give him much revenue from their trade. some of them also live in the city of cananor, and others in cochin; and so also in other ports of malabar. but in general most of them reside in calicut. mapuler. in all this said country of malabar there are a great quantity of moors, who are of the same language and colour as the gentiles of the country. they go bare like the nairs, only they wear, to distinguish themselves from the gentiles, small round caps on their heads and their beards fully grown. so that it appears to me that these people are a fifth part of all the inhabitants that there are in this country. they call these moors mapulers, they carry on nearly all the trade of the seaports: and in the interior of the country they are very well provided with estates and farms. so that if the king of portugal had not discovered india this country would have had a moorish king: because many of the gentiles turned moors for any offence which they received amongst one another: and the moors did them great honour, and if they were women they immediately married them. these people have many mosques in the country in which they also unite in council. pardesy. there were other foreign moors in calicut, whom they call pardesy. these are arabs, persians, guzarates, khorasanys, and decanys: they are great merchants, and possess in this place wives and children, and ships for sailing to all parts with all kinds of goods. they have among them a moorish governor who rules over and chastises them, without the king meddling with them. and before the king of portugal discovered the country they were so numerous and powerful in the city of calicut, that the gentiles did not venture to dispute with them. and after that the king of portugal made himself master there, and these moors saw that they could not defend it, they began to leave the country, and little by little they went away from it, so that very few of them remain. and at the time that they prospered in their trade, without any exaggeration, they made ships in this city of a thousand and of eleven hundred bahars bulk, which make four quintals each.[243] these ships are with keels like ours and without any nails, because they sew the planks with mat cords, very well pitched, and the timber very good. the upper works are of different patterns from ours, and without decks,[244] with divisions in which they used to stow much pepper, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, long pepper, sandal and brazil wood, lac, cardamoms, myrabolans, tamarinds, bamboos,[245] and all sorts of jewels and pearls, musk, amber, rhubarb, aloes-wood, many fine cotton stuffs, and much porcelain. and in this manner ten or twelve ships laden with these goods sailed every year in the month of february, and made their voyage to the red sea: and some of them were for the city of aden, and some for jiddah the port of mekkah, where they sold their merchandise to others, who transported them thence in other smaller vessels to turkey and to suez, and thence by land to cairo, and from cairo to alexandria. and these ships returned laden with copper, quicksilver, vermilion, coral, saffron, coloured velvets, rose-water, knives, coloured camlets, scarlet and other coloured cloths, gold and silver, and other things, and they returned to calicut from august to the middle of october of the same year that they sailed. these moors were very well dressed and fitted out, and were luxurious in eating and sleeping. the king gave to each one a nair to guard and serve him, a chety scribe for his accounts, and to take care of his property, and a broker for his trade. to these three persons such a merchant would pay something for their maintenance, and all of them served very well, and when the merchant bought spices the sellers gave him for each farazola of ginger, which is of twenty-five pounds, three or four pounds of it for them; and so of some other goods, which duties the merchant collects to pay these officials of his. [_here follow eleven lines in the lisbon edition, saying_:--these are white men and very gentlemanlike and of good appearance, they go well dressed, and adorned with silk stuffs, scarlet cloth, camlets and cottons: their head-dress wrapped round their heads. they have large houses and many servants: they are very luxurious in eating, drinking, and sleeping; and in this manner they prospered until the portuguese came to india: now there are hardly any of them, and those that there are do not live at liberty. hitherto i have spoken at length of all the sects, and different kinds of people of malabar, and of some set apart in calicut: now i will relate the position of each kingdom by itself, and how the said country of malabar is divided.] [_here follows in the ms. no. 570 of the munich royal library...._ section of the manner in which the country of malabar is divided, and of that which grows in it. you must know that from cunbala, country of the king of narsynga, towards the south and along the coast to the kingdom of cananor, and within it there is a town called cotcoulam, and on the sea-shore a fortress in which is a nephew of the king of cananor, as guardian of the frontier. and further on there is a river called nira-pura, in which is a good town, and seaport, of moors and gentiles, and of trade and navigation: in this town resides the said nephew, who at times rises up in rebellion: and the king goes to overthrow him with large forces, and puts him down under his authority. after passing this place along the coast is the mountain dely, on the edge of the sea; it is a round mountain, very lofty, in the midst of low land: all the ships of the moors and gentiles that navigate in this sea of india, sight this mountain when coming from without, and make their reckoning by it. when they are going away the ships take in much good water and wood.... after this at the foot of the mountain to the south is a town called marave, very ancient and well off, in which live moors and gentiles and jews: these jews are of the language of the country, it is a long time since they have dwelt in this place. there is much fishery in the neighbourhood of this mountain of dely: which at sea is seen at a great distance by the ships that are trying to make it. further on along the coast is a river in which is a handsome town entirely of moors, and all round many gentiles, and at the entrance is a small hill on which is a fortress in which the king of cananor constantly resides. it contains very good wells and which are very capacious. this city is called balapatan, at four leagues from it is a city of moors and gentiles, very large, and of much trade with the merchants of the kingdom of narsynga; this town is called eah paranco, in which much copper is expended. cananor. coming to the sea, and passing this town of balapatan, in which the king lives, towards the south is a very good town called cananor.] cananor. on the sea coast near the kingdom of calicut towards the south is a city called cananor, in which there are many moors and gentiles of many kinds, who are all merchants, and possess many large and small ships. they trade in all sorts of goods, principally with the kingdom of cambay and ormuz, colan, dabul banda, goa, ceylon, and the maldiu islands. in this city of cananor the king of portugal has a fortress and a factory and very peaceable trade, and all round the fortress a town of christians of the country, married with their wives, who were baptized after the fortress was made, and each day some are baptized. ciecate. having passed the said city along the coast towards the south, there is a town of moors, natives of the country, which also possesses much shipping, named ciecate.[246] [_here ramusio says_: some lines are wanting here.] tarmapatan. having passed beyond this place, there is a river which makes two arms, and near it a large town of moors, natives of the country, and very rich, great merchants who likewise possess much shipping. it is called tarmapatam, and has many and very large mosques; it is the last town of the kingdom of cananor on the side of calicut. these moors when they receive any injury from the king of cananor, immediately rise up, and withdraw their obedience until the king goes in person to remove the injury, and to cajole them. [_here the lisbon edition adds_: and if the portuguese had not discovered india, this town would already have a moorish king of its own, and would convert all malabar to the sect of mahomed.] cotaogato. at four leagues higher up the said river there is another city of moors, very large, rich, and of much trade, which deals with the people of narsinga by land, and is called cotaogato.[247] description of what grows in this kingdom of cananor. very good pepper grows in this kingdom of cananor, but there is not much of it; much ginger is also produced in it, which is not of a very good quality, called _hely_ because it is near the mountain dely. there grow also much cardamoms, myrobolans, bamboos, zerubs,[248] and zedoary.[249] there are in this country, especially in the rivers, very large lizards which eat men, and their scent when they are alive smells like civet. and throughout the country in the brushwood there are two kinds of venomous serpents, some which the indians call murcas, and we call hooded snakes,[250] because there is something like an hood on their heads. these kill with their bite, and the person bitten dies in two hours, though he sometimes lasts two or three days. many mountebanks carry some of these alive in earthen jars, and charmed so that they do not bite, and with them they gain money, putting them round their necks, and exhibiting them. there is another kind of more venomous serpents, which the indians call mandal, and these kill suddenly by their bite, without the persons bitten being able to speak any more, nor even make any movement. of many towns and cities of the kingdom of calicut which possess shipping. leaving the kingdom of cananor towards the south, on the further side of the river of tarmapatam, there is a town of moors of the country, called terivangaty, which has shipping; and beyond that there is another river on which there is another large place, also belonging to moors, great merchants and shippers, which is called mazery; and beyond mazery there is another town also of the moors, which is called chemonbay, which also possesses shipping. and the country inland of these three places is thickly peopled by nairs, good men who do not obey any king, and they have got two nair lords who govern them, the before-mentioned moors are under their rule. pudopatani, first town of the kingdom of calicut. having passed these places there is a river called pudopotani on which is a good town of many moorish merchants, who own many ships; here begins the kingdom of calicut. tircore. further along the coast to the south south-east, is another village of the moors called tircore. pandareni. further on south south-east is another moorish place, which is called pandarani, in which also there are many ships. capucad. further on to south south-east is another town, at which there is a small river, which is called capucad, where there are many country-born moors, and much shipping and a great trade of exporting the goods of the country. in this place many soft sapphires are found on the sea beach. calicut. having passed the said place at two leagues further to the south and south-east, is the city of calicut, where the king of portugal has a very good fortress, made with the good will of the king of calicut, after that the portuguese had routed him; and they have there their principal fortress. chalyani. beyond this city, towards the south is another city, which is called chaliani, where there are numerous moors natives of the country and much shipping. purpurangari. further on there is another city of the king of calicut, called purpurangari, inhabited by moors and gentiles who deal much in merchandise. paravanor and tanor. further on in the same direction are two places of moors five leagues from one another. one is called paravanor and the other tanor, and inland from these towns is a lord to whom they belong; and he has many nairs, and sometimes he rebels against the king of calicut. in these towns there is much shipping and trade, for these moors are great merchants. pananx. having passed these towns along the coast to the south there is a river on which is another city of moors, amongst whom a few gentiles live, and it is called pananx.[251] the moors are very rich merchants and own much shipping. the king of calicut collects much revenue from this city. chatna. there is another river further on called chatna,[252] and higher up the stream there are many gentile villages, and much pepper comes out by this river. crangolor. further on there is another river which divides the kingdom of calicut from the country of cochin, and on this side of the river is a place called crongolor,[253] belonging to the king of calicut. the king of cochin has some rights in this place. there live in it gentiles, moors, indians, and jews, and christians of the doctrine of saint thomas; they have there a church of saint thomas and another of our lady, and are very devout christians, only they are deficient in doctrine, of which more will be said hereafter, because from this place further on as far as cholmender there dwell many of these christians. of what is gathered in this kingdom of calicut. in the kingdom of calicut, as has been said, there grows much pepper on trees like ivy, which climbs up the palms and other trees, and poles, and makes clusters; and much very good ginger of the country,[254] cardamoms, myrobolans of all kinds, bamboo canes, zerumba, zedoary, wild cinnamon; and the country produces this though covered with palm trees higher than the highest cypresses: these trees have clean smooth stems without any branch, only a tuft of leaves at the top amongst which grows a large fruit which they call tenga: by this they make profit, and it is a great article of trade, for each year more than four hundred ships are laden with it for many parts. we call these fruits cocoas: these trees give their fruits the whole year without any intermission; and there are others which support the people of malabar, so that they cannot suffer famine even though all other provisions should fail them: because these cocoas, both green and dry, are very sweet and agreeable, and they give milk, like that of almonds. now each of these cocoas when green has inside it a quart[255] of water very fresh, savoury, and cordial; it is very nourishing, and when they are dried that water congeals inside in a white fruit the size of an apple, which is very sweet and delicious: they eat the cocoa also when dry. they make much oil of these cocoas in presses as we do, and with the rind which these cocoa-nuts have close to the marrow, they make charcoal for the silversmiths, who do not work with any other charcoal. and with another husk which it has outside the first, which makes many threads, they weave cordage, which is a great article of trade; and from these trees they make wine with the sap, which is like spirits, and in such great quantities, that many ships are laden with it. with the same wine they make very good vinegar, and they also make very sweet sugar, which is yellow like honey, and is a great article of trade in india. with the leaves of the tree they make mats of the size of the leaf, with which they cover all their houses instead of with tiles: and with the tree they also make wood for their houses and for other services, and firewood.[256] and of all these things there is so great abundance that ships are laden with them. there are other palm trees of other kinds, and shorter, from which the leaves are gathered upon which the gentiles write. there are other palms, slender and very lofty, and of very clean stems, upon which grow clusters of fruit the size of walnuts (which the indians eat with the betel, which we call folio indio), and they call areca. it is much esteemed among them and is very acid: there is such a quantity of it that they fill many ships with it for cambay and the kingdom of decan, and many other parts, after drying and packing it. kingdom of cochin. having passed the town of crongolor, the extremity of the kingdom of calicut, towards the south extends the kingdom of cochin, in which also there is much pepper. it possesses a very fine large river where many and great ships enter, both portuguese and moorish. and within it is a large city inhabited by moors and gentiles, who are chetis and guzaratys, and jews natives of the country. the moors and chetis are great merchants and own many ships, and trade much with chormandel, cambay, cheul, and dabul, with areca, cocoas, pepper, and jagara, which is sugar of palm trees. the king of portugal has a very good fortress at the mouth of this river, all round which is a large village of portuguese and christians, natives of the country, who were baptised since the portuguese have inhabited the country; and every day many more are converted. and there are likewise many of the above-named christians of the doctrine of saint thomas, who come there from culan and other gentile places, where they are accustomed to live. in this fortress and town of cochin there is much machinery and apparatus for caulking and refitting ships, and also galleys and caravels, with as much perfection as in our parts. and much pepper is put on board at this place, and spices and drugs which come from malacca and which are transported every year to portugal. this king of cochin has but a small country, and he was not a king before the portuguese went there, because all the kings of calicut when newly come into power, had the custom of entering cochin and depriving the king of his state and taking possession of it, and afterwards they restored it to him again for life. the king of calicut observed this as a law, and the king of cochin used to give him a tribute of elephants, and so he returned to calicut. and the king of cochin could not coin money, nor roof his houses with tiles, under pain of losing his state. and now since the portuguese went there, the king of portugal made him exempt from all this; so that he lords it absolutely and coins money according to his custom. porca. beyond this kingdom of cochin towards the south, the kingdom of coulam is entered; between these kingdoms there is a place which is called porca, it belongs to a lord. in this place dwell many gentile fishermen who have no other business than to fish in the winter, and in summer to plunder at sea the property of whoever is weaker than themselves: they have small vessels like brigantines, good rowers, and they assemble in numbers with bows and arrows, and go in such a crowd all round any ship that they find becalmed, that they make it surrender by discharging arrows, and take the vessels or ships and put the people safe on shore; and what they steal they divide with the lord of the country, and so they maintain themselves. they call these vessels catur. kingdom of coulam. having passed this place the kingdom of coulam commences, and the first town is called caymcolan in which dwell many gentiles, moors, and indian christians of the before-mentioned doctrine of saint thomas. and many of these christians live inland amongst the gentiles. there is much pepper in this place, of which there is much exportation. the city of coulam. further on along the same coast towards the south is a great city and good seaport, which is named coulam, in which dwell many moors and gentiles, and christians. they are great merchants and very rich, and own many ships, with which they trade to cholmendel, the island of ceylon, bengal, malaca, samatara, and pegu: these do not trade with cambay. there is also in this city much pepper. they have a gentile king, a great lord of much territory and wealth, and of numerous men at arms, who for the most part are great archers. at this city, withdrawn a little from it, there is a promontory in the sea where stands a very great church which the apostle st. thomas built miraculously before he departed this life.[257] it must be known that on arriving at this city of coulan where all were gentiles, in a poor habit, and going along converting some poor people to our holy faith he brought with him a few companions natives of the country, although they were very few: and while he was in this city, one morning there was found in this port of coulam a very large piece of timber which had been stranded on the sea-beach, and news of it was immediately brought to the king. he sent many people and elephants to draw it out upon dry land, but they could never move it; and the king himself went in person to it later, and they were unable to draw it out. and as soon as st. thomas saw them despair of the timber, he went to the king, and said to him: "if i were to draw out this timber would you give me a piece of land upon which to build a church with it, to the praise of our lord god, who sent me here." and the king laughed at him, and said to him: "if you see that with all my power it cannot be dragged out, how do you hope to draw it out." and saint thomas answered him: "to draw it out by the power of god, which is greater." the king immediately ordered all the land which he asked for this purpose to be given to him. and when it was granted to him, by the grace of the lord, he went alone to the timber, and tied a cord to it, with which he began to draw it on shore without anyone assisting him. and the timber followed behind him as far as the place where he wished to build the church. the king seeing such a miracle commanded that they should let him do what he pleased with the timber and the land which had been given him; and that he should be shewn favour, because he held him to be a holy man. but he did not choose to turn christian, and many people became converted to our holy faith. and the said apostle whom they call martoma,[258] called many carpenters and sawyers of the country, and began to have the timber worked, and it was so large that it was sufficient by itself for the building of the whole church. and it is a custom amongst the indians that when the workmen or any persons are going to set to work, the master of the work gives them at midday a certain quantity of rice to eat, and at night he gives to each man a small coin of inferior gold called fanam.[259] and st. thomas at midday took a measure full of sand, and gave to each of these workmen his measure, which turned into very good rice, and at night he gave to each one a little bit of the wood which he was hewing, and they turned into fanams; so that they went away well satisfied, and so the said apostle finished the church of coulam. and when those people saw these miracles and many others which our lord did by this glorious saint, many indians turned to the christian faith, through the whole kingdom of coulam, which reaches to the frontier of ceylon, so that there are more than two thousand houses of christians scattered throughout the country among the gentiles; and they have a few churches, but most of them are deficient in teaching and some of them wanting in baptism. and when the king of the indians saw so great a change he feared that if he gave more opportunity for it, the said christians would multiply so much that they would be able to rise and possess the country. and so he began to persecute the said st. thomas, who withdrew himself to cholmendel, and then to a city which was called muylepur,[260] where he received martyrdom, and there he is buried, as will be mentioned hereafter. and so the christians remained in the kingdom of coulam with the before mentioned church which st. thomas built, and with others about the country. this church was endowed by the king of coulam with the revenue from the pepper, which remains to it to this day. these christians had not any christian doctrine amongst them, nor were they baptized, only they held and believed the faith of christ in a gross manner. and at a certain period they held a council amongst them and sent men about the world to study the christian doctrine, and manner of baptism; these men reached armenia, where they found many greek christians and a patriarch who governed them, who seeing their good intention sent with them a bishop and six priests to baptize them and administer the sacraments and perform divine service, and indoctrinate them in the christian faith. and these remain there for five or six years and then are relieved for an equal period of time, and so on. and in this manner they improved themselves somewhat. these armenians[261] are white men; they speak arabic, and have the sacred scriptures in chaldean, and recite the offices in that language in our fashion. they wear tonsures on their heads the opposite of ours; that is to say, that, where ours shave they wear hair, and where we have the hair they shave it. they go dressed in white shirts and caps on their heads, barefooted, and with long beards; they are very devout people, and say mass on altars like ours with a cross (+) in front of them. and he who says mass is in the middle of the altar, and those who assist him are at the sides. they communicate with salt bread instead of a wafer, and they consecrate of that bread enough for all that are in the church, and they give it to all of them divided like blessed bread.[262] each one who communicates goes to receive it at the foot of the altar with his hand.[263] the wine is in this manner, because there is no wine in india; they take raisins which come from mekkah and ormuz, and put them for a night in water; and on the next day when they have to say mass they squeeze them and with the juice they say their mass. these priests baptize for money,[264] and go away from this country of malabar very rich when they return to their own country. and many remain unbaptized for want of money. tirinangoto. further on along the same coast towards the south, is a town of moors and gentiles called tirinamgoto, which also possesses shipping. the town and territory belong to a lord, a relation of the king of coulam; it is abundantly supplied with provisions, rice and meat. cape of comory. [further along the coast is the cape of comery where the malabar country finishes; but the kingdom of coulam reaches thirty leagues further, as far as a city which is called cael.][265] [at this cape comory there is an ancient church of christians, which was founded by the armenians, who still direct it, and perform in it the divine service of christians and have crosses on the altars. all mariners pay it a tribute, and the portuguese celebrate mass there when they pass. there are there many tombs, amongst which there is one which has written on it a latin epitaph: "hic jacet cataldus gulli filius qui obiit anno...."][266][267] archipelago of isles. opposite this country of malabar, forty leagues to the west in the sea, there is an archipelago of isles, which the indians say amount to twelve thousand; and they begin in front of the mountain dely, and extend southwards. the first are four small flat islands, which are called malandiva; they are inhabited by malabar moors, and they say that they are from the kingdom of cananor. nothing grows in them, except palm trees (cocoa-nut), with the fruit of which and rice brought them from malabar, they maintain themselves. these islands make much cordage of palm trees, which they call cayro (coir). islands of palandiva. over against panam, cochin, and coulam, to the west and south-west, at a distance of seventy-five leagues are other islands, of which ten or twelve are inhabited by moors, brown and small in stature, who have a separate language and a moorish king who resides in an island called mahaldiu.[268] and they call all these islands palandiva. the inhabitants are ill-formed and weak, but are very ingenious and charming. their king is elected by some moorish merchants, inhabitants of cananor, and they change him when they please. these persons receive tribute of him every year in cordage and other produce of the country. they go there to load their ships without money, because the people of the country, with or against their will, have to give these said moors whatever they wish. there is much fish in these islands, of which they prepare much dried,[269] which is a great article of trade. and as ballast for the ships which take on board these things, they carry away sea-snails, which are worth a good deal in many parts, and in some, especially cambay, they serve as small change. many fine cotton cloths are manufactured in these islands, and others of silk and gold, which are worth a good deal amongst the moors. they gather much amber in these islands, of a good quality and in large pieces, white, grey, and brown; and i asked several of these moors various times how the amber was produced: they hold that it is the droppings of birds, and say that in this archipelago in the uninhabited islands there are some large birds which perch on the rocks near the sea, and there void that amber, which becomes refined by exposure to the air, the sun and the rain, until some storms arise and gales of wind, which drive the sea waves over the rocks, and this bird-dung is torn off the rocks in large and small pieces, and so carried out to sea, where it floats till they meet with it, or it is cast up on some beach, or that some whales swallow it. and they say that what is found of a white colour, and which they call ponabar, has been in the sea only for a short time, and this they value most highly amongst themselves; and that the other which is found of a greyish colour, and which they name puambar, has been, they say, in the sea for a long time, and has taken that colour from floating about in the water; this also is very good, but not equal to the white; and what they find of a brown colour and bruised, has been swallowed, they say, by whales, and turned brown in their bodies, and that it has such a quality that the whale cannot digest it, and they eject it whole just as they swallowed it; this they call minabar, and it is that which among them has least value. in these isles of maldiva they construct many large ships of palm tree, sewn together with matting, for there is no other wood there. some of these sail to the mainland, and are ships with keels and of much tonnage; they also construct there other small rowing vessels, like brigantines and _fustas_, very pretty and good for rowing, which they use to go from one island to another; and they likewise cross over to the malabar country. many moorish ships touch at these islands from china, malacojana, malaca, samatra, bengala, ceylan, and peygu, on their passage to the red sea: and there they take in water and refreshments for their voyage. sometimes they arrive so shattered that they unload their cargo there, and they let it be lost. many of these ships get lost amongst these islands because they do not venture to come to the malabar coast from fear of the portuguese. island of ceylam. leaving these islands of mahaldiva further on towards the east, where the cape of comory is doubled, at thirty-eight leagues from the cape itself, there is a very large and beautiful island which the moors, arabs, persians, and our people call ceylam,[270] and the indians call it ylinarim. it is a rich and luxuriant land, inhabited by gentiles, and ruled by a gentile king. many moors live in the seaports of this island in large quarters, and all the inhabitants are great merchants. there are fifty leagues of channel towards the north-east from the said cape until passing the island of maylepur.[271] both moors and gentiles are well-made men, and almost white, and for the most part stout, with large stomachs, and luxurious. they do not understand, nor possess arms, they are all given to trade and to good living. they go bare from the waist upwards, and below that cover themselves with good cloths of silk and cotton, caps on their heads, and the ears pierced with large holes in which they wear many gold rings and jewellery, so much that their very ears reach to their shoulders: and many rings and precious jewels on their fingers; they wear belts of gold richly adorned with precious stones. their language is partly malabar and partly of cholmendel, and many malabar moors come to live in this island on account of its being so luxuriant, abundant, and very healthy. men live longer here than in other parts of india. they have a great deal of very good fruit; and the mountains are full of sweet and sour oranges of three or four kinds, and plenty of lemons and citrons, and many other very good fruits which do not exist in our parts, and they last all the year. and there is plenty of meat and fish, little rice, for most of it comes from cholmendel, and it is their chief food; much good honey and sugar brought from bengal, and butter of the country. all the good cinnamon grows in this island upon the mountains, on trees which are like laurels. and the king of the country orders it to be cut in small sticks, and has the bark stripped off in certain months of the year, and sells it himself to the merchants who go there to buy it, because no one can gather it except the king. there are likewise in this island many wild elephants which the king orders to be caught and tamed; and they sell them to merchants of cholmendel, narsynga, and malabar, and those of the kingdoms of decam and cambay go to those places to buy them. these elephants are caught in this manner: it must be known that they have got other elephants with which they manage it, and they fasten them with chains in the mountains and woods where they are bred; and at the foot and all round a tree near the elephant they make three or four very large pits, covered over with slender poles, and they strew earth on the top, so that nothing appears: and the wild elephants seeing the female come to her, and fall into these pits, where they keep them seven or eight days half-dead of hunger, and so many men watch them by day and night, always speaking to them so as not to let them sleep, until they tame and render them domestic, giving them their food with their hands. and after they have got them broken in and tame, they take them with strong chains, and by degrees throw so much earth and branches into the pit that the elephant gradually rises until he comes out of the pit, and then they tie him to some tree and keep him some days watching, with fire, and men who always talk to him, and give him food in moderation until they make him domestic and obedient. and in this way they catch them male and female, great and small, and sometimes two at once in one pit. they make great merchandise of them, and they are worth much, because they are much valued by the kings of india for war and for labour, and they become as domestic and quick at understanding as men. the very good ones are worth in the malabar country and in cholmendel from a thousand to one thousand five hundred ducats, and the others from four to six hundred ducats according as they may be, but in the island they are to be had for a small price. and all have to be brought and presented to the king. there are also many jewels in this island, rubies which they call manica, sapphires, jacinths, topazes jagonzas,[272] chrysoliths, and cat's eyes, which are as much esteemed amongst the indians as rubies. and all these stones are all gathered in by the king, and sold by himself. and he has men who go and dig for them in the mountains and shores of the rivers, who are great lapidaries and who are good judges in those matters: so much so that if they have a few handfuls of earth brought them from the mountain, at once on seeing it they know if it is of rubies or of any other stones, and where it comes from. and the king sends them to look there, and after they have brought them he orders to set aside each kind, and pick out the good ones, and he has them worked to have them sold when cut, which he does himself to foreigners; and the other inferior ones he sells at once to the country merchants. these rubies which grow here, for the most part, are not of so brilliant a colour as these which grow in ava and capelam, of which mention will be made further on; and some which come out perfect in colour are much more highly prized by the indians than those of paygu, because they say that they are stronger. and in order to make them of a deeper colour they put them into the fire. these lapidaries whom the king has near him, on seeing a stone before it is cut, say: this ruby will endure so many hours of fire, and will remain very good. and the king risks it, and orders it to be put in a very strong charcoal fire for that space of time which the lapidary has mentioned to him: and if it endures it without danger, it comes out more perfect in colour, and is worth very much. and all the other stones are found and worked in the same manner: and some stones are found which are half ruby and half sapphire, and others half topaze and half sapphires, and also cat's eyes. the king has a great treasure of these jewels, for whenever he meets with any very good stone he puts it in his treasury. close to this island of ceylam in the sea there is a sand-bank covered with ten or fifteen fathoms of water, in which a very great quantity of very fine seed pearls are found, small and great, and a few pearls: and the moors and gentiles go there from a city which is called sael, belonging to the king of coulam, to fish for this seed pearl, twice a year by custom, and they find them in some small oysters, smoother than those of our parts. and the men plunging under the water, where they remain a considerable time, pick them up: and the seed pearl is for those who gather them, and the large pearls are for the king, who keeps his overseer there, and besides that they give him certain duties upon the seed-pearl. the king of ceylan is always in a place called columbo, which is a river with a very good port, at which every year many ships touch from various parts to take on board cinnamon and elephants. and they bring gold and silver, cotton and silk stuffs from cambay, and many other goods which are saffron, coral, quicksilver, vermilion which here is worth a great deal; and there is much profit on the gold and silver, because it is worth more than in other parts. and there come likewise many ships from bengal and cholmendel, and some from malaca for elephants, cinnamon and precious stones. in this island of ceylan there are four or five other harbours and places of trade which are governed by other lords, nephews of the king of ceylan, to whom they pay obedience, except that sometimes they revolt. in the middle of this island is a very lofty mountain range in which is a very high stone peak, and upon it a pool of spring water, and on this stone there is the form of a man's foot,[273] which the indians say is the footmark of father adam, whom they call adam baba. and from all those parts and kingdoms the moors come in pilgrimage, saying that father adam went up from there to heaven, and they go in the habit of pilgrims, with chains of iron, and clothed with skins of leopards, lions, and other wild animals, and on their arms and legs they inflict wounds continually along the road to keep up open sores, saying that they do that for the service of god, and honour of mahomed and adam baba. and some of them go well provided with money which they carry hidden to spend it on the jewels of ceylon. before they arrive at this mountain where adam's footstep is, they go through swampy land, through valleys full of water, and by the banks of water, and they have five or six leagues to go with water to the waist, and all carry knives in their hands to rid themselves of the leeches which fasten on their legs, and which are innumerable. and on arriving at the mountain they make the ascent of it, and they cannot mount up to the pinnacle except by ladders of iron chains,[274] which it has put round it, of a great thickness. and on the top of it they wash with the water of that pool, and perform their prayer: and they say that with that they remain free and pure of all sin. the said island of ceylon is very near the mainland, and between it and the continent are some banks which have got a channel in the midst, which the indians call chylam,[275] by which all the malabar sambuks pass to cholmendel. and every year many are lost upon these banks because the channel is very narrow: and in the year that the admiral of portugal went the second time to india, so many ships and sambuks of malabar were lost in those shallows, that twelve thousand indians were drowned there, who were coming with provisions, and were determined on driving the portuguese fleet away from india, without allowing it to take any cargo. quilacare, of the kingdom of colam. leaving the island of ceylon and returning to the mainland, after doubling cape comory at twenty leagues to the north-east, is the country of the king of colam and of other lords, who live in it subject to him. and the first place is named quilacare, in which country there are many and great towns of gentiles and several harbours, where dwell many moors born in the country. they perform their voyages in small vessels which they call champana.[276] the malabar moors come to these towns to trade and to bring cambay goods, which are worth a good deal there, and a few horses. and they take in rice and cloths for malabar. and in this province of quilacare there is a gentile house of prayer, in which there is an idol which they hold in great account, and every twelve years they celebrate a great feast to it, whither all the gentiles go as to a jubilee. this temple possesses many lands and much revenue: it is a very great affair. this province has a king over it, who has not more than twelve years to reign from jubilee to jubilee. his manner of living is in this wise, that is to say: when the twelve years are completed, on the day of this feast there assemble together innumerable people, and much money is spent in giving food to bramans. the king has a wooden scaffolding made, spread over with silken hangings: and on that day he goes to bathe at a tank with great ceremonies and sound of music, after that he comes to the idol and prays to it, and mounts on to the scaffolding, and there before all the people he takes some very sharp knives, and begins to cut off his nose, and then his ears, and his lips, and all his members, and as much flesh off himself as he can; and he throws it away very hurriedly until so much of his blood is spilled that he begins to faint, and then he cuts his throat himself. and he performs this sacrifice to the idol, and whoever desires to reign other twelve years and undertake this martyrdom for love of the idol, has to be present looking on at this: and from that place they raise him up as king. sael. having left quilacare, further along the coast, at ten leagues to the north-east, is another town called çael,[277] which belongs to the king of colam: it is inhabited by gentiles and great moorish merchants, and is a seaport where many ships touch every year from malabar, cholmendel, and bengala. they deal in all kinds of goods from all parts at this place. the chetis of this city are great lapidaries and artists for setting[278] pearls, which fishery belongs to the king of sahel, who has farmed it for many years forward to a very rich moorish merchant, who is almost as important in the country as the king. and this person administers justice amongst the moors, without the king's mixing himself up in it. those who fish up the pearls, as has been said, fish all the week for themselves, and on the friday for the owner of the boat; and all of them together fish at the end of the season during which they are there a whole week for this moor. the king of colam lives always near this city, and is very rich and powerful on account of his many men at arms, who are very good bowmen. he always has in his guard four or five hundred women, trained from girls to be archers: they are very active. he sometimes is at war with the king of narsinga, who wishes to take his country, but he defends himself very well. chormendel. twelve leagues further on the coast turns to the north, the country is called cholmender,[279] and it extends seventy or eighty leagues along the coast. in it there are many gentile cities, towns and villages, and it belongs to the king of narsinga; it is a land abounding in rice, meat and wheat, and all sorts of vegetables, because it is a country which has very beautiful plains. and many ships of malabar come here to load rice, and they bring goods from cambay to this country, that is to say, copper, quicksilver, vermilion, pepper and other goods. and throughout all this cholmender much spice and drugs, and goods of malaca, china, and bengal are to be met with, which the moorish ships bring here from those parts, since they do not venture to pass to malabar from dread of the portuguese. and although this country is very abundantly provided, yet if it should happen any year not to rain it falls into such a state of famine that many die of it, and some sell their own children for a few provisions, or for two or three fanoes, each of which will be worth thirty-six maravedis. and in these times the malabars carry rice and cocoa nuts to them, and return with their ships laden with slaves, and all the chetis, gentile merchants, who live throughout india, are natives of this country of cholmender; they are very sharp, great accountants, and dexterous merchants. and many country-born moors, mercantile and seafaring men, live in the seaports. maylepur. further along this coast, which makes a bend to the north-west and then turns to the north-east, having left the cholmendel country, at a distance of twelve leagues there is a city almost uninhabited and very ancient, which is called maylepur; in former times it was a considerable place of the kingdom of narsinga. in this city is buried the body of the apostle st. thomas, in a small church near the sea. and the christians of cuolam, who are of his doctrine, say that when st. thomas left cuolam, on being persecuted by the gentiles, he went with a few companions to that country, and settled in this city of maylepur, which at that period was twelve leagues distant from the sea, which later eat away the land, and came in upon it. and there he began to preach the faith of christ, to which he converted some, whilst others persecuted and wished to kill him, and he separated himself from the people, and went about frequently among the mountains. and one day as he wandered about in that manner, a gentile hunter, with a bow, saw many peacocks together upon the ground in that mountain, and in the midst of them one very large and very handsome standing upon a stone slab; this hunter shot at it, and sent an arrow through its body, and they rose up flying, and in the air it turned into the body of a man. and this hunter stood looking until he saw the body of the said apostle fall. and he went to the city where he related that miracle to the governors, who came to see it, and they found that it was indeed the body of st. thomas, and then they went to see the place where he had been wounded, and they saw two impressions of human feet marked on the slab, which he left impressed when he rose wounded.[280] and when the governors of the country saw so great a miracle, they said this man was holy, and we did not believe him; and they took him and buried him in the church where he now is, and they brought the stone upon which he left the said footmarks, and they placed it close to his grave; and they say that on burying him they could never put his right arm in the tomb, and it always remained outside; and if they buried him entirely, next day they found the arm above the earth, and so they let it be. the christians, his disciples and companions who built the said church, and the gentiles already held him for a saint, and honoured him greatly. he remained thus with his arm outside of the grave for a long time, and they say that many people came there from many quarters in pilgrimage,[281] and that some chinese came also, who wished to cut off his arm and carry it away as a relic, and that when they were about to strike at it with a sword, he withdrew his arm inside, they say, and it was never seen again. so he remains still in that hermitage, very humbly, and lighted up by the grace of god, because the moors and gentiles light him up, each one saying that he is something belonging to them. and the house and church are ordered in our fashion, with crosses on the altar, and at the top of the vault a great wooden cross, and peacocks for a device: this church is much deteriorated. all round it there is much brushwood, and a poor moor takes care of that building and begs alms for it, and for the lamp, which still continues burning. the christians of india still go there as pilgrims, and carry away thence as relics some little pellets of earth of the tomb of this blessed apostle. palecate. further on this coast goes forty-three leagues to the north-east and twelve leagues to the north, there is another city of the kingdom of narsinga, inhabited by moors and gentiles, great and rich merchants, it is called palecate,[282] and is a harbour at which many moorish ships touch, coming from divers parts with all kinds of goods. it also has much trade with the interior of the kingdom, and they sell there many jewels which are brought from peygu, especially rubies and spinel-rubies of a good quality, and much musk. these jewels may be had for very little there, by whoever knows how to buy well. the king of narsynga keeps his governors in this city, and collectors of his revenues. in this place they make many good coloured cotton stuffs which are worth much in malaca, peigu, and samatra, also in the kingdom of guzurate and malabar they are much valued for the clothing both of moors and gentiles. copper, quicksilver, vermilion, opium, and many cambay goods fetch a good price, so also scarlet cloth, coral, saffron, velvets from mekkah, and rose water. the mountain of diguirmale. having passed this city of palecate further along the coast which trends to north-east by north as far as marepata, a distance of a hundred and forty leagues, in which there are many other places belonging to the kingdom of narsynga, as far as the kingdom of horisa. kingdom of orissa. further on after passing marepata, along the coast which trends from hence to north-east by east, the kingdom of horisa commences. it is of the gentiles, very good fighting men, and the king is frequently at war with the king of narsynga, and is powerful in the numbers of his foot soldiers. the greater part of his country is withdrawn from the sea, and has few seaports and little trade. his territory extends seventy leagues along the coast as far as the river ganges, which they call guenga,[283] and on the other side of this river commences the kingdom of bengala, with which he is sometimes at war. and all the indians go in pilgrimage to this river to bathe in it, saying that with this they all become safe, because it issues from a fountain which is in the terrestrial paradise. this river is very great and magnificent, it is studded on both banks with opulent and noble cities of the gentiles. between this river and the eufrates are the first and the second india, a territory very abundant and well provided, very healthy and temperate, and from this river further on to malaca is the third india, according as the moors say. bengal. having passed the river ganges, along the coast twenty leagues to north-east by east and twelve leagues to the south-west, and then twelve leagues to the east until reaching the river paralem,[284] is the kingdom of bengala, in which there are many towns, both in the interior and on the sea-coast. those of the interior are inhabited by gentiles, subject to the king of bengal, who is a moor; and the seaports are inhabited by moors and gentiles, amongst whom there is much trade in goods and much shipping to many parts, because this sea is a gulf which enters towards the north, and at its inner extremity there is a very great city inhabited by moors which is called bengala,[285] with a very good harbour. its inhabitants are white men and well formed. many foreigners from various parts live in this city, both arabs and persians, abyssinians[286] and indians, who congregate here on account of the country being very fertile and of a temperate climate. they are all great merchants, and own large ships of the same build as those of mekkah, and others of the chinese build which they call jungos, which are very large and carry a very considerable cargo. with these ships they navigate to cholmender, malabar, cambay, peigu, tarnasari, samatra, ceylon, and malaca; and they trade in all kinds of goods, from many places to others. there is much cotton in the country, and sugar cane plantations, and very good ginger and much long pepper. they manufacture many kinds of stuffs, extremely fine and delicate, coloured for their own use, and white for trade to all parts; they call them saravetis, and they are excellent for women's head gear, and much valued for that purpose: the arabs and persians make caps of this stuff, in such great quantities, that every year they fill several ships with them for different places. and they make others which they call mamuna, and others duguza, and others chautar, and others called topan and sanabafos which are the most valued for their shirts, and which are very durable. they are all of the length of twenty cubits, very little more or less, and in this city they are all at a low price. they are spun by a man with a wheel and woven. white sugar of very good quality is made in this city, but they do not know how to join it to make loaves, and so they pack it up in powder in stuff covered over with raw hide, well sewn up. they load many ships with it and export it for sale to all parts. and when these merchants were accustomed to go freely and without dread to the parts of malabar and cambay with their ships, the quintal of this sugar was worth two ducats and a half in malabar, and a good sinabafo was worth two ducats, and a piece of muslin for women's caps three hundred maravedis; and a chautar of the best quality six hundred maravedis. and those who brought them gained much money. they likewise make many preserves in this city of bengal, very good ones of ginger, and of oranges, lemons and other fruits which grow in the country. there are also in this country many horses, cows and sheep, and all other meats in great abundance, and very extremely large hens. the moorish merchants of this city go into the interior of the country and buy many gentile children of their fathers and mothers, or of others who steal them, and castrate them, cortandole todo de manera que quedan rasos como la palma de la mano. some of them die of it, and those who recover they bring them up very well, and sell them as merchandise for twenty or thirty ducats each to the persians, who value them much as guards to their wives and houses.[287] the respectable moors of this city go dressed in long morisco shirts reaching to the instep, white and of slight texture, and underneath some cloths wrapped round below the waist, and over the shirt a silken sash round the waist, and a dagger set with silver; they wear many jewelled rings on their fingers, and fine cotton caps on their heads. they are luxurious people, who eat and drink a great deal, and have other bad habits. they bathe frequently in large tanks which they have in their houses: they have many servants, and have each of them three or four wives, and as many more as they can maintain. they keep them very much shut up and very richly dressed and adorned with silks and jewels set in gold; they go out at night to visit one another and to drink wine, and hold festivals and marriage feasts. they make various kinds of wine in this country, chiefly of sugar and palm trees, and also of many other things. the women are very fond of these wines, and are much accustomed to them. they are great musicians both in singing and playing on instruments. the men of the common people wear short white shirts half way down the thigh, and drawers, and very small head wraps of three or four turns; all of them are shod with leather, some with shoes, others with sandals, very well worked, sewn with silk and gold thread. the king is a great lord and very rich, he possesses much country inhabited by gentiles, of whom every day many turn moors, to obtain the favour of the king and governors. this king possesses more territory further on the before named gulf, inhabited by moors and gentiles, both inland and on the sea coast, which turns to the south. kingdom of berma. having passed the kingdom of bengala, along the coast which turns to the south, there is another kingdom of gentiles called berma.[288] in this there are no moors, nor are there sea ports which can be made use of for trade in merchandise. the people of this kingdom are black men and go naked, for they only cover their middles with cotton cloths. they have their idolatries and houses of prayer. they frequently are at war with the king of peigu. we have no further information respecting this country because it has no shipping. it is only known that it borders on the kingdom of bengala on one side, and on the kingdom of peigu on the other. and it has a gulf in the middle which enters the country in a direction north-east by east forty leagues, and is fourteen leagues wide at the mouth and twenty leagues wide further in, and in the middle of it is a large island which is thirty-six leagues long and from four to ten leagues broad. ere can guy.[289] inland of this kingdom of berma towards the north is another kingdom of gentiles, very large and which has no sea ports. it also borders on the kingdom of bengal and the kingdom of ava, and it is called ere can guy. the king and people of this kingdom are gentiles. it is said that this king possesses many cities and towns, and horses and elephants. these elephants are brought from the kingdom of peigu. these people are brown men, naked from the waist upwards, and wrapped round below the waist with cotton and silk cloths; they use many ornaments of gold and silver. they venerate idols and have large houses of prayer. this king is very rich in money, and powerful from the number of his men at arms: he is often at war with his neighbours, and some of them obey him against their wills, and render him tribute. he lives in great luxury, and possesses very good houses in all the towns where he resides, which have got many pools of water, green and shady gardens, and good trees. they have also got many women at their caprice, and have no law of marriage. in twelve towns of his kingdom he has twelve first-rate palaces in which he has many women brought up; that is, in each of these cities he has a governor who each year takes twelve girls born in that year, daughters of persons of the highest rank and the prettiest to be found; and he has them carefully brought up at the expense of the king, in these palaces, up to the age of twelve years; they are very well dressed, and taught thoroughly to dance and sing and play on musical instruments; in this way each palace constantly contains many of them of tender age. and at the end of the year the governor conducts to the king at whatever place he may be at, twelve damsels of the age of twelve years. the king orders them to be well dressed and to have the name of each one written on their clothes, and the next morning he orders them to be sent up to a terrace in the sun, and there remain fasting until midday. and they perspire so much with the heat of the sun that their clothes become damp, and then the king orders them to be taken to a room where they change their clothes. and the damp garments which they have thrown off are all carried to the king, who smells them, and those which do not smell bad he keeps for himself, and those which smell bad from the perspiration he makes a present of to those of his courtiers who are there present, as also the damsels who had worn them, who are known by the names written on the clothes. the other damsels whose clothes did not smell ill from the perspiration the king keeps for himself.[290] and thus he is always accustomed to do, and in this way they bring to him from all these twelve cities a hundred and forty-four girls, whom he distributes in the manner above described. and he has many amusements in the way of hunting, games, music, feasting and other things. peygu. returning to the sea coast, after passing the kingdom of berma, towards the south and south-east, there is another kingdom of gentiles, very wealthy, well supplied with everything, and of great trade in merchandise by sea. it is called peygu,[291] and extends seventy-five leagues. this kingdom has three or four sea ports in which are many moorish and gentile inhabitants, who are very great merchants. and the actual city of peigu is seven or eight leagues distant from the sea,[292] on the arm of a very great river which runs through this kingdom, and comes from some very high mountains. during certain months of the year there is so great an increase of water, that the river leaves its bed and irrigates a large extent of land, from which a great deal of rice is gathered. they ship from these ports a great quantity of provisions in vessels which have three or four high masts, which they call jungos, for malaca, samatara, and other parts, and amongst other things much rice is shipped, and cane sugar, brown and loaf. many moorish ships from different parts assemble at these ports of peigu, and bring thither much cloth of cambay and palacate, coloured cottons and silks, which the indians call patola, which are worth a good deal there; they also bring opium, copper, scarlet cloth, coral in strings, in branches, and polished, quicksilver, vermilion, rose water, and a few drugs from cambay. in this kingdom they ship very fine lac which grows there. there is much trade in cloves and mace and other chinese goods, and musk and rubies, which come thither from inland from a city called ava, of which mention will be made hereafter. the people of this kingdom go undressed, they only cover their middles. they are not warlike, and possess few weapons, and those wretched ones. they are very voluptuous, y traen en los capirotes de sus miembros unos cascaveles redondos cosydos soldados entre la carne y el cuero por hazerselos mayores, algunos traen tres, y algunos cinco, y algunos syete, y dellos de oro y de plata, y otros de metal, los quales les van sonando de que andan y an lo por mucha gentileza y las mugeres huelgan mucho con ellos y no quieren hombres que no los tengan, y los que mas honrados son, esos los traen mas y mayores. (_the lisbon edition continues_: e nom diga mais deste costume pola desonestidade.)[293] the king is called the king of the white elephant, and in this kingdom there are very high mountains where many wild elephants are bred; and they have a rule to catch one every day, and the king orders food to be sent them and has them brought up. he has a great quantity of them which he sells to merchants who come there to buy them, to take them to pelecate, whence they go on to narsynga, malabar and cambaya. there are likewise many small horses which go at an amble, which they make great use of; they also have horses on which they ride à la bastarda,[294] and with these and the elephants, and infantry, they carry on war. there are also many sheep and swine, wild and domestic in this kingdom, and the people are great sportsmen and hunters. martavan. in this same kingdom of peygu towards malaca, there are three or four seaports, of which i do not know the name, amongst them is one very good sea port called martaban,[295] which is seventy-five leagues to the south south-east from the before-mentioned gulf. many ships touch at it, and trade there and stow provisions and other goods, especially lac of a very good quality, which grows in the country itself; and the moors of persia and india call it lucomartaban. and it also grows in the country of narsinga, but not so good as this: they say of this lac that it is gum of trees, others say that it grows on the slender branches of the trees, just as in our parts the berries grow. and this explanation appears the most natural. and so they bring it in small sticks, which naturally cannot produce so much gum. in this town of martaban very large and beautiful porcelain vases are made, and some of glazed earthenware, of a black colour, which are highly valued amongst the moors, and they export them as merchandise, and they also carry away from this country much benjuy in large loaves. ava. inland beyond this kingdom of peigu between the kingdom of daran cangui and the kingdom of dansiam, to the east there is another kingdom of gentiles which has a king who resides in a very great and opulent city called ava,[296] eight days' journey from the sea; a place of rich merchants, in which there is a great trade of jewels, rubies, and spinel-rubies, which are gathered in this kingdom. many foreign merchants flock thither from many parts to buy these jewels, and likewise much musk which is found there. and the king commands all to be gathered for himself, and sells it himself to the merchants of the country who sell it to the foreign merchants. the merchants bring there for sale quicksilver, vermilion, coral, copper, saffron, rose-water, opium, scarlet cloth, coloured velvet from mekkah, and many other things from the kingdom of cambay, and the jewels and musk are sold here at a low price in exchange for these goods. these rubies and spinel-rubies are found in the mountains and banks of rivers, by making many holes, and mines where they find these spinel-rubies; and on the surface of the earth and underneath it the rubies are found. the men of the country are very skilful lapidaries who know and cut them well. the musk is found in some small white animals, like gazelles, and they have teeth like elephants, but small. these animals are born with sorts of tumours under the belly and the breast, and these ripen, and after they are mature and have formed like matter, they have so much itching in them that they go to rub themselves against the trees, and the drops which fall from these tumours are of the best and most excellent musk, and the hunters, who pursue them with dogs and nets and other snares, follow their tracks by the smell, and they find these grains of fine musk, and by following them they catch them alive, and bring them to houses appointed for that purpose, where they entirely cut off these tumours with the skin, and they let them dry. these are the genuine musk pouches, of which very few are exported, because they falsify them, and they do it in this way. it must be known that on taking it from the living animal, they place many leeches on the wounds, and allow them to gorge themselves with blood, and when full they put them in the sun to dry, and of these they put so many that the animal falls dead without any blood, and afterwards they skin it, and with the skin they make several counterfeit pouches, which look like the real ones. having pounded the leeches and reduced them to powder; with the powder they make grains in their hands, and add one weight of good musk taken from the real pouches, to a hundred of this blood of the leeches, and having mixed up the whole, they fill with it the counterfeit pouches, and they look very good. and they also esteem it in these parts as very fine, because the merchants through whose hands it passes adulterate it still further. the real musk is so strong that on putting it to the nostrils it causes the blood to issue. in this kingdom there are many elephants, horses and men devoted to war: and it is a country well supplied with provisions. capelan. further inland than the said kingdom of ava, at five days' journey to the south-east is another city of gentiles which has a ruler who is subject to the said king of ava. this city is called capelan,[297] and all round it are likewise found many and excellent rubies, which they bring to sell at the city and fair of ava, and which are better than those of ava. kingdom of ansiam. having passed the kingdom of peigu, further along the coast to the south south-east towards malaca, eighty-seven leagues from martaban towards malaca, and further on in the country is the kingdom of ansiam,[298] which is of the gentiles. and the king is a gentile and a great ruler, and inland his borders are from this coast unto the other side, which is the coast of china: and he has seaports on both sides. he is the lord of many people both horse and foot, and of many elephants. and he does not allow any moor to bear arms in his country. and from the kingdom of peigu as far as a city which has a seaport, and is named tanasery,[299] there are a hundred leagues. in this city there are many moorish and gentile merchants, who deal in all sorts of goods, and own ships, with which they navigate to bengal, malaca, and other parts. in the inland parts of this kingdom there grows much good benjuy, which is a resin of trees which the moors call luban javi,[300] and it is of two kinds, that is to say, one which does not smell except in the fire, and the other of much scent, of which the good and genuine storax is made in the levant, before extracting from it the oil, which in the levant is extracted from it. and many ships of moors and from other parts congregate at this port of tanasary, and bring them copper, quicksilver, vermilion, scarlet cloth, silks, coloured velvets from mekkah, saffron, coral, wrought and in strings, rose-water from mekkah in little bottles of tinned copper, and it is sold by weight with the bottle; opium, cambay stuffs, and all these goods fetch a high price at this place. queda, town of the kingdom of ansyam. having left this town of tanasery further along the coast towards malaca there is another seaport of the kingdom of ansiam, which is called queda,[301] in which also there is much shipping, and great interchange of merchandise. and many ships of the moors and from other parts come there. very good pepper grows in the country, which they carry to malaca, and thence to china. this king of ansiam has three other sea ports between malaca and tenasery, of which i do not know the names, and he possesses many cities, towns, and other villages. throughout the country in the interior the people are gentiles, and moors do not enter there, and if at any time any moor goes there to trade with them, they do not permit him to carry arms. there is much gold in this kingdom which is collected in the country, particularly in the lordship of pani[302], which is beyond malacca towards china, and has always belonged to the kingdom of siam, until now that it has risen up against it, and does not obey it, but has rather placed itself in subjection to the king of malacca. and so likewise in this kingdom of siam, there is another lordship and country of gentiles, in subjection to it, which is called sara hangor,[303] in which there is much tin, which they carry to the city of malacca as merchandise, and hence they carry it to all parts. the king and people of the kingdom of ansyam, who are gentiles, greatly honour their idols, and have many customs different from those of the other nations. they go naked from the waist upwards, and some wear small jackets of silk stuffs. the country is very well supplied with provisions, flesh of domestic and wild animals, and rice. they have many horses of a small breed, and much fruit of various qualities. the men are great hunters and sportsmen. in the interior of the country towards china, there is another kingdom of gentiles which is in obedience to him, (the king of siam) and there, when a relation or a friend dies, they eat him roasted before a great fire in the middle of a field, where they set up three poles stuck in the earth, and between them a chain with two hooks of iron, and they bring the body of the man who has died of illness or of any other death, and they hang him up there by the hams, roasting him, and his children and relations are there bewailing him, and after he is well roasted they take wine in cups, and they have knives with which they all cut from the body and eat of it, weeping all the while, and they drink their wine; and the nearest relations begin first to eat, and in this manner they finish eating him, and leave only the bones, which they burn afterwards; and they say that they give such a burial to their relations on account of their being of their own flesh, and that they cannot be any where better buried than in their bodies.[304] and in all the kingdom of ansyam they burn the dead bodies, because that is the custom of all the gentile countries. kingdom and city of malacca. the said kingdom of ansyane throws out a great point of land into the sea,[305] which makes there a cape, where the sea returns again towards china to the north; in this promontory is a small kingdom in which there is a large city called malaca; and in former times it belonged to the kingdom of ansyam. and the moors of the town and foreign moors, established their trade in this city, in which they increased so much in wealth, that they revolted with the country and caused the neighbouring inhabitants to turn moors, and they set up a moorish king over them, without paying further obedience to the said king of ansyam. many moorish merchants reside in it, and also gentiles, particularly chetis, who are natives of cholmendel: and they are all very rich and have many large ships, which they call jungos. they deal in all sorts of goods in different parts, and many other moorish and gentile merchants flock thither from other countries to trade; some in ships of two masts from china and other places, and they bring thither much silk in skeins,[306] many porcelain vases, damasks, brocades, satins of many colours, they deal in musk, rhubarb, coloured silks, much iron, saltpetre, fine silver, many pearls and seed pearl, chests, painted fans, and other toys, pepper, wormwood,[307] cambay stuffs, scarlet cloths, saffron, coral polished and rough, many stuffs of palecate, of coloured cotton, others white from bengal, vermilion, quicksilver, opium and other merchandise, and drugs from cambay; amongst which there is a drug which we do not possess and which they call puchô, and another called cachô, and another called magican, which are gall nuts, which they bring from the levant to cambay, by way of mekkah, and they are worth a great deal in china and java. there also come thither many ships from java, which have four masts, very different from ours, and of very thick wood. when these become old they fish[308] them with other new planks, and in this manner they carry three or four coverings of planking one above the other; and the sails are of woven osiers,[309] and the cordage of the same. these bring much rice, meat of cows, sheep, pigs and deer, dried and salted, many chickens, garlic and onions. they also bring thither many weapons for sale, that is to say, lances, daggers and swords, worked with inlaid metal and of very good steel, they bring likewise cubebs and a yellow die which they call cazunba, and gold which is produced in java. they bring their wives and children in these ships, and there are some mariners whose wives and children never leave the ship to go on shore, nor have any other dwelling, but there are born and die. from this place many ships sail to the molucca islands, which will be mentioned further on, to ship cloves, and they carry there as merchandise cambay cloths, and all sorts of cottons, silks, and other stuffs of palacate and bangala, quicksilver, tin, copper unwrought and wrought into bells, and in a coin which they bring from china, like ceutis[310] of portugal, pierced in the middle, pepper, porcelain, garlic and onions, with other things and drugs from cambay; and they traffic much in them. so they navigate in these ships to other islands which are scattered over all the sea, that is to say, to timor, whence they bring white sandal, which the indians make great use of; and they carry to them iron, hatchets, knives, swords, cloths of palacate and cambay, copper, quicksilver, vermilion, tin and lead, little beads from cambay of all sorts. and in exchange for these things they carry away the before named sandal, honey, wax, slaves; and at the isles of bandam they ship nutmeg and mace. these islands supply themselves with goods from cambay. these ships also fetch pepper from samatra, silk in skeins, benjuy, and fine gold; and from other islands they fetch camphor and aloes wood; and they also navigate to tanasery, peygu, bengala, palecate, cholmender, malabar, cambay, and aden, with all kinds of goods, so that this city of malaca is the richest trading port and possesses the most valuable merchandise, and most numerous shipping and extensive traffic, that is known in all the world. and it has got such a quantity of gold that the great merchants do not estimate their property, nor reckon otherwise than by bahars of gold, which are four quintals each bahar. there are merchants among them who will take up singly three or four ships laden with very valuable goods, and will supply them with cargo from their own property. they are very well made men, and likewise the women, they are of a brown colour, and go bare from the waist upwards, and from that downwards cover themselves with silk and cotton cloths, and they wear short jackets half way down the thigh of scarlet cloth, and silk, cotton or brocade stuffs; and they are girt with belts, and carry daggers in their waists wrought with rich inlaid work, these they call querix.[311] and the women dress in wraps of silk stuffs, and short shirts much adorned with gold and jewellery, and have long beautiful hair. these people have many mosques, and when they die they bury their bodies. their children inherit from them. they live in large houses, and have their gardens and orchards, and pools of water outside the city for their recreation. they have got many slaves who are married with wives and children. these slaves live separately and serve them when they have need of them. these moors who are named malayos are very polished people, and gentlemen, musical, gallant, and well proportioned. the chety merchants from cholmendel are for the most part stout and corpulent. they also go bare from the waist upwards. in this city there are also many people from java dwelling in it; they are small stout men, whose breasts and faces are long and ill formed. they are moors and go bare from the waist upwards, and wear cloths ill put on from the waist downwards. they wear nothing on their heads, and their hair is curled with art, and some of them are shaved. they are ingenious and subtle in all their work, and very cunning and treacherous, and of little truth, daring in all mischief, and unto death. they have very good arms and fight valiantly. there are some of them who if they fall ill of any severe illness, vow to god that if they remain in health they will of their own accord seek another more honourable death for his service,[312] and as soon as they get well they take a dagger in their hands and go out into the streets and kill as many persons as they meet, both men, women and children, in such wise that they go like mad dogs, killing until they are killed. these are called amuco. and as soon as they see them begin this work, they cry out saying, amuco, amuco,[313] in order that people may take care of themselves, and they kill them with dagger and spear thrusts. many of these javans live in this city with wives and children and property. this city possesses very good water and fruit, and is very healthy. other provisions are brought from outside. the king of malaca has got much treasure, and a large revenue from the duties which he collects. to him the lord of pam made himself tributary, who was a ruler in the kingdom of ansyam, and he raised himself up against it. in this country of pam much gold of inferior quality is found. this country of malaca was discovered by diego lopez de sequeyra, a portuguese gentleman, and after it was discovered the moors of the country took certain portuguese and merchandise by stratagem,[314] and killed some, on account of which alfonso de alborquerque, captain general of the king of portugal in the indies, moved his fleet, and went against malaca to avenge this event, and he attacked and took it by assault, and drove out the king of malaca, notwithstanding that the moors made a vigorous defence with artillery, spears, arms, guns, and arrows, and with elephants armed with wooden castles, in which were good soldiers with their weapons. so that the merchants and traders of this city surrendered into subjection to the king of portugal, without any vexations being done to them. and the portuguese immediately built a handsome fortress in this city, which entirely commands the town and all its trade, as it was before. much spoil was taken in this city, and great wealth from those who had fled. the ruler of pam, the lord of a gold mine, on knowing that malaca was in subjection to the king of portugal, at once sent an ambassador to this captain major general, offering obedience to the king of portugal. archipelago of malaca. in front of the before named island of samatra across the gulf of the ganges, are five or six small islands, which have very good water and ports for ships, they are inhabited by gentiles, poor people, they are called niconbar,[315] and they find in them very good amber, which they carry thence to malaca and other parts. island of samatra. having passed these islands near the cape of malaca, about twenty leagues to the south[316] there is a large and very beautiful island which is called samatara,[317] which has in circumference seven hundred leagues reckoned by the moors, who have sailed all round it: and it has many seaports and kingdoms of moors and gentiles. the moors live in the seaports, and the gentiles in the interior of the country. the principal kingdom of the moors is called pedir.[318] much very good pepper grows in it, which is not so strong or so fine as that of malabar. much silk is also grown there, but not so good as the silk of china. another kingdom is called birahem,[319] and another paser,[320] and another campar,[321] another andraguide,[322] another manancabo,[323] where much fine gold is collected, which is taken thence to malaca, most of it in dust; and another kingdom called haru, of gentiles, who eat human flesh, and any person whom they can catch, they eat him without any mercy. and it also contains many other kingdoms of gentiles in the interior of the country. in some parts of this island there grows much benjuy, pepper, and long pepper, camphor, and some ginger, and wax. many ships sail to this island for these goods. cloths and goods from cambay are worth a good deal in it, and so also coral, quicksilver, rose-water, dried fish from maldiu. these moors are very disloyal, and often kill their kings and set up others who are more powerful. the king of portugal has a fortress in this island, and trade. and having passed samatara towards java there is the island of sunda,[324] in which there is much good pepper, and it has a king over it, who, they say, desires to serve the king of portugal. they ship thence many slaves for china. java major. further on than this said island towards the western quarter and the south[325] there are many islands small and great, amongst which there is one very large which they call java the great;[326] it is one hundred and twenty leagues distant from the cape of malaca to the south south east, and it is inhabited by many gentiles and moors. and in its seaports there are many towns and villages and large settlements of moors, with moorish kings. but they are all obedient to the king of the island, who is a gentile, and lives in the interior of the country, and is a great lord called patevdara,[327] and sometimes some rebel against him, and afterwards he again subjugates them. some of these moorish rulers and inhabitants of java desire to serve the king of portugal, and others are ill affected towards him. they say that this island is the most abundant country in the world. there is in it much good rice, and various meats of all kinds, domestic and wild, they make in this place much dried and salted flesh for many parts. there grows in this island pepper, cinnamon, ginger, bamboos, cubebs, and gold. its inhabitants are short and stout in stature with broad faces.[328] most of them go bare from the waist upwards, others wear silk clothes down to the middle of the thigh, and their beards thin;[329] the hair shaven on the top and curled upwards, they wear nothing on their heads, and say that nothing must be on their heads, nor anything whatever, and if any person ware to put his hand upon their head they would kill him: and they do not build houses with stories, in order that they may not walk over each other's heads. they are very proud men, liars and treacherous; very ingenious as carpenters and masons, and very good artillerymen. they make in this country many guns and long muskets, and many other fireworks. and in all other parts they are much esteemed for this and as artillerymen. they have got many ships and great navigation, and many rowing galleys. they are great corsairs and mariners, and they make many kinds of arms of good temper and of good steel, wrought with very pretty inlaid work of gold and ivory: they are great sorcerers and necromancers, and they make arms in certain places and hours, and they say that those cannot die by steel who wear them, and that they kill by drawing blood: and others of which they say that those who bear them cannot be conquered. and they say that there are arms which they employ eight or ten years to complete, watching for places, hours and minutes, disposed for these effects: and the kings prize and take great care of these. they are great sportsmen and hunters, they have plenty of horses and many good hunting dogs, and birds of prey for the chase. when they go to hunt they take their wives with them in handsome carts with canopies and curtains; and the kings and great lords also go in those carts, which are drawn by horses when they go hunting. the ladies are white and very pretty in figure and of pleasing countenances though rather long; they sing well, are polished in manner, and are very industrious workwomen. java minor. further out to sea five leagues to the east of the said island of java major is another island also very well supplied with provisions of all kinds, inhabited by gentiles, with a gentile king, and a language of its own. a few moors subjects of the gentile king live in the seaports. this island is called amongst them sumbava, and the moors, arabs, and persians call it java minor.[330] and after passing the said island there is another small island called oçare, and a fire always burns in the centre of it. they go much on horseback and are hunters, and the women take much care of the flocks. timor. having passed these islands of java major and minor, forty-two leagues distant from java minor to the east south-east there are many other islands great and small, inhabited by gentiles and by a few moors, amongst which there is an island called timor,[331] which has a gentile king, and a language of its own. much white sandal grows there, and those who go for it carry as goods to this island iron hatchets, large and small, knives and swords, stuffs from cambay and palecate, porcelain, small beads of all kinds, tin, quicksilver and lead. they also ship in this island honey, wax, slaves, and some silver which is found in these islands. islands of bandan. fifteen leagues more to the north-north-west there are five other islands almost close together, which make a pool between them into which ships enter. and they enter there on two sides, and these are called the bandan islands,[332] they are inhabited by moors and gentiles, and in three of them there grows much nutmeg and mace upon trees like laurels, whose fruit is the nutmeg, and upon the nutmeg is the mace like a flower, and above this there is another thick rind: and in these islands one quintal of mace is worth as much as seven of nutmeg, for there is such a quantity of the nutmeg that they burn it, so that it is almost worth nothing. and to purchase this mace and nutmeg the merchants carry the following goods: cotton and silk stuffs of all kinds from cambay, drugs from guzerat, copper, quicksilver, lead and tin; and some coloured caps[333] with long pile, which they bring from the levant, and bells from java which are worth each one of the large ones twenty bahars of mace, and each bahar is four quintals. from this island of bandam to maluco, which is towards the north, there are many islands inhabited and uninhabited, in these they keep as treasure very large metal bells; ivory, cambay silk stuffs which they call patolas, and very fine porcelain. there is no king in these islands, nor do they obey any one: on some occasions they obey the king of maluco. dandon.[334] a hundred leagues further on to the north-east towards maluco, there are many other islands peopled by gentiles, they are called the dandon islands, each one has a king and a language of its own. in these islands there are many rowing boats which go out to rob one another, and make prisoners, whom they kill, or ransom for cambay stuffs, which are highly valued amongst them; and each man labours to obtain such a quantity of these cloths that when placed upon the ground the bundle would rise to the height of a man's stature; and those who have as much as that consider themselves as free, since the ransom of those who are captured is not greater than this quantity. islands of maluco, which are five. beyond these islands twenty-five leagues towards the north-east there are five islands one before the other, which are called the islands of maluco,[335] in which all the cloves grow, and they are of gentiles and moors. their kings are moors, and the first of them is called bachan, the second maquian, which contains a very good harbour, the third is called motil, the fourth tidory, and the fifth ternaty,[336] in which there is a moorish king who is called sultan benarra sorala. he was king of all these islands of cloves, and now all the four have revolted, and have each got a king of their own. the hills in these five islands are all of cloves, which grow on trees like laurel, which has its leaf like that of the arbutus, and it grows like the orange flower, which in the beginning is green and then turns white, and when it is ripe it turns coloured, and then they gather it by hand, the people going amongst the trees, and they put it to dry in the sun, where it turns brown, and if there is no sun they dry it with the smoke, and after it is very dry they sprinkle it with salt water for it not to crumble, and that it may preserve its virtue. and there are such quantities of these cloves that they never can finish gathering them, so that they let much of it be lost. and the trees from which they do not gather it for three years, after that become wild, so that their cloves are worth nothing. every year the people of malaca and java come to these islands to ship cloves, and they bring as merchandise, quicksilver, vermilion, stuffs from cambay, bengal and palecate, drugs from cambay, some pepper, porcelain, large metal bells which are made in java, dishes of copper and tin. the cloves are worth very little in these islands, so as to be almost for nothing. this king of maluco is a moor, and almost a gentile; he has a moorish wife, and three or four hundred gentile damsels whom he keeps in his house, and he has of many of them gentile sons and daughters, and only the children of the moorish women become moors. he is served by humpbacked women, whom he orders to have their spines bent from childhood, for state and show; and he may have eighty or a hundred of these, who always go with him and serve him as pages; some give him betel, others carry his sword, and they render all other services. in these islands there are many coloured parrots, of very splendid colours; they are tame, and the moors call them nure,[337] and they are much valued amongst them. island of celebe.[338] having passed these islands of maluco to the west of motil and machian, at a distance of a hundred and thirty leagues, there are other islands to the west, from which sometimes there come white people, naked from the waist upwards, and they wear cloths round them made of straw, and have a language of their own. they bring some ill made boats to ship cloves in the before mentioned islands, and copper, tin and cambay stuffs. they bring for sale very long and broad swords of one edge and other manufactures of iron,[339] and much gold. these people eat human flesh, and if the king of maluco has any person to execute they beg for him to eat him, just as one would ask for a pig, and the islands from whence they come are called celebe.[340] bangaya.[341] at no great distance from this island to the west-south-west, at thirty-six leagues off, is another island of gentiles which has a gentile king over it. the inhabitants of it are accustomed to saw off their teeth at the roots of the gums. it is called bangaya,[342] there is much iron in it, which they carry to all parts. solor. seventy-five leagues further on to the north-east in the direction of china is a very large island and well supplied with various provisions, which is called solor,[343] it is inhabited by gentiles, almost white men, and well made; they have a gentile king and a language of their own. in this island there is much gold, which is found in the earth; and all round this island the moors gather much seed pearl and fine pearls of perfect colour and not round. borney. beyond this island to the north more towards china is another island also very well supplied with provisions, inhabited by gentiles, who have a gentile king and a language of their own. in this island much camphor for eating is gathered, and the indians value it highly. it is worth its weight in silver, and some of it even more. they bring it made into powder in tubes of cane; and it is worth a great deal in narsinga, malabar, and decan.[344] this island is called borney.[345] champa. having passed this island thirty leagues to the west towards the country of ansiam and china, there is another great island of gentiles, which is called champa,[346] which has a king and a language of its own; and many elephants which are bred there, and they carry them to many places. there also grows in it aloes wood which the indians call eagle, and calambuco; it must be said that the very fine calambuco and the other eagle wood is worth at calicut a thousand maravedis the pound.[347] between these islands there are many other islands inhabited by gentiles, and others uninhabited amongst which there is one in which there are many diamonds which the people of the country collect and export for sale to many parts but they are not such nor so fine as those of narsynga. china. leaving these islands which are many, almost unnumbered, of all of which the names are not known; and they are towards the north and in the direction of china, and there is not much information about them; it is only known that after passing the kingdom of ansyam and other kingdoms, there is the kingdom of china, which they say is a very extensive dominion, both along the coast of the sea and in the interior of the country; it is a country of gentiles, and it possesses many islands in the sea also inhabited by gentiles, subject to it, in which the king of china keeps his governors and officers of his appointment. this king always resides in the interior of the country in very large and good cities. no foreigner enters within the kingdom, they can only trade in the sea ports, and in the islands; and if any ambassador from another kingdom comes to it by sea, he first gives information of it in order that he may enter, and afterwards the king bids him be conducted to where he is staying. the inhabitants of the country are white men, tall, well-made and gentlemen; and so likewise the women. they have got only one defect, that their eyes are very small, and on their chins they have three or four hairs and no more; the smaller their eyes are, so much the prettier they think them; and the same as regards the women. they are very smartly dressed, clothed in silk and cotton and woollen stuffs, and their costumes are like those of germans; they are shod with soft leather boots[348] and shoes, like the people of a cold country. they have a language of their own, and the tone of it is like that of germans. they eat on high tables like ourselves, with their napkins, and for as many as may be there to eat, they set before each one a plate, a small roll, and a knife, and a silver cup; they do not touch the food which they are going to eat with their hands, but eat it with little pinchers of silver or wood, and they hold in their left hand the dish or porcelain in which they eat, brought very close to the mouth, and with those pinchers they eat very quickly. they prepare various kinds of viands, and eat all meats, and wheaten bread. they drink several kinds of wine, and many times during their meals. they also eat the flesh of dogs which they hold to be good meat. they are men of truth and[349] good gentlemen: they are great merchants of all sorts of goods. they make much porcelain in the country, and very good, which is a great article of commerce for all parts. they make them of sea snail shells well ground and with the whites and shells of eggs, and of other materials, of which they make a dough, which they put under the earth to ripen and mature itself, for a space of eighty or a hundred years, and they leave this mass as a treasure and inheritance, because as the time approaches for working it so it becomes more valuable, and in this way they leave it to their sons and grandsons;[350] and after the time has arrived they work it into vases of all patterns, and after they are made they enamel and paint them. there also grows and is produced in this country of china much very good silk, of which they make a great quantity of stuffs; that is to say, damasks of all colours, satins of several kinds, and brocade. there is much rhubarb in this country, and much musk, very fine silver, seed pearl, and pearls that are not very round. they also make many other very pretty gilded things in this country; that is to say, very rich chests and trays of gilt wood, salt dishes, fans, and other delicate works of ingenious men. they are also great navigators in very large ships which they call jungos, of two masts, of a different make from ours, the sails are of matting, and so also the cordage. there are great corsairs and robbers amongst those islands and ports of china. they go with all these goods to malaca, where they also carry much iron, saltpetre and many other things, and for the return voyage they ship there samatra and malabar pepper, of which they use a great deal in china, and drugs of cambay, much anfiam, which we call opium, wormwood, levant gall nuts, saffron, coral wrought and unwrought, stuffs from cambay, palecate and bengal, vermilion, quicksilver, scarlet cloth, and many other things. in this country of china the pepper is worth fifteen ducats the quintal, and more according to the quantity they carry there, which pepper they buy in malaca at four ducats the quintal. many of these chinese take their wives and children continually in the ships in which they live without possessing any other dwelling. this china borders on tartary towards the north, and it is a thousand leagues distant to the north-north-west from the malucos. lequeos. opposite this country of china there are many islands in the sea, and beyond them at a hundred and seventy-five leagues to the east there is one very large which they say is the mainland, from whence there come each year to malaca three or four ships like those of the chinese, of white people whom they describe as great and wealthy merchants. they bring much gold in bars, silver, silk and many very rich silk stuffs, much very good wheat, beautiful porcelain and other merchandise. and they ship pepper and other things which they carry away. these islands are called lequeos,[351] the people of malaca say that they are better men, and greater and wealthier merchants, and better dressed and adorned, and more honourable than the chinese. there is not much information about these people up to the present time, because they have not come to india since the king of portugal possesses it.[352] finis. an end was made of transferring this book from its original in the portuguese language, translated into castilian language, in vitoria, the emperor and king of spain residing there, on the first day of march, of the year one thousand five hundred and twenty-four years, by min. cinturion,[353] ambassador of the community of genoa, with the interpretation of diego ribero, portuguese, cosmographer of his majesty, and master of the sailing charts. account of the rubies, where they grow, of their variety, and of how they are sold in the malabar country. firstly, the rubies grow in the third india, and are for the most part gathered in a river which is called peygu, and these are the best and the finest, which the malabars call nir puco. those which are sold for the prices written below must be very good, without any blemish: and in order to know their fineness the indians put the point of their tongue upon them, and that which is the coldest and hardest is best: and in order to see its purity they take it up with wax by the finest point, and so look at it by the light, by which they see any blemish which it may have got. they are found in very deep caves which there are amongst the mountains. and in this river and country of peygu they clean them, but do not work them, for they take them to other parts to be worked, principally in palecate and the country of narsynga. in calicut and the whole malabar country, eight fine rubies of the weight of one fanam are worth ten fanaes[354] x fs. 10 four rubies of the said weight in perfection xx fanaes xx fs. 20 two weighing one fanam xl fs. 40 one weighing one fanam l fs. 50 one weighing three quarters of a fanam xxx fs. 30 one weighing a fanam and a quarter lxxv fs. 75 one weighing a fanam and a half is worth c fs. 100 one which should weigh a fanam and three quarters cl fs. 150 a ruby which weighs two fanaes is worth cc fs. 200 one which should weigh two fanoes and a quarter ccl fs. 250 one of two and a half ccc fs. 300 one of two and three quarters and a half cccc fs. 400 one of three fanoes ccccl fs. 450 one of three fanoes and a quarter d fs. 500 one of three and a half dl fs. 550 one of three and three quarters dc fs. 600 one of three fanoes three quarters and a half dcxxx fs. 630 one of four fanoes dclx fs. 660 one of four fanoes and a quarter dcc fs. 700 one of four fanoes and a half dcccc fs. 900 one of five fanoes iu fs. 1,000 one of five fanoes and a half iucc fs. 1,200 one of six fanoes iud fs. 1,500 they are usually worth these prices if they are perfect, and those which should not be perfect, or may have any spots, or have not got a good colour are worth much less, according to the choice of the buyer. a fanam weighs something more than two carats of our parts, and eleven fanoes and a quarter are a mitigal,[355] and six mitigals and a half make an ounce, and each fanan is worth here a real of silver.[356] account of the spinel rubies. there is another kind of rubies which we call spinel rubies, and the indians call them carapuch, which are produced in the same country of peygu, where the fine rubies grow, and they find them in the mountains near the surface of the ground. these are not so fine nor of so bright a colour as the rubies, but they have rather the colour of scarlet: and those which are perfect in colour and pure, are worth half less than the rubies. account of other rubies of ceylon. in the second india there is an island called ceylan, where many rubies are found, which the indians call manica, most of these do not reach the perfection of the others in colour, because they are red, and pale, and ruddy.[357] they are very hard and very cold, and, those which are found in all their perfection of colour are very highly valued amongst them. and the king of that island has them found, and keeps the perfect ones for himself, which he sells with his own hand: and when the lapidaries clean them if they find one very white they put it by his orders into the fire for a certain number of hours, and if it endures the fire and comes out sound it remains of a brighter colour. such a stone is of great value, and those of this kind which the king of narsynga can get into his hands, he orders them to be bored with a very fine hole on the underneath side so that the hole reaches to the centre, and they do not pass it, because the stone can no longer leave the kingdom, and that it may be known that it has been tried in the fire. and so also these are worth more than those of peygu. their prices are the following if they are perfect in colour and purity:- one which weighs a carat, which is half a fanam, is worth in calicut thirty fanoes xxx fs. 30 one of two carats lxxv fs. 75[358] one of three carats cl fs. 150 one of three carats and a half cc fs. 200 one of four carats ccc fs. 300 one of four carats and a half cccl fs. 350 one of five carats cccc fs. 400 one of five carats and a half ccccl fs. 450 one of six carats dxxx fs. 530 one of six carats and a half dlx fs. 560 one of seven carats dcxxx fs. 630 one of seven carats and a half dcclx fs. 760 one of eight carats very good and tried in the fire is worth dccc fs. 800 such a one of eight carats and a half dcccc fs. 900 such a one of nine carats iuc fs. 1,100 such a one of ten carats iuccc fs. 1,300 one of eleven carats of this kind iudc fs. 1,600 one of twelve carats nu fs. 2,000 one of fourteen carats mu fs. 3,000 one of sixteen carats viu fs. 6,000 account of the balasses, where they grow and what they are worth in calicut. these balasses are of the class of rubies but not so strong as them, their colour is rosy and some are almost white, they are found in balaxayo[359] which is a kingdom of the mainland near peygu and bengal. the moors bring them out of that country to all parts; that is to say, the good and picked ones, cut or uncut, they clean and work them in calicut, and they are sold for the prices of spinel rubies. those which are not good, and are bored, are bought by the moors of mekkah and aden for the whole of arabia, where they are accustomed to take them. account of the diamonds of the old mine. these diamonds are gathered in the first india in a kingdom of moors called decan, and they carry them thence to all parts. there are other diamonds which are not so good; some are white and are said to be of the new mine which is in the kingdom of narsynga; these are worth less by a third in calicut and the country of malabar, than those of the old mine; and they are worked in the kingdom of narsynga itself. and those of the old mine are not worked in india. they likewise make false diamonds in india with white rubies, topazes and sapphires, which look like fine gems and these are found in ceylon, and they only differ from diamonds in the colour which they have by nature. and some of these stones are found half of which have the colour of the ruby and the other of the colour of the sapphire, and others of the colour of the topaze, and some of them have got all these colours mixed. they bore these stones with two or three very fine threads through them, and they remain as cats' eyes. and with the stones which turn out white they make a great quantity of small diamonds which cannot be distinguished from the other genuine ones, except by the touch[360] and by those who have much acquaintance with them. eight fine diamonds which weigh a manjar[361] are worth xxv or xxx fs. 30 six weighing one manjar xl fs. 40 four weighing one manjar lx fs. 60 two weighing one manjar lxxx fs. 80 one weighing one manjar c fs. 100 one weighing a manjar and a quarter clxv fs. 165 one of one and a half clxxx fs. 180 one of one and three quarters ccxx fs. 220 one of one and three quarters and a half cclx fs. 260 one of two manjars cccxx fs. 320 one of two and a quarter ccclx fs. 360 one of two and a half ccclxxx fs. 380 one of two and three quarters if in full perfection ccccxx fs. 420 one of this said perfection of three manjars ccccl fs. 450 one of three manjars and a half cccclxxx fs. 480 one of four manjars dl fs. 550 one of five manjars dccl fs. 750 one of six manjars dcccc fs. 900 one of seven manjars iucc fs. 1,200 one of eight manjars iucccc fs. 1,400 these go on increasing in price in proportion, and each manjar weighs two taras and two-thirds, and two taras make a carat even weight, and four taras weigh a fanam. account of the sapphires. the best and most genuine sapphires are found in ceylon, they are very strong and fine, and those which are in all perfection, and purity, and of a fine blue colour, are worth the following prices. one which weighs a carat two fanaes ii fs. 2 one weighing two vi fs. 6 one weighing three carats x fs. 10 one weighing four carats xv fs. 15 one weighing five carats xviii fs. 18 a weight of six xxv fs. 25 one of seven xxxv fs. 35 one of eight carats l fs. 50 one of nine lxv fs. 65 one of ten carats lxxv fs. 75 a sapphire weighing eleven carats is worth xc. fs. 90 one of twelve cxx fs. 120 one perfect in purity and colour weighing thirteen carats cxxxv fs. 135 one of fourteen carats clx fs. 160 one of sixteen two hundred fanoes cc fs. 200 one of eighteen ccl fs. 250 one of twenty ccc fs. 300 one weighing a mitical which is xi fanams and a quarter cccl fs. 350 there is also in ceylam another kind of sapphires, which are not so strong, which they call quirin genilam,[362] and they are of a darker colour. these are worth much less, however good they may be, for one of the above-mentioned is worth as much as thirteen of these. in the kingdom of narsynga in a mountain above bancanor and mangalor there is another kind of sapphires softer and inferior in colour, which they call cringanilan;[362] they are somewhat whitish; these are worth very little, so much so that the most perfect of them which weighs twenty carats will not be worth a ducat. their colour is also somewhat yellow. there is another sort of sapphires which are found on the sea beach of the kingdom of calicut in a place called capucad,[363] the indians call these carahatonilam, they are very blue and cloudy and do not glitter, except setting them in the light.[364] they are soft and break like glass. an opinion is held by some who say that in former times there was by the sea of this capurad the house of a king and that its windows were of blue glass, and that the sea having covered it over the pieces of glass are thrown up ashore; but they are very large, and on the other hand they seem to be glass. these are worth very little among them. account of the topazes and of their prices in calicut. the natural topazes are found in ceylon which the indians call pur ceraga, it is very hard stone and very cold and heavy like the ruby and sapphire, because all three are of one kind. its perfect colour is yellow like beaten gold, and when their colour is perfect and pure, whether they be great or small, in calicut they are worth their weight in fine gold, and this is their price usually; and if the colour is not so perfect they are worth their weight in gold of fanams which is less by half, and if it is almost white they are worth much less, and they make small diamonds of them. account of the turquoises, and of their prices in malabar. the true turquoises are found in niexer[365] and quirimane,[366] country of sheikh ismail, in mines and dry ground,[367] and they are found upon black stones, and the moors detach them there in small pieces, and bring them thence to ormuz, whence they are sent out to many countries by sea. the indians call them peyrosa. it is a soft stone and of little weight, and not very cold; and in order to know that it is good and true, by day it will seem to you of a blue colour, and at night by candle light it turns green; and those which are not so perfect, do not change from one appearance. if this stone is pure and of a fine colour, underneath at its base it will have brown stone upon which it grew, and if any little vein or point were to come out above the black stone itself, then it is known as very genuine indeed, and of greater value, because it is a sign of being a true turquoise, and for greater certainty putting upon it a little virgin lime, white and moistened like ointment, the lime will appear coloured. and when they have this perfection they are worth the following prices:- if the turquoise is of the said perfection and weighs a carat, it will be worth in the malabar country xv fs. 15 one of two carats xl fs. 40 one of four carats xc fs. 90 one of six carats cl fs. 150 one of eight carats cc fs. 200 one of ten carats ccc fs. 300 one of twelve carats ccccl fs. 450 one of xiiij carats dl fs. 550 they take no account of the larger ones, from their being light pieces of much bulk. the moors and guzuratys wear the large ones. account of the hyacinths. the hyacinths are produced in ceylan, and are soft yellow stones, and those which are of a stronger colour are the best; most of them have within some grains which impair their beauty, and those which have not got them, and are pure, in perfection of this colour, are worth little in calicut where they arrange them; one which weighs a fanam is not worth more than three fanams, and one of xviij fanams is not worth more than xvi fanams. there are also other gems, cat's eyes, chrysoliths, and amethists, of which no other distinction is made on account of their being of little value, and so also with regard to the jagonzas.[368] account of the emeralds. the emeralds are produced in the country of babilonia, which the indians call maredeygua;[369] and they likewise grow in many other parts; they are green stones of a good colour and pretty; they are light and soft, and many counterfeits are made of them which resemble them, but looking at them in the light they show the counterfeit and some little globules such as all glass makes; and if they were genuine they would not show any. but the sight of them would give great satisfaction and the good ones shew rays inside them like of the sun, and being touched by a touchstone leaves on it a copper colour. and the real emerald is such that they are worth the same as diamonds in calicut, and something more, not according to the weight but the size, because the diamond is much heavier than it. there are likewise other emeralds which are green stones, and these are not so much valued, but the indians make use of them in jewellery. these do not leave a copper colour on the touchstone.[370] summary account of the spices, where they grow, and what they are worth in calicut, and where they are exported to. pepper grows in all malabar, firstly in the kingdom of calicut, and there it is worth from two hundred to two hundred and thirty fanoes the bahal, which weighs four quintals of the old weight of portugal at which all spice is sold in lisbon: and they pay twelve fanoes per bahar duty for taking it out of the country to the king of calicut; and those who buy it are used to take it to cambay, persia, aden, mekkah, from whence they also transport it to cayro, and thence to alexandria. and now they give it to the king of portugal at the rate of iiijulx (4,060)[371] the bahar, with the duties, which are cxciij fanoes (193) and 1/4, on account of so great a variety of merchants no longer resorting there to buy it, and on account of the agreement which the king of portugal made with the kings and moors and merchants of the country of malabar. much pepper also grows in sumatra which is an island near malaca, and it is larger and better looking than that of the malabar country: but this pepper is not so fine nor so strong as that. this pepper is carried to bengal and china and java, and some of it is carried to mekkah without the knowledge of the portuguese, who do not allow it to be taken. it is worth 400 to 600 maravedis the quintal of portugal, in this case of the new weight. and between the new and the old one in portugal there is a different of two ounces per pound. account of the cloves. the cloves grow in an island beyond java called maluco, and from thence they bring it to malacca, and from there to calicut and all the malabar country. each bahar is worth in calicut 500 and 600 fanoes, and if it is clean of husks and sticks, at seven hundred fanoes, and xviiij fanoes per bahar are paid as export duty. at maluco where it grows it is worth from one to two ducats the bahar; according to the multitude of buyers who go for it. in malacca the bahar of these cloves is worth as much as fourteen ducats the bahar according to the demand of the merchants. cinnamon. good cinnamon grows in the island of ceylam, and in the county of malabar there grows a very inferior quality; the good sort is worth little in ceylam, and in calicut it is worth three hundred fanoes the bahar, new and very choice. beledyn ginger. beledyn[372] ginger grows at a distance of two or three leagues all round the city of calicut, and the bahar is worth lx[373] fanoes, and sometimes fifty, they bring it to the city for sale, from the mountains and estates. the indian merchants buy it in detail and collect it together, and then in the season for loading ships they sell it to the moors at prices from ninety to a hundred and ten fanoes; its weight is the greater weight.[374] ely ginger. the ely ginger grows in the mountain dely as far as cananor, and is smaller and not so white, nor so good. the bahar in cananor is worth forty fanoes, and six fanoes duty is paid per bahar, and it is sold without being packed.[375] green ginger for conserves. in bengal there is also much ginger of the country and there they make with it a large quantity of preserves with sugar, very well made; and they bring it in martaban jars to sell at malabar, and the farazola, which is twenty-two pounds, is worth xiiij and xv or xv; fanoes. and that which is now preserved with sugar in calicut is worth xxv fanoes the farazola on account of sugar being dear there. green ginger for making preserves is worth three quarters of a fanam the farazola[376] in calicut. account of the drugs and spices in calicut and all the malabar country. lac of martaban, very good, is worth the farazola, which is twenty-two pounds and six ounces and a half of portugal, of xvj ounces to the pound xviij fanoes 18 lac of the country, the farazola xij fs. 12 coarse camphor in loaves of lxx to eighty fanoes the farazola lxxx fs. 80 very good borax[377] in large pieces at xxx, xl, or l fs. the farazola xl fs. 40 camphor for anointing the idols at the rate of one fanam and a half the mitical, six and a half of which make an ounce i fm. & a half 1-1/2 camphor for eating and for the eyes at iij fs. the mitical iij fs. 3 eagle wood at cccl and cccc fs. the farazola ccclxxv fs. 375 genuine aloe-wood, and very choice black and heavy is worth i fs. the farazola iu fs. 1,000 musk in powder of good quality, the ounce xxxvi fs. xxxvi fs. 36 benjuy each farazola lx and the very good lxx fs. lxv fs. 65 fresh tamarinds at iij fs. the farazola iij fs. 3 sweet flag[378] the farazola xij fs. 12 indigo, coarse and heavy, which contains sand, seventeen to twenty-two fs. the farazola xx fs. 20 encienzo the best when in grain is worth v fs. 5 encienzo[379] in paste and inferior is worth iij fs. 3 very good amber is worth ij to iij fs. the mitical iij fs. 3 mirobolans in sugar conserve are worth from sixteen to xxv fs. the farazola xx fs. 20 coloured sandal v and vi fs. the farazola vi fs. 6 spikenard, fresh and good, from xxx to xl fs. the fa. xl fs. 40 white sandal, and of a lemon colour xl to lx fs. the farazola, it grows in an island called timor 1 fs. 50 nutmeg x and xi fs. the farazola, it comes from bandam, where the bahar is worth viij or x fs. xi fs. 11 mace from xxv to xxx fs. the farazola, this also comes from bandan, where it is worth 1 fs. the bahar. xxx fs. 30 good herb lonbreguera[380] at xv fs. the farazola xv fs. 15 turbiti,[381] at xiij fs. the farazola xiij fanoes 13 zerumba is worth the farazola ij fs. 2 zedoary is worth the farazola i fm. 1 serapine gum[382] is worth the farazola xx fs. 20 socotra aloes are worth the farazola viij fs. 8 cardamums in grain at xx fs. xx fs. 20 rhubarb, there is much of it in the malabar country, and what comes from china by malaca is worth cccc to d fs. the farazola ccccl 450 mirobolans, ynblicos, are worth, the farazola ij fs. 2 mirobolans, belericos, are worth, the farazola i fm. 1 mirobolans of a citron colour and quebulos which are one kind ij fs. 2 mirobolans yndos, which are from the same trees as the citron coloured, are worth iij fs. 3 tutty,[383] the farazola xxx fs. 30 china cubela,[384] which grows in java, is given there at a low price without weight or measure, by eye. opium is worth the farazola in calicut, and comes from aden, where they make it, it is worth from cclxxx to cccxx fs. ccc fs. 300 another opium which is prepared in cambay is worth from cc to ccl fs. the farazola ccxxv fs. 225 account of the weights of portugal and of the indies. in portugal. a pound of the old weight contains xiiij oz. a pound of the new weight contains xvi oz., eight quintals of the old weight make seven quintals of the new, and each quintal of the new weight is of cxxviij pounds of xv oz., each old quintal is three quarters and a half of a new quintal, and is of cxxviij pounds of xiiij oz. each. indies. a farazola is xxij pounds of xvi oz. and vi oz. 2/7 more. twenty farazolas are one bahar. one bahar is four old quintals of portugal.[385] all spices and drugs and anything which comes from india is sold in portugal by old weight, at present all the rest[386] is sold by new weight. voyage which juan serano made when he fled from malaca, with three portuguese and cristoval de morales of seville, in a caravel which he stole in malaca, in which he put certain malay mariners, natives of malaca, about the year of our lord jesus christ one thousand five hundred and twelve years.[387] in the name of god: we left the city of malaca in a caravel with five malay mariners and pilots; the captain was fran^{co} serano, with three other christians, who in all were nine; the mariners, natives of malaca; the christians, three portuguese and a castilian. in the year one thousand five hundred and twelve we sailed to the city of pegu, and this city is on the mainland, and not very far from the sea, more on this side of malaca, east (and) west[388] of the island care ca faya, north (and) south, with the malacca channel and island quendan, it must be said, the river higher up towards the east passes close by it: this river is very large and clear, by it enters and goes forth the merchandise, which many christians traffic with; these are clothed in camlets and bocasi.[389] they believe in one only true god. they are natives of these parts these married christians. they trade with upper and lower india. the king of this country is an idolater; he uses another dress, which reaches from his head to his feet, full of gold rings and jewellery and seed pearl. these stones are brought from the kingdom of pegu itself, about three days' journey inland. in this country, when the husbands die, their wives burn themselves and throw themselves into the fire. this king of pegu is continually at war with some other powerful king, who may be the king of camboja, siam, or conchin chinan. leaving pegu and the bar of the river and continuing to the south-west, inclining to the south south-west,[390] we arrive at the island samatra, for so is named a city of this northern part, as i will relate further on, at a port which is very large and called pedir. it is near the extremity of the island, placed more to the north, which looks to the north west.[391] the harbour of pedir is very large and the city very populous, the best of the island, which the malay pilots said had a circuit of two hundred and fifty leagues, according as we can collect from their day's journey and our day's run.[392] we gathered from the position of the country and sayings of the pilots and ancient geographers that this island is traprobana, in which there are four idolatrous kings. the wives of the natives of the country burn themselves when their husbands are dead, as in pegu and in malabaria. the people are white; they have wide foreheads, the eyes greyish and round, the hair long, the nose flat; they are small in stature. much silk is produced in this island, and grows of itself on the mountains, in which there are many trees of storax and benjuy some way inland; and if it is not brought so much hither, the reason is that they use it there, for they all anoint themselves: many various kinds of lignum aloes grow in the mountains. having left pedir and gone down the northern[393] coast, i drew towards the south and south-east[394] direction, and reached to another country and city which is called samatra, in which we saw many merchants; and in a single quarter we counted five hundred changers, besides other quarters where there were many others. there are innumerable silk workshops. the people are all dressed in cotton. they navigate with vessels made of a certain wood which looks like canes: they call them juncos in malay language: they carry three masts and two helms: when they pass any stiff gulf, the wind being contrary they hoist other sails, and they are raised on the second mast, and so they make their voyage. the houses of this city of samatra and its island, which are all named from it, as i said speaking of pedir, are of stone and lime, low and covered with shells of tortoises or turtles. each one of these shells covers as much as two or three bucklers; they are painted of their natural colour like ours. from here we stood to the east until the bandan islands, and we found near this, which gives name to the others, twenty islands. it is a dry country which bears fruit; some of these islands are inhabited, the people are like the peasants of malabaria and calicut, who are called poliares and gicanales,[395] they are of a low way of living, and coarse intelligence. a profitable commodity is found in bandan, namely nutmeg, which grows here in great quantity and kinds. thence we departed to other islands standing to the north-east and east-north-east[396] through many channels as far as the islands of malut. in them grows much cloves, they are five in all, the largest of them is smaller than bandan. the maluquese people are very wretched, and worth little, they are very beastly, and of a brutal mode of living, they do not differ from animals in their customs but only in possessing the human face. they are whiter than other races of these islands. the cloves grow in another island which is smaller, and is called tidory, the tree on which it grows is like the box or buxo. when the cloves are ripe on the trees they stretch cloaks or sheets on the ground and sweep the tree, and the inhabitants gather the most they can. the country is of earth clay and sand; it is so near the line that the north star cannot be seen, and then they sail by certain stars which the orientals are accustomed to. and having departed from here to another second isle, there we the four christians and some malays remained; and there the king of maluco shewed great honour to fran^{co} serano, the before-named captain, and married him with honour to his daughter, and to the others who wished to go he gave permission to go and see the city and island of java. on the road we found an island which is called borney, which is fifty leagues from maluco, and it is somewhat larger than maluco, and much lower. its people adore idols, they are rather white, and go dressed with shirts like those of sailors, and in face they are like the people of the city of cayro: they dress in camlets. from this island we went to another and took other mariners. tn this country there grows much camphor, because there are many trees in which it grows, and from there we set out to the island of zaylon, at which we arrived in three days; and so the mariners whom we took in borney carried a map for navigating, and they had a needle and loadstone, and a chart in which they had many lines and strokes at which we were greatly amazed[397], and spoke to them of it in the malay language: and the north star having disappeared from us in those countries the mariners told us that they guided themselves throughout all that region by five stars, principally by one star opposite to the north to which they continue to navigate, and for this they always carry a needle and loadstone because that stone always follows the north, towards which they continue to sail, and it never turns away from the north, and they look on it on that account; and the mariners of borneo told us that in that part of that island there was a people which used the contrary stars opposite to the north, for their navigation; and which seemed to be almost the antipodes of tropia and sarmatia, and that this people inhabited in the frigid zone near the antarctic pole, which appeared in that country not to have more than four hours of daylight; for the country is very cold to a wonderful degree, on account of the climate being like that which exists near the arctic pole. having left this island, we went to the island of java, in which we found four kinds of kings, who follow different rites, all idolators, who worship idols, others the sun, others the moon, and others worship the cows, and things to eat, and others worship the devil. there are other races which go dressed with cloaks and bornusses of silk and camlet. there are in this java some who sell their parents when they see that they are old and decrepit, to another nation, who are called canibals or anthropophagi, who are pagans, and likewise brothers sell their brothers when they are sick: when their recovery is despaired of they bring them out into the market-place and sell them to those caribs, saying that man's flesh is brought up with so much care and luxury, that it would not be in reason that the earth should consume it. note to pp. 228-229.--see pages 249-251 of _the travels of ludovico de varthema_ hakluyt society, and notes, also mr. r. major's able introduction to the _early voyages to terra australis, now called australia_. this passage, written about five years later than when varthema wrote, is a fuller statement than varthema's: and taking the two together, there can be little doubt that the information they contain was based on actual knowledge of australia. note to description of precious stones. i have read with great interest the passages of the manuscript relating to precious stones, and i have admired their conscientious appreciation and exactness in details. a doubt was raised with respect to stones of combined colours; they do exist, but are by no means valued in europe. the proportions of the prices in regard to weights, are still very exact as to the indian market, and uncut stones. experiments similar to those here described have been made in europe, and chiefly in germany, to heighten the colour of gems, rubies especially, by exposing them to fire, but their success has been so hazardous, nay costly, that speculation has been unwilling to expose itself to so much risk. jargon-corindon or circon was much used in the sixteenth century, and is now without value: it has the merit of possessing the hardness of the sapphire. henry capt, 17, rue du rhône, geneva. jeweller. note to page 30. the munich ms. no. 571, like the barcelona ms., has: "y las naos de alli se enpeguen el dicho yncenso el qual le vale alli de ciento cinquenta [=mrs] el quintal." but the munich ms. no. 570 has: "e las naos desta costa son _embreadas_ en el e vale el quintal de ciento o ciento y cinquenta reaes en la tierra en donde nace." so that the meaning of the passage is that the ships are caulked or pitched with this herb or gum. note to page 35. the munich ms. no. 571 is like the barcelona ms., but the ms. no. 570 gives this list of places:--"lefete, quesebey, tabla, beroho, cal, cor, juza, mohymacim, lima, horbaz, alguefa, carmoni, cohmobarque, conch, conga, ebrahemi, xenaa, menacio, xamyle, leytan, bamtani, doam, loram," and leaves out the words which in the other two mss. follow after the names of _quesebi_, _carmoni_, and _ebrahemi_. from this ms. no. 570 it is clear how _tabla_ got into the maps. note to page 93. devadachi, femmes des pagodes, servantes des dieux. chap. 17. ce sont ordinairement les tisserants qui vouent leurs filles aux pagodes, les parents ne leur demandent pas pour cela leur consentement, ils n'attendent pas même qu'elles soient en age de le donner, puisqu'ils les destinent au service des dieux dès qu'elles commencent de naître: ils ont grand soin de les préparer à cet état par un continuel exercice de la danse, du chant, et des jeux; il y a un maître exprès de ces exercises, qui enseigne les jeunes filles que l'on a destinées et devouées aux pagodes, et qui les dirigent dans les cérémonies: lorsqu' elles sont devenues devadashi, c'est à dire servantes des dieux, lorsqu' elles ont atteint l'âge de 9 ou 10 ans, leurs pères vont convier toutes les castes de venir assister à la consécration de leurs filles. on les conduit solemnellement à la pagode, devant d'y entrer elles donnent à tout le monde des marques de leur habileté dans la danse, dans le chant, et dans le jeu, et selon qu'on est content d'elles on leur fait des présents, ensuite elles entrent dans la pagode, elles se prosternent devant les dieux. les brahames qui sont là présens, les font relever, allors le prêtre offre la fille aux dieux, en leur disant, seigneurs voilà une fille que je vous offre, daignez la prendre pour votre servante. le brahame officiant met dans la main de la fille un peu de tirouniron, et un peu de l'eau qui a servi à laver l'idole: elle delaye tout cela ensemble, et elle s'en met au front pour marquer qu'elle se devoue d'elle-même avec joye pour être toute sa vie la servante des dieux. cette cérémonie suppose que c'est à la pagode de siva qu'elle se devoue particulièrement, car si c'est à la pagode de vishnou elle se met le tirounamam[398] et on lui fait boire un peu de l'eau dans laquelle il y a quelques feuilles de toulachi qui est une espèce de basilic. ensuite soit que ce soit dans l'une ou dans l'autre pagode, le brahamme officiant delaye dans un bassin de cuivre un peu de sandale avec de l'eau qui a servi à l'idole, et il en jette avec les doigts sur la fille. cela marque la consécration parfaite. il met au col une guirlande qui a servi à l'idole pour luy témoigner qu'elle est agréable aux dieux et qu'ils l'ont prise sous leur protection: le brahamme luy dit qu'elle est présentement devadashi, et qu'il l'exhorte à se comporter en digne servante des dieux, après cela elle se prosterne devant l'idole: le brahamme la fait relever et ordonne à ses parents de l'aller conduire dans une maison particulière qui est proche la pagode, les parents y donnent du bethel aux conviez et regalent toutes les devadachis. toutes celles qui sont ainsi consacrées aux pagodes ne peuvent jamais se marier, ny elles ne peuvent plus retourner à leurs familles, ny en hériter. elles font profession d'etre publiques à tout le monde, et les malabares croyent qu'il y a du mérite d'habiter avec les servantes des dieux. elles n'ont point parmy elles de supérieures; chacune fait son menage separément si elles veulent on tire leur subsistance des revenus de la pagode, mais ce n'est pas ce qui les enrichit beaucoup; le commerce charnel qu'elles entretiennent avec tout le monde leur est bien plus lucratif, et celles qui font ainsi fortune ont grand soin de se bien habiller et de s'orner de pendants d'oreilles, de colliers et d'anneaux d'or, et de cercles d'argent aux bras et aux pieds l'employ des devadashis est d'aller trois fois le jour à la pagode, c'est à dire le matin vers le midi et le soir, qui sont les temps que ce font les sacrifices et les cérémonies de la pagode, elles y dansent et chantent, et font des jeux pour le divertissement des dieux; elles font la même chose aux processions, et aux mariages. "tout est odieux et criminel dans la condition de ces devadashis, la cruauté des pères qui forcent la liberté de leurs enfants, l'impiété des pères qui prostituent leurs filles." the above extract is taken from a manuscript in the royal library, munich, no. 1165 (gall. 666), called la religion des malabares; it is supposed to have been written between 1705 and 1720, and to have belonged to the missions etrangères; later it was presented by the abbé clément to the library of the oratoire st. honoré. the ms. contains 546 pages and three parts. the first is an exposition of christian doctrine; the second of the malabar religion; the third sets forth the doctrinal differences between the christians and hindus, and shows how to proceed in arguing with the latter. the whole tenour of the book is, however, chiefly an attack on the jesuits, whom it accuses of laxity, and of having sought to multiply the number of christians rather than to secure the truth. it reproaches them with allowing christian malabars to play musical instruments in the pagodas, and pagan malabars to play their instruments in christian churches, and with having allowed various idolatrous ceremonies to have become perpetuated under a fresh dedication. this tenour of the ms. is the cause stated in a manuscript note by abbé clément, for the book having been removed from the missions étrangères when the credit of the jesuits prevailed, and caused the departure from that establishment of the missionaries who were hostile to that body. from this work marriage seems to have been more general amongst the malabars than would be supposed from the account of the early portuguese voyagers in which much stress is laid upon the absence of marriage amongst the nairs. this missionary in treating of divorce amongst the malabars says the husband retains the children, if there are any, and the wife returns to the husband the _taly_ which she had round her neck (probably the jewel which has been mentioned in the text;) and she resumes her dower if she brought any at her marriage. amongst other objectionable practices of the jesuits, blamed in this work, is the having adopted the malabar name of sarounasouren (signifying lord of all) for the true god, since sarunasuren is properly applied to siva because he is the first human form which carsa (or the most subtle of the five elements) took on forming the world; whilst the true god is neither carsa nor siva, and sarunasuren is the name of an idol. carsa is further described as supreme intelligence, the soul of the universe, and the most subtle of the five elements, water, fire, earth, air, and wind, and is said to have taken a human form which he called shiva; and as shiva was to disappear into sattyaloguen or the most perfect heaven, he transformed himself into another human figure which he named roudra, and also in others called vishnou and broumha. carsa filled these three persons with intelligence, in order that they might remain in the world with men. _section de la divinité des malabars et de leur fausse trinité._ maycereni, the name of the third person of the indian trinity given in the text, does not appear in this work, and may be an epithet of rudra. the following is one of the most remarkable passages in this manuscript, and is much in accordance with m. e. burnouf's recent publications in the revue des deux mondes. "et comme ils ne rendent en particulier aucun culte extérieur à carsa, ils croyent le dédommager suffisament par celui qu'ils rendent à tous les dieux; on voit par là combien l'erreur aveugle l'esprit des hommes qui s'éloignent du vray dieu. il n'est personne qui ne convienne que la cause est plus noble que son effet. si donc ils supposent que ces dieux sont les effets de la puissance de carsa, pourquoi leurs rendent-ils plus de culte qu'à ce dieu, qu'ils disent être le principe de toute chose. n'est-ce pas faire de carsa un dieu chimérique?" p. 539. the reader may see in mr. frank's book on the kabbala, with respect to the adam kadmon, how much hindu ideas, and especially the hindu theory of the formation of the world, had penetrated into syria, and corrupted the jews, before the christian era. index. abyssinia, 19 aden, 26 afuni, 16 albuquerque, 46 amber, 165 andavat, 58 angoxe, 9 ava, 186 bacavar, 82 bahrein island, 37 banda, 74 bandan islands, 192, 199 banians' aversion to destroy life, 51 barbesy, 63 basalor, 82 baticala, 79 baxay, 68 bengal, 178 betel, 73 bijanagur, 85; its just administration, 86 bramans, their customs, 121 brava, its republic, 15 bueneo, 204 buendari, 64 burmah, 181 calicut, 152 camaran island, 26 cambay, 55, 64 cananor, 149, 150, 151 cannibals, 190, 196 celebes, 203 ceylon, 166 chalderan, battle of, 40 champa, 204 champaver, 57 chaul, 69 china, 190, 192 chittagong, 178 cinnamon, 219 cintacola, 78 cloves, 184, 219 coinage of ormuz, 45; baticala, 81; narsinga, 86 comorin cape, its church, 163 dabul, 71 dalaqua, 18 damda, 71 decan, 69 delhy, 98 denvy, 68 diquirmale mountain, 177 diu, battle of, 61 duels in southern india, 80 elephants, their price, 168; way of catching, 167 erecanguy, 182; mode of selection of damsels by the king, 183 fartak country, 28, 29 gandos, hill tribes of central india, 58 guardafun, 16 goa, 74 goyari, 63 guzerat, 50, 55 hindu marriages, 54; trinity, 53 horses, their price, 76, 89; fed on dried fish, 49; on cooked grain, 90 hussein, admiral, 25, 62 humpbacked maids of honour, 202 idolatrous rites, 53 ismail shah, his rise and policy, 38, 39, 40 java, 192 jiddah, 26-27 joghis, 99, 100, 101 junks, 206 keddah, 189 kulam, 157, 172; king's guard of women, 173 lapidaries, ceylon, 169 limadura, 66 madagascar, 13, 14 magadoxo, 16 malabar, 101 malaca, 190 maldive islands, 164; division of by the king, 103; customs, 104; king's coronation oath, 107; his funeral ceremonies, 108; clerks and writing, 110; king's waiting women, 111; their festival on king's accession, _ib._; king's customs, 113; justice, 116 malays, 191 mandabad, 71 manfia, 14 mangalor, 82 marepata, 177 martaban, 185 maylepur, encroachments of the sea, 174 medina, 23 mekkah, 23, 188 melinda, 12, 13 mokhah, 26 moluccas, 192 mombaza, 11, 12 monomotapa, 6, 7 mozambique, 9, 10 musk, adulteration of it, 187 nairs, 124; customs, 124 narsinga, 84; council, 89; king's household, 87; punishment of high officers, 89; army, _ib._; vivandières, 90; enlistment, 91; king's method of carrying his subjects to the wars, 96 nestorians, 162 nicobar islands, 195 onor, 79 orissa, 98, 177 ormuz, 32 _et seq._; council, 44; blind kings, 44; council put down by albuquerque, 47 pahang, 189 palecate, 176 pardan coins, 81 patemshi, 58 pearl fishery, 170 pegu, 183 pepper, its price, 207, 218 porcelain manufacture, 185 portuguese piracy, 46, 72, 76 prester john, 19 price of drugs, 220, 221, 222; eagle-wood, 221; elephants, 168; horses, 76, 89; pepper, 217, 218; rice, 82; rubies, 210; spices, 220, 221, 222 quicksilver trade, 81, 174 quilacare, self-immolation of its king, 172 quiloa, 10, 11 rajputs, 50 ravel, 67 rice, kinds of, 82 rubies, 168, 169 sael, 173 self-torture by girls, 95 shehir, 3, 4, 30 siam, 188 sinai, mount, 22 socotra, its christians, 29; its amazons, 29 sofala, 4; cotton cultivation, 6 suez, 21 sumatra, 195 sunda, 196 surat, 67 suratimangalor, 59 suttee, 91 taborine, sacred stone worn by joghis, 101 tanasery, 188 thomas, st., his miracles, 160, 161, 175; his death, 175; his christians, 176 tree which produces poison and the antidote, 101 ucique islands, 3, 4, 5 voyage of francisco serrano from malacca, 224 weights, portuguese and indian, 223 zanzibar, 14 zeyta, 17 zimbao, 7 zuama, 8 london: t. richards, 37, great queen street. footnotes: [1] i have been informed by mr. winter jones that diego ribero drew up a map of the world in 1529, of which sprengel wrote an account in 1795, called, über j. ribero's alteste weltcharte. he gives the western hemisphere only, the eastern hemisphere has been published by the vte. santarem. this might be the means by which the orthography and errors of this work passed into the maps of ortelius. [2] the portuguese are scarcely justified in their censure of magellan for serving spain, after the neglect he had met with at the hands of the king of portugal, since disnaturalisation was a custom of the country frequently practised at that period: and it is the necessary complement of naturalisation. [3] here the barcelona manuscript begins. [4] insula bocicas, 23 deg. s. lat., just n. of c. s. sebastian, homann's atlas, nuremberg, 1753. [5] probably bahrein. [6] cujus rex quitove, atlas, 1753. reg. munica cujus rex chicanga. [7] cefala, ortelius. [8] lusiadas, canto v, stanza 76. ethiopes são todos, mas parece, que com gente melhor communicavam: palabra alguma arabia se conhece entre a linguagem sua, que fallavam: e com panno delgado, que se tece de algodão, as cabeças apertavam, com outro, que de tint azul se tinge, cada hum as vergonhosas partes cinge. [9] zimbro, ortelius, zimbaon, atlas, 1753. sedes regia. [10] ajonjo (agiongoli) plant with a viscous substance. ajonjoli sesame plant. ajonjera, carlina aqualis bruised in water makes birdlime. [11] zuama, ortelius. [12] vê do benomotapa o grande imperio, de selvatica gente, negra e nua, onde gonçalo morte e vituperio padecerá pela fé sancta sua: nasce por este incognito hemispherio o metal, porque mais a gente sua vê que do lago, donde se derrama o nilo, tambem vindo está cuama, camoens, canto x, stanza 93. [13] the old maps have a kingdom of mongale stretching n. from the r. zuama. [14] angoches, 16 deg. s. lat., homann. [15] mozambique, ortelius. [16] quiloa, ortelius. [17] mombaza, ortelius. [18] camoens confirms the author's statement of the flourishing condition of mombaza, and of its devastation by the portuguese. canto x, stanzas 26, 27- ambos darâo com braço forte armado a quiloa fertil aspero castigo, fazendo nella rei leal e humano, deitado forá o perfido tyranno. tambem farâo mombaça, que se arrea de casas sumptuosas e edificios, co'o ferro e fogo seu queimada e fea em pago dos passados maleficios. [19] melinde, ortelius. [20] melinde hospicio gazalhoso e charo. camoens, canto x, stanza 96. [21] lusiade, canto x, stanza 137- de sâo-lourenço vê a ilha affamada, que madagascar he d'alguns chamada. [22] cabo dos corrientes, ortelius. [23] yname, in portuguese, inhame. root in the form of a gourd, composed of two bulbs, which grow one above the other, the larger one below the smaller one. it is cut into slices and eaten instead of bread. it throws out very large leaves, without fruit. the ancients erroneously called it fava ægyptia, others have called it arum egyptium, which bahuino, in his historia universal das plantas, does not approve of. bluteau, dict., coimbra, 1713. ñame--genus of monocotyledonous plants of the family of the dioscoreas. dico. encyclopedico, madrid, 1855. the "maize" mentioned in the text must be a mistake of the author or of the translators: it should be yams. [24] penda and zenzibar, ortelius. [25] pato, ortelius, homann. [26] lamon, ortelius. [27] brava, ortelius. the german atlas of 1753 adds respubl. to the name of brava. [28] the river of this place is called mecadesso in the german atlas, which shows the arabic origin of the name; in ortelius magadazo. [29] orfuni, in atlas of 1753. [30] guardafun, ortelius. [31] met, ortelius, and the atlas of 1753. [32] barbara, ortelius. [33] zeila, ortelius. [34] dalacca, ortelius. [35] abyssinians, habeshin in arabic. [36] saachem, ortelius. [37] berr ajem. the spelling of this name is a proof that the spanish j still had the value of the english j and the arabic jim. [38] this refers to the sawahily of abyssinia, not to the people of arabia, and applies to them. [39] almalafa, a cloak, plaid, old spanish, not in dictionaries, from arabic. [40] "estas cosen a sus hijas sus naturas quando son chiquitas dexandoles solamente un meadero y asi las traen cosidas fasta que son en hedad de casar y las entregan a sus maridos y estonces les cortan la carne questa soldada como sy nacieron asy." the portuguese edition states that barbosa knew this by experience. [41] habeshy, abyssinian. [42] babel mandel, ortelius. [43] zues, ortelius. [44] camoens thus describes the interruption by the portuguese of the indian voyages to the red sea. canto ix, stanzas 3 and 4:- gidá se chama o porto, aonde o trato de todo o roxo mar mais florecia, de que tinha proveito grande, e grato o soldão, que esse reino possuïa. daqui os malabares, por contrato dos infieis, formosa companhia de grandes naos pelo indico oceano especiaria vem buscar cada anno. por estas nãos os mouros esperavam, que, como fossem grandes e possantes, aquellas, que o commercia lhe tomavam, com flammas abrazassem crepitantes: neste socorro tanto confiavam, que já não querem mais dos navegantes, senão que tanto tempo alli tardassem, que da famosa meca as naos chegassem. and canto x, stanza 50:- barbará se teme do mal, de que o emporio zeila geme. [45] hussein. [46] eliobon, atlas of ortelius and iambut or yembo. [47] voyages and travels by r. kerr, vol. ii, p. 512. letter from merchants of spain to their correspondents respecting a treaty of peace and league between the kings of portugal and calicut. we have been informed by those who were on board the fleet which sailed from lisbon to india in may, 1502, and returned on the 15th december, 1503, that the king of calicut has concluded a peace with our sovereign on the following conditions.... that our king, if so inclined, may build a fort at calicut, and shall be supplied with a sufficient quantity of stones, lime, and timber for that purpose. [48] probably admiral hussein had heard of monçaide, the spy of vasco de gama, of whom camoens says:- estava para dar ao gama aviso e merecer por isso o paraiso. este, de quem se os mouros naô guardavam, por ser mouro, como ellos, antes era participante em quanto machinavam. canto ix, stanzas 5 and 6. [49] the above anecdote of the fortitude and perseverance of mir hussein after his defeat, is new; and seems conclusive as to this ms. having remained unpublished, and almost unread; since, the _panorama_ (or spanish version of the _univers pittoresque_) _historia de portugal_, por m. fernando denis, conservador de la biblioteca de santa jenoveva: traducida por una sociedad literaria, barcelona, imprenta del fomento, 1845; says at p. 123:- "this battle, as simon goulard relates it, brought the power of the mussulmans of egypt to an end, and so convinced of this was melek-jaz that he hastened to conclude a peace with the portuguese. mir-hosein, who had manifested such distinguished valour and such profound knowledge in this struggle, fearing the inconstancy of melek-jaz, who might have given him up to almeida, went off hurriedly to the kingdom of cambay, and later removed himself to upper hindustan: but the historians lost his trace here and never again make any mention of the chief of the confederation of the rumys." [50] jizan. [51] mocha. [52] camaran, ortelius. [53] or indians. [54] alaquequa is an indian stone which stops the flow of blood; alaquequas are glass beads. dictionary of v. salva, paris, 1856. [55] the cocoa-nut shell is within a very thick husk, and so maybe called a kernel. [56] lac. [57] mangala, fortress of sumatra, in the country of lampong, on the shore of the tulang-buvang, nine leagues and two-thirds from the mouth of that river. _geographical dictionary_, barcelona, 1832. [58] dhafar. [59] fartach, ortelius, fartaque, atlas of 1753. [60] greco y levante, n.e.e., gregal, grech, n.e. wind, still used in catalan. [61] mastro y soroco, mistral & sirocco. [62] marked with a cross thus in the ms. [63] sangre de dragon. [64] dolfar, ortelius. [65] shehir, one of the chief seaports of hadramant. zehar, ortelius. [66] enciencio, antient for ajenjo, absinthe; perhaps the kat or katta, a very expensive leaf of a shrub. [67] this refers to the monsoon; if it is unfavourable the ships cannot get up the red sea. [68] this word is illegible, it reads _se enpegen_. [69] probably an error of the pen for ras al gat. [70] cape mussendom, in ortelius and the german atlas of 1753 also mocandon, here it is evident that the cedilla of the c has been forgotten, and the error has been perpetuated. ç is often used for s in old manuscripts. [71] in the german atlas there is a place called kellat, and another close by called calajute; calata, ortelius. [72] curiate in ortelius and the german atlas. [73] this may be read sar, or sari. [74] soar ortelius, sohar in the german atlas (map of persia). [75] lebeche or leveche, s.w. wind. [76] in the german atlas corscan, there is also another place there inland a long way off called orfacan, both these seem to be corruptions of the name in the text khor fakan. [77] julphar or giotoffar in the german atlas. [78] roccalima in the atlas of abraham ortelius, antwerp, 1570: the ras el khyma of captain felix jones's chart. [79] probably amulgowein of captain f. jones. [80] calba, ortelius. [81] baha, ortelius. [82] iguir in ortelius, 1570. [83] naban, ortelius, 1570. [84] quesibi, ortelius. [85] berou, ibidem. [86] moy macina, ortelius, 1570. [87] lima, ortelius. [88] carmon, ortelius. this list of towns is thus introduced without anything to connect it with the narrative; they would apparently be places on the shat el arab, between the sea and basrah, but from the atlas of ortelius it is clear that they are intended to follow after quesebi, from which word to "estuary" should be read in a parenthesis: from the entire absence of punctuation and capital letters in the ms. there is great difficulty in ascertaining always the correct meaning. this passage seems to show that those who made the early maps had had a copy of this ms. under their eyes. "quesebi: y dende aqui adelante da vuelta la costa a maestro y tramontana hasta la boca del rio eufrates y comiença en esa vuelta una tabla berohu caljar," et cetera. the word _tabla_ can hardly as here placed mean a list, and one of its meanings, dead water, or water without a current, in speaking of a river, seems here most applicable. ortelius, however, followed by the german atlas of 1753, has got _tabla_ as a town between quesibi and berou, in which case the sense of comienza and una would be imperfect. as the word _tabla_ is spanish, and in portuguese is _tabula_, it would appear that this spanish translation and not the portuguese original has been made use of for the ancient atlases. this view is confirmed by there being no such place as tabla in captain f. jones's chart. ramusio's edition has tabla between quesibi and berohu. [89] gues, ortelius, on the persian shore. [90] gues, before named, re-appears as cuez, basida, costaque, conga, which are placed on the arabian shore: gonga also appears on the persian shore in ortelius's atlas, 1570. [91] braimu, ortelius. [92] denaze, ibid. [93] doan, ibid., on persian shore. [94] laron, ibid. [95] andrani, ortelius. [96] quaro, ibid. [97] lar, ibid. [98] coiar, ibid. [99] tome, ibid. [100] mulugan, ibid. [101] quezimi, ibid. [102] baharem, ibid. besides these islands, ortelius has got gicolar and ficor, which names might have been made out of the above list from this very ms. by reading differently the names which are written in italics. [103] here there appears to be a gap in the ms. of three quarters of a line. [104] shah ismail, king of persia, contemporary of the writer of this ms. and founder of the shiah rite as at present existing. [105] son-in-law. this account is like that of ramusio and differs somewhat from the portuguese. [106] the origin of the kizilbashes. [107] chalderan, 3rd rejeb 920, or august 1514. vicente rocca, in his history of the turks, printed at valencia 1556, says that the corpses of many persian women who had accompanied their husbands in disguise, were found after the battle, and that sultan selim ordered them to receive an honourable burial. [108] this embassy came to albuquerque when he was at ormuz the last time, the envoy sent by albuquerque was fernan gomez. san roman hist. de la india, pp. 239, and 246-249. valladolid, 1603. [109] frat, with a persian termination. [110] with respect to this geography of the four rivers of paradise, see m. renan's remarks on the persian traditions, in his hist. des langues semitiques, pp. 481-483. paris, 1863. [111] zircon or jargon, a stone of which false diamonds are made. [112] reubarbaro. [113] sarahueles, serwal or shalwar. [114] almaizar. [115] atauxsia, moorish workmanship of inlaying metals. [116] this description of persian customs is very exact. [117] the jewish traveller pedro teixeira (or teireira, according to rodriquez de castro, biblica, rabinica esp.) at the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, wrote a history of persia, translated from mirkhond, and a "journey from the east indies to italy overland," antwerp, jerome verdassen. teixeira wrote the first part of this work in portuguese, and afterwards translated it into spanish, adding the second part. both were translated into french by c. cotolendi in 1681, and printed at paris under the title of "voyages de teixeira, ou l'histoire des rois de perse." he died at verona. teixeira says: "it was a custom much in use, both formerly and in later times among the kings of persia and harmuz, in order to assure themselves of those whom they might have reason to fear, and who commonly were their relations. and even this day may be seen at harmuz, on a hill near the hermitage of santa lucia, at a little more than a mile from the city, the ruins of some towers, in which the kings placed their relations who had been blinded for this reason. the method which they used for depriving them of sight was this: they took a brass basin, and heating it in the fire as much as possible, passed it two or three or more times before the eyes of the person they intended to blind; and without other lesion of the eyes they lost their sight, the optic nerves being injured by the fire, but the eyes remaining as limpid and clear as before." amador de los rios, estudios sobre los judios de españa, p. 557. madrid, 1848. ramusio has translated to blind "cavar gli occhi," which in this case would not apply. [118] this observation is owing to the moorish coins of the almohade dynasty having been square, which gave rise to the spanish saying of spendthrifts: "my money rolls, as it is not moorish." [119] the standard of modern spanish silver coin is eleven dinars, or dineros. [120] the portuguese force is said to have consisted of fifteen hundred portuguese and six hundred indian soldiers; this took place in 1514. panorama or univers pittoresque. according to san roman hist. de la india oriental in the beginning of 1515, albuquerque's force consisted of 26 sail, 1500 portuguese, and 600 malabars. [121] this governor's name was rais hamid; one account says so many daggers were drawn against him that the portuguese wounded one another's hands: the other governor mentioned later was named rais nordim, i.e., nureddin. [122] in ortelius's map of asia dulcinda is some way up a river; in the german atlas of 1753 no trace of it appears. [123] ulcinde, camoens, canto x, stanza 106. [124] or hither. [125] cogecillos. [126] or gallery. [127] a la bastarda. [128] the chaugan, persian game of hockey on horseback. [129] urdu perhaps is meant by the writer. [130] campanero in ramusio, champanel in portuguese edition. [131] gandos, people of hindustan, established in the mountainous parts of the province of ganduana: they live by the chase and the produce of their flocks, and, contrary to the custom of other indians, eat fowls and bury their dead. the women are obese, and stronger than the men; they wear a dress all of one piece, paint all their body, and become bald in the prime of life. ganduana, between 17 deg. and 24 deg. n. lat. and 81 deg. and 88 deg. e. long. diccionario encic., madrid, gaspar y roig, 1855. [132] jagri. [133] arrak. [134] this name might also be read dvuxa or dimxa. [135] shehir. [136] this word alcatifa might also mean velvets, at least that is its meaning in arabic and wallachian; in modern spanish it means a fine carpet. [137] coast guards, watch boats. [138] kind of artillery. [139] this passage seems to fix the date of this work as previous to 1515, since in that year the portuguese made themselves masters of diu, in which they built a fortress in 1536. (diccion. geog. universal, barcelona, 1831.) [140] of egypt. [141] this author seems to have confused the account of two naval battles, reducing them to one; the above account, as far as the description of the meeting of the hostile fleets, refers to the battle in 1507, in which the portuguese, commanded by lorenzo son of francisco de almeyda, were routed and lorenzo slain. melik az saved twenty prisoners alive from lorenzo's ship, which would not strike, treated them well, and wrote to condole with the father, francisco de almeyda, for the death of his son. almeyda prepared a fleet of nineteen sail to avenge his son's death, when albuquerque arrived to supersede him; he had been sent from europe in 1506. in spite of this almeyda sailed for diu, where emir hussein, instead of waiting for him, put out to sea against the advice of melik az and was defeated. vasco pereyra, captain of the ship that carried admiral hussein's ship by boarding, was killed, and his lieutenant, tavora, took emir hussein's ship, killing or capturing all those who did not save themselves by swimming ashore. the captured ships were richly laden, and almeyda distributed all the spoil amongst his crews. (this action was fought on the 3rd february, 1509.) melik az sued for peace after this defeat. his proposals were received with arrogance and a demand for the surrender of emir hussein: this melik az refused, but gave up all his portuguese prisoners. almeyda accepted this, but cut the heads off all his moorish prisoners in cool blood at cananor. panorama, india, pp. 358-360, barcelona, 1845; translation of the univers pittoresque. the same work in the volume on portugal, speaking of the first battle of diu, merely says, "mir hosein routed the portuguese, and don lorenzo lost his life," p. 121. camoens thus describes the second battle of diu, in his 10th canto, stanzas 35, 36. e logo, entrando fero na enseada de dio, illustre em cercos e batalhas, fará espalhar a fraca e grande armada de calecut, que remos tem por malhas: a de melique yaz acautelada, co 'os pelouros que tu, vulcano, espalhas, fará ir ver o frio e fundo assento, secreto leito do humido elemento. mas a de mir-hocem, que, abalroando, a furia esperará dos vingadores, verá bracos, e pernas ir nadando, sem corpos, pelo mar, de seus senhores: raios de fogo irão representando no cego ardor os bravos domadores: quanto alli sentirão olhos, e ouvidos, he fumo, ferro, flammas e alaridos. the last speech of don lorenzo d'almeida is given in the following words in a ms. belonging to the duke of gor, at granada, which describes the voyages to india from 1497 to 1509; it differs a little from that given in the second decade: "dom lourenzo lhe disse snõres companheiros e irmaos, minha vida he acabada que este mundo me tinha emprestada e minha alma ira dar conta ao snõr deos que a fez. en vos mando, e muito rogo que tomandonos meliquiaz sobre si como diz aventureis as vidas em sua palavra, porque de o nõ fazerdes tao certas aqui tendes as mortes se ds' nõ acodir cõ sua m[=i]a (misericordia) que lhe pezo que aja cõ minha alma, que em suas sanctas mãos encomendo: e deu a alma," f. 406 v. don lorenzo said to them: "gentlemen, companions and brothers, my life which this world had lent me is ended, and my soul will go to give an account to the lord god who made it. i charge you, and beg much of you, that as melikiaz will take us on his own responsibility, as he says, that you adventure your lives upon his word, because if you do not do so, you have before you certain death, unless god succour you with his mercy: which i pray him to have with my soul, which i commend into his holy keeping." and he gave up his spirit. [142] sambuks, arab undecked boats. [143] this may have been intended for ivory of elephants, it would seem difficult to get an elephant into a sambuk. [144] _pozos_, wells, hollows. [145] guadamecil, _aluta celata_. [146] this word is very clearly _enyertan_, which is an old word meaning to freeze, to congeal, to make _yerto_--hard: so that this stone would be like the chinese soap stone, which is soft and easily carved when first extracted. _ensartan_ would apply, meaning to string beads, but the writing does not admit of it. [147] ravel in ortelius's map of india, 1570. [148] axuar, the household furniture which a wife has to bring to her husband on her marriage. [149] the writer had forgotten that _aduana_ (custom-house) and _divan_ are the same word. [150] or denby. [151] mezzo giorno, the italian, instead of medio dia, a slip of the writer, the genoese envoy. [152] chaul, ortelius, 1570. [153] beatilla, bétille in french. [154] dabul, ortelius, 1570. [155] this was done by don francisco de almeyda on his way to diu in the beginning of 1509. [156] llanten, _plantago_. the leaf is chewed, not eaten, and assists the digestion. [157] munacem in ramusio, and muruary in the portuguese edition. [158] _rumys._ turks are so called east of turkey. these turks may have served in the egyptian fleet, but did not belong to the ottoman forces, as egypt was not united to the ottoman empire till later in 1517. traz este vem noronha, cujo auspicio de dio os rumes feros affugenta, dio, que o peito e bellico exercicio de antonio da sylveira bem sustenta. camoens, canto x, stanza 72. [159] february 25th, 1510, or on the 17th february according to san roman; albuquerque was driven out of goa, and reconquered it on the 25th november 1510. [160] san roman says that the revenue of sabayo was five hundred thousand ducats; and that goa produced much more in the hands of the king of portugal (p. 183). [161] aliga r., german atlas, 1753. [162] cintacola, ortelius, 1570. [163] bisinagar, ortelius. [164] cholmandel, ortelius. [165] in the italian and portuguese editions mergeo. [166] onor, ortelius. [167] batticalla, ortelius. [168] quarter of a hundredweight. [169] gomio, this word is intended, perhaps, for gumia, a kind of dagger, a marocco word not arabic; these words are neither of them to be found in the old dictionaries. the dagger is not mentioned in the italian or portuguese editions. [170] pardao, an indian coin worth 300 reis coined at goa by the portuguese, with the figure of king sebastian. dict. of p. raphael bluteau, lisbon, 1720. [171] bahar, an indian weight varying from 4-1/2 quintals to 5 quintals 3-1/2 arrobas. [172] or jauibasal, these names are variously spelled in the italian and portuguese editions. [173] bacanor and barsalor, german atlas. [174] fanega--4 bushels or 84 lbs. french. [175] mangalor, ortelius. [176] cape comori, ortelius. [177] the nil gau or blue cow. [178] ramusio coincides with this ms. in writing giagonzas on a former occasion, and on this gegonzas. [179] the abbreviation is [=m] [=mrs]; this might stand for ccc or three hundred, the value given by ramusio. [180] filosañias, may be intended for physiognomy. it is so translated by ramusio. [181] the arab travellers of the ninth century mention this. [182] tambarme in ramusio. [183] this is the probable origin of the story in sinbad the sailor. the arabian nights are not entirely fiction, as is usually supposed: the story of seif el muluk refers to facts in the malay annals, and describes the people, country, and winds about sumatra. [184] "y sobre el dicho palo esta una piedra de altura de un cobdo y en el medio un agujero en el qual meten un palo agudo y arman las gradas paramentadas con paños de seda para que la gente de fuera no vea el secreto de dentro y la madre de la moza con algunas otras mugeres entran en aquel lugar despues de hechas muchas cerimonias y alli sobre aquel palo agudo rompen la moza su virginidad y deraman la sangre sobre aquella piedra." [185] apparently orissa. [186] compare plato's views on this subject:- "but if a soldier highly distinguishes himself and gains himself credit, ought he not, think you, in the first place, while the army is still in the field, to be crowned with a garland by each of the youths and children in turn among his comrades in arms?" "yes, i think so." "but i suppose you will hardly extend your approbation to my next proposition?" "what is that?" "that he should kiss and be kissed by them all." "most certainly i do; and i would add to the law, that during the continuance of the campaign, no one whom he has a mind to kiss be permitted to refuse him the satisfaction; in order that, if any soldier happens to entertain an admiration for either a male or female comrade, he may be the more stimulated to carry off the meed of valour." "good, i replied; and we have already said that a brave man will be allowed to enter into marriage relations more frequently than others will, and to exercise more than the usual liberty of choice in such matters, so that as many children as possible may be obtained from a father of this character."--republic of plato, book v, § 468, p. 201. translation by davies and vaughan, cambridge, 1858. [187] orissa: in this ms. it is clearly a _t_, but _t_ and _r_ are easily confounded in the handwriting of this period. [188] bragueros de laton. [189] eyicianos. [190] lo al, old expression for lo demas. [191] the chulias or people of southern india do this always. [192] or--these on being opened. [193] baxana in ramusio, and braechagua in the lisbon edition. [194] nirabixi in ramusio and miralexy in lisbon edition. [195] people in the east carry stones of this description, which are said to draw out the venom from the bite of a serpent. [196] camoens addresses the king of malabar as: "o nobre successor de perimal" canto viii, stanza 82. [197] this agrees with the account of the arab travellers of the ninth century. paris, langles. [198] cananor. [199] called zamorin in other works, and samorim by camoens. [200] ramusio calls them cunelanadyri, benatederi, and coletri; the lisbon edition, maly couadary, benatady, cobertorim. [201] mostasos: old word, before introduction of bigotes from the german soldiers, and still used in majorca. [202] repostero: a cloth marked with the arms of a grandee for putting over a beast of burden, or hanging in a doorway,--a portière. [203] no valen mas de que ser hijos de sus madres. [204] sister of the king, apparently, from what follows. [205] ramusio, caimaes; lisbon edition, cahimal. [206] atabal. [207] cymbals. [208] sistra. [209] of a cross-bow shot. [210] sygnadas. [211] valedor. [212] buxen, not in the dictionaries: buxeta, a small casket for perfumes to put in the pocket, so called because made of bux or box; anglicè, box. [213] if the writer had been a spaniard, especially from catalonia, he would have added here, "in our fashion." this way of drinking extends into roussillon, and this custom was not introduced by the arabs. [214] hidalgo por el rey: an expression meaning a modern noble, not one whose origin is anterior to the spanish monarchy: here it may imply official position only. ramusio, talassen; lisbon edition, talixe. [215] albalá, from alberat, letters patent, brevet, warrant, letter for drawing pay. this word is in little use in castile, but is common in valencia and aragon. spanish, latin, and arabic dict., fr. francisco cañes. madrid, 1787. [216] this part is wanting in ramusio, who says a little lower down, "here several lines are wanting." [217] or it may be read ciessua; ramusio, cressuamengan; lisbon edition, cryuamergam. [218] that is, the first mass said by a new priest. [219] como mayorazgo. [220] see cardinal wiseman's lectures with regard to this subject, also the work of another catholic author, where this hindu doctrine is termed an _adumbration_. the abbé huc is opposed to the above-mentioned divines, and calls this a _counterfeit of satan_. unless his theory, or another alternative, be adopted, it must be assumed, since the brahminical books were contemporary with david, perhaps with moses, that the hindus were more favoured than the chosen people of israel: which is impossible. "il faut ajouter que la science brâhmanique n'a pas été étrangère au développement du génie grec, l'une des sources de notre civilisation, ni à la formation du christianisme, religion de tout l'occident." m. emile burnouf, la civilisation chrétienne en orient, revue des deux mondes, 1er juin, 1865, pp. 632, 633; see also pp. 638, 639. [221] this may be estimated from the value of rice, 150 to 200 maravedis the 4 bushels or 90 lbs. see above. [222] the explanation of this ceremony is to be found in plato:- "we said, you remember, that the children ought to be the issue of parents who are still in their prime." "true." "and do you agree with me that the prime of life may be reasonably reckoned at a period of twenty years for a woman, and thirty for a man?" "where do you place these years?" "i should make it the rule for a woman to bear children to the state from her twentieth to her fortieth year: and for a man, after getting over the sharpest burst in the race of life, thenceforward to beget children to the state until he is fifty-five years old." "doubtless," he said, "in both sexes, this is the period of their prime both of body and mind." "if, then, a man who is either above or under this age shall meddle with the business of begetting children for the commonwealth, we shall declare his act to be an offence against religion and justice; inasmuch as he is raising up a child for the state, who, should detection be avoided, instead of having been begotten under the sanction of those sacrifices and prayers, which are to be offered up at every marriage ceremonial by priests and priestesses, and by the whole city, to the effect that the children to be born may ever be more virtuous and more useful than their virtuous and useful parents, will have been conceived under cover of darkness by aid of dire incontinence." "you are right." "the same law will hold should a man, who is still of an age to be a father, meddle with a woman, who is also of the proper age, _without the introduction of a magistrate; for we shall accuse him of raising up to the state an illegitimate, unsponsored, and unhallowed child_." "you are perfectly right." "but as soon as the women and the men are past the prescribed age, we shall allow the latter i imagine to associate freely with whomsoever they please, so that it be not a daughter, or mother, or daughter's child, or grandmother; and in like manner we shall permit the women to associate with any man, except a son or a father." republic, book v, sect. 461. davis and vaughan's translation, p. 190. "explicemus jam tandem, quam nam florentem ætatem in utroque sexu existimemus, mulierem porro florenti esse ætate arbitramur, si a vigesimo ætatis suæ anno usque ad quadragesimum generationi incumbat, virum autem a trigesimo usque ad quinquagesimum quintum operam suam in gignendo civitati præbere præcipimus, in hoc enim annorum cursu et robur corporis, et prudentiæ vim sexus utriusque consistere certum est. si quis igitur vel senior vel junior his generationes eas, quæ ad publicum civitatis commodum ordinatæ sunt, attigerit profanum et illegitimum hoc esse censebimus, quasi civitati foetum largiatur, qui si latuerit non sacrificiorum vel præcationum fiat inauguratione, quas tamen in singulis nuptiis cum universâ civitate peragent sacerdotes, ut ex bonis meliores et ex utilibus utiliores semper enascantur vota concipientes; sed id fiat sub tenebris ex vehementis cujusdam incontinentiæ libidine, eadem autem lex etiam erit servanda, si quis eorum qui et in ætate sunt apta ad matrimonium contrahendum, non assentiente tamen magistratu ad mulieres ætate nubiles accesserit, hunc enim statuemus edere civitati spurium profanum, et illegitimum partum; ubi vero et mulieres, et viri statutum generationi tempus pertransierint, _immunes a lege faciemus ut possint cum quacumque libuerit commisceri_; præter quam cum filia et matre et filiis filiarum ac matris ascendentibus; _et parem concedemus quoque libertatem mulieribus, ut possint cum quovis conjungi_, præter quam cum filio, vel patre, et ascendentibus, vel descendentibus ex his, quæ omnia, ubi mandaverimus curabimus, ne partus ullus omnino ex hujusmodi coitibus ortus in lucem proferatur, quod si proferetur sic expositus sit perinde ac quasi nulla ei adsint alimenta." plato's republic, book v. translation of john sozomenus, venice, 1626. [223] plato perhaps got this idea as well as others from india: "consider, then, i continued, whether the following plan is the right one for their lives and their dwellings, if they are to be of the character i have described. in the first place no one should _possess any private property_, if it can possibly be avoided: secondly, _no one should have a dwelling or storehouse into which all who please may not enter_; whatever necessaries are required by temperate and courageous men who are trained to war, they should receive by regular appointment from their fellow-citizens, as wages for their services, and the amount should be such as to leave neither a surplus on the year's consumption nor a deficit...; but whenever they come to possess lands and houses and money of their own, they will be householders and cultivators instead of guardians, and will become hostile masters of their fellow-citizens rather than their allies." republic, book iii, sect. 417. davis and vaughan's translation, pp. 129, 130. "itaque adiutores communes habere filios et uxores summopere expedit, quæ et consentiunt omnino iis quæ superius a nobis dicta sunt, diximus enim _hos neque domos proprias habere debere; neque terram possidere, vel aliud quidpiam in bonis adnumerare_: sed a cæteris enutritos hanc quasi custodiæ mercedem accipere, quam et in communi positam consumant, si re vera custodes futuri sunt; ut et quæ prius a nobis dicta sunt, et quæ nunc etiam dicuntur efficiant ipsos veros custodes, et ne rempublicam in partes dividant; sed ut uno potius animo de propriis judicantes, et ad id tendantes omnes, uno eodemque et doloris et voluptatis sensu afficiantur." platonis de rebuspublicis, liber quintus. a joanne sozomeno, venetiis, 1626. "etenim plato cum multas regiones lustrasset, et mores hominum varios inspexisset, ac sui temporis respublicas contemplatus abundé fuisset, nec non antiquorum philosophorum ac legumlatorum monumenta studiosissime perquisivisset, senior tandem factus, politias quidem omnes nihil aliud esse intelligens, nisi concordem quandam in societate civili regulam, ac ordinem quo eædem continerentur." joannes sozomenus lectoribus. [224] or it might be pasicars. [225] ramusio, _sanguada_. not in lisbon edition. [226] enbarbatadas. [227] that is 20 maravedis a day, about three times the peace allowance. see p. 124. ramusio says 40 cas a day, which are 40 maravedis; the lisbon edition has 4 taras a day. [228] though the nairs were deprived of their fathers, it appears that they retained their own family relations: the "divine plato!" however, goes beyond his hindu teachers, and would have reduced men altogether to the condition of brutes. he says: "but how are they to distinguish fathers and daughters, and the relations you described just now?" "not at all, i replied; only all the children that are born between the seventh and tenth month from the day on which one of their number was married, are to be called by him, if male, his sons, if female, his daughters; and they shall call him father, and their children he shall call his grandchildren; these again shall call him and his fellow-bridegrooms and brides, grandfathers and grandmothers; likewise all shall regard as brothers and sisters those that were born in the period during which their own fathers and mothers were bringing them into the world; and as we said just now, all these shall refrain from touching one another. but the law will allow intercourse between brothers and sisters, if the lot chances to fall that way, and if the delphian priestess also gives it her sanction." republic, book v, §461. davies and vaughan's translation, p. 190. "at dices quomodo patres, et filiæ, ac cæteræ hujusmodi personæ, inter quas interdicta est conjunctio, cognoscent se invicem; siquidem, ut dictum superius est _post editos partus permiscendi sunt in ovili foetus omnes, ut neque mater, quæ genuit, vel proprium filium a ceteris dignoscat_? verum tamen non est difficile hanc solvere difficultatem, etenim quicumque nascentur partus, a quo primum die quis sponsus factus fuerit post decimum mensem vel post septimum, hos omnes filios suos nominabit, et foeminas pari modo filias, et illi vice versa ipsum patrem appellabunt, eosque qui ex his nascentur filios filiorum vocabit; illi è contra hos et avos, et avias, eos verò omnes, qui eodem tempore nati fuerint, quo matres ipsorum generabant, sorores, ac fratres nuncupabunt; quæ servata regula quod modò dicebamus a mutuo hi concubitu abstinebunt; fratres autem ac sorores, si sors ita tulerit, et annuerit pithiæ oraculum, lex cohabitare permittet: talis erit itaque nobis constituenda, inter custodes nostros communitas mulierum et filiorum." de rebuspubl., liber quintus. [229] this legalised disorder appears to be exaggerated, but it is the natural consequence and result of the carrying out of plato's theories with regard to the destruction of family among the nairs or military caste. it is singular that the author of such extravagant abominations should have found acceptance because he wrote in the hellenic language. "such are the main features of plato's republic, in reference to his guardians. they afford a memorable example of that philosophical analysis, applied to the circumstances of man and society, which the greek mind was the first to conceive and follow. plato lays down his ends with great distinctness as well as the means whereby he proposes to attain them. granting his ends, the means proposed are almost always suitable and appropriate, whether practicable or otherwise." grote's plato, vol. iii, p. 207. [230] "if one of the soldiers deserts his rank or throw away his arms, or is guilty of any such act of cowardice, must we not degrade him to the rank of an artisan, or an agricultural labourer?" "decidedly." republic, book v, sect. 468. davis and vaughan's translation, p. 200. "existimo autem imprimis ego eum, qui ordinem deseruevit, vel arma abjecerit, vel tale quid ex ignavia commiserit, in opificum aut agricolarum ordinem amandandum esse." platonis de rebuspubl., liber quintus. [231] ramusio, manantamar; lisbon edition, mainatos. [232] plato explains the object of this regulation: "itaque sacra deinceps connubia quam maxime fieri poterit efficiemus: erunt autem sacra constituenda, quæ utilissima fuerint, utilissima verò erunt, si lege marium cum feminis conjunctiones præscribantur, et tale quid in his conjunctionibus observetur, quale in propagatione ceterorum animalium ab iis observatum videmus, quibus id est propositum, ut quam generosi partus edantur, etenim licet sæpe sæpius animadvertere eos qui vel canes venatorios alunt, vel generosas aves enutriunt, et si generosas omnes existiment, eximias tamen ac præstantissimas quasdam e reliquarum numero eligere, ex quibus præcipue progenies suscipiatur." de rebuspubl., liber quintus. * * * * * "oportet enim ut ex hactenus dictis constitit optimos viros cum optimis mulieribus sæpissime congredi, deteriores verò cum deterioribus per raro, et illorum quidem editos partus nutrire, horum verò nequaquam: si modo præstantissimum sit futurum ovile." de rebuspubl., liber quintus. "it follows from what has been already granted, that the best of both sexes ought to be brought together as often as possible, and the worst as seldom as possible, and that the issue of the former unions ought to be reared, and that of the latter abandoned, if the flock is to attain to first-rate excellence." republic, bk. v, sect. 459. davis and vaughan's translation, p. 187. [233] as no explanation of zevil is given, it is possible that it is a slip of the pen for _e vil_ and vile. ramusio, tiberi; lisbon edition calls them tuias; in the portuguese this caste is called tiar and _civel_ or rustic by antiphrasis, which has been mistaken by the translators for an indian word. [234] repeated thus in the manuscript. [235] or hats. [236] apretada or hard pressed. [237] ramusio, paneru; lisbon edition, panceni. [238] ramusio, revoler; lisbon ed., revoleens. [239] ramusio, puler; lisbon, poleas. [240] ramusio, pareas; lisbon, parcens. [241] dañados de todo, this might be intended for dañosos, hurtful in every way; the word occurs before and is translated contaminated, but hurtful or noxious would make a better reading. [242] ramusio, cheliis; lisbon, chatis. [243] about two hundred tons. [244] cubiertas. [245] caña fistola. [246] ramusio, crecati; munich ms. 571, crecate. [247] ramusio, capogato; lisbon ed., quategatam. [248] or ezerubs. [249] root of ginger and other plants used in medicine. [250] culebras de sombrero, a shade, canopy, hood, hat. [251] ramusio, pananie; lisbon edit., pananee; munich ms. 570, panane, 571, pananx. [252] ramusio, catua; lisbon, chatua; munich, 570 and 571, chatua. [253] caranganor, ortelius: cranganor, homannus: it was taken by the portuguese in 1505. [254] beledy: arabic word no longer in use. [255] cuartillo, fourth part of an azumbre, equal to 2 litres and 016.618. [256] notwithstanding the extreme value and utility of these trees, as here described, some thousands of them were lately cut down to make way for sugar canes, and in spite of the remonstrances of the inhabitants, by a european who had got the loan of some land for a term of years, in one of the comoro islands. the loss to the islands was still greater from the fact that they depend chiefly on their own resources, being out of the regular track of trading vessels. [257] here ramusio adds: "which the christians of the country affirmed to me was described in their books, which they preserve with great veneration." camoens puts this event, as well as the tomb of st. thomas at mailapur. canto x, stanza 108. olha que de narsinga o senhorio tem as reliquias santas, e bemditas do corpo de thomé, varão sagrado que a jesu christo teve a mão no lado. 109. aqui a cidade foy, que se chamava meliapor, formosa, grande e rica: os idolos antiguos adorava, como inda agora faz a gente inica: longe do mar naquelle tempo estava quando a fé, que no mundo se publica, thomé vinha pregando, e ja passara provincias mil do mundo, que ensinara. 110. chegado aqui pregando, e junto dando a doentes saude, a mortos vida, a caso traz hum dia o mar vagando hum lenho de grandeza desmedida: deseja o rei, que andava edificando, fazer delle madeira, e não duvida poder tira-lo a terra com possantes forças d'homens, de engenhos, de elefantes. 111. era tão grande o pezo do madeiro, que, só para abalar-se, nada abasta; mas o nuncio de cristo verdadeiro menos trabalho em tal negocio gasta: ata o cordão, que traz por derradeiro no tronco, e facilmente o leva, e arrasta para onde faça hum sumptuoso templo, que ficasse aos futuros por exemplo. 112. sabia bem que se com fé formada mandar a hum monte surdo, que se mova, que obedecerá logo á voz sagrada; que assi lho ensinou christo, e elle o prova: a gente ficou disto alvoroçada, os brãhmenes o tem por cousa nova vendo os milagres, vendo a sanctidade, hão medo de perder autoridade. 113. são estes sacerdotes dos gentios, em quem mais penetrado tinha inveja, buscam maneiras mil, buscam desvios, com que thomé, não se ouça, ou morto seja. o principal, que ao peito traz os fios, hum caso horrendo faz, que o mundo veja, que inimiga não ha tão dura, e fera, como a virtude falsa da sincera. 114. hum filho proprio mata, logo accusa de homicidio thomé, que era innocente: dà falsas testemunhas, como se usa, condemnaram-no á morte brevemente: o sancto, que não vê melhor escusa, que appellar para o padre omnipotente, quer diante do rei, e dos senhores, que se faça hum milagre dos maiores. 115. o corpo morto manda ser trazido, que resuscite, e seja perguntado quem foi seu matador, e será crido for testemunho o seu mais approvado: viram todos o moço vivo erguido em nome de jesu crucificado: da graças a thomé, que lho deo vida, e descobre seu pai ser homicida. 116. este milagre fez tamanho espanto, que o rei se banha logo na agua santa, e muitos após elle: hum beija o manto, outro louvor do deos de thomé canta. os brahmenes se encheran de odio tanto, com seu veneno os morde inveja tanta, que, persuadindo a isso o povo rudo, determinam mata-lo em fin de tudo. 117. hum dia, que pregando ao povo estava, fingiram entre a gente hum arruido: ja christo neste tempo lhe ordenava que, padecendo, fosse ao ceo subido, a multidão das pedras, que voava, no sancto dá já a tudo offerecido: hum dos maos, por fartarse mais depressa, com crua lança o peito lhe atravessa. 118. choraram-te, thomé, o gange e o indo; chorou-te toda a terra, que pizaste; mais te choram as almas, que vestindo se hiam da sancta fé que lhe ensinaste. [258] mar thomas is syriac for st. thomas; this word must have been introduced by the nestorians or armenians, as they are called here, though st. thomas may have carried the word there himself in speaking of others, as of mar elias. [259] ancient coin equal to two reals vellon or sixpence. [260] mailapur, a league and two-thirds south of madras, seat of a catholic bishop and two churches, was taken by the portuguese in 1545 and by the french in 1672. [261] these were nestorians, who call themselves in mesopotamia esky chaldany, old chaldæans. in 1599 archbishop alexander menezes held a conference at culam, for the purpose of uniting the roman catholics and nestorians. [262] blessed bread, is bread in little pieces distributed in churches on great feast days. [263] it is hardly necessary to state that this is absolutely opposed to catholic practice. [264] selling the sacraments, canonically a great offence: it was condemned by the 48th canon of the council of elvira, a.d. 305. [265] this passage is translated in the lisbon edition from ramusio; the next paragraph is not to be found in either of them. [266] it is vexatious that the date should be wanting; it is probable, however, that this was an italian and an overland traveller, for if not he could not have been buried more than fifteen years, and a fresh tomb would have hardly called for notice from the writer. [267] this passage is not in the italian or portuguese edition of barbosa. it is in the ms. no. 571 of the munich library, and the date is also wanting; in the munich ms. no. 570 this paragraph is entirely wanting, as in ramusio. [268] this group is called maldivar in ortelius, and is there stated to contain seven or eight thousand isles. one of the islands is called y^a de ilheos, or island of small islands, the second word being portuguese and apparently not understood by the compiler of the atlas. [269] muxama or mojama, preserved tunny fish. [270] "vês corre a costa celebre indiana para o sul até o cabo comori, já chamado cori, que taprobana (que ora he ceilão) defronte tem de si." os lusiadas, canto x, stanza 107. [271] there is something wrong here; for, from cape comorin to maylepur is more than double fifty leagues; the direction of the compass and length of the channel, make it probable that the island of manar was intended instead of maylepur. [272] jargon or zircon is a stone having a superficial resemblance to a diamond. milburn's oriental commerce, p. 361. possibly this stone may be connected with the jarkna stein mentioned in the edda, and supposed by grimm to be the opal. in ramusio the spelling is the same as in this ms. the whole of this passage is much shortened in the lisbon edition. [273] "olha em ceylão, que o monte se alevanta tanto, que as nuvens passa, ou a vista engana os naturaes tem por cousa sancta, por a pedra em que està á pegada humana." lusiadas, canto x, 136. [274] the ascent is still performed in the same manner, and is difficult in windy weather. [275] chilao in ortelius's map of asia, the portuguese way of writing chilam. [276] comp. malay sampan. [277] cael in ortelius and homannus, the cedilla has been omitted in another part of this work. [278] maestros: this may also mean dealers. [279] cholmandel, ortelius. [280] this story is evidently of hindu origin, since the peacock is respected by the hindus. it also in some measure confirms the antiquity of the establishment of christianity in india, which from this story must have been established before the arrival in india of any of the nestorian priests: since they came from a country where the peacock is associated with the devil, especially amongst the devil-worshiping yezidys, who have got a peacock for an idol, which was seen and described by mr. layard. many of their superstitions come down from the manichees of the second century. besides this, i have seen an arabic description of animals written in syria, in which the peacock is described as the first creature expelled out of paradise, on account of its pride. this idea and the yezidy love for it, probably have a common origin. [281] romeria: this word here translated pilgrimage, means a visit to a shrine or holy place, and is inferior to peregrinage: it implies a shorter distance, and is equivalent to ziaret. [282] paleacate, ortelius. [283] guenga, ortelius; it should be gunga. "ganges, no qual os seus habitadores morrem banhados, tendo por certeza, que inda que sejão grandes peccadores, esta agua sancta os lava, e da pureza."--lusiad. x, 121. [284] in ortelius there is a place called aralem, east of bengala. [285] bengala, ortelius, and on the same spot in homannus chatigan; in our maps chittagong, which name was changed by the moghuls in 1666 to islam abad. "vê cathigão cidade das melhores de bengala provincia; que se preza de abundante; mas olha, que está posta para o austro de aqui virada a costa."--lusiad. x, stan. 121. [286] abasis. [287] the employment of eunuchs was forbidden by the prophet, since their employment induced people to supply the demand. hidayah, vol. iv, p. 121. [288] verma, ortelius and ramusio. [289] aracangil, lisbon edit. [290] here ramusio adds: "and they say that by this trial they know which of them are healthy and of a good temperament." [291] pegu, ortelius and ramusio. [292] the dicco. geogo. universal, barcelona, states the distance at twelve leagues, as this work is chiefly translated from french authorities, these distances would agree, and the river deposit may have increased the distance. [293] this is also related by nicolo conti, india in the fifteenth century, hakluyt society. [294] saddle between _à la gineta_, a high saddle and short stirrups, and _à la brida_, long stirrups and hardly any saddle at all. [295] martabam, ortelius. [296] ava, ortelius. [297] capelan, ortelius, near the mouth of the river menam. [298] sian, ortelius. [299] tanazaru, ortelius. [300] java frankincense, in arabic. [301] queda, ortelius; keddah, malay state tributary to siam, it derives its name from the arabic, a cup. ramusio and lisbon edit., quedaa. "olha tavay cidade, onde começa de syão o largo imperio tão comprido tenessary, queda, que he so cabeça das que pimienta aly tem produzido; mays avante fareys que se conheça malaca, por emperio ennobrecido, onde toda a província domar grande, suas mercadorias ricas mande."--lusiadas, x, stanza 123. [302] paam, ortelius; pahang, now an independent malay state. [303] not in ortelius; salangore, an independent malay state. [304] "vé nos remotos montes outras gentes que gueos se chamão de selvages vidas; humana carne comem, mas a sua pintão com ferro ardente, usança crua." lusiade, stanza 126. [305] "mas na ponta da tierra gingapura veràs, onde o caminho às naos se estreyta, de aqui tornando a costa à cynosura se encurva, e para a aurora se endereyta. ves pam, patàne reynos, e alongura de syão, que estes, e outros mays sogeyta. olha o rio menão, que se derrama do grande lago, que chiamay se chama." lusiade, x, stanza 125. [306] the lisbon edition has _sulia_, and explains the word in a note as translated above. [307] encienço is the old word for ajenjo, absinthe, or it may be the old form of incenso, incense. [308] the english word to _fish_ a mast or fishing rod, comes from the spanish word used here, fajar; anciently pronounced as the catalan faixar, to wrap or wind a sash, to swathe. [309] rattan. [310] small coins, three ceutis make one blanca, an ancient coin. escuela de leer letras antiguas, p. 207: not in the dictionaries. [311] kris. [312] this passage fixes the hindu origin of running amok, which from this seems to have been connected with the worship of shiva or bhowani. now it would be difficult to get any other explanation than that of _adet_, custom. [313] the barcelona ms. has plainly amuco, which is correct. ramusio has amulos, and the lisbon edition guanicio. [314] thirty men according to other accounts. [315] nicobar, ortelius' map of asia, and nicovan in map of india; ramusio, navacar. [316] medio _giorno_, italian. [317] samotra and sumatra, ortelius. [318] pedir, ortelius. [319] biraen, ortelius, on the north-west coast. [320] pasem and pazer, ortelius; passam, homannus. [321] camper, ortelius and homannus, between siuk and jambi. [322] amdaragui, ortelius; andragari, homannus; east coast. [323] menancabo, ortelius, south-west coast. [324] sunda, ortelius. [325] ramusio has here translated south-east, the lisbon edition has south-west. [326] java maior, ortelius. it is still called java major by the arabs. [327] ramusio, palevdora; lisbon, pateudru. [328] they look very like crim tatars. [329] raydas. [330] java minor, ortelius, now bali, the inhabitants are still pagans; the island sumbawa also in ortelius is not the same as java minor, but apparently the one here called oçare, as it contains a great volcano. here ramusio says some lines are wanting; he calls the island oçare, nucopora. [331] timor, ortelius:- "aly tambien timor, que o lenho manda sandalo salutifero, e cheyroso. olha a sunda tão larga, que humabanda esconde para o sul difficultuoso. a gente do sertão, que as torras anda, hum rio diz que tem miraculoso, que por onde elle so sem outro vae converte em pedra o pao que nelle cae." lusiad. x, stanza 134. [332] bandan, ortelius:- "olha do bandá asilhas que se esmaltão da varia cor, que pinta o rosco fruto, as aves, variadas, que aly saltão, da verde noz tomando seu tributo. olha tambem borneo, onde não faltaõ lagrimas, no licor qualhado, e enxuto, das arvores, que camphora he chamado com que da ilha o nome he celebrado." lusiad., 133. [333] chapel is also the same as chapin, a slipper or sandal. [334] ramusio, ambon; lisbon, andam. [335] molucos, ortelius. [336] bachian, machian, motir, tidore, tarenate, ortelius; bluteau's dictionary names them bachan, maquien, moutel, tidor, ternate, and says they were anciently named seque, mara, moutil, duco, gape. the only remaining possession of the portuguese in the malay archipelago is dili in the island of timor. [337] nury is the real name of molucca parrots, which has been changed to loro and lori. ramusio calls them mire, and the lisbon ed. noire. [338] this section is not in the lisbon ms. [339] the bugis of celebes still make the best krises. [340] celebes, ortelius. [341] this section is not in the lisbon ms. [342] ramusio and the lisbon ed., tendaya. banguey island, north of borneo, 7 deg. 13 min. n. lat. and 120 deg. 12 min. e. long.; 6-3/4 leagues long and 3-1/2 broad: it is desert. geographical dict., barcelona, 1831. [343] the island now called solor is in another direction e. of the island flores, 8 deg. 30 min. s. lat. and 126 deg. 52 min. e. long. [344] ramusio stops here and says several lines are wanting. [345] borneo, ortelius. [346] champa, ortelius and homannus, the southern portion of cochin china next to cambodia; it is not an island as here stated. [347] ramusio says three hundred maravedis, the lisbon ms. says thirty or forty pardoes. [348] borceguies--the turkish mest. [349] there is a _no_, not, here in the manuscript, which seems to be put in by mistake; the spanish idiom does not allow of adding another negative at the beginning of the sentence; the one negative alone makes nonsense, and is contrary to what has been said above. [350] a french missionary, quoted in the "dictionnaire de la conversation," does not believe this story, which he assumes to be invented for the sake of increasing the value of the porcelain. [351] the liu kiu islands. lequio major and minor, y^{a.} fermosa, and reix magas, form a group in ortelius: in homannus formosa is in its proper place, and the group is called lequeyo or riukiu islands. [352] here the lisbon edition says that the manuscript of duarte barbosa ends, and that what follows about the precious stones has been translated from the italian of ramusio: this appendix about precious stones is wanting in the munich ms. no. 570. [353] martin centurion according to the munich ms. no. 571, where the name is given in full. [354] fano, fanam, fanão--a weight for weighing rubies, according to bluteau = 1 quilat or carat; according to the dicco. enciclopedico, madrid, 1853, and the encyclopedie of diderot and d'alembert = to 2 carats of venice. also a coin equal to two spanish reals or twenty portuguese reis, or ten of which made a cruzado. the author has said in another place that it is equal to thirty-six maravedis. the following table of coins will be useful with reference to the prices named in this work. ducado = 375 maravedis. dobla = 365 " florin = 265 " real = 34 " these maravedis were worth double those of the present time, in which a real contains 34 maravedis, so that a fanam would be worth 2 reals or half a peseta = 6d. the author of the escuela de leer letras antiguas, from which these figures are taken, has added lists of prices at different times as guides to the value of coins. in 1348, law of don john i. fanega of wheat 15 maravedis. ditto barley 10 " ditto oats 8 " cubit of french cloth 60 " ditto flanders or english cloth 50 " day's wages from november to march 3 " ditto ditto march to november 4 " each yoke for ploughing all day 10 " a servant by the year 100 " a maid ditto 50 " for grinding a fanega of wheat 2 " a thousand tiles 60 " ditto bricks 55 " a fanega of mortar 6 " ditto lime 5 " an ox 200 " a calf 180 " a pound of mutton 2 " a hare 3 " a rabbit 2 " a fowl 4 " a goose 6 " a pigeon 3 " a partridge 5 " these maravedis were worth 22-1/2 actual maravedis, or about 2d. each. in 1524 the fanega of wheat was fixed at 70 maravedis. ditto ditto of barley " 40 " these maravedis were worth two of the actual ones. 1865, a fanega of wheat = 50 reals. [355] a miskal. [356] a real de plata means two reals vellon, or actual reals of the present time. [357] son bermejos y deslavados, y encarnados. [358] 65 in ramusio. [359] balassia in ramusio. [360] toque or proof. [361] equal to a carat and a third. [362] these two names must be the same word kringa-nila; blue stone, perhaps. in ramusio, quiniganilam. [363] capucar in ramusio. [364] a jour. [365] exer in ramusio. [366] kerman. chiraman, ortelius. [367] in the ms. the passage reads _as mina y tierra seca_. [368] the _times_ reviewer of mr. emmanuel's book _on precious stones_, april 5, 1866, is in error in saying that "the zircon is known in trade as the jacinth or hyacinth". the jargon, corindon or circon, which was much used in the xvi^{th} century, is not held in any estimation at the present time; it has the merit of possessing the hardness of the sapphire. [369] mar deignan in ramusio. [370] i have been informed by mr. capt, jeweller, of geneva, that the proportions of the prices of precious stones, according to their weight, are still very exact for uncut stones in the indian market, and that the general accuracy of the details given in this ms. is very great. with respect to the doubts which had been expressed as to the stones of combined colours, they do exist, but are held in no estimation in europe. experiments have been made in europe, and especially in germany, for the purpose of deepening the colour of precious stones, particularly rubies, by the process here mentioned; but success was so hazardous, and so costly, that speculators would no longer incur the risks of it. [371] 6562 in ramusio. [372] beledin, of the country, local; arabic. ramusio has not translated it. [373] xl in ramusio. [374] el peso del es el mayor. this may refer to the old and new weights, or it may mean that this ginger is heavier than the other ginger. [375] syn enbarar. [376] faratela, indian weight equal to seven and a quarter pounds. encicloped. dict., madrid, 1853. [377] atincar, anglicè tincal, when refined, borax. [378] calamo aromático, also called acoro, a kind of aquatic plant used in medicine. [379] this may be either incense or wormwood. incenso in ramusio. [380] lombriguera, southernwood, wormwood: artemisia abrotanum. [381] turbith, convolvulus turpethum; its root is used as a purgative, and it comes from india and ceylon. [382] gum from the giant fennel: also called sagapeno, is known in commerce as yellowish white drops of a strong aromatic smell something like garlic; is used for diachylum. [383] atulia, a sublimate of calamine. [384] probably cubebs. [385] or four hundredweight english. [386] lo al, old spanish. [387] this voyage is not in ramusio nor in the lisbon edition, and apparently has been hitherto unpublished. the munich ms., no. 570, gives the date 1522, but 1512 is the correct reading. [388] leste o este. [389] surat glaized cotton stuff. [390] sudueste and su sudueste, these terms have not been ever used in the body of the book. [391] norueste. [392] singaduras for singladuras, portuguese singradura, derived by bluteau from french cingler, and that from the german segelen. [393] setentrional. [394] del sur al sueste. [395] or colayres and giravales according to another reading. [396] les nordeste. [397] this passage important. los marineros q. tomamos en borney llevaban carta de marear e trayan una aguja y piedra yman e una carta en q. trayan muchas rayas e lineas de lo qual nos espantamos mucho. see the pillars of hercules, by d. urquhart with respect to the phenician compass. [398] line across the forehead. the discovery of the source of the nile by john hanning speke john hanning speke, born 1827. served in the punjab but left in 1854 to explore somaliland. discovered lake tanganyika with burton, and lake victoria independently. was, with grant, the first european to cross equatorial africa. died 1864. editor's note john hanning speke was a man of thirty-six, when his nile journal appeared. he had entered the army in 1844, and completed ten years of service in india, serving through the punjab campaign. already he had conceived the idea of exploring africa, before his ten years were up, and on their conclusion he was appointed a member of the expedition preparing to start under sir richard (then lieutenant burton) for the somali country. he was wounded by the somalis, and returned to england on sick leave; the crimean war then breaking out, be served through it, and later, december 1856, joined another expedition under burton. then it was that the possibility of the source of the nile being traced to one of the inland lakes seems to have struck him. burton's illness prevented him accompanying speke on the latter's visit to the lake now known as victoria nyanza. during this expedition speke reached the most southerly point of the lake, and gave it its present name. speke arrived back in england in the spring of 1859, burton being left behind on account of his illness. the relations between the two had become strained, and this was accentuated by speke's hast to publish the account of his explorations. he was given the command of another expedition which left england in april 1860, in company with captain james augustus grant, to ascertain still further if the victoria nyanza were indeed the source of the nile. he met sir samuel baker, to whom he gave valuable assistance, and who with his clue discovered the third lake, albert nyanza. speke telegraphed early in 1863, that the nile source was traced. returning to england that year he met with an ovation, and addressed a special meeting of the geographical society, and the same year, 1863, published his "journal of the discovery of the nile." opposed in his statements by burton and m'queen ("the nile basin, 1864"), it was arranged that he and burton should meet for a debate, when on the very day fixed, speke accidentally shot himself while out partridge-shooting. sir r. murchison, addressing the royal geographical society that year, speaks of speke's discovery of the source of the nile as solving the "problem of all ages." only two books were published by speke--the "journal" of 1863, which follows, and its sequel--"what led to the discovery of the source of the nile," which appeared in the year of his death, 1864. introduction. in the following pages i have endeavoured to describe all that appeared to me most important and interesting among the events and the scenes that came under my notice during my sojourn in the interior of africa. if my account should not entirely harmonise with preconceived notions as to primitive races, i cannot help it. i profess accurately to describe native africa--africa in those places where it has not received the slightest impulse, whether for good or evil, from european civilisation. if the picture be a dark one, we should, when contemplating these sons of noah, try and carry our mind back to that time when our poor elder brother ham was cursed by his father, and condemned to be the slave of both shem and japheth; for as they were then, so they appear to be now--a strikingly existing proof of the holy scriptures. but one thing must be remembered: whilst the people of europe and asia were blessed by communion with god through the medium of his prophets, and obtained divine laws to regulate their ways and keep them in mind of him who made them, the africans were excluded from this dispensation, and consequently have no idea of an overruling providence or a future state; they therefore trust to luck and to charms, and think only of self-preservation in this world. whatever, then, may be said against them for being too avaricious or too destitute of fellow-feeling, should rather reflect on ourselves, who have been so much better favoured, yet have neglected to teach them, than on those who, whilst they are sinning, know not what they are doing. to say a negro is incapable of instruction, is a mere absurdity; for those few boys who have been educated in our schools have proved themselves even quicker than our own at learning; whilst, amongst themselves, the deepness of their cunning and their power of repartee are quite surprising, and are especially shown in their proficiency for telling lies most appropriately in preference to truth, and with an off-handed manner that makes them most amusing. with these remarks, i now give, as an appropriate introduction to my narrative--(1.) an account of the general geographical features of the countries we are about to travel in, leaving the details to be treated under each as we successively pass through them; (2.) a general view of the atmospheric agents which wear down and so continually help to reduce the continent, yet at the same time assist to clothe it with vegetation; (3.) a general view of the flora; and, lastly, that which consumes it, (4.) its fauna; ending with a few special remarks on the wanguana, or men freed from slavery. geography the continent of africa is something like a dish turned upside down, having a high and flat central plateau, with a higher rim of hills surrounding it; from below which, exterially, it suddenly slopes down to the flat strip of land bordering on the sea. a dish, however, is generally uniform in shape--africa is not. for instance, we find in its centre a high group of hills surrounding the head of the tanganyika lake, composed chiefly of argillaceous sandstones which i suppose to be the lunae montes of ptolemy, or the soma giri of the ancient hindus. further, instead of a rim at the northern end, the country shelves down from the equator to the mediterranean sea; and on the general surface of the interior plateau there are basins full of water (lakes), from which, when rains overflow them, rivers are formed, that, cutting through the flanking rim of hills, find their way to the sea. atmospheric agents on the east coast, near zanzibar, we find the rains following the track of the sun, and lasting not more than forty days on any part that the sun crosses; whilst the winds blow from south-west or north-east, towards the regions heated by its vertical position. but in the centre of the continent, within 5° of the equator, we find the rains much more lasting. for instance, at 5° south latitude, for the whole six months that the sun is in the south, rain continues to fall, and i have heard that the same takes place at 5° north; whilst on the equator, or rather a trifle to northward of it, it rains more or less the whole year round, but most at the equinoxes, as shown in the table on the following page. the winds, though somewhat less steady, are still very determinable. with an easterly tending, they deflect north and south, following the sun. in the drier season they blow so cold that the sun's heat is not distressing; and in consequence of this, and the average altitude of the plateau, which is 3000 feet, the general temperature of the atmosphere is very pleasant, as i found from experience; for i walked every inch of the journey dressed in thick woollen clothes, and slept every night between blankets. the number of days on which rain fell (more or less) during the march of the east african expedition from zanzibar to gondokoro. 1860 days on 1861 days on 1862 days on which which which rain fell rain fell rain fell *** *** january 19 january 14 *** *** february 21 february [1] 12 *** *** march 17 march 21 *** *** april 17 april 27 *** *** may 3 may 26 *** *** june 0 june 20 *** *** july 1 july 22 *** *** august 1 august 20 *** *** september 9 september 18 october 2 october 11 october 27 november 0 november 17 november 20 december 20 december 16 december 6 flora from what has been said regarding the condition of the atmosphere, it may readily be imagined that africa, in those parts, after all, is not so bad as people supposed it was; for, when so much moisture falls under a vertical sun, all vegetable life must grow up almost spontaneously. it does so on the equator in the most profuse manner; but down at 5° south, where there are six months' drought, the case is somewhat different; and the people would be subject to famines if they did not take advantage of their rainy season to lay in sufficient stores for the fine: and here we touch on the misfortune of the country; for the negro is too lazy to do so effectively, owing chiefly, as we shall see presently, to want of a strong protecting government. one substantial fact has been established, owing to our having crossed over ten degrees of latitude in the centre of the continent, or from 5° south to 5° north latitude, which is this: there exists a regular gradation of fertility, surprisingly rich on the equator, but decreasing systematically from it; and the reason why this great fertile zone is confined to the equatorial regions, is the same as that which has constituted it the great focus of water or lake supply, whence issue the principal rivers of africa. on the equator lie the rainbearing influences of the mountains of the moon. the equatorial line is, in fact, the centre of atmospheric motion. fauna in treating of this branch of natural history, we will first take man--the true curly-head, flab-nosed, pouch-mouthed negro--not the wahuma. [2] they are well distributed all over these latitudes, but are not found anywhere in dense communities. their system of government is mostly of the patriarchal character. some are pastorals, but most are agriculturalists; and this difference, i believe, originates solely from want of a stable government, to enable them to reap what they produce; for where the negro can save his cattle, which is his wealth, by eating grain, he will do it. in the same way as all animals, whether wild or tame, require a guide to lead their flocks, so do the negroes find it necessary to have chiefs over their villages and little communities, who are their referees on all domestic or political questions. they have both their district and their village chiefs, but, in the countries we are about to travel over, no kings such as we shall find that the wahuma have. the district chief is absolute, though guided in great measure by his "grey-beards," who constantly attend his residence, and talk over their affairs of state. these commonly concern petty internal matters; for they are too selfish and too narrow-minded to care for anything but their own private concerns. the grey-beards circulate the orders of the chief amongst the village chiefs, who are fined when they do not comply with them; and hence all orders are pretty well obeyed. one thing only tends to disorganise the country, and that is war, caused, in the first instance, by polygamy, producing a family of half-brothers, who, all aspiring to succeed their father, fight continually with one another, and make their chief aim slaves and cattle; whilst, in the second instance, slavery keeps them ever fighting and reducing their numbers. the government revenues are levied, on a very small scale, exclusively for the benefit of the chief and his grey-beards. for instance, as a sort of land-tax, the chief has a right to drink free from the village brews of pombe (a kind of beer made by fermentation), which are made in turn by all the villagers successively. in case of an elephant being killed, he also takes a share of the meat, and claims one of its tusks as his right; further, all leopard, lion, or zebra skins are his by right. on merchandise brought into the country by traders, he has a general right to make any exactions he thinks he has the power of enforcing, without any regard to justice or a regulated tariff. this right is called hongo, in the plural mahongo. another source of revenue is in the effects of all people condemned for sorcery, who are either burnt, or speared and cast into the jungles, and their property seized by the grey-beards for their chief. as to punishments, all irreclaimable thieves or murderers are killed and disposed of in the same manner as these sorcerers; whilst on minor thieves a penalty equivalent to the extent of the depredation is levied. illicit intercourse being treated as petty larceny, a value is fixed according to the value of the woman--for it must be remembered all women are property. indeed, marriages are considered a very profitable speculation, the girl's hand being in the father's gift, who marries her to any one who will pay her price. this arrangement, however, is not considered a simple matter of buying and selling, but delights in the high-sounding title of "dowry." slaves, cows, goats, fowls, brass wire, or beads, are the usual things given for this species of dowry. the marriage-knot, however, is never irretrievably tied; for if the wife finds a defect in her husband, she can return to her father by refunding the dowry; whilst the husband, if he objects to his wife, can claim half-price on sending her home again, which is considered fair, because as a second-hand article her future value would be diminished by half. by this system, it must be observed, polygamy is a source of wealth, since a man's means are measured by the number of his progeny; but it has other advantages besides the dowry, for the women work more than the men do, both in and out of doors; and, in addition to the females, the sons work for the household until they marry, and in after life take care of their parents in the same way as in the first instance the parents took care of them. twins are usually hailed with delight, because they swell the power of the family, though in some instances they are put to death. albinos are valued, though their colour is not admired. if death occurs in a natural manner, the body is usually either buried in the village or outside. a large portion of the negro races affect nudity, despising clothing as effeminate; but these are chiefly the more boisterous roving pastorals, who are too lazy either to grow cotton or strip the trees of their bark. their young women go naked; but the mothers suspend a little tail both before and behind. as the hair of the negro will not grow long, a barber might be dispensed with, were it not that they delight in odd fashions, and are therefore continually either shaving it off altogether, or else fashioning it after the most whimsical designs. no people in the world are so proud and headstrong as the negroes, whether they be pastoral or agriculturalists. with them, as with the rest of the world, "familiarity breeds contempt"; hospitality lives only one day; for though proud of a rich or white visitor--and they implore him to stop, that they may keep feeding their eyes on his curiosities--they seldom give more than a cow or a goat, though professing to supply a whole camp with provisions. taking the negroes as a whole, one does not find very marked or much difference in them. each tribe has its characteristics, it is true. for instance, one cuts his teeth or tattoos his face in a different manner from the others; but by the constant intermarriage with slaves, much of this effect is lost, and it is further lost sight of owing to the prevalence of migrations caused by wars and the division of governments. as with the tribal marks so with their weapons; those most commonly in use are the spear, assage, shield, bow and arrow. it is true some affect one, some the other; but in no way do we see that the courage of tribes can be determined by the use of any particular weapon: for the bravest use the arrow, which is the more dreaded; while the weakest confine themselves to the spear. lines of traffic are the worst tracks (there are no roads in the districts here referred to) for a traveller to go upon, not only because the hospitality of the people has been damped by frequent communication with travellers, but, by intercourse with the semi-civilised merchant, their natural honour and honesty are corrupted, their cupidity is increased, and the show of firearms ceases to frighten them. of paramount consideration is the power held by the magician (mganga), who rules the minds of the kings as did the old popes of europe. they, indeed, are a curse to the traveller; for if it suits their inclinations to keep him out of the country, they have merely to prognosticate all sorts of calamities--as droughts, famines, or wars--in the event of his setting eyes on the soil, and the chiefs, people, and all, would believe them; for, as may be imagined, with men unenlightened, supernatural and imaginary predictions work with more force than substantial reasons. their implement of divination, simple as it may appear, is a cow's or antelope's horn (uganga), which they stuff with magic powder, also called uganga. stuck into the ground in front of the village, it is supposed to have sufficient power to ward off the attacks of an enemy. by simply holding it in the hand, the magician pretends he can discover anything that has been stolen or lost; and instances have been told of its dragging four men after it with irresistible impetus up to a thief, when it be-laboured the culprit and drove him out of his senses. so imbued are the natives' minds with belief in the power of charms, that they pay the magician for sticks, stones, or mud, which he has doctored for them. they believe certain flowers held in the hand will conduct them to anything lost; as also that the voice of certain wild animals, birds, or beasts, will insure them good-luck, or warn them of danger. with the utmost complacency our sable brother builds a dwarf hut in his fields, and places some grain on it to propitiate the evil spirit, and suffer him to reap the fruits of his labour, and this too they call uganga or church. these are a few of the more innocent alternatives the poor negroes resort to in place of a "saviour." they have also many other and more horrible devices. for instance, in times of tribulation, the magician, if he ascertains a war is projected by inspecting the blood and bones of a fowl which he has flayed for that purpose, flays a young child, and having laid it lengthwise on a path, directs all the warriors, on proceeding to battle, to step over his sacrifice and insure themselves victory. another of these extra barbarous devices takes place when a chief wishes to make war on his neighbour by his calling in a magician to discover a propitious time for commencing. the doctor places a large earthen vessel, half full of water, over a fire, and over its mouth a grating of sticks, whereon he lays a small child and a fowl side by side, and covers them over with a second large earthen vessel, just like the first, only inverted, to keep the steam in, when he sets fire below, cooks for a certain period of time, and then looks to see if his victims are still living or dead--when, should they be dead, the war must be deferred, but, otherwise commenced at once. these extremes, however, are not often resorted to, for the natives are usually content with simpler means, such as flaying a goat, instead of a child, to be walked over; while, to prevent any evil approaching their dwellings a squashed frog, or any other such absurdity, when place on the track, is considered a specific. how the negro has lived so many ages without advancing, seems marvellous, when all the countries surrounding africa are so forward in comparison; and judging from the progressive state of the world, one is led to suppose that the african must soon either step out from his darkness, or be superseded by a being superior to himself. could a government be formed for them like ours in india, they would be saved; but without it, i fear there is very little chance; for at present the african neither can help himself nor will he be helped about by others, because his country is in such a constant state of turmoil he has too much anxiety on hand looking out for his food to think of anything else. as his fathers ever did, so does he. he works his wife, sells his children, enslaves all he can lay hands upon, and, unless when fighting for the property of others, contents himself with drinking, singing, and dancing like a baboon to drive dull care away. a few only make cotton cloth, or work in wood, iron, copper, or salt; their rule being to do as little as possible, and to store up nothing beyond the necessities of the next season, lest their chiefs or neighbours should covet and take it from them. slavery, i may add, is one great cause of laziness, for the masters become too proud to work, lest they should be thought slaves themselves. in consequence of this, the women look after the household work--such as brewing, cooking, grinding corn, making pottery and baskets, and taking care of the house and the children, besides helping the slaves whilst cultivating, or even tending the cattle sometimes. now, descending to the inferior order of creation, i shall commence with the domestic animals first, to show what the traveller may expect to find for his usual support. cows, after leaving the low lands near the coast, are found to be plentiful everywhere, and to produce milk in small quantities, from which butter is made. goats are common all over africa; but sheep are not so plentiful, nor do they show such good breeding--being generally lanky, with long fat tails. fowls, much like those in india, are abundant everywhere. a few muscovy ducks are imported, also pigeons and cats. dogs, like the indian pariah, are very plentiful, only much smaller; and a few donkeys are found in certain localities. now, considering this good supply of meat, whilst all tropical plants will grow just as well in central equatorial africa as they do in india, it surprises the traveller there should be any famines; yet such is too often the case, and the negro, with these bounties within his reach, is sometimes found eating dogs, cats, rats, porcupines, snakes, lizards, tortoises, locusts, and white ants, or is forced to seek the seeds of wild grasses, or to pluck wild herbs, fruits, and roots; whilst at the proper seasons they hunt the wild elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, pigs, and antelopes; or, going out with their arrows, have battues against the guinea-fowls and small birds. the frequency with which collections of villages are found all over the countries we are alluding to, leaves but very little scope for the runs of wild animals, which are found only in dense jungles, open forests, or praires generally speaking, where hills can protect them, and near rivers whose marshes produce a thick growth of vegetation to conceal them from their most dreaded enemy--man. the prowling, restless elephant, for instance, though rarely seen, leaves indications of his nocturnal excursions in every wilderness, by wantonly knocking down the forest-trees. the morose rhinoceros, though less numerous, are found in every thick jungle. so is the savage buffalo, especially delighting in dark places, where he can wallow in the mud and slake his thirst without much trouble; and here also we find the wild pig. the gruff hippopotamus is as widespread as any, being found wherever there is water to float him; whilst the shy giraffe and zebra affect all open forests and plains where the grass is not too long; and antelopes, of great variety in species and habits, are found wherever man will let them alone and they can find water. the lion is, however, rarely heard--much more seldom seen. hyenas are numerous, and thievishly inclined. leopards, less common, are the terror of the villagers. foxes are not numerous, but frighten the black traveller by their ill-omened bark. hares, about half the size of english ones--there are no rabbits--are widely spread, but not numerous; porcupines the same. wild cats, and animals of the ferret kind, destroy game. monkeys of various kinds and squirrels harbour in the trees, but are rarely seen. tortoises and snakes, in great variety, crawl over the ground, mostly after the rains. rats and lizards--there are but few mice--are very abundant, and feed both in the fields and on the stores of the men. the wily ostrich, bustard, and florikan affect all open places. the guinea-fowl is the most numerous of all game-birds. partridges come next, but do not afford good sport; and quails are rare. ducks and snipe appear to love africa less than any other country; and geese and storks are only found where water most abounds. vultures are uncommon; hawks and crows much abound, as in all other countries; but little birds, of every colour and note, are discoverable in great quantities near water and by the villages. huge snails and small ones, as well as fresh-water shells, are very abundant, though the conchologist would find but little variety to repay his labours; and insects, though innumerable, are best sought for after the rains have set in. [3] the wanguana or freed men the wa-n-guana, as their name implies, are men freed from slavery; and as it is to these singular negroes acting as hired servants that i have been chiefly indebted for opening this large section of africa, a few general remarks on their character cannot be out of place here. of course, having been born in africa, and associated in childhood with the untainted negroes, they retain all the superstitious notions of the true aborigines, though somewhat modified, and even corrupted, by that acquaintance with the outer world which sharpens their wits. most of these men were doubtless caught in wars, as may be seen every day in africa, made slaves of, and sold to the arabs for a few yards of common cloth, brass wire, or beads. they would then be taken to the zanzibar market, resold like horses to the highest bidder, and then kept in bondage by their new masters, more like children of his family than anything else. in this new position they were circumcised to make mussulmans of them, that their hands might be "clean" to slaughter their master's cattle, and extend his creed; for the arabs believe the day must come when the tenets of mohammed will be accepted by all men. the slave in this new position finds himself much better off than he ever was in his life before, with this exception, that as a slave he feels himself much degraded in the social scale of society, and his family ties are all cut off from him--probably his relations have all been killed in the war in which he was captured. still, after the first qualms have worn off, we find him much attached to his master, who feeds him and finds him in clothes in return for the menial services which he performs. in a few years after capture, or when confidence has been gained by the attachment shown by the slave, if the master is a trader in ivory, he will intrust him with the charge of his stores, and send him all over the interior of the continent to purchase for him both slaves and ivory; but should the master die, according to the mohammedan creed the slaves ought to be freed. in arabia this would be the case; but at zanzibar it more generally happens that the slave is willed to his successor. the whole system of slaveholding by the arabs in africa, or rather on the coast or at zanzibar, is exceedingly strange; for the slaves, both in individual physical strength and in numbers, are so superior to the arab foreigners, that if they chose to rebel, they might send the arabs flying out of the land. it happens, however, that they are spell-bound, not knowing their strength any more than domestic animals, and they even seem to consider that they would be dishonest if they ran away after being purchased, and so brought pecuniary loss on their owners. there are many positions into which the slave may get by the course of events, and i shall give here, as a specimen, the ordinary case of one who has been freed by the death of his master, that master having been a trader in ivory and slaves in the interior. in such a case, the slave so freed in all probability would commence life afresh by taking service as a porter with other merchants, and in the end would raise sufficient capital to commence trading himself--first in slaves, because they are the most easily got, and then in ivory. all his accumulations would then go to the zanzibar market, or else to slavers looking out off the coast. slavery begets slavery. to catch slaves is the first thought of every chief in the interior; hence fights and slavery impoverish the land, and that is the reason both why africa does not improve, and why we find men of all tribes and tongues on the coast. the ethnologist need only go to zanzibar to become acquainted with all the different tribes to the centre of the continent on that side, or to congo to find the other half south of the equator there. some few freed slaves take service in vessels, of which they are especially fond; but most return to africa to trade in slaves and ivory. all slaves learn the coast language, called at zanzibar kisuahili; and therefore the traveller, if judicious in his selections, could find there interpreters to carry him throughout the eastern half of south africa. to the north of the equator the system of language entirely changes. laziness is inherent in these men, for which reason, although extremely powerful, they will not work unless compelled to do so. having no god, in the christian sense of the term, to fear or worship, they have no love for truth, honour, or honesty. controlled by no government, nor yet by home ties, they have no reason to think of or look to the future. any venture attracts them when hard-up for food; and the more roving it is, the better they like it. the life of the sailor is most particularly attractive to the freed slave; for he thinks, in his conceit, that he is on an equality with all men when once on the muster-rolls, and then he calls all his fellow-africans "savages." still the african's peculiarity sticks to him: he has gained no permanent good. the association of white men and the glitter of money merely dazzle him. he apes like a monkey the jolly jack tar, and spends his wages accordingly. if chance brings him back again to zanzibar, he calls his old arab master his father, and goes into slavery with as much zest as ever. i have spoken of these freed men as if they had no religion. this is practically true, though theoretically not so; for the arabs, on circumcising them, teach them to repeat the words allah and mohammed, and perhaps a few others; but not one in ten knows what a soul means, nor do they expect to meet with either reward or punishment in the next world, though they are taught to regard animals as clean and unclean, and some go through the form of a pilgrimage to mecca. indeed the whole of their spiritual education goes into oaths and ejaculations--allah and mohammed being as common in their mouths as damn and blast are with our soldiers and sailors. the long and short of this story is, that the freed men generally turn out a loose, roving, reckless set of beings, quick-witted as the yankee, from the simple fact that they imagine all political matters affect them, and therefore they must have a word in every debate. nevertheless they are seldom wise; and lying being more familiar to their constitution than truth-saying, they are for ever concocting dodges with the view, which they glory in of successfully cheating people. sometimes they will show great kindness, even bravery amounting to heroism, and proportionate affection; at another time, without any cause, they will desert and be treacherous to their sworn friends in the most dastardly manner. whatever the freak of the moment is, that they adopt in the most thoughtless manner, even though they may have calculated on advantages beforehand in the opposite direction. in fact, no one can rely upon them even for a moment. dog wit, or any silly remarks, will set them giggling. any toy will amuse them. highly conceited of their personal appearance, they are for ever cutting their hair in different fashions, to surprise a friend; or if a rag be thrown away, they will all in turn fight for it to bind on their heads, then on their loins or spears, peacocking about with it before their admiring comrades. even strange feathers or skins are treated by them in the same way. should one happen to have anything specially to communicate to his master in camp, he will enter giggling, sidle up to the pole of a hut, commence scratching his back with it, then stretch and yawn, and gradually, in bursts of loud laughter, slip down to the ground on his stern, when he drums with his hands on the top of a box until summoned to know what he has at heart, when he delivers himself in a peculiar manner, laughs and yawns again, and, saying it is time to go, walks off in the same way as he came. at other times when he is called, he will come sucking away at the spout of a tea-pot, or, scratching his naked arm-pits with a table-knife, or, perhaps, polishing the plates for dinner with his dirty loin-cloth. if sent to market to purchase a fowl, he comes back with a cock tied by the legs to the end of a stick, swinging and squalling in the most piteous manner. then, arrived at the cook-shop, he throws the bird down on the ground, holds its head between his toes, plucks the feathers to bare its throat, and then, raising a prayer, cuts its head off. but enough of the freed man in camp; on the march he is no better. if you give him a gun and some ammunition to protect him in case of emergencies, he will promise to save it, but forthwith expends it by firing it off in the air, and demands more, else he will fear to venture amongst the "savages." suppose you give him a box of bottles to carry, or a desk, or anything else that requires great care, and you caution him of its contents, the first thing he does is to commence swinging it round and round, or putting it topsy-turvy on the top of his head, when he will run off at a jog-trot, singing and laughing in the most provoking manner, and thinking no more about it than if it were an old stone; even if rain were falling, he would put it in the best place to get wet through. economy, care, or forethought never enters his head; the first thing to hand is the right thing for him; and rather then take the trouble even to look for his own rope to tie up his bundle, he would cut off his master's tent-ropes or steal his comrade's. his greatest delight is in the fair sex, and when he can't get them, next comes beer, song, and a dance. now, this is a mild specimen of the "rowdy" negro, who has contributed more to open africa to enterprise and civilisation than any one else. possessed of a wonderful amount of loquacity, great risibility, but no stability--a creature of impulse--a grown child, in short--at first sight it seems wonderful how he can be trained to work; for there is now law, no home to bind him--he could run away at any moment; and presuming on this, he sins, expecting to be forgiven. great forbearance, occasionally tinctured with a little fatherly severity, is i believe, the best dose for him; for he says to his master, in the most childish manner, after sinning, "you ought to forgive and to forget; for are you not a big man who should be above harbouring spite, though for a moment you may be angry? flog me if you like, but don't keep count against me, else i shall run away; and what will you do then?" the language of this people is just as strange as they are themselves. it is based on euphony, from which cause it is very complex, the more especially so as it requires one to be possessed of a negro's turn of mind to appreciate the system, and unravel the secret of its euphonic concord. a kisuahili grammar, written by dr. krapf, will exemplify what i mean. there is one peculiarity, however, to which i would direct the attention of the reader most particularly, which is, that wa prefixed to the essential word of a country, means men or people; m prefixed, means man or individual; u, in the same way, means place or locality; and ki prefixed indicates the language. example:--wagogo, is the people of gogo; mgogo, is a gogo man; ugogo, is the country of gogo; and kigogo, the language of gogo. the only direction here necessary as regards pronunciation of native words refers to the u, which represents a sound corresponding to that of the oo in woo. journal of the discovery of the source of the nile chapter 1. london to zanzibar, 1859 the design--the preparations--departure--the cape--the zulu kafirs--turtle-turning--capture of a slaver--arrive at zanzibar--local politics and news since last visit--organisation of the expedition. my third expedition in africa, which was avowedly for the purpose of establishing the truth of my assertion that the victoria n'yanza, which i discovered on the 30th july 1858, would eventually prove to be the source of the nile, may be said to have commenced on the 9th may 1859, the first day after my return to england from my second expedition, when, at the invitation of sir. r. i. murchison, i called at his house to show him my map for the information of the royal geographical society. sir roderick, i need only say, at once accepted my views; and, knowing my ardent desire to prove to the world, by actual inspection of the exit, that the victoria n'yanza was the source of the nile, seized the enlightened view, that such a discovery should not be lost to the glory of england and the society of which he was president; and said to me, "speke, we must send you there again." i was then officially directed, much against my own inclination, to lecture at the royal geographical society on the geography of africa, which i had, as the sole surveyor of the second expedition, laid down on our maps. [4] a council of the geographical society was now convened to ascertain what projects i had in view for making good my discovery by connecting the lake with the nile, as also what assistance i should want for that purpose. some thought my best plan would be to go up the nile, which seemed to them the natural course to pursue, especially as the nile was said, though nobody believed it, to have been navigated by expeditions sent out by mehemet ali, viceroy of egypt, up to 3° 22' north latitude. to this i objected, as so many had tried it and failed, from reasons which had not transpired; and, at the same time, i said that if they would give me �5000 down at once, i would return to zanzibar at the end of the year, march to kaze again, and make the necessary investigations of the victoria lake. although, in addition to the journey to the source of the river, i also proposed spending three years in the country, looking up tributaries, inspecting watersheds, navigating the lake, and making collections on all branches of natural history, yet £5000 was thought by the geographical society too large a sum to expect from the government; so i accepted the half, saying that, whatever the expedition might cost, i would make good the rest, as, under any circumstances, i would complete what i had begun, or die in the attempt. my motive for deferring the journey a year was the hope that i might, in the meanwhile, send on fifty men, carrying beads and brass wire, under charge of arab ivory-traders, to karague, and fifty men more, in the same way, to kaze; whilst i, arriving in the best season for travelling (may, june, or july), would be able to push on expeditiously to my depots so formed, and thus escape the great disadvantages of travelling with a large caravan in a country where no laws prevail to protect one against desertions and theft. moreover, i knew that the negroes who would have to go with me, as long as they believed i had property in advance, would work up to it willingly, as they would be the gainers by doing so; whilst, with nothing before them, they would be always endeavouring to thwart my advance, to save them from a trouble which their natural laziness would prompt them to escape from. this beautiful project, i am sorry to say, was doomed from the first; for i did not get the £2500 grant of money or appointment to the command until fully nine months had elapsed, when i wrote to colonel rigby, our consul at zanzibar, to send on the first instalment of property towards the interior. as time then advanced, the indian branch of the government very graciously gave me fifty artillery carbines, with belts and sword-bayonets attached, and 20,000 rounds of ball ammunition. they lent me as many surveying instruments as i wanted; and, through sir george clerk, put at my disposal some rich presents, in gold watches, for the chief arabs who had so generously assisted us in the last expedition. captain grant, hearing that i was bound on this journey, being an old friend and brother sportsman in india, asked me to take him with me, and his appointment was settled by colonel sykes, then chairman of a committee of the royal geographical society, who said it would only be "a matter of charity" to allow me a companion. much at the same time, mr petherick, an ivory merchant, who had spent many years on the nile, arrived in england, and gratuitously offered, as it would not interfere with his trade, to place boats at gondokoro, and send a party of men up the white river to collect ivory in the meanwhile, and eventually to assist me in coming down. mr petherick, i may add, showed great zeal for geographical exploits, so, as i could not get money enough to do all that i wished to accomplish myself, i drew out a project for him to ascend the stream now known as the usua river (reported to be the larger branch of the nile), and, if possible, ascertain what connection it had with my lake. this being agreed to, i did my best, through the medium of earl de grey (then president of the royal geographical society), to advance him money to carry out this desirable object. the last difficulty i had now before me was to obtain a passage to zanzibar. the indian government had promised me a vessel of war to convey me from aden to zanzibar, provided it did not interfere with the public interests. this doubtful proviso induced me to apply to captain playfair, assistant-political at aden, to know what government vessel would be available; and should there be none, to get for me a passage by some american trader. the china war, he assured me, had taken up all the government vessels, and there appeared no hope left for me that season, as the last american trader was just then leaving for zanzibar. in this dilemma it appeared that i must inevitably lose the travelling season, and come in for the droughts and famines. the tide, however, turned in my favour a little; for i obtained, by permission of the admiralty, a passage in the british screw steam-frigate forte, under orders to convey admiral sir h. keppel to his command at the cape; and sir charles wood most obligingly made a request that i should be forwarded thence to zanzibar in one of our slaver-hunting cruisers by the earliest opportunity. on the 27th april, captain grant and i embarked on board the new steam-frigate forte, commanded by captain e. w. turnour, at portsmouth; and after a long voyage, touching at madeira and rio de janeiro, we arrived at the cape of good hope on the 4th july. here sir george grey, the governor of the colony, who took a warm and enlightened interest in the cause of the expedition, invited both grant and myself to reside at his house. sir george had been an old explorer himself--was once wounded by savages in australia, much in the same manner as i had been in the somali country--and, with a spirit of sympathy, he called me his son, and said he hoped i would succeed. then, thinking how best he could serve me, he induced the cape parliament to advance to the expedition a sum of £300, for the purpose of buying baggage-mules; and induced lieut.-general wynyard, the commander-in-chief, to detach ten volunteers from the cape mounted rifle corps to accompany me. when this addition was made to my force, of twelve mules and ten hottentots, the admiral of the station placed the screw steam-corvette brisk at my disposal, and we all sailed for zanzibar on the 16th july, under the command of captain a. f. de horsey--the admiral himself accompanying us, on one of his annual inspections to visit the east coast of africa and the mauritius. in five days more we touched at east london, and, thence proceeding north, made a short stay at delagoa bay, where i first became acquainted with the zulu kafirs, a naked set of negroes, whose national costume principally consists in having their hair trussed up like a hoop on the top of the head, and an appendage like a thimble, to which they attach a mysterious importance. they wear additional ornaments, charms, &c., of birds' claws, hoofs and horns of wild animals tied on with strings, and sometimes an article like a kilt, made of loose strips of skin, or the entire skins of vermin strung close together. these things i have merely noticed in passing, because i shall hereafter have occasion to allude to a migratory people, the watuta, who dressing much in the same manner, extend from lake n'yassa to uzinza, and may originally have been a part of this same kafir race, who are themselves supposed to have migrated from the regions at present occupied by the gallas. next day (the 28th) we went on to europa, a small island of coralline, covered with salsolacious shrubs, and tenanted only by sea-birds, owls, finches, rats, and turtles. of the last we succeeded in turning three, the average weight of each being 360 lb., and we took large numbers of their eggs. we then went to mozambique, and visited the portuguese governor, john travers de almeida, who showed considerable interest in the prospects of the expedition, and regretted that, as it cost so much money to visit the interior from that place, his officers were unable to go there. one experimental trip only had been accomplished by mr soares, who was forced to pay the makua chiefs 120 dollars footing, to reach a small hill in view of the sea, about twenty-five miles off. leaving mozambique on the 9th august, bound for johanna, we came the next day, at 11.30 a.m., in sight of a slaver, ship-rigged, bearing on us full sail, but so distant from us that her mast-tops were only just visible. as quick as ourselves, she saw who we were and tried to escape by retreating. this manoeuvre left no doubt what she was, and the brisk, all full of excitement, gave chase at full speed, and in four hours more drew abreast of her. a great commotion ensued on board the slaver. the sea-pirates threw overboard their colours, bags, and numerous boxes, but would not heave-to, although repeatedly challenged, until a gun was fired across her bows. our boats were then lowered, and in a few minutes more the "prize" was taken, by her crew being exchanged for some of our men, and we learnt all about her from accurate reports furnished by mr frere, the cape slave commissioner. cleared from havannah as "the sunny south," professing to be destined for hong-kong, she changed her name to the manuela, and came slave-hunting in these regions. the slaver's crew consisted of a captain, doctor, and several sailors, mostly spaniards. the vessel was well stored with provisions and medicines; but there was scarcely enough room in her, though she was said to be only half freighted, for the 544 creatures they were transporting. the next morning, as we entered pamoni harbour by an intricate approach to the rich little island hill johanna, the slaver, as she followed us, stranded, and for a while caused considerable alarm to everybody but her late captain. he thought his luck very bad, after escaping so often, to be taken thus; for his vessel's power of sailing were so good, that, had she had the wind in her favour, the brisk, even with the assistance of steam, could not have come up with her. on going on board her, i found the slaves to be mostly wahiyow. a few of them were old women, but all the rest children. they had been captured during wars in their own country, and sold to arabs, who brought them to the coast, and kept them half-starved until the slaver arrived, when they were shipped in dhows and brought off to the slaver, where, for nearly a week, whilst the bargains were in progress, they were kept entirely without food. it was no wonder then, every man of the brisk who first looked upon them did so with a feeling of loathing and abhorrence of such a trade. all over the vessel, but more especially below, old women, stark naked, were dying in the most disgusting "ferret-box" atmosphere; while all those who had sufficient strength were pulling up the hatches, and tearing at the salt fish they found below, like dogs in a kennel. on the 15th the manuela was sent to the mauritius, and we, after passing the comoro islands, arrived at our destination, zanzibar--called lunguja by the aborigines, the wakhadim--and unguja by the present wasuahili. on the 17th, after the anchor was cast, without a moment's delay i went off to the british consulate to see my old friend colonel rigby. he was delighted to see us; and, in anticipation of our arrival, had prepared rooms for our reception, that both captain grant and myself might enjoy his hospitality until arrangements could be made for our final start into the interior. the town, which i had left in so different a condition sixteen months before, was in a state of great tranquillity, brought about by the energy of the bombay government on the muscat side, and colonel rigby's exertions on this side, in preventing an insurrection sultan majid's brothers had created with a view of usurping his government. the news of the place was as follows:--in addition to the formerly constituted consulates--english, french, and american--a fourth one, representing hamburg, had been created. dr roscher, who during my absence had made a successful journey to the n'yinyezi n'yassa, or star lake, was afterwards murdered by some natives in uhiyow; and lieutentant-colonel baron van der decken, another enterprising german, was organising an expedition with a view to search for the relics of his countryman, and, if possible, complete the project poor roscher had commenced. slavery had received a severe blow by the sharp measures colonel rigby had taken in giving tickets of emancipation to all those slaves whom our indian subjects the banyans had been secretly keeping, and by fining the masters and giving the money to the men to set them up in life. the interior of the continent had been greatly disturbed, owing to constant war between the natives and arab ivory merchants. mguru mfupi (or short-legs), the chief of khoko in ugogo, for instance, had been shot, and manua sera (the tippler), who succeeded the old sultan fundi kira, of unyanyembe, on his death, shortly after the late expedition left kaze, was out in the field fighting the arabs. recent letters from the arabs in the interior, however, gave hopes of peace being shortly restored. finally, in compliance with my request--and this was the most important item of news to myself--colonel rigby had sent on, thirteen days previously, fifty-six loads of cloth and beads, in charge of two of ramji's men, consigned to musa at kaze. to call on the sultan, of course, was our first duty. he received us in his usually affable manner; made many trite remarks concerning our plans; was surprised, if my only object in view was to see the great river running out of the lake, that i did not go by the more direct route across the masai country and usoga; and then, finding i wished to see karague, as well as to settle many other great points of interest, he offered to assist me with all the means in his power. the hottentots, the mules, and the baggage having been landed, our preparatory work began in earnest. it consisted in proving the sextants; rating the watches; examining the compasses and boiling thermometers; making tents and packsaddles; ordering supplies of beads, cloth, and brass wire; and collecting servants and porters. sheikh said bin salem, our late cafila bashi, or caravan captain, was appointed to that post again, as he wished to prove his character for honour and honesty; and it now transpired that he had been ordered not to go with me when i discovered the victoria n'yanza. bombay and his brother mabruki were bound to me of old, and the first to greet me on my arrival here; while my old friends the beluchs begged me to take them again. the hottentots, however, had usurped their place. i was afterwards sorry for this, though, if i ever travel again, i shall trust to none but natives, as the climate of africa is too trying to foreigners. colonel rigby, who had at heart as much as anybody the success of the expedition, materially assisted me in accomplishing my object--that men accustomed to discipline and a knowledge of english honour and honesty should be enlisted, to give confidence to the rest of the men; and he allowed me to select from his boat's crew any men i could find who had served as men-of-war, and had seen active service in india. for this purpose my factotum, bombay, prevailed on baraka, frij, and rahan--all of them old sailors, who, like himself, knew hindustani--to go with me. with this nucleus to start with, i gave orders that they should look out for as many wanguana (freed men--i.e., men emancipated from slavery) as they could enlist, to carry loads, or do any other work required of them, and to follow men in africa wherever i wished, until our arrival in egypt, when i would send them back to zanzibar. each was to receive one year's pay in advance, and the remainder when their work was completed. while this enlistment was going on here, ladha damji, the customs' master, was appointed to collect a hundred pagazis (wanyamuezi porters) to carry each a load of cloth, beads, or brass wire to kaze, as they do for the ivory merchants. meanwhile, at the invitation of the admiral, and to show him some sport in hippopotamus-shooting, i went with him in a dhow over to kusiki, near which there is a tidal lagoon, which at high tide is filled with water, but at low water exposes sand islets covered with mangrove shrub. in these islets we sought for the animals, knowing they were keen to lie wallowing in the mire, and we bagged two. on my return to zanzibar, the brisk sailed for the mauritius, but fortune sent grant and myself on a different cruise. sultan majid, having heard that a slaver was lying at pangani, and being anxious to show his good faith with the english, begged me to take command of one his vessels of war and run it down. accordingly, embarking at noon, as soon as the vessel could be got ready, we lay-to that night at tombat, with a view of surprising the slaver next morning; but next day, on our arrival at pangani, we heard that she had merely put in to provision there three days before, and had let immediately afterwards. as i had come so far, i thought we might go ashore and look at the town, which was found greatly improved since i last saw it, by the addition of several coralline houses and a dockyard. the natives were building a dhow with lindi and madagascar timber. on going ashore, i might add, we were stranded on the sands, and, coming off again, nearly swamped by the increasing surf on the bar of the river; but this was a trifle; all we thought of was to return to zanzibar, and hurry on our preparations there. this, however, was not so easy: the sea current was running north, and the wind was too light to propel our vessel against it; so, after trying in vain to make way in her, grant and i, leaving her to follow, took to a boat, after giving the captain, who said we would get drowned, a letter, to say we left the vessel against his advice. we had a brave crew of young negroes to pull us; but, pull as they would, the current was so strong that we feared, if we persisted, we should be drawn into the broad indian ocean; so, changing our line, we bore into the little coralline island, maziwa, where, after riding over some ugly coral surfs, we put in for the night. there we found, to our relief, some fisherman, who gave us fish for our dinner, and directions how to proceed. next morning, before daylight, we trusted to the boat and our good luck. after passing, without landmarks to guide us, by an intricate channel, through foaming surfs, we arrived at zanzibar in the night, and found that the vessel had got in before us. colonel rigby now gave me a most interesting paper, with a map attached to it, about the nile and the mountains of the moon. it was written by lieutenant wilford, from the "purans" of the ancient hindus. as it exemplifies, to a certain extent, the supposition i formerly arrived at concerning the mountains of the moon being associated with the country of the moon, i would fain draw the attention of the reader of my travels to the volume of the "asiatic researches" in which it was published. [5] it is remarkable that the hindus have christened the source of the nile amara, which is the name of a country at the north-east corner of the victoria n'yanza. this, i think, shows clearly, that the ancient hindus must have had some kind of communication with both the northern and southern ends of the victoria n'yanza. having gone to work again, i found that sheikh said had brought ten men, four of whom were purchased for one hundred dollars, which i had to pay; bombay, baraka, frij, and rahan had brought twenty-six more, all freed men; while the sultan majid, at the suggestion of colonel rigby, gave me thirty-four men more, who were all raw labourers taken from his gardens. it was my intention to have taken one hundred of this description of men throughout the whole journey; but as so many could not be found in zanzibar, i still hoped to fill up the complement in unyamuezi, the land of the moon, from the large establishments of the arab merchants residing there. the payment of these men's wages for the first year, as well as the terms of the agreement made with them, by the kind consent of colonel rigby were now entered in the consular office books, as a security to both parties, and a precaution against disputes on the way. any one who saw the grateful avidity with which they took the money, and the warmth with which they pledged themselves to serve me faithfully through all dangers and difficulties, would, had he had no dealings with such men before, have thought that i had a first-rate set of followers. i lastly gave sheikh said a double-barrelled rifle by blissett, and distributed fifty carbines among the seniors of the expedition, with the condition that they would forfeit them to others more worthy if they did not behave well, but would retain possession of them for ever if they carried them through the journey to my satisfaction. on the 21st, as everything was ready on the island, i sent sheikh said and all the men, along with the hottentots, mules, and baggage, off in dhows to bagamoyo, on the opposite mainland. colonel rigby, with captain grant and myself, then called on the sultan, to bid him adieu, when he graciously offered me, as a guard of honour to escort me through uzaramo, one jemadar and twenty-five beluch soldiers. these i accepted, more as a government security in that country against the tricks of the natives, than for any accession they made to our strength. his highness then places his 22-gun corvette, "secundra shah," at our disposal, and we went all three over to bagamoyo, arriving on the 25th. immediately on landing, ladha and sheikh said showed us into a hut prepared for us, and all things looked pretty well. ladha's hundred loads of beads, cloths, and brass wire were all tied up for the march, and seventy-five pagazis (porters from the moon country) had received their hire to carry these loads to kaze in the land of the moon. competition, i found, had raised these men's wages, for i had to pay, to go even as far as kaze, nine and a quarter dollars a-head!--as masudi and some other merchants were bound on the same line as myself, and all were equally in a hurry to be off and avoid as much as possible the famine we knew we should have to fight through at this late season. little troubles, of course, must always be expected, else these blacks would not be true negroes. sheikh said now reported it quite impossible to buy anything at a moderate rate; for, as i was a "big man," i ought to "pay a big price;" and my men had all been obliged to fight in the bazaar before they could get even tobacco at the same rate as other men, because they were the servants of the big man, who could afford to give higher wages than any one else. the hottentots, too, began to fall sick, which my wanguana laughingly attributed to want of grog to keep their spirits up, as these little creatures, the "tots," had frequently at zanzibar, after heavy potations, boasted to the more sober free men, that they "were strong, because they could stand plenty drink." the first step now taken was to pitch camp under large shady mango-trees, and to instruct every man in his particular duty. at the same time, the wanguana, who had carbines, were obliged to be drilled in their use and formed into companies, with captains of ten, headed by general baraka, who was made commander-in-chief. on the 30th september, as things were looking more orderly, i sent forward half of the property, and all the men i had then collected, to ugeni, a shamba, or garden, two miles off; and on the 2nd october, after settling with ladha for my "african money," as my pagazis were completed to a hundred and one, we wished rigby adieu, and all assembled together at ugeni, which resembles the richest parts of bengal. chapter ii. uzaramo the nature of the country--the order of march--the beginning of our taxation--sultan lion's claw, and sultan monkey's tail--the kingani--jealousies and difficulties in the camp--the murderer of m. maizan. we were now in u-za-ramo, which may mean the country of ramo, though i have never found any natives who could enlighten me on the derivation of this obviously triple word. the extent of the country, roughly speaking, stretches from the coast to the junction or bifurcation of the kingani and its upper branch the mgeta river, westwards; and from the kingani, north, to the lufigi river, south; though in the southern portions several subtribes have encroached upon the lands. there are no hills in uzaramo; but the land in the central line, formed like a ridge between the two rivers, furrow fashion, consists of slightly elevated flats and terraces, which, in the rainy season, throw off their surplus waters to the north and south by nullahs into these rivers. the country is uniformly well covered with trees and large grasses, which, in the rainy season, are too thick, tall, and green to be pleasant; though in the dry season, after the grasses have been burnt, it is agreeable enough, though not pretty, owing to the flatness of the land. the villages are not large or numerous, but widely spread, consisting generally of conical grass huts, while others are gable-ended, after the coast-fashion--a small collection of ten or twenty comprising one village. over these villages certain headmen, titled phanze, hold jurisdiction, who take black-mail from travellers with high presumption when they can. generally speaking, they live upon the coast, and call themselves diwans, headsmen, and subjects of the sultan majid; but they no sooner hear of the march of a caravan than they transpose their position, become sultans in their own right, and levy taxes accordingly. the wazaramo are strictly agriculturists; they have no cows, and but few goats. they are of low stature and thick set and their nature tends to the boisterous. expert slavehunters, they mostly clothe themselves by the sale of their victims on the coast, though they do business by the sale of goats and grain as well. nowhere in the interior are natives so well clad as these creatures. in dressing up their hair, and otherwise smearing their bodies with ochreish clay, they are great dandies. they always keep their bows and arrows, which form their national arm, in excellent order, the latter well poisoned, and carried in quivers nicely carved. to intimidate a caravan and extort a hongo or tax, i have seen them drawn out in line as if prepared for battle; but a few soft words were found sufficient to make them all withdraw and settle the matter at issue by arbitration in some appointed place. a few men without property can cross their lands fearlessly, though a single individual with property would stand no chance, for they are insatiable thieves. but little is seen of these people on the journey, as the chiefs take their taxes by deputy, partly out of pride, and partly because they think they can extort more by keeping in the mysterious distance. at the same time, the caravan prefers camping in the jungles beyond the villages to mingling with the inhabitants, where rows might be engendered. we sometimes noticed albinos, with greyish-blue eyes and light straw-coloured hair. not unfrequently we would pass on the track side small heaps of white ashes, with a calcined bone or two among them. these, we were told, were the relics of burnt witches. the caravan track we had now to travel on leads along the right bank of the kingani valley, overlooking uzegura, which, corresponding with uzaramo, only on the other side of the kigani, extends northwards to the pangani river, and is intersected in the centre by the wami river, of which more hereafter. starting on a march with a large mixed caravan, consisting of 1 corporal and 9 privates, hottentots--1 jemadar and 25 privates, beluchs--1 arab cafila bashi and 75 freed slaves--1 kirangozi, or leader, and 100 negro porters--12 mules untrained, 3 donkeys, and 22 goats--one could hardly expect to find everybody in his place at the proper time for breaking ground; but, at the same time, it could hardly be expected that ten men, who had actually received their bounty-money, and had sworn fidelity, should give one the slip the very first day. such, however, was the case. ten out of the thirty-six given by the sultan ran away, because they feared that the white men, whom they believed to be cannibals, were only taking them into the interior to eat them; and one pagazi, more honest than the freed men, deposited his pay upon the ground, and ran away too. go we must, however; for one desertion is sure to lead to more; and go we did. our procession was in this fashion: the kirangozi, with a load on his shoulder, led the way, flag in hand, followed by the pagazis carrying spears of bows and arrows in their hands, and bearing their share of the baggage in the shape either of bolster-shaped loads of cloth and beads covered with matting, each tied into the fork of a three-pronged stick, or else coils of brass or copper wire tied in even weights to each end of sticks which they laid on the shoulder; then helter-skelter came the wanguana, carrying carbines in their hands, and boxes, bundles, tents, cooking-pots--all the miscellaneous property--on their heads; next the hottentots, dragging the refractory mules laden with ammunition-boxes, but very lightly, to save the animals for the future; and, finally, sheikh said and the beluch escort; while the goats, sick women, and stragglers, brought up the rear. from first to last, some of the sick hottentots rode the hospital donkeys, allowing the negroes to tug their animals; for the smallest ailment threw them broadcast on their backs. in a little while we cleared from the rich gardens, mango clumps, and cocoa-but trees, which characterise the fertile coast-line. after traversing fields of grass well clothed with green trees, we arrived at the little settlement of bomani, where camp was formed, and everybody fairly appointed to his place. the process of camp-forming would be thus: sheikh said, with bombay under him, issues cloths to the men for rations at the rate of one-fourth load a-day (about 15 lb.) amongst 165; the hottentots cook our dinners and their own, or else lie rolling on the ground overcome with fatigue; the beluchs are supposed to guard the camp, but prefer gossip and brightening their arms. some men are told off to look after the mules, donkeys, and goats, whilst out grazing; the rest have to pack the kit, pitch our tents, cut boughs for huts, and for fencing in the camp--a thing rarely done, by-the-by. after cooking, when the night has set it, the everlasting dance begins, attended with clapping of hands and jingling small bells strapped to the legs--the whole being accompanied by a constant repetition of senseless words, which stand in place of the song to the negroes; for song they have none, being mentally incapacitated for musical composition, though as timists they are not to be surpassed. what remains to be told is the daily occupation of captain grant, myself, and our private servants. beginning at the foot: rahan, a very peppery little negro, who had served in a british man-of-war at the taking of rangoon, was my valet; and baraka, who had been trained much in the same manner, but had seen engagements at multan, was captain grant's. they both knew hindustani; but while rahan's services at sea had been short, baraka had served nearly all his life with englishmen--was the smartest and most intelligent negro i ever saw--was invaluable to colonel rigby as a detector of slave-traders, and enjoyed his confidence completely--so much so, that he said, on parting with him, that he did not know where he should be able to find another man to fill his post. these two men had now charge of our tents and personal kit, while baraka was considered the general of the wanguana forces, and rahan a captain of ten. my first occupation was to map the country. this is done by timing the rate of march with a watch, taking compass-bearings along the road, or on any conspicuous marks--as, for instance, hills off it--and by noting the watershed--in short, all topographical objects. on arrival in camp every day came the ascertaining, by boiling a thermometer, of the altitude of the station above the sea-level; of the latitude of the station by the meridian altitude of the star taken with a sextant; and of the compass variation by azimuth. occasionally there was the fixing of certain crucial stations, at intervals of sixty miles or so, by lunar observations, or distances of the moon either from the sun or from certain given stars, for determining the longitude, by which the original-timed course can be drawn out with certainty on the map by proportion. should a date be lost, you can always discover it by taking a lunar distance and comparing it with the nautical almanac, by noting the time when a star passes the meridian if your watch is right, or by observing the phases of the moon, or her rising or setting, as compared with the nautical almanac. the rest of my work, besides sketching and keeping a diary, which was the most troublesome of all, consisted in making geological and zoological collections. with captain grant rested the botanical collections and thermometrical registers. he also boiled one of the thermometers, kept the rain-gauge, and undertook the photography; but after a time i sent the instruments back, considering this work too severe for the climate, and he tried instead sketching with watercolours--the results of which form the chief part of the illustrations in this book. the rest of our day went in breakfasting after the march was over--a pipe, to prepare us for rummaging the fields and villages to discover their contents for scientific purposes--dinner close to sunset, and tea and pipe before turning in at night. a short stage brought us to ikamburu, included in the district of nzasa, where there is another small village presided over by phanze khombe la simba, meaning claw of lion. he, immediately after our arrival, sent us a present of a basket of rice, value one dollar, of course expecting a return--for absolute generosity is a thing unknown to the negro. not being aware of the value of the offering, i simply requested the sheikh to give him four yards of american sheeting, and thought no more about the matter, until presently i found the cloth returned. the "sultan" could not think of receiving such a paltry present from me, when on the former journey he got so much; if he showed this cloth at home, nobody would believe him, but would say he took much more and concealed it from his family, wishing to keep all his goods to himself. i answered that my footing in the country had been paid for on the last journey, and unless he would accept me as any other common traveller, he had better walk away; but the little sheikh, a timid, though very gentlemanly creature, knowing the man, and dreading the consequences of too high a tone, pleaded for him, and proposed as a fitting hongo, one dubuani, one sahari, and eight yards merikani, as the american sheeting is called here. this was pressed by the jemadar, and acceded to by myself, as the very utmost i could afford. lion's claw, however, would not accept it; it was too far below the mark of what he got last time. he therefore returned the cloths to the sheikh, as he could get no hearing from myself, and retreated in high dudgeon, threatening the caravan with a view of his terrible presence on the morrow. meanwhile the little sheikh, who always carried a sword fully two-thirds the length of himself, commenced casting bullets for his double-barrelled rifle, ordered the wanguana to load their guns, and came wheedling up to me for one more cloth, as it was no use hazarding the expedition's safety for four yards of cloth. this is a fair specimen of tax-gathering, within twelve miles of the coast, by a native who claims the protection of zanzibar. we shall soon see what they are further on. the result of experience is, that, ardent as the traveller is to see the interior of africa, no sooner has he dealings with the natives, than his whole thoughts tend to discovering some road where he won't be molested, or a short cut, but long march, to get over the ground. quite undisturbed, we packed and marched as usual, and soon passed nzasa close to the river, which is only indicated by a line of trees running through a rich alluvial valley. we camped at the little settlement of kizoto, inhospitably presided over by phanze mukia ya nyani or monkey's tail, who no sooner heard of our arrival than he sent a demand for his "rights." one dubani was issued, with orders than no one need approach me again, unless he wanted to smell my powder. two taxes in five miles was a thing unheard of; and i heard no more about the matter, until bombay in the evening told me how sheikh said, fearing awkward consequences, had settled to give two dubuani, one being taken from his own store. lion's claw also turned up again, getting his cloths of yesterday--one more being added from the sheikh's stores--and he was then advised to go off quietly, as i was a fire-eater whom nobody dared approach after my orders had been issued. this was our third march in uzaramo; we had scarcely seen a man of the country, and had no excessive desire to do so. deflecting from the serpentine course of the kingani a little, we crossed a small bitter rivulet, and entered on the elevated cultivation of kiranga ranga, under phanze mkungu-pare, a very mild man, who, wishing to give no offence, begged for a trifling present. he came in person, and his manner having pleased us, i have him one sahari, four yards merikani, and eight yards kiniki, which pleased our friend so much that he begged us to consider his estate our own, even to the extent of administering his justice, should any mzaramo be detected stealing from us. our target-practice, whilst instructing the men, astonished him not a little, and produced an exclamation that, with so many guns, we need fear nothing, go where we would. from this place a good view is obtained of uzegura. beyond the flat alluvial valley of the kingani, seven to eight miles broad, the land rises suddenly to a table-land of no great height, on which trees grow in profusion. in fact it appeared, as far as the eye could reach, the very counterpart of that where we stood, with the exception of a small hill, very distant, called phongue. a very welcome packet of quinine and other medicines reached us here from rigby, who, hearing our complaints that the hottentots could only be kept alive by daily potions of brandy and quinine, feared our supplies were not enough, and sent us more. we could not get the sultan's men to chum with the wanguana proper; they were shy, like wild animals--built their huts by themselves--and ate and talked by themselves, for they felt themselves inferiors; and i had to nominate one of their number to be their chief, answerable for the actions of the whole. being in the position of "boots" to the camp, the tending of goats fell to their lot. three goats were missing this evening, which the goatherds could not account for, nor any of their men. suspecting that they were hidden for a private feast, i told their chief to inquire farther, and report. the upshot was, that the man was thrashed for intermeddling, and came back only with his scars. this was a nice sort of insubordination, which of course could not be endured. the goatherd was pinioned and brought to trial, for the double offence of losing the goats and rough-handling his chief. the tricking scoundrel--on quietly saying he could not be answerable for other men's actions if they stole goats, and he could not recognise a man as his chief whom the sheikh, merely by a whim of his own, thought proper to appoint--was condemned to be tied up for the night with the prospect of a flogging in the morning. seeing his fate, the cunning vagabond said, "now i do see it was by your orders the chief was appointed, and not by a whim of sheikh said's; i will obey him for the future;" and these words were hardly pronounced than the three missing goats rushed like magic into camp, nobody of course knowing where they came from. skirting along the margin of the rising ground overlooking the river, through thick woods, cleared in places for cultivation, we arrived at thumba lhere. the chief here took a hongo of three yards merikani and two yards kiniki without much fuss, for he had no power. the pagazis struck, and said they would not move from this unless i gave them one fundo or ten necklaces of beads each daily, in lieu of rations, as they were promised by ladha on the coast that i would do so as soon as they had made four marches. this was an obvious invention, concocted to try my generosity, for i had given the kirangozi a goat, which is customary, to "make the journey prosperous"--had suspended a dollar to his neck in recognition of his office, and given him four yards merikani, that he might have a grand feast with his brothers; while neither the sheikh, myself, nor any one else in the camp, had heard of such a compact. with high words the matter dropped, african fashion. the pagazis would not start at the appointed time, hoping to enforce their demands of last night; so we took the lead and started, followed by the wanguana. seeing this, the pagazis cried out with one accord: "the master is gone, leaving the responsibility of his property in our hands; let us follow, let us follow, for verily he is our father;" and all came hurrying after us. here the river, again making a bend, is lost to sight, and we marched through large woods and cultivated fields to muhugue, observing, as we passed long, the ochreish colour of the earth, and numerous pits which the copal-diggers had made searching for their much-valued gum. a large coast-bound caravan, carrying ivory tusks with double-toned bells suspended to them, ting-tonging as they moved along, was met on the way; and as some of the pagazis composing it were men who had formerly taken me to the victoria n'yanza, warm recognitions passed between us. the water found here turned our brandy and tea as black as ink. the chief, being a man of small pretensions, took only one sahari and four yards merikani. instead of going on to the next village we halted in this jungly place for the day, that i might comply with the desire of the royal geographical society to inspect muhonyera, and report if there were really any indications of a "raised sea-beach" there, such as their maps indicate. an inspection brought me to the conclusion that no mind but one prone to discovering sea-beaches in the most unlikely places could have supposed for a moment that one existed here. the form and appearance of the land are the same as we have seen everywhere since leaving bomani--a low plateau subtended by a bank cut down by the kingani river, and nothing more. there are no pebbles; the soil is rich reddish loam, well covered with trees, bush, and grass, in which some pigs and antelopes are found. from the top of this enbankment we gain the first sight of the east coast range, due west of us, represented by the high elephant's-back hill, mkambaku, in usagara, which, joining uraguru, stretches northwards across the pangani river to usumbara and the kilimandjaro, and southwards, with a westerly deflection, across the lufiji to southern n'yassa. what course the range takes beyond those two extremes, the rest of the world knows as well as i. another conspicuous landmark here is kidunda (the little hill), which is the southernmost point of a low chain of hills, also tending northwards, and representing an advance-guard to the higher east coast range in its rear. at night, as we had no local "sultans" to torment us, eight more men of sultan majid's donation ran away, and, adding injury to injury, took with them all our goats, fifteen in number. this was a sad loss. we could keep ourselves on guinea-fowls or green pigeons, doves, etc.; but the hottentots wanted nourishment much more than ourselves, and as their dinner always consisted of what we left, "short-commons" was the fate in store for them. the wanguana, instead of regarding these poor creatures as soldiers, treated them like children; and once, as a diminutive tot--the common name they go by--was exerting himself to lift his pack and place it on his mule, a fine herculean mguana stepped up behind, grasped tot, pack and all, in his muscular arms, lifted the whole over his head, paraded the tot about, struggling for release, and put him down amidst the laughter of the camp, then saddled his mule and patted him on the back. after sending a party of beluch to track down the deserters and goats, in which they were not successful, we passed through the village of sagesera, and camped one mile beyond, close to the river. phanze kirongo (which means mr pit) here paid us his respects, with a presentation of rice. in return he received four yards merikani and one dubuani, which bombay settled, as the little sheikh, ever done by the sultans, pleaded indisposition, to avoid the double fire he was always subjected to on these occasions, by the sultans grasping on the one side, and my resisting on the other; for i relied on my strength, and thought it very inadvisable to be generous with my cloth to the prejudice of future travellers, by decreasing the value of merchandise, and increasing proportionately the expectations of these negro chiefs. from the top of the bank bordering on the valley, a good view was obtainable of the uraguru hills, and the top of a very distant cone to its northward; but i could see no signs of any river joining the kingani on its left, though on the former expedition i heard that the mukondokua river, which was met with in usagara, joined the kingani close to sagesera, and actually formed its largest head branch. neither could mr pit inform me what became of the mukondokua, as the wazaramo are not given to travelling. he had heard of it from the traders, but only knew himself of one river beside the kingani. it was called wami in uegura, and mouths at utondue, between the ports of whindi and saadani. to try and check the desertions of sultan majid's men, i advised--ordering was of no use--that their camp should be broken up, and they should be amalgamated with the wanguana; but it was found that the two would not mix. in fact, the whole native camp consisted of so many clubs of two, four, six, or ten men, who originally belonged to one village or one master, or were united by some other family tie which they preferred keeping intact; so they cooked together, ate together, slept together, and sometimes mutinied together. the amalgamation having failed, i wrote some emanicipation tickets, called the sultan's men all up together, selected the best, gave them these tickets, announced that their pay and all rewards would be placed for the future on the same conditions as those of the wanguana, and as soon as i saw any signs of improvement in the rest, they would all be treated in the same manner; but should they desert, they would find my arm long enough to arrest them on the coast and put them into prison. during this march we crossed three deep nullahs which drain the uzaramo plateau, and arrived at the makutaniro, or junction of this line with those of mboamaji and konduchi, which traverse central uzaramo, and which, on my former return journey, i went down. the gum-copal diggings here cease. the dum palm is left behind; the large rich green-leaved trees of the low plateau give place to the mimosa; and now, having ascended the greater decline of the kingani river, instead of being confined by a bank, we found ourselves on flat open-park land, where antelopes roam at large, buffalo and zebra are sometimes met with, and guinea-fowl are numerous. the water for the camp is found in the river, but supplies of grain come from the village of kipora farther on. a march through the park took us to a camp by a pond, from which, by crossing the kingani, rice and provisions for the men were obtained on the opposite bank. one can seldom afford to follow wild animals on the line of march, otherwise we might have bagged some antelopes to-day, which, scared by the interminable singing, shouting, bell-jingling, horn-blowing, and other such merry noises of the moving caravan, could be seen disappearing in the distance. leaving the park, we now entered the riches part of uzaramo, affording crops as fine as any part of india. here it was, in the district of dege la mhora, that the first expedition to this country, guided by a frenchman, m. maizan, came to a fatal termination, that gentleman having been barbarously murdered by the sub-chief hembe. the cause of the affair was distinctly explained to me by hembe himself, who, with his cousin darunga, came to call upon me, presuming, as he was not maltreated by the last expedition, that the matter would now be forgotten. the two men were very great friends of the little sheikh, and as a present was expected, which i should have to pay, we all talked cheerfully and confidentially, bringing in the fate of maizan for no other reason than to satisfy curiosity. hembe, who lives in the centre of an almost impenetrable thicket, confessed that he was the murderer, but said the fault did not rest with him, as he merely carried out the instructions of his father, mzungera, who, a diwan on the coast, sent him a letter directing his actions. thus it is proved that the plot against maizan was concocted on the coast by the arab merchants--most likely from the same motive which has induced one rival merchant to kill another as the best means of checking rivalry or competition. when arabs--and they are the only class of people who would do such a deed--found a european going into the very middle of their secret trading-places, where such large profits were to be obtained, they would never suppose that the scientific maizan went for any other purpose than to pry into their ivory stores, bring others into the field after him, and destroy their monopoly. the sultan of zanzibar, in those days, was our old ally said said, commonly called the emam of muscat; and our consul, colonel hamerton, had been m. maizan's host as long as he lived upon the coast. both the emam and consul were desirous of seeing the country surveyed, and did everything in their power to assist maizan, the former even appointing the indian musa to conduct him safely as far as unyamuezi; but their power was not found sufficient to damp the raging fire of jealousy in the ivory-trader's heart. musa commenced the journey with maizan, and they travelled together a march or two, when one of maizan's domestic establishment fell sick and stopped his progress. musa remained with him eight or ten days, to his own loss in trade and expense in keeping up a large establishment, and then they parted by mutual consent, maizan thinking himself quite strong enough to take care of himself. this separation was, i believe, poor maizan's death-blow. his power, on the emam's side, went with musa's going, and left the arabs free to carry out their wicked wills. the presents i had to give here were one sahari and eight yards merikani to hembe, and the same to darunga, for which they gave a return in grain. still following close to the river--which, unfortunately, is so enshrouded with thick bush that we could seldom see it--a few of the last villages in uzaramo were passed. here antelopes reappear amongst the tall mimosa, but we let them alone in prosecution of the survey, and finally encamped opposite the little hill of kidunda, which lying on the left bank of the kingani, stretches north, a little east, into uzegura. the hill crops out through pisolitic limestone, in which marine fossils were observable. it would be interesting to ascertain whether this lime formation extends down the east coast of africa from the somali country, where also, on my first expedition, i found marine shells in the limestone, especially as a vast continuous band of limestone is known to extend from the tagus, through egypt and the somali country, to the burrumputra. to obtain food it was necessary here to ferry the river and purchase from the wazaramo, who, from fear of the passing caravans, had left their own bank and formed a settlement immediately under this pretty little hill--rendered all the more enchanting to our eyes, as it was the first we had met since leaving the sea-coast. the diwan, or head man, was a very civil creature; he presented us freely with two fine goats--a thing at that time we were very much in want of--and took, in return, without any comments, one dubani and eight yards merikani. the next day, as we had no further need of our beluch escort, a halt was made to enable me to draw up a "progress report," and pack all the specimens of natural history collected on the way, for the royal geographical society. captain grant, taking advantage of the spare time, killed for the larder two buck antelopes, and the tots brought in, in high excited triumph, a famous pig. this march, which declines from the kingani a little, leads through rolling, jungly ground, full of game, to the tributary stream mgeta. it is fordable in the dry season, but has to be bridged by throwing a tree across it in the wet one. rising in the usagara hills to the west of the hog-backed mkambaku, this branch intersects the province of ukhutu in the centre, and circles round until it unites with the kingani about four miles north of the ford. where the kingani itself rises, i never could find out; though i have heard that its sources lies in a gurgling spring on the eastern face of the mkambaku, by which account the mgeta is made the longer branch of the two. chapter iii. usagara nature of the country--resumption of the march--a hunt--bombay and baraka--the slave-hunters--the ivory-merchants--collection of natural-history specimens--a frightened village--tracking a mule. under u-sagara, or, as it might be interpreted, u-sa-gara--country of gara--is included all the country lying between the bifurcation of the kingani and mgeta rivers east, and ugogo, the first country on the interior plateau west,--a distance of a hundred miles. on the north it is bounded by the mukondokua, or upper course of the wami river and on the south by the ruaha, or northern great branch of the lufiji river. it forms a link of the great east coast range; but though it is generally comprehended under the single name usagara, many sub-tribes occupy and apply their own names to portions of it; as, for instance, the people on whose ground we now stood at the foot of the hills, are wa-khutu, and their possessions consequently are u-khutu, which is by far the best producing land hitherto alluded to since leaving the sea-coast line. our ascent by the river, though quite imperceptible to the eye, has been 500 feet. from this level the range before us rises in some places to 5000 to 6000 feet, not as one grand mountain, but in two detached lines, lying at an angle of 45 degrees from n.e. to s.w., and separated one from the other by elevated valleys, tables, and crab-claw spurs of hill which incline towards the flanking rivers. the whole having been thrown up by volcanic action, is based on a strong foundation of granite and other igneous rocks, which are exposed in many places in the shape of massive blocks; otherwise the hill-range is covered in the upper part with sandstone, and in the bottoms with alluvial clay. this is the superficial configuration of the land as it strikes the eye; but, knowing the elevation of the interior plateau to be only 2500 feet above the sea immediately on the western flank of these hills, whilst the breath of the chain is 100 miles, the mean slope of incline of the basal surface must be on a gradual rise of twenty feet per mile. the hill tops and sides, where not cultivated, are well covered with bush and small trees, amongst which the bamboo is conspicuous; whilst the bottoms, having a soil deeper and richer, produce fine large fig-trees of exceeding beauty, the huge calabash, and a variety of other trees. here, in certain places where water is obtainable throughout the year, and wars, or slave-hunts more properly speaking, do not disturb the industry of the people, cultivation thrives surprisingly; but such a boon is rarely granted them. it is in consequence of these constantly-recurring troubles that the majority of the wasagara villages are built on hill-spurs, where the people can the better resist attack, or, failing, disperse and hide effectually. the normal habitation is the small conical hut of grass. these compose villages, varying in number according to the influence of their head men. there are, however, a few mud villages on the table-lands, each built in a large irregular square of chambers with a hollow yard in the centre, known as tembe. as to the people of these uplands, poor, meagre-looking wretches, they contrast unfavourably with the lowlanders on both sides of them. dingy in colour, spiritless, shy, and timid, they invite attack in a country where every human being has a market value, and are little seen by the passing caravan. in habits they are semi-pastoral agriculturalists, and would be useful members of society were they left alone to cultivate their own possessions, rich and beautiful by nature, but poor and desolate by force of circumstance. some of the men can afford a cloth, but the greater part wear an article which i can only describe as a grass kilt. in one or two places throughout the passage of these hills a caravan may be taxed, but if so, only to a small amount; the villagers more frequently fly to the hill-tops as soon as the noise of the advancing caravan is heard, and no persuasions will bring them down again, so much ground have they, from previous experience, to fear treachery. it is such sad sights, and the obvious want of peace and prosperity, that weary the traveller, and make him every think of pushing on to his journey's end from the instant he enters africa until he quits the country. knowing by old experience that the beautiful green park in the fork of these rivers abounded in game of great variety and in vast herds, where no men are ever seen except some savage hunters sitting in the trees with poisoned arrows, or watching their snares and pitfalls, i had all along determined on a hunt myself, to feed and cheer the men, and also to collect some specimens for the home museums. in the first object we succeeded well, as "the bags" we made counted two brindled gnu, four water-boc, one pallah-boc, and one pig,--enough to feed abundantly the whole camp round. the feast was all the better relished as the men knew well that no arab master would have given them what he could sell; for if a slave shot game, the animals would be the master's, to be sold bit by bit among the porters, and compensated from the proceeds of their pay. in the variety and number of our game we were disappointed, partly because so many wounded got away, and partly because we could not find what we knew the park to contain, in addition to what we killed--namely, elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, buffaloes, zebra, and many varieties of antelopes, besides lions and hyenas. in fact, "the park," as well as all the adjacent land at the foot of the hills, is worth thinking of, with a view to a sporting tour as well as scientific investigation. a circumstance arose here, which, insignificant though it appeared, is worth noting, to show how careful one must be in understanding and dealing with negro servants. quite unaccountably to myself, the general of my wanguana, baraka, after showing much discontent with his position as head of captain grant's establishment, became so insolent, that it was necessary to displace him, and leave him nothing to do but look after the men. this promoted frij, who enjoyed his rise as much as baraka, if his profession was to be believed, enjoyed his removal from that office. though he spoke in this manner, still i knew that there was something rankling in his mind which depressed his spirits as long as he remained with us, though what it was i could not comprehend, nor did i fully understand it till months afterwards. it was ambition, which was fast making a fiend of him; and had i known it, he would, and with great advantage too, have been dismissed upon the spot. the facts were these: he was exceedingly clever, and he knew it. his command over men was surprising. at zanzibar he was the consul's right-hand man: he ranked above bombay in the consular boat's crew, and became a terror even to the banyans who kept slaves. he seemed, in fact, in his own opinion, to have imbibed all the power of the british consul who had instructed him. such a man was an element of discord in our peaceful caravan. he was far too big-minded for the sphere which he occupied; and my surprise now is that he ever took service, knowing what he should, at the time of enlistment, have expected, that no man would be degraded to make room for him. but this was evidently what he had expected, though he dared not say it. he was jealous of bombay, because he thought his position over the money department was superior to his own over the men; and he had seen bombay, on one occasion, pay a tax in uzaramo--a transaction which would give him consequence with the native chiefs. of sheikh said he was equally jealous, for a like reason; and his jealousy increased the more that i found it necessary to censure the timidity of this otherwise worthy little man. baraka thought, in his conceit, that he could have done all things better, and gained signal fame, had he been created chief. perhaps he thought he had gained the first step towards this exalted rank, and hence his appearing very happy for this time. i could not see through so deep a scheme and only hoped that he would shortly forget, in the changes of the marching life, those beautiful wives he had left behind him, which bombay in his generosity tried to persuade me was the cause of his mental distraction. our halt at the ford here was cut short by the increasing sickness of the hottentots, and the painful fact that captain grant was seized with fever. [6] we had to change camp to the little village of kiruru, where, as rice was grown--an article not to be procured again on this side of unyamuezi--we stopped a day to lay in supplies of this most valuable of all travelling food. here i obtained the most consistent accounts of the river system which, within five days' journey, trends through uzegura; and i concluded, from what i heard, that there is no doubt of the mukondokua and wami rivers being one and the same stream. my informants were the natives of the settlement, and they all concurred in saying that the kingani above the junction is called the rufu, meaning the parent stream. beyond it, following under the line of the hills, at one day's journey distant, there is a smaller river called msonge. at an equal distance beyond it, another of the same size is known as lungerengeri; and a fourth river is the wami, which mouths in the sea at utondue, between the ports of whindi and saadami. in former years, the ivory-merchants, ever seeking for an easy road for their trade, and knowing they would have no hills to climb if they could only gain a clear passage by this river from the interior plateau to the sea, made friends with the native chiefs of uzegura, and succeeded in establishing it as a thoroughfare. avarice, however, that fatal enemy to the negro chiefs, made them overreach themselves by exorbitant demands of taxes. then followed contests for the right of appropriating the taxes, and the whole ended in the closing of the road, which both parties were equally anxious to keep open for their mutual gain. this foolish disruption having at first only lasted for a while, the road was again opened and again closed, for the merchants wanted an easy passage, and the native chiefs desired cloths. but it was shut again; and now we heard of its being for a third time opened, with what success the future only can determine--for experience will not teach the negro, who thinks only for the moment. had they only sense to see, and patience to wait, the whole trade of the interior would inevitably pass through their country instead of uzaramo; and instead of being poor in cloths, they would be rich and well dressed like their neighbours. but the curse of noah sticks to these his grandchildren by ham, and no remedy that has yet been found will relieve them. they require a government like ours in india; and without it, the slave trade will wipe them off the face of the earth. now leaving the open parks of pretty acacias, we followed up the mgazi branch of the mgeta, traversed large tree-jungles, where the tall palm is conspicuous, and drew up under the lumpy mkambaku, to find a residence for the day. here an arab merchant, khamis, bound for zanzibar, obliged us by agreeing for a few dollars to convey our recent spoils in natural history to the coast. my plans for the present were to reach zungomero as soon as possible, as a few days' halt would be required there to fix the longitude of the eastern flank of the east coast range by astronomical observation; but on ordering the morning's march, the porters--too well fed and lazy--thought our marching-rate much too severe, and resolutely refused to move. they ought to have made ten miles a-day, but preferred doing five. argument was useless, and i was reluctant to apply the stick, as the arabs would have done when they saw their porters trifling with their pockets. determining, however, not to be frustrated in this puerile manner, i ordered the bugler to sound the march, and started with the mules and coast-men, trusting to sheikh and baraka to bring on the wanyamuezi as soon as they could move them. the same day we crossed the mgazi where we found several wakhutu spearing fish in the muddy hovers of its banks. we slept under a tree, and this morning found a comfortable residence under the eaves of a capacious hut. the wanyamuezi porters next came in at their own time, and proved to us how little worth are orders in a land where every man, in his own opinion, is a lord, and no laws prevail. zungomero, bisected by the mgeta, lies on flat ground, in a very pretty amphitheatre of hills, s. lat. 7° 26' 53", and e. long. 37° 36' 45". it is extremely fertile, and very populous, affording everything that man can wish, even to the cocoa and papwa fruits; but the slave-trade has almost depopulated it, and turned its once flourishing gardens into jungles. as i have already said, the people who possess these lands are cowardly by nature, and that is the reason why they are so much oppressed. the wasuahili, taking advantage of their timidity, flock here in numbers to live upon the fruits of their labours. the merchants on the coast, too, though prohibited by their sultan from interfering with the natural course of trade, send their hungry slaves, as touters, to entice all approaching caravans to trade with their particular ports, authorising the touters to pay such premiums as may be necessary for the purpose. where they came from we could not ascertain; but during our residence, a large party of the wasuahili marched past, bound for the coast, with one hundred head of cattle, fifty slaves in chains, and as many goats. halts always end disastrously in africa, giving men time for mischief;--and here was an example of it. during the target-practice, which was always instituted on such occasions to give confidence to our men, the little pepper-box rahan, my head valet, challenged a comrade to a duel with carbines. being stopped by those around him, he vented his wrath in terrible oaths, and swung about his arms, until his gun accidentally went off, and blew his middle finger off. baraka next, with a kind of natural influence of affinity when a row is commenced, made himself so offensive to bombay, as to send him running to me so agitated with excitement that i thought him drunk. he seized my hands, cried, and implored me to turn him off. what could this mean? i could not divine; neither could he explain, further than that he had come to a determination that i must send either him or baraka to the right-about; and his first idea was that he, and not baraka, should be the victim. baraka's jealousy about his position had not struck me yet. i called them both together and asked what quarrel they had, but could not extract the truth. baraka protested that he had never given, either by word or deed, the slightest cause of rupture; he only desired the prosperity of the march, and that peace should reign throughout the camp; but bombay was suspicious of him, and malignantly abused him, for what reason baraka could not tell. when i spoke of this to bombay, like a bird fascinated by the eye of a viper, he shrank before the slippery tongue of his opponent, and could only say, "no, sahib--oh no, that is not it; you had better turn me off, for his tongue is so long, and mine so short, you never will believe me." i tried to make them friends, hoping it was merely a passing ill-wind which would soon blow over; but before long the two disputants were tonguing it again, and i distinctly heard bombay ordering baraka out of camp as he could not keep from intermeddling, saying, which was true, he had invited him to join the expedition, that his knowledge of hindustani might be useful to us; he was not wanted for any other purpose, and unless he was satisfied with doing that alone, we would get on much better without him. to this provocation baraka mildly made the retort, "pray don't put yourself in a passion, nobody is hurting you, it is all in your own heart, which is full of suspicions and jealousy without the slightest cause." this complicated matters more than ever. i knew bombay to be a generous, honest man, entitled by his former services to be in the position he was now holding as fundi, or supervisor in the camp. baraka, who never would have joined the expedition excepting through his invitation, was indebted to him for the rank he now enjoyed--a command over seventy men, a duty in which he might have distinguished himself as a most useful accessory to the camp. again i called the two together, and begged them to act in harmony like brothers, noticing that there was no cause for entertaining jealousy on either side, as every order rested with myself to reward for merit or to punish. the relative position in the camp was like that of the senior officers in india, bombay representing the mulki lord, or governor-general, and baraka the jungi lord, or commander-in-chief. to the influence of this distinguished comparison they both gave way, acknowledging myself their judge, and both protesting that they wished to serve in peace and quietness for the benefit of the march. zungomero is a terminus or junction of two roads leading to the interior--one, the northern, crossing over the goma pass, and trenching on the mukondokua river, and the other crossing over the mabruki pass, and edging on the ruaha river. they both unite again at ugogi, the western terminus on the present great unyamuezi line. on the former expedition i went by the northern line and returned by the southern, finding both equally easy, and, indeed, neither is worthy of special and permanent preference. in fact, every season makes a difference in the supply of water and provisions; and with every year, owing to incessant wars, or rather slave-hunts, the habitations of the wretched inhabitants become constantly changed--generally speaking, for the worse. our first and last object, therefore, as might be supposed, from knowing these circumstances, was to ascertain, before mounting the hill-range, which route would afford us the best facilities for a speedy march now. no one, however, could or would advise us. the whole country on ahead, especially ugogo, was oppressed by drought and famine. to avoid this latter country, then, we selected the southern route, as by doing so it was hoped we might follow the course of the ruaha river from maroro to usenga and usanga, and thence strike across to unyanyembe, sweeping clear of ugogo. with this determination, after despatching a third set of specimens, consisting of large game animals, birds, snakes, insects, land and freshwater shells, and a few rock specimens, of which one was fossiliferous, we turned southwards, penetrating the forests which lie between the greater range and the little outlying one. at the foot of this is the maji ya wheta, a hot, deep-seated spring of fresh water, which bubbles up through many apertures in a large dome-shaped heap of soft lime--an accumulation obviously thrown up by the force of the spring, as the rocks on either side of it are of igneous character. we arrived at the deserted village of kirengue. this was not an easy go-ahead march, for the halt had disaffected both men and mules. three of the former bolted, leaving their loads upon the ground; and on the line of march, one of the mules, a full-conditioned animal, gave up the ghost after an eighteen hours' sickness. what his disease was i never could ascertain; but as all the remaining animals died afterwards much in the same manner, i may state for once and for all, that these attacks commenced with general swelling, at first on the face, then down the neck, along the belly and down the legs. it proved so obstinate that fire had no effect upon it; and although we cut off the tails of some to relieve them by bleeding, still they died. in former days kirengue was inhabited, and we reasonably hoped to find some supplies for the jungly march before us. but we had calculated without our host, for the slave-hunters had driven every vestige of humanity away; and now, as we were delayed by our three loads behind, there was nothing left but to send back and purchase more grain. such was one of the many days frittered away in do-nothingness. this day, all together again, we rose the first spurs of the well-wooded usagara hills, amongst which the familiar bamboo was plentiful, and at night we bivouacked in the jungle. rising betimes in the morning, and starting with a good will, we soon reached the first settlements of mbuiga, from which could be seen a curious blue mountain, standing up like a giant overlooking all the rest of the hills. the scenery here formed a strong and very pleasing contrast to any we had seen since leaving the coast. emigrant waziraha, who had been driven from their homes across the kingani river by the slave-hunters, had taken possession of the place, and disposed their little conical-hut villages on the heights of the hill-spurs in such a picturesque manner, that one could not help hoping they would here at least be allowed to rest in peace and quietness. the valleys, watered by little brooks, are far richer, and even prettier, than the high lands above, being lined with fine trees and evergreen shrubs; while the general state of prosperity was such, that the people could afford, even at this late season of the year, to turn their corn into malt to brew beer for sale; and goats and fowls were plentiful in the market. passing by the old village of mbuiga, which i occupied on my former expedition, we entered some huts on the western flank of the mbuiga district; and here, finding a coast-man, a great friend of the little sheikh's, willing to take back to zanzibar anything we might give him, a halt was made, and i drew up my reports. i then consigned to his charge three of the most sickly of the hottentots in a deplorable condition--one of the mules, that they might ride by turns--and all the specimens that had been collected. with regret i also sent back the camera; because i saw, had i allowed my companion to keep working it, the heat he was subjected to in the little tent whilst preparing and fixing his plates would very soon have killed him. the number of guinea-fowl seen here was most surprising. a little lighter and much more comfortable for the good riddance of those grumbling "tots," we worked up to and soon breasted the stiff ascent of the mabruki pass, which we surmounted without much difficult. this concluded the first range of these usagara hills; and once over, we dropped down to the elevated valley of makata, where we halted two days to shoot. as a travelling arab informed me that the whole of the maroro district had been laid waste by the marauding wahehe, i changed our plans again, and directed our attention to a middle and entirely new line, which in the end would lead us to ugogi. the first and only giraffe killed upon the journey was here shot by grant, with a little 40-gauge lancaster rifle, at 200 yards' distance. some smaller animals were killed; but i wasted all my time in fruitlessly stalking some wounded striped eland--magnificent animals, as large as delhi oxen--and some other animals, of which i wounded three, about the size of hartebeest, and much their shape, only cream-coloured, with a conspicuous black spot in the centre of each flank. the eland may probably be the animal first mentioned by livingstone, but the other animal is not known. though reluctant to leave a place where such rare animals were to be found, the fear of remaining longer on the road induced us to leave kikobogo, and at a good stride we crossed the flat valley of makata, and ascended the higher lands beyond, where we no sooner arrived than we met the last down trader from unyamuezi, well known to all my men as the great mamba or crocodile. mamba, dressed in a dirty arab gown, with coronet of lion's nails decorating a thread-bare cutch cap, greeted us with all the dignity of a savage potentate surrounded by his staff of half-naked officials. as usual, he had been the last to leave the unyamuezi, and so purchased all his stock of ivory at a cheap rate, there being no competitors left to raise the value of that commodity; but his journey had been a very trying one. with a party, at his own estimate, of two thousand souls--we did not see anything like that number--he had come from ugogo to this, by his own confession, living on the products of the jungle, and by boiling down the skin aprons of his porters occasionally for a soup. famines were raging throughout the land, and the arabs preceding him had so harried the country, that every village was deserted. on hearing our intention to march upon the direct line, he frankly said he thought we should never get through for my men could not travel as he had done, and therefore he advised our deflecting northwards from new mbumi to join the track leading from rumuma to ugogi. this was a sad disappointment; but, rather than risk a failure, i resolved to follow his advice. after reaching the elevated ground, we marched over rolling tops, covered with small trees and a rich variety of pretty bulbs, and reached the habitations of muhanda, where we no sooner appeared than the poor villagers, accustomed only to rough handling, immediately dispersed in the jungles. by dint of persuasion, however, we induced them to sell us provisions, though at a monstrous rate, such as no merchant could have afforded; and having spent the night quietly, we proceeded on to the upper courses of the m'yombo river, which trends its way northwards to the mukondokua river. the scenery was most interesting, with every variety of hill, roll, plateau, and ravine, wild and prettily wooded; but we saw nothing of the people. like frightened rats, as soon as they caught the sound of our advancing march, they buried themselves in the jungles, carrying off their grain with them. foraging parties, of necessity, were sent out as soon as the camp was pitched, with cloth for purchases, and strict orders not to use force; the upshot of which was, that my people got nothing but a few arrows fired at them by the lurking villagers, and i was abused for my squeamishness. moreover, the villagers, emboldened by my lenity, vauntingly declared they would attack the camp by night, as they could only recognise in us such men as plunder their houses and steal their children. this caused a certain amount of alarm among my men, which induced them to run up a stiff bush-fence round the camp, and kept them talking all night. this morning we marched on as usual, with one of the hottentots lashed on a donkey; for the wretched creature, after lying in the sun asleep, became so sickly that he could not move or do anything for himself, and nobody would do anything for him. the march was a long one, but under ordinary circumstances would have been very interesting, for we passed an immense lagoon, where hippopotami were snorting as if they invited an attack. in the larger tree-jungles the traces of elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceros, and antelopes were very numerous; while a rich variety of small birds, as often happened, made me wish i had come on a shooting rather than on a long exploring expedition. towards sunset we arrived at new mbimi, a very pretty and fertile place, lying at the foot of a cluster of steep hills, and pitched camp for three days to lay in supplies for ten, as this was reported to be the only place where we could buy corn until we reached ugogo, a span of 140 miles. mr mbumi, the chief of the place, a very affable negro, at once took us by the hand, and said he would do anything we desired, for he had often been to zanzibar. he knew that the english were the ruling power in that land, and that they were opposed to slavery, the terrible effects of which had led to his abandoning old mbumi, on the banks of the mukondokua river, and rising here. the sick hottentot died here, and we buried him with christian honours. as his comrades said, he died because he had determined to die,--an instance of that obstinate fatalism in their mulish temperament which no kind words or threats can cure. this terrible catastrophe made me wish to send all the remaining hottentots back to zanzibar; but as they all preferred serving with me to returning to duty at the cape, i selected two of the most sickly, put them under tabib, one of rigby's old servants, and told him to remain with them at mbumi until such time as he might find some party proceeding to the coasts; and, in the meanwhile, for board and lodgings i have mbumi beads and cloth. the prices of provisions here being a good specimen of what one has to pay at this season of the year, i give a short list of them:--sixteen rations corn, two yards cloth; three fowls, two yards cloth; one goat, twenty yards cloth; one cow, forty yards cloth,--the cloth being common american sheeting. before we left mbumi, a party of forty men and women of the waquiva tribe, pressed by famine, were driven there to purchase food. the same tribe had, however killed many of mbumi's subjects not long since, and therefore, in african revenge, the chief seized them all, saying he would send them off for sale to zanzibar market unless they could give a legitimate reason for the cruelty they had committed. these waquiva, i was given to understand, occupied the steep hills surrounding this place. they were a squalid-looking set, like the generality of the inhabitants of this mountainous region. this march led us over a high hill to the mdunhwi river, another tributary to the mukondokua. it is all clad in the upper regions with the slender pole-trees which characterise these hills, intermingled with bamboo; but the bottoms are characterised by a fine growth of fig-trees of great variety along with high grasses; whilst near the villages were found good gardens of plantains, and numerous palmyra trees. the rainy season being not far off, the villagers were busy in burning rubble and breaking their ground. within their reach everywhere is the sarsaparilla vine, but growing as a weed, for they know nothing of its value. rising up from the deep valley of mdunhwi we had to cross another high ridge before descending to the also deep valley of chongue, as picturesque a country as the middle heights of the himalayas, dotted on the ridges and spur-slopes by numerous small conical-hut villages; but all so poor that we could not, had we wanted it, have purchased provisions for a day's consumption. leaving this valley, we rose to the table of manyovi, overhung with much higher hills, looking, according to the accounts of our hottentots, as they eyed the fine herds of cattle grazing on the slopes, so like the range in kafraria, that they formed their expectations accordingly, and appeared, for the first time since leaving the coast, happy at the prospect before them, little dreaming that such rich places were seldom to be met with. the wanyamuezi porters even thought they had found a paradise, and forthwith threw down their loads as the villagers came to offer them grain for sale; so that, had i not had the wanguana a little under control, we should not have completed our distance that day, and so reached manyonge, which reminded me, by its ugliness, of the sterile somali land. proceeding through the semi-desert rolling table-land--in one place occupied by men who build their villages in large open squares of flat-topped mud huts, which, when i have occasion to refer to them in future, i shall call by their native name tembe--we could see on the right hand the massive mountains overhanging the mukondokua river, to the front the western chain of these hills, and to the left the high crab-claw shaped ridge, which, extending from the western chain, circles round conspicuously above the swelling knolls which lie between the two main rocky ridges. contorted green thorn-trees, "elephant-foot" stumps, and aloes, seem to thrive best here, by their very nature indicating what the country is, a poor stony land. our camp was pitched by the river rumuma, where, sheltered from the winds, and enriched by alluvial soil, there ought to have been no scarcity; but still the villagers had nothing to sell. on we went again to marenga mkhaili, the "salt water," to breakfast, and camped in the crooked green thorns by night, carrying water on for our supper. this kind of travelling--forced marches--hard as it may appear, was what we liked best, for we felt that we were shortening the journey, and in doing so, shortening the risks of failure by disease, by war, by famine, and by mutiny. we had here no grasping chiefs to detain us for presents, nor had our men time to become irritable and truculent, concoct devices for stopping the way, or fight amongst themselves. on again, and at last we arrived at the foot of the western chain; but not all together. some porters, overcome by heat and thirst, lay scattered along the road, while the corporal of the hottentots allowed his mule to stray from him, never dreaming the animal would travel far from his comrades, and, in following after him, was led such a long way into the bush, that my men became alarmed for his safety, knowing as they did that the "savages" were out living like monkeys on the calabash fruit, and looking out for any windfalls, such as stragglers worth plundering, that might come in their way. at first the wanguana attempted to track down the corporal; but finding he would not answer their repeated shots, and fearful for their own safety, they came into camp and reported the case. losing no time, i ordered twenty men, armed with carbines, to carry water for the distressed porters, and bring the corporal back as soon as possible. they all marched off, as they always do on such exploits, in high good-humour with themselves for the valour which they intended to show; and in the evening came in, firing their guns in the most reckless manner, beaming with delight; for they had the corporal in tow, two men and two women captives, and a spear as a trophy. then in high impatience, all in a breath, they began a recital of the great day's work. the corporal had followed on the spoor of the mule, occasionally finding some of his things that had been torn from the beast's back by the thorns, and, picking up these one by one, had become so burdened with the weight of them, that he could follow no farther. in this fix the twenty men came up with him, but not until they had had a scrimmage with the "savages," had secured four, and taken the spear which had been thrown at them. of the mule's position no one could give an opinion, save that they imagined, in consequence of the thickness of the bush, he would soon become irretrievably entangled in the thicket, where the savages would find him, and bring him in as a ransom for the prisoners. what with the diminution of our supplies, the famished state of the country, and the difficulties which frowned upon us in advance, together with unwillingness to give up so good a mule, with all its gear and ammunition, i must say i felt doubtful as to what had better be done, until the corporal, who felt confident he would find the beast, begged so hard that i sent him in command of another expedition of sixteen men, ordering him to take one of the prisoners with him to proclaim to his brethren that we would give up the rest if they returned us the mule. the corporal then led off his band to the spot where he last saw traces of the animal, and tracked on till sundown; while grant and myself went out pot-hunting and brought home a bag consisting of one striped eland, one saltiana antelope, four guinea-fowl, four ringdoves, and one partridge--a welcome supply, considering we were quite out of flesh. next day, as there were no signs of the trackers, i went again to the place of the elands, wounded a fine male, but gave up the chase, as i heard the unmistakable gun-firing return of the party, and straightway proceeded to camp. sure enough, there they were; they had tracked the animal back to marenga mkhali, through jungle--for he had not taken to the footpath. then finding he had gone on, they returned quite tired and famished. to make the most of a bad job, i now sent grant on to the robeho (or windy) pass, on the top of the western chain, with the mules and heavy baggage, and directions to proceed thence across the brow of the hill the following morning, while i remained behind with the tired men, promising to join him by breakfast-time. i next released the prisoners, much to their disgust, for they had not known such good feeding before, and dreaded being turned adrift again in the jungles to live on calabash seeds; and then, after shooting six guinea-fowl, turned in for the night. betimes in the morning we were off, mounting the robeho, a good stiff ascent, covered with trees and large blocks of granite, excepting only where cleared for villages; and on we went rapidly, until at noon the advance party was reached, located in a village overlooking the great interior plateau--a picture, as it were, of the common type of african scenery. here, taking a hasty meal, we resumed the march all together, descended the great western chain, and, as night set in, camped in a ravine at the foot of it, not far from the great junction-station ugogi, where terminate the hills of usagara. chapter iv. ugogo, and the wilderness of mgunda mkhali the lie of the country--rhinoceros-stalking--scuffle of villagers over a carcass--chief "short-legs" and his successors--buffalo-shooting-getting lost--a troublesome sultan--desertions from the camp--getting plundered--wilderness march--diplomatic relations with the local powers--manua sera's story--christmas--the relief from kaze this day's work led us from the hilly usagara range into the more level lands of the interior. making a double march of it, we first stopped to breakfast at the quiet little settlement of inenge, where cattle were abundant, but grain so scarce that the villagers were living on calabash seeds. proceeding thence across fields delightfully checkered with fine calabash and fig trees, we marched, carrying water through thorny jungles, until dark, when we bivouacked for the night, only to rest and push on again next morning, arriving at marenga mkhali (the saline water) to breakfast. here a good view of the usagara hills is obtained. carrying water with us, we next marched half-way to the first settlement of ugogo, and bivouacked again, to eat the last of our store of mbumi grain. at length the greater famine lands had been spanned; but we were not in lands of plenty--for the wagogo we found, like their neighbours wasagara, eating the seed of the calabash, to save their small stores of grain. the east coast range having been passed, no more hills had to be crossed, for the land we next entered on is a plateau of rolling ground, sloping southward to the ruaha river, which forms a great drain running from west to east, carrying off all the rainwaters that fall in its neighbourhood through the east coast range to the sea. to the northward can be seen some low hills, which are occupied by wahumba, a subtribe of the warlike masai; and on the west is the large forest-wilderness of mgunda mkhali. ugogo, lying under the lee side of the usagara hills, is comparatively sterile. small outcrops of granite here and there poke through the surface, which, like the rest of the rolling land, being covered with bush, principally acacias, have a pleasing appearance after the rains have set in, but are too brown and desert-looking during the rest of the year. large prairies of grass also are exposed in many places, and the villagers have laid much ground bare for agricultural purposes. altogether, ugogo has a very wild aspect, well in keeping with the natives who occupy it, who, more like the wazaramo than the wasagara, carry arms, intended for use rather than show. the men, indeed, are never seen without their usual arms--the spear, the shield, and the assage. they live in flat-topped, square, tembe villages, wherever springs of water are found, keep cattle in plenty, and farm enough generally to supply not only their own wants, but those of the thousands who annually pass in caravans. they are extremely fond of ornaments, the most common of which is an ugly tube of the gourd thrust through the lower lobe of the ear. their colour is a soft ruddy brown, with a slight infusion of black, not unlike that of a rich plum. impulsive by nature, and exceedingly avaricious, they pester travellers beyond all conception, by thronging the road, jeering, quizzing, and pointing at them; and in camp, by intrusively forcing their way into the midst of the kit, and even into the stranger's tent. caravans, in consequence, never enter their villages, but camp outside, generally under the big "gouty-limbed" trees--encircling their entire camp sometimes with a ring-fence of thorns to prevent any sudden attack. to resume the thread of the journey: we found, on arrival in ugogo, very little more food than in usagara for the wagogo were mixing their small stores of grain with the monkey-bread seeds of the gouty-limbed tree. water was so scarce in the wells at this season that we had to buy it at the normal price of country beer; and, as may be imagined where such distress in food was existing, cows, goats, sheep, and fowls were also selling at high rates. our mules here gave us the slip again, and walked all the way back to marenga mkhali, where they were found and brought back by some wagogo, who took four yards of merikani in advance, with a promise of four more on return, for the job--their chief being security for their fidelity. this business detained us two days, during which time i shot a new variety of florikan, peculiar in having a light blue band stretching from the nose over the eye to the occiput. each day, while we resided here, cries were raised by the villagers that the wahumba were coming, and then all the cattle out in the plains, both far and near, were driven into the village for protection. at last, on the 26th, as the mules were brought it, i paid a hongo or tax of four barsati and four yards of chintz to the chief, and departed, but not until one of my porters, a mhehe, obtained a fat dog for his dinner; he had set his heart on it, and would not move until he had killed it, and tied it on to his load for the evening's repast. passing through the next villages--a collection called kifukuro--we had to pay another small tax of two barsati and four yards of chintz to the chief. there we breakfasted, and pushed on, carrying water to a bivouac in the jungles, as the famine precluded our taking the march more easily. pushing on again, we cleared out of the woods, and arrived at the eastern border of the largest clearance of ugogo, kanyenye. here we were forced to halt a day, as the mules were done up, and eight of the wanyamuezi porters absconded, carrying with them the best part of their loads. there was also another inducement for stopping here; for, after stacking the loads, as we usually did on arriving in camp, against a large gouty-limbed tree, a hungry mgogo, on eyeing our guns, offered his services to show us some bicornis rhinoceros, which, he said paid nightly visits to certain bitter pools that lay in the nullah bottoms not far off. this exciting intelligence made me inquire if it was not possible to find them at once; but, being assured that they lived very far off, and that the best chance was the night, i gave way, and settled on starting at ten, to arrive at the ground before the full moon should rise. i set forth with the guide and two of the sheikh's boys, each carrying a single rifle, and ensconced myself in the nullah, to hide until our expected visitors should arrive, and there remained until midnight. when the hitherto noisy villagers turned into bed, the silvery moon shed her light on the desolate scene, and the mgogo guide, taking fright, bolted. he had not, however, gone long, when, looming above us, coming over the horizon line, was the very animal we wanted. in a fidgety manner the beast then descended, as if he expected some danger in store--and he was not wrong; for, attaching a bit of white paper to the fly-sight of my blissett, i approached him, crawling under cover of the banks until within eighty yards of him, when, finding that the moon shone full on his flank, i raised myself upright and planted a bullet behind his left shoulder. thus died my first rhinoceros. to make the most of the night, as i wanted meat for my men to cook, as well as a stock to carry with them, or barter with the villagers for grain, i now retired to my old position, and waited again. after two hours had elapsed, two more rhinoceros approached me in the same stealthy, fidgety way as the first one. they came even closer than the first, but, the moon having passed beyond their meridian, i could not obtain so clear a mark. still they were big marks, and i determined on doing my best before they had time to wind us; so stepping out, with the sheikh's boys behind me carrying the second rifle to meet all emergencies, i planted a ball in the larger one, and brought him round with a roar and whooh-whooh, exactly to the best position i could wish for receiving a second shot; but, alas! on turning sharply round for the spare rifle, i had the mortification to see that both the black boys had made off, and were scrambling like monkeys up a tree. at the same time the rhinoceros, fortunately for me, on second consideration turned to the right-about, and shuffled away, leaving, as is usually the case when conical bullets are used, no traces of blood. thus ended the night's work. we now went home by dawn to apprise all the porters that we had flesh in store for them, when the two boys who had so shamelessly deserted me, instead of hiding their heads, described all the night's scenes with such capital mimicry as to set the whole camp in a roar. we had all now to hurry back to the carcass before the wagogo could find it; but though this precaution was quickly taken, still, before the tough skin of the beast could be cut through, the wagogo began assembling like vultures, and fighting with my men. a more savage, filthy, disgusting, but at the same time grotesque, scene than that which followed cannot be conceived. all fell to work armed with swords, spears, knives, and hatchets--cutting and slashing, thumping and bawling, fighting and tearing, tumbling and wrestling up to their knees in filth and blood in the middle of the carcass. when a tempting morsel fell to the possession of any one, a stronger neighbour would seize and bear off the prize in triumph. all right was now a matter or pure might, and lucky it was that it did not end in a fight between our men and the villagers. these might be afterwards seen, one by one, covered with blood, scampering home each with his spoil--a piece of tripe, or liver, or lights, or whatever else it might have been his fortune to get off with. we were still in great want of men; but rather than stop a day, as all delays only lead to more difficulties, i pushed on to magomba's palace with the assistance of some wagogo carrying our baggage, each taking one cloth as his hire. the chief wazir at once come out to meet me on the way, and in an apparently affable manner, as an old friend, begged that i would live in the palace--a bait which i did not take, as i knew my friend by experience a little too well. he then, in the politest possible manner, told me that a great dearth of food was oppressing the land--so much so, that pretty cloths only would purchase grain. i now wished to settle my hongo, but the great chief could not hear of such indecent haste. the next day, too, the chief was too drunk to listen to any one, and i must have patience. i took out this time in the jungles very profitably, killing a fine buck and doe antelope, of a species unknown. these animals are much about the same size and shape as the common indian antelope, and, like them, roam about in large herds. the only marked difference between the two is in the shape of their horns, as may be seen by the woodcut; and in their colour, in which, in both sexes, the ugogo antelopes resemble the picticandata gazelle of tibet, except that the former have dark markings on the face. at last, after thousands of difficulties much like those i encountered in uzaramo, the hongo was settled by a payment of one kisutu, one dubani, four yards bendera, four yards kiniki, and three yards merikani. the wazir then thought he would do some business on his own account, and commenced work by presenting me with a pot of ghee and flour, saying at the same time "empty words did not show true love," and hoping that i would prove mine by making some slight return. to get rid of the animal i gave him the full value of his present in cloth, which he no sooner pocketed than he had the audacity to accuse grant of sacrilege for having shot a lizard on a holy stone, and demanded four cloths to pay atonement for this offence against the "church." as yet, he said, the chief was not aware of the damage done, and it was well he was not; for he would himself, if i only paid him the four cloths, settle matters quietly, otherwise there would be no knowing what demands might be made on my cloth. it was necessary to get up hot temper, else there was no knowing how far he would go; so i returned him his presents, and told the sheikh, instead of giving four, to fling six cloths in his face, and tell him that the holy-stone story was merely a humbug, and i would take care no more white men ever came to see him again. some wanyamuezi porters, who had been left sick here by former caravans, now wished to take service with me as far as kaze; but the wagogo, hearing of their desire, frightened them off it. a report also at this time was brought to us, that a caravan had just arrived at our last ground, having come up from whindi, direct by the line of the wami river, in its upper course called mukondokua, without crossing a single hill all the way; i therefore sent three men to see if they had any porters to spare, as it was said they had; but the three men, although they left their bows and arrows behind, never came back. another mule died to-day. this was perplexing indeed, but to stop longer was useless; so we pushed forward as best we could to a pond at the western end of the district where we found a party of makua sportsmen who had just killed an elephant. they had lived in ugogo one year and a half, and had killed in all seventeen elephants; half the tusks of which, as well as some portion of the flesh, they gave to magomba for the privilege of residing there. there were many antelopes there, some of which both grant and i shot for the good of the pot, and he also killed a crocute hyena. from the pond we went on to the middle of a large jungle, and bivouacked for the night in a shower of rain, the second of the season. during a fierce downpour of rain, the porters all quivering and quaking with cold, we at length emerged from the jungle, and entered the prettiest spot in ugogo--the populous district of usekhe--where little hills and huge columns of granite crop out. here we halted. next day came the hongo business, which was settled by paying one dubani, one kitambi, one msutu, four yards merikani, and two yards kiniki; but whilst we were doing it eight porters ran away, and four fresh ones were engaged (wanyamuezi) who had run away from kanyenye. with one more march from this we reached the last district in ugogo, khoko. here the whole of the inhabitants turned out to oppose us, imagining we had come there to revenge the arab, mohinna, because the wagogo attacked him a year ago, plundered his camp, and drove him back to kaze, for having shot their old chief "short-legs." they, however, no sooner found out who we were than they allowed us to pass on, and encamp in the outskirts of the mgunda mkhali wilderness. to this position in the bush i strongly objected, on the plea that guns could be best used against arrows in the open; but none would go out in the field, maintaining that the wagogo would fear to attack us so far from their villages, as we now were, lest we might cut them off in their retreat. hori hori was now chief in short-leg's stead, and affected to be much pleased that we were english, and not arabs. he told us we might, he thought, be able to recruit all the men that we were in want of, as many wanyanuezi who had been left there sick wished to go to their homes; and i would only, in addition to their wages, have to pay their "hotel bills" to the wagogo. this, of course, i was ready to do, though i knew the wanyamuezi had paid for themselves, as is usual, by their work in the fields of their hosts. still, as i should be depriving these of hands, i could scarcely expect to get off for less than the value of a slave for each, and told sheikh said to look out for some men at once, whilst at the same time he laid in provisions of grain to last us eight days in the wilderness, and settle the hongo. for this triple business, i allowed three days, during which time, always eager to shoot something, either for science or the pot, i killed a bicornis rhinoceros, at a distance of five paces only, with my small 40-gauge lancaster, as the beast stood quietly feeding in the bush; and i also shot a bitch fox of the genus octocyon lalandii, whose ill-omened cry often alarms the natives by forewarning them of danger. this was rather tame sport; but next day i had better fun. starting in the early morning, accompanied by two of sheikh said's boys, suliman and faraj, each carrying a rifle, while i carried a shot-gun, we followed a footpath to the westward in the wilderness of mgunda mkhali. there, after walking a short while in the bush, as i heard the grunt of a buffalo close on my left, i took "blissett" in hand, and walked to where i soon espied a large herd quietly feeding. they were quite unconscious of my approach, so i took a shot at a cow, and wounded her; then, after reloading, put a ball in a bull and staggered him also. this caused great confusion among them; but as none of the animals knew where the shots came from, they simply shifted about in a fidgety manner, allowing me to kill the first cow, and even fire a fourth shot, which sickened the great bull, and induced him to walk off, leaving the herd to their fate, who, considerably puzzled, began moving off also. i now called up the boys, and determined on following the herd down before either skinning the dead cow or following the bull, who i knew could not go far. their footprints being well defined in the moist sandy soil, we soon found the herd again; but as they now knew they were pursued, they kept moving on in short runs at a time, when, occasionally gaining glimpses of their large dark bodies as they forced through the bush, i repeated my shots and struck a good number, some more and some less severely. this was very provoking; for all of them being stern shots were not likely to kill, and the jungle was so thick i could not get a front view of them. presently, however, one with her hind leg broken pulled up on a white-ant hill, and, tossing her horns, came down with a charge the instant i showed myself close to her. one crack of the rifle rolled her over, and gave me free scope to improve the bag, which was very soon done; for on following the spoors, the traces of blood led us up to another one as lame as the last. he then got a second bullet in the flank, and, after hobbling a little, evaded our sight and threw himself into a bush, where we not sooner arrived than he plunged headlong at us from his ambush, just, and only just, giving me time to present my small 40-gauge lancaster. it was a most ridiculous scene. suliman by my side, with the instinct of a monkey, made a violent spring and swung himself by a bough immediately over the beast, whilst faraj bolted away and left me single-gunned to polish him off. there was only one course to pursue, for in one instant more he would have been into me; so, quick as thought, i fired the gun, and, as luck would have it, my bullet, after passing through the edge of one of his horns, stuck in the spine of his neck, and rolled him over at my feet as dead as a rabbit. now, having cut the beast's throat to make him "hilal," according to mussulman usage, and thinking we had done enough if i could only return to the first wounded bull and settle him too, we commenced retracing our steps, and by accident came on grant. he was passing by from another quarter, and became amused by the glowing description of my boys, who never omitted to narrate their own cowardice as an excellent tale. he begged us to go on in our course, whilst he would go back and send us some porters to carry home the game. now, tracking back again to the first point of attack, we followed the blood of the first bull, till at length i found him standing like a stuck pig in some bushes, looking as if he would like to be put out of his miseries. taking compassion, i levelled my blisset; but, as bad luck would have it, a bough intercepted the flight of the bullet, and it went "pinging" into the air, whilst the big bull went off at a gallop. to follow on was no difficulty, the spoor was so good; and in ten minutes more, as i opened on a small clearance, blisset in hand, the great beast, from the thicket on the opposite side, charged down like a mad bull, full of ferocity--as ugly an antagonist as ever i saw, for the front of his head was all shielded with horn. a small mound fortunately stood between us, and as he rounded it, i jumped to one side and let fly at his flank, but without the effect of stopping him; for, as quick as thought, the huge monster was at my feet, battling with the impalpable smoke of my gun, which fortunately hung so thick on the ground at the height of his head that he could not see me, though i was so close that i might, had i been possessed of a hatchet, have chopped off his head. this was a predicament which looked very ugly, for my boys had both bolted, taking with them my guns; but suddenly the beast, evidently regarding the smoke as a phantom which could not be mastered, turned round in a bustle, to my intense relief, and galloped off at full speed, as if scared by some terrible apparition. o what would i not then have given for a gun, the chance was such a good one! still, angry though i was, i could not help laughing as the dastardly boys came into the clearance full of their mimicry, and joked over the scene they had witnessed in security, whilst my life was in jeopardy because they were too frightened to give me my gun. but now came the worst part of the day; for, though rain was falling, i had not the heart to relinquish my game. tracking on through the bush, i thought every minute i should come up with the brute; but his wounds ceased to bleed, and in the confusion of the numerous tracks which scored all the forest we lost our own. much disappointed at this, i now proposed to make for the track we came by in the morning, and follow it down into camp; but this luxury was not destined to be our lot that night, for the rain had obliterated all our footprints of the morning, and we passed the track, mistaking it for the run of wild beasts. it struck me we had done so; but say what i would, the boys thought they knew better; and the consequence was that, after wandering for hours no one knew where--for there was no sun to guide us--i pulled up, and swore i would wait for the stars, else it might be our fate to be lost in the wilderness, which i did not much relish. we were all at this time "hungry as hunters," and beginning to feel very miserable from being wet through. what little ammunition i had left i fired off as signals, or made tinder of to get up a fire, but the wood would not burn. in this hapless condition the black boys began murmuring, wishing to go on, pretending, though both held opposite views, that each knew the way; for they thought nothing could be worse than their present state of discomfort. night with its gloom was then drawing on, heightened by thunder and lightning, which set in all around us. at times we thought we heard musketry in camp, knowing that grant would be sure to fire signals for us; and doubtless we did so, but its sound and the thunder so much resembled one another that we distrusted our ears. at any rate, the boys mistook the west for the east; and as i thought they had done so, i stood firm to one spot, and finally lay down with them to sleep upon the cold wet ground, where we slept pretty well, being only disturbed occasionally by some animals sniffing at our feet. as the clouds broke towards morning, my obstinate boys still swore that west was east, and would hardly follow me when tracking down venus; next up rose the moon and then followed the sun, when, as good luck would have it, we struck on the track, and walked straight into camp. here every one was in a great state of excitement: grant had been making the men fire volleys. the little sheikh was warmly congratulatory as he spoke of the numbers who had strayed away and had been lost in that wilderness; whilst bombay admitted he thought we should turn up again if i did not listen to the advice of the boys, which was his only fear. nothing as yet, i now found, had been done to further our march. the hongo, the sheikh said, had to precede everything; yet that had not been settled, because the chief deferred it the day of our arrival, on the plea that it was the anniversary of short-legs's death; and he also said that till then all the wagogo had been in mourning by ceasing to wear all their brass bracelets and other ornaments, and they now wished to solemnise the occasion by feasting and renewing their finery. this being granted, the next day another pretext for delay was found, by the wahumba having made a raid on their cattle, which necessitated the chief and all his men turning out to drive them away; and to-day nothing could be attended to, as a party of fugitive wanyamuezi had arrived and put them all in a fright. these wanyamuezi, it then transpired, were soldiers of manua sera, the "tippler," who was at war with the arabs. he had been defeated at mguru, a district in unyamuezi, by the arabs, and had sent these men to cut off the caravan route, as the best way of retaliation that lay in his power. at last the tax having been settled by the payment of one dubani, two barsati, one sahari, six yards merikani, and three yards kiniki (not, however, until i had our tents struck, and threatened to march away if the chief would not take it), i proposed going on with the journey, for our provisions were stored, but when the loads were being lifted, i found ten more men were missing; and as nothing now could be done but throw ten loads away, which seemed to great a sacrifice to be made in a hurry, i simply changed ground to show we were ready to march, and sent my men about, either to try to induce the fugitive wanyamuezi to take service with me or else to buy donkeys, as the chief said he had some to sell. we had already been here too long. a report was now spread that a lion had killed one of the chief's cows; and the wagogo, suspecting that our being here was the cause of this ill luck, threatened to attack us. this no sooner got noised over the camp than all my wanyamuezi porters, who had friends in ugogo, left to live with them, and would not come back again even when the "storm had blown over," because they did not like the incessant rains that half deluged the camp. the chief, too, said he would not sell us his donkeys, lest we should give them back to mohinna, from whom they were taken during his fight here. intrigues of all sorts i could see were brewing, possibly at the instigation of the fugitive wanyamuezi, who suspected we were bound to side with the arabs--possibly from some other cause, i could not tell what; so, to clear out of this pandemonium as soon as possible i issued cloths to buy double rations, intending to cross the wilderness by successive relays in double the ordinary number of days. i determined at the same time to send forward two freed men to kaze to ask musa and the arabs to send me out some provisions and men to meet us half-way. matters grew worse and worse. the sultan, now finding me unable to move, sent a message to say if i would not give him some better cloths to make his hongo more respectable, he would attack my camp; and advised all the wanyamuezi who regarded their lives not to go near me if i resisted. this was by no means pleasant; for the porters showed their uneasiness by extracting their own cloths from my bundles, under the pretext that they wished to make some purchases of their own. i ought, perhaps, to have stopped this; but i thought the best plan was to show total indifference; so, at the same time that they were allowed to take their cloths, i refused to comply with the chief's request, and begged them to have no fear so long as they saw i could hold my own ground with my guns. the wanyamuezi, however, were panic-stricken, and half of them bolted, with the kirangozi at their head, carrying off all the double-ration cloths as well as their own. at this time, the sultan, having changed tactics, as he saw us all ready to stand on the defensive, sent back his hongo; but, instead of using threats, said he would oblige us with donkeys or anything else if we would only give him a few more pretty cloths. with this cringing, perfidious appeal i refused to comply, until the sheikh, still more cringing, implored me to give way else not a single man would remain with me. i then told him to settle with the chief himself, and give me the account, which amounted to three barsati, two sahari, and three yards merikani; but the donkeys were never alluded to. with half my men gone, i still ordered the march, though strongly opposed to the advice of one of old mamba's men, who was then passing by on his way to the coast, in command of his master's rear detachment. he thought it impossible for us to pull through the wilderness, with its jungle grasses and roots, depending for food only on grant's gun and my own; still we made half-way to the mdaburu nullah, taking some of mamba's out to camp with us, as he promised to take letters and specimens down to the coast for us, provided i paid him some cloths as ready money down, and promised some more to be paid at zanzibar. these letters eventually reached home, but not the specimens. the rains were so heavy that the whole country was now flooded, but we pushed on to the nullah by relays, and pitched on its left bank. in the confusion of the march, however, we lost many more porters, who at the same time relieved us of their loads, by slipping off stealthily into the bush. the fifteenth was a forced halt, as the stream was so deep and so violent we could not cross it. to make the best of this very unfortunate interruption, i now sent on two men to kaze, with letters to musa and sheikh snay, both old friends on the former expedition, begging them to send me sixty men, each carrying thirty rations of grain, and some country tobacco. the tobacco was to gratify my men, who said of all things they most wanted to cheer them was something to smoke. at the same time i sent back some other men to khoko, with cloth to buy grain for present consumption, as some of my porters were already reduced to living on wild herbs and white ants. i then sent all the remaining men, under the directions of bombay and baraka, to fell a tall tree with hatchets, on the banks of the nullah, with a view to bridging it; but the tree dropped to the wrong side, and thwarted the plan. the rain ceased on the 17th, just as we put the rain-gauge out, which was at once interpreted to be our uganga, or religious charm, and therefore the cause of its ceasing. it was the first fine day for a fortnight, so we were only too glad to put all our things out to dry, and rejoiced to think of the stream's subsiding. my men who went back to khoko for grain having returned with next to nothing--though, of course, they had spent all the cloths--i sent back another batch with pretty cloths, as it was confidently stated that grain was so scarce there, nothing but the best fabrics would but it. this also proved a dead failure; but although animals were very scarce, grant relieved our anxiety by shooting a zebra and an antelope. after five halts, we forded the stream, middle deep, and pushed forwards again, doing short stages of four or five miles a-day, in the greatest possible confusion; for, whilst grant and i were compelled to go out shooting all day for the pot, the sheikh and bombay went on with the first half of the property and then, keeping guard over it sent the men back again to baraka, who kept rear-guard, to have the rest brought on. order there was none: the men hated this "double work;" all the wanyamuezi but three deserted, with the connivance of the coast-men, carrying off their loads with them, under a mutual understanding, as i found out afterwards, that the coast-men were to go shares in the plunder as soon as we reached unyamuezi. the next great obstacle in this tug-and-pull wilderness-march presented itself on the 24th, when, after the first half of the property had crossed the mabunguru nullah, it rose in flood and cut off the rear half. it soon, however, subsided; and the next day we reached "the springs," where we killed a pig and two rhinoceros. not content, however, with this fare--notwithstanding the whole camp had been living liberally on zebra's and antelope's flesh every day previously--some of my coast-men bolted on to the little settlement of jiwa la mkoa, contrary to orders, to purchase some grain; and in doing so, increased our transport difficulties. pulling on in the same way again--when not actually engaged in shooting, scolding and storming at the men, to keep them up to the mark, and prevent them from shirking their work, which they were for every trying to do--we arrived on the 28th at the "boss," a huge granite block, from the top of which the green foliage of the forest-trees looked like an interminable cloud, soft and waving, fit for fairies to dwell upon. here the patience of my men fairly gave way, for the village of jiwa la mkoa was only one long march distance from us; and they, in consequence, smelt food on in advance much sweeter than the wild game and wild grasses they had been living on; and many more of them could not resist deserting us, though they might, had we all pulled together, have gone more comfortably in, as soon as the rear property arrived next day with baraka. all the men who deserted on the 25th, save johur and mutwana, now came into camp, and told us they had heard from travellers that those men who had been sent on for reliefs to kaze were bringing us a large detachment of slaves to help us on. my men had brought no food either for us or their friends, as the cloths they took with them, "which were their own," were scarcely sufficient to purchase a meal--famines being as bad where they had been as in ugogo. to try and get all the men together again, i now sent off a party loaded with cloths to see what they could get for us; but they returned on the 30th grinning and joking, with nothing but a small fragment of goat-flesh, telling lies by the dozens. johur then came into camp, unconscious that baraka by my orders had, during his absence, been inspecting his kit, where he found concealed seventy-three yards of cloth, which could only have been my property, as johur had brought no akaba or reserve fund from the coast. the theft having been proved to the satisfaction of every one, i ordered baraka to strip him of everything and give him three dozen lashes; but after twenty-one had been given, the rest were remitted on his promising to turn queen's evidence, when it transpired that mutwana had done as much as himself. johur, it turned out, was a murderer, having obtained his freedom by killing his master. he was otherwise a notoriously bad character; so, wishing to make an example, as i knew all my men were robbing me daily, though i could not detect them, i had him turned out of camp. baraka was a splendid detective, and could do everything well when he wished it, so i sent him off now with cloths to see what he could to at jiwa la mkoa, and next day he returned triumphantly driving in cows and goats. three wanyamuezi, also, who heard we were given to shooting wild animals continually, came with him to offer their services as porters. as nearly all the men had now returned, grant and i spent new year's day with the first detachment at jiwa la mkoa, or round rock--a single tembe village occupied by a few wakimbu settlers, who, by their presence and domestic habits, made us feel as though we were well out of the wood. so indeed we found it; for although this wilderness was formerly an entire forest of trees and wild animals, numerous wakimbu, who formerly occupied the banks of the ruaha to the southward, had been driven to migrate here, wherever they could find springs of water, by the boisterous naked pastorals the warori. at night three slaves belonging to sheikh salem bin saif stole into our camp, and said they had been sent by their master to seek for porters at kaze, as all the wanyamuezi porters of four large caravans had deserted in ugogo, and they could not move. i was rather pleased by this news, and thought it served the merchants right, knowing, as i well did, that the wanyamuezi, being naturally honest, had they not been defrauded by foreigners on the down march to the coast, would have been honest still. some provisions were now obtained by sending men out to distant villages; but we still supplied the camp with our guns, killing rhinoceros, wild boar, antelope, and zebras. the last of our property did not come up till the 5th, when another thief being caught, got fifty lashes, under the superintendence of baraka, to show that punishment was only inflicted to prevent further crime. the next day my men came from kaze with letters from sheikh snay and musa. they had been detained there some days after arrival, as those merchants' slaves had gone to utambara to settle some quarrel there; but as soon as they returned, musa ordered them to go and assist us, giving them beads to find rations for themselves on the way, as the whole country about kaze had been half-starved by famines, though he did send a little rice and tobacco for me. the whole party left kaze together; but on arrival at tura the slaves said they had not enough beads and would return for some more, when they would follow my men. this bit of news was the worst that could have befallen us; my men were broken-hearted enough before, and this drove the last spark of spirit out of them. to make the best of a bad job, i now sent bombay with two other men off to musa to see what he could do, and ordered my other men to hire wakimbu from village to village. on the 7th, a nervous excitement was produced in the camp by some of my men running in and calling all to arm, as the fugitive chief manua sera was coming, with thirty armed followers carrying muskets. such was the case: and by the time my men were all under arms, with their sword-bayonets fixed, drawn up by my tent the veritable "tippler" arrived; but, not liking the look of such a formidable array as my men presented, he passed on a short way, and then sent back a deputation to make known his desire of calling on me, which was no sooner complied with than he came in person, attended by a body-guard. on my requesting him to draw near and sit, his wooden stool was placed for him. he began the conversation by telling me he had heard of my distress from want of porters, and then offered to assist me with some, provided i would take him to kaze, and mediate between him and the arabs; for, through their unjustifiable interference in his government affairs, a war had ensued, which terminated with the arabs driving him from his possessions a vagabond. manua sera, i must say, was as fine a young man as ever i looked upon. he was very handsome, and looked as i now saw him the very picture of a captain of the banditti of the romances. i begged him to tell me his tale, and, in compliance, he gave me the following narrative:-"shortly after you left kaze for england, my old father, the late chief fundi kira, died, and by his desire i became lawful chief; for, though the son of a slave girl, and not of fundi kira's wife, such is the law of inheritance--a constitutional policy established to prevent any chance of intrigues between the sons born in legitimate wedlock. well, after assuming the title of chief, i gave presents of ivory to all the arabs with a liberal hand, but most so to musa, which caused great jealousy amongst the other merchants. then after this i established a property tax on all merchandise that entered my country. fundi kira had never done so, but i did not think that any reason why i should not, especially as the arabs were the only people who lived in my country exempt from taxation. this measure, however, exasperated the arabs, and induced them to send me hostile messages, to the effect that, if i ever meddled with them, they would dethrone me, and place mkisiwa, another illegitimate son, on the throne in my stead. this," manua sera continued, "i could not stand; the merchants were living on sufferance only in my country. i told them so, and defied them to interfere with my orders, for i was not a 'woman,' to be treated with contempt; and this got up a quarrel. mkisiwa, seizing at the opportunity of the prize held out to him by the arabs as his supporters, then commenced a system of bribery. words led to blows; we had a long and tough fight; i killed many of their number, and they killed mine. eventually they drove me from my palace, and placed mkisiwa there as chief in my stead. my faithful followers however, never deserted me; so i went to rubuga, and put up with old maula there. the arabs followed--drove me to nguru, and tried to kill maula for having fostered me. he, however, escaped them; but they destroyed his country, and then followed me down to nguru. there we fought for many months, until all provisions were exhausted, when i defied them to catch me, and forced my way through their ranks. it is needless to say i have been a wanderer since; and though i wish to make friends, they will not allow it, but do all they can to hunt me to death. now, as you were a friend of my father, i do hope you will patch up this war for me, which you must think is unjust." i told manua sera i felt very much for him, and i would do my best if he would follow me to kaze; but i knew that nothing could ever be done unless he returned to the free-trade principles of his father. he then said he had never taken a single tax from the arabs, and would gladly relinquish his intention to do so. the whole affair was commenced in too great a hurry; but whatever happened he would gladly forgive all if i would use my influence to reinstate him, for by no other means could he ever get his crown back again. i then assured him that i would do what i could to restore the ruined trade of his country, observing that, as all the ivory that went out of his country, came to ours, and all imports were productions of our country also, this war injured us as well as himself. manua sera seemed highly delighted, and said he had a little business to transact in ugogo at present, but he would overtake me in a few days. he then sent me one of my runaway porters, whom he had caught in the woods making off with a load of my beads. we then separated; and baraka, by my orders, gave the thief fifty lashes for his double offence of theft and desertion. on the 9th, having bought two donkeys and engaged several men, we left jiwa la mkoa, with half our traps, and marched to garaeswi, where, to my surprise, there were as many as twenty tembes--a recently-formed settlement of wokimbu. here we halted a day for the rear convoy, and then went on again by detachments to zimbo, where, to our intense delight, bombay returned to us on the 13th, triumphantly firing guns, with seventy slaves accompanying him, and with letters from snay and musa, in which they said they hoped, if i met with manua sera, that i would either put a bullet through his head, or else bring him in a prisoner, that they might do for him, for the scoundrel had destroyed all their trade by cutting off caravans. their fights with him commenced by his levying taxes in opposition to their treaties with his father, fundi kira, and then preventing his subjects selling them grain. once more the whole caravan moved on; but as i had to pay each of the seventy slaves sixteen yards of cloth, by order of their masters, in the simple matter of expenditure it would have been better had i thrown ten loads away at ugogo, where my difficulties first commenced. on arrival at mgongo thembo--the elephant's back--called so in consequence of a large granitic rock, which resembles the back of that animal, protruding through the ground--we found a clearance in the forest, of two miles in extent, under cultivation. here the first man to meet me was the fugitive chief of rubuga, maula. this poor old man--one of the honestest chiefs in the country--had been to the former expedition a host and good friend. he now gave me a cow as a present, and said he would give me ten more if i would assist him in making friends with the arabs, who had driven him out of his country, and had destroyed all his belongings, even putting a slave to reign in his stead, though he had committed no fault of intentional injury towards them. it was true manua sera, their enemy, had taken refuge in his palace, but that was not his fault; for, anticipating the difficulties that would arise, he did his best to keep manua sera out of it, but manua sera being too strong for him, forced his way in. i need not say i tried to console this unfortunate victim of circumstances as best i could, inviting him to go with me to kaze, and promising to protect him with my life if he feared the arabs; but the old man, being too feeble to travel himself, said he would send his son with me. next day we pushed on a double march through the forest, and reached a nullah. as it crosses the track in a southerly direction, this might either be the head of the kululu mongo or river, which, passing through the district of kiwele, drains westward into the malagarazi river, and thence into the tanganyika, or else the most westerly tributary to the ruaha river, draining eastward into the sea. the plateau, however, is apparently so flat here, that nothing b a minute survey, or rather following the watercourse, could determine the matter. then emerging from the wilderness, we came into the open cultivated district of tura, or "put down"--called so by the natives because it was, only a few years ago, the first cleared space in the wilderness, and served as a good halting-station, after the normal ten day's march in the jungles, where we had now been struggling more than a month. the whole place, once so fertile, was now almost depopulated and in a sad state of ruin, showing plainly the savage ravages of war; for the arabs and their slaves, when they take the field, think more of plunder and slavery than the object they started on--each man of the force looking out for himself. the incentives, too, are so great;--a young woman might be caught (the greatest treasure of earth), or a boy or a girl, a cow or a goat--all of the fortunes, of themselves too irresistible to be overlooked when the future is doubtful. here sheikh said broke down in health of a complaint which he formerly had suffered from, and from which i at once saw he would never recover sufficiently well to be ever effective again. it was a sad misfortune, as the men had great confidence in him, being the representative of their zanzibar government: still it could not be helped; for, as a sick man is, after all, the greatest possible impediment to a march, it was better to be rid of him than have the trouble of dragging him; so i made up my mind, as soon as we reached kaze, i would drop him there with the arabs. he could not be moved on the 16th, so i marched across the plain and put up in some villages on its western side. whilst waiting for the sheikh's arrival, some villagers at night stole several loads of beads, and ran off with them; but my men, finding the theft out in time, hunted them down, and recovered all but one load--for the thieves had thrown their loads down as soon as they found they were hotly pursued. early this morning i called all the head men of the village together, and demanded the beads to be restored to me; for, as i was living with them, they were responsible, according to the laws of the country. they acknowledged the truth and force of my demand, and said they would each give me a cow as an earnest, until their chief, who was absent, arrived. this, of course, was objected to, as the chief, in his absence, must have deputed some one to govern for him, and i expected him to settle at once, that i might proceed with the march. then selecting five of my head men to conduct the case, with five of their elders, it was considered my losses were equivalent to thirty head of cattle. as i remitted the penalty to fifteen head, these were made over to me, and we went on with the march--all feeling delighted with the issue but the hottentots, who, not liking the loss of the second fifteen cows, said that in kafirland, where the laws of the country are the same as here, the whole would have been taken, and, as it was, they thought i was depriving them of their rights to beef. by a double march, the sheikh riding in a hammock slung on a pole, we now made kuale, or "partridge" nullah, which, crossing the road to the northward, drains these lands to the malagarazi river, and thence into the tanganyika lake. thence, having spent the night in the jungle, we next morning pushed into the cultivated district of rubuga, and put up in some half-deserted tembes, where the ravages of war were even more disgusting to witness than at tura. the chief, as i have said, was a slave, placed there by the arabs on the condition that he would allow all traders and travellers to help themselves without payment as long as they chose to reside there. in consequence of this wicked arrangement, i found it impossible to keep my men from picking and stealing. they looked upon plunder as their fortune and right, and my interference as unjustifiable. by making another morning and evening march, we then reached the western extremity of this cultivated opening; where, after sleeping the night, we threaded through another forest to the little clearance of kigue, and in one more march through forest arrived in the large and fertile district of unyanyembe, the centre of unyamuezi--the land of the moon--within five miles of kaze which is the name of a well in the village of tbora, now constituted the great central slave and ivory merchants' depot. my losses up to this date (23d) were as follows:--one hottentot dead and five returned; one freeman sent back with the hottentots, and one flogged and turned off; twenty-five of sultan majid's gardeners deserted; ninety-eight of the original wanyamuezi porters deserted; twelve mules and three donkeys dead. besides which, more than half of my property had been stolen; whilst the travelling expenses had been unprecedented, in consequence of the severity of the famine throughout the whole length of the march. chapter v. unyamuezi the country and people of u-n-ya-muezi--kaze, the capital--old musa--the naked wakidi--the n'yanza, and the question of the river running in or out--the contest between mohinna and "short-legs"--famine--the arabs and local wars--the sultana of unyambewa--ungurue "the pig"--pillage. u-n-ya-muezi--country of moon--must have been one of the largest kingdoms in africa. it is little inferior in size to england, and of much the same shape, though now, instead of being united, it is cut up into petty states. in its northern extremities it is known by the appellation u-sukuma--country north; and in the southern, u-takama--country south. there are no historical traditions known to the people; neither was anything ever written concerning their country, as far as we know, until the hindus, who traded with the east coast of africa, opened commercial dealings with its people in salves and ivory, possibly some time prior to the birth of our saviour, when, associated with their name, men of the moon, sprang into existence the mountains of the moon. these men of the moon are hereditarily the greatest traders in africa, and are the only people who, for love of barter and change, will leave their own country as porters and go to the coast, and they do so with as much zest as our country-folk go to a fair. as far back as we can trace they have done this, and they still do it as heretofore. the whole of their country ranges from 3000 to 4000 feet above the sea-level--a high plateau, studded with little outcropping hills of granite, between which, in the valleys, there are numerous fertilising springs of fresh water, and rich iron ore is found in sandstone. generally industrious--much more so than most other negroes--they cultivate extensively, make cloths of cotton in their own looms, smelt iron and work it up very expertly, build tembes to live in over a large portion of their country, but otherwise live in grass huts, and keep flocks and herds of considerable extent. the wanyamuezi, however, are not a very well-favoured people in physical appearance, and are much darker than either the wazaramo or the wagogo, though many of their men are handsome and their women pretty; neither are they well dressed or well armed, being wanting in pluck and gallantry. their women, generally, are better dressed than the men. cloths fastened round under the arms are their national costume, along with a necklace of beads, large brass or copper wire armlets, and a profusion of thin circles, called sambo, made of the giraffe's tail-hairs bound round by the thinnest iron or copper wire; whilst the men at home wear loin-cloths, but in the field, or whilst travelling, simply hang a goat-skin over their shoulders, exposing at least three-fourths of their body in a rather indecorous manner. in all other respects they ornament themselves like the women, only, instead of a long coil of wire wound up the arm, they content themselves with having massive rings of copper or brass on the wrist; and they carry for arms a spear and bow and arrows. all extract more or less their lower incisors, and cut a [upside-down v shape] between their two upper incisors. the whole tribe are desperate smokers, and greatly given to drink. on the 24th, we all, as many as were left of us, marched into the merchant's depot, s. lat. 5° 0' 52", and e. long. 33° 1' 34", [7] escorted by musa, who advanced to meet us, and guided us into his tembe, where he begged we would reside with him until we could find men to carry our property on to karague. he added that he would accompany us; for he was on the point of going there when my first instalment of property arrived, but deferred his intention out of respect to myself. he had been detained at kaze ever since i last left it in consequence of the arabs having provoked a war with manua sera, to which he was adverse. for a long time also he had been a chained prisoner; as the arabs, jealous of the favour manua sera had shown to him in preference to themselves, basely accused him of supplying manua sera with gunpowder, and bound him hand and foot "like a slave." it was delightful to see old musa's face again, and the supremely hospitable, kind, and courteous manner in which he looked after us, constantly bringing in all kind of small delicacies, and seeing that nothing was wanting to make us happy. all the property i had sent on in advance he had stored away; or rather, i should say, as much as had reached him, for the road expenses had eaten a great hole in it. once settled down into position, sheikh snay and the whole conclave of arab merchants came to call on me. they said they had an army of four hundred slaves armed with muskets ready to take the field at once to hunt down manua sera, who was cutting their caravan road to pieces, and had just seized, by their latest reports, a whole convoy of their ammunition. i begged them strongly to listen to reason, and accept my advice as an old soldier, not to carry on their guerilla warfare in such a headlong hurry, else they would be led a dance by manua sera, as we had been by tantia topee in india. i advised them to allow me to mediate between them, after telling them what a favourable interview i had had with manua sera and maula, whose son was at that moment concealed in musa's tembe. my advice, however, was not wanted. snay knew better than any one how to deal with savages, and determined on setting out as soon as his army had "eaten their beef-feast of war." on my questioning him about the nile, snay still thought the n'yanza was the source of the jub river [8] as he did in our former journey, but gave way when i told him that vessels frequented the nile, as this also coincided with his knowledge of navigators in vessels appearing on some waters to the northward of unyoro. in a great hurry he then bade me good-bye; when, as he thought it would be final, i gave him, in consideration of his former good services to the last expedition, one of the gold watches given me by the indian government. i saw him no more, though he and all the other arabs sent me presents of cows, goats, and rice, with a notice that they should have gone on their war-oath before, only, hearing of my arrival, out of due respect to my greatness they waited to welcome me in. further, after doing for manua sera, they were determined to go on to ugogo to assist salem bin saif and the other merchants on, during which, at the same time, they would fight all the wagogo who persisted in taking taxes and in harassing caravans. at the advice of musa, i sent maula's son off at night to tell the old chief how sorry i was to find the arabs so hot-headed i could not even effect an arrangement with them. it was a great pity; for manua sera was so much liked by the wanyamuezi, they would, had they been able, have done anything to restore him. next day the non-belligerent arabs left in charge of the station, headed by my old friends abdulla and mohinna, came to pay their respects again, recognising in me, as they said, a "personification of their sultan," and therefore considering what they were doing only due to my rank. they regretted with myself that snay was so hot-headed; for they themselves thought a treaty of peace would have been the best thing for them, for they were more than half-ruined already, and saw no hope for the future. then, turning to geography, i told abdulla all i had written and lectured in england concerning his stories about navigators on the n'yanza, which i explained must be the nile, and wished to know if i should alter it in any way: but he said, "do not; you may depend it will all turn out right;" to which musa added, all the people in the north told him that when the n'yanza rose, the stream rushed with such violence it tore up islands and floated them away. i was puzzled at this announcement, not then knowing that both the lake and the nile, as well as all ponds, were called n'yanza: but we shall see afterwards that he was right; and it was in consequence of this confusion in the treatment of distinctly different geographical features under one common name by these people, that in my former journey i could not determine where the lake had ended and the nile began. abdulla again--he had done so on the former journey--spoke to me of a wonderful mountain to the northward of karague, so high and steep no one could ascend it. it was, he said, seldom visible, being up in the clouds, where white matter, snow or hail, often fell. musa said this hill was in ruanda, a much larger country than urundi; and further, both men said, as they had said before, that the lands of usoga and unyoro were islands, being surrounded by water; and a salt lake, which was called n'yanza, though not the great victoria n'yanza lay on the other said of the unyoro, from which direction rumanika, king of karague, sometimes got beads forwarded to him by kamrasi, king of unyoro, of a different sort from any brought from zanzibar. moreover, these beads were said to have been plundered from white men by the wakidi,--a stark-naked people who live up in trees--have small stools fixed on behind, always ready for sitting--wear their hair hanging down as far as the rump, all covered with cowrie-shells--suspend beads from wire attached to their ears and their lower lips--and wear strong iron collars and bracelets. this people, i was told, are so fierce in war that no other tribe can stand against them, though they only fight with short spears. when this discourse was ended, ever perplexed about the tanganyika being a still lake, i enquired of mohinna and other old friends what they thought about the marungu river: did it run into or out of the lake? and they all still adhered to its running into the lake--which, after all, in my mind, is the most conclusive argument that it does run out of the lake, making it one of a chain of lakes leading to the n'yanza, and through it by the zambezi into the sea; for all the arabs on the former journey said the rusizi river ran out of the tanganyika, as also the kitangule ran out of the n'yanza, and the nile ran into it, even though snay said he thought the jub river drained the n'yanza. all these statements were, when literally translated into english, the reverse of what the speakers, using a peculiar arab idiom, meant to say; for all the statements made as to the flow of rivers by the negroes--who apparently give the same meaning to "out" and "in" as we do--contradicted the arabs in their descriptions of the direction of the flow of these rivers. mohinna now gave us a very graphic description of his fight with short-legs, the late chief of khoko. about a year ago, as he was making his way down to the coast with his ivory merchandise, on arrival at khoko, and before his camp was fortified with a ring-fence of thorns, some of his men went to drink at a well, where they no sooner arrived than the natives began to bean them with sticks, claiming the well as their property. this commenced a row, which brought out a large body of men, who demanded a bullock at the point of their spears. mohinna hearing this, also came to the well, and said he would not listen to their demand, but would drink as he wished, for the water was the gift of god. words then changed to blows. all mohinna's pagazis bolted, and his merchandise fell into the hands of the wagogo. had his camp been fortified, he think he would have been too much for his enemies; but, as it was, he retaliated by shooting short-legs in the head, and at once bolted back to kaze with a few slaves as followers, and his three wives. the change that had taken place in unyanyembe since i last left it was quite surprising. instead of the arabs appearing merchants, as they did formerly, they looked more like great farmers, with huge stalls of cattle attached to their houses; whilst the native villages were all in ruins--so much so that, to obtain corn for my men, i had to send out into the district several days' journey off, and even then had to pay the most severe famine prices for what i got. the wanyamuezi, i was assured, were dying of starvation in all directions; for, in addition to the war, the last rainy season had been so light, all their crops had failed. 27th and 28th.--i now gave all my men presents for the severe trials they had experienced in the wilderness, forgetting, as i told them, the merciless manner in which they had plundered me; but as i have a trifle more in proportion, to the three sole remaining pagazis, because they had not finished their work, my men were all discontented, and wished to throw back their presents, saying i did not love them, although they were "perminents," as much as the "temperaries." they, however, gave in, after some hours of futile arguments, on my making them understand, through baraka, that what they saw me give to the pagazis would, if they reflected, only tend to prove to them that i was not a bad master who forgot his obligations when he could get no more out of his servants. i then went into a long inquiry with musa about our journey northward to karague; and as he said there were no men to be found in or near unyanyembe, for they were either all killed or engaged in the war, it was settled he should send some of his head men on to rungua, where he had formerly resided, trading for some years, and was a great favourite with the chief of the place, by name kiringuana. he also settled that i might take out of his establishment of slaves as many men as i could induce to go with me, for he thought them more trouble than profit, hired porters being more safe; moreover, he said the plan would be of great advantage to him, as i offered to pay, both man and master, each the same monthly stipend as i gave my present men. this was paying double, and all the heavier a burden, as the number i should require to complete my establishment to one hundred armed men would be sixty. he, however, very generously advised me not to take them, as they would give so much trouble; but finally gave way when i told him i felt i could not advance beyond karague unless i was quite independent of the natives there--a view in which he concurred. 29th and 30th.--jafu, another indian merchant here, and co-partner of musa, came in from a ten days' search after grain, and described the whole country to be in the most dreadful state of famine. wanyamuezi were lying about dead from starvation in all directions, and he did not think we should ever get through usui, as suwarora, the chief, was so extortionate he would "tear us to pieces"; but advised our waiting until the war was settled, when all the arabs would combine and go with us. musa even showed fear, but arranged, at my suggestion, that he should send some men to rumanika, informing him of our intention to visit him, and begging, at the same time, he would use his influence in preventing our being detained in usui. i may here explain that the country uzinza was once a large kingdom, governed by a king named ruma, of wahuma blood. at his death, which took place in dagara's time (the present rumanika's father), the kingdom was contested by his two sons, rohinda and suwarora, but, at the intercession of dagara, was divided--rohinda taking the eastern, called ukhanga, and suwarora the western half of the country, called usui. this measure made usui feudatory to karague, so that much of the produce of the extortions committed in usui went to karague, and therefore they were recognised, though the odium always rested on suwarora, "the savage extortioner," rather than on the mild-disposed king of karague, who kept up the most amicable relations with every one who visited him. musa, i must say, was most loud in his praises of rumanika; and on the other hand, as musa, eight years ago, had saved rumanika's throne for him against an insurrection got up by his younger brother rogero, rumanika, always regarding musa as his saviour, never lost an opportunity to show his gratitude, and would have done anything that musa might have asked him. of this matter, however, more in karague. 31st.--to-day, jafu, who had lost many ivories at khoko when mohinna was attacked there, prepared 100 slaves, with said bin osman, mohinna's brother, with a view to follow down snay, and, combining forces, attack hori hori, hoping to recover their losses; for it appeared to them the time had now come when their only hope left in carrying their trade to a successful issue, lay in force of arms. they would therefore not rest satisfied until they had reduced khoko and usekhe both, by actual force, to acknowledge their superiority, "feeding on them" until the ramazan, when they would return with all the merchants detained in ugogo, and, again combining their forces, they would fall on usui, to reduce that country also. when these men had gone, a lunatic set the whole place in commotion. he was a slave of musa's, who had wounded some men previously in his wild excesses, and had been tied up; but now, breaking loose again, he swore he would not be satisfied until he killed some "big man." his strength was so great no one could confine him, though they hunted him into a hut, where, having seized a gun and some arrows, he defied any one to put hands on him. here, however, he was at last reduced to submission and a better state of his senses by starvation: for i must add, the african is much give to such mental fits of aberration at certain periods: these are generally harmless, but sometimes not; but they come and they go again without any visible cause. 1st.--musa's men now started for rungua, and promised to bring all the porters we wanted by the first day of the next moon. we found that this would be early enough, for all the members of the expedition, excepting myself, were suffering from the effects of the wilderness life--some with fever, some with scurvy, and some with ophthalmia--which made it desirable they should all have rest. little now was done besides counting out my property, and making sheikh said, who became worse and worse, deliver his charge of cafila bashi over to bombay for good. when it was found so much had been stolen, especially of the best articles, i was obliged to purchase many things from musa, paying 400 per cent, which he said was their value here, over the market price of zanzibar. i also got him to have all my coils of brass and copper wire made into bracelet, as is customary, to please the northern people. 7th.--to-day information was brought here that whilst manua sera was on his way from ugogo to keep his appointment with me, sheikh snay's army came on him at tura, where he was ensconced in a tembe. hearing this, snay, instead of attacking the village at once, commenced negotiations with the chief of the place by demanding him to set free his guest, otherwise they, the arabs, would storm the tembe. the chief, unfortunately, did not comply at once, but begged grace for one night, saying that if manua sera was found there in the morning they might do as they liked. of course manua bolted; and the arabs, seeing the tura people all under arms ready to defend themselves the next morning, set at them in earnest, and shot, murdered, or plundered the whole of the district. then, whilst arabs were sending in their captures of women, children, and cattle, manua sera made off to a district called dara, where he formed an alliance with its chief, kifunja, and boasted he would attack kaze as soon as the travelling season commenced, when the place would be weakened by the dispersion of the arabs on their ivory excursions. the startling news set the place in a blaze, and brought all the arabs again to seek my advice for they condemned what snay had done in not listening to me before, and wished to know if i could not now treat for them with manua sera, which they thought could be easily managed, as manua sera himself was not only the first to propose mediation, but was actually on his way here for the purpose when snay opposed him. i said nothing could give me greater pleasure than mediating for them, to put a stop to these horrors, but it struck me the case had now gone too far. snay, in opposition to my advice, was bent on fighting; he could not be recalled and unless all the arabs were of one mind, i ran the risk of committing myself to a position i could not maintain. to this they replied that the majority were still at kaze, all wishing for peace at any price, and that whatever terms i might wish to dictate they would agree to. then i said, "what would you do with mkisiwa? you have made him chief, and cannot throw him over." "oh, that," they said, "can be easily managed; for formerly, when we confronted manua sera at nguru, we offered to give him as much territory as his father governed, though not exactly in the same place; but he treated our message with disdain, not knowing then what a fix he was in. now, however, as he has seen more, and wishes for peace himself, there can be no difficulty." i then ordered two of my men to go with two of musa's to acquaint manua sera with what we were about, and to know his views on the subject; but these men returned to say manua sera could not be found, for he was driven from "pillar to post" by the different native chiefs, as, wherever he went, his army ate up their stores, and brought nothing but calamities with them. thus died this second attempted treaty. musa then told me it was well it turned out so; for manua sera would never believe the arabs, as they had broken faith so often before, even after exchanging blood by cutting incision in one another's legs--the most sacred bond or oath the natives know of. as nothing more of importance was done, i set out with grant to have a week's shooting in the district, under the guidance of an old friend, fundi sangoro, musa's "head gamekeeper," who assured me that the sable antelope and blanc boc, specimens of which i had not yet seen, inhabited some low swampy place called n'yama, or "meat," not far distant, on the left bank of the wale nullah. my companion unfortunately got fever here, and was prevented from going out, and i did little better; for although i waded up to my middle every day, and wounded several blanc boc, i only bagged one, and should not have got even him, had it not happened that some lions in the night pulled him down close to our camp, and roared so violently that they told us the story. the first thing in the morning i wished to have at them; but they took the hint of daybreak to make off, and left me only the half of the animal. i saw only one sable antelope. we all went back to kaze, arriving there on the 24th. 25th to 13th.--days rolled on, and nothing was done in particular--beyond increasing my stock of knowledge of distant places and people, enlarging my zoological collection, and taking long series of astronomical observations--until the 13th, when the whole of kaze was depressed by a sad scene of mourning and tears. some slaves came in that night--having made their way through the woods from ugogo, avoiding the track to save themselves from detection--and gave information that snay, jafu, and five other arabs, had been killed, as well as a great number of slaves. the expedition, they said, had been defeated, and the positions were so complicated nobody knew what to do. at first the arabs achieved two brilliant successes, having succeeded in killing hori hori of khoko, when they recovered their ivory, made slaves of all they could find, and took a vast number of cattle; then attacking usekhe they reduced that place to submission by forcing a ransom out of its people. at this period, however, they heard that a whole caravan, carrying 5000 dollars' worth of property, had been cut up by the people of mzanza, a small district ten miles north of usekhe; so, instead of going on to kanyenye to relieve the caravans which were waiting there for them, they foolishly divided their forces into three parts. of these they sent one to take their loot back to kaze, another to form a reserve force at mdaburu, on the east flank of the wilderness, and a third, headed by snay and jafu, to attack mzanza. at the first onset snay and jafu carried everything before them, and became so excited over the amount of their loot that they lost all feelings of care or precaution. in this high exuberance of spirits, a sudden surprise turned their momentary triumph into a total defeat; for some wahumba, having heard the cries of the wagogo, joined in their cause, and both together fell on the arab force with such impetuosity that the former victors were now scattered in all directions. those who could run fast enough were saved--the rest were speared to death by the natives. nobody knew how jafu fell; but snay, after running a short distance, called one of his slaves, and begged him to take his gun, saying, "i am too old to keep up with you; keep this gun for my sake, for i will lie down here and take my chance." he never was seen again. but this was not all their misfortunes; for the slaves who brought in this information had met the first detachment, sent with the khoko loot, at kigua, where, they said, the detachment had been surprised by manua sera, who, having fortified a village with four hundred men, expecting this sort of thing, rushed out upon them, and cut them all up. the arabs, after the first burst of their grief was over, came to me again in a body, and begged me to assist them, for they were utterly undone. manua sera prevented their direct communication with their detachment at mdaburu, and that again was cut off from their caravans at kanyenye by the mzanza people, and in fact all the wagogo; so they hoped at least i would not forsake them, which they heard i was going to do, as manua sera had also threatened to attack kaze. i then told them, finally that their proposals were now beyond my power, for i had a duty to perform as well as themselves, and in a day or two i should be off. 14th to 17th.--on the 14th thirty-nine porters were brought in from rungua by musa's men, who said they had collected one hundred and twenty, and brought them to within ten miles of this, when some travellers frightened all but thirty-nine away, by telling them, "are you such fools as to venture into kaze now? all the arabs have been killed, or were being cut up and pursued by manua sera." this sad disappointment threw me on my "beam-ends." for some reason or other none of musa's slaves would take service, and the arabs prevented theirs from leaving the place, as it was already too short of hands. to do the best under these circumstances, i determined on going to rungua with what kit could be carried, leaving bombay behind with musa until such time as i should arrive there, and, finding more men, could send them back for the rest. i then gave musa the last of the gold watches the indian government had given me; [9] and, bidding sheikh said take all our letters and specimens back to the coast as soon as the road was found practicable, set out on the march northwards with grant and baraka, and all the rest of my men who were well enough to carry loads, as well as some of musa's head men, who knew where to get porters. after passing masange and zimbili, we put up a night in the village of iviri, on the northern border of unyanyembe, and found several officers there, sent by mkisiwa, to enforce a levy of soldiers to take the field with the arabs at kaze against manua sera; to effect which, they walked about ringing bells, and bawling out that if a certain percentage of all the inhabitants did not muster, the village chief would be seized, and their plantations confiscated. my men all mutinied here for increase of ration allowances. to find themselves food with, i had given them all one necklace of beads each per diem since leaving kaze, in lieu of cloth, which hitherto had been served out for that purpose. it was a very liberal allowance, because the arabs never gave more than one necklace to every three men, and that, too, of inferior quality to what i served. i brought them to at last by starvation, and then we went on. dipping down into a valley between two clusters of granitic hills, beautifully clothed with trees and grass, studded here and there with rich plantations, we entered the district of usagari, and on the second day forded the gombe nullah again--in its upper course, called kuale. rising again up to the main level of the plantation, we walked into the boma of the chief of unyambewa, singinya, whose wife was my old friend the late sultana ungugu's lady's-maid. immediately on our entering her palace, she came forward to meet me with the most affable air of a princess, begged i would always come to her as i did then, and sought to make every one happy and comfortable. her old mistress, she said, died well stricken in years; and, as she had succeeded her, the people of her country invited singinya to marry her, because feuds had arisen about the rights of succession; and it was better a prince, whom they thought best suited by birth and good qualities, should head their warriors, and keep all in order. at that moment singinya was out in the field fighting his enemies; and she was sure, when he heard i was here, that he would be very sorry he had missed seeing me. we next went on to the district of ukumbi, and put up in a village there, on approaching which all the villagers turned out to resist us, supposing we were an old enemy of theirs. they flew about brandishing their spears, and pulling their bows in the most grotesque attitudes, alarming some of my porters so much that they threw down their loads and bolted. all the country is richly cultivated, though indian corn at that time was the only grain ripe. the square, flat-topped tembes had now been left behind, and instead the villagers lived in small collections of grass huts, surrounded by palisades of tall poles. proceeding on we put up at the small settlement of usenda, the proprietor of which was a semi-negro arab merchant called sangoro. he had a large collection of women here, but had himself gone north with a view to trade in karague. report, however, assured us that he was then detained in usui by suwarora, its chief, on the plea of requiring his force of musketeers to prevent the watuta from pillaging his country, for these watuta lived entirely on plunder of other people's cattle. with one move, by alternately crossing strips of forest and cultivation, studded here and there with small hills of granite, we forded the qaunde nullah--a tributary to the gombe--and entered the rich flat district of mininga, where the gingerbread-palm grows abundantly. the greatest man we found here was a broken-down ivory merchant called sirboko, who gave us a good hut to live in. next morning, i believe at the suggestion of my wanguana, with baraka at their head, he induced me to stop there; for he said rungua had been very recently destroyed by the watuta, and this place could afford porters better than it. to all appearance this was the case, for this district was better cultivated than any place i had seen. i also felt a certain inclination to stop, as i was dragging on sick men, sorely against my feelings; and i also thought i had better not go farther away from my rear property; but, afraid of doing wrong in not acting up to musa's directions, i called up his head men who were with me, and asked them what they thought of the matter, as they had lately come from rungua. on their confirming sirboki's story, and advising my stopping, i acceded to their recommendation, and immediately gave musa's men orders to look out for porters. hearing this, all my wanguana danced with delight; and i, fearing there was some treachery, called musa's men again, saying i had changed my mind, and wished to go on in the afternoon; but when the time came, not one of our porters could be seen. there was now no help for it; so, taking it coolly, i gave musa's men presents, begged them to look sharp in getting the men up, and trusted all would end well in the long-run. sirboko's attentions were most warm and affecting. he gave us cows, rice, and milk, with the best place he had to live in, and looked after us as constantly and tenderly as if he had been our father. it seemed quite unjust to harbour any suspicion against him. he gave the following account of himself:--he used to trade in ivory, on account of some arabs at zanzibar. on crossing usui, he once had a fight with one of the chiefs of the country and killed him; but he got through all right, because the natives, after two or three of their number had been killed, dispersed, and feared to come near his musket again. he visited uganda when the late king sunna was living, and even traded usoga; but as he was coming down from these northern countries he lost all his property by a fire breaking out in a village he stopped in, which drove him down here a ruined man. as it happened, however, he put up with the chief of this district, ugali--mr paste--at a time when the watuta attacked the place and drove all the inhabitants away. the chief, too, was on the point of bolting, when sirboko prevented him by saying, "if you will only have courage to stand by me, the watuta shall not come near--at any rate, if they do, let us both die together." the watuta at that time surrounded the district, crowning all the little hills overlooking it; but fearing the arabs' guns might be many, they soon walked away, and left them in peace. in return for this magnanimity, and feeling a great security in firearms, ugali then built the large enclosure, with huts for sirboko, we were now living in. sirboko, afraid to return to the coast lest he should be apprehended for debt, has resided here ever since, doing odd jobs for other traders, increasing his family, and planting extensively. his agricultural operations are confined chiefly to rice, because the natives do not like it enough to be tempted to steal it. 25th to 2d.--i now set to work, collecting, stuffing, and drawing, until the 2d, when musa's men came in with three hundred men, whom i sent on to kaze at once with my specimens and letters, directing musa and bombay to come on and join us immediately. whilst waiting for these men's return, one of sirboko's slaves, chained up by him, in the most piteous manner cried out to me: "hai bana wangi, bana wangi (oh, my lord, my lord), take pity on me! when i was a free man i saw you at uvira, on the tanganyika lake, when you were there; but since then the watuta, in a fight at ujiji, speared me all over and left me for dead, when i was seized by the people, sold to the arabs, and have been in chains ever since. oh, i saw, bana wangi, if you would only liberate me i would never run away, but would serve you faithfully all my life." this touching appeal was too strong for my heart to withstand, so i called up sirboko, and told him, if he would liberate this one man to please me he should be no loser; and the release was effected. he was then christened farham (joy), and was enrolled in my service with the rest of my freed men. i then inquired if it was true the wabembe were cannibals, and also circumcised. in one of their slaves the latter statement was easily confirmed. i was assure that he was not a cannibal; for the whole tribe of wabembe, when they cannot get human flesh otherwise, give a goat to their neighbours for a sick or dying child, regarding such flesh as the best of all. no other cannibals, however, were known of; but the masai, and their cognates, the wahumba, wataturu, wakasange, wanyaramba, and even the wagogo and wakimbu, circumcise. on the 15th i was surprised to find bombay come in with all my rear property and a great quantity of musa's, but with out the old man. by a letter from sheikh said i then found that, since my leaving kaze, the arabs had, along with mkisiwa, invested the position of manua sera at kigue, and forced him to take flight again. afterwards the arabs, returning to kaze, found musa preparing to leave. angry at this attempt to desert them, they persuaded him to give up his journey north for the present; so that at the time bombay left, musa was engaged as public auctioneer in selling the effects of snay, jafu, and others, but privately said he would follow me on to karague as soon as his rice was cut. adding a little advice of his own, sheikh said pressed me to go on with the journey as fast as possible, because all the arabs had accused me of conspiring with manua sera, and would turn against me unless i soon got away. 2d to 30th.--disgusted with musa's vacillatory conduct, on the 22d i sent him a letter containing a bit of my mind. i had given him, as a present, sufficient cloth to pay for his porters, as well as a watch and a good sum of money, and advised his coming on at once, for the porters who had just brought in my rear property would not take pay to go on to karague; and so i was detained again, waiting whilst his head man went to rungua to look for more. five days after this, a party of sangoro's arrived from karague, saying they had been detained three months in usui by suwarora, who had robbed them of an enormous quantity of property, and oppressed them so that all their porters ran away. now, slight as this little affair might appear, it was of vital importance to me, as i found all my men shaking their heads and predicting what might happen to us when we got there; so, as a forlorn hope, i sent baraka with another letter to musa, offering to pay as much money for fifty men carrying muskets as would buy fifty slaves, and, in addition to that, i offered to pay them what my men were receiving as servants. next day (23d) the chief ugali came to pay his respects to us. he was a fine-looking young man, about thirty years old, the husband of thirty wives, but he had only three children. much surprised at the various articles composing our kit, he remarked that our "sleeping-clothes"--blankets--were much better than his royal robes; but of all things that amused him most were our picture-books, especially some birds drawn by wolf. everything still seemed going against me; for on the following day (24th) musa's men came in from rungua to say the watuta were "out." they had just seized fifty head of cattle from rungua, and the people were in such a state of alarm they dared not leave their homes and families. i knew not what to do, for there was no hope left but in what baraka might bring; and as that even would be insufficient, i sent musa's men into kaze, to increase the original number by thirty men more. patience, thank god, i had a good stock of, so i waited quietly until the 30th, when i was fairly upset by the arrival of a letter from kaze, stating that baraka had arrived, and had been very insolent both to musa and to sheikh said. the bearer of the letter was at once to go and search for porters at rungua, but not a word was said about the armed men i had ordered. at the same time reports from the other side came in, to the effect that the arabs at kaze and msene had bribed the watuta to join them, and overrun the whole country from ugogo to usui; and, in consequence of this, all the natives on the line i should have to take were in such dread of that terrible wandering race of savages, who had laid waste in turn all the lands from n'yassa to usui on their west flank, that not a soul dared leave his home. i could now only suppose that this foolish and hasty determination of the arabs, who, quite unprepared to carry out their wicked alliance to fight, still had set every one against their own interests as well as mine, had not reached musa, so i made up my mind at once to return to kaze, and settle all matters i had in my heart with himself and the arabs in person. this settled, i next, in this terrible embarrassment, determined on sending back the last of the hottentots, as all four of them, though still wishing to go on with me, distinctly said they had not the power to continue the march, for they had never ceased suffering from fever and jaundice, which had made them all yellow as guineas, save one, who was too black to change colour. it felt to me as if i were selling my children, having once undertaken to lead them through the journey; but if i did not send them back then, i never could afterwards, and therefore i allowed the more substantial feelings of humanity to overcome these compunctions. next morning, then, after giving the tots over in charge of some men to escort them on to kaze quietly, i set our myself with a dozen men, and the following evening i put up with musa, who told me baraka had just left without one man--all his slaves having become afraid to go, since the news of the arab alliance had reached kaze. suwarora had ordered his subjects to run up a line of bomas to protect his frontier, and had proclaimed his intention to kill every coast-man who dared attempt to enter usui. my heart was ready to sink as i turned into bed, and i was driven to think of abandoning everybody who was not strong enough to go on with me carrying a load. 3d to 13th.--baraka, hearing i had arrived, then came back to me, and confirmed musa's words. the arabs, too, came flocking in to beg, nay implore, me to help them out of their difficulties. many of them were absolutely ruined, they said; others had their houses full of stores unemployed. at ugogo those who wished to join them were unable to do so, for their porters, what few were left, were all dying of starvation; and at that moment manua sera was hovering about, shooting, both night and day, all the poor villagers in the district, or driving them away. would to god, they said, i would mediate for them with manua sera--they were sure i would be successful--and then they would give me as many armed men as i liked. their folly in all their actions, i said, proved to me that anything i might attempt to do would be futile, for their alliance with the watuta, when they were not prepared to act, at once damned them in my eyes as fools. this they in their terror acknowledged, but said it was not past remedy, if i would join them, to counteract what had been done in that matter. suffice it now to say, after a long conversation, arguing all the pros and cons over, i settled i would write out all the articles of a treaty of peace, by which they should be liable to have all their property forfeited on the coast if they afterwards broke faith; and i begged them to call the next day and sign it. they were no sooner gone, however, than musa assured me they had killed old maula of rubuga in the most treacherous manner, as follows:--khamis, who is an arab of most gentlemanly aspect, on returning from ugogo attended by slaves, having heard that maula was desirous of adjusting a peace, invited him with his son to do so. when old maula came as desired, bringing his son with him, and a suitable offering of ivory and cattle, the arab induced them both to kneel down and exchange blood with him, when, by a previously concerted arrangement, khamis had them shot down by his slaves. this disgusting story made me quite sorry, when next day the arabs arrived, expecting that i should attempt to help them; but as the matter had gone so far, i asked them, in the first place, how they could hope manua sera would have any faith in them when they were so treacherous, or trust to my help, since they had killed maula, who was my protege? they all replied in a breath, "oh, let the past be forgotten, and assist us now! for in you alone we can look for a preserver." at length an armistice was agreed to; but as no one dared go to negotiated it but my men, i allowed them to take pay from the arabs, which was settled on the 4th by ten men taking four yards of cloth each, with a promise of a feast on sweetmeats when they returned. ex mrs musa, who had been put aside by her husband because she was too fat for her lord's taste, then gave me three men of her private establishment, and abused musa for being wanting in "brains." she had repeatedly advised him to leave this place and go with me, lest the arabs, who were all in debt to him, should put him to death; but he still hung on to recover his remaining debts, a portion having been realised by the sale of snay's and jafu's effects; for everything in the shape of commodities had been sold at the enormous price of 500 per cent--the male slaves even fetching 100 dollars per head, though the females went for less. the hottentots now arrived, with many more of my men, who, seeing their old "flames," snay's women, sold off by auction, begged me to advance them money to purchase them with, for they could not bear to see these women, who were their own when they formerly stayed here, go off like cattle no one knew where. compliance, of course, was impossible, as it would have crowded the caravan with women. indeed, to prevent my men every thinking of matrimony on the march, as well as to incite them on through the journey, i promised, as soon as we reached egypt, to give them all wives and gardens at zanzibar, provided they did not contract marriages on the road. on the 6th, the deputation, headed by baraka, returned triumphantly into kaze, leading in two of manua sera's ministers--one of them a man with one eye, whom i called cyclops--and tow others, ministers of a chief called kitambi, or little blue cloth. after going a day's journey, they said they came to where manua sera was residing with kitambi, and met with a most cheerful and kind reception from both potentates, who, on hearing of my proposition, warmly acceded to it, issued orders at once that hostilities should cease, and, with one voice, said they were convinced that, unless through my instrumentality, manua sera would never regain his possessions. kitambi was quite beside himself, and wished my men to stop one night to enjoy his hospitality. manua sera, after reflecting seriously about the treacherous murder of old maula, hesitated, but gave way when it had been explained away by my men, and said, "no; they shall go at once, for my kingdom depends on the issue, and bana mzungu (the white lord) may get anxious if they do not return promptly." one thing, however, he insisted on, and that was, the only place he would meet the arabs in was unyanyembe, as it would be beneath his dignity to settle matters anywhere else. and further, he specified that he wished all the transactions to take place in musa's house. next day, 7th, i assembled all the arabs at musa's "court," with all my men and the two chiefs, four men attending, when baraka, "on his legs," told them all i proposed for the treaty of peace. the arabs gave their assent to it; and cyclops, for manua sera, after giving a full narrative of the whole history of the war, in such a rapid and eloquent manner as would have done justice to our prime minister, said his chief was only embittered against snay, and now snay was killed, he wished to make friends with them. to which the arabs made a suitable answer, adding, that all they found fault with was an insolent remark which, in his wrath, manua sera had given utterance to, that their quarrel with him was owing chiefly to a scurvy jest which he had passed on them, and on the characteristic personal ceremony of initiation to their mussulman faith. now, however, as manua sera wished to make friends, they would abide by anything that i might propose. here the knotty question arose again, what territory they, the arabs, would give to manua sera? i thought he would not be content unless he got the old place again; but as cyclops said no, that was not in his opinion absolutely necessary, as the lands of unyanyembe had once before been divided, the matter was settled on the condition that another conference should be held with manua sera himself on the subject. i now (8th and 9th) sent these men all off again, inviting manua sera to come over and settle matters at once, if he would, otherwise i should go on with my journey, for i could not afford to wait longer here. then, as soon as they left, i made musa order some of his men off to rungua, requesting the chief of the place to send porters to mininga to remove all our baggage over to his palace; at the same time i begged him not to fear the watuta's threat to attack him, as musa would come as soon as the treaty was concluded, in company with me, to build a boma alongside his palace, as he did in former years, to be nearer his trade with karague. i should have mentioned, by the way, that musa had now made up his mind not to go further than the borders of usui with me, lest i should be "torn to pieces," and he would be "held responsible on the coast." musa's men, however, whom he selected for this business, were then engaged making mussulmans of all the arab slave boys, and said they would not go until they had finished, although i offered to pay the "doctor's bill," or allowance they expected to get. the ceremony, at the same time that it helps to extend their religion, as christening does ours, also stamps the converts with a mark effective enough to prevent desertion; because, after it has been performed, their own tribe would not receive them again. at last, when they did go, musa, who was suffering from a sharp illness, to prove to me that he was bent on leaving kaze the same time as myself, began eating what he called his training pills--small dried buds of roses with alternate bits of sugar-candy. ten of these buds, he said, eaten dry, were sufficient for ordinary cases, and he gave a very formidable description of the effect likely to follow the use of the same number boiled in rice-water or milk. fearful stories of losses and distress came constantly in from ugogo by small bodies of men, who stole their way through the jungles. to-day a tremendous commotion took place in musa's tembe amongst all the women, as one had been delivered of still-born twins. they went about in procession, painted and adorned in the most grotesque fashion, bewailing and screeching, singing and dancing, throwing their arms and legs about as if they were drunk, until the evening set in, when they gathered a huge bundle of bulrushes, and, covering it with a cloth, carried it up to the door of the bereaved on their shoulders, as though it had been a coffin. then setting it down on the ground, they planted some of the rushes on either side of the entrance, and all kneeling together, set to bewailing, shrieking, and howling incessantly for hours together. after this (10th to 12th), to my great relief, quite unexpectedly, a man arrived from usui conveying a present of some ivories from a great mganga or magician, named dr k'yengo, who had sent them to musa as a recollection from an old friend, begging at the same time for some pretty cloths, as he said he was then engaged as mtongi or caravan director, collecting together all the native caravans desirous of making a grand march to uganda. this seemed to me a heaven-born opportunity of making friends with one who could help me so materially, and i begged musa to seal it by sending him something on my account, as i had nothing by me; but musa objected, thinking it better simply to say i was coming, and if he, k'yengo, would assist me in usui, i would then give him some cloths as he wanted; otherwise, musa said, the man who had to convey it would in all probability make away with it, and then do his best to prevent my seeing k'yengo. as soon as this was settled, against my wish and opinion, a special messenger arrived from suwarora, to inquire of musa what truth there was in the story of the arabs having allied themselves to the watuta. he had full faith in musa, and hoped, if the arabs had no hostile intentions towards him, he, musa, would send him two of theirs; further, suwarora wished musa would send him a cat. a black cat was then given to the messenger for suwarora, and musa sent an account of all that i had done towards effecting a peace, saying that the arabs had accepted my views, and if he would have patience until i arrived in usui, the four men required would be sent with me. in the evening my men returned again with cyclops, who said, for his master, that manua sera desired nothing more than peace, and to make friends with the arabs; but as nothing was settled about deposing mkisiwa, he could not come over here. could the arabs, was manua sera's rejoinder, suppose for a moment that he would voluntarily divide his dominion with one whom he regarded as his slave! death would be preferable; and although he would trust his life in the mzungu's hands if he called him again, he must know it was his intention to hunt mkisiwa down like a wild animal, and would never rest satisfied until he was dead. the treaty thus broke down; for the same night cyclops decamped like a thief, after brandishing an arrow which manua sera had given him to throw down as a gauntlet of defiance to fight mkisiwa to death. after this the arabs were too much ashamed of themselves to come near me, though invited by letter, and musa became so ill he would not take my advice and ride in a hammock, the best possible cure for his complaint; so, after being humbugged so many times by his procrastinations, i gave sheikh said more letters and specimens, with orders to take the tots down to the coast as soon as practicable, and started once more for the north, expecting very shortly to hear of musa's death, though he promised to follow me the very next day or die in the attempt, and he also said he would bring on the four men required by suwarora; for i was fully satisfied in my mind that he would have marched with me then had he had the resolution to do so at all. before i had left the district i heard that manua sera had collected a mixed force of warori, wagogo, and wasakuma, and had gone off to kigue again, whilst the arabs and mkisiwa were feeding their men on beef before setting out to fight him. manua sera, it was said, had vast resources. his father, fundi kira, was a very rich man, and had buried vast stores of property, which no one knew of but manua sera, his heir. the wanyamuezi all inwardly loved him for his great generosity, and all alike thought him protected by a halo of charm-power so effective against the arms of the arabs that he could play with them just as he liked. on crossing unyambewa (14th), when i a third time put up with my old friend the sultana, her chief sent word to say he hoped i would visit him at his fighting boma to eat a cow which he had in store for me, as he could not go home and enjoy the society of his wife whilst the war was going on; since, by so doing, it was considered he "would lose strength." on arriving at mininga, i was rejoiced to see grant greatly recovered. three villagers had been attacked by two lions during my absence. two of the people escaped, but the third was seized as he was plunging into his hut, and was dragged off and devoured by the animals. a theft also had taken place, by which both grant and sirboko lost property; and the thieves had been traced over the borders of the next district. no fear, however, was entertained about the things being recovered, for sirboko had warned ugali the chief, and he had promised to send his waganga, or magicians, out to track them down, unless the neighbouring chief chose to give them up. after waiting two days, as no men came from rungua, i begged grant to push ahead on to ukani, just opposite rungua, with all my coast-men, whilst i remained behind for the arrival of musa's men and porters to carry on the rest of the kit--for i had now twenty-two in addition to men permanently enlisted, who took service on the same rate of pay as my original coast-men; though, as usual, when the order for marching was issued, a great number were found to be either sick or malingering. two days afterwards, musa's men came in with porters, who would not hire themselves for more than two marches, having been forbidden to do so by their chief on account of the supposed watuta invasion; and for these two marches they required a quarter of the whole customary hire to karague. musa's traps, too, i found, were not to be moved, so i saw at once musa had not kept faith with me, and there would be a fresh set of difficulties; but as every step onwards was of the greatest importance--for my men were consuming my stores at a fearful pace--i paid down the beads they demanded, and next day joined grant at mbisu, a village of ukuni held by a small chief called mchimeka, who had just concluded a war of two years' standing with the great chief ukulima (the digger), of nunda (the hump). during the whole of the two years' warfare the loss was only three men on each side. meanwhile musa's men bolted like thieves one night, on a report coming that the chief of unyambewa, after concluding the war, whilst amusing himself with his wife, had been wounded on the foot by an arrow that fell from her hand. the injury had at once taken a mortal turn, and the chief sent for his magicians, who said it was not the fault of the wife--somebody else must have charmed the arrow to cause such a deadly result. they then seized hold of the magic horn, primed for the purpose, and allowed it to drag them to where the culprits dwelt. four poor men, who were convicted in this way, were at once put to death, and the chief from that moment began to recover. after a great many perplexities, i succeeded in getting a kirangozi, or leader, by name ungurue (the pig). he had several times taken caravans to karague, and knew all the languages well, but unfortunately he afterwards proved to be what his name implied. that, however, i could not foresee, so, trusting to him and good-luck, i commenced making fresh enlistments of porters; but they came and went in the most tantalising manner, notwithstanding i offered three times the hire that any merchant could afford to give. every day seemed to be worse and worse. some of musa's men came to get palm-toddy for him, as he was too weak to stand, and was so cold nothing would warm him. there was, however, no message brought for myself; and as the deputation did not come to me, i could only infer that i was quite forgotten, of that musa, after all, had only been humbugging me. i scarcely knew what to do. everybody advised me to stop where i was until the harvest was over, as no porters could be found on ahead, for ukuni was the last of the fertile lands on this side of usui. stopping, however, seemed endless; not so my supplies, i therefore tried advancing in detachments again, sending the free men off under grant to ukulima's, whilst i waited behind keeping ourselves divided in the hopes of inducing all hands to see the advisability of exerting themselves for the general good--as my men, whilst we were all together, showed they did not care how long they were kept doing no more fatiguing work than chaffing each other, and feeding at my expense. in the meanwhile the villagers were very merry, brewing and drinking their pombe (beer) by turns, one house after the other providing the treat. on these occasions the chief--who always drank freely, and more than any other--heading the public gatherings of men and women, saw the large earthen pots placed all in a row, and the company taking long draughts from bowls made of plaited straw, laughing as they drank, until, half-screwed, they would begin bawling and shouting. to increase the merriment, one or two jackanapes, with zebras' manes tied over their heads, would advance with long tubes like monster bassoons, blowing with all their might, contorting their faces and bodies, and going through the most obscene and ridiculous motions to captivate their simple admirers. this, however, was only the feast; the ball then began, for the pots were no sooner emptied than five drums at once, of different sizes and tones, suspended in a line from a long horizontal bar, were beaten with fury, and all the men, women, and children, singing and clapping their hands in time, danced for hours together. a report reached me, by some of sirboko's men, whom he had sent to convey to us a small present of rice, that an arab, who was crossing msalala to our northward, had been treacherously robbed of all his arms and guns by a small district chief, whose only excuse was that the wanyamuezi had always traded very well by themselves until the arabs came into the country; but now, as they were robbed of their property, on account of the disturbances caused by these arabs, they intended for the future to take all they could get, and challenged the arabs to do the same. my patience was beginning to suffer again, for i could not help thinking that the chiefs of the place were preventing their village men going with me in order that my presence here might ward of the watuta; so i called up the kirangozi, who had thirteen "watoto," as they are called, or children of his own, wishing to go, and asked him if he knew why no other men could be got. as he could not tell me, saying some excused themselves on the plea they were cutting their corn, and others that they feared the watuta, i resolved at once to move over to nunda; and if that place also failed to furnish men, i would go on to usui or karague with what men i had, and send back for the rest of my property; for though i could bear the idea of separating from grant, still the interests of old england were at stake, and demanded it. this resolve being strengthened by the kirangozi's assurance that the row in msalala had shaken the few men who had half dreaded to go with me, i marched over to hunda, and put up with grant in ukulima's boma, when grant informed me that the chief had required four yards of cloth from him for having walked round a dead lioness, as he had thus destroyed a charm that protected his people against any more of these animals coming, although, fortunately, the charm could be restored again by paying four yards of cloth. ukulima, however, was a very kind and good man, though he did stick the hands and heads of his victims on the poles of his boma as a warning to others. he kept five wives, of whom the rest paid such respect to the elder one, it was quite pleasing to see them. a man of considerable age, he did everything the state or his great establishment required himself. all the men of his district clapped their hands together as a courteous salutation to him, and the women curtsied as well as they do at our court--a proof that they respected him as a great potentate--a homage rarely bestowed on the chiefs of other small states. ukulima was also hospitable; for on one occasion, when another chief came to visit him, he received his guest and retainers with considerable ceremony, making all the men of the village get up a dance; which they did, beating the drums and firing off guns, like a lot of black devils let loose. we were not the only travellers in misfortune here, for masudi, with several other arabs, all formed in one large caravan, had arrived at mchimeka's, and could not advance for want of men. they told me it was the first time they had come on this line, and they deeply regretted it, for they had lost 5000 dollar's worth of beads by their porters running away with their loads, and now they did not know how to proceed. indeed, they left the coast and arrived at kaze immediately in rear of us, and had, like ourselves, found it as much as they could do even to reach this, and now they were at a standstill for want of porters. as all hopes of being able to get any more men were given up, i called on bombay and baraka to make arrangements for my going ahead with the best of my property as i had devised. they both shook their heads, and advised me to remain until the times improved, when the arabs, being freed from the pressure of war, would come along and form with us a "sufari ku" or grand march, as ukulima and every one else had said we should be torn to pieces in usui if we tried to cross that district with so few men. i then told them again and again of the messages i had sent on to rumanika in karague, and to suwarora in usui, and begged them to listen to me, instancing as an example of what could be done by perseverance the success of columbus, who, opposed by his sailors' misgivings, still when on and triumphed, creating for himself immortal renown. they gave way at last; so, after selecting all the best of my property, i formed camp at phunze, left bombay with grant behind, as i thought bombay the best and most honest man i had got, from his having had so much experience, and then went ahead by myself, with the pig as my guide and interpreter, and baraka as my factotum. the waguana then all mutinied for a cloth apiece, saying they would not lift a load unless i gave it. of course a severe contest followed; i said, as i had given them so much before, they could not want it, and ought to be ashamed of themselves. they urged, however, they were doing double work, and would not consent to carry loads as they had done at mgunda mkhali again. arguments were useless, for, simply because they were tired of going on, they would not see that as they were receiving pay every day, they therefore ought to work every day. however, as they yielded at last, by some few leaning to my side, i gave what they asked for, and went to the next village, still inefficient in men, as all the pig's watoto could not be collected together. this second move brought us into a small village, of which ghiya, a young man, was chief. he was very civil to me, and offered to sell me a most charming young woman, quite the belle of the country; but as he could not bring me to terms, he looked over my picture-books with the greatest delight, and afterwards went into a discourse on geography with considerable perspicacity; seeming fully to comprehend that if i got down the nile it would afterwards result in making the shores of the n'yanza like that of the coast at zanzibar, where the products of his country could be exchanged, without much difficulty, for cloths, beads, and brass wire. i gave him a present; then a letter was brought to me from sheikh said, announcing musa's death, and the fact that manua sera was still holding out at kigue; in answer to which i desired the sheikh to send me as many of musa's slaves as would take service with me, for they ought now, by the laws of the koran, to be all free. on packing up to leave ghiya's, all the men of the village shut the bars of the entrance, wishing to extract some cloths from me, as i had not given enough, they said, to their chief. they soon, however, saw that we, being inside their own fort, had the best of it, and they gave way. we then pushed on to ungurue's, another chief of the same district. here the men and women of the place came crowding to see me, the fair sex all playfully offering themselves for wives, and wishing to know which i admired most. they were so importunate, after a time, that i was not sorry to hear an attack was made on their cattle because a man of the village would not pay his dowry-money to his father-in-law, and this set everybody flying out to the scene of action. after this, as bombay brought up the last of my skulking men, i bade him good-bye again, and made an afternoon-march on to takina, in the district of msalala, which we no sooner approached than all the inhabitants turned out and fired their arrows at us. they did no harm, however, excepting to create a slight alarm, which some neighbouring villagers took advantage of to run of with two of my cows. to be returned to them, but called in vain, as the scoundrels said, "findings are keepings, by the laws of our country; and as we found your cows, so we will keep them." for my part i was glad they were gone, as the wanguana never yet kept anything i put under their charge; so, instead of allowing them to make a fuss the next morning, i marched straight on for m'ynoga's, the chief of the district, who was famed for his infamy and great extortions, having pushed his exactions so far as to close the road. on nearing his palace, we heard war-drums beat in every surrounding village, and the kirangozi would go no farther until permission was obtained from m'yonga. this did not take long, as the chief said he was most desirous to see a white man, never having been to the coast, though his father-in-law had, and had told him that the wazungu were even greater people than the sultan reigning there. on our drawing near the palace, a small, newly-constructed boma was shown for my residence; but as i did not wish to stop there, knowing how anxious grant would be to have his relief, i would not enter it, but instead sent baraka to pay the hongo as quickly as possible, that we might move on again; at the same time ordering him to describe the position both grant and myself were in, and explain that what i paid now was to frank both of us, as the whole of the property was my own. should he make any remarks about the two cows that were stolen, i said he must know that i could not wait for them, as my brother would die of suspense if we did not finish the journey and send back for him quickly. off went baraka with a party of men, stopping hours, of course, and firing volleys of ammunition away. he did not return again until the evening, when the palace-drums announced that the hongo had been settled for one barsati, one lugoi, and six yards merikani. baraka approached me triumphantly, saying how well he had managed the business. m'yonga did not wish to see me, because he did not know the coast language. he was immensely pleased with the present i had given him, and said he was much and very unjustly abused by the arabs, who never came this way, saying he was a bad man. he should be very glad to see grant, and would take nothing from him; and, though he did not see me in person, he would feel much affronted if i did not stop the night there. in the meanwhile he would have the cows brought in, for he could not allow any one to leave his country abused in any way. my men had greatly amused him by firing their guns off and showing him the use of their sword-bayonets. i knew, as a matter of course, that if i stopped any longer i should be teased for more cloths, and gave orders to my men to march the same instant, saying, if they did not--for i saw them hesitate--i would give the cows to the villagers, since i knew that was the thing that weighed on their minds. this raised a mutiny. no one would go forward with the two cows behind; besides which, the day was far spent, and there was nothing but jungle, they said, beyond. the kirangozi would not show the way, nor would any man lift a load. a great confusion ensued. i knew they were telling lies, and would not enter the village, but shot the cows when they arrived, for the villagers to eat, to show them i cared for nothing but making headway, and remained out in the open all night. next morning, sure enough, before we could get under way, m'yonga sent his prime minister to say that the king's sisters and other members of his family had been crying and tormenting him all night for having let me off so cheaply--they had got nothing to cover their nakedness, and i must pay something more. this provoked fresh squabbles. the drums had beaten and the tax was settled; i could not pay more. the kirangozi, however, said he would not move a peg unless i gave something more, else he would be seized on his way back. his "children' all said the same; and as i thought grant would only be worsted if i did not keep friends with the scoundrel, i gave four yards more merikani, and then went on my way. for the first few miles there were villagers, but after that a long tract of jungle, inhabited chiefly by antelopes and rhinoceros. it was wilder in appearance than most parts of unyamuezi. in this jungle a tributary nullah to the gombe, called nurhungure, is the boundary-line between the great country of the moon and the kingdom of uzinza. chapter vi. uzinza the politics of uzinza--the wahuma--"the pig's" trick--first taste of usui taxation--pillaged by mfumbi--pillaged by makaka--pillaged by lumeresi--grant stripped by m'yonga--stripped again by ruhe--terrors and defections in the camp--driven back to kaze with new tribulations and impediments. uzinza, which we now entered, is ruled by two wahuma chieftains of foreign blood, descended from the abyssinian stock, of whom we saw specimens scattered all over unyamuezi, and who extended even down south as far as fipa. travellers see very little, however, of these wahuma, because, being pastorals, they roam about with their flocks and build huts as far away as they can from cultivation. most of the small district chiefs, too, are the descendants of those who ruled in the same places before the country was invaded, and with them travellers put up and have their dealings. the dress of the wahuma is very simple, composed chiefly of cow-hide tanned black--a few magic ornaments and charms, brass or copper bracelets, and immense number of sambo for stockings, which looked very awkward on their long legs. they smear themselves with rancid butter instead of macassar, and are, in consequence, very offensive to all but the negro, who seems, rather than otherwise, to enjoy a good sharp nose tickler. for arms they carry both bow and spear; more generally the latter. the wazinza in the southern parts are so much like the wanyamuezi, as not to require any especial notice; but in the north, where the country is more hilly, they are much more energetic and actively built. all alike live in grass-hut villages, fenced round by bomas in the south, but open in the north. their country rises in high rolls, increasing in altitude as it approaches the mountains of the moon, and is generally well cultivated, being subjected to more of the periodical rains than the regions we have left, though springs are not so abundant, i believe, as they are in the land of the moon, where they ooze out by the flanks of the little granitic hills. after tracking through several miles of low bush-jungle, we came to the sites of some old bomas that had been destroyed by the watuta not long since. farther on, as we wished to enter a newly-constructed boma, the chief of which was mafumbu wantu (a mr balls), we felt the effects of those ruthless marauders; for the villagers, thinking us watuta in disguise, would not let us in; for those savages, they said, had once tricked them by entering their village, pretending to be traders carrying ivory and merchandise, whilst they were actually spies. this was fortunate for me, however, as mr balls, like m'yonga, was noted for his extortions on travellers. we then went on and put up in the first village of bogue, where i wished to get porters and return for grant, as the place seemed to be populous. finding, however, that i could not get a sufficient number for that purpose, i directed those who wished for employment to go off at once and take service with grant. i found many people assembled here from all parts of the district, for the purpose of fighting m'yonga; but the chief ruhe, having heard of my arrival, called me to his palace, which, he said, was on my way, that he might see me, for he never in all his life had a white man for his guest, and was so glad to hear of my arrival that he would give orders for the dispersing of his forces. i wished to push past him, as i might be subjected to such calls every day; but ungurue, in the most piggish manner--for he was related to ruhe--insisted that neither himself nor any of his children would advance one step farther with me unless i complied with their wish, which was a simple conformity with the laws of their country, and therefore absolute. at length giving in, i entered ruhe's boma, the poles of which were decked with the skulls of his enemies stuck upon them. instead, however, of seeing him myself, as he feared my evil eye, i conducted the arrangements for the hongo through baraka, in the same way as i did at m'yonga's, directing that it should be limited to the small sum of one barsati and four yards kiniki. the drum was beaten, as the public intimation of the payment of the hongo, and consequently of our release, and we went on to mihambo, on the west border of the eastern division of uzinza, which is called ukhanga. it overlooks the small district of sorombo, belonging to the great western division, known as usui, and is presided over by a sorombo chief, named makaka, whose extortions had been so notorious that no arabs now ever went near him. i did not wish to do so either, though his palace lay in the direct route. it was therefore agreed we should skirt round by the east of this district, and i even promised the pig i would give him ten necklaces a-day in addition to his wages, if he would avoid all the chiefs, and march steadily ten miles every day. by doing so, we should have avoided the wandering watuta, whose depredations had laid waste nearly all of this country; but the designing blackguard, in opposition to my wishes, to accomplish some object of his own, chose to mislead us all, and quietly took us straight into sorombo to kague, the boma of a sub-chief, called mfumbi, where we no sooner arrived than the inhospitable brute forbade any one of his subjects to sell us food until the hongo was paid, for he was not sure that we were not allied with the watuta to rob his country. after receiving what he called his dues--one barsati, two yards merikani, and two yards kiniki--the drums beat, and all was settled with him; but i was told the head chief makaka, who lived ten miles to the west, and so much out of my road, had sent expressly to invite me to see him. he said it was his right i should go to him as the principal chief of the district. moreover he longed for a sight of a white man; for though he had travelled all across uganda and usoga into masawa, or the masai country, as well as to the coast, where he had seen both arabs and indians, he had never yet seen an englishman. if i would oblige him, he said he would give me guides to suwarora, who was his mkama or king. of course i knew well what all this meant; and at the same time that i said i could not comply, i promised to send him a present of friendship by the hands of baraka. this caused a halt. makaka would not hear of such an arrangement. a present, he said, was due to him of course, but of more importance than the present was his wish to see me. baraka and all the men begged i would give in, as they were sure he must be a good man to send such a kind message. i strove in vain, for no one would lift a load unless i complied; so, perforce, i went there, in company, however, with mfumbi, who now pretended to be great friends; but what was the result? on entering the palace we were shown into a cowyard without a tree in it, or any shade; and no one was allowed to sell us food until a present of friendship was paid, after which the hongo would be discussed. the price of friendship was not settled that day, however, and my men had to go supperless to bed. baraka offered him one common cloth, and then another--all of which he rejected with such impetuosity that baraka said his head was all on a whirl. makaka insisted he would have a deole, or nothing at all. i protested i had no deoles i could give him; for all the expensive cloths which i had brought from the coast had been stolen in mgunda mkhali. i had three, however, concealed at the time--which i had bought from musa, at forty dollars each--intended for the kings of karague and uganda. incessant badgering went on for hours and hours, until at last baraka, clean done with the incessant worry of this hot-headed young chief, told him, most unfortunately, he would see again if he could find a deole, as he had one of his own. baraka then brought one to my tent, and told me of his having bought it for eight dollars at the coast; and as i now saw i was let in for it, i told him to give it. it was given, but makaka no sooner saw it than he said he must have another one; for it was all nonsense saying a white man had no rich cloths. whenever he met arabs, they all said they were poor men, who obtained all their merchandise from the white men on credit, which they refunded afterwards, by levying a heavy percentage on the sale of their ivory. i would not give way that night; but next day, after fearful battling, the present of friendship was paid by baraka's giving first a dubuani, then one sahari, then one barsati, then one kisutu, and then eight yards of merikani--all of which were contested in the most sickening manner--when baraka, fairly done up, was relieved by makaka's saying, "that will do for friendship; if you had given the deole quietly, all this trouble would have been saved; for i am not a bad man, as you will see." my men then had their first dinner here, after which the hongo had to be paid. this for the time was, however, more easily settled; because makaki at once said he would never be satisfied until he had received, if i had really not got a deole, exactly double in equivalents of all i had given him. this was a fearful drain on my store; but the pig, seeing my concern, merely laughed at it, and said, "oh, these savage chiefs are all alike here; you will have one of these taxes to pay every stage to uyofu, and then the heavy work will begin; for all these men, although they assume the dignity of chief to themselves, are mere officers, who have to pay tribute to suwarora, and he would be angry if they were shortcoming." the drums as yet had not beaten, for makaka said he would not be satisfied until we had exchanged presents, to prove that we were the best of friends. to do this last act properly, i was to get ready whatever i wished to give him, whilst he would come and visit me with a bullock; but i was to give him a royal salute, or the drums would not beat. i never felt so degraded as when i complied, and gave orders to my men to fire a volley as he approached my tent; but i ate the dirt with a good grace, and met the young chief as if nothing had happened. my men, however, could not fire the salute fast enough for him; for he was one of those excitable impulsive creatures who expect others to do everything in as great a hurry as their minds wander. the moment the first volley was fired, he said, "now, fire again, fire again; be quick, be quick! what's the use of those things?" (meaning the guns). "we could spear you all whilst you are loading: be quick, be quick, i tell you." but baraka, to give himself law, said: "no; i must ask bana" (master) "first, as we do everything by order; this is not fighting at all." the men being ready, file-firing was ordered, and then the young chief came into my tent. i motioned him to take my chair, which, after he sat down upon it, i was very sorry for, as he stained the seat all black with the running colour of one of the new barsati cloths he had got from me, which, to improve its appearance, he had saturated with stinking butter, and had tied round his loins. a fine-looking man of about thirty, he wore the butt-end of a large sea-shell cut in a circle, and tied on his forehead, for a coronet, and sundry small saltiana antelope horns, stuffed with magic powder, to keep off the evil eye. his attendants all fawned on him, and snapped their fingers whenever he sneezed. after passing the first compliment, i gave him a barsati, as my token of friendship, and asked him what he saw when he went to the masai country. he assured me "that there were two lakes, and not one"; for, on going from usoga to the masai country, he crossed over a broad strait, which connected the big n'yanza with another one at its north-east corner. fearfully impetuous, as soon as this answer was given, he said, "now i have replied to your questions, do you show me all the things you have got, for i want to see everything, and be very good friends. i did not see you the first day, because you being a stranger, it was necessary i should first look into the magic horn to see if all was right and safe; and now i can assure you that, whilst i saw i was safe, i also saw that your road would be prosperous. i am indeed delighted to see you, for neither my father, nor any of my forefathers, ever were honoured with the company of a white man in all their lives." my guns, clothes, and everything were then inspected, and begged for in the most importunate manner. he asked for the picture-books, examined the birds with intense delight--even trying to insert under their feathers his long royal fingernails, which are grown like a chinaman's by these chiefs, to show they have a privilege to live on meat. then turning to the animals, he roared over each one in turn as he examined them, and called out their names. my bull's-eye lantern he coveted so much, i had to pretend exceeding anger to stop his further importunities. he then began again begging for lucifers, which charmed him so intensely i thought i should never get rid of him. he would have one box of them. i swore i could not part with them. he continued to beg, and i to resist. i offered a knife instead, but this he would not have, because the lucifers would be so valuable for his magical observances. on went the storm, till at last i drove him off with a pair of my slippers, which he had stuck his dirty feet into without my leave. i then refused to take his bullock, because he had annoyed me. on his part he was resolved not to beat the drum; but he graciously said he would think about it if i paid another lot of cloth equal to the second deole i ought to have given him. i began seriously to consider whether i should have this chief shot, as a reward for his oppressive treachery, and a warning to others; but the pig said it was just what the arabs were subjected to in ubena, and they found it best to pay down at once, and do all they were ordered. if i acted rightly, i would take the bullock, and then give the cloth; whilst baraka said, "we will shoot him if you give the order, only remember grant is behind, and if you commence a row you will have to fight the whole way, for every chief in the country will oppose you." i then told the pig and baraka to settle at once. they no sooner did so than the drums beat, and makaka, in the best humour possible, came over to say i had permission to go when i liked, but he hoped i would give him a gun and a box of lucifers. this was too provoking. the perpetual worry had given baraka a fever, and had made me feel quite sick; so i said, if he ever mentioned a gun or lucifers again, i would fight the matter out with him, for i had not come there to be bullied. he then gave way, and begged i would allow my men to fire a volley outside his boma, as the watuta were living behind a small line of granitic hills flanking the west of his district, and he wished to show them what a powerful force he had got with him. this was permitted; but his wisdom in showing off was turned into ridicule; for the same evening the watuta made and attack on his villages and killed three of his subjects, but were deterred from committing further damage by coming in contact with my men, who, as soon as they saw the watuta fighting, fired their muskets off in the air and drove them away, they themselves at the same time bolting into my camp, and as usual vaunting their prowess. i then ordered a march for the next morning, and went out in the fields to take my regular observations for latitude. whilst engaged in this operation, baraka, accompanied by wadimoyo (heart's-stream), another of my freeman, approached me in great consternation, whispering to themselves. they said they had some fearful news to communicate, which, when i heard it, they knew would deter our progress: it was of such great moment and magnitude, they thought they could not deliver it then. i said, "what nonsense! out with it at once. are we such chickens that we cannot speak about matters like men? out with it at once." then baraka said, "i have just heard from makaka, that a man who arrived from usui only a few minutes ago has said suwarora is so angry with the arabs that he has detained one caravan of theirs in his country, and, separating the whole of their men, has placed each of them in different bomas, with orders to his village officers that, in case the watuta came into his country, without further ceremony they were to be all put to death." i said, "oh, baraka, how can you be such a fool? do you not see through this humbug? makaka only wishes to keep us here to frighten away the watuta; for godsake be a man, and don't be alarmed at such phantoms as these. you always are nagging at me that bombay is the 'big' and you are the 'small' man. bombay would never be frightened in this silly way. now, do you reflect that i have selected you for this journey, as it would, if you succeed with me in carrying out our object, stamp you for ever as a man of great fame. pray, don't give way, but do your best to encourage the men, and let us march in the morning." on this, as on other occasions of the same kind, i tried to impart confidence, by explaining, in allusion to petherick's expedition, that i had arranged to meet white men coming up from the north. baraka at last said, "all right--i am not afraid; i will do as you desire." but as the two were walking off, i heard wadimoyo say to baraka, "is he not afraid now? won't he go back?"--which, if anything, alarmed me more than the first intelligence; for i began to think that they, and not makaka, had got up the story. all night makaka's men patrolled the village, drumming and shouting to keep off the watuta, and the next morning, instead of a march, after striking my tent i found that the whole of my porters, the pig's children, were not to be found. they had gone off and hidden themselves, saying that they were not such fools as to go any farther, as the watuta were out, and would cut us up on the road. this was sickening indeed. i knew the porters had not gone far, so i told the pig to bring them to me, that we might talk the matter over; but say what i would, they all swore they would not advance a step farther. most of them were formerly men of utambara. the watuta had invaded their country and totally destroyed it, killing all their wives and children, and despoiling everything they held dear to them. they did not wish to rob me, and would give up their hire, but not one step more would they advance. makaka then came forward and said, "just stop here with me until this ill wind blows over"; but baraka, more in a fright at makaka than at any one else, said, no--he would do anything rather than that; for makaka's bullying had made him quite ill. i then said to my men, "if nothing else will suit you, the best plan i can think of is to return to mihambo in bogue, and there form a depot, where, having stored my property, i shall give the pig a whole load, or 63 lb., of mzizima beads if he will take baraka in disguise on to suwarora, and ask him to send me eighty men, whilst i go back to unyanyembe to see what men i can get from the late musa's establishment, and then we might bring on grant, and move in a body together." at first baraka said, "do you wish to have us killed? do you think if we went to suwarora's you would ever see us back again? you would wait and wait for us, but we should never return." to which i replied, "oh, baraka, do not think so! bombay, if he were here, would go in a minute. suwarora by this time knows i am coming, and you may depend on it he will be just as anxious to have us in usui as makaka is to keep us here, and he cannot hurt us, as rumanika is over him, and also expects us." baraka then, in the most doleful manner, said he would go if the pig would. the pig, however, did not like it either, but said the matter was so important he would look into the magic horn all night, and give his answer next morning as soon as we arrived at mihambo. on arrival at mihambo next day, all the porters brought their pay to me, and said they would not go, for nothing would induce them to advance a step farther. i said nothing; but, with "my heart in my shoes," i gave what i thought their due for coming so far, and motioned them to be off; then calling on the pig for his decision, i tried to argue again, though i saw it was no use, for there was not one of my own men who wished to go on. they were unanimous in saying usui was a "fire," and i had no right to sacrifice them. the pig then finally refused, saying three loads even would not tempt him, for all were opposed to it. of what value, he observed, would the beads be to him if his life was lost? this was crushing; the whole camp was unanimous in opposing me. i then made baraka place all my kit in the middle of the boma, which was a very strong one, keeping out only such beads as i wished him to use for the men's rations daily, and ordered him to select a few men who would return with me to kaze; when i said, if i could not get all the men i wanted, i would try and induce some one, who would not fear, to go on to usui; failing which, i would even walk back to zanzibar for men, as nothing in the world would ever induce me to give up the journey. this appeal did not move him; but, without a reply, he sullenly commenced collecting some men to accompany me back to kaze. at first no one would go; they then mutinied for more beads, announcing all sorts of grievances, which they said they were always talking over to themselves, though i did not hear them. the greatest, however, that they could get up was, that i always paid the wanyamuezi "temporaries" more than they got, though "permanents." "they were the flesh, and i was the knife"; i cut and did with them just as i liked, and they could not stand it any longer. however, they had to stand it; and next day, when i had brought them to reason, i gave over the charge of my tent and property to baraka, and commenced the return with a bad hitching cough, caused by those cold easterly winds that blow over the plateau during the six dry months of the years, and which are, i suppose, the harmattan peculiar to africa. next day i joined grant once more, and found he had collected a few sorombo men, hoping to follow after me. i then told him all my mishaps in sorombo, as well as of the "blue-devil" frights that had seized all my men. i felt greatly alarmed about the prospects of the expedition, scarcely knowing what i should do. i resolved at last, if everything else failed, to make up a raft at the southern end of the n'yanza, and try to go up to the nile in that way. my cough daily grew worse. i could not lie or sleep on either side. still my mind was so excited and anxious that, after remaining one day here to enjoy grant's society, i pushed ahead again, taking bombay with me, and had breakfast at mchimeka's. there i found the pig, who now said he wished he had taken my offer of beads, for he had spoken with his chief, and saw that i was right. baraka and the wanguana were humbugs, and had they not opposed his going, he would have gone then; even now, he said, he wished i would take him again with bombay. though half inclined to accept his offer, which would have saved a long trudge to kaze, yet as he had tricked me so often, i felt there would be no security unless i could get some coast interpreters, who would not side with the chiefs against me as he had done. from this i went on to sirboko's, and spent the next day with him talking over my plans. the rafting up the lake he thought a good scheme; but he did not think i should ever get through usui until all the kaze merchants went north in a body, for it was no use trying to force my men against their inclinations; and if i did not take care how i handled them, he thought they would all desert. my cough still grew worse, and became so bad that, whilst mounting a hill on entering ungugu's the second day after, i blew and grunted like a broken-winded horse, and it became so distressing i had to halt a day. in two more marches, however, i reached kaze, and put up with musa's eldest son, abdalla, on the 2nd july, who now was transformed from a drunken slovenly boy into the appearance of a grand swell, squatting all day as his old father used to do. the house, however, did not feel the same--no men respected him as they had done his father. sheikh said was his clerk and constant companion, and the tots were well fed on his goats--at my expense, however. on hearing my fix, abdalla said i should have men; and, what's more, he would go with me as his father had promised to do; but he had a large caravan detained in ugogo, and for that he must wait. at that moment manua sera was in a boma at kigue, in alliance with the chief of that place; but there was no hope for him now, as all the arabs had allied themselves with the surrounding chiefs, including kitambi; and had invested his position by forming a line, in concentric circles, four deep, cutting off his supplies of water within it, so that they daily expected to hear of his surrendering. the last news that had reached them brought intelligence of one man killed and two arabs wounded; whilst, on the other side, manua sera had lost many men, and was put to such straits that he had called out if it was the arabs' determination to kill him he would bolt again; to which the arabs replied it was all the same; if he ran up to the top of the highest mountain or down into hell, they would follow after and put him to death. 3d.--after much bother and many disappointments, as i was assured i could get no men to help me until after the war was over, and the arabs had been to ugogo, and had brought up their property, which was still lying there, i accepted two men as guides--one named bui, a very small creature, with very high pretensions, who was given me by abdalla--the other, a steady old traveller, named nasib (or fortune), who was given me by fundi sangoro. these two slaves, both of whom knew all the chiefs and languages up to and including uganda, promised me faithfully they would go with bombay on to usui, and bring back porters in sufficient number for grant and myself to go on together. they laughed at the stories i told them of the terror that had seized baraka and all the wanguana, and told me, as old musa had often done before, that those men, especially baraka, had from their first leaving kaze made up their minds they would not enter usui, or go anywhere very far north. i placed those men on the same pay as bombay, and then tried to buy some beads from the arabs, as i saw it was absolutely necessary i should increase my fast-ebbing store if i ever hoped to reach gondokoro. the attempt failed, as the arabs would not sell at a rate under 2000 per cent.; and i wrote a letter to colonel rigby, ordering up fifty armed men laden with beads and pretty cloths--which would, i knew, cost me £1000 at the least--and left once more for the north on the 5th. marching slowly, as my men kept falling sick, i did not reach grant again until the 11th. his health had greatly improved, and he had been dancing with ukulima, as may be seen by the accompanying woodcut. so, as i was obliged to wait for a short time to get a native guide for bui, nasib and bombay, who would show them a jungle-path to usui, we enjoyed our leisure hours in shooting guinea-fowls for the pot. a report then came to us that suwarora had heard with displeasure that i had been endeavouring to see him, but was deterred because evil reports concerning him had been spread. this unexpected good news delighted me exceedingly; confirmed my belief that baraka, after all, was a coward, and induced me to recommend bombay to make his cowardice more indisputable by going on and doing what he had feared to do. to which bombay replied, "of course i will. it is all folly pulling up for every ill wind that blows, because, until one actually sees there is something in it, you never can tell amongst these savages--'shaves' are so common in africa. besides, a man has but one life, and god is the director of everything." "bravo!" said i, "we will get on as long as you keep to that way of thinking." at length a guide was obtained, and with him came some of those men of the pig's who returned before; for they had a great desire to go with me, but had been deterred, they said, by baraka and the rest of my men. seeing all this, i changed my plans again, intending, on arrival at baraka's camp, to prevail on the whole of the party to go with me direct, which i thought they could not now refuse, since suwarora had sent us an invitation. moreover, i did not like the idea of remaining still whilst the three men went forwards, as it would be losing time. these separations from grant were most annoying, but they could not be helped; so, when all was settled here, i bade him adieu--both of us saying we would do our best--and set out on my journey, thinking what a terrible thing it was i could not prevail on my men to view things as i did. neither my experience with native chiefs, nor my money and guns, were of any use to me, simply because my men were such incomprehensible fools, though many of them who had travelled before ought to have known better. more reports came to us about suwarora, all of the most inviting nature; but nothing else worth mentioning occurred until we reached the border of msalala, where an officer of m'yonga's, who said he was a bigger man than his chief, demanded a tax, which i refused, and the dispute ended in his snatching nasib's gun out of his hands. i thought little of this affair myself, beyond regretting the delay which it might occasion, as m'yonga, i knew, would not permit such usage, if i chose to go round by his palace and make a complaint. both bui and nasib, however, were so greatly alarmed, that before i could say a word they got the gun back again by paying four yards merikani. we had continued bickering again, for bui had taken such fright at this kind of rough handling, and the "push-ahead" manner in which i persisted "riding over the lords of the soil," that i could hardly drag the party along. however, on the 18th, after breakfasting at ruhe's, we walked into mihambo, and took all the camp by surprise. i found the union jack hoisted upon a flag-staff, high above all the trees, in the boma. baraka said he had done this to show the watuta that the place was occupied by men with guns--a necessary precaution, as all the villages in the neighbourhood had, since my departure, been visited and plundered by them. lumeresi, the chief of the district, who lived ten miles to the eastward, had been constantly pressing him to leave this post and come to his palace, as he felt greatly affronted at our having shunned him and put up with ruhe. he did not want property, he said, but he could not bear that the strangers had lived with his mtoto, or child, which ruhe was, and yet would not live with him. he thought baraka's determined obstinacy on this could only be caused by the influence of the head man of the village, and threatened that if baraka did not come to visit him at once, he would have the head man beheaded. then, shifting round a bit, he thought of ordering his subjects to starve the visitors into submission, and said he must have a hongo equal to ruhe's. to all this baraka replied, that he was merely a servant, and as he had orders to stop where he was, he could not leave it until i came; but to show there was no ill-feeling towards him, he sent the chief a cloth. these first explanations over, i entered my tent, in which baraka had been living, and there i found a lot of my brass wires on the ground, lying scattered about. i did not like the look of this, so ordered bombay to resume his position of factotum, and count over the kit. whilst this was going on, a villager came to me with a wire, and asked me to change it for a cloth. i saw at once what the game was; so i asked my friend where he got it, on which he at once pointed to baraka. i then heard the men who were standing round us say one to another in under-tones, giggling with the fun of it, "oh, what a shame of him! did you hear what bana said, and that fool's reply to it? what a shame of him to tell in that way." without appearing to know, or rather to hear, the by-play that was going on, i now said to baraka, "how is it this man has got one of my wires, for i told you not to touch or unpack them during my absence?" to which he coolly replied, in face of such evidence, "it is not one of your wires; i never gave away one of yours; there are lots more wires besides yours in the country. the man tells a falsehood; he had the wire before, but now, seeing your cloth open, wants to exchange it." "if that is the case," i said, taking things easy, "how is it you have opened my loads and scattered the wires about in the tent?" "oh, that was to take care of them; for i thought, if they were left outside all night with the rest of the property, some one would steal them, and i should get the blame of it." further parley was useless; for, though both my wires and cloths were short, still it was better not to kick up a row, when i had so much to do to keep all my men in good temper for the journey. baraka then, wishing to beguile me, as he thought he could do, into believing him a wonderful man for both pluck and honesty, said he had had many battles to fight with the men since i had been gone to kaze, for there were two strong parties in the camp; those who, during the late rebellion at zanzibar, had belonged to the arabs that sided with sultan majid, and were royalists, and those who, having belonged to the rebellious arabs, were on the opposite side. the battle commenced, he stated, by the one side abusing the other for their deeds during that rebellion, the rebels in this sort of contest proving themselves the stronger. but he, heading the royalist party, soon reduced them to order, though only for a short while, as from that point they turned round to open mutiny for more rations; and some of the rebels tried to kill him, which, he said, they would have done had he not settled the matter by buying some cows for them. it was on this account he had been obliged to open my loads. and now he had told me the case, he hoped i would forgive him if he had done wrong. now, the real facts of the case were these--though i did not find them out at the time:--baraka had bought some slaves with my effects, and he had had a fight with some of my men because they tampered with his temporary wife--a princess he had picked up in phunze. to obtain her hand he had given ten necklaces of my beads to her mother, and had agreed to the condition that he should keep the girl during the journey; and after it was over, and he took her home, he would, if his wife pleased him, give her mother ten necklaces more. next day baraka told me his heart shrank to the dimensions of a very small berry when he saw whom i had brought with me yesterday--meaning bombay, and the same porters whom he had prevented going on with me before. i said, "pooh, nonsense; have done with such excuses, and let us get away out of this as fast as we can. now, like a good man, just use your influence with the chief of the village, and try and get from him five or six men to complete the number we want, and then we will work round the east of sorombo up to usui, for suwarora has invited us to him." this, however, was not so easy; for lumeresi, having heard of my arrival, sent his wanyapara, or grey-beards, to beg i would visit him. he had never seen a white man in all his life, neither had his father, nor any of his forefathers, although he had often been down to the coast; i must come and see him, as i had seen his mtoto ruhe. he did not want property; it was only the pleasure of my company that he wanted, to enable him to tell all his friends what a great man had lived in his house. this was terrible: i saw at once that all my difficulties in sorombo would have to be gone through again if i went there, and groaned when i thought what a trick the pig had played me when i first of all came to this place; for if i had gone on then, as i wished, i should have slipped past lumeresi without his knowing it. i had to get up a storm at the grey-beards, and said i could not stand going out of my road to see any one now, for i had already lost so much time by makaka's trickery in sorombo. bui then, quaking with fright at my obstinacy, said, "you must--indeed you must--give in and do with these savage chiefs as the arabs when they travel, for i will not be a party to riding rough-shod over them." still i stuck out, and the grey-beards departed to tell their chief of it. next morning he sent them back to say he would not be cheated out of his rights as the chief of the district. still i would not give in, and the whole day kept "jawing" without effect, for i could get no man to go with me until the chief gave his sanction. i then tried to send bombay off with bui, nasib, and their guide, by night; but though bombay was willing, the other two hung back on the old plea. in this state of perplexity, bui begged i would allow him to go over to lumeresi and see what he could do with a present. bui really now was my only stand-by, so i sent him off, and next had the mortification to find that he had been humbugged by honeyed words, as baraka had been with makaka, into believing that lumeresi was a good man, who really had no other desire at heart than the love of seeing me. his boma, he said, did not lie much out of my line, and he did not wish a stitch of my cloth. so far from detaining me, he would give me as many men as i wanted; and, as an earnest of his good intentions, he sent his copper hatchet, the badge of office as chief of the district, as a guarantee for me. to wait there any longer after this, i knew, would be a mere waste of time, so i ordered my men to pack up that moment, and we all marched over at once to lumeresi's, when we put up in his boma. lumeresi was not in then, but, on his arrival at night, he beat all his drums to celebrate the event, and fired a musket, in reply to which i fired three shots. the same night, whilst sitting out to make astronomical observations, i became deadly cold--so much so, that the instant i had taken the star, to fix my position, i turned into bed, but could not get up again; for the cough that had stuck to me for a month then became so violent, heightened by fever succeeding the cold fit, that before the next morning i was so reduced that i could not stand. for the last month, too, i had not been able to sleep on either side, as interior pressure, caused by doing so, provoked the cough; but now i had, in addition, to be propped in position to get any repose whatever. the symptoms, altogether, were rather alarming, for the heart felt inflamed and ready to burst, pricking and twingeing with every breath, which was exceedingly aggravated by constant coughing, when streams of phlegm and bile were ejected. the left arm felt half-paralysed, the left nostril was choked with mucus, and on the centre of the left shoulder blade i felt a pain as if some one was branding me with a hot iron. all this was constant; and, in addition, i repeatedly felt severe pains--rather paroxysms of fearful twinges--in the spleen, liver, and lungs; whilst during my sleep i had all sorts of absurd dreams: for instance--i planned a march across africa with sir roderick murchison; and i fancied some curious creatures, half-men and half-monkeys, came into my camp to inform me that petherick was waiting in boats at the south-west corner of the n'yanza, etc., etc. though my mind was so weak and excited when i woke up from these trances, i thought of nothing but the march, and how i could get out of lumeresi's hands. he, with the most benign countenance, came in to see me, the very first thing in the morning, as he said, to inquire after my health; when, to please him as much as i could, i had a guard of honour drawn up at the tent door to fire a salute as he entered; then giving him my iron camp-chair to sit upon, which tickled him much--for he was very corpulent, and he thought its legs would break down with his weight--we had a long talk, though it was as much as i could do to remember anything, my brain was so excited and weak. kind as he looked and spoke, he forgot all his promises about coveting my property, and scarcely got over the first salutation before he began begging for many things that he saw, and more especially for a deole, in order that he might wear it on all great occasions, to show his contemporaries what a magnanimous man his white visitor was. i soon lost my temper whilst striving to settle the hongo. lumeresi would have a deole, and i would not admit that i had one. 23d to 31st.--next morning i was too weak to speak moderately, and roared more like a madman than a rational being, as, breaking his faith, he persisted in bullying me. the day after, i took pills and blistered my chest all over, still lumeresi would not let me alone, nor come to any kind of terms until the 25th, when he said he would take a certain number of pretty common cloths for his children if i would throw in a red blanket for himself. i jumped at this concession with the greatest eagerness, paid down my cloths on the spot; and, thinking i was free at last, ordered a hammock to be slung on a pole, that i might leave the next day. next morning, however, on seeing me actually preparing to start, lumeresi found he could not let me go until i increased the tax by three more cloths, as some of his family complained that they had got nothing. after some badgering, i paid what he asked for, and ordered the men to carry me out of the palace before anything else was done, for i would not sleep another night where i was. lumeresi then stood in my way, and said he would never allow a man of his country to give me any assistance until i was well, for he could not bear the idea of hearing it said that, after taking so many cloths from me, he had allowed me to die in the jungles--and dissuaded my men from obeying my orders. in vain i appealed to his mercy, declaring that the only chance left me of saving my life would be from the change of air in the hammock as i marched along. he would not listen, professing humanity, whilst he meant plunder; and i now found that he was determined not to beat the drum until i had paid him some more, which he was to think over and settle next day. when the next day came, he would not come near me, as he said i must possess a deole, otherwise i would not venture on to karague; for nobody ever yet "saw" rumanika without one. this suspension of business was worse than the rows; i felt very miserable, and became worse. at last, on my offering him anything that he might consider an equivalent for the deole if he would but beat the drums of satisfaction, he said i might consider myself his prisoner instead of his guest if i persisted in my obstinacy in not giving him rumanika's deole; and then again peremptorily ordered all of his subjects not to assist me in moving a load. after this, veering round for a moment on the generous tack, he offered me a cow, which i declined. 1st to 4th.--still i rejected the offered cow, until the 2nd, when, finding him as dogged as ever, at the advice of my men i accepted it, hoping thus to please him; but it was no use, for he now said he must have two deoles, or he would never allow me to leave his palace. every day matters got worse and worse. mfumbi, the small chief of sorombo, came over, in an oily-gammon kind of manner, to say makaka had sent him over to present his compliments to me, and express his sorrow on hearing that i had fallen sick here. he further informed me that the road was closed between this and usui, for he had just been fighting there, and had killed the chief gomba, burnt down all his villages, and dispersed all the men in the jungle, where they now resided, plundering every man who passed that way. this gratuitous, wicked, humbugging terrifier helped to cause another defeat. it was all nonsense, i knew, but both bui and nasib, taking fright, begged for their discharges. in fearful alarm and anxiety, i begged them to have patience and see the hongo settled first, for there was no necessity, at any rate, for immediate hurry; i wished them to go on ahead with bombay, as in four days they could reach suwarora's. but they said they could not hear of it--they would not go a step beyond this. all the chiefs on ahead would do the same as lumeresi; the whole country was roused. i had not even half enough cloths to satisfy the wasui; and my faithful followers would never consent to be witness to my being "torn to pieces." 5th and 6th.--the whole day and half of the next went in discussions. at last, able for the first time to sit up a little, i succeeded in prevailing on bui to promise he would go to usui as soon as the hongo was settled, provided, as he said, i took on myself all responsibilities of the result. this cheered me so greatly, i had my chair placed under a tree and smoked my first pipe. on seeing this, all my men struck up a dance, to the sound of the drums, which they carried on throughout the whole night, never ceasing until the evening of the next day. these protracted caperings were to be considered as their congratulation for my improvement in health; for, until i got into my chair, they always thought i was going to die. they then told me, with great mirth and good mimicry, of many absurd scenes which, owing to the inflamed state of my brain, had taken place during my interviews with lumeresi. bombay at this time very foolishly told lumeresi, if he "really wanted a deole," he must send to grant for one. this set the chief raving. he knew there was one in my box, he said, and unless i gave it, the one with grant must be brought; for under no circumstances would he allow of my proceeding northwards until that was given him. bui and nasib then gave me the slip, and slept that night in a neighbouring boma without my knowledge. 7th to 9th.--as things had now gone so far, i gave lumeresi the deole i had stored away for rumanika, telling him, at the same time as he took it, that he was robbing rumanika, and not myself; but i hoped, now i had given it, he would beat the drums. the scoundrel only laughed as he wrapped my beautiful silk over his great broad shoulders, and said, "yes, this will complete our present of friendship; now then for the hongo--i must have exactly double of all you have given." this sorombo trick i attributed to the instigation of makaka, for these savages never fail to take their revenge when they can. i had doubled back from his country, and now he was cutting me off in front. i expected as much when the oily blackguard mfumbi came over from his chief to ask after my health; so, judging from my experience with makaka, i told lumeresi at once to tell me what he considered his due, for this fearful haggling was killing me by inches. i had no more deoles, but would make that up in brass wire. he then fixed the hongo at fifteen masango or brass wire bracelets, sixteen cloths of sorts, and a hundred necklaces of samisami or red coral beads, which was to pay for grant as well as myself. i paid it down on the spot; the drums beat the "satisfaction," and i ordered the march with the greatest relief of mind possible. but bui and nasib were not to be found; they had bolted. the shock nearly killed me. i had walked all the way to kaze and back again for these men, to show mine a good example--had given them pay and treble rations, the same as bombay and baraka--and yet they chose to desert. i knew not what to do, for it appeared to me that, do what i would, we would never succeed; and in my weakness of body and mind i actually cried like a child over the whole affair. i would rather have died than have failed in my journey, and yet failure seemed at this juncture inevitable. 8th.--as i had no interpreters, and could not go forward myself, i made up my mind at once to send back all my men with bombay, to grant; after joining whom, bombay would go back to kaze again for other interpreters, and on his return would pick up grant, and bring him on here. this sudden decision set all my men up in a flame; they swore it was no use my trying to go on to karague; they would not go with me; they did not come here to be killed. if i chose to lose my life, it was no business of theirs, but they would not be witness to it. they all wanted their discharge at once; they would not run away, but must have a letter of satisfaction, and then they would go back to their homes at zanzibar. but when they found they lost all their arguments and could not move me, they said they would go back for grant, but when they had done that duty, then they would take their leave. 10th to 15th.--this business being at last settled, i wrote to grant on the subject, and sent all the men off who were not sick. thinking then how i could best cure the disease that was keeping me down, as i found the blister of no use, i tried to stick a packing needle, used as a seton, into my side; but finding it was not sharp enough, in such weak hands a mine, to go through my skin, i got baraka to try; and he failing too, i then made him fire me, for the coughing was so incessant i could get no sleep at night. i had now nothing whatever to think of but making dodges for lying easy, and for relieving my pains, or else for cooking strong broths to give me strength, for my legs were reduced to the appearance of pipe-sticks, until the 15th, when baraka, in the same doleful manner as in sorombo, came to me and said he had something to communicate, which was so terrible, if i heard it i should give up the march. lumeresi was his authority, but he would not tell it until grant arrive. i said to him, "let us wait till grant arrives; we shall then have some one with us who won't shrink from whispers"--meaning bombay; and so i let the matter drop for the time being. but when grant came, we had it out of him, and found this terrible mystery all hung on lumeresi's prognostications that we never should get through usui with so little cloth. 16th to 19th.--at night, i had such a terrible air-catching fit, and made such a noise whilst trying to fill my lungs, that it alarmed all the camp, so much so that my men rushed into my tent to see if i was dying. lumeresi, in the morning, then went on a visiting excursion into the district, but no sooner left than the chief of isamiro, whose place lies close to the n'yanza, came here to visit him (17th); but after waiting a day to make friends with me, he departed (18th), as i heard afterwards, to tell his great mhuma chief, rohinda, the ruler of ukhanga, to which district this state of bogue belongs, what sort of presents i had given to lumeresi. he was, in fact, a spy whom rohinda had sent to ascertain what exactions had been made from me, as he, being the great chief, was entitled to the most of them himself. on lumeresi's return, all the men of the village, as well as mine, set up a dance, beating the drums all day and all night. 20th to 21st.--next night they had to beat their drums for a very different purpose, as the watuta, after lifting all of makaka's cattle in sorombo, came hovering about, and declared they would never cease fighting until they had lifted all those that lumeresi harboured round his boma; for it so happened that lumeresi allowed a large party of watosi, alias wahuma, to keep their cattle in large stalls all round his boma, and these the watuta had now set their hearts upon. after a little reflection, however, they thought better of it, as they were afraid to come in at once on account of my guns. most gladdening news this day came in to cheer me. a large mixed caravan of arabs and coast-men, arriving from karague, announced that both rumanika and suwarora were anxiously looking out for us, wondering why we did not come. so great, indeed, was suwarora's desire to see us, that he had sent four men to invite us, and they would have been here now, only that one of them fell sick on the way, and the rest had to stop for him. i cannot say what pleasure this gave me; my fortune, i thought, was made; and so i told baraka, and pretended he did not believe the news to be true. without loss of time i wrote off to grant, and got these men to carry the letter. next day (22d) the wasui from suwarora arrived. they were a very gentle, nice-dispositioned-looking set of men--small, but well knit together. they advanced to my tent with much seeming grace; then knelt at my feet, and began clapping their hands together, saying, at the same time, "my great chief, my great chief, i hope you are well; for suwarora, having heard of your detention here, has sent us over to assure you that all those reports that have been circulated regarding his ill-treatment of caravans are without foundation; he is sorry for what has happened to deter your march, and hopes you will at once come to visit him." i then told them all that had happened--how grant and myself were situated--and begged them to assist me by going off to grant's camp to inspire all the men there with confidence, and bring my rear property to me--saying, as they agreed to do so, "here are some cloths and some beads for your expenses, and when you return i will give you more." baraka at once, seeing this, told me they were not trustworthy, for at mihambo an old man had come there and tried to inveigle him in the same manner, but he kicked him out of the camp, because he knew he was a touter, who wished merely to allure him with sweet words to fleece him afterwards. i then wrote to grant another letter to be delivered by these men. lumeresi no sooner heard of the presents i had given them, than he flew into a passion, called them imposters, abused them for not speaking to him before they came to me, and said he would not allow them to go. high words then ensued. i said the business was mine, and not his; he had no right to interfere, and they should go. still lumeresi was obstinate, and determined they should not, for i was his guest; he would not allow any one to defraud me. it was a great insult to himself, if true, that suwarora should attempt to snatch me out of his house; and he could not bear to see me take these strangers by the hand, when, as we have seen, it took him so long to entice me to his den, and he could not prevail over me until he actually sent his copper hatchet. when this breeze blew over, by lumeresi's walking away, i told the wasui not to mind him, but to do just as i bid them. they said they had their orders to bring me, and if lumeresi would not allow them to go for grant, they would stop where they were, for they knew that if suwarora found them delaying long, he would send more men to look after them. there was no peace yet, however; for lumeresi, finding them quietly settled down eating with my men, ordered them out of his district, threatening force if they did not comply at once. i tried my best for them, but the wasui, fearing to stop any longer, said they would take leave to see suwarora, and in eight days more they would come back again, bringing something with them, the sight of which would make lumeresi quake. further words were now useless, so i gave them more cloth to keep them up to the mark, and sent them off. baraka, who seemed to think this generosity a bit of insanity, grumbled that if i had cloths to throw away it would have been better had i disposed of them to my own men. next day (26th), as i was still unwell, i sent four men to grant with inquiries how he was getting on, and a request for medicines. the messengers took four days to bring back the information that bombay had not returned from kaze, but that grant, having got assistance, hoped to break ground about the 5th of next month. they brought me at the same time information that the watuta had invested ruhe's, after clearing off all the cattle in the surrounding villages, and had proclaimed their intention of serving out lumeresi next. in consequence of this, lumeresi daily assembled his grey-beards and had councils of war in his drum-house; but though his subjects sent to him constantly for troops, he would not assist them. another caravan then arrived (31st) from karague, in which i found an old friend, of half arab breed, called saim, who whilst i was residing with sheikh snay at kaze on my former expedition, taught me the way to make plantain-wine. he, like the rest of the porters in the caravan, wore a shirt of fig-tree bark called mbugu. as i shall have frequently to use this word in the course of the journal, i may here give an explanation of its meaning. the porter here mentioned told me that the people about the equator all wore this kind of covering, and made it up of numerous pieces of bark sewn together, which they stripped from the trees after cutting once round the trunk above and below, and then once more down the tree from the upper to the lower circular cutting. this operation did not kill the trees, because, if they covered the wound, whilst it was fresh, well over with plaintain-leaves, shoots grew down from above, and a new bark came all over it. the way they softened the bark, to make it like cloth, was by immersion in water, and a good strong application of a mill-headed mallet, which ribbed it like corduroy. [10] saim told me he had lived ten years in uganda, had crossed the nile, and had traded eastward as far as the masai country. he thought the n'yanza was the sources of the ruvuma river; as the river which drained the n'yanza, after passing between uganda and usoga, went through unyoro, and then all round the tanganyika lake into the indian ocean, south of zanzibar. kiganda, he also said, he knew as well as his own tongue; and as i wanted an interpreter, he would gladly take service with me. this was just what i wanted--a heaven-born stroke of luck. i seized at his offer with avidity, gave him a new suit of clothes, which made him look quite a gentleman, and arranged to send him next day with a letter to grant. 1st and 2d.--a great hubbub and confusion now seized all the place, for the watuta were out, and had killed a woman of the place who had formerly been seized by them in war, but had since escaped and resided here. to avenge this, lumeresi headed his host, and was accompanied by my men; but they succeeded in nothing save in frightening off their enemies, and regaining possession of the body of the dead woman. then another hubbub arose, for it was discovered that three wahuma women were missing (2d); and, as they did not turn up again, lumeresi suspected the men of the caravan, which left with saim, must have taken them off as slaves. he sent for the chief of the caravan, and had him brought back to account for this business. of course the man swore he knew nothing about the matter, whilst lumeresi swore he should stop there a prisoner until the women were freed, as it was not the first time his women had been stolen in this manner. about the same time a man of this place, who had been to sorombo to purchase cows, came in with a herd, and was at once seized by lumeresi; for, during his absence, one of lumeresi's daughters had been discovered to be with child, and she, on being asked who was the cause of it, pointed out that man. to compensate for damage done to himself, as his daughter by this means had become reduced to half her market-value, lumeresi seized all the cattle this man had brought with him. 3d to 10th.--when two days had elapsed, one of the three missing wahuma women was discovered in a village close by. as she said she had absconded because her husband had ill-treated her, she was flogged, to teach her better conduct. it was reported they had been seen in m'yonga's establishment; and i was at the same time informed that the husbands who were out in search of them would return, as m'yonga was likely to demand a price for them if they were claimed, in virtue of their being his rightful property under the acknowledged law of buni, or findings-keepings. for the next four days nothing but wars and rumours of wars could be heard. the watuta were out in all directions plundering cattle and burning villages, and the wahuma of this place had taken such fright, they made a stealthy march with all their herds to a neighbouring chief, to whom it happened that one of lumeresi's grey-beards was on a visit. they thus caught a tartar; for the grey-beard no sooner saw them than he went and flogged them all back again, rebuking them on the way for their ingratitude to their chief, who had taken them in when they sought his shelter, and was now deserted by them on the first alarm of war. 10th.--wishing now to gain further intelligence of grant, i ordered some of my men to carry a letter to him; but they all feared the watuta meeting them on the way, and would not. just then a report came in that one of lumeresi's sons, who had gone near the capital of ukhanga to purchase cows, was seized by rohinda in consequence of the isamiro chief telling him that lumeresi had taken untold wealth from me, and he was to be detained there a prisoner until lumeresi either disgorged, or sent me on to be fleeced again. lumeresi, of course, was greatly perplexed at this, and sought my advice, but could get nothing out of me, for i laughed in my sleeve, and told him such was the consequence of his having been too greedy. 11th to 15th.--masudi with his caravan arrived from mchimeka--ungurue "the pig," who had led me astray, was, by the way, his kirangozi or caravan-leader. masudi told us he had suffered most severely from losses by his men running away, one after the other, as soon as they received their pay. he thought grant would soon join me, as, the harvest being all in, the men about rungua would naturally be anxious for service. he had had fearful work with m'yonga, having paid him a gun, some gunpowder, and a great quantity of cloth; and he had to give the same to ruhe, with the addition of twenty brass wires, one load of mzizima, and one load of red coral beads. this was startling, and induced me to send all the men i could prudently spare off to grant at once, cautioning him to avoid ruhe's, as lumeresi had promised me he would not allow one other thing to be taken from me. lumeresi by this time was improving, from lessons on the policy of moderation which i had been teaching him; for when he tried to squeeze as much more out of masudi as ruhe had taken, he gave way, and let him off cheaply at my intercession. he had seen enough to be persuaded that this unlimited taxation or plunder system would turn out a losing game, such as unyamyembe and ugogo were at that time suffering from. moreover, he was rather put to shame by my saying, "pray, who now is biggest--ruhe or yourself? for any one entering this country would suspect that he was, as he levies the first tax, and gives people to understand that, by their paying it, the whole district will be free to them; such at any rate he told me, and so it appears he told masudi. if you are the sultan, and will take my advice, i would strongly recommend your teaching ruhe a lesson, by taking from him what the arabs paid, and giving it back to masudi. at midnight (16th) i was startled in my sleep by the hurried tramp of several men, who rushed in to say they were grant's porters--bogue men who had deserted him. grant, they said, in incoherent, short, rapid, and excited sentences, was left by them standing under a tree, with nothing but his gun in his hand. all the wanguana had been either killed or driven away by m'yonga's men, who all turned out and fell upon the caravan, shooting, spearing, and plundering, until nothing was left. the porters then, seeing grant all alone, unable to help him, bolted off to inform me and lumeresi, as the best thing they could do. though disbelieving the story in all its minutiae, i felt that something serious must have happened; so, without a moment's delay, i sent off the last of my men strong enough to walk to succour grant, carrying with them a bag of beads. baraka then stepped outside my tent, and said in a loud voice, purposely for my edification, "there, now, what is the use of thinking any more about going to karague? i said all along it was impossible"; upon hearing which i had him up before all the remaining men, and gave him a lecture, saying, happen what would, i must die or go on with the journey, for shame would not allow me to give way as baraka was doing. baraka replied, he was not afraid--he only meant to imply that men could not act against impossibilities. "impossibilities!" i said; "what is impossible? could i not go on as a servant with the first caravan, or buy up a whole caravan if i liked? what is impossible? for godsake don't try any more to frighten my men, for you have nearly killed me already in doing so." next day (17th) i received a letter from grant, narrating the whole of his catastrophes:-"in the jungles, near m'yonga's, 16th sept. 1861. "my dear speke,--the caravan was attacked, plundered, and the men driven to the winds, while marching this morning into m'yonga's country. "awaking at cock-crow, i roused the camp, all anxious to rejoin you; and while the loads were being packed, my attention was drawn to an angry discussion between the head men and seven or eight armed fellows sent by sultan m'yonga, to insist upon my putting up for the day in his village. they were summarily told that as you had already made him a present, he need not expect a visit from me. adhering, i doubt not, to their master's instructions, they officiously constituted themselves our guides till we chose to strike off their path, when, quickly heading our party, they stopped the way, planted their spears, and dared our advance! "this menace made us firmer in our determination, and we swept past the spears. after we had marched unmolested for some seven miles, a loud yelping from the woods excited our attention, and a sudden rush was made upon us by, say two hundred men, who came down seemingly in great glee. in an instant, at the caravan's centre, they fastened upon the poor porters. the struggle was short; and with the threat of an arrow or spear at their breasts, men were robbed of their cloths and ornaments, loads were yielded and run away with before resistance could be organised; only three men of a hundred stood by me, the others, whose only thought was their lives, fled into the woods, where i went shouting for them. one man, little rahan--rip as he is--stood with cocked gun, defending his load, against five savages with uplifted spears. no one else could be seen. two or three were reported killed; some were wounded. beads, boxes, cloths, etc., lay strewed about the woods. in fact, i felt wrecked. my attempt to go and demand redress from the sultan was resisted, and, in utter despair, i seated myself among a mass of rascals jeering round me, and insolent after the success of the day. several were dressed in the very cloths, etc., they had stolen from my men. "in the afternoon, about fifteen men and loads were brought me, with a message from the sultan, that the attack had been a mistake of his subjects--that one man had had a hand cut off for it, and that all the property would be restored! "yours sincerely, j. w. grant." now, judging from the message sent to grant by m'yonga, it appeared to me that his men had mistaken their chief's orders, and had gone one step beyond his intentions. it was obvious that the chief merely intended to prevent grant from passing through or evading his district without paying a hongo, else he would not have sent his men to invite him to his palace, doubtless with instructions, if necessary, to use force. this appears the more evident from the fact of his subsequent contrition, and finding it necessary to send excuses when the property was in his hands; for these chiefs, grasping as they are, know they must conform to some kind of system, to save themselves from a general war, or the avoidance of their territories by all travellers in future. to assist grant, i begged lumeresi to send him some aid in men at once; but he refused, on the plea that m'yonga was at war with him, and would kill them if they went. this was all the more provoking, as grant, in a letter next evening, told me he could not get all his men together again, and wished to know what should be done. he had recovered all the property except six loads of beads, eighty yards of american sheeting, and many minor articles, besides what had been rifled more or less from every load. in the same letter he asked me to deliver up a mhuma woman to a man who came with the bearers of his missive, as she had made love to saim at ukulima's, and had bolted with my men to escape from her husband. on inquiring into this matter, she told me her face had been her misfortune, for the man who now claimed her stole her from her parents at ujiji, and forcibly made her his wife, but ever since had ill-treated her, often thrashing her, and never giving her proper food or clothing. it was on this account she fell in love with saim; for he, taking compassion on her doleful stories, had promised to keep her as long as he travelled with me, and in the end to send her back to her parents at ujiji. she was a beautiful woman, with gazelle eyes, oval face, high thin nose, and fine lips, and would have made a good match for saim, who had a good deal of arab blood in him, and was therefore, in my opinion, much of the same mixed shem-hamitic breed. but as i did not want more women in my camp, i gave her some beads, and sent her off with the messenger who claimed her, much against my own feelings. i had proposed to grant that, as lumeresi's territories extended to within eight miles of m'yonga's, he should try to move over the msalala border by relays, when i would send some bogue men to meet him; for though lumeresi would not risk sending his men into the clutches of m'yonga, he was most anxious to have another white visitor. 20th and 21st.--i again urged lumeresi to help on grant, saying it was incumbent on him to call m'yonga to account for maltreating grant's porters, who were his own subjects, else the road would be shut up--he would lose all the hongos he laid on caravans--and he would not be able to send his own ivory down to the coast. this appeal had its effect: he called on his men to volunteer, and twelve porters came forward, who no sooner left, than in came another letter from grant, informing me that he had collected almost enough men to march with, and that m'yonga had returned on of the six missing loads, and promised to right him in everything. next day, however, i had from grant two very opposite accounts--one, in the morning, full of exultation, in which he said he hoped to reach ruhe's this very day, as his complement of porters was then completed; while by the other, which came in the evening, i was shocked to hear that m'yonga, after returning all the loads, much reduced by rifling, had demanded as a hongo two guns, two boxed ammunition, forty brass wires, and 160 yards of american sheeting, in default of which he, grant, must lend m'yonga ten wanguana to build a boma on the west of his district, to enable him to fight some wasona who were invading his territory, otherwise he would not allow grant to move from his palace. grant knew not what to do. he dared not part with the guns, because he knew it was against my principle, and therefore deferred the answer until he heard from me, although all his already collected porters were getting fidgety, and two had bolted. in this fearful fix i sent baraka off with strict orders to bring grant away at any price, except the threatened sacrifice of men, guns, and ammunition, which i would not listen to, as one more day's delay might end in further exactions; at the same time, i cautioned him to save my property as far as he could, for it was to him that m'yonga had formerly said that what i paid him should do for all. some of m'yonga's men who had plundered grant now "caught a tartar." after rifling his loads of a kilyndo, or bark box of beads, they, it appeared, received orders from m'yonga to sell a lot of female slaves, amongst whom were the two wahuma women who had absconded from this. the men in charge, not knowing their history, brought them for sale into this district, where they were instantly recognised by some of lumeresi's men, and brought in to him. the case was not examined at once, lumeresi happening to be absent; so, to make good their time, the men in charge brought their beads to me to be exchanged for something else, not knowing that both camps were mine, and that they held my beads and not grant's. of course i took them from them, but did not give them a flogging, as i knew if i did so they would at once retaliate upon grant. the poor wahuma women, as soon as lumeresi arrived, were put to death by their husbands, because, by becoming slaves, they had broken the laws of their race. 22d to 24th.--at last i began to recover. all this exciting news, with the prospect of soon seeing grant, did me a world of good,--so much so, that i began shooting small birds for specimens--watching the blacksmiths as they made tools, spears, ad bracelets--and doctoring some of the wahuma women who came to be treated for ophthalmia, in return for which they gave me milk. the milk, however, i could not boil excepting in secrecy, else they would have stopped their donations on the plea that this process would be an incantation or bewitchment, from which their cattle would fall sick and dry up. i now succeeded in getting lumeresi to send his wanyapara to go and threaten m'yonga, that if he did not release grant at once, we would combine to force him to do so. they, however, left too late, for the hongo had been settled, as i was informed by a letter from grant next day, brought to my by bombay, who had just returned from kaze after six weeks' absence. he brought with him old nasib and another man, and told me both bui and nasib had hidden themselves in a boma close to lumeresi's the day when my hongo was settled; but they bolted the instant the drums beat, and my men fired guns to celebrate the event, supposing that the noise was occasioned by our fighting with lumeresi. these cowards then made straight for kaze, when fundi sangoro gave nasib a flogging for deserting me, and made him so ashamed of his conduct that he said he would never do it again. bui also was flogged, but, admitting himself to be a coward, was set to the "right-about." with him bombay also brought three new deoles, for which i had to pay 160 dollars, and news that the war with manua sera was not then over. he had effected his escape in the usual manner, and was leading the arabs another long march after him. expecting to meet grant this morning (25th), i strolled as far as my strength and wind would allow me towards ruhe's; but i was sold, for ruhe had detained him for a hongo. lumeresi also having heard of it, tried to interpose, according to a plan arranged between us in case of such a thing happening, by sending his officers to ruhe, with an order not to check my "brother's" march, as i had settled accounts for all. later in the day, however, i heard from grant that ruhe would not let him go until he had paid sixteen pretty cloths, six wires, one gun, one box of ammunition, and one load of mzizima beads, coolly saying that i had only given him a trifle, under the condition that, when the big caravan arrived, grant would make good the rest. i immediately read this letter to lumeresi, and asked him how i should answer it, as grant refused to pay anything until i gave the order. to which lumeresi replied, ruhe, "my child," could not dare to interfere with grant after his officers arrived, and advised me to wait until the evening. at all events, if there were any further impediments, he himself would go over there with a force and release grant. in the evening another messenger arrived from grant, giving a list of his losses and expenses at m'yonga's. they amounted to an equivalent of eight loads, and were as follows:--100 yards cloth, and 4600 necklaces of beads (these had been set aside as the wages paid to the porters, but being in my custody, i had to make them good); 300 necklaces of beads stolen from the loads; one brass wire stolen; one sword-bayonet stolen; grant's looking-glass stolen; one saw stolen; one box ammunition stolen. then paid in hongo, 160 yards cloth; 150 necklaces; one scarlet blanket, double; one case ammunition; ten brass wires. lastly, there was one donkey beaten to death by the savages. this was the worst of all; for this poor brute carried me on the former journey to the southern end of the n'yanza, and in consequence was a great pet. as nothing further transpired, and i was all in the dark (26th), i wrote to grant telling him of my interviews with lumeresi, and requesting him to pay nothing; but it was too late, for grant, to my inexpressible delight, was the next person i saw; he walked into camp, and then he was a good laugh over all our misfortunes. poor grant, he had indeed had a most troublesome time of it. the scoundrel ruhe, who only laughed at lumeresi's orders, had stopped his getting supplies of food for himself and his men; told him it was lucky that he came direct to the palace, for full preparations had been made for stopping him had he attempted to avoid it; would not listen to any reference being made to avoid myself; badgered and bullied over every article that he extracted; and, finally, when he found compliance with his extortionate requests was not readily granted, he beat the wardrums to frighten the porters, and ordered the caravan out of his palace, to where he said they would find his men ready to fight it out with them. it happened that grant had just given ruhe a gun when my note arrived, on which they made an agreement, that it was to be restored, provided that, after the full knowledge of all these transactions had reached us, it was both lumeresi's and my desire that it should be so. i called lumeresi (27th), and begged he would show whether he was the chief or not, by requiring ruhe to disgorge the property he had taken from me. his wanyapara had been despised, and i had been most unjustly treated. upon this the old chief hung down his head, and said it touched his heart more than words could tell to hear my complaint, for until i came that way no one had come, and i had paid him handsomely. he fully appreciated the good service i had done to him and his country by opening a road which all caravans for the future would follow if property dealt with. having two heads in a country was a most dangerous thing, but it could not be helped for the present, as his hands were too completely occupied already. there were rohinda, the watuta, and m'yonga, whom he must settle with before he could attend to ruhe; but when he was free, then ruhe should know who was the chief. to bring the matter to a climax, mrs. lumeresi then said she ought to have something, because ruhe was her son, whilst lumeresi was only her second husband and consort, for ruhe was born to her by her former husband. she therefore was queen. difficulties now commenced again (28th). all the wanguana struck, and said they would go no further. i argued--they argued; they wanted more pay--i would not give more. bombay, who appeared the only one of my men anxious to go on with grant and myself, advised me to give in, else they would all run away, he said. i still stuck out, saying that if they did go, they should be seized on the coast and cast into jail for desertion. i had sent for fifty more men on the same terms as themselves, and nothing in the world would make me alter what had been established at the british consulate. there all their engagements were written down in the office-book, and the consul was our judge. 29th to 4th.--this shut them up, but at night two of them deserted; the wanyamuezi porters also deserted, and i had to find more. whilst this was going on, i wrote letters and packed up my specimens, and sent them back by my late valet, rahan, who also got orders to direct sheikh said to seize the two men who deserted, and take them down chained to the coast when he went there. on the 4th, lumeresi was again greatly perplexed by his sovereign rohinda calling on him for some cloths; he must have thirty at least, else he would not give up lumeresi's son. further, he commanded in a bullying tone that all the wahuma who were with lumeresi should be sent to him at once, adding, at the same time, if his royal mandate was not complied with as soon as he expected, he would at once send a force to seize lumeresi, and place another man in his stead to rule over the district. lumeresi, on hearing this, first consulted me, saying his chief was displeased with him, accusing him of being too proud, in having at once two such distinguished guests, and meant by these acts only to humble him. i replied, if that was the case, the sooner he allowed us to go, the better it would be for him; and, reminding him of his original promise to give me assistance on to usui, said he could do so now with a very good grace. quite approving himself of this suggestion, lumeresi then gave me one of his officers to be my guide--his name was sangizo. this man no sooner received his orders than, proud of his office as the guide of such a distinguished caravan, he set to work to find us porters. meanwhile my wasui friends, who left on the 25th of august, returned, bearing what might be called suwarora's mace--a long rod of brass bound up in stick charms, and called kaquenzingiriri, "the commander of all things." this they said was their chief's invitation to see us, and sent this kaquenzingiriri, to command us respect wherever we went. 5th.--without seeing us again, lumeresi, evidently ashamed of the power held over him by this rod of suwarora's, walked off in the night, leaving word that he was on his way to ruhe's, to get back my gun and all the other things that had been taken from grant. the same night a large herd of cattle was stolen from the boma without any one knowing it; so next morning, when the loss was discovered, all the wahuma set off on the spoor to track them down; but with what effect i never knew. as i had now men enough to remove half our property, i made a start of it, leaving grant to bring up the rest. i believe i was a most miserable spectre in appearance, puffing and blowing at each step i took, with shoulder drooping, and left arm hanging like a dead leg, which i was unable ever to swing. grant, remarking this, told me then, although fro a friendly delicacy he had abstained from saying so earlier, that my condition, when he first saw me on rejoining, gave him a sickening shock. next day (7th) he came up with the rest of the property, carried by men who had taken service for that one march only. before us now lay a wilderness of five marches' duration, as the few villages that once lined it had all been depopulated by the sorombo people and the watuta. we therefore had to lay in rations for those days, and as no men could be found who would take service to karague, we filled up our complement with men at exorbitant wages to carry our things on to usui. at this place, to our intense joy, three of sheikh said's boys came to us with a letter from rigby; but, on opening it, our spirits at once fell far below zero, for it only informed us that he had sent us all kinds of nice things, and letters from home, which were packed up in boxes, and despatched from the coast on the 30th october 1860. the boys then told me that a merchant, nickname msopora, had left the boxes in ugogo, in charge of some of those arabs who were detained there, whilst he went rapidly round by the south, following up the ruaha river to usanga and usenga, whence he struck across to kaze. sheikh said, they said, sent his particular respects to me; he had heard of grant's disasters with great alarm. if he could be of service, he would readily come to me; but he had dreamed three times that he saw me marching into cairo, which, as three times were lucky, he was sure would prove good, and he begged i would still keep my nose well to the front, and push boldly on. manua sera was still in the field, and all was uncertain. bombay then told me--he had forgotten to do so before--that when he was last at kaze, sheikh said told him he was sure we would succeed if both he and myself pulled together, although it was well known no one else of my party wished to go northwards. with at last a sufficiency of porters, we all set out together, walking over a new style of country. instead of the constantly-recurring outcrops of granite, as in unyamuezi, with valleys between, there were only two lines of little hills visible, one right and one left of us, a good way off; whilst the ground over which we were travelling, instead of being confined like a valley, rose in long high swells of sandstone formation, covered with small forest-trees, among which flowers like primroses, only very much larger, and mostly of a pink colour, were frequently met with. indeed, we ought all to have been happy together, for all my men were paid and rationed trebly--far better than they would have been if they had been travelling with any one else; but i had not paid all, as they thought, proportionably, and therefore there were constant heartburnings, with strikes and rows every day. it was useless to tell them that they were all paid according to their own agreements--that all short-service men had a right to expect more in proportion to their work than long-service ones; they called it all love and partiality, and in their envy would think themselves ill-used. at night the kirangozi would harangue the camp, cautioning all hands to keep together on the line of march, as the watuta were constantly hovering about, and the men should not squabble and fight with their master, else no more white men would come this way again. on the 11th we were out of bogue, in the district of ugomba, and next march brought us into ugombe (12th), where we crossed the ukongo nullah, draining westwards to the malagarai river. here some of the porters, attempting to bolt, were intercepted by my coast-men and had a fight of it, for they fired arrows, and in return the coast-men cut their bows. the whole camp, of course, was in a blaze at this; their tribe was insulted, and they would not stand it, until bombay put down their pride with a few strings of beads, as the best means of restoring peace in the camp. at this place we were visited by the chief of the district, pongo (bush-boc), who had left his palace to see us and invite us his way, for he feared we might give him the slip by going west into uyofu. he sent us a cow, and said he should like some return; for masudi, who had gone ahead, only gave him a trifle, professing to be our vanguard, and telling him that as soon as we came with the large caravan we would satisfy him to his heart's content. we wished for an interview, but he would not see us, as he was engaged looking into his magic horn, with an endeavour to see what sort of men we were, as none of our sort had ever come that way before. the old sort of thing occurred again. i sent him one kitambi and eight yards kiniki, explaining how fearfully i was reduced from theft and desertions, and begging he would have mercy; but instead of doing so he sent the things back in a huff, after a whole day's delay, and said he required, besides, one sahari, one kitambi, and eight yards kiniki. in a moment i sent them over, and begged he would beat the drums; but no, he thought he was entitled to ten brass wires, in addition, and would accept them at his palace the next day, as he could not think of allowing us to leave his country until we had done him that honour, else all the surrounding chiefs would call him inhospitable. too knowing now to be caught with such chaff, i told him, through bombay, if he would consider the ten brass wires final, i would give them, and then go to his palace, not otherwise. he acceded to this, but no sooner got them, than he broke his faith, and said he must either have more pretty cloths, or five more brass wires, and then, without doubt, he would beat the drums. a long badgering bargain ensued, at which i made all my men be present as witnesses, and we finally concluded the hongo with four more brass wires. the drums then no sooner beat the satisfaction, than the wasui mace-bearers, in the most feeling and good-mannered possible manner, dropped down on their knees before me, and congratulated me on the cessation of this tormenting business. feeling much freer, we now went over and put up in pong's palace, for we had to halt there a day to collect more porters, as half my men had just bolted. this was by no means an easy job, for all my american sheeting was out, and so was the kiniki. pongo then for the first time showed himself, sneaking about with an escort, hiding his head in a cloth lest our "evil eyes" might bewitch him. still he did us a good turn; for on the 16th he persuaded his men to take service with us at the enormous hire of ten necklaces of beads per man for every day's march--nearly ten times what an arab pays. fowls were as plentiful here as elsewhere, though the people only kept them to sell to travellers, or else for cutting them open for diving purposes, by inspection of their blood and bones. from the frying pan we went into the fire in crossing from ugombe into the district of wanga, where we beat up the chief, n'yaruwamba, and at once went into the hongo business. he offered a cow to commence with, which i would not accept until the tax was paid, and then i made my offering of two wires, one kitambi, and one kisutu. badgering then commenced: i must add two wires, and six makete or necklaces of mzizima beads, the latter being due to the chief for negotiating the tax. when this addition was paid, we should be freed by beat of drum. i complied at once, by way of offering a special mark of respect and friendship, and on the reliance that he would keep his word. the scoundrel, however, no sooner got the articles, than he said a man had just come there to inform him that i gave pongo ten wires and ten cloths; he, therefore, could not be satisfied until i added one more wire, when, without fail, he would beat the drums. it was given, after many angry words; but it was the old story over again--he would have one more wire and a cloth, or else he would not allow us to proceed on the morrow. my men, this time really provoked, said they would fight it out;--a king breaking his word in that way! but in the end the demand had to be paid; and at last, at 9 p.m., the drums beat the satisfaction. from this we went on to the north end of wanga, in front of which was a wilderness, separating the possessions of rohinda from those of suwarora. we put up in a boma, but were not long ensconced there when the villagers got up a pretext for a quarrel, thinking they could plunder us of all our goods, and began pitching into my men. we, however, proved more than a match for them. our show of guns frightened them all out of the place; my men then gave chase, firing off in the air, which sent them flying over the fields, and left us to do there as we liked until night, when a few of the villagers came back and took up their abode with us quietly. next, after dark, the little village was on the alert again. the watuta were out marching, and it was rumoured that they were bound for m'yaruwamba's. the porters who were engaged at pongo's now gave us the slip: we were consequently detained here next day (19th), when, after engaging a fresh set, we crossed the wilderness, and in usui put up with suwarora's border officer of this post, n'yamanira. here we were again brought to a standstill. chapter vii. usui taxation recommenced--a great doctor--suwarora pillaging--the arabs--conference with an ambassador from uganda--disputes in camp--rivalry of bombay and baraka--departure from the inhospitable districts. we were now in usui, and so the mace-bearers, being on their own ground forgot their manners, and peremptorily demanded their pay before they would allow us to move one step farther. at first i tried to stave the matter off, promising great rewards if they took us quickly on to suwarora; but they would take no alternative--their rights were four wires each. i could not afford such a sum, and tried to beat them down, but without effect; for they said, they had it in their power to detain us here a whole month, and they could get us bullied at every stage by the officers of the stations. no threats of reporting them to their chief had any effect, so, knowing that treachery in these countries was a powerful enemy, i ordered them to be paid. n'yamanira, the mkungu, then gave us a goat and two pots of pombe, begging, at the same time, for four wires, which i paid, hoping thus to get on in the morning. i then made friends with him, and found he was a great doctor as well as an officer. in front of his hut he had his church or uganga--a tree, in which was fixed a blaue boc's horn charged with magic powder, and a zebra's hoof, suspended by a string over a pot of water sunk in the earth below it. his badges of office he had tied on his head; the butt of a shell, representing the officer's badge, being fixed on the forehead, whilst a small sheep's horn, fixed jauntily over the temple, denoted that he was a magician. wishing to try my powers in magical arts, as i laughed at his church, he begged me to produce an everlasting spring of water by simply scratching the ground. he, however, drew short up, to the intense delight of my men, on my promising that i would do so if he made one first. at night, 22d, a steel scabbard and some cloths were extracted from our camp, so i begged my friend the great doctor would show us the use of his horn. this was promised, but never performed. i then wished to leave, as the wasui guides, on receiving their pay, promised we should; but they deferred, on the plea that one of them must see their chief first, and get him to frank us through, else, they said, we should be torn to pieces. i said i thought the kaquenzingiriri could do this; but they said, "no; suwarora must be told first of your arrival, to prepare him properly for your coming; so stop here for three days with two of us, whilst the third one goes to the palace and returns again; for you know the chiefs of these countries do not feel safe until they have a look at the uganga." one of them then went away, but no sooner had left than a man named makinga arrived to invite us on, as he said, at his adopted brother k'yengo's request. makinga then told us that suwarora, on first hearing that we were coming, became greatly afraid, and said he would not let us set eyes on his country, as he was sure we were king-dethroners; but, referring for opinion to dr k'yengo, his fears were overcome by the doctor assuring him that he had seen hosts of our sort at zanzibar; and he knew, moreover, that some years ago we had been to ujiji and to ukerewe without having done any harm in those places; and, further, since musa had sent word that i had done my best to subdue the war at unyanyembe, and had promised to do my best here, he, suwarora, had been anxiously watching our movements, and longed for our arrival. this looked famous, and it was agreed we should move the next morning. just then a new light broke in on my defeat at sorombo, for with makinga i recognised one of my former porters, who i had supposed was a "child" of the pig's. this man now said before all my men, baraka included, that he wished to accept the load of mzizima i had offered the pig if he would go forward with baraka and tell suwarora i wanted some porters to help me to reach him. he was not a "child" of the pig's, but a "child" of k'yengo's; and as baraka would not allow him to accept the load of mzizima, he went on to k'yengo by himself, and told all that had happened. it was now quite clear what motives induced suwarora to send out the three wasui; but how i blessed baraka for this in my heart, though i said nothing about it to him, for fear of his playing some more treacherous tricks. grant then told me baraka had been frightened at mininga, by a blackguard mganga to whom he would not give a present, into the belief that our journey would encounter some terrible mishap; for, when the m'yonga catastrophe happened, he thought that a fulfillment of the mganga's prophecy. i wished to move in the morning (23d), and had all hands ready, but was told by makinga he must be settled with first. his dues for the present were four brass wires, and as many more when we reached the palace. i could not stand this: we were literally, as musa said we should be, being "torn to pieces"; so i appealed to the mace-bearers, protested that makinga could have no claims on me, as he was not a man of usui, but a native of utambara, and brought on a row. on the other hand, as he could not refute this, makinga swore the mace was all a pretence, and set a-fighting with the wasui and all the men in turn. to put a stop to this, i ordered a halt, and called on the district officer to assist us, on which he said he would escort us on to suwarora's if we would stop till next morning. this was agreed to; but in the night we were robbed of three goats, which he said he could not allow to be passed over, lest suwarora might hear of it, and he would get into a scrape. he pressed us strongly to stop another day whilst he sought for them, but i told him i would not, as his magic powder was weak, else he would have found the scabbard we lost long before this. at last we got under way, and, after winding through a long forest, we emerged on the first of the populous parts of usui, a most convulsed-looking country, of well-rounded hills composed of sandstone. in all the parts not under cultivation they were covered with brushwood. here the little grass-hut villages were not fenced by a boma, but were hidden in large fields of plantains. cattle were numerous, kept by the wahuma, who could not sell their milk to us because we ate fowls and a bean called maharague. happily no one tried to pillage us here, so on we went to vikora's, another officer, living at n'yakasenye, under a sandstone hill, faced with a dyke of white quartz, over which leaped a small stream of water--a seventy-feet drop--which, it is said, suwarora sometimes paid homage to when the land was oppressed by drought. vikora's father it was whom sirboko of mininga shot. usually he was very severe with merchants in consequence of that act; but he did not molest us, as the messenger who went on to suwarora returned here just as we arrived, to say we must come on at once, as suwarora was anxious to see us, and had ordered his wakungu not to molest us. thieves that night entered our ringfence of thorns, and stole a cloth from off one of my men while he was sleeping. we set down suwarora, after this very polite message, "a regular trump," and walked up the hill of n'yakasenye with considerable mirth, singing his praises; but we no sooner planted ourselves on the summit than we sang a very different tune. we were ordered to stop by a huge body of men, and to pay toll. suwarora, on second thoughts, had changed his mind, or else he had been overruled by two of his officers--kariwami, who lived here, and virembo, who lived two stages back, but were then with their chief. there was no help for it, so i ordered the camp to be formed, and sent nasib and the mace-bearers at once off to the palace to express to his highness how insulted i felt as his guest, being stopped in this manner, even when i had his kaquenzingiriri with me as his authority that i was invited there as a guest. i was not a merchant who carried merchandise, but a prince like himself, come on a friendly mission to see him and rumanika. i was waiting at night for the return of the messengers, and sitting out with my sextant observing the stars, to fix my position, when some daring thieves, in the dark bushes close by, accosted two of the women of the camp, pretending a desire to know what i was doing. they were no sooner told by the unsuspecting women, than they whipped off their cloths and ran away with them, allowing their victims to pass me in a state of absolute nudity. i could stand this thieving no longer. my goats and other things had been taken away without causing me much distress of mind, but now, after this shocking event, i ordered my men to shoot at any thieves that came near them. this night one was shot, without any mistake about it; for the next morning we tracked him by his blood, and afterwards heard he had died of his wound. the wasui elders, contrary to my expectation, then came and congratulated us on our success. they thought us most wonderful men, and possessed of supernatural powers; for the thief in question was a magician, who until now was thought to be invulnerable. indeed, they said arabs with enormous caravans had often been plundered by these people; but though they had so many more guns than ourselves, they never succeeded in killing one. nasib then returned to inform us that the king had heard our complaint, and was sorry for it, but said he could not interfere with the rights of his officers. he did not wish himself to take anything from us, and hoped we would come on to him as soon as we had satisfied his officers with the trifle they wanted. virembo then sent us some pombe by his officers, and begged us to have patience, for he was then fleecing masudi at the encamping-ground near the palace. this place was alive with thieves. during the day they lured my men into their huts by inviting them to dinner; but when they got them they stripped them stark-naked and let them go again; whilst at night they stone our camp. after this, one more was shot dead and two others wounded. i knew that suwarora's message was all humbug, and that his officers merely kept about one per cent. of what they took from travellers, paying the balance into the royal coffers. thinking i was now well in for a good fleecing myself, i sent bombay off to masudi's camp, to tell insangez, who was travelling with him on a mission of his master's, old musa's son, that i would reward him handsomely if he would, on arrival at karague, get rumanika to send us his mace here in the same way as suwarora had done to help us out of bogue, as he knew musa at one time said he would go with us to karague in person. when bombay was gone, virembo then deputed kariwami to take the hongo for both at once, mildly requiring 40 wires, 80 cloths, and 400 necklaces of every kind of bead we possessed. this was, indeed, too much of a joke. i complained of all the losses i had suffered, and begged for mercy; but all he said, after waiting the whole day, was, "do not stick at trifles; for, after settling with us, you will have to give as much more to vikora, who lives down below." next morning, as i said i could not by any means pay such an exorbitant tax as was demanded, kariwami begged me to make an offer which i did by sending him four wires. these, of course, were rejected with scorn; so, in addition, i sent an old box. that, too, was thrown back on me, as nothing short of 20 wires, 40 cloths, and 200 necklaces of all sorts of beads, would satisfy him; and this i ought to be contented to pay, as he had been so moderate because i was the king's guest, and had been so reduced by robbery. i now sent six wires more, and said this was the last i could give--they were worth so many goats to me--and now by giving them away, i should have to live on grain like a poor man, though i was a prince in my own country, just like suwarora. surely suwarora could not permit this if he knew it; and if they would not suffice, i should have to stop here until called again by suwarora. the ruffian, on hearing this, allowed the wires to lie in his hut, and said he was going away, but hoped, when he returned, i should have, as i had got no cloths, 20 wires, and 1000 necklaces of extra length, strung and all ready for him. just then bombay returned flushed with the excitement of a great success. he had been in masudi's camp, and had delivered my message to insangez. asudi, he said, had been there a fortnight unable to settle his hongo, for the great mkama had not deigned to see him, though the arab had been daily to his palace requesting an interview. "well," i said, "that is all very interesting, but what next?--will the big king see us?" "o no; by the very best good fortune in the world, on going into the palace i saw suwarora, and spoke to him at once; but he was so tremendously drunk, he could not understand me." "what luck was there in that?" i asked. on which bombay said, "oh, everybody in the place congratulated me on my success in having obtained an interview with that great monarch the very first day, when arabs had seldom that privilege under one full month of squatting; even masudi had not yet seen him." to which nasib also added, "ah, yes--indeed it is so--a monstrous success; there is great ceremony as well as business at these courts; you will better see what i mean when you get to uganda. these wahuma kings are not like those you ever saw in unyamuezi or anywhere else; they have officers and soldiers like said majid, the sultan at zanzibar." "well," said i to bombay, "what was suwarora like?" "oh, he is a very fine man--just as tall, and in the face very like grant; in fact, if grant were black you would not know the difference." "and were his officers drunk too?" "o yes, they were all drunk together; men were bringing in pombe all day." "and did you get drunk?" "o yes," said bombay, grinning, and showing his whole row of sharp-pointed teeth, "they would make me drink; and then they showed me the place they assigned for your camp when you come over there. it was not in the palace, but outside, without a tree near it; anything but a nice-looking residence." i then sent bombay to work at the hongo business; but, after haggling till night with kariwami, he was told he must bring fourteen brass wires, two cloths, and five mukhnai of kanyera, or white porcelain beads--which, reduced, amounted to three hundred necklaces; else he said i might stop there for a month. at last i settled this confounded hongo, by paying seven additional wires in lieu of the cloth; and, delighted at the termination of this tedious affair, i ordered a march. like magic, however, vikora turned up, and said we must wait until he was settled with. his rank was the same as the others, and one bead less than i had given them he would not take. i fought all the day out, but the next morning, as he deputed his officers to take nine wires, these were given, and then we went on with the journey. tripping along over the hill, we descended to a deep miry watercourse, full of bulrushes, then over another hill, from the heights of which we saw suwarora's palace, lying down in the uthungu valley, behind which again rose another hill of sandstone, faced on the top with a dyke of white quartz. the scene was very striking, for the palace enclosures, of great extent, were well laid out to give effect. three circles of milk bush, one within the other, formed the boma, or ring-fence. the chief's hut (i do not think him worthy of the name of king, since the kingdom is divided in two) was three times as large as any of the others, and stood by itself at the farther end; whilst the smaller huts, containing his officers and domestics, were arranged in little groups within a circle, at certain distances apart from one another, sufficient to allow of their stalling their cattle at night. on descending into the uthungu valley, grant, who was preceding the men, found makinga opposed to the progress of the caravan until his dues were paid. he was a stranger like ourselves, and was consequently treated with scorn, until he tried to maintain what he called his right, by pulling the loads off my men's shoulders, whereupon grant cowed him into submission, and all went on again--not to the palace, as we had supposed, but, by the direction of the mace-bearers, to the huts of suwarora's commander-in-chief, two miles from the palace; and here we found masudi's camp also. we had no sooner formed camp for ourselves and arranged all our loads, than the eternal vikora, whom i thought we had settled with before we started, made a claim for some more wire, cloth, and beads, as he had not received as much as kariwani and virembo. of course i would not listen to this, as i had paid what his men asked for, and that was enough for me. just then masudi, with the other arabs who were travelling with him, came over to pay us a visit, and inquire what we thought of the usui taxes. he had just concluded his hongo to suwarora by paying 80 wires, 120 yards of cloth, and 130 lb. of beads, whilst he had also paid to every officer from 20 to 40 wires, as well as cloths and beads. on hearing of my transactions, he gave it as his opinion that i had got off surprisingly well. next morning, (1st) masudi and his party started for karague. they had been more than a year between this and kaze, trying all the time to get along. provisions here were abundant--hawked about by the people, who wore a very neat skin kilt strapped round the waist, but otherwise were decorated like the wanyamuezi. it was difficult to say who were of true breed here, for the intercourse of the natives with the wahuma and the wanyamuezi produced a great variety of facial features amongst the people. nowhere did i ever see so many men and women with hazel eyes as at this place. in the evening, an uganda man, by name n'yamgundu, came to pay his respects to us. he was dressed in a large skin wrapper, made up of a number of very small antelope skins: it was as soft as kid, and just as well sewn as our gloves. to our surprise the manners of the man were quite in keeping with his becoming dress. i was enchanted with his appearance, and so were my men, though no one could speak to him but nasib, who told us he knew him before. he was the brother of the dowager queen of uganda, and, along with a proper body of officers, he had been sent by mtesa, the present king of uganda, to demand the daughter of suwarora, as reports had reached his king that she was surprisingly beautiful. they had been here more than a year, during which time this beautiful virgin had died; and now suwarora, fearful of the great king's wrath, consequent on his procrastinations, was endeavouring to make amends for it, by sending, instead of his daughter, a suitable tribute in wires. i thought it not wonderful that we should be fleeced. next day (2d) sirhid paid us a visit, and said he was the first man in the state. he certainly was a nice-looking young man, with a good deal of the wahuma blood in him. flashily dressed in coloured cloths and a turban, he sat down in one of our chairs as if he had been accustomed to such a seat all his life, and spoke with great suavity. i explained our difficulties as those of great men in misfortune; and, after listening to our tale, he said he would tell suwarora of the way we had been plundered, and impress upon him to deal lightly with us. i said i had brought with me a few articles of european manufacture for suwarora, which i hoped would be accepted if i presented them, for they were such things as only great men like his chief ever possessed. one was a five-barrelled pistol, another a large block-in box, and so fourth; but after looking at them, and seeing the pistol fired, he said; "no; you must not shew these things at first, or the mkama might get frightened, thinking them magic. i might lose my head for presuming to offer them, and then there is no knowing what might happen afterwards." "then can i not see him at once and pay my respects, for i have come a great way to obtain that pleasure?" "no," said sirhid, "i will see him first; for he is not a man like myself, but requires to be well assured before he sees anybody." "then why did he invite me here!" "he heard that makaka, and afterwards lumeresi, had stopped your progress; and as he wished to see what you were like, he ordered me to send some men to you, which, as you know, i did twice. he wishes to see you, but does not like doing things in a hurry. superstition, you know, preys on these men's minds who have not seen the world like you and myself." sirhid then said he would ask suwarora to grant us an interview as soon as possible; then, whilst leaving, he begged for the iron chair he had sat upon; but hearing we did not know how to sit on the ground, and therefore could not spare it, he withdrew without any more words about it. virembo then said (3d) he must have some more wire and beads, as his proxy kariwami had been satisfied with too little. i drove him off in a huff, but he soon came back again with half the hongo i had paid to kariwami, and said he must have some cloths or he would not have anything. as fortune decreed it, just then sirhid dropped in, and stopped him importunity for the time by saying that if we had possessed cloths his men must have known it, for they had been travelling with us. no sooner, however, did virembo turn tail than the sirhid gave us a broad hint that he usually received a trifle from the arabs before he made an attempt at arranging the hongo with suwarora. any trifle would do but he preferred cloth. this was rather perplexing. sirhid knew very well that i had a small reserve of pretty cloths, though all the common ones had been expended; so, to keep in good terms with him who was to be our intercessor, i said i would give him the last i had got if he would not tell suwarora or any one else what i had done. of course he was quite ready to undertake the condition, so i gave him two pretty cloths, and he in return gave me two goats. but when this little business had been transacted, to my surprise he said: "i have orders from suwarora to be absent five days to doctor a sick relation of his, for there is no man in the country so skilled in medicines as myself; but whilst i am gone i will leave karambule, my brother, to officiate in my stead about taking your hongo; but the work will not commence until to-morrow, for i must see suwarora on the subject myself first." irungu, a very fine-looking man of uganda, now called on me and begged for beads. he said his king had heard of our approach, and was most anxious to see us. hearing this i begged him to wait here until my hongo was paid, that we might travel on to uganda together. he said, no, he could not wait, for he had been detained here a whole year already; but, if i liked, he would leave some of his children behind with me, as their presence would intimidate suwarora, and incite him to let us off quickly. i then begged him to convey a colt's six-chamber revolving rifle to his king, mtesa, as an earnest that i was a prince most desirous of seeing him. no one, i said, but myself could tell what dangers and difficulties i had encountered to come thus far for the purpose, and all was owing to his great fame, as the king of kings, having reached me even as far off as zanzibar. the ambassador would not take the rifle, lest his master, who had never seen such a wonderful weapon before, should think he had brought him a malign charm, and he would be in danger of losing his head. i then tried to prevail on him to take a knife and some other pretty things, but he feared them all; so, as a last chance--for i wished to send some token, by way of card or letter, for announcing my approach and securing the road--i gave him a red six-penny pocket-handkerchief, which he accepted; and he then told me he was surprised i had come all this way round to uganda, when the road by the masai country was so much shorter. he told me how, shortly after the late king of uganda, sunna, died, and before mtesa had been selected by the officers of the country to be their king, an arab caravan came across the masai as far as usoga, and begged for permission to enter uganda; but as the country was disturbed by the elections, the officers of the state advised the arabs to wait, or come again when the king was elected. i told him i had heard of this before, but also heard that those arabs had met with great disasters, owing to the turbulence of the masai. to which he replied: "that is true; there were great difficulties in those times, but now the masai country was in better order; and as mtesa was most anxious to open that line, he would give me as many men as i liked if i wished to go home that way." this was pleasant information, but not quite new, for the arabs had told me mtesa was so anxious to open that route, he had frequently offered to aid them in it himself. still it was most gratifying to myself as i had written to the geographical society, on leaving bogue, that if i found petherick in uganda, or on the northern end of the n'yanza, so that the nile question was settled, i would endeavour to reach zanzibar via the masai country. in former days, i knew, the kings of uganda were in the habit of sending men to karague when they heard that arabs wished to visit them--even as many as two hundred at a time--to carry their kit; so i now begged irungu to tell mtesa that i should want at least sixty men; and then, on his promising that he would be my commissioner, i gave him the beads he had begged for himself. 4th to 6th.--karambule now told us to string our beads on the fibre of the mwale tree, which was sold here by the wasui, as he intended to live in the palace for a couple of days, arranging with suwarora what tax we should have to pay, after which he would come and take it from us; but we must mind and be ready, for whatever suwarora said, it must be done instantly. there was no such thing as haggling with him; you must pay and be off at once, failing which you might be detained a whole month before there would be an opportunity to speak on the subject again. beads were then served out to all my men to be strung, a certain quantity to every kambi or mess, and our work was progressing; but next day we heard that karambule was sick or feigning to be so, and therefore had never gone to the palace at all. on the 6th, provoked at last by the shameful manner in which we were treated, i send word to him to say, if he did not go at once i would go myself, and force my way in with my guns, for i could not submit to being treated like a slave, stuck out here in the jungle with nothing to do but shoot for specimens, or make collections of rocks, etc. this brought on another row; for he said both virembo and vikora had returned their hongos, and until their tongues were quieted he could not speak to suwarora. to expedite matters (7th), as our daily consumption in camp was a tax of itself, i gave these tormenting creatures one wire, one pretty cloth, and five hundred necklaces of white beads, which were no sooner accepted than karambule, in the same way as sirhid had done, said it would be greatly to my advantage if i gave him something worth having before he saw the mkama. only too glad to being work i gave him a red blanket, called joho, and five strings of mzizima beads, which were equal to fifty of the common white. 8th and 9th.--all this time nothing but confusion reigned in camp, khambi fighting against khambi. both men and women got drunk, whilst from outside we were tormented by the wasui, both men and women pertinaciously pressing into our hut, watching us eat, and begging in the most shameless manner. they did not know the word bakhshish, or present; but, as bad as the egyptians, they held our their hands, patted their bellies, and said kaniwani (my friend) until we were sick of the sound of that word. still it was impossible to dislike these simple creatures altogether, they were such perfect children. if we threw water at them to drive them away, they came back again, thinking it fun. ten days now had elapsed since we came here, still nothing was done (10th), as karambule said, because suwarora had been so fully occupied collecting an army to punish an officer who had refused to pay his taxes, had ignored his authority, and had set himself up as king of the district he was appointed to superintend. after this, at midnight, karambule, in an excited manner, said he had seen suwarora, and it then was appointed that, not he, but virembo should take the royal hongo, as well as the wahinda, or princes' shares, the next morning--after which we might go as fast as we liked, for suwarora was so full occupied with his army he could not see us this time. before, however, the hongo could be paid, i must give the sirhid and himself twenty brass wires, three joho, three barsati, twenty strings of mzizima, and one thousand strings of white beads. they were given. a fearful row now broke out between bombay and baraka (11th). many of my men had by this time been married, notwithstanding my prohibition. baraka, for instance, had with him the daughter of ungurue, chief of phunze; wadimoyo, a woman called manamaka; sangizo, his wife and sister; but bombay had not got one, and mourned for a girl he had set his eyes on, unfortunately for himself letting baraka into his confidence. this set baraka on the qui vive to catch bombay tripping; for baraka knew he could not get her without paying a good price for her, and therefore watched his opportunity to lay a complaint against him of purloining my property, by which scheme he would, he thought, get bombay's place as storekeeper himself. in a sly manner bombay employed some of my other men to take five wires, a red blanket, and 500 strings of beads, to his would-be father-in-law, which, by a previously-concocted arrangement, was to be her dowry price. these men did as they were bid; but the father-in-law returned things, saying he must have one more wire. that being also supplied, the scoundrel wanted more, and made so much fuss about it, that baraka became conversant with all that was going on, and told me of it. this set the whole camp in a flame, for bombay and baraka were both very drunk, as well as most of the other men, so that it was with great difficulty i could get hold of the rights of their stories. bombay acknowledged he had tried to get the girl, for they had been sentimentalising together for several days, and both alike wished to be married. baraka, he said, was allowed to keep a wife, and his position, demanded that he should have one also; but the wires were his own property, and not mine, for he was given them by the chiefs as a perquisite when i paid their hongo through him. he thought it most unjust and unfair of baraka to call him to account in that way, but he was not surprised at it, as baraka, from the beginning of the journey to the present moment, had always been backbiting him, to try and usurp his position. baraka, at this, somewhat taken aback, said there were no such things as perquisites on a journey like this; for whatever could be saved from the chiefs was for the common good of all, and all alike ought to share in it--repeating words i had often expressed. then bombay retorted trembling and foaming in his liquor: "i know i shall get the worst of it, for whilst baraka's tongue is a yard long, mine is only an inch; but i would not have spent any wires of master's to purchase slaves with (alluding to what baraka had done at mihambo); nor would i, for any purpose of making myself richer; but when it comes to a wife, that's a different thing." in my heart i liked bombay all the more for this confession, but thought it necessary to extol baraka for his quickness in finding him out, which drove bombay nearly wild. he wished me to degrade him, if i thought him dishonest; threw himself on the ground, and kissed my feet. i might thrash him, turn him into a porter, or do anything else that i liked with him, as long as i did not bring a charge of dishonesty against him. he could not explain himself with baraka's long tongue opposed to him, but there were many deficiencies in my wires before he took overcharge at bogue, which he must leave for settlement till the journey was over, and then, the whole question having been sifted at zanzibar, we would see who was the most honest. i then counted all the wires over, at bombay's request, and found them complete in numbers, without those he had set aside from the dowry money. still there was a doubt, for the wires might have been cut by him without detection, as from the commencement they were of different lengths. however, i tried to make them friends, claimed all the wires myself, and cautioned every man in the camp again, that they were all losers when anything was misappropriated; for i brought this property to pay our way with and whatever balance was over at the end of the journey i would divide amongst the whole of them. 12th and 13th.--when more sober, bombay again came to crave a thousand pardons for what he had done, threw himself down at my feet, then at grant's, kissed our toes, swore i was his ma pap (father and mother); he had no father or mother to teach him better; he owed all his prosperity to me; men must err sometimes; oh, if i would only forgive him,--and so forth. then being assured that i knew he never would have done as he had if a woman's attractions had not led him astray, he went to his work again like a man, and consoled himself by taking sangizo's sister to wife on credit instead of the old love, promising to pay the needful out of his pay, and to return her to her brother when the journey was over. in the evening virembo and karambule came to receive the hongo for their chief, demanding 60 wires, 160 yards merikani, 300 strings of mzizima, and 5000 strings of white beads; but they allowed themselves to be beaten down to 50 wires, 20 pretty cloths, 100 strings mzizima, and 4000 kutuamnazi, or cocoa-nut-leaf coloured beads, my white being all done. it was too late, however, to count all the things out, so they came the next day and took them. they then said we might go as soon as we had settled with the wahinda or wanawami (the king's children), for suwarora could not see us this time, as he was so engaged with his army; but he hoped to see us and pay us more respect when we returned from uganda, little thinking that i had sworn in my mind never to see him, or return that way again. i said to those men, i thought he was ashamed to see us, as he had robbed us so after inviting us into the country, else he was too superstitious, for he ought at least to have given us a place in his palace. they both rebutted the insinuation; and, to change the subject, commenced levying the remaining dues to the princes, which ended by my giving thirty-four wires and six pretty cloths in a lump. early in the morning we were on foot again, only too thankful to have got off so cheaply. then men were appointed as guides and protectors, to look after us as far as the border. what an honour! we had come into the country drawn there by a combination of pride and avarice and now we were leaving it in hot haste under the guidance of an escort of officers, who were in reality appointed to watch us as dangerous wizards and objects of terror. it was all the same to us, as we now only thought of the prospect of relief before us, and laughed at what we had gone through. rising out of the uthungu valley, we walked over rolling ground, drained in the dips by miry rush rivulets. the population was thinly scattered in small groups of grass huts, where the scrub jungle had been cleared away. on the road we passed cairns, to which every passer-by contributed a stone. of the origin of the cairns i could not gain any information, though it struck me as curious i should find them in the first country we had entered governed by the wahuma, as i formerly saw the same thing in the somali country, which doubtless, in earlier days, was governed by a branch of the abyssinians. arrived at our camping, we were immediately pounced upon by a deputation of officers, who said they had been sent by semamba, the officer of this district. he lived ten miles from the road; but hearing of our approach, he had sent these men to take his dues. at first i objected to pay, lest he should afterwards treat me as virembo had done; but i gave way in the end, and paid nine wires, two chintz and two bindera cloths, as the guides said they would stand my security against any further molestation. rattling on again as merry as larks, over the same red sandstone formation, we entered a fine forest, and trended on through it as a stiff pace until we arrived at the head of a deep valley called lohuati, which was so beautiful we instinctively pulled up to admire it. deep down its well-wooded side below us was a stream, of most inviting aspect for a trout-fisher, flowing towards the n'yanza. just beyond it the valley was clothed with fine trees and luxuriant vegetation of all descriptions, amongst which was conspicuous the pretty pandana palm, and rich gardens of plantains; whilst thistles of extraordinary size and wild indigo were the more common weeds. the land beyond that again rolled back in high undulations, over which, in the far distance, we could see a line of cones, red and bare on their tops, guttered down with white streaks, looking for all the world like recent volcanoes; and in the far background, rising higher than all, were the rich grassy hills of karague and kishakka. on resuming our march, a bird, called khongota, flew across our path; seeing which, old nasib, beaming with joy, in his superstitious belief cried out with delight, "ah, look at that good omen!--now our journey will be sure to be prosperous." after fording the stream, we sat down to rest, and were visited by all the inhabitants, who were more naked than any people we had yet seen. all the maidens, even at the age of puberty, did not hesitate to stand boldly in front of us--for evil thoughts were not in their minds. from this we rose over a stony hill to the settlement of vihembe, which, being the last on the usui frontier, induced me to give our guides three wires each, and four yards of bindera, which nasib said was their proper fee. here bombay's would-be, but disappointed, father-in-law sent after us to say that he required a hongo; suwarora had never given his sanction to our quitting his country; his hongo even was not settled. he wished, moreover, particularly to see us; and if we did not return in a friendly manner, an army would arrest our march immediately. chapter viii. karague relief from protectors and pillagers--the scenery and geology--meeting with the friendly king rumanika--his hospitalities and attention--his services to the expedition--philosophical and theological inquiries--the royal family of karague--the m-fumbiro mountain--navigation of "the little windermere"--the new-moon levee--rhinoceros and hippopotamus hunting--measurement of a fattened queen--political polygamy--christmas--rumours of petherick's expedition--arrangements to meet it--march to uganda. this was a day of relief and happiness. a load was removed from us in seeing the wasui "protectors" depart, with the truly cheering information that we now had nothing but wild animals to contend with before reaching karague. this land is "neutral," by which is meant that it is untenanted by human beings; and we might now hope to bid adieu for a time to the scourging system of taxation to which we had been subjected. gradually descending from the spur which separates the lohugati valley from the bed of the lueru lo urigi, or lake of urigi, the track led us first through a meadow of much pleasing beauty, and then through a passage between the "saddle-back" domes we had seen from the heights above lohugati, where a new geological formation especially attracted my notice. from the green slopes of the hills, set up at a slant, as if the central line of pressure on the dome top had weighed on the inside plates, protruded soft slabs of argillaceous sandstone, whose laminae presented a beef-sandwich appearance, puce or purple alternating with creamy-white. quartz and other igneous rocks were also scattered about, lying like superficial accumulations in the dips at the foot of the hills, and red sandstone conglomerates clearly indicated the presence of iron. the soil itself looked rich and red, not unlike our own fine country of devon. on arriving in camp we pitched under some trees, and at once were greeted by an officer sent by rumanika to help us out of usui. this was kachuchu, an old friend of nasib's, who no sooner saw him than, beaming with delight, he said to us, "now, was i not right when i told you the birds flying about on lohugati hill were a good omen? look here what this man says: rumanika has ordered him to bring you on to his palace at once, and wherever you stop a day, the village officers are instructed to supply you with food at the king's expenses, for there are no taxes gathered from strangers in the kingdom of karague. presents may be exchanged, but the name of tax is ignored." grant here shot a rhinoceros, which came well into play to mix with the day's flour we had carried on from vihembe. deluded yesterday by the sight of the broad waters of the lueru lo urigi, espied in the distance from the top of a hill, into the belief that we were in view of the n'yanza itself, we walked triumphantly along, thinking how well the arabs at kaze had described this to be a creek of the great lake; but on arrival in camp we heard from the village officer that we had been misinformed, and that it was a detached lake, but connected with the victoria n'yanza by a passage in the hills and the kitangule river. formerly, he said, the urigi valley was covered with water, extending up to uhha, when all the low lands we had crossed from usui had to be ferried, and the saddle-back hills were a mere chain of islands in the water. but the country had dried up, and the lake of urigi became a small swamp. he further informed us, that even in the late king dagara's time it was a large sheet of water; but the instant he ceased to exist, the lake shrank to what we now saw. our day's march had been novel and very amusing. the hilly country surrounding us, together with the valley, brought back to recollection many happy days i had once spent with the tartars in the thibetian valley of the indus--only this was more picturesque; for though both countries are wild, and very thinly inhabited, this was greened over with grass, and dotted here and there on the higher slopes with thick bush of acacias, the haunts of rhinoceros, both white and black; whilst in the flat of the valley, herds of hartebeests and fine cattle roamed about like the kiyang and tame yak of thibet. then, to enhance all these pleasure, so different from our former experiences, we were treated like guests by the chief of the place, who, obeying the orders of his king, rumanika, brought me presents, as soon as we arrived, of sheep, fowls, and sweet potatoes, and was very thankful for a few yards of red blanketing as a return, without begging for more. the farther we went in this country the better we liked it, as the people were all kept in good order; and the village chiefs were so civil, that we could do as we liked. after following down the left side of the valley and entering the village, the customary presents and returns were made. wishing then to obtain a better view of the country, i strolled over the nearest hills, and found the less exposed slopes well covered with trees. small antelopes occasionally sprang up from the grass. i shot a florikan for the pot; and as i had never before seen white rhinoceros, killed one now; though, as no one would eat him, i felt sorry rather than otherwise for what i had done. when i returned in the evening, small boys brought me sparrows for sale; and then i remembered the stories i had heard from musa mzuri--that in the whole of karague the small birds were so numerous, the people, to save themselves from starvation were obliged to grow a bitter corn which the birds disliked; and so i found it. at night, whilst observing for latitude, i was struck by surprise to see a long noisy procession pass by where i sat, led by some men who carried on their shoulders a woman covered up in a blackened skin. on inquiry, however, i heard she was being taken to the hut of her espoused, where, "bundling fashion," she would be put in bed; but it was only with virgins they took so much trouble. a strange but characteristic story now reached my ears. masudi, the merchant who took up insangez, had been trying his best to deter rumanika from allowing us to enter his country, by saying we were addicted to sorcery; and had it not been for insangez's remonstrances, who said we were sent up by musa, our fate would have been doubtful. rumanika, it appeared, as i always had heard, considered old musa his saviour, for having eight years before quelled a rebellion, when his younger brother, rogero, aspired to the throne; whilst musa's honour and honesty were quite unimpeachable. but more of this hereafter. khonze, the next place, lying in the bending concave of this swamp lake, and facing hangiro, was commanded by a fine elderly man called muzegi, who was chief officer during dagara's time. he told me with the greatest possible gravity, that he remembered well the time when a boat could have gone from this to vigura; as also when fish and crocodiles came up from the kitangule; but the old king no sooner died than the waters dried up; which showed as plainly as words could tell, that the king had designed it, to make men remember him with sorrow in all future ages. our presents after this having been exchanged, the good old man, at my desire, explained the position of all the surrounding countries, in his own peculiar manner, by laying a long stick on the ground pointing due north and south, to which he attached shorter ones pointing to the centre of each distant country. he thus assisted me in the protractions of the map, to the countries which lie east and west of the route. shortly after starting this morning, we were summoned by the last officer on the urigi to take breakfast with him, as he could not allow us to pass by without paying his respects to the king's guests. he was a man of most affable manners, and loth we should part company without one night's entertainment at least; but as it was a matter of necessity, he gave us provisions to eat on the way, adding, at the same time, he was sorry he could not give more, as a famine was then oppressing the land. we parted with reiterated compliments on both sides; and shortly after, diving into the old bed of the urigi, were constantly amused with the variety of game which met our view. on several occasions the rhinoceros were so numerous and impudent as to contest the right of the road with us, and the greatest sport was occasioned by our bold wanguana going at them in parties of threes and fours, when, taking good care of themselves at considerable distances, they fired their carbines all together, and whilst the rhinoceros ran one way, they ran the other. whilst we were pitching our tents after sunset by some pools on the plain, dr k'yengo arrived with the hongo of brass and copper wires sent by suwarora for the great king mtesa, in lieu of his daughter who died; so next morning we all marched together on to uthenga. rising out of the bed of the urigi, we passed over a low spur of beef-sandwich clay sandstones, and descended into the close, rich valley of uthenga, bound in by steep hills hanging over us more than a thousand feet high, as prettily clothed as the mountains of scotland; whilst in the valley there were not only magnificent trees of extraordinary height, but also a surprising amount of the richest cultivation, amongst which the banana may be said to prevail. notwithstanding this apparent richness in the land, the wanyambo, living in their small squalid huts, seem poor. the tobacco they smoke is imported from the coffee-growing country of uhaiya. after arrival in the village, who should we see but the uganda officer, irungu! the scoundrel, instead of going on to uganda, as he had promised to do, conveying my present to mtesa, had stopped here plundering the wanyambo, and getting drunk on their pombe, called, in their language, marwa--a delicious kind of wine made from the banana. he, or course, begged for more beads; but, not able to trick me again, set his drummers and fifers at work, in hopes that he would get over our feelings in that way. henceforth, as we marched, irungu's drummers and fifers kept us alive on the way. this we heard was a privilege that uganda wakungu enjoyed both at home and abroad, although in all other countries the sound of the drum is considered a notice of war, unless where it happens to accompany a dance or festival. leaving the valley of uthenga, we rose over the spur of n'yamwara, where we found we had attained the delightful altitude of 5000 odd feet. oh, how we enjoyed it! every one feeling so happy at the prospect of meeting so soon the good king rumanika. tripping down the greensward, we now worked our way to the rozoka valley, and pitched our tents in the village. kachuchu here told us he had orders to precede us, and prepare rumanika for our coming, as his king wished to know what place we would prefer to live at--the arab depot at kufro, on the direct line to uganda, in his palace with himself, or outside his enclosures. such politeness rather took us aback; so, giving our friend a coil of copper wire to keep him in good spirits, i said all our pleasure rested in seeing the king; whatever honours he liked to confer on us we should take with good grace, but one thing he must understand, we came not to trade, but to see him and great kings and therefore the arabs had no relations with us. this little point settled, off started kachuchu in his usual merry manner, whilst i took a look at the hills, to see their geological formation, and found them much as before, based on streaky clay sandstones, with the slight addition of pure blue shales, and above sections of quartzose sandstone lying in flags, as well as other metamorphic and igneous rocks scattered about. moving on the next morning over hill and dale, we came to the junction of two roads, where irungu, with his drummers, fifers and amazon followers, took one way to kufro, followed by the men carrying suwarora's hongo, and we led off on the other, directed to the palace. the hill-tops in many places were breasted with dykes of pure white quartz, just as we had seen in usui, only that here their direction tended more to the north. it was most curious to contemplate, seeing that the chief substance of the hills was a pure blue, or otherwise streaky clay sandstone, which must have been formed when the land was low, but has now been elevated, making these hills the axis of the centre of the continent, and therefore probably the oldest of all. when within a few miles of the palace we were ordered to stop and wait for kachuchu's return; but no sooner put up in a plaintain grove, where pombe was brewing, and our men were all taking a suck at it, than the worthy arrived to call us on the same instant, as the king was most anxious to see us. the love of good beer of course made our men all too tired to march again; so i sent off bombay with nasib to make our excuses, and in the evening found them returning with a huge pot of pombe and some royal tobacco, which rumanika sent with a notice that he intended it exclusively for our own use, for though there was abundance for my men, there was nothing so good as what came from the palace; the royal tobacco was as sweet and strong as honey-dew, and the beer so strong it required a strong man to drink it. after breakfast next morning, we crossed the hill-spur called waeranhanje, the grassy tops of which were 5500 feet above the sea. descending a little, we came suddenly in view of what appeared to us a rich clump of trees, in s. lat. 1° 42' 42", and e. long. 31° 1' 49"; and, 500 feet below it, we saw a beautiful sheet of water lying snugly within the folds of the hills. we were not altogether unprepared for it, as musa of old had described it, and bombay, on his return yesterday, told us he had seen a great pond. the clump, indeed, was the palace enclosure. as to the lake, for want of a native name, i christened it the little winderemere, because grant thought it so like our own english lake of that name. it was one of many others which, like that of urigi, drains the moisture of the overhanging hills, and gets drained into the victoria n'yanza through the kitangule river. to do royal honours to the king of this charming land, i ordered my men to put down their loads and fire a volley. this was no sooner done than, as we went to the palace gate, we received an invitation to come in at once, for the king wished to see us before attending to anything else. now, leaving our traps outside, both grant and myself, attended by bombay and a few of the seniors of my wanguana, entered the vestibule, and, walking through extensive enclosures studded with huts of kingly dimensions, were escorted to a pent-roofed baraza, which the arabs had built as a sort of government office where the king might conduct his state affairs. here, as we entered, we saw sitting cross-legged on the ground rumanika the king, and his brother nnanaji, both of them men of noble appearance and size. the king was plainly dressed in an arab's black choga, and wore, for ornament, dress-stockings of rich-coloured beads, and neatly-worked wristlets of copper. nnanaji, being a doctor of very high pretensions, in addition to a check cloth wrapped round him, was covered with charms. at their sides lay huge pipes of black clay. in their rear, squatting quiet as mice, were all the king's sons, some six or seven lads, who wore leather middle-coverings, and little dream-charms tied under their chins. the first greetings of the king, delivered in good kisuahili, were warm and affecting, and in an instant we both felt and saw we were in the company of men who were as unlike as they could be to the common order of the natives of the surrounding districts. they had fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses, denoting the best blood of abyssinia. having shaken hands in true english style, which is the peculiar custom of the men of this country, the ever-smiling rumanika begged us to be seated on the ground opposite to him, and at once wished to know what we thought of karague, for it had struck him his mountains were the finest in the world; and the lake, too, did we not admire it? then laughing, he inquired--for he knew all the story--what we thought of suwarora, and the reception we had met with in usui. when this was explained to him, i showed him that it was for the interest of his own kingdom to keep a check on suwarora, whose exorbitant taxations prevented the arabs from coming to see him and bringing things from all parts of the world. he made inquiries for the purpose of knowing how we found our way all over the world; for on the former expedition a letter had come to him for musa, who no sooner read it than he said i had called him and he must leave, as i was bound for ujiji. this of course led to a long story, describing the world, the proportions of land and water, and the power of ships, which conveyed even elephants and rhinoceros--in fact, all the animals in the world--to fill our menageries at home,--etc., etc.; as well as the strange announcement that we lived to the northward, and had only come this way because his friend musa had assured me without doubt that he would give us the road on through uganda. time flew like magic, the king's mind was so quick and enquiring; but as the day was wasting away, he generously gave us our option to choose a place for our residence in or out of his palace, and allowed us time to select one. we found the view overlooking the lake to be so charming, that we preferred camping outside, and set our men at once to work cutting sticks and long grass to erect themselves sheds. one of the young princes--for the king ordered them all to be constantly in attendance on us--happening to see me sit on an iron chair, rushed back to his father and told him about it. this set all the royals in the palace in a state of high wonder, and ended by my getting a summons to show off the white man sitting on his throne; for of course i could only be, as all of them called me, a king of great dignity, to indulge in such state. rather reluctantly i did as i was bid, and allowed myself once more to be dragged into court. rumanika, as gentle as ever, then burst into a fresh fit of merriment, and after making sundry enlightened remarks of enquire, which of course were responded to with the greatest satisfaction, finished off by saying, with a very expressive shake of the head, "oh, these wazungu, these wazungu! they know and do everything." i then put in a word for myself. since we had entered karague we never could get one drop of milk either for love or for money, and i wished to know what motive the wahuma had for withholding it. we had heard they held superstitious dreads; that any one who ate the flesh of pigs, fish, or fowls, or the bean called maharague, if he tasted the products of their cows, would destroy their cattle--and i hoped he did not labour under any such absurd delusions. to which he replied, it was only the poor who thought so; and as he now saw we were in want, he would set apart one of his cows expressly for our use. on bidding adieu, the usual formalities of handshaking were gone through; and on entering camp, i found the good thoughtful king had sent us some more of his excellent beer. the wanguana were now all in the highest of good-honour; for time after time goats and fowls were brought into camp by the officers of the king, who had received orders from all parts of the country to bring in supplies for his guests; and this kind of treatment went on for a month, though it did not diminish my daily expenditures of beads, as grain and plantains were not enough thought of. the cold winds, however, made the coast-men all shiver, and suspect, in their ignorance, we must be drawing close to england, the only cold place they had heard of. 16th.--hearing it would be considered indecent haste to present my tributary offering at once, i paid my morning's visit, only taking my revolving-pistol, as i knew rumanika had expressed a strong wish to see it. the impression it made was surprising--he had never seen such a thing in his life; so, in return for his great generosity, as well as to show i placed no value on property, not being a merchant, i begged him to accept it. we then adjourned to his private hut, which rather surprised me by the neatness with which it was kept. the roof was supported by numerous clean poles, to which he had fastened a large assortment of spears--brass-headed with iron handles, and iron-headed with wooden ones--of excellent workmanship. a large standing-screen, of fine straw-plait work, in elegant devices, partitioned off one part of the room; and on the opposite side, as mere ornaments, were placed a number of brass grapnels and small models of cows, made in iron for his amusement by the arabs at kufro. a little later in the day, as soon as we had done breakfast, both rumanika and nnanaji came over to pay us a visit; for they thought, as we could find our way all over the world, so we should not find much difficulty in prescribing some magic charms to kill his brother, rogero, who lived on a hill overlooking the kitangule. seating them both on our chairs, which amused them intensely, i asked rumanika, although i had heard before the whole facts of the case, what motives now induced him to wish the committal of such a terrible act, and brought out the whole story afresh. before their old father dagara died, he had unwittingly said to the mother of rogero, although he was the youngest born, what a fine king he would make; and the mother, in consequence, tutored her son to expect the command of the country, although the law of the land in the royal family is the primogeniture system, extending, however, only to those sons who are born after the accession of the king to the throne. as soon, therefore, as dagara died, leaving the three sons alluded to, all by different mothers, a contest took place with the brothers, which, as nnanaji held by rumanika, ended in the two elder driving rogero away. it happened, however, that half the men of the country, either from fear or love, attached themselves to rogero. feeling his power, he raised an army and attempted to fight for the crown, which it is generally admitted would have succeeded, had not musa, with unparalleled magnanimity, employed all the ivory merchandise at his command to engage the services of all the arabs' slaves residing at kufro, to bring muskets against him. rogero was thus frightened away; but he went away swearing that he would carry out his intentions at some future date, when the arabs had withdrawn from the country. magic charms, of course, we had none; but the king would not believe it, and, to wheedle some out of us, said they would not kill their brother even if they caught him--for fratricide was considered an unnatural crime in their country--but they would merely gouge out his eyes and set him at large again; for without the power of sight he could do them no harm. i then recommended, as the best advice i could give him for the time being, to take some strong measures against suwarora and the system of taxation carried on in usui. these would have the effect of bringing men with superior knowledge into the country--for it was only through the power of knowledge that good government could be obtained. suwarora at present stopped eight-tenths of the ivory-merchants who might be inclined to trade here from coming into the country, by the foolish system of excessive taxation he had established. next i told him, if he would give me one or two of his children, i would have them instructed in england; for i admired his race, and believed them to have sprung from our old friends the abyssinians, whose king, sahela selassie, had received rich presents from our queen. they were christians like ourselves, and had the wahuma not lost their knowledge of god they would be so also. a long theological and historical discussion ensued, which so pleased the king, that he said he would be delighted if i would take two of his sons to england, that they might bring him a knowledge of everything. then turning again to the old point, his utter amazement that we should spend so much property in travelling, he wished to know what we did it for; when men had such means they would surely sit down and enjoy it. "oh no," was the reply; "we have had our fill of the luxuries of life; eating, drinking, or sleeping have no charms for us now; we are above trade, therefore require no profits, and seek for enjoyment the run of the world. to observe and admire the beauties of creation are worth much more than beads to us. but what led us this way we have told you before; it was to see your majesty in particular, and the great kings of africa--and at the same time to open another road to the north, whereby the best manufactures or europe would find their way to karague, and you would get so many more guests." in the highest good-humour the king said, "as you have come to see me and see sights, i will order some boats and show you over the lake, with musicians to play before you, or anything else that you like." then, after looking over our pictures with intensest delight, and admiring our beds, boxes, and outfit in general, he left for the day. in the afternoon, as i had heard from musa that the wives of the king and princes were fattened to such an extent that they could not stand upright, i paid my respects to wazezeru, the king's eldest brother--who, having been born before his father ascended the throne, did not come in the line of succession--with the hope of being able to see for myself the truth of the story. there was no mistake about it. on entering the hut i found the old man and his chief wife sitting side by side on a bench of earth strewed over with grass, and partitioned like stalls for sleeping apartments, whilst in front of them were placed numerous wooden pots of milk, and hanging from the poles that supported the beehive-shaped hut, a large collection of bows six feet in length, whilst below them were tied an even larger collection of spears, intermixed with a goodly assortment of heavy-headed assages. i was struck with no small surprise at the way he received me, as well as with the extraordinary dimensions, yet pleasing beauty, of the immoderately fat fair one his wife. she could not rise; and so large were her arms that, between the joints, the flesh hung down like large, loose-stuffed puddings. then in came their children, all models of the abyssinian type of beauty, and as polite in their manners as thorough-bred gentlemen. they had heard of my picture-books from the king, and all wished to see them; which they no sooner did, to their infinite delight, especially when they recognised any of the animals, then the subject was turned by my inquiring what they did with so many milk-pots. this was easily explained by wazezeru himself, who, pointing to his wife, said, "this is all the product of those pots: from early youth upwards we keep those pots to their mouths, as it is the fashion at court to have very fat wives." 27th.--ever anxious to push on with the journey, as i felt every day's delay only tended to diminish my means--that is, my beads and copper wire--i instructed bombay to take the under-mentioned articles to rumanika as a small sample of the products of my country; [11] to say i felt quite ashamed of their being so few and so poor, but i hoped he would forgive my shortcomings, as he knew i had been so often robbed on the way to him; and i trusted, in recollection of musa, he would give me leave to go on to uganda, for every day's delay was consuming my supplies. nnanaji, however, it was said, should get something; so, in addition to the king's present, i apportioned one out for him, and bombay took both up to the palace. [12] everybody, i was pleased to hear, was surprised with both the quantity and quality of what i had been able to find for them; for, after the plundering in ugogo, the immense consumption caused by such long delays on the road, the fearful prices i had had to pay for my porters' wages, the enormous taxes i had been forced to give both in msalala and uzinza, besides the constant thievings in camp, all of which was made public by the constantly-recurring tales of my men, nobody thought i had got anything left. rumanika, above all, was as delighted as if he had come in for a fortune, and sent to say the raglan coat was a marvel, and the scarlet broadcloth the finest thing he had ever seen. nobody but musa had ever given him such beautiful beads before, and none ever gave with such free liberality. whatever i wanted i should have in return for it, as it was evident to him i had really done him a great honour in visiting him. neither his father nor any of his forefathers had had such a great favour shown them. he was alarmed, he confessed, when he heard we were coming to visit him, thinking we might prove some fearful monsters that were not quite human, but now he was delighted beyond all measure with what he saw of us. a messenger should be sent at once to the king of uganda to inform him of our intention to visit him, with his own favourable report of us. this was necessary according to the etiquette of the country. without such a recommendation our progress would be stopped by the people, whilst with one word from him all would go straight; for was he not the gatekeeper, enjoying the full confidence of uganda? a month, however, must elapse, as the distance to the palace of uganda was great; but, in the meantime, he would give me leave to go about in his country to do and see what i liked, nnanaji and his sons escorting me everywhere. moreover, when the time came for my going on to uganda, if i had not enough presents to give the king, he would fill up the complement from his own stores, and either go with me himself, or send nnanaji to conduct me as far as the boundary of uganda, in order that rogero might not molest us on the way. in the evening, masudi, with sangoro and several other merchants, came up from kufro to pay us a visit of respect. 28th and 29th.--a gentle hint having come to us that the king's brother, wazezeru, expected a trifle in virtue of his rank, i sent him a blanket and seventy-five blue egg-beads. these were accepted with the usual good grace of these people. the king then, ever attentive to our position as guests, sent his royal musicians to give us a tune. the men composing the band were a mixture of waganda and wanyambo, who played on reed instruments made telescope fashion, marking time by hand-drums. at first they marched up and down, playing tunes exactly like the regimental bands of the turks, and then commenced dancing a species of "hornpipe," blowing furiously all the while. when dismissed with some beads, nnanaji dropped in and invited me to accompany him out shooting on the slopes of the hills overlooking the lake. he had in attendance all the king's sons, as well as a large number of beaters, with three or four dogs. tripping down the greensward of the hills together, these tall, athletic princes every now and then stopped to see who could shoot furthest, and i must say i never witnessed better feats in my life. with powerful six-feet-long bows they pulled their arrows' heads up to the wood, and made wonderful shots in the distance. they then placed me in position, and arranging the field, drove the covers like men well accustomed to sport--indeed, it struck me they indulged too much in that pleasure, for we saw nothing but two or three montana and some diminutive antelopes, about the size of mouse deer, and so exceedingly shy that not one was bagged. returning home to the tents as the evening sky was illumined with the red glare of the sun, my attention was attracted by observing in the distance some bold sky-scraping cones situated in the country ruanda, which at once brought back to recollection the ill-defined story i had heard from the arabs of a wonderful hill always covered with clouds, on which snow or hail was constantly falling. this was a valuable discovery, for i found these hills to be the great turn-point of the central african watershed. without loss of time i set to work, and, gathering all the travellers i could in the country, protracted, from their descriptions, all the distance topographical features set down in the map, as far north as 3° of north latitude, as far east as 36°, and as far west as 26° of east longitude; only afterwards slightly corrected, as i was better able to connect and clear up some trifling but doubtful points. indeed, i was not only surprised at the amount of information about distant places i was enabled to get here from these men, but also at the correctness of their vast and varied knowledge, as i afterwards tested it by observation and the statements of others. i rely so far on the geographical information i thus received, that i would advise no one to doubt the accuracy of these protractions until he has been on the spot to test them by actual inspection. about the size only of the minor lakes do i feel doubtful, more especially the little luta nzige, which on the former journey i heard was a salt lake, because salt was found on its shores and in one of its islands. now, without going into any lengthy details, and giving rumanika due credit for everything--for had he not ordered his men to give me every information that lay in their power, they would not have done so--i will merely say for the present that, whilst they conceived the victoria n'yanza would take a whole month for a canoe to cross it, they thought the little luta nzige might be crossed in a week. the mfumbiro cones in ruanda, which i believe reach 10,000 feet, are said to be the highest of the "mountains of the moon." at their base are both salt and copper mines, as well as hot springs. there are also hot springs in mpororo, and one in karague near where rogero lived. 30th.--the important business of announcing our approach to uganda was completed by rumanika appointing kachuchu to go to king mtesa as quickly as possible, to say we were coming to visit him. he was told that we were very great men, who only travelled to see great kings and great countries; and, as such, rumanika trusted we should be received with courteous respect, and allowed to roam all over the country wherever we liked, he holding himself responsible for our actions for the time being. in the end, however, we were to be restored to him, as he considered himself our father, and therefore must see that no accident befell us. to put the royal message in proper shape, i was now requested to send some trifle by way of a letter or visiting card; but, on taking out a colt's revolving rifle for the purpose, rumanika advised me not to send it, as mtesa might take fright, and, considering it a charm of evil quality, reject us as bad magicians, and close his gates on us. three bits of cotton cloth were then selected as the best thing for the purpose; and, relying implicitly on the advice of rumanika, who declared his only object was to further our views, i arranged accordingly, and off went kachuchu. to keep my friend in good-humour, and show him how well the english can appreciate a kindness, i presented him with a hammer, a sailor's knife, a rodger's three-bladed penknife, a gilt letter-slip with paper and envelopes, some gilt pens, an ivory holder, and a variety of other small articles. of each of these he asked the use, and then in high glee put it into the big block-tin box, in which he kept his other curiosities, and which i think he felt more proud of than any other possession. after this, on adjourning to his baraza, ungurue the pig, who had floored my march in sorombo, and makinga, our persecutor in usui, came in to report that the watuta had been fighting in usui, and taken six bomas, upon which rumanika asked me what i thought of it, and if i knew where the watuta came from. i said i was not surprised to hear usui had attracted the watuta's cupidity, for every one knew of the plundering propensities of the inhabitants, and as they became rich by their robberies, they must in turn expect to be robbed. where the watuta came from, nobody could tell; they were dressed something like the zulu kaffirs of the south, but appeared to be now gradually migrating from the regions of n'yazza. to this dr k'yengo, who was now living with rumanika as his head magician, added that, whilst he was living in utambara, the watuta invested his boma six months; and finally, when all their cows and stores were exhausted, they killed all the inhabitants but himself, and he only escaped by the power of the charms which he carried about him. these were so powerful, that although he lay on the ground, and the watuta struck at him with their spears, not one could penetrate his body. in the evening after this, as the king wished to see all my scientific instruments, we walked down to the camp; and as he did not beg for anything, i gave him some gold and mother-of-pearl shirt studs to swell up his trinket-box. the same evening i made up my mind, if possible, to purchase a stock of beads from the arabs, and sent baraka off to kufro, to see what kind of a bargain he could make with them; for, whilst i trembled to think what those "blood-suckers" would have the impudence to demand when they found me at their mercy, i felt that the beads must be bought, or the expedition would certainly come to grief. 1st and 2d.--two days after this the merchants came in a body to see me, and said their worst beads would stand me 80 dollars per frasala, as they would realise that value in ivory on arrival at the coast. of course no business was done, for the thing was preposterous by all calculation, being close on 2500 per cent. above zanzibar valuation. i was "game" to give 50 dollars, but as they would not take this, i thought of dealing with rumanika instead. i then gave nnanaji, who had been constantly throwing out hints that i ought to give him a gun as he was a great sportsman, a lappet of beadwork to keep his tongue quiet, and he in return sent me a bullock and sundry pots of pombe, which, in addition to the daily allowance sent by rumanika, made all my people drunk, and so affected baraka that one of the women--also drunk--having given him some sharp abuse, he beat her in so violent a manner that the whole drunken camp set upon him, and turned the place into a pandemonium. a row amongst the negroes means a general rising of arms, legs, and voices; all are in a state of the greatest excitement; and each individual thinks he is doing the best to mend matters, but is actually doing his best to create confusion. by dint of perseverance, i now succeeded in having baraka separated from the crowd and dragged before me for justice. i found that the woman, who fully understood the jealous hatred which existed in baraka's heart against bombay, flirted with both of them; and, pretending to show a preference for bombay, set baraka against her, when from high words they came to blows, and set the place in a blaze. it was useless to remonstrate--baraka insisted he would beat the woman if she abused him, no matter whether i thought it cowardly or not; he did not come with me expecting to be bullied in this way--the whole fault lay with bombay--i did not do him justice--when he proved bombay a thief at usui, i did not turn him off, but now, instead, i showed the preference to bombay by always taking him when i went to rumanika. it was useless to argue with such a passionate man, so i told him to go away and cool himself before morning. when he was gone, bombay said there was not one man in the camp, besides his own set, who wished to go on to egypt--for they had constant arguments amongst themselves about it; and whilst bombay always said he would follow me wherever i led, baraka and those who held by him abused him and his set for having tricked them away from zanzibar, under the false hopes that the road was quite safe. bombay said his arguments were, that bana knew better than anybody else what he was about, and he would follow him, trusting to luck, as god was the disposer of all things, and men could die but once. whilst baraka's arguments all rested the other way;--that no one could tell what was ahead of him--bana had sold himself to luck and the devil--but though he did not care for his own safety, he ought not to sacrifice the lives of others--bombay and his lot were fools for their pains in trusting to him. 3d.--at daybreak rumanika sent us word he was off to moga-namarinzi, a spur of a hill beyond "the little windermere," overlooking the ingezi kagera, or river which separates kishakka from karague, to show me how the kiangule river was fed by small lakes and marshes, in accordance with my expressed wish to have a better comprehension of the drainage system of the mountains of the moon. he hoped we would follow him, not by the land route he intended to take, but in canoes which he had ordered at the ferry below. starting off shortly afterwards, i made for the lake, and found the canoes all ready, but so small that, besides two paddlers, only two men could sit down in each. after pushing through the tall reeds with which the end of the lake is covered, we emerged in the clear open, and skirted the further side of the water until a small strait was gained, which led us into another lake, drained at the northern end with a vast swampy plain, covered entirely with tall rushes, excepting only in a few places where bald patches expose the surface of the water, or where the main streams of the ingezi and luchoro valleys cut a clear drain for themselves. the whole scenery was most beautiful. green and fresh, the slopes of the hills were covered with grass, with small clumps of soft cloudy-looking acacias growing at a few feet only above the water, and above them, facing over the hills, fine detached trees, and here and there the gigantic medicinal aloe. arrived near the end of the moga-namirinzi hill in the second lake, the paddlers splashed into shore, where a large concourse of people, headed by nnanaji, were drawn up to receive me. i landed with all the dignity of a prince, when the royal band struck up a march, and we all moved on to rumanika's frontier palace, talking away in a very complimentary manner, not unlike the very polite and flowery fashion of educated orientals. rumanika we found sitting dressed in a wrapper made of an nzoe antelope's skin, smiling blandly as we approached him. in the warmest manner possible he pressed me to sit by his side, asked how i had enjoyed myself, what i thought of his country, and if i did not feel hungry; when a pic-nic dinner was spread, and we all set to at cooked plantains and pombe, ending with a pipe of his best tobacco. bit by bit rumanika became more interested in geography, and seemed highly ambitious of gaining a world-wide reputation through the medium of my pen. at his invitation we now crossed over the spur to the ingezi kagera side, when, to surprise me, the canoes i had come up the lake in appeared before us. they had gone out of the lake at its northern end, paddled into, and then up the kagera to where we stood, showing, by actual navigation, the connection of these highland lakes with the rivers which drain the various spurs of the mountains of the moon. the kagera was deep and dark, of itself a very fine stream, and, considering it was only one--and that, too, a minor one--of the various affluents which drain the mountain valleys into the victoria n'yanza through the medium of the kitangule river, i saw at once there must be water sufficient to make the kitangule a very powerful tributary to the lake. on leaving this interesting place, with the widespread information of all the surrounding countries i had gained, my mind was so impressed with the topographical features of all this part of africa, that in my heart i resolved i would make rumanika as happy as he had made me, and asked k'yengo his doctor, of all things i possessed what the king would like best. to my surprise i then learnt that rumanika had set his heart on the revolving rifle i had brought for mtesa--the one, in fact, which he had prevented my sending on to uganda in the hands of kachuchu, and he would have begged me for it before had his high-minded dignity, and the principle he had established of never begging for anything, not interfered. i then said he should certainly have it; for as strongly as i had withheld from giving anything to those begging scoundrels who wished to rob me of all i possessed in the lower countries, so strongly now did i feel inclined to be generous with this exceptional man rumanika. we then had another pic-nic together, and whilst i went home to join grant, rumanika spent the night doing homage and sacrificing a bullock at the tomb of his father dagara. instead of paddling all down the lake again, i walked over the hill, and, on crossing at its northern end, whished to shoot ducks; but the superstitious boatmen put a stop to my intended amusement by imploring me not to do so, lest the spirit of the lake should be roused to dry up the waters. 4th.--rumanika returned in the morning, walking up the hill, followed by a long train of his officers, and a party of men carrying on their shoulders his state carriage, which consisted of a large open basket laid on the top of two very long poles. after entering his palace, i immediately called on him to thank him for the great treat he had given me, and presented him, as an earnest of what i thought, with the colt's revolving rifle and a fair allowance of ammunition. his delight knew no bounds on becoming the proprietor of such an extraordinary weapon, and induced him to dwell on his advantages over his brother rogero, whose antipathy to him was ever preying on his mind. he urged me again to devise some plan for overcoming him; and, becoming more and more confidential, favoured me with the following narrative, by way of evidence how the spirits were inclined to show all the world that he was the rightful successor to the throne:--when dagara died, and he, nnanaji, and rogero, were the only three sons left in line of succession to the crown, a small mystic drum of diminutive size was placed before them by the officers of state. it was only feather weight in reality, but, being loaded with charms, became so heavy to those who were not entitled to the crown, that no one could lift it but the one person whom the spirits were inclined towards as the rightful successor. now, of all the three brothers, he, rumanika, alone could raise it from the ground; and whilst his brothers laboured hard, in vain attempting to move it, he with his little finger held it up without any exertion. this little disclosure in the history of karague led us on to further particulars of dagara's death and burial, when it transpired that the old king's body, after the fashion of his predecessors, was sewn up in a cow-skin, and placed in a boat floating on the lake, where it remained for three days, until decomposition set in and maggots were engendered, of which three were taken into the palace and given in charge to the heir-elect; but instead of remaining as they were, one worm was transformed into a lion, another into a leopard, and the third into a stick. after this the body of the king was taken up and deposited on the hill moga-namirinzi, where, instead of putting him underground, the people erected a hut over him, and, thrusting in five maidens and fifty cows, enclosed the doorway in such a manner that the whole of them subsequently died from starvation. this, as may naturally be supposed, led into further genealogical disclosures of a similar nature, and i was told by rumanika that his grandfather was a most wonderful man; indeed, karague was blessed with more supernatural agencies than any other country. rohinda the sixth, who was his grandfather, numbered so many years that people thought he would never die; and he even became so concerned himself about it, reflecting that his son dagara would never enjoy the benefit of his position as successor to the crown of karague, that he took some magic powders and charmed away his life. his remains were then taken to moga-namirinzi, in the same manner as were those of dagara; but, as an improvement on the maggot story, a young lion emerged from the heart of the corpse and kept guard over the hill, from whom other lions came into existence, until the whole place has become infested by them, and has since made karague a power and dread to all other nations; for these lions became subject to the will of dagara, who, when attacked by the countries to the northward, instead of assembling an army of men, assembled his lion force, and so swept all before him. another test was then advanced at the instigation of k'yengo, who thought rumanika not quite impressive enough of his right to the throne; and this was, that each heir in succession, even after the drum dodge, was required to sit on the ground in a certain place of the country, where, if he had courage to plant himself, the land would gradually rise up, telescope fashion, until it reached the skies, when, if the aspirant was considered by the spirits the proper person to inherit karague, he would gradually be lowered again without any harm happening; but, otherwise, the elastic hill would suddenly collapse, and he would be dashed to pieces. now, rumanika, by his own confession, had gone through this ordeal with marked success; so i asked him if he found the atmosphere cold when so far up aloft, and as he said he did so, laughing at the quaintness of the question, i told him i saw he had learnt a good practical lesson on the structure of the universe, which i wished he would explain to me. in a state of perplexity, k'yengo and the rest, on seeing me laughing, thought something was wrong; so, turning about, they thought again, and said, "no, it must have been hot, because the higher one ascended the nearer he got to the sun." this led on to one argument after another, on geology, geography, and all the natural sciences, and ended by rumanika showing me an iron much the shape and size of a carrot. this he said was found by one of his villagers whilst tilling the ground, buried some way down below the surface; but dig as he would, he could not remove it, and therefore called some men to his help. still the whole of them united could not lift the iron, which induced them, considering there must be some magic in it, to inform the king. "now," says rumanika, "i no sooner went there and saw the iron, and brought it here as you see it. what can such a sign mean?" "of course that you are the rightful king," said his flatterers. "then," said rumanika, in exuberant spirits, "during dagara's time, as the king was sitting with many other men outside his hut, a fearful storm of thunder and lightning arose, and a thunderbolt struck the ground in the midst of them, which dispersed all the men but dagara, who calmly took up the thunderbolt and places it in the palace. i, however, no sooner came into possession, and rogero began to contend with me, than the thunderbolt vanished. how would you account for this?" the flatterers said, "it is as clear as possible; god gave the thunderbolt to dagaro as a sign he was pleased with him and his rule; but when he found two brothers contending, he withdrew it to show their conduct was wicked." 5th.--rumanika in the morning sent me a young male nzoe (water-boc) [13] which his canoe-men had caught in the high rushes at the head of the lake, by the king's order, to please me; for i had heard this peculiar animal described in such strange ways at kaze, both by musa and the arabs, i was desirous of having a look at one. it proved to be closely allied to a water-boc found by livingstone on the ngami lake; but, instead of being striped, was very faintly spotted, and so long were its toes, it could hardly walk on the dry ground; whilst its coat, also well adapted to the moist element it lived in, was long, and of such excellent quality that the natives prize it for wearing almost more than any other of the antelope tribe. the only food it would eat were the tops of the tall papyrus rushes; but though it ate and drank freely, and lay down very quietly, it always charged with ferocity any person who went near it. in the afternoon rumanika invited both grant and myself to witness his new moon levee, a ceremony which takes place every month with a view of ascertaining how many of his subjects are loyal. on entering his palace enclosure, the first thing we saw was a blaue boc's horn stuffed full of magic powder, with very imposing effect, by k'yengo, and stuck in the ground, with its mouth pointing in the direction of rogero. in the second court, we found thirty-five drums ranged on the ground, with as many drummers standing behind them, and a knot of young princes and officers of high dignity waiting to escort us into the third enclosure, where, in his principal hut, we found rumanika squatting on the ground, half-concealed by the portal, but showing his smiling face to welcome us in. his head was got up with a tiara of beads, from the centre of which, directly over the forehead, stood a plume of red feathers, and encircling the lower face with a fine large white beard set in a stock or band of beads. we were beckoned to squat alongside nnanaji, the master of ceremonies, and a large group of high officials outside the porch. then the thirty-five drums all struck up together in very good harmony; and when their deafening noise was over, a smaller band of hand-drums and reed instruments was ordered in to amuse us. this second performance over, from want of breath only, district officers, one by one, came advancing on tip-toe, then pausing, contorting and quivering their bodies, advancing again with a springing gait and outspread arms, which they moved as if they wished to force them out of their joints, in all of which actions they held drum-sticks or twigs in their hands, swore with a maniacal voice an oath of their loyalty and devotion to their king, backed by the expression of a hope that he would cut off their heads if they ever turned from his enemies, and then, kneeling before him, they held out their sticks that he might touch them. with a constant reiteration of these scenes--the saluting at one time, the music at another--interrupted only once by a number of girls dancing something like a good rough highland fling whilst the little band played, the day's ceremonies ended. 6th and 7th.--during the next two days, as my men had all worn out their clothes, i gave them each thirty necklaces of beads to purchase a suit of the bark cloth called mbugu, already described. finding the flour of the country too bitter to eat by itself, we sweetened it with ripe plantains, and made a good cake of it. the king now, finding me disinclined to fight his brother rogero, either with guns or magic horns, asked me to give him a "doctor" or charm to create longevity and to promote the increase of his family, as his was not large enough to maintain the dignity of so great a man as himself. i gave him a blister, and, changing the subject, told him the history of the creation of man. after listening to it attentively, he asked what thing in creation i considered the greatest of all things in the world; for whilst a man at most could only live one hundred years, a tree lived many; but the earth ought to be biggest, for it never died. i then told him again i wished one of his sons would accompany me to england, that he might learn the history of moses, wherein he would find that men had souls which live for ever, but that the earth would come to an end in the fullness of time. this conversation, diversified by numerous shrewd remarks on the part of rumanika, led to his asking how i could account for the decline of countries, instancing the dismemberment of the wahuma in kittara, and remarking that formerly karague included urundi, ruanda, and kishakka, which collectively were known as the kingdom of meru, governed by one man. christian principles, i said, made us what we are, and feeling a sympathy for him made me desirous of taking one of his children to learn in the same school with us, who, on returning to him, could impart what he knew, and, extending the same by course of instruction, would doubtless end by elevating his country to a higher position than it ever knew before,--etc., etc. the policy and government of the vast possessions of great britain were then duly discussed, and rumanika acknowledged that the pen was superior to that of the sword, and the electric telegraph and steam engine the most wonderful powers he had ever heard of. before breaking up, rumanika wished to give me any number of ivories i might like to mention, even three or four hundred, as a lasting remembrance that i had done him the honour of visiting karague in his lifetime, for though dagara had given to coloured merchants, he would be the first who had given to a white man. of course this royal offer was declined with politeness; he must understand that it was not the custom of big men in my country to accept presents of value when we made visits of pleasure. i had enjoyed my residence in karague, his intellectual conversations and his kind hospitality, all of which i should record in my books to hand down to posterity; but if he would give me a cow's horn, i would keep it as a trophy of the happy days i had spent in his country. he gave me one, measuring 3 feet 5 inches in length, and 18 3/4 inches in circumference at the base. he then offered me a large sheet, made up of a patchwork of very small n'yera antelope skins, most exquisitely cured and sewn. this i rejected, as he told me it had been given to himself, explaining that we prided ourselves on never parting with the gifts of a friend; and this speech tickled his fancy so much, that he said he never would part with anything i gave him. 8th and 9th.--the 8th went off much in the usual way, by my calling on the king, when i gave him a pack of playing-cards, which he put into his curiosity-box. he explained to me, at my request, what sort of things he would like any future visitors to bring him--a piece of gold and silver embroidery; but, before anything else, i found he would like to have toys--such as yankee clocks with the face in a man's stomach, to wind up behind, his eyes rolling with every beat of the pendulum; or a china-cow milk-pot, a jack-in-the-box, models of men, carriages, and horses--all animals in fact, and railways in particular. on the 9th i went out shooting, as rumanika, with his usual politeness, on hearing my desire to kill some rhinoceros, ordered his sons to conduct the filed for me. off we started by sunrise to the bottom of the hills overlooking the head of the little windermere lake. on arrival at the scene of action--a thicket or acacia shrubs--all the men in the neighbourhood were assembled to beat. taking post myself, by direction, in the most likely place to catch a sight of the animals, the day's work began by the beaters driving the covers in my direction. in a very short time, a fine male was discovered making towards me, but not exactly knowing where he should bolt to. while he was in this perplexity, i stole along between the bushes, and caught sight of him standing as if anchored by the side of a tree and gave him a broadsider with blissett, which, too much for his constitution to stand, sent him off trotting, till exhausted by bleeding he lay down to die, and allowed me to give him a settler. in a minute or two afterwards, the good young princes, attracted by the sound of the gun, came to see what was done. their surprise knew no bounds; they could scarcely believe what they saw; and then, on recovering, with the spirit of true gentlemen, they seized both my hands, congratulating me on the magnitude of my success, and pointed out, as an example of it, a bystander who showed fearful scars, both on his abdomen and at the blade of his shoulder, who they declared had been run through by one of these animals. it was, therefore, wonderful to them, they observed, with what calmness i went up to such formidable beasts. just at this time a distant cry was heard that another rhinoceros was concealed in a thicket, and off we set to pursue her. arriving at the place mentioned, i settled at once i would enter with only two spare men carrying guns, for the acacia thorns were so thick that the only tracks into the thicket were runs made by these animals. leading myself, bending down to steal in, i tracked up a run till half-way through cover, when suddenly before me, like a pig from a hole, a large female, with her young one behind her, came straight down whoof-whoofing upon me. in this awkward fix i forced myself to one side, though pricked all over with thorns in doing so, and gave her one on the head which knocked her out of my path, and induced her for safety to make for the open, where i followed her down and gave her another. she then took to the hills and crossed over a spur, when, following after her, in another dense thicket, near the head of a glen, i came upon three, who no sooner sighted me, than all in line they charged down my way. fortunately at the time my gun-bearers were with me; so, jumping to one side, i struck them all three in turn. one of them dropped dead a little way on; but the others only pulled up when they arrived at the bottom. to please myself now i had done quite enough; but as the princes would have it, i went on with the chase. as one of the two, i could see, had one of his fore-legs broken, i went at the sounder one, and gave him another shot, which simply induced him to walk over the lower end of the hill. then turning to the last one, which could not escape, i asked the wanyambo to polish him off with their spears and arrows, that i might see their mode of sport. as we moved up to the animal, he kept charging with such impetuous fury, they could not go into him; so i gave him a second ball, which brought him to anchor. in this helpless state the men set at him in earnest, and a more barbarous finale i never did witness. every man sent his spear, assage, or arrow, into his sides, until, completely exhausted, he sank like a porcupine covered with quills. the day's sport was now ended, so i went home to breakfast, leaving instructions that the heads should be cut off and sent to the king as a trophy of what the white man could do. 10th and 11th.--the next day, when i called on rumanika, the spoils were brought into court, and in utter astonishment he said, "well, this must have been done with something more potent than powder, for neither the arabs nor nnanaji, although they talk of their shooting powers, could have accomplished such a great feat as this. it is no wonder the english are the greatest men in the world." neither the wanyambo nor the wahuma would eat the rhinoceros, so i was not sorry to find all the wanyamuezi porters of the arabs at kufro, on hearing of the sport, come over and carry away all the flesh. they passed by our camp half borne down with their burdens of sliced flesh, suspended from poles which they carried on their shoulders; but the following day i was disgusted by hearing that their masters had forbidden their eating "the carrion," as the throats of the animals had not been cut; and, moreover, had thrashed them soundly because they complained they were half starved, which was perfectly true, by the poor food that they got as their pay. 12th.--on visiting rumanika again, and going through my geographical lessons, he told me, in confirmation of musa's old stories, that in ruanda there existed pigmies who lived in trees, but occasionally came down at night, and, listening at the hut doors of the men, would wait until they heard the name of one of its inmates, when they would call him out, and, firing an arrow into his heart, disappear again in the same way as they came. but, more formidable even than these little men, there were monsters who could not converse with me, and never showed themselves unless they saw women pass by; then, in voluptuous excitement, they squeezed them to death. many other similar stories were then told, when i, wishing to go, was asked if i could kill hippopotami. having answered that i could, the king graciously said he would order some canoes for me the next morning; and as i declined because grant could not accompany me, as a terrible disease had broken out in his leg, he ordered a pig-shooting party. agreeably with this, the next day i went out with his sons, numerously attended; but although we beat the covers all day, the rain was so frequent that the pigs would not bolt. 14th.--after a long and amusing conversation with rumanika in the morning, i called on one of his sisters-in-law, married to an elder brother who was born before dagara ascended the throne. she was another of those wonders of obesity, unable to stand excepting on all fours. i was desirous to obtain a good view of her, and actually to measure her, and induced her to give me facilities for doing so, by offering in return to show her a bit of my naked legs and arms. the bait took as i wished it, and after getting her to sidle and wriggle into the middle of the hut, i did as i promised, and then took her dimensions as noted below. [14] all of these are exact except the height, and i believe i could have obtained this more accurately if i could have her laid on the floor. not knowing what difficulties i should have to contend with in such a piece of engineering, i tried to get her height by raising her up. this, after infinite exertions on the part of us both, was accomplished, when she sank down again, fainting, for her blood had rushed to her head. meanwhile, the daughter, a lass of sixteen, sat stark-naked before us, sucking at a milk-pot, on which the father kept her at work by holding a rod in his hand, for as fattening is the first duty of fashionable female life, it must be duly enforced by the rod if necessary. i got up a bit of flirtation with missy, and induced her to rise and shake hands with me. her features were lovely, but her body was as round as a ball. in the evening we had another row with my head men--baraka having accused bombay of trying to kill him with magic. bombay, who was so incessantly bullied by baraka's officious attempts to form party cliques opposed to the interests of the journey, and get him turned out of the camp, indiscreetly went to one of k'yengo's men, and asked him if he knew of any medicine that would affect the hearts of the wanguana so as to incline them towards him; and on the sub-doctor saying yes, bombay gave him some beads, and bought the medicine required, which, put into a pot of pombe, was placed by baraka's side. baraka in the meanwhile got wind of the matter through k'yengo, who, misunderstanding the true facts of the case, said it was a charm to deprive baraka of his life. a court of inquiry having been convened, with all the parties concerned in attendance, k'yengo's mistake was discovered, and bombay was lectured for his folly, as he had a thousand times before abjured his belief in such magical follies; moreover, to punish him for the future, i took baraka, whenever i could, with me to visit the king, which, little as it may appear to others, was of the greatest consequence to the hostile parties. 15th and 16th.--when i next called on rumanika i gave him a vautier's binocular and prismatic compass; on which he politely remarked he was afraid he was robbing me of everything. more compliments went round, and then he asked if it was true we could open a man's skull, look at his brains, and close it up again; also if it was true we sailed all round the world into regions where there was no difference between night and day, and how, when he ploughed the seas in such enormous vessels as would carry at once 20,000 men, we could explain to the sailors what they ought to do; for, although he had heard of these things, no one was able to explain them to him. after all the explanations were given, he promised me a boat-hunt after the nzoe in the morning; but when the time came, as difficulties were raised, i asked him to allow us to anticipate the arrival of kachuchu, and march on to kitangule. he answered, with his usual courtesy, that he would be very glad to oblige us in any way that we liked; but he feared that, as the waganda were such superstitious people, some difficulties would arise, and he must decline to comply with our request. "you must not," he added, "expect ever to find again a reasonable man like myself." i then gave him a book on "kafir laws," which he said he would keep for my sake, with all the rest of the presents, which he was determined never to give away, though it was usual for him to send novelties of this sort to mtesa, king of uganda, and kamrasi, king of unyoro, as a friendly recognition of their superior positions in the world of great monarchies. 17th.--rumanika next introduced me to an old woman who came from the island of gasi, situated in the little luta nzige. both her upper and lower incisors had been extracted, and her upper lip perforated by a number of small holes, extending in an arch from one corner to the other. this interesting but ugly old lady narrated the circumstances by which she had been enslaved, and then sent by kamrasi as a curiosity to rumanika, who had ever since kept her as a servant in his palace. a man from ruanda then told us of the wilyanwantu (men-eaters), who disdained all food but human flesh; and rumanika confirmed the statement. though i felt very sceptical about it, i could not help thinking it a curious coincidence that the position they were said to occupy agreed with petherick's nyam nyams (men-eaters). of far more interest were the results of a conversation which i had with another of kamrasi's servants, a man of amara, as it threw some light upon certain statements made by mr leon of the people of amara being christians. he said they bore single holes in the centres both of their upper and lower lips, as well as in the lobes of both of their ears, in which they wear small brass rings. they live near the n'yanza--where it is connected by a strait with a salt lake, and drained by a river to the northward--in comfortable houses, built like the tembes of unyamuezi. when killing a cow, they kneel down in an attitude of prayer, with both hands together, held palm upwards, and utter zu, a word the meaning of which he did not know. i questioned him to try if the word had any trace of a christian meaning--for instance, a corruption of jesu--but without success. circumcision is not known amongst them, neither have they any knowledge of god or a soul. a tribe called wakuavi, who are white, and described as not unlike myself, often came over the water and made raids on their cattle, using the double-edged sime as their chief weapon of war. these attacks were as often resented, and sometimes led the wamara in pursuit a long way into their enemy's country, where, at a place called kisiguisi, they found men robed in red cloths. beads were imported, he thought, both from the east and from ukidi. associated with the countries masau or masai, and usamburu, which he knew, there was a large mountain, the exact position of which he could not describe. i took down many words of his language, and found they corresponded with the north african dialects, as spoken by the people of kidi, gani, and madi. the southerners, speaking of these, would call them wakidi, wagani, and wamadi, but among themselves the syllable was is not prefixed, as in the southern dialects, to signify people. rumanika, who appeared immensely delighted as he assisted me in putting the questions i wanted, and saw me note them down in my book, was more confirmed than ever in the truth of my stories that i came from the north, and thought as the beads came to amara, so should i be able to open the road and bring him more visitors. this he knew was his only chance of ever seeing me more, for i swore i would never go back through usui, so greatly did i feel the indignities imposed on me by suwarora. 18th.--to keep the king in good-humour, i now took a table-knife, spoon, and fork to the palace, which, after their several uses were explained, were consigned to his curiosity-box. still rumanika could not understand how it was i spent so much and travelled so far, or how it happened such a great country as ours could be ruled by a woman. he asked the queen's name, how many children she had, and the mode of succession; then, when fully satisfied, led the way to show me what his father dagara had done when wishing to know of what the centre of the earth was composed. at the back of the palace a deep ditch was cut, several yards long, the end of which was carried by a subterranean passage into the palace, where it was ended off with a cavern led into by a very small aperture. it then appeared that dagara, having failed, in his own opinion, to arrive any nearer to the object in view, gave the excavating up as a bad job, and turned the cave into a mysterious abode, where it was confidently asserted he spent many days without eating or drinking, and turned sometimes into a young man, and then an old one, alternately, as the humour seized him. 19th to 22d.--on the 19th i went fishing, but without success, for they said the fish would not take in the lake; and on the following day, as grant's recovery seemed hopeless, for a long time at least, i went with all the young princes to see what i could do with the hippopotami in the lake, said to inhabit the small island of conty. the part was an exceedingly merry one. we went off to the island in several canoes, and at once found an immense number of crocodiles basking in the sun, but not a single hippopotamus was in sight. the princes then, thinking me "green" at this kind of sport, said the place was enchanted, but i need not fear, for they would bring them out to my feet by simply calling out certain names, and this was no sooner done than four old and one young one came immediately in font of us. it seemed quite a sin to touch them, they looked all so innocent; but as the king wanted to try me again, i gave one a ball on the head which sent him under, never again to be seen, for on the 22nd, by which time i supposed he ought to have risen inflated with gases, the king sent out his men to look out for him; but they returned to say, that whilst all the rest were in the old place, that one, in particular, could not be found. on this k'yengo, who happened to be present whilst our interview lasted, explained that the demons of the deep were annoyed with me for intruding on their preserves, without having the courtesy to commemorate the event by the sacrifice of a goat or a cow. rumanika then, at my suggestions, gave nnanaji the revolving pistol i first gave him, but not without a sharp rebuke for his having had the audacity to beg a gun of me in consideration of his being a sportsman. we then went into a discourse on astrology, when the intelligent rumanika asked me if the same sun we saw one day appeared again, or whether fresh suns came every day, and whether or not the moon made different faces, to laugh at us mortals on earth. 23d and 24th.--this day was spent by the king introducing me to his five fat wives, to show with what esteem he was held by all the different kings of the countries surrounding. from mpororo--which, by the by, is a republic--he was wedded to kaogez, the daughter of kahaya, who is the greatest chief in the country; from unyoro he received kauyangi, kamrasi's daughter; from nkole, kambiri, the late kasiyonga's daughter; from utumbi, kirangu, the late kiteimbua's daughter; and lastly, the daughter of chiuarungi, his head cook. after presenting rumanika with an india-rubber band--which, as usual, amused him immensely--for the honour he had done me in showing me his wives, a party of waziwa, who had brought some ivory from kidi, came to pay their respects to him. on being questioned by me, they said that they once saw some men like my wanguana there; they had come from the north to trade, but, though they carried firearms, they were all killed by the people of kidi. this was famous; it corroborated what i knew, but could not convince others of,--that traders could find their way up to kidi by the nile. it in a manner explained also how it was that kamrasi, some years before, had obtained some pink beads, of a variety the zanzibar merchants had never thought of bringing into the country. bombay was now quite convinced, and we all became transported with joy, until rumanika, reflecting on the sad state of grant's leg, turned that joy into grief by saying that the rules of uganda are so strict, that no one who is sick could enter the country. "to show," he said, "how absurd they are, your donkey would not be permitted because he has no trousers; and you even will have to put on a gown, as your unmentionables will be considered indecorous." i now asked rumanika if he would assist me in replenishing my fast-ebbing store of beads, by selling tusks to the arabs at kufro, when for every 35lb. weight i would give him 50 dollars by orders on zanzibar, and would insure him from being cheated, by sending a letter of advice to our consul residing there. at first he demurred, on the high-toned principle that he could not have any commercial dealings with myself; but, at the instigation of bombay and baraka, who viewed it in its true character, as tending merely to assist my journey in the best manner he could, without any sacrifice to dignity, he eventually yielded, and, to prove his earnestness, sent me a large tusk, with a notice that his ivory was not kept in the palace, but with his officers, and as soon as they could collect it, so soon i should get it. rumanika, on hearing that it was our custom to celebrate the birth of our saviour with a good feast of beef, sent us an ox. i immediately paid him a visit to offer the compliments of the season, and at the same time regretted, much to his amusement, that he, as one of the old stock of abyssinians, who are the oldest christians on record, should have forgotten this rite; but i hoped the time would come when, by making it known that his tribe had lapsed into a state of heathenism, white teachers would be induced to set it all to rights again. at this time some wahaiya traders (who had been invited at my request by rumanika) arrived. like the waziwa, they had traded with kidi, and they not only confirmed what the waziwa had said, but added that, when trading in those distant parts, they heard of wanguana coming in vessels to trade to the north of unyoro; but the natives there were so savage, they only fought with these foreign traders. a man of ruanda now informed us that the cowrie-shells, so plentiful in that country, come there from the other or western side, but he could not tell whence they were originally obtained. rumanika then told me suwarora had been so frightened by the watuta, and their boastful threats to demolish usui bit by bit, reserving him only as a tit-bit for the end, that he wanted a plot of ground in karague to preserve his property in. 26th, 27th, and 28th.--some other travellers from the north again informed us that they had heard of wanguana who attempted to trade in gani and chopi, but were killed by the natives. i now assured rumanika that in two or three years he would have a greater trade with egypt than he ever could have with zanzibar; for when i opened the road, all those men he heard of would swarm up here to visit him. he, however, only laughed at my folly in proposing to go to a place of which all i heard was merely that every stranger who went there was killed. he began to show a disinclination to allow my going there, and though from the most friendly intention, this view was alarming, for one word from him could have ruined my projects. as it was, i feared my followers might take fright and refuse to advance with me. i thought it good policy to talk of there being many roads leading through africa, so that rumanika might see he had not got, as he thought, the sole key to the interior. i told him again of certain views i once held of coming to see him from the north up the nile, and from the east through the masai. he observed that, "to open either of those routes, you would require at least two hundred guns." he would, however, do something when we returned from uganda; for as mtesa followed his advice in everything, so did kamrasi, for both held the highest opinion of him. the conversation then turning on london, and the way men and carriages moved up the streets like strings of ants on their migrations, rumanika said the villages in ruanda were of enormous extent, and the people great sportsmen, for they turned out in multitudes, with small dogs on whose necks were tied bells, and blowing horns themselves, to hunt leopards. they were, however, highly superstitious, and would not allow any strangers to enter their country; for some years ago, when arabs went there, a great drought and famine set in, which they attributed to evil influences brought by them, and, turning them out of their country, said they would never admit any of their like amongst them again. i said, in return, i thought his wanyambo just as superstitious, for i observed, whilst walking one day, that they had placed a gourd on the path, and on inquiry found they had done so to gain the sympathy of all passers-by to their crop close at hand, which was blighted, imagining that the voice of the sympathiser heard by the spirits would induce them to relent, and restore a healthy tone to the crop. during this time an interesting case was brought before us for judgment. two men having married one woman, laid claim to her child, which, as it was a male one, belonged to the father. baraka was appointed the umpire, and immediately comparing the infant's face with those of its claimants, gave a decision which all approved of but the loser. it was pronounced amidst peals of laughter from my men; for whenever any little excitement is going forward, the wanguana all rush to the scene of action to give their opinions, and joke over it afterwards. 29th and 30th.--on telling rumanika this story next morning, he said, "many funny things happen in karague"; and related some domestic incidents, concluding with the moral that "marriage in karague was a mere matter of money." cows, sheep, and slaves have to be given to the father for the value of his daughter; but if she finds she has made a mistake, she can return the dowry-money, and gain her release. the wahuma, although they keep slaves and marry with pure negroes, do not allow their daughters to taint their blood by marrying out of their clan. in warfare it is the rule that the wahinda, or princes, head their own soldiers, and set them the example of courage, when, after firing a few arrows, they throw their bows away, and close at once with their spears and assages. life is never taken in karague, either for murder or cowardice, as they value so much their wahuma breed; but, for all offences, fines of cows are exacted according to the extent of the crime. 31st.--ever proud of his history since i had traced his descent from abyssinia and king david, whose hair was as straight as my own, rumanika dwelt on my theological disclosures with the greatest delight, and wished to know what difference existed between the arabs and ourselves; to which baraka replied, as the best means of making him understand, that whilst the arabs had only one book, we had two; to which i added, yes, that is true in a sense; but the real merits lie in the fact that we have got the better book, as may be inferred from the obvious fact that we are more prosperous, and their superiors in all things, as i would prove to him if he would allow me to take one of his sons home to learn that book; for then he would find his tribe, after a while, better off than the arabs are. much delighted, he said he would be very glad to give me two boys for that purpose. then, changing the subject, i pressed rumanika, as he said he had no idea of a god or future state, to tell me what advantage he expected from sacrificing a cow yearly at his father's grave. he laughingly replied he did not know, but he hoped he might be favoured with better crops if he did so. he also place pombe and grain, he said, for the same reason, before a large stone on the hillside, although it could not eat, or make any use of it; but the coast-men were of the same belief as himself, and so were all the natives. no one in africa, as far as he knew, doubted the power of magic and spells; and if a fox barked when he was leading an army to battle, he would retire at once, knowing that this prognosticated evil. there were many other animals, and lucky and unlucky birds, which all believed in. i then told him it was fortunate he had no disbelievers like us to contend with in battle, for we, instead of trusting to luck and such omens, put our faith only in skill and pluck, which baraka elucidated from his military experience in the wars in british india. lastly, i explained to him how england formerly was as unenlightened as africa, and believing in the same sort of superstitions, and the inhabitants were all as naked as his skin-wearing wanyambo; but now, since they had grown wiser, and saw through such impostures, they were the greatest men in the world. he said, for the future he would disregard what the arabs said, and trust to my doctrines, for without doubt he had never seen such a wise man as myself; and the arabs themselves confirmed this when they told him that all their beads and cloths came from the land of the wazungu, or white men. 1st, 2d, and 3d.--the new year was ushered in by the most exciting intelligence, which drove us half wild with delight, for we fully believed mr petherick was indeed on his road up the nile, endeavouring to meet us. it was this:--an officer of rumanika's, who had been sent four years before on a mission to kamrasi, had just then returned with a party of kamrasi's who brought ivory for sale to the arabs at kufro, along with a vaunting commission to inform rumanika that kamrasi had foreign visitors as well as himself. they had not actually come into unyoro, but were in his dependency, the country of gani, coming up the nile in vessels. they had been attacked by the gani people, and driven back with considerable loss both of men and property, although they were in sailing vessels, and fired guns which even broke down the trees on the banks. some of their property had been brought to him, and he in return had ordered his subjects not to molest them, but allow them to come on to him. rumanika enjoyed this news as much as myself, especially when i told him of petherick's promise to meet us, just as these men said he was trying to do; and more especially so, when i told him that if he would assist me in trying to communicate with petherick, the latter would either come here himself, or send one of his men, conveying a suitable present, whilst i was away in uganda; and then in the end we would all go off to kamrasi's together. 4th.--entering warmly into the spirit of this important intelligence, rumanika inquired into its truth; and, finding no reason to doubt it, said he would send some men back with kamrasi's men, if i could have patience until they were ready to go. there would be no danger, as kamrasi was his brother-in-law, and would do all that he told him. i now proposed to send baraka, who, ashamed to cry off, said he would go with rumanika's officers if i allowed him a companion of his own choosing, who would take care of him if he got sick on the way, otherwise he should be afraid they would leave him to die, like a dog, in the jungles. we consoled him by assenting to the companion he wished, and making rumanika responsible that no harm should come to him from any of the risks which his imagination conjured up. rumanika then gave him and uledi, his selected companion, some sheets of mbugu, in order that they might disguise themselves as his officers whilst crossing the territories of the king of uganda. on inquiring as to the reason of this, it transpired that, to reach unyoro, the party would have to cross a portion of uddu, which the late king sunna, on annexing that country to uganda, had divided, not in halves, but by alternate bands running transversely from nkole to the victoria n'yanza. 5th and 6th.--to keep rumanika up to the mark, i introduced to him saidi, one of my men, who was formerly a slave, captured in walamo, on the borders of abyssinia, to show him, by his similarity to the wahuma, how it was i had come to the conclusion that he was of the same race. saidi told him his tribe kept cattle with the same stupendous horns as those of the wahuma; and also that, in the same manner, they all mixed blood and milk for their dinners, which, to his mind, confirmed my statement. at night, as there was a partial eclipse of the moon, all the wanguana marched up and down from rumanika's to nnanaji's huts, singing and beating our tin cooking-pots to frighten off the spirit of the sun from consuming entirely the chief object of reverence, the moon. 7th.--our spirits were now further raised by the arrival of a semi-hindu-suahili, named juma, who had just returned from a visit to the king of uganda, bringing back with him a large present of ivory and slaves; for he said he had heard from the king of our intention to visit him, and that he had despatched officers to call us immediately. this intelligence delighted rumanika as much as it did us, and he no sooner heard it than he said, with ecstasies, "i will open africa, since the white men desire it; for did not dagara command us to show deference to strangers?" then, turning to me, he added, "my only regret is, you will not take something as a return for the great expenses you have been put to in coming to visit me." the expense was admitted, for i had now been obliged to purchase from the arabs upwards of £400 worth of beads, to keep such a store in reserve for my return from uganda as would enable me to push on to gondokoro. i thought this necessary, as every report that arrived from unyamuezi only told us of further disasters with the merchants in that country. sheikh said was there even then, with my poor hottentots, unable to convey my post to the coast. 8th to 10th.--at last we heard the familiar sound of the uganda drum. maula, a royal officer, with a large escort of smartly-dressed men, women, and boys, leading their dogs and playing their reeds, announced to our straining ears the welcome intelligence that their king had sent them to call us. n'yamgundu, who had seen us in usui, had marched on to inform the king of our advance and desire to see him; and he, intensely delighted at the prospect of having white men for his guests, desired no time should be lost in our coming on. maula told us that his officers had orders to supply us with everything we wanted whilst passing through his country, and that there would be nothing to pay. one thing only now embarrassed me--grant was worse, without hope of recovery for at least one or two months. this large body of waganda could not be kept waiting. to get on as fast as possible was the only chance of ever bringing the journey to a successful issue; so, unable to help myself, with great remorse at another separation, on the following day i consigned my companion, with several wanguana, to the care of my friend rumanika. i then separated ten loads of beads and thirty copper wires for my expenses in uganda; wrote a letter to petherick, which i gave to baraka; and gave him and his companion beads to last as money for six months, and also a present both for kamrasi and the gani chief. to nsangez i gave charge of my collections in natural history, and the reports of my progress, addressed to the geographical society, which he was to convey to sheikh said at kaze, for conveyance as far as zanzibar. this business concluded in camp, i started my men and went to the palace to bid adieu to rumanika, who appointed rozaro, one of his officers, to accompany me wherever i went in uganda, and to bring me back safely again. at rumanika's request i then gave mtesa's pages some ammunition to hurry on with to the great king of uganda, as his majesty had ordered them to bring him, as quickly as possible, some strengthening powder, and also some powder for his gun. then, finally, to maula, also under rumanika's instructions, i gave two copper wires and five bundles of beads; and, when all was completed, set out on the march, perfectly sure in my mind that before very long i should settle the great nile problem for ever; and, with this consciousness, only hoping that grant would be able to join me before i should have to return again, for it was never supposed for a moment that it was possible i ever could go north from uganda. rumanika was the most resolute in this belief, as the kings of uganda, ever since that country was detached from unyoro, had been making constant raids, seizing cattle and slaves from the surrounding communities. chapter ix. history of the wahuma the abyssinians and gallas--theory of conquest of inferior by superior races--the wahuma and the kingdom of kittara--legendary history of the kingdom of uganda--its constitution, and the ceremonials of the court. the reader has now had my experience of several of the minor states, and has presently to be introduced to uganda, the most powerful state in the ancient but now divided great kingdom of kittara. i shall have to record a residence of considerable duration at the court there; and, before entering on it, i propose to state my theory of the ethnology of that part of africa inhabited by the people collectively styled wahuma--otherwise gallas or abyssinians. my theory is founded on the traditions of the several nations, as checked by my own observations of what i saw when passing through them. it appears impossible to believe, judging from the physical appearance of the wahuma, that they can be of any other race than the semi-shem-hamitic of ethiopia. the traditions of the imperial government of abyssinia go as far back as the scriptural age of king david, from whom the late reigning king of abyssinia, sahela selassie, traced his descent. most people appear to regard the abyssinians as a different race from the gallas, but, i believe, without foundation. both alike are christians of the greatest antiquity. it is true that, whilst the aboriginal abyssinians in abyssinia proper are more commonly agriculturists, the gallas are chiefly a pastoral people; but i conceive that the two may have had the same relations with each other which i found the wahuma kings and wahuma herdsmen holding with the agricultural wazinza in uzinza, the wanyambo in karague, the waganda in uganda, and the wanyoro in unyoro. in these countries the government is in the hands of foreigners, who had invaded and taken possession of them, leaving the agricultural aborigines to till the ground, whilst the junior members of the usurping clans herded cattle--just as in abyssinia, or wherever the abyssinians or gallas have shown themselves. there a pastoral clan from the asiatic side took the government of abyssinia from its people and have ruled over them ever since, changing, by intermarriage with the africans, the texture of their hair and colour to a certain extent, but still maintaining a high stamp of asiatic feature, of which a market characteristic is a bridged instead of bridgeless nose. it may be presumed that there once existed a foreign but compact government in abyssinia, which, becoming great and powerful, sent out armies on all sides of it, especially to the south, south-east, and west, slave-hunting and devastating wherever they went, and in process of time becoming too great for one ruler to control. junior members of the royal family then, pushing their fortunes, dismembered themselves from the parent stock, created separate governments, and, for reasons which cannot be traced, changed their names. in this manner we may suppose that the gallas separated from the abyssinians, and located themselves to the south of their native land. other abyssinians, or possibly gallas--it matters not which they were or what we call them--likewise detaching themselves, fought in the somali country, subjugated that land, were defeated to a certain extent by the arabs from the opposite continent, and tried their hands south as far as the jub river, where they also left many of their numbers behind. again they attacked omwita (the present mombas), were repulsed, were lost sight of in the interior of the continent, and, crossing the nile close to its source, discovered the rich pasture-lands of unyoro, and founded the great kingdom of kittara, where they lost their religion, forgot their language, extracted their lower incisors like the natives, changed their national name to wahuma, and no longer remembered the names of hubshi or galla--though even the present reigning kings retain a singular traditional account of their having once been half white and half black, with hair on the white side straight, and on the black side frizzly. it was a curious indication of the prevailing idea still entertained by them of their foreign extraction, that it was surmised in unyoro that the approach of us white men into their country from both sides at once, augured an intention on our part to take back the country from them. believing, as they do, that africa formerly belonged to europeans, from whom it was taken by negroes with whom they had allied themselves, the wahuma make themselves a small residue of the original european stock driven from the land--an idea which seems natural enough when we consider that the wahuma are, in numbers, quite insignificant compared with the natives. again, the princes of unyoro are called wawitu, and point to the north when asked where their country uwitu is situated, doubtfully saying, when questioned about its distance, "how can we tell circumstances which took place in our forefathers' times? we only think it is somewhere near your country." although, however, this very interesting people, the wahuma, delight in supposing themselves to be of european origin, they are forced to confess, on closer examination, that although they came in the first instance from the doubtful north, they came latterly from the east, as part of a powerful wahuma tribe, beyond kidi, who excel in arms, and are so fierce no kidi people, terrible in war as these too are described to be, can stand against them. this points, if our maps are true, to the gallas--for all pastorals in these people's minds are wahuma; and if we could only reconcile ourselves to the belief that the wawitu derived their name from omwita, the last place they attacked on the east coast of africa, then all would be clear: for it must be noticed the wakama, or kings, when asked to what race they owe their origin, invariably reply, in the first place, from princes--giving, for instance, the titles wawitu in unyoro, and wahinda in karague--which is most likely caused by their never having been asked such a close question before, whilst the idiom of the language generally induces them to call themselves after the name applied to their country. so much for ethnological conjecture. let us now deal with the wahuma since they crossed the nile and founded the kingdom of kittara, a large tract of land bounded by the victoria n'yanza and kitangule kagera or river on the south, the nile on the east, the little luta-nzige lake [15] on the north, and the kingdoms of utubi and nkole on the west. the general name kittara is gradually becoming extinct, and is seldom applied to any but the western portions; whilst the north-eastern, in which the capital is situated, is called unyoro, and the other, uddu apart from uganda, as we shall presently see. nobody has been able to inform us how many generations old the wahuma government of unyoro is. the last three kings are chiawambi, n'yawongo, and the present king kamrasi. in very early times dissensions amongst the royal family, probably contending for the crown, such as we presume must have occurred in abyssinia, separated the parent stock, and drove the weaker to find refuge in nkole, where a second and independent government of wahuma was established. since then, twenty generations ago, it is said the wahuma government of karague was established in the same manner. the conspirator rohinda fled from kittara to karague with a large party of wahuma; sought the protection of nono, who, a myambo, was king over the wanyambo of that country; ingratiated himself and his followers with the wanyambo; and, finally, designing a crown for himself, gave a feast, treacherously killed king nono in his cups, and set himself on the throne, the first mkama or king who ruled in karague. rohinda was succeeded by ntare, then rohinda ii., then ntare ii., which order only changed with the eleventh reign, when rusatira ascended the throne, and was succeeded by mehinga, then kalimera, then ntare vii., then rohinda vi., then dagara, and now rumanika. during this time the wahuma were well south of the equator, and still destined to spread. brothers again contended for the crown of their father, and the weaker took refuge in uzinza, where the fourth wahuma government was created, and so remained under one king until the last generation, when king ruma died, and his two sons, rohinda, the eldest, and suwarora, contended for the crown, but divided the country between them, rohinda taking the eastern half, and suwarora the western, at the instigation of the late king dagara of karague. this is the most southerly kingdom of the wahuma, though not the farthest spread of its people, for we find the watusi, who are emigrants from karague of the same stock, overlooking the tanganyika lake from the hills of uhha, and tending their cattle all over unyamuezi under the protection of the native negro chiefs; and we also hear that the wapoka of fipa, south of the rukwa lake are the same. how or when their name became changed from wahuma to watusi no one is able to explain; but, again deducing the past from the present, we cannot help suspecting that, in the same way as this change has taken place, the name galla may have been changed from hubshi, and wahuma from gallas. but though in these southern regions the name of the clan has been changed, the princes still retain the title of wahinda as in karague, instead of wawitu as in unyoro, and are considered of such noble breed that many of the pure negro chiefs delight in saying, i am a mhinda, or prince, to the confusion of travellers, which confusion is increased by the wahuma habits of conforming to the regulations of the different countries they adopt. for instance, the wahuma of uganda and karague, though so close to unyoro, do not extract their lower incisors; and though the wanyoro only use the spear in war, the wahuma in karague are the most expert archers in africa. we are thus left only the one very distinguishing mark, the physical appearance of this remarkable race, partaking even more of the phlegmatic nature of the shemitic father than the nervous boisterous temperament of the hamitic mother, as a certain clue to their shem-hamitic origin. it remains to speak of the separation of uddu from unyoro, the present kingdom of uganda--which, to say the least of it, is extremely interesting, inasmuch as the government there is as different from the other surrounding countries as those of europe are compared to asia. in the earliest times the wahuma of unyoro regarded all their lands bordering on the victoria lake as their garden, owing to its exceeding fertility, and imposed the epithet of wiru, or slaves, upon its people, because they had to supply the imperial government with food and clothing. coffee was conveyed to the capital by the wiru, also mbugu (bark-cloaks), from an inexhaustible fig-tree; in short, the lands of the wiru were famous for their rich productions. now wiru in the northern dialect changes to waddu in the southern; hence uddu, the land of the slaves, which remained in one connected line from the nile to the kitangule kagera until eight generations back, when, according to tradition, a sportsman from unyoro, by name uganda, came with a pack of dogs, a woman, a spear, and a shield, hunting on the left bank of katonga valley, not far from the lake. he was but a poor man, though so successful in hunting that vast numbers of the wiru flocked to him for flesh, and became so fond of him as to invite him to be their king, saying, "of what avail to us is our present king, living so far away that when we sent him a cow as a tributary offering, that cow on the journey gave a calf, and the calf became a cow and gave another calf, and so on, and yet the present has not reached its destination?" at first uganda hesitated, on the plea that they had a king already, but on being farther pressed consented; when the people hearing his name said, "well, let it be so; and for the future let this country between the nile and katonga be called uganda, and let your name be kimera, the first king of uganda." the same night kimera stood upon a stone with a spear in his hand, and a woman and dog sitting by his side; and to this day people assert that his footprints and the mark left by his spear-end, as well as the seats of the woman and dog, are visible. the report of these circumstances soon reached the great king of unyoro, who, in his magnificence, merely said, "the poor creature must be starving; allow him to feed there if he likes." the kings who have succeeded kimera are: 1. mahanda; 2. katereza; 3. chabago; 4. simakokiro; 5. kamanya; 6. sunna; 7. mtesa, not yet crowned. these kings have all carried on the same system of government as that commenced by kimera, and proved themselves a perfect terror to unyoro, as we shall see in the sequel. kimera, suddenly risen to eminence, grew proud and headstrong--formed a strong clan around him, whom he appointed to be his wakunga, or officers--rewarded well, punished severely, and soon became magnificent. nothing short of the grandest palace, a throne to sit upon, the largest harem, the smartest officers, the best dressed people, even a menagerie for pleasure--in fact, only the best of everything--would content him. fleets of boats, not canoes, were built for war, and armies formed, that the glory of the king might never decrease. in short, the system of government, according to barbarous ideas was perfect. highways were cut from one extremity of the country to the other, and all rivers bridged. no house could be built without its necessary appendages for cleanliness; no person, however poor, could expose his person; and to disobey these laws was death. after the death of kimera, the prosperity of uganda never decreased, but rather improved. the clan of officers formed by him were as proud of their emancipation from slavery, as the king they had created was of his dominion over them. they buried kimera with state honours, giving charge of the body to the late king's most favourite consort, whose duty it was to dry the corpse by placing it on a board resting on the mouth of an earthen open pot heated by fire from below. when this drying process was completed, at the expiration of three months, the lower jaw was cut out and neatly worked over with beads; the umbilical cord, which had been preserved from birth, was also worked with beads. these were kept apart, but the body was consigned to a tomb, and guarded ever after by this officer and a certain number of the king's next most favourite women, all of whom planted gardens for their maintenance, and were restricted from seeing the succeeding king. by his large establishment of wives, kimera left a number of princes or warangira, and as many princesses. from the warangira the wakunga now chose as their king the one whom they thought best suited for the government of the country--not of too high rank by the mother's side, lest their selection in his pride should kill them all, but one of low birth. the rest were placed with wives in a suite of huts, under charge of a keeper, to prevent any chance of intrigues and dissensions. they were to enjoy life until the prince-elect should arrive at the age of discretion and be crowned, when all but two of the princes would be burnt to death, the two being reserved in case of accident as long as the king wanted brother companions, when one would be banished to unyoro, and the other pensioned with suitable possessions in uganda. the mother of the king by this measure became queen-dowager, or n'yamasore. she halved with her son all the wives of the deceased king not stationed at his grave, taking second choice; kept up a palace only little inferior to her son's with large estates, guided the prince-elect in the government of the country, and remained until the end of his minority the virtual ruler of the land; at any rate, no radical political changes could take place without her sanction. the princesses became the wives of the king; no one else could marry them. both mother and son had their ktikiros or commander-in-chief, also titled kamraviona, as well as other officers of high rank. amongst them in due order of gradation are the ilmas, a woman who had the good fortune to have cut the umbilical cord at the king's birth; the sawaganzi, queen's sister and king's barber; kaggao, polino, sakibobo, kitunzi, and others, governors of provinces; jumab, admiral of the fleet; kasugu, guardian of the king's sister; mkuenda, factor; kunsa and usungu, first and second class executioners; mgemma, commissioner in charge of tombs; seruti, brewer; mfumbiro, cook; numerous pages to run messages and look after the women, and minor wakungu in hundreds. one mkungu is always over the palace, in command of the wanagalali, or guards which are changed monthly; another is ever in attendance as seizer of refractory persons. there are also in the palace almost constantly the wanangalavi, or drummers; nsase, pea-gourd rattlers; milele, flute-players; mukonderi, clarionet-players; also players on wooden harmonicons and lap-harps, to which the players sing accompaniments; and, lastly, men who whistle on their fingers--for music is half the amusement of these courts. everybody in uganda is expected to keep spears, shields and dogs, the uganda arms and cognisance; whilst the wakungu are entitled to drums. there is also a neptune mgussa, or spirit, who lives in the depths of the n'yanza, communicates through the medium of his temporal mkungu, and guides to a certain extent the naval destiny of the king. it is the duty of all officers, generally speaking, to attend at court as constantly as possible; should they fail, they forfeit their lands, wives, and all belongings. these will be seized and given to others more worthy of them; as it is presumed that either insolence or disaffection can be the only motive which would induce any person to absent himself for any length of time from the pleasure of seeing his sovereign. tidiness in dress is imperatively necessary, and for any neglect of this rule the head may be the forfeit. the punishment for such offences, however, may be commuted by fines of cattle, goats, fowls, or brass wire. all acts of the king are counted benefits, for which he must be thanked; and so every deed done to his subjects is a gift received by them, though it should assume the shape of flogging or fine; for are not these, which make better men of them, as necessary as anything? the thanks are rendered by gravelling on the ground, floundering about and whining after the manner of happy dogs, after which they rise up suddenly, take up sticks--spears are not allowed to be carried in court--make as if charging the king, jabbering as fast as tongues can rattle, and so they swear fidelity for all their lives. this is the greater salutation; the lesser one is performed kneeling in an attitude of prayer, continually throwing open the hands, and repeating sundry words. among them the word "n'yanzig" is the most frequent and conspicuous; and hence these gesticulations receive the general designation n'yanzig--a term which will be frequently met with, and which i have found it necessary to use like an english verb. in consequence of these salutations, there is more ceremony in court than business, though the king, ever having an eye to his treasury, continually finds some trifling fault, condemns the head of the culprit, takes his liquidation-present, if he has anything to pay, and thus keeps up his revenue. no one dare stand before the king whilst he is either standing still or sitting, but must approach him with downcast eyes and bended knees, and kneel or sit when arrived. to touch the king's throne or clothes, even by accident, or to look upon his women is certain death. when sitting in court holding a levee, the king invariably has in attendance several women, wabandwa, evil-eye averters or sorcerers. they talk in feigned voices raised to a shrillness almost amounting to a scream. they wear dried lizards on their heads, small goat-skin aprons trimmed with little bells, diminutive shields and spears set off with cock-hackles--their functions in attendance being to administer cups of marwa (plantain wine). to complete the picture of the court, one must imagine a crowd of pages to run royal messages; they dare not walk for such deficiency in zeal to their master might cost their life. a further feature of the court consists in the national symbols already referred to--a dog, two spears, and shield. with the company squatting in large half-circle or three sides of a square many deep before him, in the hollow of which are drummers and other musicians, the king, sitting on his throne in high dignity, issues his orders for the day much to the following effect:--"cattle, women, and children are short in uganda; an army must be formed of one to two thousand strong, to plunder unyoro. the wasoga have been insulting his subjects, and must be reduced to subjection: for this emergency another army must be formed, of equal strength, to act by land in conjunction with the fleet. the wahaiya have paid no tribute to his greatness lately and must be taxed." for all these matters the commander-in-chief tells off the divisional officers, who are approved by the king, and the matter is ended in court. the divisional officers then find subordinate officers, who find men, and the army proceeds with its march. should any fail with their mission, reinforcements are sent, and the runaways, called women, are drilled with a red-hot iron until they are men no longer, and die for their cowardice., all heroism, however, ensures promotion. the king receives his army of officers with great ceremony, listens to their exploits, and gives as rewards, women, cattle, and command over men--the greatest elements of wealth in uganda--with a liberal hand. as to the minor business transacted in court, culprits are brought in bound by officers, and reported. at once the sentence is given, perhaps awarding the most torturous, lingering death--probably without trial or investigation, and, for all the king knows, at the instigation of some one influenced by wicked spite. if the accused endeavour to plead his defence, his voice is at once drowned, and the miserable victim dragged off in the roughest manner possible by those officers who love their king, and delight in promptly carrying out his orders. young virgins, the daughters of wakungu, stark naked, and smeared with grease, but holding, for decency's sake, a small square of mbugu at the upper corners in both hands before them, are presented by their fathers in propitiation for some offence, and to fill the harem. seizing-officers receive orders to hunt down wakungu who have committed some indiscretions, and to confiscate their lands, wives, children, and property. an officer observed to salute informally is ordered for execution, when everybody near him rises in an instant, the drums beat, drowning his cries, and the victim of carelessness is dragged off, bound by cords, by a dozen men at once. another man, perhaps, exposes an inch of naked leg whilst squatting, or has his mbugu tied contrary to regulations, and is condemned to the same fate. fines of cows, goats, and fowls are brought in and presented; they are smoothed down by the offender's hands, and then applied to his face, to show there is no evil spirit lurking in the gift; then thanks are proferred for the leniency of the king in letting the presenter off so cheaply, and the pardoned man retires, full of smiles, to the ranks of the squatters. thousands of cattle, and strings of women and children, sometimes the result of a victorious plundering hunt, or else the accumulated seizures from refractory wakungu, are brought in; for there is no more common or acceptable offering to appease the king's wrath towards any refractory or blundering officer than a present of a few young beauties, who may perhaps be afterwards given as the reward of good service to other officers. stick-charms, being pieces of wood of all shapes, supposed to have supernatural virtues, and coloured earths, endowed with similar qualities, are produced by the royal magicians. the master of the hunt exposes his spoils--such as antelopes, cats, porcupines, curious rats, etc., all caught in nets, and placed in baskets--zebra, lion, and buffalo skins being added. the fishermen bring their spoils; also the gardeners. the cutlers show knives and forks made of iron inlaid with brass and copper; the furriers, most beautifully-sewn patchwork of antelopes' skins; the habit-maker, sheets of mbugu barkcloth; the blacksmith, spears; the maker of shields, his productions;--and so forth; but nothing is ever given without rubbing it down, then rubbing the face, and going through a long form of salutation for the gracious favour the king has shown in accepting it. when tired of business, the king rises, spear in hand, and, leading his dog, walked off without word or comment leaving his company, like dogs, to take care of themselves. strict as the discipline of the exterior court is, that of the interior is not less severe. the pages all wear turbans of cord made from aloe fibres. should a wife commit any trifling indiscretion, either by word or deed, she is condemned to execution on the spot, bound by the pages and dragged out. notwithstanding the stringent laws for the preservation of decorum by all male attendants, stark-naked full-grown women are the valets. on the first appearance of the new moon every month, the king shuts himself up, contemplating and arranging his magic horns--the horns of wild animals stuffed with charm-powder--for two or three days. these may be counted his sundays or church festivals, which he dedicates to devotion. on other days he takes his women, some hundreds, to bathe or sport in ponds; or, when tired of that, takes long walks, his women running after him, when all the musicians fall in, take precedence of the party, followed by the wakungu and pages, with the king in the centre of the procession, separating the male company from the fair sex. on these excursions no common man dare look upon the royal procession. should anybody by chance happen to be seen, he is at once hunted down by the pages, robbed of everything he possessed, and may count himself very lucky if nothing worse happens. pilgrimages are not uncommon, and sometimes the king spends a fortnight yachting; but whatever he does, or wherever he goes, the same ceremonies prevail--his musicians, wakungu, pages, and the wives take part in all. but the greatest of all ceremonies takes place at the time of the coronation. the prince-elect then first seeks favour from the kings of all the surrounding countries, demanding in his might and power one of each of their daughters in marriage, or else recognition in some other way, when the ilmas makes a pilgrimage to the deceased king's tomb, to observe, by the growth an other signs of certain trees, and plants, what destiny awaits the king. according to the prognostics, they report that he will either have to live a life of peace, or after coronation take the field at the head of an army to fight either east, west, or both ways, when usually the first march is on kittara, and the second on usoga. the mgussa's voice is also heard, but in what manner i do not know, as all communication on state matters is forbidden in uganda. these preliminaries being arranged, the actual coronation takes place, when the king ceases to hold any farther communion with his mother. the brothers are burnt to death, and the king, we shall suppose, takes the field at the head of his army. it is as the result of these expeditions that one-half usogo and the remaining half of uddu have been annexed to uganda. chapter x. karague and uganda escape from protectors--cross the kitangule, the first affluent of the nile--enter uddu--uganda--a rich country--driving away the devil--a conflict in the camp--a pretending prince--three pages with a diplomatic message from the king of uganda--crime in uganda. crossing back over the weranhanje spur, i put up with the arabs at kufro. here, for the first time in this part of the world, i found good english peas growing. next day (11th), crossing over a succession of forks, supporters to the main spur, we encamped at luandalo. here we were overtaken by rozaro, who had remained behind, as i now found, to collect a large number of wanyambo, whom he called his children, to share with him the gratuitous living these creatures always look out for on a march of this nature. after working round the end of the great spur whilst following down the crest of a fork, we found karague separated by a deep valley from the hilly country of uhaiya, famous for its ivory and coffee productions. on entering the rich plantain gardens of kisaho, i was informed we must halt there a day for maula to join us, as he had been detained by rumanika, who, wishing to give him a present, had summoned rozaro's sister to his palace for that purpose. she was married to another, and had two children by him, but that did not signify, as it was found in time her husband had committed a fault, on account of which it was thought necessary to confiscate all his property. at this place all the people were in a constant state of inebriety, drinking pombe all day and all night. i shot a montana antelope, and sent its head and skin back to grant, accompanied with my daily report to rumanika. maula having joined me, we marched down to near the end of the fork overlooking the plain of kitangule--the waganada drums beating, and whistles playing all the way we went along. we next descended from the mountains of the moon, and spanned a long alluvial plain to the settlement of the so-long-heard-of kitangule, where rumanika keeps his thousands and thousands of cows. in former days the dense green forests peculiar to the tropics, which grow in swampy places about this plain, were said to have been stocked by vast herds of elephants; but, since the ivory trade had increased, these animals had all been driven off to the hills of kisiwa and uhaiya, or into uddu beyond the river, and all the way down to the n'yanza. to-day we reached the kitangule kagera, or river, which, as i ascertained in the year 1858, falls into the victoria n'yanza on the west side. most unfortunately, as we led off to cross it, rain began to pour, so that everybody and everything was thrown into confusion. i could not get a sketch of it, though grant was more fortunate afterwards; neither could i measure or fathom it; and it was only after a long contest with the superstitious boatmen that they allowed me to cross in their canoe with my shoes on, as they thought the vessel would either upset, or else the river would dry up, in consequence of their neptune taking offence at me. once over, i looked down on the noble stream with considerable pride. about eight yards broad, it was sunk down a considerable depth below the surface of the land, like a huge canal, and is so deep, it could not be poled by the canoemen; while it runs at a velocity of from three to four knots an hour. i say i viewed it with pride, because i had formed my judgment of its being fed from high-seated springs in the mountains of the moon solely on scientific geographical reasonings; and, from the bulk of the stream, i also believed those mountains must obtain an altitude of 8000 feet [16] or more, just as we find they do in ruanda. i thought then to myself, as i did at rumanika's, when i first viewed the mfumbiro cones, and gathered all my distant geographical information there, that these highly saturated mountains of the moon give birth to the congo as well as to the nile, and also to the shire branch of the zambeze. i came, at the same time, to the conclusion that all our previous information concerning the hydrography of these regions, as well as the mountains of the moon, originated with the ancient hindus, who told it to the priests of the nile; and that all those busy egyptian geographers, who disseminated their knowledge with a view to be famous for their long-sightedness, in solving the deep-seated mystery with enshrouded the source of their holy river, were so many hypothetical humbugs. reasoning thus, the hindu traders alone, in those days, i believed, had a firm basis to stand upon, from their intercourse with the abyssinians--through whom they must have heard of the country of amara, which they applied to the n'yanza--and with the wanyamuezi or men of the moon, from whom they heard of the tanganyika and karague mountains. i was all the more impressed with this belief, by knowing that the two church missionaries, rebmann and erhardt, without the smallest knowledge of the hindus' map, constructed a map of their own, deduced from the zanzibar traders, something on the same scale, by blending the victoria n'yanza, tanganyida, and n'yazza into one; whilst to their triuned lake they gave the name moon, because the men of the moon happened to live in front of the central lake. and later still, mr leon, another missionary, heard of the n'yanza and the country amara, near which he heard the nile made its escape. going on with the march we next came to ndongo, a perfect garden of plantains. the whole country was rich--most surprisingly so. the same streaky argillaceous sandstones prevailed as in karague. there was nothing, in fact, that would not have grown here, if it liked moisture and a temperate heat. it was a perfect paradise for negroes: as fast as they sowed they were sure of a crop without much trouble; though, i must say, they kept their huts and their gardens in excellent order. as maula would stop here, i had to halt also. the whole country along the banks of the river, and near some impenetrable forests, was alive with antelopes, principally hartebeests, but i would not fire at them until it was time to return, as the villagers led me to expect buffaloes. the consequence was, as no buffaloes were to be found, i got no sport, though i wounded a hartebeest, and followed him almost into camp, when i gave up the chase to some negroes, and amused myself by writing to rumanika, to say if grant did not reach me by a certain date, i would try to navigate the n'yanza, and return to him in boats up the kitangule river. we crossed over a low spur of hill extending from the mountainous kingdom of nkole, on our left, towards the n'yanza. here i was shown by nasib a village called ngandu, which was the farthest trading depot of the zanzibar ivory-merchants. it was established by musa mzuri, by the permission of rumanika; for, as i shall have presently to mention, sunna, after annexing this part of uddu to uganda, gave rumanika certain bands of territory in it as a means of security against the possibility of its being wrested out of his hands again by the future kings of unyoro. following on musa's wake, many arabs also came here to trade; but they were so oppressive to the waganda that they were recalled by rumanika, and obliged to locate themselves at kufro. to the right, at the end of the spur, stretching as far as the eye could reach towards the n'yanza, was a rich, well-wooded, swampy plain, containing large open patches of water, which not many years since, i was assured, were navigable for miles, but now, like the urigi lake, were gradually drying up. indeed, it appeared to me as if the n'yanza must have once washed the foot of these hills, but had since shrunk away from its original margin. on arrival at ngambezi, i was immensely struck with the neatness and good arrangement of the place, as well as its excessive beauty and richness. no part of bengal or zanzibar could excel it in either respect; and my men, with one voice, exclaimed, "ah, what people these waganda are!" and passed other remarks, which may be abridged as follows:--"they build their huts and keep their gardens just as well as we do at unguja, with screens and enclosures for privacy, a clearance in front of their establishments, and a baraza or reception-hut facing the buildings. then, too, what a beautiful prospect it has!--rich marshy plains studded with mounds, on each of which grow the umbrella cactus, or some other evergreen tree; and beyond, again, another hill-spur such as the one we have crossed over." one of king mtesa's uncles, who had not been burnt to death by the order of the late king sunna on his ascension to the throne, was the proprietor of this place, but unfortunately he was from home. however, his substitute gave me his baraza to live in, and brought many presents of goats, fowls, sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, sugarcane, and indian corn, and apologised in the end for deficiency in hospitality. i, of course, gave him beads in return. continuing over the same kind of ground in the next succeeding spurs of the streaky red-clay sandstone hills, we put up at the residence of isamgevi, a mkungu or district officer of rumanika's. his residence was as well kept as mtesa's uncle's; but instead of a baraza fronting his house, he had a small enclosure, with three small huts in it, kept apart for devotional purposes, or to propitiate the evil spirits--in short, according to the notions of the place, a church. this officer gave me a cow and some plantains, and i in return gave him a wire and some beads. many mendicant women, called by some wichwezi, by others mabandwa, all wearing the most fantastic dresses of mbugu, covered with beads, shells, and sticks, danced before us, singing a comic song, the chorus of which was a long shrill rolling coo-roo-coo-roo, coo-roo-coo-roo, delivered as they came to a standstill. their true functions were just as obscure as the religion of the negroes generally; some called them devil-drivers, other evil-eye averters; but, whatever it was for, they imposed a tax on the people, whose minds being governed by a necessity for making some self-sacrifice to propitiate something, they could not tell what, for their welfare in the world, they always gave them a trifle in the same way as the east indians do their fakirs. after crossing another low swampy flat, we reached a much larger group, or rather ramification, of hill-spurs pointing to the n'yanza, called kisuere, and commanded by m'yombo, rumanika's frontier officer. immediately behind this, to the northward, commenced the kingdom of unyoro; and here it was, they said, baraka would branch off my line on his way to kamrasi. maula's home was one march distant from this, so the scoundrel now left me to enjoy himself there, giving as his pretext for doing so, that mtesa required him, as soon as i arrived here, to send on a messenger that order might be taken for my proper protection on the line of march; for the waganda were a turbulent set of people, who could only be kept in order by the executioner; and doubtless many, as was customary on such occasions, would be beheaded, as soon as mtesa heard of my coming, to put the rest in a fright. i knew this was all humbug, of course, and i told him so; but it was of no use, and i was compelled to halt. on the 23d another officer, named maribu, came to me and said, mtesa, having heard that grant was left sick behind at karague, had given him orders to go there and fetch him, whether sick or well, for mtesa was most anxious to see white men. hearing this i at once wrote to grant, begging him to come on if he could do so, and to bring with him all the best of my property, or as much as he could of it, as i now saw there was more cunning humbug than honesty in what rumanika had told me about the impossibility of our going north from uganda, as well as in his saying sick men could not go into uganda, and donkeys without trousers would not be admitted there, because they were considered indecent. if he was not well enough to move, i advised him to wait there until i reached mtesa's, when i would either go up the lake and kitangule to fetch him away, or would make the king send boats for him, which i more expressly wished, as it would tend to give us a much better knowledge of the lake. maula now came again, after receiving repeated and angry messages, and i forced him to make a move. he led me straight up to his home, a very nice place, in which he gave me a very large, clean, and comfortable hut--had no end of plantains brought for me and my men--and said, "now you have really entered the kingdom of uganda, for the future you must buy no more food. at every place that you stop for the day, the officer in charge will bring you plantains, otherwise your men can help themselves in the gardens, for such are the laws of the land when a king's guest travels in it. any one found selling anything to either yourself or your men would be punished." accordingly, i stopped the daily issue of beads; but no sooner had i done so, than all my men declared they could not eat plantains. it was all very well, they said, for the waganda to do so, because they were used to it, but it did not satisfy their hunger. maula, all smirks and smiles, on seeing me order the things out for the march, begged i would have patience, and wait till the messenger returned from the king; it would not take more than ten days at the most. much annoyed at this nonsense, i ordered my tent to be pitched. i refused all maula's plantains, and gave my men beads to buy grain with; and, finding it necessary to get up some indignation, said i would not stand being chained like a dog; if he would not go on ahead, i should go without him. maula then said he would go to a friend's and come back again. i said, if he did not, i should go off; and so the conversation ended. 26th.--drumming, singing, screaming, yelling, and dancing had been going on these last two days and two nights to drive the phepo or devil out of a village. the whole of the ceremonies were most ludicrous. an old man and woman, smeared with white mud, and holding pots of pombe in their laps, sat in front of a hut, whilst other people kept constantly bringing them baskets full of plantain-squash, and more pots of pombe. in the courtyard fronting them, were hundreds of men and women dressed in smart mbugus--the males wearing for turbans, strings of abrus-seeds wound round their heads, with polished boars' tusks stuck in in a jaunty manner. these were the people who, drunk as fifers, were keeping up such a continual row to frighten the devil away. in the midst of this assembly i now found kachuchu, rumanika's representative, who went on ahead from karague palace to tell mtesa that i wished to see him. with him, he said, were two other wakungu of mtesa's, who had orders to bring on my party and dr k'yengo's. mtesa, he said, was so mad to see us, that the instant he arrived at the palace and told him we wished to visit him, the king caused "fifty big men and four hundred small ones" to be executed, because, he said, his subjects were so bumptious they would not allow any visitors to come near him, else he would have had white men before. 27th.--n'yamgundu, my old friend at usui, then came to me, and said he was the first man to tell mtesa of our arrival in usui, and wish to visit him. the handkerchief i had given irungu at usui to present as a letter to mtesa he had snatched away from him, and given, himself, to his king, who no sooner received it than he bound it round his head, and said, in ecstasies of delight, "oh, the mzungu, the mzungu! he does indeed want to see me." then giving him four cows as a return letter to take to me, he said, "hurry off as quickly as possible and bring him here." "the cows," said n'yamgundu, "have gone on to kisuere by another route, but i will bring them here; and then, as maula is taking you, i will go and fetch grant." i then told him not to be in such a hurry. i had turned off maula for treating me like a dog, and i would not be escorted by him again. he replied that his orders would not be fully accomplished as long as any part of my establishment was behind; so he would, if i wished it, leave part of his "children" to guide me on to mtesa's, whilst he went to fetch grant. an officer, i assured him, had just gone on to fetch grant, so he need not trouble his head on that score; at any rate, he might reverse his plan, and send his children for grant, whilst he went on with me, by which means he would fully accomplish his mission. long arguments ensued, and i at length turned the tables by asking who was the greatest--myself or my children; when he said, "as i see you are the greatest, i will do as you wish; and after fetching the cows from kisuere, we will march to-morrow at sunrise." the sun rose, but n'yamgundu did not appear. i was greatly annoyed lest maula should come and try to drive him away. i waited, restraining my impatience until noon, when, as i could stand it no longer, i ordered bombay to strike my tent, and commence the march. a scene followed, which brought out my commander-in-chief's temper in a rather surprising shape. "how can we go in?" said bombay. "strike the tent," said i. "who will guide us?" said bombay. "strike the tent," i said again. "but rumanika's men have all gone away, and there is no one to show us the way." "never mind; obey my orders, and strike the tent." then, as bombay would not do it, i commenced myself, assisted by some of my other men, and pulled it down over his head, all the women who were assembled under it, and all the property. on this, bombay flew into a passion, abusing the men who were helping me, as there were fires and powder-boxes under the tent. i of course had to fly into a passion and abuse bombay. he, in a still greater rage, said he would pitch into the men, for the whole place would be blown up. "that is no reason why you should abuse my men," i said, "who are better than you by obeying my orders. if i choose to blow up my property, that is my look-out; and if you don't do your duty, i will blow you up also." foaming and roaring with rage, bombay said he would not stand being thus insulted. i then gave him a dig on the head with my fist. he squared up, and pouted like an enraged chameleon, looking savagely at me. i gave him another dig, which sent him staggering. he squared again: i gave him another; till at last, as the claret was flowing, he sulked off, and said he would not serve me any more. i then gave nasib orders to take bombay's post, and commence the march; but the good old man made bombay give in, and off we went, amidst crowds of waganda, who had collected to witness with comedy, and were all digging at one another's heads, showing off in pantomime the strange ways of the white man. n'yamgundu then jointed us, and begged us to halt only one more day, as some of his women were still at kisuere; but bombay, showing his nozzle rather flatter than usual, said, "no; i got this on account of your lies. i won't tell bana any more of your excuses for stopping; you may tell him yourself if you like." n'yamgundu, however, did not think this advisable, and so we went on as we were doing. it was the first and last time i had ever occasion to lose my dignity by striking a blow with my own hands; but i could not help it on this occasion without losing command and respect; for although i often had occasion to award 100 and even 150 lashes to my men for stealing, i could not, for the sake of due subordination, allow any inferior officer to strike bombay, and therefore had to do the work myself. skirting the hills on the left, with a large low plain to the right we soon came on one of those numerous rush-drains that appear to me to be the last waters left of the old bed of the n'yanza. this one in particular was rather large, being 150 yards wide. it was sunk where i crossed it, like a canal, 14 feet below the plain; and what with mire and water combined, so deep, i was obliged to take off my trousers whilst fording it. once across, we sought for and put up in a village beneath a small hill, from the top of which i saw the victoria n'yanza for the first time on this march. n'yamgundu delighted me much: treating me as king, he always fell down on his knees to address me, and made all his "children" look after my comfort in camp. we marched on again over the same kind of ground, alternately crossing rush-drains of minor importance, though provokingly frequent, and rich gardens, from which, as we passed, all the inhabitants bolted at the sound of our drums, knowing well that they would be seized and punished if found gazing at the king's visitors. even on our arrival at ukara not one soul was visible. the huts of the villagers were shown to myself and my men without any ceremony. the wanyambo escort stole what they liked out of them, and i got into no end of troubles trying to stop the practice; for they said the waganda served them the same way when they went to karague, and they had a right to retaliate now. to obviate this distressing sort of plundering, i still served out beads to my men, and so kept them in hand a little; but they were fearfully unruly, and did not like my interference with what by the laws of the country they considered their right. here i had to stop a day for some of n'yamgundu's women, who, in my hurry at leaving maula's, were left behind. a letter from grant was now brought to me by a very nice-looking young man, who had the skin of a leopard-cat (f. serval) tied round his neck--a badge which royal personages only were entitled to wear. n'yamgundu seeing this, as he knew the young man was not entitled to wear it, immediately ordered his "children" to wrench it from him. two ruffianly fellows then seized him by his hands, and twisted his arms round and round until i thought they would come out of their sockets. without uttering a sound the young man resisted, until n'yamgundu told them to be quiet, for he would hold a court on the subject, and see if the young man could defend himself. the ruffians then sat on the ground, but still holding on to him; whilst n'yamgundu took up a long stick, and breaking it into sundry bits of equal length, placed one by one in front of him, each of which was supposed to represent one number in line of succession to his forefathers. by this it was proved he did not branch in any way from the royal stock. n'yamgundu then turning to the company, said, what would he do now to expiate his folly? if the matter was taken before mtesa he would lose his head; was it not better he should pay one hundred cows all agreeing to this, the young man said he would do so, and quietly allowed the skin to be untied and taken off by the ruffians. next day, after crossing more of those abominable rush-drains, whilst in sight of the victoria n'yanza, we ascended the most beautiful hills, covered with verdure of all descriptions. at meruka, where i put up, there resided some grandees, the chief of whom was the king's aunt. she sent me a goat, a hen, a basket of eggs, and some plantains, in return for which i sent her a wire and some beads. i felt inclined to stop here a month, everything was so very pleasant. the temperature was perfect. the roads, as indeed they were everywhere, were as broad as our coach-roads, cut through the long grasses, straight over the hills and down through the woods in the dells--a strange contrast to the wretched tracks in all the adjacent countries. the huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a fault could be found with them--the gardens the same. wherever i strolled i saw nothing but richness, and what ought to be wealth. the whole land was a picture of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the background. looking over the hills, it struck the fancy at once that at one period the whole land must have been at a uniform level with their present tops, but that by the constant denudation it was subjected to by frequent rains, it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales which now so much pleased the eye; for there were none of those quartz dykes i had seen protruding through the same kink of aqueous formations in usui and karague; nor were there any other sorts of volcanic disturbance to distort the calm quiet aspect of the scene. from this, the country being all hill and dale, with miry rush-drains in the bottoms, i walked, carrying my shoes and stockings in my hands, nearly all the way. rozaro's "children" became more and more troublesome, stealing everything they could lay their hands upon out of the village huts we passed on the way. on arrival at sangua, i found many of them had been seized by some men who, bolder than the rest, had overtaken them whilst gutting their huts, and made them prisoners, demanding of me two slaves and one load of beads for their restitution. i sent my men back to see what had happened, and ordered them to bring all the men on to me, that i might see fair play. they, however, took the law into their own hands, drove off the waganda villagers by firing their muskets, and relieved the thieves. a complaint was then laid against nyamgundu by the chief officer of the village, and i was requested to halt. that i would not do, leaving the matter in the hands of the governor-general, mr pokino, whom i heard we should find at the next station, masaka. on arrival there at the government establishment--a large collection of grass huts, separated one from the other within large enclosures, which overspread the whole top of a low hill--i was requested to withdraw and put up in some huts a short distance off, and wait until his excellency, who was from home, could come and see me; which the next day he did, coming in state with a large number of officers, who brought with them a cow, sundry pots of pombe, enormous sticks of sugar-cane, and a large bundle of country coffee. this grows in great profusion all over this land in large bushy trees, the berries sticking on the branches like clusters of hollyberries. i was then introduced, and told that his excellency was the appointed governor of all the land lying between the katonga and the kitangule rivers. after the first formalities were over, the complaint about the officers at sangua was preferred for decision, on which pokino at once gave it against the villagers, as they had no right, by the laws of the land, to lay hands on a king's guest. just then maula arrived, and began to abuse n'yamgundu. of course i would not stand this; and, after telling all the facts of the case, i begged pokino to send maula away out of my camp. pokino said he could not do this, as it was by the king's order he was appointed; but he put maula in the background, laughing at the way he had "let the bird fly out of his hands," and settled that n'yamgundu should be my guide. i then gave him a wire, and he gave me three large sheets of mbugu, which he said i should require, as there were so many water-courses to cross on the road i was going. a second day's halt was necessitated by many of my men catching fever, probably owing to the constant crossing of those abominable rush-drains. there was no want of food here, for i never saw such a profusion of plantains anywhere. they were literally lying in heaps on the ground, though the people were brewing pombe all day, and cooking them for dinner every evening. after crossing many more hills and miry bottoms, constantly coming in view of the lake, we reached ugonzi, and after another march of the same description, came to kituntu, the last officer's residence in uddu. formerly it was the property of a beluch named eseau, who came to this country with merchandise, trading on account of said said, late sultan of zanzibar; but having lost it all on his way here, paying mahongo, or taxes, and so forth he feared returning, and instead made great friends with the late king sunna, who took an especial fancy to him because he had a very large beard, and raised him to the rank of mkungu. a few years ago, however, eseau died, and left all his family and property to a slave named uledi, who now, in consequence, is the border officer. i became now quite puzzled whilst thinking which was the finest spot i had seen in uddu, so many were exceedingly beautiful; but i think i gave the preference to this, both for its own immediate neighbourhood and the long range of view it afforded of uganda proper, the lake, and the large island, or group of islands, called sese where the king of uganda keeps one of his fleets of boats. some little boys came here who had all their hair shaved off excepting two round tufts on either side of the head. they were the king's pages; and, producing three sticks, said they had brought them to me from their king, who wanted three charms or medicines. then placing one stick on the ground before me, they said, "this one is a head which, being affected by dreams of a deceased relative, requires relief"; the second symbolised the king's desire for the accomplishment of a phenomenon to which the old phalic worship was devoted; "and this third one," they said, "is a sign that the king wants a charm to keep all his subjects in awe of him." i then promised i would do what i could when i reached the palace, but feared to do anything in the distance. i wished to go on with the march, but was dissuaded by n'yamgundu, who said he had received orders to find me some cows here, as his king was most anxious i should be well fed. next day, however, we descended into the katonga valley, where, instead of finding a magnificent broad sheet of water, as i had been led to expect by the arabs' account of it, i found i had to wade through a succession of rush-drains divided one from the other by islands. it took me two hours, with my clothes tucked up under my arms, to get through them all; and many of them were so matted with weeds, that my feet sank down as though i trod in a bog. the waganda all said that at certain times in the year no one could ford these drains, as they all flooded; but, strangely enough, they were always lowest when most rain fell in uganda. no one, however, could account for this singular fact. no one knew of a lake to supply the waters, nor where they came from. that they flowed into the lake there was no doubt--as i could see by the trickling waters in some few places--and they lay exactly on the equator. rising out of the valley, i found all the country just as hilly as before, but many of the rush-drains going to northward; and in the dells were such magnificent trees, they quite took me by surprise. clean-trunked, they towered up just as so many great pillars, and then spread out their high branches like a canopy over us. i thought of the blue gums of australia, and believed these would beat them. at the village of mbule we were gracefully received by the local officer, who brought a small present, and assured me that the king was in a nervous state of excitement, always asking after me. whilst speaking he trembled, and he was so restless he could never sit still. up and down we went on again through this wonderful country, surprisingly rich in grass, cultivation, and trees. watercourses were as frequent as ever, though not quite so troublesome to the traveller, as they were more frequently bridged with poles or palm-tree trunks. this, the next place we arrived at, was n'yamgundu's own residence, where i stopped a day to try and shoot buffaloes. maula here had the coolness to tell me he must inspect all the things i had brought for presentation to the king, as he said it was the custom; after which he would hurry on and inform his majesty. of course i refused, saying it was uncourteous to both the king and myself. still he persisted, until, finding it hopeless, he spitefully told n'yamgundu to keep me here at least two days. n'yamgundu, however, very prudently told him he should obey his orders, which were to take me on as fast as he could. i then gave n'yamgundu wires and beads for himself and all his family round, which made maula slink further away from me than ever. the buffaloes were very numerous in the tall grasses that lined the sides and bottoms of the hills; but although i saw some, i could not get a shot, for the grasses being double the height of myself, afforded them means of dashing out of view as soon as seen, and the rustling noise made whilst i followed them kept them on the alert. at night a hyena came into my hut, and carried off one of my goats that was tied to a log between two of my sleeping men. during the next march, after passing some of the most beautifully-wooded dells, in which lay small rush-lakes on the right of the road, draining, as i fancied, into the victoria lake, i met with a party of the king's gamekeepers, staking their nets all along the side of a hill, hoping to catch antelopes by driving the covers with dogs and men. farther on, also, i came on a party driving one hundred cows, as a present from mtesa to rumanika, which the officers in charge said was their king's return for the favour rumanika had done him in sending me on to him. it was in this way that great kings sent "letters" to one another. next day, after going a short distance, we came on the mwarango river, a broad rush-drain of three hundred yards' span, two-thirds of which was bridged over. until now i did not feel sure where the various rush-drains i had been crossing since leaving the katonga valley all went to, but here my mind was made up, for i found a large volume of water going to the northwards. i took off my clothes at the end of the bridge and jumped into the stream, which i found was twelve yards or so broad, and deeper than my height. i was delighted beyond measure at this very surprising fact, that i was indeed on the northern slopes of the continent, and had, to all appearance, found one of the branches of the nile's exit from the n'yanza. i drew bombay's attention to the current; and, collecting all the men of the country, inquired of them where the river sprang from. some of them said, in the hills to the southward; but most of them said, from the lake. i argued the point with them; for i felt quite sure so large a body of flowing water could not be collected together in any place but the lake. they then all agreed to this view, and further assured me it went to kamrasi's palace in unyoro, where it joined the n'yanza, meaning the nile. pushing on again we arrived at n'yama goma, where i found irungu--the great ambassador i had first met in usui, with all his "children"--my enemy makinga, and suwarora's deputation with wire,--altogether, a collection of one hundred souls. they had been here a month waiting for leave to approach the king's palace. not a villager was to be seen for miles round; not a plantain remained on the trees, nor was there even a sweet potato to be found in the ground. the whole of the provisions of this beautiful place had been devoured by the king's guests, simply because he had been too proud to see them in a hurry. this was alarming, for i feared i should be served the same trick, especially as all the people said this kind of treatment was a mere matter of custom which those great kings demanded as a respect due to their dignity; and bombay added, with laughter, they make all manner of fuss to entice one to come when in the distance, but when they have got you in their power they become haughty about it, and think only of how they can best impose on your mind the great consequence which they affect before their own people. here i was also brought to a standstill, for n'yamgundu said i must wait for leave to approach the palace. he wished to have a look at the presents i had brought for mtesa. i declined to gratify it, taking my stand on my dignity; there was no occasion for any distrust on such a trifling matter as that, for i was not a merchant who sought for gain, but had come, at great expense, to see the king of this region. i begged, however, he would go as fast as possible to announce my arrival, explain my motive for coming here, and ask for an early interview, as i had left my brother grant behind at karague, and found my position, for want of a friend to talk to, almost intolerable. it was not the custom of my country for great men to consort with servants, and until i saw him, and made friends, i should not be happy. i had a great deal to tell him about, as he was the father of the nile, which river drained the n'yanza down to my country to the northward. with this message n'yamgundu hurried off as fast as possible. next day (15th) i gave each of my men a fez cap, and a piece of red blanket to make up military jackets. i then instructed them how to form a guard of honour when i went to the palace, and taught bombay the way nazirs was presented at courts in india. altogether we made a good show. when this was concluded i went with nasib up a hill, from which we could see the lake on one side, and on the other a large range of huts said to belong to the king's uncle, the second of the late king sunna's brothers, who was not burnt to death when he ascended the throne. i then (16th) very much wished to go and see the escape of the mwerango river, as i still felt a little sceptical as to its origin, whether or not it came off those smaller lakes i had seen on the road the day before i crossed the river; but no one would listen to my project. they all said i must have the king's sanction first, else people, from not knowing my object, would accuse me of practising witchcraft, and would tell their king so. they still all maintained that the river did come out of the lake, and said, if i liked to ask the king's leave to visit the spot, then they would go and show it me. i gave way, thinking it prudent to do so, but resolved in my mind i would get grant to see it in boats on his voyage from karague. there were not guinea-fowls to be found here, nor a fowl, in any of the huts, so i requested rozaro to hurry off to mtesa, and ask him to send me something to eat. he simply laughed at my request, and said i did not know what i was doing. it would be as much as his life was worth to go one yard in advance of this until the king's leave was obtained. i said, rather than be starved to death in this ignominious manner, i would return to karague; to which he replied, laughing, "whose leave have you got to do that? do you suppose you can do as you like in this country?" next day (17th), in the evening, n'yamgundu returned full of smirks and smiles, dropped on his knees at my feet, and, in company with his "children," set to n'yanzigging, according to the form of that state ceremonial already described. [17] in his excitement he was hardly able to say all he had to communicate. bit by bit, however, i learned that he first went to the palace, and, finding the king had gone off yachting to the murchison creek, he followed him there. the king for a long while would not believe his tale that i had come, but, being assured, he danced with delight, and swore he would not taste food until he had seen me. "oh," he said, over and over again and again, according to my informer, "can this be true? can the white man have come all this way to see me? what a strong man he must be too, to come so quickly! here are seven cows, four of them milch ones, as you say he likes milk, which you will give him; and there are three for yourself for having brought him so quickly. now, hurry off as fast as you can, and tell him i am more delighted at the prospect of seeing him than he can be to see me. there is no place here fit for his reception. i was on a pilgrimage which would have kept me here seven days longer but as i am so impatient to see him, i will go off to my palace at once, and will send word for him to advance as soon as i arrive there." about noon the succeeding day, some pages ran in to say we were to come along without a moment's delay, as their king had ordered it. he would not taste food until he saw me, so that everybody might know what great respect he felt for me. in the meanwhile, however, he wished for some gunpowder. i packed the pages off as fast as i could with some, and tried myself to follow, but my men were all either sick or out foraging, and therefore we could not get under way until the evening. after going a certain distance, we came on a rush-drain, of much greater breadth even than the mwerango, called the moga (or river) myanza, which was so deep i had to take off my trousers and tuck my clothes under my arms. it flowed into the mwerango, but with scarcely any current at all. this rush-drain, all the natives assured me, rose in the hills to the southward--not in the lake, as the mwerango did--and it was never bridged over like that river, because it was always fordable. this account seemed to me reasonable; for though so much broader in its bed than the mwerango, it had no central, deep-flowing current. chapter xi. palace, uganda preparations for the reception at the court of mtesa, king of uganda--the ceremonial--african diplomacy and dignity--feats with the rifle--cruelty, and wastefulness of life--the pages--the queen-dowager of uganda--her court reception--i negotiate for a palace--conversations with the king and queen--the queen's grand entertainment--royal dissipation. to-day the king sent his pages to announce his intention of holding a levee in my honour. i prepared for my first presentation at court, attired in my best, though in it i cut a poor figure in comparison with the display of the dressy waganda. they wore neat bark cloaks resembling the best yellow corduroy cloth, crimp and well set, as if stiffened with starch, and over that, as upper-cloaks, a patchwork of small antelope skins, which i observed were sewn together as well as any english glovers could have pieced them; whilst their head-dresses, generally, were abrus turbans, set off with highly-polished boar-tusks, stick-charms, seeds, beads, or shells; and on their necks, arms, and ankles they wore other charms of wood, or small horns stuffed with magic powder, and fastened on by strings generally covered with snake-skin. n'yamgundu and maula demanded, as their official privilege, a first peep; and this being refused, they tried to persuade me that the articles comprising the present required to be covered with chintz, for it was considered indecorous to offer anything to his majesty in a naked state. this little interruption over, the articles enumerated below [18] were conveyed to the palace in solemn procession thus:--with n'yamgundu, maula, the pages, and myself on the flanks, the union-jack carried by the kirangozi guide led the way, followed by twelve men as a guard of honour, dressed in red flannel cloaks, and carrying their arms sloped, with fixed bayonets; whilst in their rear were the rest of my men, each carrying some article as a present. on the march towards the palace, the admiring courtiers, wonder-struck at such an unusual display, exclaimed, in raptures of astonishment, some with both hands at their mouths, and others clasping their heads with their hands, "irungi! irungi!" which may be translated "beautiful! beautiful!" i thought myself everything was going on as well as could be wished; but before entering the royal enclosures, i found, to my disagreeable surprise, that the men with suwarora's hongo or offering, which consisted of more than a hundred coils of wire, were ordered to lead the procession, and take precedence of me. there was something specially aggravating in this precedence; for it will be remembered that these very brass wires which they saw, i had myself intended for mtesa, that they were taken from me by suwarora as far back as usui, and it would never do, without remonstrance, to have them boastfully paraded before my eyes in this fashion. my protests, however, had no effect upon the escorting wakungu. resolving to make them catch it, i walked along as if ruminating in anger up the broad high road into a cleared square, which divides mtesa's domain on the south from his kamraviona's, or commander-in-chief, on the north, and then turned into the court. the palace or entrance quite surprised me by its extraordinary dimensions, and the neatness with which it was kept. the whole brow and sides of the hill on which we stood were covered with gigantic grass huts, thatched as neatly as so many heads dressed by a london barber, and fenced all round with the tall yellow reeds of the common uganda tiger-grass; whilst within the enclosure, the lines of huts were joined together, or partitioned off into courts, with walls of the same grass. it is here most of mtesa's three or four hundred women are kept, the rest being quartered chiefly with his mother, known by the title of n'yamasore, or queen-dowager. they stood in little groups at the doors, looking at us, and evidently passing their own remarks, and enjoying their own jokes, on the triumphal procession. at each gate as we passed, officers on duty opened and shut it for us, jingling the big bells which are hung upon them, as they sometimes are at shop-doors, to prevent silent, stealthy entrance. the first court passed, i was even more surprised to find the unusual ceremonies that awaited me. there courtiers of high dignity stepped forward to greet me, dressed in the most scrupulously neat fashions. men, women, bulls, dogs, and goats, were led about by strings; cocks and hens were carried in men's arms; and little pages, with rope-turbans, rushed about, conveying messages, as if their lives depended on their swiftness, every one holding his skin-cloak tightly round him lest his naked legs might by accident be shown. this, then, was the ante-reception court; and i might have taken possession of the hut, in which musicians were playing and singing on large nine-stringed harps, like the nubian tambira, accompanied by harmonicons. by the chief officers in waiting, however, who thought fit to treat us like arab merchants, i was requested to sit on the ground outside in the sun with my servants. now, i had made up my mind never to sit upon the ground as the natives and arabs are obliged to do, nor to make my obeisance in any other manner than is customary in england, though the arabs had told me that from fear they had always complied with the manners of the court. i felt that if i did not stand up for my social position at once, i should be treated with contempt during the remainder of my visit, and thus lose the vantage-ground i had assumed of appearing rather as a prince than a trader, for the purpose of better gaining the confidence of the king. to avert over-hastiness, however--for my servants began to be alarmed as i demurred against doing as i was bid--i allowed five minutes to the court to give me a proper reception, saying, if it were not conceded i would then walk away. nothing, however, was done. my own men, knowing me, feared for me, as they did not know what a "savage" king would do in case i carried out my threat; whilst the waganda, lost in amazement at what seemed little less than blasphemy, stood still as posts. the affair ended by my walking straight away home, giving bombay orders to leave the present on the ground, and to follow me. although the king is said to be unapproachable, excepting when he chooses to attend court--a ceremony which rarely happens--intelligence of my hot wrath and hasty departure reached him in an instant. he first, it seems, thought of leaving his toilet-room to follow me, but, finding i was walking fast, and had gone far, changed his mind, and sent wakungu running after me. poor creatures! they caught me up, fell upon their knees, and implored i would return at once, for the king had not tasted food, and would not until he saw me. i felt grieved at their touching appeals; but, as i did not understand all they said, i simply replied by patting my heart and shaking my head, walking if anything all the faster. on my arrival at my hut, bombay and others came in, wet through with perspiration, saying the king had heard of all my grievances. suwarora's hongo was turned out of court, and, if i desired it, i might bring my own chair with me, for he was very anxious to show me great respect--although such a seat was exclusively the attribute of the king, no one else in uganda daring to sit on an artificial seat. my point was gained, so i cooled myself with coffee and a pipe, and returned rejoicing in my victory, especially over suwarora. after returning to the second tier of huts from which i had retired, everybody appeared to be in a hurried, confused state of excitement, not knowing what to make out of so unprecedented an exhibition of temper. in the most polite manner, the officers in waiting begged me to be seated on my iron stool, which i had brought with me, whilst others hurried in to announce my arrival. but for a few minutes only i was kept in suspense, when a band of music, the musicians wearing on their backs long-haired goat-skins, passed me, dancing as they went along, like bears in a fair, and playing on reed instruments worked over with pretty beads in various patters, from which depended leopard-cat skins--the time being regulated by the beating of long hand-drums. the mighty king was now reported to be sitting on his throne in the statehut of the third tier. i advanced, hat in hand, with my guard of honour following, formed in "open ranks," who in their turn were followed by the bearers carrying the present. i did not walk straight up to him as if to shake hands, but went outside the ranks of a three-sided square of squatting wakungu, all inhabited in skins, mostly cow-skins; some few of whom had, in addition, leopard-cat skins girt round the waist, the sign of royal blood. here i was desired to halt and sit in the glaring sun; so i donned my hat, mounted my umbrella, a phenomenon which set them all a-wondering and laughing, ordered the guard to close ranks, and sat gazing at the novel spectacle! a more theatrical sight i never saw. the king, a good-looking, well-figured, tall young man of twenty-five, was sitting on a red blanket spread upon a square platform of royal grass, encased in tiger-grass reeds, scrupulously well dressed in a new mbugu. the hair of his head was cut short, excepting on the top, where it was combed up into a high ridge, running from stem to stern like a cockscomb. on his neck was a very neat ornament--a large ring, of beautifully-worked small beads, forming elegant patterns by their various colours. on one arm was another bead ornament, prettily devised; and on the other a wooden charm, tied by a string covered with snakeskin. on every finger and every toe, he had alternate brass and copper rings; and above the ankles, halfway up to the calf, a stocking of very pretty beads. everything was light, neat, and elegant in its way; not a fault could be found with the taste of his "getting up." for a handkerchief he held a well-folded piece of bark, and a piece of gold-embroidered silk, which he constantly employed to hide his large mouth when laughing, or to wipe it after a drink of plantain-wine, of which he took constant and copious draughts from neat little gourd-cups, administered by his ladies-in-waiting, who were at once his sisters and wives. a white dog, spear, shield, and woman--the uganda cognisance--were by his side, as also a knot of staff officers, with whom he kept up a brisk conversation on one side; and on the other was a band of wichezi, or lady-sorcerers, such as i have already described. i was now asked to draw nearer within the hollow square of squatters, where leopard-skins were strewed upon the ground, and a large copper kettledrum, surmounted with brass bells on arching wires, along with two other smaller drums covered with cowrie-shells, and beads of colour worked into patterns, were placed. i now longed to open conversation, but knew not the language, and no one near me dared speak, or even lift his head from fear of being accused of eyeing the women; so the king and myself sat staring at one another for full an hour--i mute, but he pointing and remarking with those around him on the novelty of my guard and general appearance, and even requiring to see my hat lifted, the umbrella shut and opened, and the guards face about and show off their red cloaks--for such wonders had never been seen in uganda. then, finding the day waning, he sent maula on an embassy to ask me if i had seen him; and on receiving my reply, "yes, for full one hour," i was glad to find him rise, spear in hand, lead his dog, and walk unceremoniously away through the enclosure into the fourth tier of huts; for this being a pure levee day, no business was transacted. the king's gait in retiring was intended to be very majestic, but did not succeed in conveying to me that impression. it was the traditional walk of his race, founded on the step of the lion; but the outward sweep of the legs, intended to represent the stride of the noble beast, appeared to me only to realise a very ludicrous kind of waddle, which made me ask bombay if anything serious was the matter with the royal person. i had now to wait for some time, almost as an act of humanity; for i was told the state secret, that the king had retired to break his fast and eat for the first time since hearing of my arrival; but the repast was no sooner over than he prepared for the second act, to show off his splendour, and i was invited in, with all my men, to the exclusion of all his own officers save my two guides. entering as before, i found him standing on a red blanket, leaning against the right portal of the hut, talking and laughing, handkerchief in hand, to a hundred or more of his admiring wives, who, all squatting on the ground outside, in two groups, were dressed in mew mbugus. my men dared not advance upright, nor look upon the women, but, stooping, with lowered heads and averted eyes, came cringing after me. unconscious myself, i gave loud and impatient orders to my guard, rebuking them for moving like frightened geese, and, with hat in hand, stood gazing on the fair sex till directed to sit and cap. mtesa then inquired what messages were brought from rumanika; to which maula, delighted with the favour of speaking to royalty, replied by saying, rumanika had gained intelligence of englishmen coming up the nile to gani and kidi. the king acknowledged the truthfulness of their story, saying he had heard the same himself; and both wakungu, as is the custom in uganda, thanked their lord in a very enthusiastic manner, kneeling on the ground--for no one can stand in the presence of his majesty--in an attitude of prayer, and throwing out their hands as they repeated the words n'yanzig, n'yanzig, ai n'yanzig mkahma wangi, etc., etc., for a considerable time; when, thinking they had done enough of this, and heated with the exertion, they threw themselves flat upon their stomachs, and, floundering about like fish on land, repeated the same words over again and again, and rose doing the same, with their faces covered with earth; for majesty in uganda is never satisfied till subjects have grovelled before it like the most abject worms. this conversation over, after gazing at me, and chatting with his women for a considerable time, the second scene ended. the third scene was more easily arranged, for the day was fast declining. he simply moved his train of women to another hut, where, after seating himself upon his throne, with his women around him, he invited me to approach the nearest limits of propriety, and to sit as before. again he asked me if i had seen him--evidently desirous of indulging in his regal pride; so i made the most of the opportunity thus afforded me of opening a conversation by telling him of those grand reports i had formerly heard about him, which induced me to come all his way to see him, and the trouble it had cost me to reach the object of my desire; at the same time taking a gold ring from off my finger, and presenting it to him, i said, "this is a small token of friendship; if you will inspect it, it is made after the fashion of a dog-collar, and, being the king of metals, gold, is in every respect appropriate to your illustrious race." he said, in return, "if friendship is your desire, what would you say if i showed you a road by which you might reach your home in one month?" now everything had to be told to bombay, then to nasib, my kiganda interpreter, and then to either maula or n'yamgundu, before it was delivered to the king, for it was considered indecorous to transmit any message to his majesty excepting through the medium of one of his officers. hence i could not get an answer put in; for as all waganda are rapid and impetuous in their conversation, the king, probably forgetting he had put a question, hastily changed the conversation and said, "what guns have you got? let me see the one you shoot with." i wished still to answer the first question first, as i knew he referred to the direct line to zanzibar across the masai, and was anxious, without delay, to open the subject of petherick and grant; but no one dared to deliver my statement. much disappointed, i then said, "i had brought the best shooting-gun in the world--whitworth's rifle--which i begged he would accept, with a few other trifles; and, with his permission, i would lay them upon a carpet at his feet, as is the custom of my country when visiting sultans." he assented, sent all his women away, and had an mbugu spread for the purpose, on which bombay, obeying my order, first spread a red blanket, and then opened each article one after the other, when nasib, according to the usage already mentioned, smoothed them down with his dirty hands, or rubbed them against his sooty face, and handed them to the king to show there was no poison or witchcraft in them. mtesa appeared quite confused with the various wonders as he handled them, made silly remarks, and pondered over them like a perfect child, until it was quite dark. torches were then lit, and guns, pistols, powder, boxes, tools, beads--the whole collection, in short--were tossed together topsy-turvy, bundled into mbugus, and carried away by the pages. mtesa now said, "it is late, and time to break up; what provisions would you wish to have?" i said, "a little of everything, but no one thing constantly." "and would you like to see me to-morrow?" "yes, every day." "then you can't to-morrow, for i have business; but the next day come if you like. you can now go away, and here are six pots of plantain-wine for you; my men will search for food to-morrow." 21st.--in the morning, whilst it rained, some pages drove in twenty cows and ten goats, with a polite metaphorical message from their king, to the effect that i had pleased him much, and he hoped i would accept these few "chickens" until he could send more,--when both maula and n'yamgundu, charmed with their success in having brought a welcome guest to uganda, never ceased showering eulogiums on me for my fortune in having gained the countenance of their king. the rain falling was considered at court a good omen, and everybody declared the king mad with delight. wishing to have a talk with him about petherick and grant, i at once started off the wakungu to thank him for the present, and to beg pardon for my apparent rudeness of yesterday, at the same time requesting i might have an early interview with his majesty, as i had much of importance to communicate; but the solemn court formalities which these african kings affect as much as oriental emperors, precluded my message from reaching the king. i heard, however, that he had spent the day receiving suwarora's hongo of wire, and that the officer who brought them was made to sit in an empty court, whilst the king sat behind a screen, never deigning to show his majestic person. i was told, too, that he opened conversation by demanding to know how it happened that suwarora became possessed of the wires, for they were made by the white men to be given to himself, and suwarora must therefore have robbed me of them; and it was by such practices he, mtesa, never could see any visitors. the officer's reply was, suwarora would not show the white men any respect, because they were wizards would did not sleep in houses at night, but flew up to the tops of hills, and practised sorcery of every abominable kind. the king to this retorted, in a truly african fashion, "that's a lie; i can see no harm in this white man; and if he had been a bad man, rumanika would not have sent him on to me." at night, when in bed, the king sent his pages to say, if i desired his friendship i would lend him one musket to make up six with what i had given him, for he intended visiting his relations the following morning. i sent three, feeling that nothing would be lost by being "open-handed." 22d.--to-day the king went the round of his relations, showing the beautiful things given him by the white man--a clear proof that he was much favoured by the "spirits," for neither his father nor any of his forefathers had been so recognised and distinguished by any "sign" as a rightful inheritor to the uganda throne: an anti-christian interpretation of omens, as rife in these dark regions now as it was in the time of king nebuchadnezzar. at midnight the three muskets were returned, and i was so pleased with the young king's promptitude and honesty, i begged he would accept them. 23d.--at noon mtesa sent his pages to invite me to his palace. i went, with my guard of honour and my stool, but found i had to sit waiting in an ante-hut three hours with his commander-in-chief and other high officers before he was ready to see me. during this time wasoga minstrels, playing on tambira, and accompanied by boys playing on a harmonicon, kept us amused; and a small page, with a large bundle of grass, came to me and said, "the king hopes you won't be offended if required to sit on it before him; for no person in uganda, however high in office, is ever allowed to sit upon anything raised above the ground, nor can anybody but himself sit upon such grass as this; it is all that his throne is made of. the first day he only allowed you to sit on your stool to appease your wrath." on consenting to do in "rome as the romans do," when my position was so handsomely acknowledged, i was called in, and found the court sitting much as it was on the first day's interview, only that the number of squatting wakungu was much diminished; and the king, instead of wearing his ten brass and copper rings, had my gold one on his third finger. this day, however, was cut out for business, as, in addition to the assemblage of officers, there were women, cows, goats, fowls, confiscations, baskets of fish, baskets of small antelopes, porcupines, and curious rats caught by his gamekeepers, bundles of mbugu, etc., etc., made by his linen-drapers, coloured earths and sticks by his magician, all ready for presentation; but, as rain fell, the court broke up, and i had nothing for it but to walk about under my umbrella, indulging in angry reflections against the haughty king for not inviting me into his hut. when the rain had ceased, and we were again called in, he was found sitting in state as before, but this time with the head of a black bull placed before him, one horn of which, knocked off, was placed alongside, whilst four living cows walked about the court. i was now requested to shoot the four cows as quickly as possible; but having no bullets for my gun, i borrowed the revolving pistol i had given him, and shot all four in a second of time; but as the last one, only wounded, turned sharply upon me, i gave him the fifth and settled him. great applause followed this wonderful feat, and the cows were given to my men. the king now loaded one of the carbines i had given him with his own hands, and giving it full-cock to a page, told him to go out and shoot a man in the outer court; which was no sooner accomplished than the little urchin returned to announce his success, with a look of glee such as one would see in the face of a boy who had robbed a bird's nest, caught a trout, or done any other boyish trick. the king said to him, "and did you do it well?" "oh, yes, capitally." he spoke the truth, no doubt, for he dared not have trifled with the king; but the affair created hardly any interest. i never heard, and there appeared no curiosity to know, what individual human being the urchin had deprived of life. the wakungu were not dismissed, and i asked to draw near, when the king showed me a book i had given to rumanika, and begged for the inspiring medicine which he had before applied for through the mystic stick. the day was now gone, so torches were lit, and we were ordered to go, though as yet i had not been able to speak one word i wished to impart about petherick and grant; for my interpreters were so afraid of the king they dared not open their mouths until they were spoken to. the king was now rising to go, when, in great fear and anxiety that the day would be lost, i said, in kisuahili, "i wish you would send a letter by post to grant, and also send a boat up the kitangule, as far as rumanika's palace, for him, for he is totally unable to walk." i thus attracted his notice, though he did not understand one word i uttered. the result was, that he waited for the interpretation, and replied that a post would be no use, for no one would be responsible for the safe delivery of the message; he would send n'yamgundu to fetch him, but he thought rumanika would not consent to his sending boats up the kitangule as far as the little windermere; and then, turning round with true mganda impetuosity, he walked away without taking a word from me in exchange. 24th.--early this morning the pages came to say mtesa desired i would send him three of my wanguaga to shoot cows before him. this was just what i wanted. it had struck me that personal conferences with me so roused the excitable king, that there was no bringing plain matters of business home to him; so, detaching seven men with bombay, i told him, before shooting, to be sure and elicit the matter i wanted--which was, to excite the king's cupidity by telling him i had a boat full of stores with two white men at gani, whom i wished to call to me if he would furnish some guides to accompany my men; and further, as grant could not walk, i wished boats sent for him, at least as far as the ferry on the kitangule, to which place rumanika, at any rate, would slip him down in canoes. at once, on arriving, mtesa admitted the men, and ordered them to shoot at some cows; but bombay, obeying my orders to first have his talk out, said, no--before he could shoot he must obey master and deliver his message; which no sooner was told than the king, in a hurry, excited by the prospects of sport, impatiently said, "very good; i will send men either by water or overland through kidi, [19] just as your master likes; only some of his men had better go with mine: but now shoot cows, shoot cows; for i want to see how the waguana shoot." they shot seven, and all were given to them when they were dismissed. in the evening the pages came to ask me if i would like to shoot kites in the palace with their king; but i declined shooting anything less than elephants, rhinoceros, or buffaloes; and even for these i would not go out unless the king went with me;--a dodge i conceived would tend more than any other to bring us together, and so break through those ceremonial restraints of the court, which at present were stopping all pans of progression. 25th.--the king invited me to shoot with him--really buffaloes--close to the palace; but as the pages had been sent off in a hurry, without being fully instructed, i declined, on the plea that i had always been gulled and kept waiting or treated with incivility, for hours before i obtained an interview; and as i did not wish to have any more ruptures in the palace, i proposed bombay should go to make proper arrangements for my reception on the morrow--as anyhow, at present i felt indisposed. the pages dreaded their master's wrath, departed for a while, and then sent another lad to tell me he was sorry to hear i felt unwell, but he hoped i would come if only for a minute, bringing my medicines with me, for he himself felt pain. that this second message was a forged one i had no doubt, for the boys had not been long enough gone; still, i packed up my medicines and went, leaving the onus, should any accident happen, upon the mischievous story-bearers. as i anticipated, on arrival at the palace i found the king was not ready to receive me, and the pages desired me to sit with the officers in waiting until he might appear. i found it necessary to fly at once into a rage, called the pages a set of deceiving young blackguards, turned upon my heel, and walked straight back through the courts, intending to leave the palace. everybody was alarmed; information of my retreat at once reached the king, and he sent his wakungu to prevent my egress. these officers passed me, as i was walking hurriedly along under my umbrella, in the last court, and shut the entrance-gate in front of me. this was too much, so i stamped, and, pointing my finger, swore in every language i knew, that if they did not open the gate again, as they had shut it at once, and that, too, before my face, i would never leave the spot i stood upon alive. terror-stricken, the wakungu fell on their knees before me, doing as they were bid; and, to please them, i returned at once, and went up to the king, who, now sitting on his throne, asked the officers how they had managed to entice me back; to which they all replied in a breath, n'yanzigging heartily, "oh, we were so afraid--he was so terrible! but he turned at once as soon as we opened the gate." "how? what gate? tell us all about it." and when the whole story was fully narrated, the matter was thought a good joke. after pausing a little, i asked the king what ailed him, for i was sorry to hear he had been sick; but instead of replying, he shook his head, as much as to say, i had put a very uncouth question to his majesty--and ordered some men to shoot cows. instead of admiring this childish pastime, which in uganda is considered royal sport, i rather looked disdainful, until, apparently disappointed at my indifference, he asked what the box i had brought contained. on being told it was the medicine he desired, he asked me to draw near, and sent his courtiers away. when only the interpreters and one confidential officer were left, besides myself, he wished to know if i could apply the medicine without its touching the afflicted part. to give him confidence in my surgical skill, i moved my finger, and asked him if he knew what gave it action; and on his replying in the negative, i have him an anatomical lecture, which so pleased him, he at once consented to be operated on, and i applied a blister accordingly. the whole operation was rather ridiculous; for the blister, after being applied, had to be rubbed in turn on the hands and faces of both bombay and nasib, to show there was no evil spirit in the "doctor." now, thought i to myself, is the right time for business; for i had the king all to myself, then considered a most fortunate occurrence in uganda, where every man courts the favour of a word with his king, and adores him as a deity, and he in turn makes himself as distance as he can, to give greater effect to his exalted position. the matter, however, was merely deferred: for i no sooner told him my plans for communicating quickly with petherick and grant, than, after saying he desired their coming even more than myself, he promised to arrange everything on the morrow. 26th.--in the morning, as agreed, i called on the king, and found the blister had drawn nicely; so i let off the water, which bombay called the malady, and so delighted the king amazingly. a basket of fruit, like indian loquots, was then ordered in, and we ate them together, holding a discussion about grant and petherick, which ended by the king promising to send an officer by water to kitangule, and another with two of my men, via usoga and kidi, to gani; but as it was necessary my men should go in disguise, i asked the king to send me four mbugu and two spears; when, with the liberality of a great king, he sent me twenty sheets of the former, four spears, and a load of sun-dried fish strung on a stick in shape of a shield. 27th.--at last something was done. one uganda officer and one kidi guide were sent to my hut by the king, as agreed upon yesterday, when i detached mabruki and bilal from my men, gave them letters and maps addressed to petherick; and giving the officers a load of mtende to pay their hotel bills on the way, i gave them, at the same time, strict orders to keep by the nile; then, having dismissed them, i called on the king to make arrangements for grant, and to complain that my residence in uganda was anything but cheerful, as my hut was a mile from the palace, in an unhealthy place, where he kept his arab visitors. it did not become my dignity to live in houses appropriated to persons in the rank of servants, which i considered the ivory merchants to be; and as i had come only to see him and the high officers of uganda, not seeking for ivory or slaves, i begged he would change my place of residence to the west end, when i also trusted his officers would not be ashamed to visit me, as appeared to be the case at present. silence being the provoking resort of the king, when he did not know exactly what to say, he made no answer to my appeal, but instead, he began a discourse on geography, and then desired me to call upon his mother, n'yamasore, at her palace masorisori, vulgarly called soli soli, for she also required medicine; and, moreover, i was cautioned that for the future the uganda court etiquette required i should attend on the king two days in succession, and every third day on his mother the queen-dowager, as such were their respective rights. till now, owing to the strict laws of the country, i had not been able to call upon anybody but the king himself. i had not been able to send presents or bribes to any one, nor had any one, except the cockaded pages, by the king's order, visited me; neither was anybody permitted to sell me provisions, so that my men had to feed themselves by taking anything they chose from certain gardens pointed out by the king's officers, or by seizing pombe or plantains which they might find waganda carrying towards the palace. this non-interventive order was part of the royal policy, in order that the king might have the full fleecing of his visitors. to call upon the queen-mother respectfully, as it was the opening visit, i too, besides the medicine-chest, a present of eight brass and copper wire, thirty blue-egg beads, one bundle of diminutive beads, and sixteen cubits of chintz, a small guard, and my throne of royal grass. the palace to be visited lay half a mile beyond the king's, but the highroad to it was forbidden me, as it is considered uncourteous to pass the king's gate without going in. so after winding through back-gardens, the slums of bandowaroga, i struck upon the highroad close to her majesty's, where everything looked like the royal palace on a miniature scale. a large cleared space divided the queen's residence from her kamraviona's. the outer enclosures and courts were fenced with tiger-grass; and the huts, though neither so numerous nor so large, were constructed after the same fashion as the king's. guards also kept the doors, on which large bells were hung to give alarm, and officers in waiting watched the throne-rooms. all the huts were full of women, save those kept as waiting-rooms; where drums and harmonicons were played for amusement. on first entering, i was required to sit in a waiting-hut till my arrival was announced; but that did not take long, as the queen was prepared to receive me; and being of a more affable disposition than her son, she held rather a levee of amusement than a stiff court of show. i entered the throne-hut as the gate of that court was thrown open, with my hat off, but umbrella held over my head, and walked straight towards her till ordered to sit upon my bundle of grass. her majesty--fat, fair, and forty-five--was sitting, plainly garbed in mbugu, upon a carpet spread upon the ground within a curtain of mbugu, her elbow resting on a pillow of the same bark material; the only ornaments on her person being an abrus necklace, and a piece of mbugu tied round her head, whilst a folding looking-glass, much the worse for wear, stood open by her side. an iron rod like a spit, with a cup on the top, charged with magic powder, and other magic wands, were placed before the entrance; and within the room, four mabandwa sorceresses or devil-drivers, fantastically dressed, as before described, and a mass of other women, formed the company. for a short while we sat at a distance, exchanging inquiring glances at one another, when the women were dismissed, and a band of music, with a court full of wakungu, was ordered in to change the scene. i also got orders to draw near and sit fronting her within the hut. pombe, the best in uganda, was then drunk by the queen, and handed to me and to all the high officers about her, when she smoked her pipe, and bade me smoke mine. the musicians, dressed in long-haired usoga goat-skins, were now ordered to strike up, which they did, with their bodies swaying or dancing like bears in a fair. different drums were then beat, and i was asked if i could distinguish their different tones. the queen, full of mirth, now suddenly rose, leaving me sitting, whilst she went to another hut, changed her mbugu for a deole, and came back again for us to admire her, which was no sooner done to her heart's content, than a second time, by her order, the court was cleared, and, when only three or four confidential wakungu were left, she took up a small faggot of well-trimmed sticks, and, selecting three, told me she had three complains. "this stick," she says, "represents my stomach, which gives me much uneasiness; this second stick my liver, which causes shooting pains all over my body; and this third one my heart, for i get constant dreams at night about sunna, my late husband, and they are not pleasant." the dreams and sleeplessness i told her was a common widow's complaint, and could only be cured by her majesty making up her mind to marry a second time; but before i could advise for the bodily complaints, it would be necessary for me to see her tongue, feel her pulse, and perhaps, also, her sides. hearing this, the wakungu said, "oh, that can never be allowed without the sanction of the king"; but the queen, rising in her seat, expressed her scorn at the idea to taking advice from a mere stripling, and submitted herself for examination. i then took out two pills, the powder of which was tasted by the wakungu to prove that there was no devilry in "the doctor," and gave orders for them to be eaten at night, restricting her pombe and food until i saw her again. my game was now advancing, for i found through her i should get the key to an influence that might bear on the king, and was much pleased to hear her express herself delighted with me for everything i had done except stopping her grog, which, naturally enough in this great pombe-drinking country, she said would be a very trying abstinence. the doctoring over, her majesty expressed herself ready to inspect the honorarium i had brought for her, and the articles were no sooner presented by bombay and nasib, with the usual formalities of stroking to insure their purity, than she, boiling with pleasure, showed them all to her officers, who declared, with a voice of most exquisite triumph, that she was indeed the most favoured of queens. then, in excellent good taste, after saying that nobody had ever given her such treasures, she gave me, in return, a beautifully-worked pombe sucking-pipe, which was acknowledged by every one to be the greatest honour she could pay me. not satisfied with this, she made me select, though against my desire, a number of sambo, called here gundu, rings of giraffe hair wound round with thin iron or copper wire, and worn as anklets; and crowned with all sundry pots of pombe, a cow, and a bundle of dried fish, of the description given in the woodcut, called by my men samaki kambari. this business over, she begged me to show her my picture-books, and was so amused with them that she ordered her sorceresses and all the other women in again to inspect them with her. then began a warm and complimentary conversation, which ended by an inspection of my rings and all the contents of my pockets, as well as of my watch, which she called lubari--a term equivalent to a place of worship, the object of worship itself, or the iron horn or magic pan. still she said i had not yet satisfied her; i must return again two days hence, for she like me much--excessively--she could not say how much; but now the day was gone, i might go. with this queer kind of adieu she rose and walked away, leaving me with my servants to carry the royal present home. 28th.--my whole thoughts were now occupied in devising some scheme to obtain a hut in the palace, not only the better to maintain my dignity, and so gain superior influence in the court, but also that i might have a better insight into the manners and customs of these strange people. i was not sorry to find the king attempting to draw me to court, daily to sit in attendance on him as his officers were obliged to do all day long, in order that he might always have a full court or escort whenever by chance he might emerge from his palace, for it gave me an opening for asserting my proper position. instead, therefore, of going at the call of his pages this morning i sent bombay with some men to say that although i was desirous of seeing him daily, i could not so expose myself to the sun. in all other countries i received, as my right, a palace to live in when i called on the king of my country, and unless he gave one now i should feel slighted; moreover, i should like a hut in the same enclosure as himself, when i could sit and converse with him constantly, and teach him the use of the things i had given him. by bombay's account, the king was much struck with the force of my humble request, and replied that he should like to have bana, meaning myself, ever by his side, but his huts were all full of women, and therefore it could not be managed; if, however, bana would but have patience for a while, a hut should be built for him in the environs, which would be a mark of distinction he had never paid to any visitor before. then changing the subject by inspecting my men, he fell so much in love with their little red "fez" caps, that he sent off his pages to beg me for a specimen, and, on finding them sent by the boys, he remarked, with warm approbation, how generous i was in supplying his wishes, and then, turning to bombay, wished to know what sort of return-presents would please me best. bombay, already primed, instantly said, "oh, bana, being a great man in his own country, and not thirsting for gain in ivory or slaves, would only accept such things as a spear, shield, or drum, which he could take to his own country as a specimen of the manufactures of uganda, and a pleasing recollection of his visit to the king." "ah," says mtesa, "if that is all he wants, then indeed will i satisfy him, for i will give him the two spears with which i took all this country, and, when engaged in so doing, pierced three men with one stab. "but, for the present, is it true what i have heard, that bana would like to go out with me shooting?" "oh yes, he is a most wonderful sportsman--shoots elephants and buffaloes, and birds on the wing. he would like to go out on a shooting excursion and teach you the way." then turning the subject, in the highest good-humour the king made centurions of n'yamgundu and maula, my two wakungu, for their good service, he said, in bringing him such a valuable guest. this delighted them so much that as soon as they could they came back to my camp, threw themselves at my feet, and n'yanzigging incessantly, narrated their fortunes, and begged, as a great man, i would lend them some cows to present to the king as an acknowledgement for the favour he had shown them. the cows, i then told them, had come from the king, and could not go back again, for it was not the habit of white men to part with their presents; but as i felt their promotion redounded on myself, and was certainly the highest compliment their king could have paid me, i would give them each a wire to make their salaam good. this was enough; both officers got drunk, and, beating their drums, serenaded the camp until the evening set in, when, to my utter surprise, an elderly mganda woman was brought into camp with the commander-in-chief's metaphorical compliments, hoping i would accept her "to carry my water"; with this trifling addition, that in case i did not think her pretty enough, he hoped i would not hesitate to select which i liked from ten others, of "all colours," wahuma included, who, for that purpose, were then waiting in his palace. unprepared for this social addition in my camp, i must now confess i felt in a fix, knowing full well that nothing so offends as rejecting an offer at once, so i kept her for the time being, intending in the morning to send her back with a string of blue beads on her neck; but during the night she relieved me of my anxieties by running away, which bombay said was no wonder, for she had obviously been seized as part of some confiscated estate, and without doubt knew where to find some of her friends. to-day, for the first time since i have been here, i received a quantity of plantains. this was in consequence of my complaining that the king's orders to my men to feed themselves at others' expense was virtually making them a pack of thieves. 1st.--i received a letter from grant, dated 10th february, reporting baraka's departure for unyoro on the 30th january, escorted by kamrasi's men on their return, and a large party of rumanika's bearing presents as a letter from their king; whilst grant himself hoped to leave karague before the end of the month. i then sent bombay to see the queen, to ask after her health, beg for a hut in the palace enclosures, and say i should have gone myself, only i feared her gate might be shut, and i cannot go backwards and forwards so far in the sun without a horse or an elephant to ride upon. she begged i would come next morning. a wonderful report came that the king put two tops of powder into his whitworth rifle to shoot a cow, and the bullet not only passed through the cow, but through the court fence, then through the centre of a woman, and, after passing the outer fence, flew whizzing along no one knew where. 2d.--calling on the queen early, she admitted me at once, scolding me severely for not having come or sent my men to see her after she had taken the pills. she said they did her no good, and prevailed on me to give her another prescription. then sending her servant for a bag full of drinking-gourds, she made me select six of the best, and begged for my watch. that, of course, i could not part with; but i took the opportunity of telling her i did not like my residence; it was not only far away from everybody, but it was unworthy of my dignity. i came to uganda to see the king and queen, because the arabs said they were always treated with great respect; but now i could perceive those arabs did not know what true respect means. being poor men, they thought much of a cow or goat given gratis, and were content to live in any hovels. such, i must inform her, was not my case. i could neither sit in the sun nor live in a poor man's hut. when i rose to leave for breakfast, she requested me to stop, but i declined, and walked away. i saw, however, there was something wrong; for maula, always ordered to be in attendance when anybody visits, was retained by her order to answer why i would not stay with her longer. if i wanted food or pombe, there was plenty of it in her palace, and her cooks were the cleverest in the world; she hoped i would return to see her in the morning. 3d.--our cross purposes seemed to increase; for, while i could not get a satisfactory interview, the king sent for n'yamgundu to ascertain why i had given him good guns and many pretty things which he did not know the use of, and yet i would not visit him to explain their several uses. n'yamgundu told him i lived too far off, and wanted a palace. after this i walked off to see n'yamasore, taking my blankets, a pillow, and some cooking-pots to make a day of it, and try to win the affections of the queen with sixteen cubits bindera, three pints peke, and three pints mtende beads, which, as waganda are all fond of figurative language, i called a trifle for her servants. i was shown in at once, and found her majesty sitting on an indian carpet, dressed in a red linen wrapper with a gold border, and a box, in shape of a lady's work-box, prettily coloured in divers patters with minute beads, by her side. her councillors were in attendance; and in the yard a band of music, with many minor wakungu squatting in a semicircle, completed her levee. maula on my behalf opened conversation, in allusion to her yesterday's question, by saying i had applied to mtesa for a palace, that i might be near enough both their majesties to pay them constant visits. she replied, in a good hearty manner, that indeed was a very proper request, which showed my good sense, and ought to have been complied with at once; but mtesa was only a kijana or stripling, and as she influenced all the government of the country, she would have it carried into effect. compliments were now passed, my presents given and approved of; and the queen, thinking i must be hungry, for she wanted to eat herself, requested me to refresh myself in another hut. i complied, spread my bedding, and ordered in my breakfast; but as the hut was full of men, i suspended a scotch plain, and quite eclipsed her mbugu curtain. reports of this magnificence at once flew to the queen, who sent to know how many more blankets i had in my possession, and whether, if she asked for one, she would get it. she also desired to see my spoons, fork, and pipe--an english meerschaum, mounted with silver; so, after breakfast, i returned to see her, showed her the spoons and forks, and smoked my pipe, but told her i had no blankets left but what formed my bed. she appeared very happy and very well, did not say another word about the blankets, but ordered a pipe for herself, and sat chatting, laughing, and smoking in concert with me. i told her i had visited all the four quarters of the globe, and had seen all colours of people, but wondered where she got her pipe from, for it was much after the rumish (turkish) fashion, with a long stick. greatly tickled at the flattery, she said, "we hear men like yourself come to amara from the other side, and drive cattle away." "the gallas, or abyssinians, who are tall and fair, like rumanika," i said, "might do so, for they live not far off on the other side of amara, but we never fight for such paltry objects. if cows fall into our hands when fighting, we allow our soldiers to eat them, while we take the government of the country into our hands." she then said, "we hear you don't like the unyamuezi route, we will open the ukori one for you." "thank your majesty," said i, in a figurative kind of speech to please waganda ears; and turning the advantage of the project on her side, "you have indeed hit the right nail on the head. i do not like the unyamuezi route, as you may imagine when i tell you i have lost so much property there by mere robbery of the people and their kings. the waganda do not see me in a true light; but if they have patience for a year or two, until the ukori road is open, and trade between our respective countries shall commence, they will then see the fruits of my advent; so much so, that every mganda will say the first uganda year dates from the arrival of the first mzundu (white) visitor. as one coffee-seed sown brings forth fruit in plenty, so my coming here may be considered." all appreciated this speech, saying, "the white man, he even speaks beautifully! beautifully! beautifully! beautifully!" and, putting their hands to their mouths, they looked askance at me, nodding their admiring approval. the queen and her ministers then plunged into pombe and became uproarious, laughing with all their might and main. small bugu cups were not enough to keep up the excitement of the time, so a large wooden trough was placed before the queen and filled with liquor. if any was spilt, the wakungu instantly fought over it, dabbing their noses on the ground, or grabbing it with their hands, that not one atom of the queen's favour might be lost; for everything must be adored that comes from royalty, whether by design or accident. the queen put her head to the trough and drank like a pig from it, and was followed by her ministers. the band, by order, then struck up a tune called the milele, playing on a dozen reeds, ornamented with beads and cow-tips, and five drums, of various tones and sizes, keeping time. the musicians dancing with zest, were led by four bandmasters, also dancing, but with their backs turned to the company to show off their long, shaggy, goat-skin jackets, sometimes upright, at other times bending and on their heels, like the hornpipe-dancers or western countries. it was a merry scene, but soon became tiresome; when bombay, by way of flattery, and wishing to see what the queen's wardrobe embraced, told her, any woman, however ugly, would assume a goodly appearance if prettily dressed; upon which her gracious majesty immediately rose, retired to her toilet-hut, and soon returned attired in a common check cloth, and abrus tiara, a bead necklace, and with a folding looking-glass, when she sat, as before, and was handed a blown-glass cup of pombe, with a cork floating on the liquor, and a napkin mbugu covering the top, by a naked virgin. for her kind condescension in assuming plain raiment, everybody, of course, n'yanzigged. next she ordered her slave girls to bring a large number of sambo (anklets), and begged me to select the best, for she liked me much. in vain i tried to refuse them: she had given more than enough for a keepsake before, and i was not hungry for property; still i had to choose some, or i would give offence. she then gave me a basket of tobacco, and a nest of hen eggs for her "son's" breakfast. when this was over, the mukonderi, another dancing-tune, with instruments something like clarionets, was ordered; but it had scarcely been struck up, before a drenching rain, with strong wind, set in and spoilt the music, though not the playing--for none dared stop without an order; and the queen, instead of taking pity, laughed most boisterously over the exercise of her savage power as the unfortunate musicians were nearly beaten down by the violence of the weather. when the rain ceased, her majesty retired a second time to her toilet-hut, and changed her dress for a puce-coloured wrapper, when i, ashamed of having robbed her of so many sambo, asked her if she would allow me to present her with a little english "wool" to hang up instead of her mbugu curtain on cold days like this. of course she could not decline, and a large double scarlet blanket was placed before her. "oh, wonder of wonders!" exclaimed all the spectators, holding their mouths in both hands at a time--such a "pattern" had never been seen here before. it stretched across the hut, was higher than the men could reach--indeed it was a perfect marvel; and the man must be a good one who brought such a treasure as this to uddu. "and why not say uganda?" i asked. "because all this country is called uddu. uganda is personified by mtesa; and no one can say he has seen uganda until he has been presented to the king." as i had them all in a good humour now, i complained i did not see enough of the waganda--and as every one dressed so remarkably well, i could not discern the big men from the small; could she not issue some order by which they might call on me, as they did not dare do so without instruction, and then i, in turn, would call on them? hearing this, she introduced me to her prime minister, chancellor of exchequer, women-keepers, hangmen, and cooks, as the first nobles in the land, that i might recognise them again if i met them on the road. all n'yanzigged for this great condescension, and said they were delighted with their guest; then producing a strip of common joho to compare it with my blanket, they asked if i could recognise it. of course, said i, it is made in my country, of the same material, only of coarser quality, and everything of the same sort is made in uzungu. then, indeed, said the whole company, in one voice, we do like you, and your cloth too--but you most. i modestly bowed my head, and said their friendship was my chief desire. this speech also created great hilarity; the queen and councillors all became uproarious. the queen began to sing, and the councillors to join in chorus; then all sang and all drank, and drank and sang, till, in their heated excitement, they turned the palace into a pandemonium; still there was not noise enough, so the band and drums were called again, and tomfool--for uganda, like the old european monarchies, always keeps a jester--was made to sing in the gruff, hoarse, unnatural voice which he ever affects to maintain his character, and furnished with pombe when his throat was dry. now all of a sudden, as if a devil had taken possession of the company, the prime minister with all the courtiers jumped upon their legs, seized their sticks, for nobody can carry a spear when visiting, swore the queen had lost her heart to me, and running into the yard, returned, charging and jabbering at the queen; retreated and returned again, as if they were going to put an end to her for the guilt of loving me, but really to show their devotion and true love to her. the queen professed to take this ceremony with calm indifference, but her face showed that she enjoyed it. i was not getting very tired of sitting on my low stool, and begged for leave to depart, but n'yamasore would not hear of it; she loved me a great deal too much to let me go away at this time of day, and forthwith ordered in more pombe. the same roystering scene was repeated; cups were too small, so the trough was employed; and the queen graced it by drinking, pig-fashion, first, and then handing it round to the company. now, hoping to produce gravity and then to slip away, i asked if my medicines had given her any relief, that i might give her more to strengthen her. she said she could not answer that question just yet; for though the medicine had moved her copiously, as yet she had seen no snake depart from her. i told her i would give her some strengthening medicine in the morning: for the present, however, i would take my leave, as the day was far gone, and the distance home very great; but though i dragged my body away, my heart would still remain here, for i loved her much. this announcement took all by surprise; they looked at me and then at her, and looked again and laughed, whilst i rose, waved my hat, and said, "kua heri, bibi" (good-bye, madam). on reaching home i found maribu, a mkungu, with a gang of men sent by mtesa to fetch grant from kitangule by water. he would not take any of my men with him to fetch the kit from karague, as mtesa, he said, had given him orders to find all the means of transport; so i gave him a letter to grant, and told him to look sharp, else grant would have passed the kitangule before he arrived there. "never mind," says maribu, "i shall walk to the mouth of the katonga, boat it to sese island, where mtesa keeps all his large vessels, and i shall be at kitangule in a very short time." 4th.--i sent bombay off to administer quinine to the queen; but the king's pages, who watched him making for her gateway, hurried up to him, and turned him back by force. he pleaded earnestly that i would flog him if he disobeyed my orders, but they would take all the responsibility--the king had ordered it; and then they, forging a lie, bade him run back as fast as he could, saying i wanted to see the king, but could not till his return. in this way poor bombay returned to me half-drowned in perspiration. just then another page hurried in with orders to bring me to the palace at once, for i had not been there these four days; and while i was preparing to express the proper amount of indignation at this unceremonious message, the last impudent page began rolling like a pig upon my mbugued or carpeted floor, till i stormed and swore i would turn him out unless he chose to behave more respectfully before my majesty, for i was no peddling merchant, as he had been accustomed to see, and would not stand it; moreover, i would not leave my hut at the summons of the king or anybody else, until i chose to do so. this expression of becoming wrath brought every one to a sense of his duty; and i then told them all i was excessively angry with mtesa for turning back my messenger; nobody had ever dared do such a thing before, and i would never forgive the king until my medicines had been given to the queen. as for my going to the palace, it was out of the question, as i had been repeatedly before told the king, unless it pleased him to give me a fitting residence near himself. in order now that full weight should be given to my expressions, i sent bombay with the quinine to the king, in company with the boys, to give an account of all that had happened; and further, to say i felt exceedingly distressed i could not go to see him constantly--that i was ashamed of my domicile--the sun was hot to walk in; and when i went to the palace, his officers in waiting always kept me waiting like a servant--a matter hurtful to my honour and dignity. it now rested with himself to remove these obstacles. everybody concerned in this matter left for the palace but maula, who said he must stop in camp to look after bana. bombay no sooner arrived in the palace, and saw the king upon his throne, than mtesa asked him why he came? "by the instructions of bana," was his reply--"for bana cannot walk in the sun; no white man of the sultan's breed can do so." hearing this, the king rose in a huff, without deigning to reply, and busied himself in another court. bombay, still sitting, waited for hours till quite tired, when he sent a boy in to say he had not delivered half my message; he had brought medicine for the queen, and as yet he had no reply for bana. either with haughty indifference, or else with injured pride at his not being able to command me at his pleasure, the king sent word, if medicine is brought for the queen, then let it be taken to her; and so bombay walked off to the queen's palace. arrived there, he sent in to say he had brought medicine, and waited without a reply till nightfall, when, tired of his charge, he gave the quinine into n'yamgundu's hands for delivery, and returned home. soon after, however, n'yamgundu also returned to say the queen would not take the dose to-day, but hoped i would administer it personally in the morning. whilst all this vexations business had been going on in court--evidently dictated by extreme jealousy because i showed, as they all thought, a preference for the queen--maula, more than tipsy, brought a mkungu of some standing at court before me, contrary to all law--for as yet no mganda, save the king's pages, had ever dared enter even the precincts of my camp. with a scowling, determined, hang-dog-looking countenance, he walked impudently into my hut, and taking down the pombe-suckers the queen had given me, showed them with many queer gesticulations, intended to insinuate there was something between the queen and me. among his jokes were, that i must never drink pombe excepting with these sticks; if i wanted any when i leave uganda, to show my friends, she would give me twenty more sticks of that sort if i liked them; and, turning from verbal to practical jocularity, the dirty fellow took my common sucker out of the pot, inserted one of the queen's, and sucked at it himself, when i snatched and threw it away. maula's friend, who, i imagined, was a spy, then asked me whom i liked most--the mother or the son; but, without waiting to hear me, maula hastily said, "the mother, the mother of course! he does not care for mtesa, and won't go to see him." the friend coaxingly responded, "oh no; he likes mtesa, and will go and see him too; won't you?" i declined, however, to answer from fear of mistake, as both interpreters were away. still the two went on talking to themselves, maula swearing that i loved the mother most, whilst the friend said, no, he loves the son, and asking me with anxious looks, till they found i was not to be caught by chaff, and then, both tired, walked away--the friend advising me, next time i went to court, to put on an arab's gown, as trousers are indecent in the estimation of every mganda. 5th.--alarmed at having got involved in something that looked like court intrigues, i called up n'yamgundu; told him all that happened yesterday, both at the two courts and with maula at home; and begged him to apply to the king for a meeting of five elders, that a proper understanding might be arrived at; but instead of doing as i desired, he got into a terrible fright, calling maula, and told me if i pressed the matter in this way men would lose their lives. meanwhile the cunning blackguard maula begged for pardon; said i quite misunderstood his meaning; all he had said was that i was very fortunate, being in such favour at court, for the king and queen both equally loved me. n'yamgundu now got orders to go to karague overland for dr k'yengo; but, dreading to tell me of it, as i had been so kind to him, he forged a falsehood, said he had leave to visit his home for six days, and begged for a wire to sacrifice to his church. i gave him what he wanted, and away he went. i then heard his servants had received orders to go overland for grant and k'yengo; so i wrote another note to grant, telling him to come sharp, and bring all the property by boat that he could carry, leaving what he could not behind in charge of rumanika. at noon, the plaguy little imps of pages hurried in to order the attendance of all my men fully armed before the king, as he wished to seize some refractory officer. i declined this abuse of my arms, and said i should first go and speak to the king on the subject myself, ordering the men on no account to go on such an errand; and saying this, i proceeded towards the palace, leaving instructions for those men who were not ready to follow. as the court messengers, however, objected to our going in detachments, i told bombay to wait for the rest, and hurry on to overtake me. whilst lingering on the way, every minute expecting to see my men, the wazinza, who had also received orders to seize the same officer, passed me, going to the place of attack, and, at the same time, i heard my men firing in a direction exactly opposite to the palace. i now saw i had been duped, and returned to my hut to see the issue. the boys had deceived us all. bombay, tricked on the plea of their taking him by a short cut to the palace, suddenly found himself with all the men opposite the fenced gardens that had to be taken--the establishment of the recusant officer,--and the boys, knowing how eager all blacks are to loot, said, "now, then, at the houses; seize all you can, sparing nothing--men, women, or children, mbugus or cowries, all alike--for it is the order of the king;" and in an instant my men surrounded the place, fired their guns, and rushed upon the inmates. one was speared forcing his way through the fence, but the rest were taken and brought triumphantly into my camp. it formed a strange sight in the establishment of an english gentleman, to see my men flushed with the excitement of their spoils, staggering under loads of mbugu, or leading children, mothers, goats, and dogs off in triumph to their respective huts. bombay alone, of all my men, obeyed my orders, touching nothing; and when remonstrated with for having lead the men, he said he could not help it--the boys had deceived him in the same way as they had tricked me. it was now necessary that i should take some critical step in african diplomacy; so, after ordering all the seizures to be given up to maula on behalf of the king, and threatening to discharge any of my men who dared retain one item of the property, i shut the door of my hut to do penance for two days, giving orders that nobody but my cook ilmas, not even bombay, should come near me; for the king had caused my men to sin--had disgraced their red cloth--and had inflicted on me a greater insult than i could bear. i was ashamed to show my face. just as the door was closed, other pages from the king brought the whitworth rifle to be cleaned, and demanded an admittance; but no one dared approach me, and they went on their way again. 6th.--i still continued to do penance. bombay, by my orders, issued from within, prepared for a visit to the king, to tell him all that had happened yesterday, and also to ascertain if the orders for sending my men on a plundering mission had really emanated from himself, when the bothering pages came again, bringing a gun and knife to be mended. my door was found shut, so they went to bombay, asked him to do it, and told him the king desired to know if i would go shooting with him in the morning. the reply was, "no; bana is praying to-day that mtesa's sins might be forgiven him for having committed such an injury to him, sending his soldiers on a mission that did not become them, and without his sanction too. he is very angry about it, and wished to know if it was done by the king's orders." the boys said, "nothing can be done without the king's orders." after further discussion, bombay intimated that i wished the king to send me a party of five elderly officers to counsel with, and set all disagreeables to rights, or i would not go to the palace again; but the boys said there were no elderly gentlemen at court, only boys such as themselves. bombay now wished to go with them before the king, to explain matters to him, and to give him all the red cloths of my men, which i took from them, because they defiled their uniform when plundering women and children; but the boys said the king was unapproachable just them, being engaged shooting cows before his women. he then wished the boys to carry the cloth; but they declined, saying it was contrary to orders for anybody to handle cloth, and they could not do it. chapter xii. palace, uganda--continued continued diplomatic difficulties--negro chaffing--the king in a new costume--adjutant and heron shooting at court--my residence changed--scenes at court--the kamraviona, or commander-in-chief--quarrels--confidential communications with the king--court executions and executioners--another day with the queen. 7th.--the farce continued, and how to manage these haughty capricious blacks puzzled my brains considerably; but i felt that if i did not stand up now, no one would ever be treated better hereafter. i sent nasib to the queen, to explain why i had not been to see her. i desired to do so, because i admired her wisdom; but before i went i must first see the king, to provide against any insult being offered to me, such as befell bombay when i sent him with medicine. having despatched him, i repaired again to the palace. in the antechamber i found a number of wakungu, as usual, lounging about on the ground, smoking, chatting, and drinking pombe, whilst wasoga amused them singing and playing on lap-harps, and little boys kept time on the harmonicon. these wakungu are naturally patient attendants, being well trained to the duty; but their very lives depend upon their presenting themselves at court a certain number of months every year, no matter from what distant part of the country they have to come. if they failed, their estates would be confiscated, and their lives taken unless they could escape. i found a messenger who consented to tell the king of my desire to see him. he returned to say that the king was sleeping--a palpable falsehood. in a huff, i walked home to breakfast, leaving my attendants, maula and uledi, behind to make explanations. they saw the king, who simply asked, "where is bana?" and on being told that i came, but went off again, he said, as i was informed, "that is a lie, for had he come here to see me he would not have returned"; then rising, he walked away and left the men to follow me. i continued ruminating on these absurd entanglements, and the best way of dealing with them, when lo! to perplex me still more, in ran a bevy of the royal pages to ask for mtende beads--a whole sack of them; for the king wished to go with his women on a pilgrimage to the n'yanza. thinking myself very lucky to buy the king's ear so cheaply, i sent maula as before, adding that i considered my luck very bad, as nobody here knew my position in society, else they would not treat me as they did. my proper sphere was the palace, and unless i got a hut there, i wished to leave the country. my first desire had always been to see the king; and if he went to the n'yanza, i trusted he would allow me to go there also. the boys replied, "how can you go with his women? no one ever is permitted to see them." "well," said i, "if i cannot go to the n'yanza with him" (thinking only of the great lake, whereas they probably meant a pond in the palace enclosures, where mtesa constantly frolics with his women), "i wish to go to usoga and amara, as far as the masai; for i have no companions here but crows and vultures." they promised to take the message, but its delivery was quite another thing; for no one can speak at this court till he is spoken to, and a word put in out of season is a life lost. on maula's return, i was told the king would not believe so generous a man as bana could have sent him so few beads; he believed most of my store must have been stolen on the road, and would ask me about that to-morrow. he intimated that for the future i must fire a gun at the waiting-hut whenever i entered the palace, so that he might hear of my arrival, for he had been up that morning, and would have been glad to see me, only the boys, from fear of entering his cabinet, had forged a lie, and deprived him of any interview with me, which he had long wished to get. this ready cordiality was as perplexing as all the rest. could it be possible, i thought, i had been fighting with a phantom all this while, and yet the king had not been able to perceive it? at all events, now, as the key to his door had been given, i would make good use of it and watch the result. meanwhile nasib returned from the queen-dowager's palace without having seen her majesty, though he had waited there patiently the whole day long, for she was engaged in festivities, incessantly drumming and playing, in consequence of the birth of twins (mabassa), which had just taken place in her palace; but he was advised to return on the morrow. 8th.--after breakfast i walked to the palace, thinking i had gained all i wanted; entered, and fired guns, expecting an instant admittance; but, as usual, i was required to sit and wait; the king was expected immediately. all the wagungu talked in whispers, and nothing was heard but the never-ceasing harps and harmonicons. in a little while i felt tired of the monotony, and wished to hang up a curtain, that i might lie down in privacy and sleep till the king was ready; but the officers in waiting forbade this, as contrary to law, and left me the only alternative of walking up and down the court to kill time, spreading my umbrella against the powerful rays of the sun. a very little of that made me fidgety and impetuous, which the waganda noticed, and, from fear of the consequences, they began to close the gate to prevent my walking away. i flew out on them, told bombay to notice the disrespect, and shamed them into opening it again. the king immediately, on hearing of this, sent me pombe to keep me quiet; but as i would not touch it, saying i was sick at heart, another page rushed out to say the king was ready to receive me; and, opening a side gate leading into a small open court without a hut in it, there, to be sure, was his majesty, sitting on an arab's donkey run, propped against one page, and encompassed by four others. on confronting him, he motioned me to sit, which i did upon my bundle of grass, and, finding it warm, asked leave to open my umbrella. he was much struck at the facility with which i could make shade, but wondered still more at my requiring it. i explained to him that my skin was white because i lived in a colder country than his, and therefore was much more sensitive to the heat of the sun than his black skin; adding, at the same time, if it gave no offence, i would prefer sitting in the shade of the court fence. he had no objection, and opened conversation by asking who it was that gave me such offence in taking my guard from me to seize his wakungu. the boy who had provoked me was then dragged in, tied by his neck and hands, when the king asked him by whose orders he had acted in such a manner, knowing that i objected to it, and wished to speak to him on the subject first. the poor boy, in a dreadful fright, said he had acted under the instructions of the kamraviona: there was no harm done, for bana's men were not hurt. "well, then," said the king, "if they were not injured, and you only did as you were ordered, no fault rests with you; but begone out of my sight, for i cannot bear to see you, and the kamraviona shall be taught a lesson not to meddle with my guests again until i give him authority to do so." i now hoped, as i had got the king all by himself, and apparently in a good humour with me, that i might give him a wholesome lesson on the manners and customs of the english nation, to show how much i felt the slights i had received since my residence in uganda; but he never lost his dignity and fussiness as an uganda king. my words must pass through his mkungu, as well as my interpreter's, before they reached him; and, as he had no patience, everything was lost till he suddenly asked maula, pretending not to know, where my hut was; why everybody said i lived so far away; and when told, he said, "oh! that is very far, he must come nearer." still i could not say a word, his fussiness and self-importance overcoming his inquisitiveness. rain now fell, and the king retired by one gate, whilst i was shown out of another, until the shower was over. as soon as the sky was clear again, we returned to the little court, and this time became more confidential, as he asked many questions about england--such as, whether the queen knew anything about medicines? whether she kept a number of women as he did? and what her palace was like?--which gave me an opportunity of saying i would like to see his ships, for i heard they were very numerous--and also his menagerie, said to be full of wonderful animals. he said the vessels were far off, but he would send for them; and although he once kept a large number of animals, he killed them all in practising with his guns. the whitworth rifle was then brought in for me to take to pieces and teach him the use of; and then the chronometer. he then inquired if i would like to go shooting? i said, "yes, if he would accompany me--not otherwise." "hippopotami?" "yes; there is great fun in that, for they knock the boats over when they charge from below." "can you swim?" "yes." "so can i. and would you like to shoot buffalo?" "yes, if you will go." "at night, then, i will send my keepers to look out for them. here is a leopard-car, with white behind its ears, and a ndezi porcupine of the short-quilled kind, which my people eat with great relish; and if you are fond of animals, i will give you any number of specimens, for my keepers net and bring in live animals of every kind daily; for the present, you can take this basket of porcupines home for your dinner." my men n'yanzigged--the king walked away, giving orders for another officer to follow up the first who went to ukori, and bring petherick quickly--and i went home. this was to be a day of varied success. when i arrived at my hut i found a messenger sent by the queen, with a present of a goat, called "fowls for bana, my son," and a load of plantains, called potatoes, waiting for me; so i gave the bearer fundo of mtende beads, and told again the reasons why i had not been able to call upon the queen, but i hoped to do so shortly, as the king had promised me a house near at hand. i doubt, however, whether one word of my message ever reached her. that she wanted me at her palace was evident by the present, though she was either too proud or too cautious to say so. at night i overheard a chat between sangizo, a myamuezi, and ntalo, a freed man of zanzibar, very characteristic of their way of chaffing. sangizo opened the battle by saying, "ntalo, who are you?" n. "a mguana" (freed man). s. "a mguana, indeed! then where is your mother?" n. "she died at anguja." s. "your mother died at anguja! then where is your father?" n. "he died at anguja likewise." s. "well, that is strange; and where are your brothers and sister?" n. "they all died at anguja." s. (then changing the word anguja for anguza, says to ntalo) "i think you said your mother and father both died at anguza, did you not?" n. "yes, at anguza." s. "then you had two mothers and two fathers--one set died at anguja, and the other set at anguza; you are a humbug; i don't believe you; you are no mguana, but a slave who has been snatched from his family, and does not know where any of his family are. ah! ah! ah!" and all the men of the camp laugh together at the wretched ntalo's defeat; but ntalo won't be done, so retorts by saying, "sangizo, you may laugh at me because i am an orphan, but what are you? you are a savage--a mshezi; you come from the mashenzi, and you wear skins, not cloths, as men do; so hold your impudent tongue";--and the camp pealed with merry boisterous laughter again. 9th.--early in the morning, and whilst i was in bed, the king sent his pages to request me to visit his royal mother, with some specific for the itch, with which her majesty was then afflicted. i said i could not go so far in the sun; i would wait till i received the promised palace near her. in the meanwhile i prepared to call on him. i observed, in fact, that i was an object of jealousy between the two courts, and that, if i acted skilfully and decidedly, i might become master of the situation, and secure my darling object of a passage northwards. the boys returned, bringing a pistol to be cleaned, and a message to say it was no use my thinking of calling on the king--that i must go to the queen immediately, for she was very ill. so far the queen won the day, but i did not obtain my new residence, which i considered the first step to accomplishing the greater object; i therefore put the iron farther in the fire by saying i was no man's slave, and i should not go until i got a house in the palace--bombay could teach the boys the way to clean the pistol. the perk monkeys, however, turned up their noses at such menial service, and uledi was instructed in their stead. 10th.--to surprise the queen, and try another dodge, i called on her with all my dining things and bedding, to make a day of it, and sleep the night. she admitted me at once, when i gave her quinine, on the proviso that i should stop there all day and night to repeat the dose, and tell her the reason why i did not come before. she affected great anger at mtesa having interfered with my servants when coming to see her--sympathised with me on the distance i had to travel--ordered a hut to be cleared for me ere night--told me to eat my breakfast in the next court--and, rising abruptly, walked away. at noon we heard the king approaching with his drums and rattle-traps, but i still waited on till 5 p.m., when, on summons, i repaired to the throne-hut. here i heard, in an adjoining court, the boisterous, explosive laughs of both mother and son--royal shouts loud enough to be heard a mile off, and inform the community that their sovereigns were pleased to indulge in hilarity. immediately afterwards, the gate between us being thrown open, the king, like a very child, stood before us, dressed for the first time, in public, in what europeans would call clothes. for a cap he wore a muscat alfia, on his neck a silk arab turban, fastened with a ring. then for a coat he had an indian kizbow, and for trousers a yellow woollen doti; whilst in his hand, in imitation of myself, he kept running his ramrod backwards and forwards through his fingers. as i advanced and doffed my hat, the king, smiling, entered the court, followed by a budding damsel dressed in red bindera, who carried the chair i had presented to him, and two new spears. he now took his seat for the first time upon the chair, for i had told him, at my last interview, that all kings were expected to bring out some new fashion, or else the world would never make progress; and i was directed to sit before him on my grass throne. talking, though i longed to enter into conversation, was out of the question; for no one dared speak for me, and i could not talk myself; so we sat and grinned, till in a few minutes the queen, full of smirks and smiles, joined us, and sat on a mbugu. i offered the medicine-chest as a seat, but she dared not take it; in fact, by the constitution of uganda, no one, however high in rank, not even his mother, can sit before the king. after sundry jokes, whilst we were all bursting with laughter at the theatrical phenomenon, the wakungu who were present, some twenty in number, threw themselves in line upon their bellies, and wriggling like fish, n'yanzigged, n'goned, and demaned, and uttered other wonderful words of rejoining--as, for instance, "hai minange! hai mkama wangi!" (o my chief! o my king!)--whilst they continued floundering, kicking about their legs, rubbing their faces, and patting their hands upon the ground, as if the king had performed some act of extraordinary munificence by showing himself to them in that strange and new position--a thing quite enough to date a new uganda era from. the king, without deigning to look upon his grovelling subjects, said, "now, mother, take your medicine"; for he had been called solemnly to witness the medical treatment she was undergoing at my hands. when she had swallowed her quinine with a wry face, two very black virgins appeared on the stage holding up the double red blanket i had given the queen; for nothing, however trifling, can be kept secret from the king. the whole court was in raptures. the king signified his approval by holding his mouth, putting his head on one side, and looking askance at it. the queen looked at me, then at the blanket and her son in turn; whilst my men hung down their heads, fearful lest they should be accused of looking at the ladies of the court; and the wakungu n'yanzigged again, as if they could not contain the gratification they felt at the favour shown them. nobody had ever brought such wonderful things to uganda before, and all loved bana. till now i had expected to vent my wrath on both together for all past grievances, but this childish, merry, homely scene--the mother holding up her pride, her son, before the state officers--melted my heart at once. i laughed as well as they did, and said it pleased me excessively to see them both so happy together. it was well the king had broken through the old-fashioned laws of uganda, by sitting on an iron chair, and adopting european dresses; for now he was opening a road to cement his own dominions with my country. i should know what things to send that would please him. the king listened, but without replying; and said, at the conclusion, "it is late, now let us move"; and walked away, preserving famously the lion's gait. the mother also vanished, and i was led away to a hut outside, prepared for my night's residence. it was a small, newly-built hut, just large enough for my bed, with a corner for one servant; so i turned all my men away, save one--ate my dinner, and hoped to have a quiet cool night of it, when suddenly maula flounced in with all his boys, lighting a fire, and they spread their mbugus for the night. in vain i pleaded i could not stand the suffocation of so many men, especially of waganda, who eat raw plantains; and unless they turned out, i should do so, to benefit by the pure air. maula said he had the queen's orders to sleep with bana, and sleep there he would; so rather than kick him out, which i felt inclined to do, i smoked my pipe and drank pombe all night, turning the people out and myself in, in the morning, to prepare for a small house-fight with the queen. 11th.--early in the morning, as i expected, she demanded my immediate attendance; and so the little diplomatic affair i had anticipated came on. i began the affair by intimating that i am in bed, and have not breakfasted. so at 10 a.m. another messenger arrives, to say her majesty is much surprised at my not coming. what can such conduct mean, when she arranged everything so nicely for me after my own desire, that she might drink her medicine properly? still i am not up; but nobody will let me rest for fear of the queen; so, to while away the time, i order bombay to call upon her, give the quinine, and tell her all that has happened; at which she flies into a towering rage, says she will never touch medicine administered by any other hands but mine, and will not believe in one word bombay says, either about maula or the hut; for maula, whose duty necessarily obliged him to take my servants before her majesty, had primed her with a lot of falsehoods on the subject; and she had a fondness for maula, because he was a clever humbug and exceeding rogue--and sent bombay back to fetch me, for nobody had ever dared disobey her mandates before. it had now turned noon, and being ready for the visit, i went to see the queen. determined to have her turn, she kept me waiting for a long time before she would show herself; and at last, when she came, she flounced up to her curtain, lay down in a huff, and vented her wrath, holding her head very high, and wishing to know how i could expect officers, with large establishments, to be turned out of their homes merely to give me room for one night; i ought to have been content with my fare; it was no fault of maula's. i tried to explain through nasib, but she called nasib a liar, and listened to maula who told the lies; then asked for her medicine; drank it, saying it was a small dose; and walked off in ill humour as she had come. i now made up my mind to sit till 3 p.m., hoping to see the queen again, whilst talking with some kidi officers, who, contrary to the general law of the country, indulged me with some discourses on geography, from which i gathered, though their stories were rather confused, that beyond the asua river, in the galla country, there was another lake which was navigated by the inhabitants in very large vessels; and somewhere in the same neighbourhood there was an exceedingly high mountain covered with yellow dust, which the natives collected, etc., etc. time was drawing on, and as the queen would not appear of her own accord, i sent to request a friendly conversation with her before i left, endeavouring, as well as i could, to persuade her that the want of cordiality between us was owing to the mistakes of interpreters, who had not conveyed to her my profound sentiments of devotion. this brought her gracious corpulence out all smirks and smiles, preceded by a basket of potatoes for "bana, my son." i began conversation with a speech of courtesy, explaining how i had left my brother grant and my great friend rumanika at karague--hastening, in compliance with the invitation of the king, to visit him and herself, with the full hope of making friends in uganda; but now i had come, i was greatly disappointed; for i neither saw half enough of their majesties, nor did any of their officers ever call upon me to converse and pass away the dreary hours. all seemed highly pleased, and complimented my speech; while the queen, turning to her officers, said, "if that is the case, i will send these men to you"; whereupon the officers, highly delighted at the prospect of coming to see me, and its consequence a present, n'yanzigged until i thought their hands would drop off. then her majesty to my thorough annoyance, and before i had finished half i had to say, rose from her seat, and, showing her broad stern to the company, walked straight away. the officers then drew near me, and begged i would sleep there another night; but as they had nothing better to offer than the hut of last night, i declined and went my way, begging them to call and make friends with me. 12th.--immediately after breakfast the king sent his pages in a great hurry to say he was waiting on the hill for me, and begged i would bring all my guns immediately. i prepared, thinking, naturally enough, that some buffaloes had been marked down; for the boys, as usual, were perfectly ignorant of his designs. to my surprise, however, when i mounted the hill half-way to the palace, i found the king standing, dressed in a rich filagreed waistcoat, trimmed with gold embroidery, tweedling the loading-rod in his fingers, and an alfia cap on his head, whilst his pages held his chair and guns, and a number of officers, with dogs and goats for offerings, squatted before him. when i arrived, hat in hand, he smiled, examined my firearms, and proceeded for sport, leading the way to a high tree, on which some adjutant birds were nesting, and numerous vultures resting. this was the sport; bana must shoot a nundo (adjutant) for the king's gratification. i begged him to take a shot himself, as i really could not demean myself by firing at birds sitting on a tree; but it was all of no use--no one could shoot as i could, and they must be shot. i proposed frightening them out with stones, but no stone could reach so high; so, to cut the matter short, i killed an adjutant on the nest, and, as the vultures flew away, brought one down on the wing, which fell in a garden enclosure. the waganda were for a minute all spell-bound with astonishment, when the king jumped frantically in the air, clapping his hands above his head, and singing out, "woh, woh, woh! what wonders! oh, bana, bana! what miracles he performs!"--and all the wakungu followed in chorus. "now load, bana--load, and let us see you do it," cried the excited king; but before i was half loaded, he said, "come along, come along, and let us see the bird." then directing the officers which way to go--for, by the etiquette of the court of uganda, every one must precede the king--he sent them through a court where his women, afraid of the gun, had been concealed. here the rush onward was stopped by newly made fences, but the king roared to the officers to knock them down. this was no sooner said than done, by the attendants in a body shoving on and trampling them under, as an elephant would crush small trees to keep his course. so pushing, floundering through plaintain and shrub, pell-mell one upon the other, that the king's pace might not be checked, or any one come in for a royal kick or blow, they came upon the prostrate bird. "woh, woh, woh!" cried the king again, "there he is, sure enough; come here, women--come and look what wonders!" and all the women, in the highest excitement, "woh-wohed" as loud as any of the men. but that was not enough. "come along, bana," said the king, "we must have some more sport;" and, saying this he directed the way towards the queen's palace, the attendants leading, followed by the pages, then the king, next myself--for i never would walk before him--and finally the women, some forty or fifty, who constantly attended him. to make the most of the king's good-humour, while i wanted to screen myself from the blazing sun, i asked him if he would like to enjoy the pleasures of an umbrella; and before he had time to answer, held mine over him as we walked side by side. the wakungu were astonished, and the women prattled in great delight; whilst the king, hardly able to control himself, sidled and spoke to his flatterers as if he were doubly created monarch of all he surveyed. he then, growing more familiar, said, "now, bana, do tell me--did you not shoot that bird with something more than common ammunition? i am sure you did, now; there was magic in it." and all i said to the contrary would not convince him. "but we will see again." "at buffaloes?" i said. "no, the buffaloes are too far off now; we will wait to go after then until i have given you a hut close by." presently, as some herons were flying overhead, he said, "now, shoot, shoot!" and i brought a couple down right and left. he stared, and everybody stared, believing me to be a magician, when the king said he would like to have pictures of the birds drawn and hung up in the palace; "but let us go and shoot some more, for it is truly wonderful." similar results followed, for the herons were continually whirling round, as they had their nests upon a neighbouring tree; and then the king ordered his pages to carry all the birds, save the vulture--which, for some reason, they did not touch--and show them to the queen. he then gave the order to move on, and we all repaired to the palace. arrived at the usual throne-room, he took his seat, dismissed the party of wives who had been following him, as well as the wakungu, received pombe from his female evil-eye averters, and ordered me, with my men, to sit in the sun facing him, till i complained of the heat, and was allowed to sit by his side. kites, crows, and sparrows were flying about in all directions, and as they came within shot, nothing would satisfy the excited boy-king but i must shoot them, and his pages take them to the queen, till my ammunition was totally expended. he then wanted me to send for more shot; and as i told him he must wait for more until my brothers come, he contented himself with taking two or three sample grains and ordering his iron-smiths to make some like them. cows were now driven in for me to kill two with one bullet; but as the off one jumped away when the gun fired, the bullet passed through the near one, then through all the courts and fences, and away no one knew where. the king was delighted, and said he must keep the rifle to look at for the night. i now asked permission to speak with him on some important matters, when he sent his women away and listened. i said i felt anxious about the road on which mabruki was travelling, to which i added that i had ordered him to tell petherick to come here or else to send property to the value of one thousand dollars; and i felt anxious because some of the queen's officers felt doubtful about waganda being able to penetrate kidi. he said i need not concern myself on that score; he was much more anxious for the white men to come here than even i was, and he would not send my men into any danger; but it was highly improper for any of his people to speak about such subjects. then, assembling the women again, he asked me to load whitworth for him, when he shot the remaining cow, holding the rifle in both hands close to his thigh. the feat, of course, brought forth great and uproarious congratulations from his women. the day thus ended, and i was dismissed. 13th.--mabriki and bilal come into camp: they returned last night; but the waganda escort, afraid of my obtaining information of them before the king received it, kept them concealed. they had been defeated in usoga, two marches each of kira, at the residence of nagozigombi, mtesa's border officer, who gave them two bullocks, but advised their returning at once to inform the king that the independent wasoga had been fighting with his dependent wasoga subjects for some time, and the battle would not be over for two months or more, unless he sent an army to their assistance. i now sent bombay to the king to request an interview, as i had much of importance to tell him; but the could not be seen, as he was deep in the interior of the palace enjoying the society of his wives. the kamraviona, however, was found there waiting, as usual, on the mere chance of his majesty taking it into his head to come out. he asked bombay if it was true the woman he gave me ran away; and when bombay told him, he said, "oh, he should have chained her for two or three days, until she became accustomed to her residence; for women often take fright and run away in that way, believing strangers to be cannibals." but bombay replied, "she was not good enough for bana; he let her go off like a dog; he wants a young and beautiful mhuma, or none at all." "ah, well, then, if he is so particular, he must wait a bit, for we have none on hand. what i gave him is the sort of creature we give all our guests." a msoga was sent by the king to take the dead adjutant of yesterday out of the nest--for all wasoga are expert climbers, which is not the case with the waganda; but the man was attacked half-way up the tree by a swarm of bees, and driven down again. 14th.--after all the vexatious haggling for a house, i gained my object to-day by a judicious piece of bribery which i had intended to accomplish whenever i could. i now succeeded in sending--for i could not, under the jealous eyes in uganda, get it done earlier--a present of fifteen pints mixed beads, twenty blue eggs, and five copper bracelets, to the commander-in-chief, as a mark of friendship. at the same time i hinted that i should like him to use his influence in obtaining for me a near and respectable residence, where i hoped he, as well as all the waganda nobility, would call upon me; for my life in uganda was utterly miserable, being shut up like a hermit by myself every day. the result was, that a number of huts in a large plantain garden were at once assigned to me, on the face of a hill, immediately overlooking and close to the main road. it was considered the "west end." it had never before been occupied by any visitors excepting wahinda ambassadors; and being near, and in full view of the palace, was pleasant and advantageous, as i could both hear the constant music, and see the throngs of people ever wending their way to and from the royal abodes. i lost no time in moving all my property, turning out the original occupants--in selecting the best hut for myself, giving the rest to my three officers--and ordering my men to build barracks for themselves, in street form, from my hut to the main road. there was one thing only left to be done; the sanitary orders of uganda required every man to build himself a house of parliament, such being the neat and cleanly nature of the waganda--a pattern to all other negro tribes. 15th.--as nobody could obtain an interview with the king yesterday, i went to the palace to-day, and fired three shots--a signal which was at once answered from within by a double discharge of a gun i had just lent him on his returning my rifle. in a little while, as soon as he had time to dress, the king, walking like a lion, sallied forth, leading his white dog, and beckoned me to follow him to the state hut, the court of which was filled with squatting men as usual, well dressed, and keeping perfect order. he planted himself on his throne, and begged me to sit by his side. then took place the usual scene of a court levee, as described in chapter x., with the specialty, in this instance, that the son of the chief executioner--one of the highest officers of state--was led off for execution, for some omission or informality in his n'yanzigs, or salutes. at this levee sundry wakungu of rank complained that the wanyambo plundered their houses at night, and rough-handled their women, without any respect for their greatness, and, when caught, said they were bana's men. bombay, who was present, heard the complaint, and declared these were suwarora's men, who made use of the proximity of my camp to cover their own transgressions. then suwarora's deputation, who were also present, cringed forward, n'yanzigging like waganda, and denied the accusation, when the king gave all warning that he would find out the truth by placing guards on the look-out at night. till this time the king had not heard one word about the defeat of the party sent for petherick. his kingdom might have been lost, and he would have been no wiser; when the officer who led mabruki came forward and told him all that had happened, stating, in addition to what i heard before, that they took eighty men with them, and went into battle three times successfully. dismissing business, however, the king turned to me, and said he never saw anything so wonderful as my shooting in his life; he was sure it was done by magic, as my gun never missed, and he wished i would instruct him in the art. when i denied there was any art in shooting, further than holding the gun straight, he shook his head, and getting me to load his revolving pistol for him, he fired all five barrels into two cows before the multitude. he then thought of adjutant-shooting with ball, left the court sitting, desired me to follow him, and leading the way, went into the interior of the palace, where only a few select officers were permitted to follow us. the birds were wild, and as nothing was done, i instructed him in the way to fire from his shoulder, placing the gun in position. he was shy at first, and all the people laughed at my handling royalty like a schoolboy; but he soon took to it very good-naturedly, when i gave him my silk necktie and gold crest-ring, explaining their value, which he could not comprehend, and telling him we gentlemen prided ourselves on never wearing brass or copper. he now begged hard for shot; but i told him again his only chance of getting any lay in opening the road onwards; it was on this account, i said, i had come to see him to-day. he answered, "i am going to send an army to usoga to force the way from where your men were turned back." but this, i said, would not do for me, as i saw his people travelled like geese, not knowing the direction of gani, or where they were going to when sent. i proposed that if he would call all his travelling men of experience together, i would explain matters to them by a map i had brought; for i should never be content till i saw petherick. the map was then produced. he seemed to comprehend it immediately, and assembled the desired wakungu; but, to my mortification, he kept all the conversation to himself, waganda fashion; spoke a lot of nonsense; and then asked his men what they thought had better be done. the sages replied, "oh, make friends, and do the matter gently." but the king proudly raised his head, laughed them to scorn, and said, "make friends with men who have crossed their spears with us already! nonsense! they would only laugh at us; the uganda spear alone shall do it." hearing this bravado, the kamraviona, the pages, and the elders, all rose to a man, with their sticks, and came charging at their king, swearing they would carry out his wished with their lives. the meeting now broke up in the usual unsatisfactory, unfinished manner, by the king rising and walking away, whilst i returned with the kamraviona, who begged for ten more blue eggs in addition to my present to make a full necklace, and told my men to call upon him in the morning, when he would give me anything i wished to eat. bombay was then ordered to describe what sort of food i lived on usually; when, mganda fashion, he broke a stick into ten bits, each representing a differing article, and said, "bana eat mixed food always"; and explained that stick no. 1 represented beef; no. 2, mutton; no. 3, fowl; no. 4, eggs; no. 5, fish; no. 6, potatoes; no. 7, plantains; no. 8, pombe; no. 9, butter; no. 10, flour. 16th.--to-day the king was amusing himself among his women again, and not to be seen. i sent bombay with ten blue eggs as a present for the kamraviona, intimating my desire to call upon him. he sent me a goat and ten fowls' eggs, saying he was not visible to strangers on business to-day. i inferred that he required the king's permission to receive me. this double failure was a more serious affair then a mere slight; for my cows were eaten up, and my men clamouring incessantly for food; and though they might by orders help themselves "ku n'yangania"--by seizing--from the waganda, it hurt my feelings so much to witness this, that i tried from the first to dispense with it, telling the king i had always flogged my men for stealing, and now he turned them into a pack of thieves. i urged that he should either allow me to purchase rations, or else feed them from the palace as rumanika did; but he always turned a deaf ear, or said that what sunna his father had introduced it ill became him to subvert; and unless my men helped themselves they would die of starvation. on the present emergency i resolved to call upon the queen. on reaching the palace, i sent an officer in to announce my arrival, and sat waiting for the reply fully half an hour, smoking my pipe, and listening to her in the adjoining court, where music was playing, and her voice occasionally rent the air with merry boisterous laughing. the messenger returned to say no one could approach her sanctuary or disturb her pleasure at this hour; i must wait and bide my time, as the uganda officers do. whew! here was another diplomatic crisis, which had to be dealt with in the usual way. "i bide my time!" i said, rising in a towering passion, and thrashing the air with my ramrod walking-stick, before all the visiting wakungu, "when the queen has assured me her door would always be open to me! i shall leave this court at once, and i solemnly swear i shall never set foot in it again, unless some apology be made for treating me like a dog." then, returning home, i tied up all the presents her majesty had given me in a bundle, and calling maula and my men together, told them to take them where they came from; for it ill became me to keep tokens of friendship when no friendship existed between us. i came to make friends with the queen, not to trade or take things from her--and so forth. the blackguard maula, laughing, said, "bana does not know what he is doing; it is a heinous offence in uganda sending presents back; nobody for their lives dare do so to the queen; her wrath would know no bounds. she will say, 'i took a few trifles from bana as specimens of his country, but they shall all go back, and the things the king has received shall go back also, for we are all of one family'; and then won't bana be very sorry? moreover, wakungu will be killed by dozens, and lamentations will reign throughout the court to propitiate the devils who brought such disasters on them." bombay, also in a fright, said, "pray don't do so; you don't know these savages as we do; there is no knowing what will happen; it may defeat our journey altogether. further, we have had no food these four days, because row succeeds row. if we steal, you flog us; and if we ask the waganda for food, they beat us. we don't know what to do." i was imperative, however, and said, "maula must take back these things in the morning, or stand the consequences." in fact, i found that, like the organ-grinders in london, to get myself moved on i must make myself troublesome. 17th.--the queen's presents were taken back by maula and nasib, whilst i went to see the kamraviona. even this gentleman kept me waiting for some time to show his own importance, and then admitted me into one of his interior courts, where i found him sitting on the ground with several elders; whilst wasoga minstrels played on their lap-harps, and sang songs in praise of their king, and the noble stranger who wore fine clothes and eclipsed all previous visitors. at first, on my approach, the haughty young chief, very handsome, and twenty years of age, did not raise his head; then he begged me to be seated, and even enquired after my health, in a listless, condescending kind of manner, as if the exertion of talking was too much for his constitution or his rank; but he soon gave up this nonsense as i began to talk, inquired, amongst other things, why i did not see the waganda at my house, when i said i should so much like to make acquaintance with them, and begged to be introduced to the company who were present. i was now enabled to enlarge the list of topics on which it is prohibited to the waganda to speak or act under pain of death. no one even dare ever talk about the royal pedigree of the countries that have been conquered, or even of any neighbouring countries; no one dare visit the king's guests, or be visited by them, without leave, else the king, fearing sharers in his plunder, would say, what are you plucking our goose for? neither can any one cast his eye for a moment on the women of the palace, whether out walking or at home, lest he should be accused of amorous intentions. beads and brass wire, exchanged for ivory or slaves, are the only articles of foreign manufacture any mganda can hold in his possession. should anything else be seen in his house--for instance, cloth--his property would be confiscated and his life taken. i was now introduced to the company present, of whom one mgema, an elderly gentleman of great dignity, had the honour to carry sunna the late king; mpungu, who cooked for sunna, also ranks high in court; then usungu and kunza, executioners, rank very high, enjoying the greatest confidence with the king; and, finally, jumba and natigo, who traced their pedigree to the age of the first uganda king. as i took down a note of their several names, each seemed delighted at finding his name written down by me; and kunza, the executioner, begged as a great favour that i would plead to the king to spare his son's life, who, as i have mentioned, was ordered out to execution on the last levee day. at first i thought it necessary, for the sake of maintaining my dignity, to raise objections, and said it would ill become one of my rank to make any request that might possibly be rejected; but as the kamraviona assured me there would be no chance of failure, and everybody else agreed with him, i said it would give me intense satisfaction to serve him; and the old man squeezed my hand as if overpowered with joy. this meeting, as might be imagined, was a very dull one, because the company, being tongue-tied as regards everything of external interest, occupied themselves solely on matters of home business, or indulged their busy tongues, waganda fashion, in gross flattery of their "illustrious visitor." in imitation of the king, the kamraviona now went from one hut to another, requesting us to follow that we might see all his greatness, and then took me alone into a separate court, to show me his women, some five-and-twenty of the ugliest in uganda. this, he added, was a mark of respect he had never conferred on any person before; but, fearing lest i should misunderstand his meaning and covet any of them, he said, "mind they are only to be looked at." as we retired to the other visitors, the kamraviona, in return for some courteous remarks of mine, said all the waganda were immensely pleased with my having come to visit them; and as he heard my country is governed by a woman, what would i say if he made the waganda dethrone her, and create me king instead? without specially replying, i showed him a map, marking off the comparative sizes of british and waganda possessions, and shut him up. the great kamraviona, or commander-in-chief, with all his wives, has no children, and was eager to know if my skill could avail to remove this cloud in his fortunes. he generously gave me a goat and eggs, telling my men they might help themselves to plantains from any gardens they liked beyond certain limits, provided they did not enter houses or take anything else. he then said he was tired and walked away without another word. on returning home i found nasib and maula waiting for me, with all the articles that had been returned to the queen very neatly tied together. they had seen her majesty, who, on receiving my message, pretended excessive anger with her doorkeeper for not announcing my arrival yesterday--flogged him severely--inspected all the things returned--folded them up again very neatly with her own hands--said she felt much hurt at the mistake which had arisen, and hoped i would forgive and forget it, as her doors would always be open to me. i now had a laugh at my friends maula and bombay for their misgivings of yesterday, telling them i knew more of human nature than they did; but they shook their heads, and said it was all very well bana having done it, but if arabs or any other person had tried the same trick, it would have been another affair. "just so," said i; "but then, don't you see, i know my value here, which makes all the difference you speak of." 18th.--whilst walking towards the palace to pay the king a friendly visit, i met two of my men speared on the head, and streaming with blood; they had been trying to help themselves to plantains carried on the heads of waganda; but the latter proving too strong, my people seized a boy and woman from their party as witnesses, according to uganda law, and ran away with them, tied hand and neck together. with this addition to my attendance i first called in at the kamraviona's for justice; but as he was too proud to appear at once, i went on to the king's fired three shots as usual, and obtained admittance at once, when i found him standing in a yard dressed in cloth, with his iron chair behind him, and my double-gun loaded with half charges of powder and a few grains of iron shot, looking eagerly about for kites to fly over. his quick eye, however, readily detected my wounded men and prisoners, as also some wazinza prisoners led in by waganda police, who had been taken in the act of entering waganda houses and assailing their women. thus my men were cleared of a false stigma; and the king, whilst praising them, ordered all the wazinza to leave his dominions on the morrow. the other case was easily settled by my wounded men receiving orders to keep their prisoners till claimed, when, should any people come forward, they would be punished, otherwise their loss in human stock would be enough. the wanguana had done quite right to seize on the highway, else they would have starved; such was the old law, and such is the present one. it was no use our applying for a change of system. at this stage of the business, the birds he was watching having appeared, the king, in a great state of excitement, said, "shoot that kite," and then "shoot that other"; but the charges were too light; and the birds flew away, kicking with their claws as if merely stung a little. whilst this was going on, the kamraviona, taking advantage of my having opened the door with the gun, walked in to make his salutations. a blacksmith produced two very handsome spears, and a fisherman a basket of fish, from which two fish were taken out and given to me. the king then sat on his iron chair, and i on a wooden box which i had contrived to stuff with the royal grass he gave me, and so made a complete miniature imitation of his throne. the folly in now allowing me to sit upon my portable iron stool, as an ingenious device for carrying out my determination to sit before him like an englishman. i wished to be communicative, and, giving him a purse of money, told him the use and value of the several coins; but he paid little regard to them, and soon put them down. the small-talk of uganda had much more attractions to his mind than the wonders of the outer world, and he kept it up with his kamraviona until rain fell and dispersed the company. 19th.--as the queen, to avoid future difficulties, desired my officers to acquaint her beforehand whenever i wished to call upon her, i sent nasib early to say i would call in the afternoon; but he had to wait till the evening before he could deliver the message, though she had been drumming and playing all the day. she then complained against my men for robbing her gardeners on the highway, wished to know why i didn't call upon her oftener, appointed the following morning for an interview, and begged i would bring her some liver medicines, as she suffered from constant twinges in her right side, sealing her "letter" with a present of a nest of eggs and one fowl. whilst nasib was away, i went to the kamraviona to treat him as i had the king. he appeared a little more affable to-day, yet still delighted in nothing but what was frivolous. my beard, for instance, engrossed the major part of the conversation; all the waganda would come out in future with hairy faces; but when i told them that, to produce such a growth, they must wash their faces with milk, and allow a cat to lick it off, they turned up their noses in utter contempt. 20th.--i became dead tired of living all alone, with nothing else to occupy my time save making these notes every day in my office letter-book, as my store of stationery was left at karague. i had no chance of seeing any visitors, save the tiresome pages, who asked me to give or to do something for the king every day; and my prospect was cheerless, as i had been flatly refused a visit to usoga until grant should come. for want of better amusement, i made a page of lugoi, a sharp little lad, son of the late beluch, but adopted by uledi, and treated him as a son, which he declared he wished to be, for he liked me better than uledi as a father. he said he disliked uganda, where people's lives are taken like those of fowls; and wished to live at the coast, the only place he ever heard of, where all the wanguana come from--great swells in lugoi's estimation. now, with lugoi dressed in a new white pillow-case, with holes trimmed with black tape for his head and arms to go through, a dagger tied with red bindera round his waist, and a square of red blanket rolled on his shoulder as a napkin, for my gun to rest on, or in place of a goat-skin run when he wished to sit down, i walked off to inquire how the kamraviona was, and took my pictures with me. lugoi's dress, however, absorbed all their thoughts, and he was made to take it off and put it on again as often as any fresh visitor came to call. hardly a word was said about anything else; even the pictures, which generally are in such demand, attracted but little notice. i asked the kamraviona to allow me to draw his pet dog; when the king's sister miengo came in and sat down, laughing and joking with me immoderately. at first there was a demur about my drawing the dog--whether from fear of bewitching the animal or not, i cannot say; but instead of producing the pet--a beautifully-formed cream-coloured dog--a common black one was brought in, which i tied in front of miengo, and then drew both woman and dog together. after this unlawful act was discovered, of drawing the king's sister without his consent, the whole company roared with laughter, and pretended nervous excitement lest i should book them likewise. one of my men, sangoro, did not return to camp last night from foraging; and as my men suspect the waganda must have murdered him, i told the kamraviona, requesting him to find out; but he coolly said, "look for him yourselves two days more, for wanguana often make friends with our people, and so slip away from their masters; but as they are also often murdered, provided you cannot find him in that time, we will have the mganga out." 21st.--last night i was turned out of my bed by a terrible hue and cry from the quarter allotted to rozaro and his wanyambo companions; for the waganda had threatened to demolish my men, one by one, for seizing their pombe and plaintains, though done according to the orders of the king; and now, finding the wanyambo nearest to the road, they set on them by moonlight, with spear and club, maltreating them severely, till, with reinforcements, the wanyambo gained the ascendancy, seized two spears and one shield as a trophy, and drove their enemies off. in the morning, i sent the wakungu off with the trophies to the king, again complaining that he had turned my men into a pack of highwaymen, and, as i foresaw, had thus created enmity between the waganda and them, much to my annoyance. i therefore begged he would institute some means to prevent any further occurrence of such scenes, otherwise i would use firearms in self-defence. whilst these men were on this mission, i went on a like errand to the queen, taking my page lugoi with the liver medicine. the first object of remark was lugoi, as indeed it was everywhere; for, as i walked along, crowds ran after the little phenomenon. then came the liver questions; and, finally what i wanted--her complaint against my men for robbing on the road, as it gave me the opportunity of telling her the king was doing what i had been trying to undo with my stick ever since i left the coast; and i begged she would use influence to correct these disagreeables. she told me for the future to send my men to her palace for food, and rob no more; in the meanwhile, here were some plantains for them. she then rose and walked away, leaving me extremely disappointed that i could not make some more tangible arrangement with her--such as, if my men came and found the gate shut, what were they to do then? there were forty-five of them; how much would she allow; etc. etc. but this was a true specimen of the method of transacting business among the royal family of uganda. they gave orders without knowing how they are to be carried out, and treat all practical arrangements as trifling details not worth attending to. after this unsatisfactory interview, i repaired to the king's, knowing the power of my gun to obtain an interview, whilst doubting the ability of the wakungu to gain an audience for me. such was the case. these men had been sitting all day without seeing the king, and three shots opened his gate immediately to me. he was sitting on the iron chair in the shade of the court, attended by some eighty women, tweedling the loading rod in his fingers; but as my rod appeared a better one than his, they were exchanged. i then gave him a tortoise-shell comb to comb his hair straight with, as he invariably remarked on the beautiful manner in which i dressed my hair, making my uncap to show it to his women, and afterwards asked my men to bring on the affair of last night. they feared, they said, to speak on such subjects whilst the women were present. i begged for a private audience; still they would not speak until encouraged and urged beyond all patience. i said, in kisuahili, "kbakka" (king), "my men are afraid to tell you what i want to say"; when maula, taking advantage of my having engaged his attention, though the king did not understand one word i said, said of himself, by way of currying favour, "i saw a wonderful gun in rumankika's hands, with six barrells; not a short one like your fiver" (meaning the revolving pistol) "but a long one, as long as my arm." "indeed," says the king, "we must have that." a page was then sent for by maula, who, giving him a bit of stick representing the gun required, told him to fetch it immediately. the king then said to me, "what is powder made of?" i began with sulphur (kibriti), intending to explain everything; but the word kibriti was enough for him, and a second stick was sent for kibriti, the bearer being told to hurry for his life and fetch it. the king now ordered some high officers who were in waiting to approach. they come, almost crouching to their knees, with eyes averted from the women, and n'yanzigged for the favour of being called, till they streamed with perspiration. four young women, virgins, the daughters of these high officers, nicely dressed, were shown in as brides, and ordered to sit with the other women. a gamekeeper brought in baskets small antelopes, called mpeo--with straight horns resembling those of the saltiana, but with coats like the hog-deer of india--intended for the royal kitchen. elderly gentlemen led in goats as commutation for offences, and went through the ceremonies due for the favour of being relieved of so much property. ten cows were then driven in, plundered from unyoro, and outside, the voices of the brave army who captured them were heard n'yanzigging vehemently. lastly, some beautifully made shields were presented, and, because extolled, n'yanzigged over; when the king rose abruptly and walked straight away, leaving my fools of men no better off for food, no reparation for their broken heads, than if i had never gone there. 22d.--i called on the queen to inquire after her health, and to know how my men were to be fed; but, without giving me time to speak, she flew at me again about my men plundering. the old story was repeated; i had forty-five hungry men, who must have food, and unless either she or the king would make some proper provision for them, i could not help it. again she promised to feed them, but she objected to them bearing swords, "for of what use are swords? if the waganda don't like the wanguana, can swords prevail in our country?" and, saying this, she walked away. i thought to myself that she must have directed the attack upon my camp last night and is angry at the wanguana swords driving her men away. at 3 p.m. i visited the king, to have a private chat, and state my grievances; but the three shots fired brought him out to levee, when animals and sundry other things were presented; and appointments of wakungu were made for the late gallant services of some of the men in plundering unyoro. the old executioner, kunza, being present, i asked the king to pardon his son. surprised, at first mtesa said, "can it be possible bana has asked for this?" and when assured, in great glee he ordered the lad's release, amidst shouts of laughter from everybody but the agitated father, who n'yanzigged, cried, and fell at my feet, making a host of powerful signs as a token of his gratitude; for his heart was too full of emotion to give utterance to his feelings. the king them, in high good-humour, said, "you have called on me many times without broaching the subject of usoga, and perhaps you may fancy we are not exerting ourselves in the matter; but my army is only now returning from war" (meaning plundering in unyoro), "and i am collecting another one, which will open usoga effectually." before i could say anything, the king started up in his usual manner, inviting a select few to follow him to another court, when my medicine-chest was inspected, and i was asked to operate for fistula on one of the royal executioners. i had no opportunity of incurring this responsibility; for while professing to prepare for the operation, the king went off it a fling. when i got home i found sangoro, whom we thought lost or murdered, quietly ensconced in camp. he had been foraging by himself a long way from camp, in a neighbourhood where many of the king's women are kept; and it being forbidden ground, he was taken up by the keepers, placed in the stocks, and fed, until to-day, when he extricated his legs by means of his sword, and ran away. my ever-grumbling men mobbed me again, clamouring for food, saying, as they eyed my goats, i lived at ease and overlooked their wants. in vain i told them they had fared more abundantly than i had since we entered uganda; whilst i spared my goats to have a little flesh of their cows as rapidly as possible, selling the skins for pombe, which i seldom tasted; they robbed me as long as i had cloth or beads, and now they had all become as fat as hogs by lifting food off the waganda lands. as i could not quiet them, i directed that, early next morning, maula should go to the king and nasib to the queen, while i proposed going to kamraviona's to work them all three about this affair of food. 23d.--according to the plan of last night, i called early on the kamraviona. he promised me assistance, but with an air which seemed to say, what are the sufferings of other men to me? so i went home to breakfast, doubting if anything ever would be done. as kaggo, however, the second officer of importance, had expressed a wish to see me, i sent bombay to him for food, and waited the upshot. presently the king sent to say he wished to see me with my compass; for the blackguard maula had told him i possessed a wonderful instrument, by looking at which i could find my way all over the world. i went as requested, and found the king sitting outside the palace on my chair dressed in cloths, with my silk neckerchief and crest-ring, playing his flute in concert with his brothers, some thirty-odd young men and boys, one half of them manacled, the other half free, with an officer watching over them to see that they committed no intrigues. we then both sat side by side in the shade of the courtwalls, conversed and had music by turns; for the king had invited his brothers here to please me, the first step towards winning the coveted compass. my hair must now be shown and admired, then my shoes taken off and inspected, and my trousers tucked up to show that i am white all over. just at this time bombay, who had been in great request, came before us laden with plantains. this was most opportune; for the king asked what he had been about, and then the true state of the case as regards my difficulties in obtaining food were, i fancy, for the first time, made known to him. in a great fit of indignation he said, "i once killed a hundred wakungu in a single day, and now, if they won't feed my guests, i will kill a hundred more; for i know the physic for bumptiousness." then, sending his brothers away, he asked me to follow him into the back part of the palace, as he loved me so much he must show me everything. we walked along under the umbrella, first looking down one street of huts, then up another, and, finally, passing the sleeping-chamber, stopped at one adjoining it. "that hut," said the king, "is the one i sleep in; no one of my wives dare venture within it unless i call her." he let me feel immediately that for the distinction conferred on me in showing me this sacred hut a return was expected. could i after that refuse him such a mere trifle as a compass? i told him he might as well put my eyes out and ask me to walk home, as take away that little instrument, which could be of no use to him, as he could not read or understand it. but this only excited his cupidity; he watched it twirling round and pointing to the north, and looked and begged again, until, tired of his importunities, i told him i must wait until the usoga road was open before i could part with it, and then the compass would be nothing to what i would give him. hearing this, "that is all on my shoulders; as sure as i live it shall be done; for that country has no king, and i have long been desirous of taking it." i declined, however, to give him the instrument on the security of his promise, and he went to breakfast. i walked off to usungu to see what i could do for him in his misery. i found that he had a complication of evils entirely beyond my healing power, and among them inveterate forms of the diseases which are generally associated with civilisation and its social evils. i could do nothing to cure him, but promised to do whatever was in my power to alleviate his sufferings. 24th.--before breakfast i called on poor usungu, prescribing hot coffee to be drunk with milk every morning, which astonished him not a little, as the negroes only use coffee for chewing. he gave my men pombe and plantains. on my return i met a page sent to invite me to the palace. i found the king sitting with a number of women. he was dressed in european clothes, part of them being a pair of trousers he begged for yesterday, that he might appear like bana. this was his first appearance in trousers, and his whole attire, contrasting strangely with his native habiliments, was in his opinion very becoming, though to me a little ridiculous; for the legs of the trousers, as well as the sleeves of the waistcoat, were much too short, so that his black feet and hands stuck out at the extremities as an organ-player's monkey's do, whilst the cockscomb on his head prevented a fez cap, which was part of his special costume for the occasion, from sitting properly. this display over, the women were sent away, and i saw shown into a court, where a large number of plantains were placed in a line upon the ground for my men to take away, and we were promised the same treat every day. from this we proceeded to another court, where we sat in the shade together, when the women returned again, but were all dumb, because my interpreters dared not for their lives say anything, even on my account, to the king's women. getting tired, i took out my sketch-book and drew lubuga, the pet, which amused the king immensely as he recognised her cockscomb. then twenty naked virgins, the daughters of wakungu, all smeared and shining with grease, each holding a small square of mbugu for a fig-leaf, marched in a line before us, as a fresh addition to the harem, whilst the happy fathers floundered n'yanzigging on the ground, delighted to find their darlings appreciated by the king. seeing this done in such a quiet mild way before all my men, who dared not lift their heads to see it, made me burst into a roar of laughter, and the king, catching the infection from me, laughed as well: but the laughing did not end there--for the pages, for once giving way to nature, kept bursting--my men chuckled in sudden gusts--while even the women, holding their mouths for fear of detection, responded--and we all laughed together. then a sedate old dame rose from the squatting mass, ordered the virgins to right-about, and marched them off, showing their still more naked reverses. i now obtained permission for the wakungu to call upon me, and fancied i only required my interpreters to speak out like men when i had anything to say, to make my residence in uganda both amusing and instructive; but though the king, carried off by the prevailing good-humour of the scene we had both witnessed, supported me, i found that he had counter-ordered what he had said as soon as i had gone, and, in fact, no mkungu ever dared come near me. 25th.--to-day i visited usungu again, and found him better. he gave pombe and plantains for my people, but would not talk to me, though i told him he had permission to call on me. i have now been for some time within the court precincts, and have consequently had an opportunity of witnessing court customs. among these, nearly every day since i have changed my residence, incredible as it may appear to be, i have seen one, two, or three of the wretched palace women led away to execution, tied by the hand, and dragged along by one of the body-guard, crying out, as she went to premature death, "hai minange!" (o my lord!) "kbakka!" (my king!) "hai n'yawo!" (my mother!) at the top of her voice, in the utmost despair and lamentation; and yet there was not a soul who dared lift hand to save any of them, though many might be heard privately commenting on their beauty. 26th.--to-day, to amuse the king, i drew a picture of himself holding a levee, and proceeded to visit him. on the way i found the highroad thronged with cattle captured in unyoro; and on arrival at the ante-chamber, amongst the officers in waiting, masimbi (mr cowries or shells), the queen's uncle, and congow, a young general, who once led an army into unyoro, past kamrasi's palace. they said they had obtained leave for me to visit them, and were eagerly looking out for the happy event. at once, on firing, i was admitted to the king's favourite place, which, now that the king had a movable chair to sit upon, was the shade of the court screen. we had a chat; the picture was shown to the women; the king would like to have some more, and gave me leave to draw in the palace any time i liked. at the same time he asked for my paint-box, merely to look at it. though i repeatedly dunned him for it, i could never get it back from him until i was preparing to leave uganda. 27th.--after breakfast i started on a visit to congow; but finding he had gone to the king as usual, called at masimbi's and he being absent also, i took advantage of my proximity to the queen's palace to call on her majesty. for hours i was kept waiting; firstly, because she was at breakfast; secondly, because she was "putting on medicine"; and, thirdly, because the sun was too powerful for her complexion; when i became tired of her nonsense, and said, "if she does not wish to see me, she had better say so at once, else i shall walk away; for the last time i came i saw her but for a minute, when she rudely turned her back upon me, and left me sitting by myself." i was told not to be in a hurry--she would see me in the evening. this promise might probably be fulfilled six blessed hours from the time when it was made; but i thought to myself, every place in uganda is alike when there is no company at home, and so i resolved to sit the time out, like patience on a monument, hoping something funny might turn up after all. at last her majesty stumps out, squats behind my red blanket, which is converted into a permanent screen, and says hastily, or rather testily, "can't bana perceive the angry state of the weather?--clouds flying about, and the wind blowing half a gale? whenever that is the case, i cannot venture out." taking her lie without an answer, i said, i had now been fifty days or so doing nothing in uganda--not one single visitor of my own rank ever came near me, and i could not associated with people far below her condition and mine--in fact, all i had to amuse me at home now was watching a hen lay her eggs upon my spare bed. her majesty became genial, as she had been before, and promised to provide me with suitable society. i then told her i had desired my officers several times to ask the king how marriages were conducted in this country, as they appeared so different from ours, but they always said they dared not put such a question to him, and now i hoped she would explain it to me. to tell her i could not get anything from the king, i knew would be the surest way of eliciting what i wanted from her, because of the jealousy between the two courts; and in this instance it was fully proved, for she brightened up at once, and, when i got her to understand something of what i meant by a marriage ceremony, in high good humour entered on a long explanation, to the following effect:-there are no such things as marriages in uganda; there are no ceremonies attached to it. if any mkungu possessed of a pretty daughter committed an offence, he might give her to the king as a peace-offering; if any neighbouring king had a pretty daughter, and the king of uganda wanted her, she might be demanded as a fitting tribute. the wakungu in uganda are supplied with women by the king, according to their merits, from seizures in battle abroad, or seizures from refractory officers at home. the women are not regarded as property according to the wanyamuezi practice, though many exchange their daughters; and some women, for misdemeanours, are sold into slavery; whilst others are flogged, or are degraded to do all the menial services of the house. the wakungu then changed the subject by asking, if i married a black woman, would there be any offspring, and what would be their colour? the company now became jovial, when the queen improved it by making a significant gesture, and with roars of laughter asking me if i would like to be her son-in-law, for she had some beautiful daughters, either of the wahuma, or waganda breed. rather staggered at first by this awful proposal, i consulted bombay what i should do with one if i got her. he, looking more to number one than my convenience, said, "by all means accept the offer, for if you don't like her, we should, and it would be a good means of getting her out of this land of death, for all black people love zanzibar." the rest need not be told; as a matter of course i had to appear very much gratified, and as the bowl went round, all became uproarious. i must wait a day or two, however, that a proper selection might be made; and when the marriage came off, i was to chain the fair one two or three days, until she became used to me, else, from mere fright, she might run away. to keep up the spirits of the queen, though her frequent potions of pombe had wellnigh done enough, i admired her neck-ring, composed of copper wire, with a running inlaid twist of iron, and asked her why she wore such a wreath of vine-leaves, as i had often seen on some of the wakungu. on this she produced a number of rings similar to the one she wore, and taking off her own, placed it round my neck. then, pointing to her wreath, she said, "this is the badge of a kidnapper's office--whoever wears it, catches little children." i inferred that its possession, as an insignia of royalty, conferred on the bearer the power of seizure, as the great seal in this country confers power on public officers. the queen's dinner was now announced; and, desiring me to remain where i was for a short time, she went to it. she sent me several dishes (plantain-leaves), with well-cooked beef and mutton, and a variety of vegetables, from her table, as well as a number of round moist napkins, made in the shape of wafers, from the freshly-drawn plantain fibres, to wash the hands and face with. there was no doubt now about her culinary accomplishments. i told her so when she returned, and that i enjoyed her parties all the more because they ended with a dinner. "more pombe, more pombe," cried the queen, full of mirth and glee, helping everybody round in turn, and shouting and laughing at their kiganda witticisms--making, though i knew not a word said, an amusing scene to behold--till the sun sank; and her majesty remarking it, turned to her court and said, "if i get up, will bana also rise, and not accuse me of deserting him?" with this speech a general rising took place, and, watching the queen's retiring, i stood with my hat in hand, whilst all the wakungu fell upon their knees, and then all separated. 28th.--i went to the palace, and found, as usual, a large levee waiting the king's pleasure to appear; amongst whom were the kamraviona, masimbi, and the king's sister miengo. i fired my gun, and admitted at once, but none of the others could follow me save miengo. the king, sitting on the chair with his women by his side, ordered twelve cloths, the presents of former arab visitors, to be brought before him; and all of these i was desired to turn into european garments, like my own coats, trousers, and waistcoats. it was no use saying i had no tailors--the thing must be done somehow; for he admired my costume exceedingly, and wished to imitate it now he had cloth enough for ever to dispense with the mbugu. as i had often begged the king to induce his men, who are all wonderfully clever artisans, to imitate the chair and other things i gave him, i now told him if he would order some of his sempsters, who are far cleverer with the needle than my men, to my camp, i would cut up some old clothes, and so teach them how to work. this was agreed to, and five cows were offered as a reward; but as his men never came, mine had to do the job. maula then engaged the king's attention for fully an hour, relating what wonderful things bana kept in his house, if his majesty would only deign to see them; and for this humbug got rewarded by a present of three women. just at this juncture an adjutant flew overhead, and, by way of fun, i presented my gun, when the excited king, like a boy from school, jumped up, forgetting his company, and cried, "come, bana, and shoot the nundo; i know where he has gone--follow me." and away we went, first through one court, then through another, till we found the nundo perched on a tree, looking like a sedate old gentleman with a bald head, and very sharp, long nose. politeness lost the bird; for whilst i wished the king to shoot, he wished me to do so, from fear of missing it himself. he did not care about vultures--he could practise at them at any time; but he wanted a nundo above all things. the bird, however, took the hint, and flew away. chapter xiii. palace, uganda--continued a visit to a distinguished statesman--a visit from the king--royal sport--the queen's present of wives--the court beauties and their reverses--judicial procedure in uganda--buffalo-hunting--a musical party--my medical practice--a royal excursion on the n'yanza--the canoes of uganda--a regatta--rifle practice--domestic difficulties--interference of a magician--the king's brothers. 29th.--according to appointment i went early this morning to visit congow. he kept me some time waiting in his outer hut, and then called me in to where i found him sitting with his women--a large group, by no means pretty. his huts are numerous, the gardens and courts all very neat and well kept. he was much delighted with my coming, produced pombe, and asked me what i thought of his women, stripping them to the waist. he assured me that he had thus paid me such a compliment as nobody else had ever obtained, since the waganda are very jealous of one another--so much so, that any one would be killed if found starring upon a woman even in the highways. i asked him what use he had for so many women? to which he replied, "none whatever; the king gives them to us to keep up our rank, sometimes as many as one hundred together, and we either turn them into wives, or make servants of them, as we please." just then i heard that mkuenda, the queen's woman-keeper, was outside waiting for me, but dared not come in, because congow's women were all out; so i asked leave to go home to breakfast, much to the surprise of congow, who thought i was his guest for the whole day. it is considered very indecorous in uganda to call upon two persons in one day, though even the king or the queen should be one of them. then, as there was no help for it--congow could not detain me when hungry--he showed me a little boy, the only child he had, and said, with much fatherly pride, "both the king and queen have called on me to see this fine little fellow"; and we parted to meet again some other day. outside his gate i found mkuenda, who said the queen had sent him to invite "her son" to bring her some stomach medicine in the morning, and come to have a chat with her. with mkuenda i walked home; but he was so awed by the splendour of my hut, with its few blankets and bit of chintz, that he would not even sit upon a cow-skin, but asked if any waganda dared venture in there. he was either too dazzled or too timid to answer any questions, and in a few minutes walked away again. after this, i had scarcely swallowed by breakfast before i received a summons from the king to meet him out shooting, with all the wanguana armed, and my guns; and going towards the palace, found him with a large staff, pages and officers as well as women, in a plantain garden, looking eagerly out for birds, whilst his band was playing. in addition to his english dress, he wore a turban, and pretended that the glare of the sun was distressing his eyes--for, in fact, he wanted me to give him a wideawake like my own. then, as if a sudden freak had seized him, though i knew it was on account of maula's having excited his curiosity, he said, "where does bana live? lead away." bounding and scrambling, the wakungu, the women and all, went pell-mell through everything towards my hut. if the kamraviona or any of the boys could not move fast enough, on account of the crops on the fields, they were piked in the back till half knocked over; but, instead of minding, they trotted on, n'yanzigging as if honoured by a kingly poke, though treated like so many dogs. arrived at the hut, the king took off his turban as i took off my hat, and seated himself on my stool; whilst the kamraviona, with much difficulty, was induced to sit upon a cowskin, and the women at first were ordered to squat outside. everything that struck the eye was much admired and begged for, though nothing so much as my wideawake and mosquito-curtains; then, as the women were allowed to have a peep in and see bana in his den, i gave them two sacks of beads, to make the visit profitable, the only alternative left me from being forced into inhospitality, for no one would drink from my cup. moreover, a present was demanded by the laws of the country. the king, excitedly impatient, now led the way again, shooting hurry-scurry through my men's lines, which were much commented on as being different from waganda hutting, on to the tall tree with the adjutant's nest. one young bird was still living in it. there was no shot, so bullets must be fired; and the cunning king, wishing to show off, desired me to fire simultaneously with himself. we fired, but my bullet struck the bough the nest was resting on; we fired again, and the bullet passed through the nest without touching the bird. i then asked the king to allow me to try his whitworth, to which a little bit of stick, as a charm to secure a correct aim, had been tied below the trigger-guard. this time i broke the bird's leg, and knocked him half out of the nest; so, running up to the king, i pointed to the charm, saying, that has done it--hoping to laugh him out of the folly; but he took my joke in earnest, and he turned to his men, commenting on the potency of the charm. whilst thus engaged, i took another rifle and brought the bird down altogether. "woh, woh, woh!" shouted the king; "bana, mzungu, mzungu!" he repeated, leaping and clapping his hands, as he ran full speed to the prostrate bird, whilst the drums beat, and the wakungu followed him: "now, is not this a wonder? but we must go and shoot another." "where?" i said; "we may walk a long way without finding, if we have nothing but our eyes to see with. just send for your telescope, and then i will show you how to look for birds." surprised at this announcement, the king sent his pages flying for the instrument, and when it came i instructed him how to use it; when he could see with it, and understand its powers, his astonishment knew no bounds; and, turning to his wakungu, he said, laughing, "now i do see the use of this thing i have been shutting up in the palace. on that distant tree i can see three vultures. to its right there is a hut, with a woman sitting inside the portal, and many goats are feeding all about the palace, just as large and distinct as if i was close by them." the day was now far spent, and all proceeded towards the palace. on the way a mistletoe was pointed out as a rain-producing tree, probably because, on a former occasion, i had advised the king to grow groves of coffee-trees about his palace to improve its appearance, and supply the court with wholesome food--at the same time informing him that trees increase the falls of rain in a country, though very high ones would be dangerous, because they attract lightning. next the guns must be fired off; and, as it would be a pity to waste lead, the king, amidst thunders of applause, shot five cows, presenting his gun from the shoulder. so ended the day's work in the field, but not at home; for i had hardly arrived there before the pages hurried in to beg for powder and shot, then caps, then cloth, and, everything else failing, a load of beads. such are the persecutions of this negro land--the host every day must beg something in the most shameless manner from his guest, on the mere chance of gaining something gratis, though i generally gave the king some trifle when he least expected it, and made an excuse that he must wait for the arrival of fresh stores from gani when he asked. 30th.--to fulfil my engagement with the queen, i walked off to her palace with stomach medicine, thinking we were now such warm friends, all pride and distant ceremonies would be dispensed with; but, on the contrary, i was kept waiting for hours till i sent in word to say, if she did not want medicine, i wished to go home, for i was tired of uganda and everything belonging to it. this message brought her to her gate, where she stood laughing till the wahuma girls she had promised me, one of twelve and the other a little older, were brought in and made to squat in front of us. the elder, who was in the prime of youth and beauty, very large of limb, dark in colour, cried considerably; whilst the younger one, though very fair, had a snubby nose and everted lips, and laughed as if she thought the change in her destiny very good fun. i had now to make my selection, and took the smaller one, promising her to bombay as soon as we arrived on the coast, where, he said, she would be considered a hubshi or abyssinian. but when the queen saw what i had done, she gave me the other as well, saying the little one was too young to go alone, and, if separated, she would take fright and run away. then with a gracious bow i walked of with my two fine specimens of natural history, though i would rather have had princes, that i might have taken them home to be instructed in england; but the queen, as soon as we had cleared the palace, sent word to say she must have another parting look at her son with his wives. still laughing, she said, "that will do; you look beautiful; now go away home"; and off we trotted, the elder sobbing bitterly, the younger laughing. as soon as we reached home, my first inquiry was concerning their histories, of which they appeared to know but very little. the elder, whom i named meri (plantains), was obtained by sunna, the late king, as a wife, from nkole; and though she was a mere kahala, or girl, when the old king died, he was so attached to her he gave her twenty cows, in order that she might fatten up on milk after her native fashion; but on sunna's death, when the establishment of women was divided, meri fell to n'yamasore's (the queen's) lot. the lesser one, who still retains the name of kahala, said she was seized in unyoro by the waganda, who took her to n'yamasore, but what became of her father and mother she could not say. it was now dinner-time, and as the usual sweet potatoes and goat's flesh were put upon my box-table, i asked them to dine with me, and we became great friends, for they were assured they would finally get good houses and gardens at zanzibar; but nothing would induce either of them to touch food that had been cooked with butter. a dish of plantains and goat-flesh was then prepared; but though kahala wished to eat it, meri rejected the goat's flesh, and would not allow kahala to taste it either; and thus began a series of domestic difficulties. on inquiring how i could best deal with my difficult charge, i was told the wahuma pride was so great, and their tempers so strong, they were more difficult to break in than a phunda, or donkey, though when once tamed, they became the best of wives. 31st.--i wished to call upon the queen and thank her for her charming present, but my hungry men drove me to the king's palace in search of food. the gun firing brought mtesa out, prepared for a shooting trip, with his wakungu leading, the pages carrying his rifle and ammunition, and a train of women behind. the first thing seen outside the palace gate was a herd of cows, from which four were selected and shot at fifty paces by the king, firing from his shoulder, amidst thunders of applause and hand-shakings of the elders. i never saw them dare touch the king's hand before. then mtesa, turning kindly to me, said, "pray take a shot"; but i waived the offer off, saying he could kill better himself. ambitious of a cut above cows, the king tried his hand at some herons perched on a tree, and, after five or six attempts, hit one in the eye. hardly able to believe in his own skill, he stood petrified at first, and then ran madly to the fallen bird, crying, "woh, woh, woh! can this be?--is it true? woh, woh!" he jumped in the air, and all his men and women shouted in concert with him. then he rushes at me, takes both my hands--shakes, shakes--woh, woh!--then runs to his women, then to his men; shakes them all, woh-wohing, but yet not shaking or wohing half enough for his satisfaction, for he is mad with joy at his own exploit. the bird is then sent immediately to his mother, whilst he retires to his palace, woh-wohing, and taking "ten to the dozen" all the way and boasting of his prowess. "now, bana, tell me--do you not think, if two such shots as you and i were opposed to an elephant, would he have any chance before us? i know i can shoot--i am certain of it now. you have often asked me to go hippopotamus-shooting with you, but i staved it off until i learnt the way to shoot. now, however, i can shoot--and that remarkably well too, i flatter myself. i will have at them, and both of us will go on the lake together." the palace was now reached; musicians were ordered to play before the king, and wakungu appointments were made to celebrate the feats of the day. then the royal cutler brought in dinner-knives made of iron, inlaid with squares of copper and brass, and goats and vegetables were presented as usual, when by torchlight we were dismissed, my men taking with them as many plantains as they could carry. 1st.--i stayed at home all this day, because the king and queen had set it apart for looking at and arranging their horns--mapembe, or fetishes, as the learned call such things--to see that there are no imperfections in the uganga. this was something like an inquiry into the ecclesiastical condition of the country, while, at the same time, it was a religious ceremony, and, as such, was appropriate to the first day after the new moon appears. this being the third moon by account, in pursuance of ancient customs, all the people about court, including the king, shaved their heads--the king, however, retaining his cockscomb, the pages their double cockades, and the other officers their single cockades on the back of the head, or either side, according to the official rank of each. my men were occupied making trousers for the king all day; whilst the pages, and those sent to learn the art of tailoring, instead of doing their duty, kept continually begging for something to present the king. 2d.--the queen now taking a sporting fit into her head, sent for me early in the morning, with all my men, armed, to shoot a crested crane in her palace; but though we were there as required, we were kept waiting till late in the afternoon, when, instead of talking about shooting, as her wakungu had forbidden her doing it, she asked after her two daughters--whether they had run away, or if they liked their new abode? i replied i was sorry circumstances did not permit my coming to thank her sooner, for i felt grateful beyond measure to her for having charmed my house with such beautiful society. i did not follow her advice to chain either of them with iron, for i found cords of love, the only instrument white men know the use of, quite strong enough. fascinated with this speech, she said she would give me another of a middle age between the two, expecting, as i thought, that she would thus induce me to visit her more frequently than i did her son; but, though i thanked her, it frightened me from visiting her for ages after. she then said, with glowing pride, casting a sneer on the king's hospitality, "in the days of yore, sunna, whenever visitors came to see him, immediately presented them with women, and, secondly, with food; for he was very particular in looking after his guests' welfare, which is not exactly what you find the case now, i presume." the rest of the business of the day consisted in applications for medicine and medical treatment, which it was difficult satisfactorily to meet. 3d.--to-day katumba, the king's head page, was sent to me with deoles to be made into trousers and waistcoats, and a large sixty-dollar silk i had given him to cover the chair with. the king likes rich colours, and i was solemnly informed that he will never wear anything but clothes like bana. 4th.--by invitation i went to the palace at noon, with guns, and found the king holding a levee, the first since the new moon, with all heads shaved in the manner i have mentioned. soon rising, he showed the way through the palace to a pond, which is described as his bathing n'yanza, his women attending, and pages leading the way with his guns. from this we passed on to a jungle lying between the palace hill and another situated at the northern end of the lake, where wild buffaloes frequently lie concealed in the huge papyrus rushes of a miry drain; but as none could be seen at that moment, we returned again to the palace. he showed me large mounds of earth, in the shape of cocked hats, which are private observatories, from which the surrounding country can be seen. by the side of these observatories are huts, smaller than the ordinary ones used for residing in, where the king, after the exertion of "looking out," takes his repose. here he ordered fruit to be brought--the matunguru, a crimson pod filled with acid seeds, which has only been observed growing by the rivers or waters of uganda--and kasori, a sort of liquorice-root. he then commenced eating with us, and begging again, unsuccessfully, for my compass. i tried again to make him see the absurdity of tying a charm on whitworth's rifle, but without the least effect. in fact he mistook all my answers for admiration, and asked me, in the simplest manner possible, if i would like to possess a charm; and even when i said "no, i should be afraid of provoking lubari's" (god's) "anger if i did so," he only wondered at my obstinacy, so thoroughly was he wedded to his belief. he then called for his wideawake, and walked with us into another quarter of his palace, when he entered a dressing-hut, followed by a number of full-grown, stark-naked women, his valets; at the same time ordering a large body of women to sit on one side the entrance, whilst i, with bombay, were directed to sit on the other, waiting till he was ready to hold another levee. from this, we repaired to the great throne-hut, where all his wakungu at once formed court, and business was commenced. amongst other things, an officer, by name mbogo, or the buffalo, who had been sent on a wild-goose chase to look after mr petherick, described a journey he had made, following down the morning sun. after he had passed the limits of plantain-eating men, he came upon men who lived upon meat alone, who never wore mbugus, but either cloth or skins, and instead of the spear they used the double-edged sime. he called the people wasewe, and their chief kisawa; but the company pronounced them to be masawa (masai). after this, about eighty men were marched into the court, with their faces blackened, and strips of plantain-bark tied on their heads, each holding up a stick in his hand in place of a spear, under the regulation that no person is permitted to carry weapons of any sort in the palace. they were led by an officer, who, standing like a captain before his company, ordered them to jump and praise the king, acting the part of fugleman himself. then said the king, turning to me, "did i not tell you i had sent many men to fight? these are some of my army returned; the rest are coming, and will eventually, when all are collected, go in a body to fight in usoga." goats and other peace-offerings were then presented; and, finally a large body of officers came in with an old man, with his two ears shorn off for having been too handsome in his youth, and a young woman who, after four days' search, had been discovered in his house. they were brought for judgment before the king. nothing was listened to but the plaintiff's statement, who said he had lost the woman four days, and, after considerable search, had found her concealed by the old man, who was indeed old enough to be her grandfather. from all appearances one would have said the wretched girl had run away from the plaintiff's house in consequence of ill treatment, and had harboured herself on this decrepid old man without asking his leave; but their voices in defence were never heard, for the king instantly sentenced both to death, to prevent the occurrence of such impropriety again; and, to make the example more severe, decreed that their lives should not be taken at once, but, being fed to preserve life as long as possible, they were to be dismembered bit by bit, as rations for the vultures, every day, until life was extinct. the dismayed criminals, struggling to be heard, in utter despair, were dragged away boisterously in the most barbarous manner, to the drowning music of the milele and drums. the king, in total unconcern about the tragedy he had thus enacted, immediately on their departure said, "now, then, for shooting, bana; let us look at your gun." it happened to be loaded, but fortunately only with powder, to fire my announcement at the palace; for he instantly placed caps on the nipples, and let off one barrel by accident, the contents of which stuck in the thatch. this created a momentary alarm, for it was supposed the thatch had taken fire; but it was no sooner suppressed than the childish king, still sitting on his throne, to astonish his officers still more, levelled the gun from his shoulder, fired the contents of the second barrel into the faces of his squatting wakungu, and then laughed at his own trick. in the meanwhile cows were driven in, which the king ordered his wakungu to shoot with carbines; and as they missed them, he showed them the way to shoot with the whitworth, never missing. the company now broke up, but i still clung to the king, begging him to allow me to purchase food with beads, as i wanted it, for my establishment was always more or less in a starving state; but he only said, "let us know what you want and you shall always have it"; which, in uganda, i knew from experience only meant, don't bother me any more, but give me your spare money, and help yourself from my spacious gardens--uganda is before you. 5th--to-day the king went on a visit with his mother, and therefore neither of them could be seen by visitors. i took a stroll towards the n'yanza, passing through the plantain-groves occupied by the king's women, where my man sangoro had been twice taken up by the mgemma and put in the stocks. the plantain gardens were beautifully kept by numerous women, who all ran away from fright at seeing me, save one who, taken by surprise, threw herself flat on the ground, rolled herself up in her mbugu, and, kicking with her naked heels, roared murder and help, until i poked her up, and reproached her for her folly. this little incident made my fairies bolder, and, sidling up to me one by one, they sat in a knot with me upon the ground; then clasping their heads with their hands, they woh-wohed in admiration of the white man; they never in all their lives saw anything so wonderful; his wife and children must be like him; what would not sunna have given for such a treat?--but it was destined to mtesa's lot. what is the interpretation of this sign, if it does not point to the favour in which mtesa is upheld by the spirits? i wished to go, but no: "stop a little more," they said, all in a breath, or rather out of breath in their excitement; "remove the hat and show the hair; take off the shoes and tuck up the trousers; what on earth is kept in the pockets? oh, wonder of wonders!--and the iron!" as i put the watch close to the ear of one of them, "tick, tick, ticks--woh, woh, woh"--everybody must hear it; and then the works had to be seen. "oh, fearful!" said one, "hide your faces: it is the lubari. shut it up, bana, shut it up; we have seen enough; but you will come again and bring us beads." so ended the day's work. 6th.--to-day i sent bombay to the palace for food. though rain fell in torrents, he found the king holding a levee, giving appointments, plantations, and women, according to merit, to his officers. as one officer, to whom only one woman was given, asked for more, the king called him an ingrate, and ordered him to be cut to pieces on the spot; and the sentence was, as bombay told me, carried into effect--not with knives, for they are prohibited, but with strips of sharp-edged grass, after the executioners had first dislocated his neck by a blow delivered behind the head, with a sharp, heavy-headed club. no food, however, was given to my men, though the king, anticipating bombay's coming, sent me one load of tobacco, one of butter, and one of coffee. my residence in uganda became much more merry now, for all the women of the camp came daily to call on my two little girls; during which time they smoked my tobacco, chewed my coffee, drank my pombe, and used to amuse me with queer stories of their native land. rozaro's sister also came, and proposed to marry me, for maula, she said, was a brutal man; he killed one of his women because he did not like her, and now he had clipped one of this poor creature's ears off for trying to run away from him; and when abused for his brutality, he only replied, "it was no fault of his, as the king set the example in the country." in the evening i took a walk with kahala, dressed in a red scarf, and in company with lugoi, to show my children off in the gardens to my fair friends of yesterday. everybody was surprised. the mgemma begged us to sit with him and drink pombe, which he generously supplied to our heart's content; wondered at the beauty of kahala, wished i would give him a wife like her, and lamented that the king would not allow his to wear such pretty clothes. we passed on a little farther, and were invited to sit with another man, lukanikka, to drink pombe and chew coffee--which we did as before, meeting with the same remarks; for all waganda, instructed by the court, know the art of flattery better than any people in the world, even including the french. 7th.--in the morning, whilst it rained hard, the king sent to say that he had started buffalo-shooting, and expected me to join him. after walking a mile beyond the palace, we found him in a plantain garden, dressed in imitation of myself, wideawake and all, the perfect picture of a snob. he sent me a pot of pombe, which i sent home to the women, and walked off for the shooting-ground, two miles further on, the band playing in the front, followed by some hundred wakungu--then the pages, then the king, next myself, and finally the women--the best in front, the worst bringing up the rear, with the king's spears and shield, as also pots of pombe, a luxury the king never moves without. it was easy to see there would be no sport, still more useless of offer any remarks, therefore all did as they were bid. the broad road, like all in uganda, went straight over hill and dale, the heights covered with high grass or plantain groves, and the valleys with dense masses of magnificent forest-trees surrounding swamps covered with tall rushes half bridged. proceeding on, as we came to the first water, i commenced flirtations with mtesa's women, much to the surprise of the king and every one. the bridge was broken, as a matter of course; and the logs which composed it, lying concealed beneath the water, were toed successively by the leading men, that those who followed should not be tripped up by them. this favour the king did for me, and i in return for the women behind; they had never been favoured in their lives with such gallantry, and therefore could not refrain from laughing, which attracted the king's notice and set everybody in a giggle; for till now no mortal man had ever dared communicate with his women. shortly after this we left the highway, and, turning westwards, passed through a dense jungle towards the eastern shores of the murchison creek, cut by runnels and rivulets, where on one occasion i offered, by dumb signs to carry the fair ones pick-a-back over, and after crossing a second myself by a floating log, offered my hand. the leading wife first fears to take it, then grows bold and accepts it; when the prime beauty, lubuga, following in her wake, and anxious to feel, i fancy, what the white man is like, with an imploring face holds out both her hands in such a captivating manner, that though i feared to draw attention by waiting any longer, i could not resist compliance. the king noticed it; but instead of upbraiding me, passed it off as a joke, and running up to the kamraviona, gave him a poke in the ribs, and whispered what he had seen, as if it had been a secret. "woh, woh!" says the kamraviona, "what wonders will happen next?" we were now on the buffalo ground; but nothing could be seen save some old footprints of buffaloes, and a pitfall made for catching them. by this time the king was tired; and as he saw me searching for a log to sit upon, he made one of his pages kneel upon all fours and sat upon his back, acting the monkey in aping myself; for otherwise he would have sat on a mbugu, in his customary manner, spread on the ground. we returned, pushing along, up one way, then another, without a word, in thorough confusion, for the king delights in boyish tricks, which he has learned to play successfully. leaving the road and plunging into thickets of tall grass, the band and wakungu must run for their lives, to maintain the order of march, by heading him at some distant point of exit from the jungle; whilst the kamraviona, leading the pages and my men, must push head first, like a herd of buffaloes, through the sharp-cutting grass, at a sufficient rate to prevent the royal walk from being impeded; and the poor women, ready to sink with exhaustion, can only be kept in their places by fear of losing their lives. we had been out the whole day; still he did not tire of these tricks, and played them incessantly till near sundown, when we entered the palace. then the women and wakungu separating from us, we--that is, the king, the kamraviona, pages, and myself--sat down to a warm feast of sweet potatoes and plantains, ending with pombe and fruit, whilst moist circular napkins, made in the shape of magnificent wafers out of plantain fibre, acted at once both the part of water and towel. this over, as the guns had to be emptied, and it was thought sinful to waste the bullets, four cows were ordered in and shot by the king. thus ended the day, my men receiving one of the cows. 8th.--as mtesa was tired with his yesterday's work, and would not see anybody, i took lugoi and kahala, with a bundle of beads, to give a return to the mgemma for his late treat of pombe. his household men and women were immensely delighted with us, but more so, they said, for the honour of the visit. they gave us more pombe, and introduced us to one of n'yamasore's numerous sisters, who was equally charmed with myself and my children. the mgemma did not know how he could treat us properly, he said, for he was only a poor man; but he would order some fowls, that i might carry them away. when i refused this offer, because we came to see him, and not to rob him, he thought it the most beautiful language, and said he would bring them to the house himself. i added, i hoped he would do so in company with his wife, which he promised, though he never dared fulfil the promise; and, on our leaving, set all his servants to escort us beyond the premises. in the evening, as the king's musicians passed the camp, i ordered them in to play the milele, and give my men and children a treat of dancing. the performers received a bundle of beads and went away happy. 9th.--i called on congow, but found him absent, waiting on the king, as usual; and the king sent for my big rifle to shoot birds with. 10th.--in consequence of my having explained to the king the effect of the process of distilling, and the way of doing it, he sent a number of earthen pots and bugus of pombe that i might produce some spirits for him; but as the pots sent were not made after the proper fashion, i called at the palace and waited all day in the hope of seeing him. no one, however, dared enter his cabinet, where he had been practising "uganga" all day, and so the pombe turned sour and useless. such are the ways of uganda all over. 11th.--the king was out shooting; and as nothing else could be done, i invited uledi's pretty wife guriku to eat a mutton breakfast, and teach my child meri not to be so proud. in this we were successful; but whether her head had been turned, as bombay thought, or what else, we know not; but she would neither walk, nor talk, nor do anything but lie at full length all day long, smoking and lounging in thorough indolence. 12th.--i distilled some fresh pombe for the king; and taking it to him in the afternoon, fired guns to announce arrival. he was not visible, while fearful shrieks were heard from within, and presently a beautiful woman, one of the king's sisters, with cockscomb erect, was dragged out to execution, bewailing and calling on her king, the kamraviona, and mzungu, by turns, to save her life. would to god i could have done it! but i did not know her crime, if crime she had committed, and therefore had to hold my tongue, whilst the kamraviona, and other wakungu present, looked on with utter unconcern, not daring to make the slightest remark. it happened that irungu was present in the ante-chamber at this time; and as maula came with my party, they had a fight in respect to their merits for having brought welcome guests to their king. mtesa, it was argued, had given n'yamgundu more women and men than he did to maula, because he was the first to bring intelligence of our coming, as well as that of k'yengo, and suworora's hongo to his king; whilst, finally, he superseded maula by taking me out of his charge, and had done a further good service by sending men on to karague to fetch both grant and k'yengo. maula, although he had received the second reward, had literally done nothing, whilst irungu had been years absent at usui, and finally had brought a valuable hongo, yet he got less than maula. this, irungu said, was an injustice he would not stand; n'yamgundu fairly earned his reward, but maula must have been tricking to get more than himself. he would get a suitable offering of wire, and lay his complaint in court the first opportunity. "pooh, pooh! nonsense!" says maula, laughing; "i will give him more wires than you, and then let us see who will win the king's ear." upon this the two great children began collecting wire and quarrelling until the sun went down, and i went home. i did not return to a quiet dinner, as i had hoped, but to meet the summons of the king. thinking it policy to obey, i found him waiting my coming in the palace. he made apologies for not answering my gun, and tasted some spirits resembling toddy, which i had succeeded in distilling. he imbibed it with great surprise; it was wonderful tipple; he must have some more; and, for the purpose of brewing better, would send the barrel of an old brown bess musket, as well as more pombe and wood in the morning. 13th.--as nothing was done all day, i took the usual promenade in the seraglio park, and was accosted by a very pretty little woman, kariana, wife of dumba, who, very neatly dressed, was returning from a visit. at first she came trotting after me, then timidly paused, then advanced, and, as i approached, stood spellbound at my remarkable appearance. at last recovering herself, she woh-wohed with all the coquetry of a mganda woman, and a flirtation followed; she must see my hair, my watch, the contents of my pockets--everything; but that was not enough. i waved adieu, but still she followed. i offered my arm, showing her how to take it in european fashion, and we walked along to the surprise of everybody, as if we had been in hyde park rather than in central africa, flirting and coquetting all the way. i was surprised that no one came to prevent her forwardness; but not till i almost reached home did any one appear; and then, with great scolding, she was ordered to return--not, however, without her begging i would call in and see her on some future occasion, when she would like to give me some pombe. 14th.--as conflicting reports came about grant, the king very courteously, at my request, forwarded letters to him. i passed the day in distilling pombe, and the evening in calling on mrs dumba, with meri, kahala, lugoi, and a troop of wanyamuezi women. she was very agreeable; but as her husband was attending the palace, could not give pombe, and instead gave my female escort sundry baskets of plaintains and potatoes, signifying a dinner, and walked half-way home, flirting with me as before. 15th--i called on the king with all the spirits i had made, as well as the saccharine residue. we found him holding a levee, and receiving his offerings of a batch of girls, cows, goats, and other things of an ordinary nature. one of the goats presented gave me an opportunity of hearing one of the strangest stories i had yet heard in this strange country: it was a fine for attempted regicide, which happened yesterday, when a boy, finding the king alone, which is very unusual, walked up to him and threatened to kill him, because, he said, he took the lives of men unjustly. the king explained by description and pantomime how the affair passed. when the youth attacked him he had in his hand the revolving pistol i had given him, and showed us, holding the pistol to his cheek, how he had presented the muzzle to the boy, which, though it was unloaded, so frightened him that he ran away. all the courtiers n'yanzigged vigorously for the condescension of the king in telling the story. there must have been some special reason why, in a court where trifling breaches of etiquette were punished with a cruel death, so grave a crime should have been so leniently dealt with; but i could not get at the bottom of the affair. the culprit, a good-looking young fellow of sixteen or seventeen, who brought in the goat, made his n'yanzigs, stroked the goat and his own face with his hands, n'yanzigged again with prostrations, and retired. after this scene, officers announced the startling fact that two white men had been seen at kamrasi's, one with a beard like myself, the other smooth-faced. i jumped at this news, and said, "of course, they are there; do let me send a letter to them." i believed it to be petherick and a companion whom i knew he was to bring with him. the king, however, damped my ardour by saying the information was not perfect, and we must wait until certain wakungu, whom he sent to search in unyoro, returned. 16th.--the regions about the palace were all in a state of commotion to-day, men and women running for their lives in all directions, followed by wakungu and their retainers. the cause of all this commotion was a royal order to seize sundry refractory wakungu, with their property, wives, concubines--if such a distinction can be made in this country--and families all together. at the palace mtesa had a musical party, playing the flute occasionally himself. after this he called me aside, and said, "now, bana, i wish you would instruct me, as you have often proposed doing, for i wish to learn everything, though i have little opportunity for doing so." not knowing what was uppermost in his mind, i begged him to put whatever questions he liked, and he should be answered seriatim--hoping to find him inquisitive on foreign matters; but nothing was more foreign to his mind: none of his countrymen ever seemed to think beyond the sphere of uganda. the whole conversation turned on medicines, or the cause and effects of diseases. cholera, for instance, very much affected the land at certain seasons, creating much mortality, and vanishing again as mysteriously as it came. what brought this scourge? and what would cure it? supposing a man had a headache, what should he take for it? or a leg ache, or a stomach-ache, or itch; in fact, going the rounds of every disease he knew, until, exhausting the ordinary complaints, he went into particulars in which he was personally much interested; but i was unfortunately unable to prescribe medicines which produce the physical phenomenon next to his heart. 17th.--i called upon the king by appointment, and found a large court, where the wakungu caught yesterday, and sentenced to execution, received their reprieve on paying fines of cattle and young damsels--their daughters. a variety of charms, amongst which were some bits of stick strung on leather and covered with serpent-skin, were presented and approved of. kaggao, a large district officer, considered the second in rank here, received permission for me to call upon him with my medicines. i pressed the king again to send men with mine to kamrasi's to call petherick. at first he objected that they would be killed, but finally he yielded, and appointed budja, his unyoro ambassador, for the service. then, breaking up the court, he retired with a select party of wakungu, headed by the kamraviona, and opened a conversation on the subject which is ever uppermost with the king and his courtiers. 18th.--to-day i visited kaggao with my medicine-chest. he had a local disease, which he said came to him by magic, though a different cause was sufficiently obvious, and wanted medicine such as i gave mkuenda, who reported that i gave him a most wonderful draught. unfortunately i had nothing suitable to give my new patient, but cautioned him to have a care lest contagion should run throughout his immense establishment, and explained the whole of the circumstances to him. still he was not satisfied; he would give me slaves, cows, or ivory, if i would only cure him. he was a very great man, as i could see, with numerous houses, numerous wives, and plenty of everything, so that it was ill-becoming of him to be without his usual habits. rejecting his munificent offers, i gave him a cooling dose of calomel and jalap, which he drank like pombe, and pronounced beautiful--holding up his hands, and repeating the words "beautiful, beautiful! they are all beautiful together! there is bana beautiful! his box is beautiful! and his medicine beautiful!"--and, saying this, led us in to see his women, who at my request were grouped in war apparel--viz., a dirk fastened to the waist by many strings of coloured beads. there were from fifty to sixty women present, all very lady-like, but none of them pretty. kaggao then informed me the king had told all his wakungu he would keep me as his guest four months longer to see if petherick came; and should he not by that time, he would give me an estate, stocked with men, women, and cattle, in perpetuity, so that, if i ever wished to leave uganda, i should always have something to come back to; so i might now know what my fate was to be. before leaving, kaggao presented us with two cows and ten baskets of potatoes. 19th.--i sent a return present of two wires and twelve fundo of beads of sorts to kaggao, and heard that the king had gone to show himself off to his mother dressed bana fashion. in the evening katunzi, n'yamasore's brother, just returned from the unyoro plunder, called on me whilst i was at dinner. not knowing who he was, and surprised at such audacity in uganda, for he was the first officer who ever ventured to come near me in this manner, i offered him a knife and fork, and a share in the repast, which rather abashed him; for, taking it as a rebuff, he apologised immediately for the liberty he had taken, contrary to the etiquette of uganda society, in coming to a house when the master was at dinner; and he would have left again had i not pressed him to remain. katunzi then told me the whole army had returned from unyoro, with immense numbers of cows, women, and children, but not men, for those who did not run away were killed fighting. he offered me a present of a woman, and pressed me to call on him. 20th.--still i found that the king would not send his wakungu for the unyoro expedition, so i called on him about it. fortunately he asked me to speak a sentence in english, that he might hear how it sounds; and this gave me an opportunity of saying, if he had kept his promise by sending budja to me, i should have despatched letters to petherick. this was no sooner interpreted than he said, if i would send my men to him with letters in the morning he would forward them on, accompanied with an army. on my asking if the army was intended to fight, he replied, in short, "first to feel the way." on hearing this, i strongly advised him, if he wished the road to be kept permanently open, to try conciliation with kamrasi, and send him some trifling present. now were brought in some thirty-odd women for punishment and execution, which the king, who of late had been trying to learn kisuahili, in order that we might be able to converse together, asked me, in that language, if i would like to have some of these women; and if so, how many? on my replying "one," he begged me to have my choice, and a very pretty one was selected. god only knows what became of the rest; but the one i selected, on reaching home, i gave to ilmas, my valet, for a wife. he and all the other household servants were much delighted with this charming acquisition; but the poor girl, from the time she had been selected, had flattered herself she was to be bana's wife, and became immensely indignant at the supposed transfer, though from the first i had intended her for ilmas, not only to favour him for his past good services, but as an example to my other men, as i had promised to give them all, provided they behaved well upon the journey, a "free-man's garden," with one wife each and a purse of money, to begin a new life upon, as soon as they reached zanzibar. the temper of meri and kahala was shown in a very forcible manner: they wanted this maid as an addition to my family, called her into the hut and chatted till midnight, instructing her not to wed with ilmas; and then, instead of turning into bed as usual, they all three slept upon the ground. my patience could stand this phase of henpecking no longer, so i called in manamaka, the head myamuezi woman, whom i had selected for their governess, and directed her to assist ilmas, and put them to bed "bundling." 21st.--in the morning, before i had time to write letters, the king invited me to join him at some new tank he was making between his palace and the residence of his brothers. i found him sitting with his brothers, all playing in concert on flutes. i asked him, in kisuahili, if he knew where grant was? on replying in the negative, i proposed sending a letter, which he approved of; and budja was again ordered to go with an army for petherick. 22d.--mabruki and bilal, with budja, started to meet petherick, and three more men, with another letter to grant. i called on the king, who appointed the 24th instant for an excursion of three days' hippopotamus-shooting on the n'yanza. 23d.--to-day occurred a brilliant instance of the capricious restlessness and self-willedness of this despotic king. at noon, pages hurried in to say that he had started for the n'yanza, and wished me to follow him without delay. n'yanza, as i have mentioned, merely means a piece of water, whether a pond, river, or lake; and as no one knew which n'yanza he meant, or what project was on foot, i started off in a hurry, leaving everything behind, and walked rapidly through gardens, over hills, and across rushy swamps, down the west flank of the murchison creek, till 3 p.m., when i found the king dressed in red, with his wakungu in front and women behind, travelling along in the confused manner of a pack of hounds, occasionally firing his rifle that i might know his whereabouts. he had just, it seems, mingled a little business with pleasure; for noticing, as he passed, a woman tied by the hands to be punished for some offence, the nature of which i did not learn, he took the executioner's duty on himself, fired at her, and killed her outright. on this occasion, to test all his followers, and prove their readiness to serve him, he had started on a sudden freak for the three days' excursion on the lake one day before the appointed time, expecting everybody to fall into place by magic, without the smallest regard to each one's property, feelings, or comfort. the home must be forsaken without a last adieu, the dinner untasted, and no provision made for the coming night, in order that his impetuous majesty should not suffer one moment's disappointment. the result was natural; many who would have come were nowhere to be found; my guns, bed, bedding, and note-books, as well as cooking utensils, were all left behind, and, though sent for, did not arrive till the following day. on arriving at the mooring station, not one boat was to be found, nor did any arrive until after dark, when, on the beating of drums and firing of guns, some fifty large ones appeared. they were all painted with red clay, and averaged from ten to thirty paddles, with long prows standing out like the neck of a syphon or swan, decorated on the head with the horns of the nsunnu (lencotis) antelope, between which was stuck upright a tuft of feathers exactly like a grenadier's plume. these arrived to convey us across the mouth of a deep rushy swamp to the royal yachting establishment, the cowes of uganda, distant five hours' travelling from the palace. we reached the cowes by torchlight at 9 p.m., when the king had a picnic dinner with me, turned in with his women in great comfort, and sent me off to a dreary hut, where i had to sleep upon a grass-strew floor. i was surprised we had to walk so far, when, by appearance, we might have boated it from the head of the creek all the way down; but, on inquiry, was informed of the swampy nature of the ground at the head of the creek precluded any approach to the clear water there, and hence the long overland journey, which, though fatiguing to the unfortunate women, who had to trot the whole way behind mtesa's four-mile-an-hour strides, was very amusing. the whole of the scenery--hill, dale, and lake--was extremely beautiful. the wanguana in my escort compared the view to their own beautiful poani (coast); but in my opinion it far surpassed anything i ever saw, either from the sea or upon the coast of zanzibar. the king rose betimes in the morning and called me, unwashed and very uncomfortable, to picnic with him, during the collection of the boats. the breakfast, eaten in the open court, consisted of sundry baskets of roast-beef and plantain-squash, folded in plantain-leaves. he sometimes ate with a copper knife and picker, not forked--but more usually like a dog, with both hands. the bits too tough for his mastication he would take from his mouth and give as a treat to the pages, who n'yanzigged, and swallowed them with much seeming relish. whatever remained over was then divided by the boys, and the baskets taken to the cooks. pombe served as tea, coffee, and beer for the king; but his guests might think themselves very lucky if they ever got a drop of it. now for the lake. everybody in a hurry falls into his place the best way he can--wakungu leading, and women behind. they rattle along, through plantains and shrubs, under large trees, seven, eight, and nine feet in diameter, till the beautiful waters are reached--a picture of the rio scenery, barring that of the higher mountains in the background of that lovely place, which are here represented by the most beautiful little hills. a band of fifteen drums of all sizes, called the mazaguzo, playing with the regularity of a lot of factory engines at work, announced the king's arrival, and brought all the boats to the shore--but not as in england, where jack, with all the consequence of a lord at home, invites the ladies to be seated, and enjoys the sight of so many pretty faces. here every poor fellow, with his apprehensions written in his face, leaps over the gunwale into the water--ducking his head for fear of being accused of gazing on the fair sex, which is death--and bides patiently his time. they were dressed in plantain leaves, looking like grotesque neptunes. the king, in his red coat and wideawake, conducted the arrangements, ordering all to their proper places--the women, in certain boats, the wakungu and wanguana in others, whilst i sat in the same boat with him at his feet, three women holding mbugus of pombe behind. the king's kisuahali now came into play, and he was prompt in carrying out the directions he got from myself to approach the hippopotami. but the waters were too large and the animals too shy, so we toiled all the day without any effect, going only once ashore to picnic; not for the women to eat--for they, poor things, got nothing--but the king, myself, the pages, and the principal wakungu. as a wind-up to the day's amusement, the king led the band of drums, changed the men according to their powers, put them into concert pitch, and readily detected every slight irregularity, showing himself a thorough musician. this day requires no remark, everything done being the counterpart of yesterday, excepting that the king, growing bolder with me in consequence of our talking together, became more playful and familiar--amusing himself, for instance, sometimes by catching hold of my beard as the rolling of the boat unsteadied him. we started early in the usual manner; but after working up and down the creek, inspecting the inlets for hippopotami, and tiring from want of sport, the king changed his tactics, and, paddling and steering himself with a pair of new white paddles, finally directing the boats to an island occupied by the mgussa, or neptune of the n'yanza, not in person--for mgussa is a spirit--but by his familiar or deputy, the great medium who communicates the secrets of the deep to the king of uganda. in another sense, he might be said to be the presiding priest of the source of the mighty nile, and as such was, of course, an interesting person for me to meet. the first operation on shore was picnicking, when many large bugus of pombe were brought for the king; next, the whole party took a walk, winking through the trees, and picking fruit, enjoying themselves amazingly, till, by some unlucky chance, one of the royal wives, a most charming creature, and truly one of the best of the lot, plucked a fruit and offered it to the king, thinking, doubtless, to please him greatly; but he, like a madman, flew into a towering passion, said it was the first time a woman ever had the impudence to offer him anything, and ordered the pages to seize, bind, and lead her off to execution. these words were no sooner uttered by the king than the whole bevy of pages slipped their cord turbans from their heads, and rushed, like a pack of cupid beagles upon the fairy queen, who, indignant at the little urchins daring to touch her majesty, remonstrated with the king, and tried to beat them off like flies, but was soon captured, overcome, and dragged away, crying, in the names of the kamraviona and mzungu (myself), for help and protection; whilst lubuga, the pet sister, and all the other women, clasped the king by his legs, and, kneeling, implored forgiveness for their sister. the more they craved for mercy, the more brutal he became, till at last he took a heavy stick and began to belabour the poor victim on the head. hitherto i had been extremely careful not to interfere with any of the king's acts of arbitrary cruelty, knowing that such interference, at an early stage, would produce more harm than good. this last act of barbarism, however, was too much for my english blood to stand; and as i heard my name, mzungu, imploringly pronounced, i rushed at the king, and, staying his uplifted arm, demanded from him the woman's life. of course i ran imminent risk of losing my own in thus thwarting the capricious tyrant; but his caprice proved the friend of both. the novelty of interference even made him smile, and the woman was instantly released. proceeding on through the trees of this beautiful island, we next turned into the hut of the mgussa's familiar, which at the farther end was decorated with many mystic symbols amongst others a paddle, the badge of his high office--and for some time we sat chatting, when pombe was brought, and the spiritual medium arrived. he was dressed wichwezi fashion, with a little white goat-skin apron, adorned with numerous charms, and used a paddle for a mace or walking stick. he was not an old man, though he affected to be so--walking very slowly and deliberately, coughing asthmatically, glimmering with his eyes, and mumbling like a witch. with much affected difficulty he sat at the end of the hut beside the symbols alluded to, and continued his coughing full half an hour, when his wife came in in the same manner, without saying a word, and assumed the same affected style. the king jokingly looked at me and laughed, and then at these strange creatures, by turn, as much as to say, what do you think of them? but no voice was heard save that of the old wife, who croaked like a frog for water, and, when some was brought, croaked again because it was not the purest of the lake's produce--had the first cup changed, wetted her lips with the second, and hobbled away in the same manner as she came. at this juncture the mgussa's familiar motioned the kamraviona and several officers to draw around him, when, in a very low tone, he gave them all the orders of the deep, and walked away. his revelations seemed unpropitious, for we immediately repaired to our boats and returned to our quarters. here we no sooner arrived than a host of wakungu, lately returned from the unyoro war, came to pay their respects to the king: they had returned six days or more, but etiquette had forbidden their approaching majesty sooner. their successes had been great, their losses, nil, for not one man had lost his life fighting. to these men the king narrated all the adventures of the day; dwelling more particularly on my defending his wife's life, whom he had destined for execution. this was highly approved of by all; and they unanimously said bana knew what he was about, because he dispenses justice like a king in his own country. early in the morning a great hue and cry was made because the wanguana had been seen bathing in the n'yanza naked, without the slightest regard to decency. we went boating as usual all day long, sometimes after hippopotami, at others racing up and down the lake, the king and wakungu paddling and steering by turns, the only break to this fatigue being when we went ashore to picnic, or the king took a turn at the drums. during the evening some of the principal wakungu were collected to listen to an intellectual discourse on the peculiarities of the different women in the royal establishment, and the king in good-honour described the benefits he had derived from this pleasant tour on the water. whilst i was preparing my massey's log to show the use of it to the king, he went off boating without me; and as the few remaining boats would not take me off because they had received no orders to do so, i fired guns, but, getting no reply, went into the country hoping to find game; but, disappointed in that also, i spent the first half of the day with a hospitable old lady, who treated us to the last drop of pombe in her house--for the king's servants had robbed her of nearly everything--smoked her pipe with me, and chatted incessantly on the honour paid her by the white king's visit, as well as of the horrors of uganda punishment, when my servants told her i saved the life of one queen. returning homewards, the afternoon was spent at a hospitable officer's, who would not allow us to depart until my men were all fuddled with pombe, and the evening setting in warned us to wend our way. on arrival at camp, the king, quite shocked with himself for having deserted me, asked me if i did not hear his guns fire. he had sent twenty officers to scour the country, looking for me everywhere. he had been on the lake the whole day himself, and was now amusing his officers with a little archery practice, even using the bow himself, and making them shoot by turns. a lucky shot brought forth immense applause, all jumping and n'yanzigging with delight, whether it was done by their own bows or the king's. a shield was the mark, stuck up at only thirty paces; still they were such bad shots that they hardly ever hit it. now tired of this slow sport, and to show his superior prowess, the king ordered sixteen shields to be placed before him, one in front of the other, and with one shot from whitworth pierced the whole of them, the bullet passing through the bosses of nearly every one. "ah!" says the king, strutting about with gigantic strides, and brandishing the rifle over his head before all his men, "what is the use of spears and bows? i shall never fight with anything but guns in the future." these wakungu, having only just then returned from plundering unyoro, had never before seen their king in a chair, or anybody sitting, as i was, by his side; and it being foreign to their notions, as well as, perhaps, unpleasant to their feelings, to find a stranger sitting higher than themselves, they complained against this outrage to custom, and induced the king to order my dethronement. the result was, as my iron stool was objectionable, i stood for a moment to see that i thoroughly understood their meaning; and then showing them my back, walked straightway home to make a grass throne, and dodge them that way. there was nothing for dinner last night, nothing again this morning, yet no one would go in to report this fact, as rain was falling, and the king was shut up with his women. presently the thought struck me that the rifle, which was always infallible in gaining me admittance at the palace, might be of the same service now. i therefore shot a dove close to the royal abode, and, as i expected, roused the king at once, who sent his pages to know what the firing was about. when told the truth--that i had been trying to shoot a dish of doves for breakfast, as i could get neither meat nor drink from his kitchen--the head boy, rather guessing than understanding what was told him, distorted my message, and said to the king, as i could not obtain a regular supply of food from his house, i did not wish to accept anything further at his hands, but intended foraging for the future in the jungles. the king, as might be imagined, did not believe the boy's story, and sent other pages to ascertain the truth of the case, bidding them listen well, and beware of what they were about. this second lot of boys conveyed the story rightly, when the king sent me a cow. as i afterwards heard, he cut off the ears of the unfortunate little mischief-maker for not making a proper use of those organs; and then, as the lad was the son of one of his own officers he was sent home to have the sores healed. after breakfast the king called me to go boating, when i used my grass throne, to the annoyance of the attendants. this induced the king to say before them, laughing, "bana, you see, is not to be done; he is accustomed to sit before kings, and sit he will." then by way of a change, he ordered all the drums to embark and play upon the waters; whilst he and his attendants paddled and steered by turns, first up the creek, and then down nearly to the broad waters of the lake. there was a passage this way, it was said, leading up to usoga, but very circuitous, on account of reefs or shoals, and on the way the kitiri island was passed; but no other kitiri was known to the waganda, though boats went sometimes coasting down the western side of the lake to ukerewe. the largest island on the lake is the sese, [20] off the mouth of the katonga river, where another of the high priests of the neptune of the n'yanza resides. the king's largest vessels are kept there, and it is famous for its supply of mbugu barks. we next went on shore to picnic, when a young hippopotamus, speared by harpoon, one pig, and a pongo or bush-boc, were presented to the king. i now advised boat-racing, which was duly ordered, and afforded much amusement as the whole fifty boats formed in line, and paddle furiously to the beat of drum to the goal which i indicated. the day was done. in great glee the king, ever much attached to the blackguard maula, in consequence of his amusing stories, appointed him to the office of seizer, or chief kidnapper of wakungu; observing that, after the return of so many officers from war, much business in that line would naturally have to be done, and there was none so trustworthy now at court to carry out the king's orders. all now went to the camp; but what was my astonishment on reaching the hut to find every servant gone, along with the pots, pans, meat, everything; and all in consequence of the king's having taken the drums on board, which, being unusual, was regarded as one of his delusive tricks, and a sign of immediate departure. he had told no one he was going to the n'yanza, and now it was thought he would return in the same way. i fired for my supper, but fired in vain. boys came out, by the king's order to inquire what i wanted, but left again without doing anything further. at my request the king sent off boats to inquire after the one that left, or was supposed to have left, for grant on the 3d of march, and he then ordered the return home, much to my delight; for, beautiful as the n'yanza was, the want of consideration for other people's comfort, the tiring, incessant boating, all day long and every day, in the sun, as well as the king's hurry-scurry about everything he undertook to do, without the smallest forethought, preparation, or warning, made me dream of my children, and look forward with pleasure to rejoining them. strange as it may appear to englishmen, i had a sort of paternal love for those little blackamoors as if they had been my offspring; and i enjoyed the simple stories that their sable visitors told me every day they came over to smoke their pipes, which they did with the utmost familiarity, helping themselves from my stores just as they liked. without any breakfast, we returned by the same route by which we had come, at four miles an hour, till half the way was cleared, when the king said, laughing, "bana, are you hungry?"--a ridiculous question after twenty-four hours of starvation, which he knew full well--and led the way into a plantain-grove, where the first hut that was found was turned inside out for the king's accommodation, and picnic was prepared. as, however, he ordered my portion to be given outside with the pages', and allowed neither pombe or water, i gave him the slip, and walked hurriedly home, where i found kahala smirking, and apparently glad to see us, but meri shamming ill in bed, whilst manamaka, the governess, was full of smiles and conversation. she declared meri had neither tasted food or slept since my departure, but had been retching all the time. dreadfully concerned at the doleful story i immediately thought of giving relief with medicines, but neither pulse, tongue, nor anything else indicated the slightest disorder; and to add to these troubles, ilmas's woman had tried during my absence to hang herself, because she would not serve as servant but wished to be my wife; and bombay's wife, after taking a doze of quinine, was delivered of a still-born child. 1st.--i visited the king, at his request, with the medicine-chest. he had caught a cold. he showed me several of his women grievously affected with boils, and expected me to cure them at once. i then went home, and found twenty men who had passed grant, coming on a stretcher from karague, without any of the rear property. meri, still persistent, rejected strengthening medicines, but said, in a confidential manner, if i would give her a goat to sacrifice to the uganga she would recover in no time. there was something in her manner when she said this that i did not like--it looked suspicious; and i contented myself by saying, "no, i am a wiser doctor than any in these lands; if anybody could cure you, that person is myself: and further, if i gave you a goat to sacrifice, god would be angry with both of us for our superstitious credulity; you must therefore say no more about it." 2d.--the whole country around the palace was in a state of commotion to-day, from maula and his children hunting down those officers who had returned from the war, yet had not paid their respects to the king at the n'yanza, because they thought they would not be justified in calling on him so quickly after their arrival. maula's house, in consequence of this, was full of beef and pombe; whilst, in his courtyard, men, women, and children, with feet in stocks, very like the old parish stocks in england, waited his pleasure, to see what demands he would make upon them as the price of their release. after anxiously watching, i found out that meri was angry with me for not allowing ilmas's woman to live in my house; and, to conquer my resolution against it--although i ordered it with a view to please ilmas, for he was desperately in love with her--she made herself sick by putting her finger down her throat. i scolded her for her obstinacy. she said she was ill--it was not feigned; and if i would give her a goat to sacrifice she would be well at once; for she had looked into the magic horn already, and discovered that if i have her a goat for that purpose it would prove that i loved her, and her health would be restored to her at once. hallo! here was a transformation from the paternal position into that of a henpecked husband! somebody, i smelt at once, had been tampering with my household whilst i was away. i commenced investigations, and after a while found out that rozaro's sister had brought a magician belonging to her family into the hut during my absence, who had put meri up to this trick of extorting a goat from me, in order that he might benefit by it himself, for the magician eats the sacrifice, and keeps the skin. i immediately ordered him to be seized and bound to the flag-staff, whilst maula, uledi, rozaro, and bombay were summoned to witness the process of investigation. rozaro flew into a passion, and tried to release the magician as soon as he saw him, affecting intense indignation that i should take the law into my own hands when one of rumanika's subjects was accused; but only lost his dignity still more on being told he had acknowledged his inability to control his men so often when they had misbehaved, that i scorned to ask his assistance any longer. he took huff at this, and, as he could not help himself, walked away, leaving us to do as we liked. the charge was fully proved. the impudent magician, without leave, and contrary to all the usages of the country, had entered and set my house against itself during my absence, and had schemed to rob me of a goat. i therefore sentenced him to fifty lashes--twenty-five for the injury he had inflicted on my by working up a rebellion in my house, and the remaining twenty-five for attempting larceny--saying, as he had wanted my goat and its skin, so now in return i wanted his skin. these words were no sooner pronounced than the wretched meri cried out against it, saying all the fault was hers: "let the stick skin my back, but spare my doctor; it would kill me to see him touched." this appeal let me see that there was something in the whole matter too deep and intricate to be remedied by my skill. i therefore dismissed her on the spot, and gave her, as a sister and free woman, to uledi and his pretty mhmula wife, giving bombay orders to carry the sentences into execution. after walking about till after dark, on returning to the empty house, i had some misgivings as to the apparent cruelty of abandoning one so helpless to the uncertainties of this wicked world. ilmas's woman also ran away, doubtless at the instigation of rozaro's sister, for she had been denied any further access to the house as being at the bottom of all this mischief. 3d.--i was haunted all night by my fancied cruelty, and in the morning sent its victim, after uganda fashion, some symbolical presents, including a goat, in token of esteem; a black blanket, as a sign of mourning; a bundle of gundu anklets; and a packet of tobacco, in proof of my forgiveness. chapter xiv. palace, uganda--continued reception of a victorious army at court--royal sport--a review of the troops--negotiations for the opening of the road along the nile--grant's return--pillagings--court marriages--the king's brothers--divinations and sacrifices--the road granted at last--the preparations for continuing the expedition--the departure. i now received a letter from grant to say he was coming by boat from kitangule, and at once went to the palace to give the welcome news to the king. the road to the palace i found thronged with people; and in the square outside the entrance there squatted a multitude of attendants, headed by the king, sitting on a cloth, dressed in his national costume, with two spears and a shield by his side. on his right hand the pages sat waiting for orders, while on his left there was a small squatting cluster of women, headed by wichwezis, or attendant sorceresses, offering pombe. in front of the king, in form of a hollow square, many ranks deep, sat the victorious officers, lately returned from the war, variously dressed; the nobles distinguished by their leopard-cat skins and dirks, the commoners by coloured mbugu and cow or antelope skin cloaks; but all their faces and arms were painted red, black, or smoke-colour. within the square of men, immediately fronting the king, the war-arms of uganda were arranged in three ranks; the great war-drum, covered with a leopard-skin, and standing on a large carpeting of them, was placed in advance; behind this, propped or hung on a rack of iron, were a variety of the implements of war in common use, offensive and defensive, as spears--of which two were of copper, the rest iron--and shields of wood and leather; whilst in the last row or lot were arranged systematically, with great taste and powerful effect, the supernatural arms, the god of uganda, consisting of charms of various descriptions and in great numbers. outside the square again, in a line with the king, were the household arms, a very handsome copper kettledrum, of french manufacture, surmounted on the outer edge with pretty little brass bells depending from swan-neck-shaped copper wire, two new spears, a painted leather shield, and magic wands of various devices, deposited on a carpet of leopard-skins--the whole scene giving the effect of true barbarous royalty in its uttermost magnificence. approaching, as usual, to take my seat beside the king, some slight sensation was perceptible, and i was directed to sit beyond the women. the whole ceremonies of this grand assemblage were now obvious. each regimental commandant in turn narrated the whole services of his party, distinguishing those subs who executed his orders well and successfully from those who either deserted before the enemy or feared to follow up their success. the king listened attentively, making, let us suppose, very shrewd remarks concerning them; when to the worthy he awarded pombe, helped with gourd-cups from large earthen jars, which has n'yanzigged for vehemently; and to the unworthy execution. when the fatal sentence was pronounced, a terrible bustle ensued, the convict wrestling and defying, whilst the other men seized, pulled and tore the struggling wretch from the crowd, bound him hands and head together, and led or rather tumbled him away. after a while, and when all business was over, the king begged me to follow him into the palace. he asked again for stimulants--a matter ever uppermost in his mind--and would not be convinced that such things can do him no possible good, but would in the end be deleterious. grant's letter was then read to him before his women, and i asked for the dismissal of all the wanyambo, for they had not only destroyed my peace and home, but were always getting me into disrepute by plundering the waganda in the highways. no answer was given to this; and on walking home, i found one of the king's women at my hut, imploring protection against the wanyambo, who had robbed and bruised her so often, she could not stand such abuse any longer. 4th.--i sent maula, early in the morning, with the plundered woman, and desired him to request that the wanyambo might be dismissed. he returned, saying he delivered my message, but no reply was given. i then searched for the king, and found him at his brothers' suite of huts playing the flute before them. on taking my seat, he proudly pointed to two vultures which he had shot with bullet, saying to his brothers, "there, do you see these birds? bana shoots with shot, but i kill with bullets." to try him, i then asked for leave to go to usoga, as grant was so far off; but he said, "no, wait until he comes, and you shall both go together then; you fancy he is far off, but i know better. one of my men saw him coming along carried on a stretcher." i said, "no; that must be a mistake, for he told me by letter he would come by water." heavy rain now set in, and we got under cover; but the brothers never moved, some even sitting in the streaming gutter, and n'yanzigging whenever noticed. the eldest brother offered me his cup of pombe, thinking i would not drink it; but when he saw its contents vanishing fast, he cried "lekerow!" (hold fast!) and as i pretended not to understand him, continuing to drink, he rudely snatched the cup from my lips. alternate concerts with the brothers, and conversation about hunting, in consequence of a bump caused by a fall with steeple-chasing, which as discovered on my forehead, ended this day's entertainment. 5th.--as all the wanguana went foraging, i was compelled to stop at home. the king, however, sent an officer for grant, because i would not believe in his statement yesterday that he was coming by land; and i also sent a lot of men with a litter to help him on, and bring me an answer. 6th.--i went to the palace at the king's command. he kept us waiting an hour, and then passing out by a side gate, beckoned us to follow. he was dressed in european clothes, with his guns and tin box of clothes leading the way. his first question was, "well, bana, where are your guns? for i have called you to go shooting." "the pages never said anything about shooting, and therefore the guns were left behind." totally unconcerned, the king walked on to his brothers, headed by a band and attendants, who were much lauded for being ready at a moment's notice. a grand flute concert was then played, one of the younger brothers keeping time with a long hand-drum; then the band played; and dancing and duets and singing followed. after the usual presentations, fines, and n'yanziggings, i asked for leave to go and meet grant by water, but was hastily told that two boats had been sent for him when we returned from the n'yanza, and that two runners, just returned from karague, said he was on the way not far off. the child-king then changed his dress for another suit of clothes for his brothers to admire, and i retired, much annoyed, as he would neither give pombe for myself, nor plantains for my men: and i was further annoyed on my arrival at home, to find the wanguana mobbing my hut and clamouring for food, and calling for an order to plunder if i did not give them beads, which, as the stock had run short, i could only do by their returning to karague for the beads stored there; and, even if they were obtained, it was questionable if the king would revoke his order prohibiting the sale of provisions to us. 7th.--to-day i called at the queen's, but had to wait five hours in company with some attendants, to whom she sent pombe occasionally; but after waiting for her nearly all day, they were dismissed, because excess of business prevented her seeing them, though i was desired to remain. i asked these attendants to sell me food for beads, but they declared they could not without obtaining permission. in the evening the queen stumped out of her chambers and walked to the other end of her palace, where the head or queen of the wichwezi women lived, to whom everybody paid the profoundest respect. on the way i joined her, she saying, in a state of high anger, "you won't call on me, now i have given you such a charming damsel: you have quite forgotten us in your love of home." of course meri's misdemeanour had to be explained, when she said, "as that is the case, i will give you another; but you must take meri out of the country, else she will bring trouble on us; for, you know, i never gave girls who lived in the palace to any one in my life before, because they would tell domestic affairs not proper for common people to know." i then said my reason for not seeing her before was, that the four times i had sent messengers to make an appointment for the following day, they had been repulsed from her doors. this she would not believe, but called me a story-teller in very coarse language, until the men who had been sent were pointed out to her, and they corroborated me. the wichwezi queen met her majesty with her head held very high, and instead of permitting me to sit on my box of grass, threw out a bundle of grass for that purpose. all conversation was kept between the two queens; but her wichwezi majesty had a platter of clay-stone brought, which she ate with great relish, making a noise of satisfaction like a happy guinea-pig. she threw me a bit, which to the surprise of everybody, i caught and threw it into my mouth, thinking it was some confection; but the harsh taste soon made me spit it out again, to the amusement of the company. on returning home i found the king had requested me to call on him as soon as possible with the medicine-chest. 8th.--without a morsel to eat for dinner last night, or anything this morning, we proceeded early to the palace, in great expectation that the medicines in request would bring us something; but after waiting all day till 4 p.m., as the king did not appear, leaving bombay behind, i walked away to shoot a guinea-fowl within earshot of the palace. the scheme was successful, for the report of the gun which killed the bird reached the king's ear, and induced him to say that if bana was present he would be glad to see him. this gave bombay an opportunity of telling all the facts of the case; which were no sooner heard than the king gave his starving guests a number of plantains, and vanished at once, taking my page lugoi with him, to instruct him in kisuahili (zanzibar language). 9th.--as the fruit of last night's scheme, the king sent us four goats and two cows. in great good-humour i now called on him, and found him walking about the palace environs with a carbine, looking eagerly for sport, whilst his pages dragged about five half-dead vultures tied in a bundle by their legs to a string. "these birds," said he, tossing his head proudly, "were all shot flying, with iron slugs, as the boys will tell you. i like the carbine very well, but you must give me a double smooth gun." this i promised to give when grant arrived, for his good-nature in sending so many officers to fetch him. we next tried for guinea-fowl, as i tell him they are the game the english delight in; but the day was far spent, and none could be found. a boy then in attendance was pointed out, as having seen grant in uddu ten days ago. if the statement were true, he must have crossed the katonga. but though told with great apparent circumspection, i did not credit it, because my men sent on the 15th ultimo for a letter to ascertain his whereabouts had not returned, and they certainly would have done so had he been so near. to make sure, the king then proposed sending the boy again with some of my men; but this i objected to as useless, considering the boy had spoken falsely. hearing this, the king looked at the boy and then at the women in turn, to ascertain what they thought of my opinion, whereupon the boy cried. late in the evening the sly little girl kahala changed her cloth wrapper for a mbugu, and slipped quietly away. i did not suspect her intention, because of late she had appeared much more than ordinary happy, behaving to me in every respect like a dutiful child to a parent. a search was made, and guns fired, in the hopes of frightening her back again, but without effect. 10th.--i had promised that this morning i would teach the king the art of guinea-fowl shooting, and when i reached the palace at 6 a.m., i found him already on the ground. he listened to the tale of the missing girl, and sent orders for her apprehension at once; then proceeding with the gun, fired eight shots successively at guinea-birds sitting on trees, but missed them all. after this, as the birds were scared away, and both iron shot and bullets were expended, he took us to his dressing-hut, went inside himself, attended by full-grown naked women, and ordered a breakfast of pork, beef, fish, and plantains to be served me outside on the left of the entrance; whilst a large batch of his women sat on the right side, silently coquetting, and amusing themselves by mimicking the white man eating. poor little lugoi joined in the repast, and said he longed to return to my hut, for he was half starved here, and no one took any notice of him; but he was destined to be a royal page, for the king would not part with him. a cold fit then seized me, and as i asked for leave to go, the king gave orders for one of his wives to be flogged. the reason for this act of brutality i did not discover; but the moment the order was issued, the victim begged the pages to do it quickly, that the king's wrath might be appeased; and in an instant i saw a dozen boys tear their cord-turbans from their heads pull her roughly into the middle of the court, and belabour her with sticks, whilst she lay floundering about, screeching to me for protection. all i did was to turn my head away and walk rapidly out of sight, thinking it better not to interfere again with the discipline of the palace; indeed, i thought it not improbable that the king did these things sometimes merely that his guests might see his savage power. on reaching home i found kahala standing like a culprit before my door. she would not admit, what i suspected, that meri had induced her to run away; but said she was very happy in my house until yester-evening, when rozaro's sister told her she was very stupid living with the mzungu all alone, and told her to run away; which she did, taking the direction of n'yamasore's, until some officers finding her, and noticing beads on her neck, and her hair cut, according to the common court fashion, in slopes from a point in the forehead to the breadth of her ears, suspected her to be one of the king's women, and kept her in confinement all night, till mtesa's men came this morning and brought her back again. as a punishment, i ordered her to live with bombay; but my house was so dull again from want of some one to eat dinner with me, that i remitted the punishment, to her great delight. 11th.--to-day i received letters from grant, dated 22d., 25th, 28th april and 2d may. they were brought by my three men, with karague pease, flour, and ammunition. he was at maula's house, which proved the king's boy to be correct; for the convoy, afraid of encountering the voyage on the lake, had deceived my companion and brought him on by land, like true negroes. 12th.--i sent the three men who had returned from grant to lay a complaint against the convoy, who had tricked him out of a pleasant voyage, and myself out of the long-wished-for survey of the lake. they carried at the same time a present of a canister of shot from me to the king. delighted with this unexpected prize, he immediately shot fifteen birds flying, and ordered the men to acquaint me with his prowess. 13th.--to-day the king sent me four cows and a load of butter as a return-present for the shot, and allowed one of his officers, at my solicitation, to go with ten of my men to help grant on. he also sent a message that he had just shot thirteen birds flying. 14th.--mabuki and bilal returned with budja and his ten children from unyoro, attended by a deputation of four men sent by kamrasi, who were headed by kidgwiga. mtesa, it now transpired, had followed my advice of making friendship with kamrasi by sending two brass wires as a hongo instead of an army, and kamrasi in return, sent him two elephant-tusks. kidgwiga said petherick's party was not in unyoro--they had never reached there, but were lying at anchor off gani. two white men only had been seen--one, they said, a hairy man, the other smooth-faced; they were as anxiously inquiring after us as we were after them: they sat on chairs, dressed like myself, and had guns and everything precisely like those in my hut. on one occasion they sent up a necklace of beads to kamrasi, and he, in return, gave them a number of women and tusks. if i wished to go that way, kamrasi would forward me on to their position in boats; for the land route, leading through kidi, was a jungle of ten days, tenanted by a savage set of people, who hunt everybody, and seize everything they see. this tract is sometimes, however, traversed by the wanyoro and gani people, who are traders in cows and tippet monkey-skins, stealthily travelling at night; but they seldom attempt it from fear of being murdered. baraka and uledi, sent from karague on the 30th january, had been at kamrasi's palace upwards of a month, applying for the road to gani, and as they could not get that, wished to come with mabruki to me; but this kamrasi also refused, on the plea that, as they had come from karague, so they must return there. kamrasi had heard of my shooting with mtesa, as also of the attempt made by mabruki and uledi to reach gani via usoga. he had received my present of beads from baraka, and, in addition, took uledi's sword, saying, "if you do not wish to part with it, you must remain a prisoner in my country all your life, for you have not paid your footing." mabruki then told me he was kept waiting at a village, one hour's walk from kamrasi's palace, five days before they were allowed to approach his majesty; but when they were seen, and the presents exchanged, they were ordered to pack off the following morning, as kamrasi said the waganda were a set of plundering blackguards. this information, to say the least of it, was very embarrassing--a mixture of good and bad. petherick, i now felt certain, was on the look-out for us; but his men had reached kamrasi's, and returned again before baraka's arrival. baraka was not allowed to go on to him and acquaint him of our proximity, and the waganda were so much disliked in unyoro, that there seemed no hopes of our ever being able to communicate by letter. to add to my embarrassments, grant had not been able to survey the lake from kitangule, nor had usoga and the eastern side of the lake been seen. 15th.--i was still laid up with the cold fit of the 10th, which turned into a low kind of fever. i sent bombay to the king to tell him the news, and ask him what he thought of doing next. he replied that he would push for gani direct; and sent back a pot of pombe for the sick man. 16th.--the king to-day inquired after my health, and, strange to say, did not accompany his message with a begging request. 17th.--my respite, however, was not long. at the earliest possible hour in the morning the king sent begging for things one hundred times refused, supposing, apparently, that i had some little reserve store which i wished to conceal from him. 18th and 19th.--i sent bombay to the palace to beg for pombe, as it was the only thing i had an appetite for, but the king would see no person but myself. he had broken his rifle washing-rod, and this must be mended, the pages who brought it saying that no one dared take it back to him until it was repaired. a guinea-fowl was sent after dark for me to see, as a proof that the king was a sportsman complete. 20th.--the king going out shooting borrowed my powder-horn. the wanguana mobbed the hut and bullied me for food, merely because they did not like the trouble of helping themselves from the king's garden, though they knew i had purchased their privilege to do so at the price of a gold chronometer and the best guns england could produce. 21st.--i now, for the first time, saw the way in which the king collected his army together. the highroads were all thronged with waganda warriors, painted in divers colours, with plantain-leaf bands round their heads, scanty goat-skin fastened to their loins, and spears and shield in their hands, singing the tambure or march, ending with a repetition of the word mkavia, or monarch. they surpassed in number, according to bombay, the troops and ragamuffins enlisted by sultain majid when sayyid sweni threatened to attack zanzibar; in fact, he never saw such a large army collected anywhere. bombay, on going to the palace, hoping to obtain plantains for the men, found the king holding a levee, for the purpose of despatching this said army somewhere, but where no one would pronounce. the king, then, observing my men who had gone to unyoro together with kamrasi's, questioned them on their mission; and when told that no white men were there, he waxed wrathful, and said it was a falsehood, for his men had seen them, and could not be mistaken. kamrasi, he said, must have hidden them somewhere, fearful of the number of guns which now surrounded him; and, for the same reason, he told lies, yes, lies--but no man living shall dare tell himself lies; and now, as he could not obtain his object by fair means, he would use arms and force it out. then, turning to bombay, he said, "what does your master think of this business?" upon which bombay replied, according to his instructions, "bana wishes nothing done until grant arrives, when all will go together." on this the king turned his back and walked away. 22d.--kitunzi called on me early, because he heard i was sick. i asked him why the waganda objected to my sitting on a chair; but, to avoid the inconvenience of answering a troublesome question, without replying, he walked off, saying he heard a noise in the neighbourhood of the palace which must be caused by the king ordering some persons to be seized, and his presence was so necessary he could not wait another moment. my men went for plantains to the palace and for pombe on my behalf; but the king, instead of giving them anything, took two fez caps off their heads, keeping them to himself, and ordered them to tell bana all his beer was done. 23d.--kidgwiga called on me to say kamrasi so very much wanted the white men at gani to visit him, he had sent a hongo of thirty tusks to the chief of that country in hopes that it would insure their coming to see him. he also felt sure if i went there his king would treat me with the greatest respect. this afforded an opportunity for putting in a word of reconciliation. i said that it was at my request that mtesa sent kamrasi a present; and so now, if kamrasi made friends with the waganda, there would be no difficulty about the matter. 24th.--the army still thronged the highways, some going, others coming, like a swarm of ants, the whole day long. kidgwiga paid another visit, and i went to the palace without my gun, wishing the king to fancy all my powder was done, as he had nearly consumed all my store; but the consequence was that, after waiting the whole day, i never saw him at all. in the evening pages informed me that grant had arrived at n'yama goma, one march distant. 25th.--i prepared twenty men, with a quarter of mutton for grant to help him on the way, but they could not go without a native officer, lest they should be seized, and no officer would lead the way. the king came shooting close to my hut and ordered me out. i found him marching rozaro about in custody with four other wanyambo, who, detected plundering by kitunzi, had set upon and beaten him severely. the king, pointing them out to me, said, he did not like the system of plundering, and wished to know if it was the practice in karague. of course i took the opportunity to renew my protest against the plundering system; but the king, changing the subject, told me the wazungu were at gani inquiring after us, and wishing to come here. to this i proposed fetching them myself in boats, but he objected, saying he would send men first, for they were not farther off to the northward than the place he sent boats to, to bring grant. he said he did not like unyoro, because kamrasi hides himself like a neptune in the nile, whenever his men go on a visit there, and instead of treating his guests with respect, he keeps them beyond the river. for this reason he had himself determined on adopting the passage by kidi. i was anxious, of course, to go on with the subject thus unexpectedly opened, but, as ill-luck would have it, an adjutant was espied sitting on a tree, when a terrible fuss and excitement ensued. the women were ordered one way and the attendants another, whilst i had to load the gun on the best way i could with the last charge and a half left in the king's pouch. ten grains were all he would have allowed himself, reserving the residue, without reflecting that a large bird required much shot; and he was shocked to find me lavishly use the whole, and still say it was not enough. the bird was then at a great height, so that the first shot merely tickled him, and drove him to another tree. "woh! woh!" cried the king, "i am sure he is hit; look there, look there;" and away he rushed after the bird; down with one fence, then with another, in the utmost confusion, everybody trying to keep his proper place, till at last the tree to which the bird had flown was reached, and then, with the last charge of shot, the king killed his first nundo. the bird, however, did not fall, but lay like a spread eagle in the upper branches. wasoga were called to climb the tree and pull it down; whilst the king, in ecstasies of joy and excitement, rushed up and down the potato-field like a mad bull, jumping and plunging, waving and brandishing the gun above his head; whilst the drums beat, the attendants all woh-wohed, and the women, joining with their lord, rushed about lullalooing and dancing like insane creatures. then began congratulations and hand-shakings, and, finally, the inspection of the bird, which, by this time, the wasoga had thrown down. oh! oh! what a wonder! its wings outspread reached further than the height of a man; we must go and show it to the brothers. even that was not enough--we must show it to the mother; and away we all rattled as fast as our legs could carry us. arrived at the queen's palace, out of respect to his mother, the king changed his european clothes for a white kid-skin wrapper, and then walked in to see her, leaving us waiting outside. by this time colonel congow, in his full-dress uniform, had arrived in the square outside, with his regiment drawn up in review order. the king, hearing the announcement, at once came out with spears and shield, preceded by the bird, and took post, standing armed, by the entrance, encircled by his staff, all squatting, when the adjutant was placed in the middle of the company. before us was a large open square, with the huts of the queen's kamraviona or commander-in-chief beyond. the battalion, consisting of what might be termed three companies, each containing 200 men, being drawn up on the left extremity of the parade-ground, received orders to march past in single file from the right of companies, at a long trot, and re-form again at the other end of the square. nothing conceivable could be more wild or fantastic than the sight which ensued--the men all nearly naked, with goat or cat skins depending from their girdles, and smeared with war colours according to the taste of each individual; one-half of the body red or black, the other blue, not in regular order--as, for instance, one stocking would be red, the other black, whilst the breeches above would be the opposite colours, and so with the sleeves and waistcoat. every man carried the same arms--two spears and one shield--held as if approaching an enemy, and they thus moved in three lines of single rank and file, at fifteen to twenty paces asunder, with the same high action and elongated step, the ground leg only being bent, to give their strides the greater force. after the men had all started, the captains of companies followed, even more fantastically dressed; and last of all came the great colonel congow, a perfect robinson crusoe, with his long white-haired goat-skins, a fiddle-shaped leather shield, tufted with white hair at all six extremities, bands of long hair tied below the knees, and a magnificent helmet, covered with rich beads of every colour, in excellent taste, surmounted with a plume of crimson feathers, from the centre of which rose a bent stem, tufted with goat-hair. next they charged in companies to and fro; and, finally, the senior officers came charging at their king, making violent professions of faith and honesty, for which they were applauded. the parade then broke up, and all went home. 26th.--one of king mtesa's officers now consenting to go to n'yama goma with some of my men, i sent grant a quarter of goat. the reply brought to me was, that he was very thankful for it; that he cooked it and ate it on the spot; and begged i would see the king, to get him released from that starving place. rozaro was given over to the custody of kitunzi for punishment. at the same time, the queen, having heard of the outrages committed against her brother and women, commanded that neither my men nor any of rozaro's should get any more food at the palace; for as we all came to uganda in one body, so all alike were, by her logic, answerable for the offence. i called at the palace for explanation but could not obtain admittance because i would not fire the gun. 27th.--the king sent to say he wanted medicine to propitiate lightning. i called and described the effects of a lightning-rod, and tried to enter into the unyoro business, wishing to go there at once myself. he objected, because he had not seen grant, but appointed an officer to go through unyoro on to gani, and begged i would also send men with letters. our talk was agreeably interrupted by guns in the distance announcing grant's arrival, and i took my leave to welcome my friend. how we enjoyed ourselves after so much anxiety and want of one another's company, i need not describe. for my part, i was only too rejoiced to see grant could limp about a bit, and was able to laugh over the picturesque and amusing account he gave me of his own rough travels. 28th.--the king in the morning sent budja, his ambassador, with kamrasi's kidgwiga, over to me for my men and letters, to go to kamrasi's again and ask for the road to gani. i wished to speak to the king first, but they said they had no orders to stop for that, and walked straight away. i sent the king a present of a double-barrelled gun and ammunition, and received in answer a request that both grant and myself would attend a levee, which he was to hold in state, accompanied by his bodyguard, as when i was first presented to him. in the afternoon we proceeded to court accordingly, but found it scantily attended; and after the first sitting, which was speedily over, retired to another court, and saw the women. of this dumb show the king soon got tired; he therefore called for his iron chair, and entered into conversation, at first about the ever-engrossing subject of stimulants, till we changed it by asking him how he liked the gun? he pronounced it a famous weapon, which he would use intensely. we then began to talk in a general way about suwarora and rumanika, as well as the road through unyamuezi, which we hoped would soon cease to exist, and be superseded by one through unyoro. it will be kept in view that the hanging about at this court, and all the perplexing and irritating negotiations here described, had always one end in view--that of reaching the nile where it pours out of the n'yanza, as i was long certain that it did. without the consent and even the aid of this capricious barbarian i was now talking to, such a project was hopeless. i naturally seized every opportunity for putting in a word in the direction of my great object, and here seemed to be an opportunity. we now ventured on a plump application for boats that we might feel our way to gani by water, supposing the lake and river to be navigable all the way; and begged kitunzi might be appointed to accompany us, in order that whatever was done might be done all with good effect in opening up a new line of commerce, by which articles of european manufacture might find a permanent route to uganda. it was "no go," however. the appeal, though listened to, and commented on, showing that it was well understood, got no direct reply. it was not my policy to make our object appear too important to ourselves, so i had to appear tolerably indifferent, and took the opportunity to ask for my paint-box, which he had borrowed for a day and had kept in his possession for months. i got no answer to that request either, but was immediately dunned for the compass, which had been promised on grant's arrival. now, with a promise that the compass would be sent him in the morning, he said he would see what pombe his women could spare us; and, bidding good evening, walked away. 29th.--i sent bombay with the compass, much to the delight of the king, who no sooner saw it than he jumped and woh-wohed with intense excitement at the treasure he had gained, said it was the greatest present bana had ever given him, for it was the thing by which he found out all the roads and countries--it was, in fact, half his knowledge; and the parting with it showed plainly that bana entertained an everlasting friendship for him. the king then called maula, and said, "maula, indeed you have spoken the truth; there is nothing like this instrument," etc., etc., repeating what he had already told bombay. in the evening, the king, accompanied by all his brothers, with iron chair and box, came to visit us, and inspected all grant's recently brought pictures of the natives, with great acclamation. we did not give him anything this time, but, instead, dunned him for the paint-box, and afterwards took a walk to my observatory hill, where i acted as guide. on the summit of this hill the king instructed his brothers on the extent of his dominions; and as i asked where lubari or god resides, he pointed to the skies. 30th.--the king at last sent the paint-box, with some birds of his own shooting, which he wished painted. he also wanted himself drawn, and all grant's pictures copied. then, to wind up these mild requests, a demand was made for more powder, and that all our guns be sent to the palace for inspection. 31st.--i drew a large white and black hornbill and a green pigeon sent by himself; but he was not satisfied; he sent more birds, and wanted to see my shoes. the pages who came with the second message, however, proving impertinent, got a book flung at their heads, and a warning to be off, as i intended to see the king myself, and ask for food to keep my ever-complaining wanguana quiet. proceeding to the palace, as i found mtesa had gone out shooting, i called on the kamraviona, complained that my camp was starving, and as i had nothing left to give the king said i wished to leave the country. ashamed of its being supposed that his king would not give me any food because i had no more presents to give him, the kamraviona, from his own stores, gave me a goat and pombe, and said he would speak to the king on the subject. 1st.--i drew for the king a picture of a guinea-fowl which he shot in the early morning, and proceeded on a visit with grant to the queen's, accompanied only by seven men, as the rest preferred foraging for themselves, to the chance of picking up a few plantains at her majesty's. after an hour's waiting, the queen received us with smiles, and gave pombe and plantains to her new visitor, stating pointedly she had none for me. there was deep uganda policy in this: it was for the purpose of treating grant as a separate, independent person, and so obtaining a fresh hongo or tax. laughing at the trick, i thanked her for the beer, taking it personally on my household, and told her when my property arrived from karague, she should have a few more things as i promised her; but the men sent had neither brought my brother in a vessel, as they were ordered, not did they bring my property from karague. still the queen was not content: she certainly expected something from grant, if it was ever so little, for she was entitled to it, and would not listen to our being one house. turning the subject, to put in a word for my great object, i asked her to use her influence in opening the road to gani, as, after all, that was the best way to get new things into uganda. cunning as a fox, the queen agreed to this project, provided grant remained behind, for she had not seen enough of him yet, and she would speak to her son about the matter in the morning. this was really the first gleam of hope, and i set to putting our future operations into a shape that might lead to practical results without alarming our capricious host. i thought that whilst i could be employed in inspecting the river, and in feeling the route by water to gani, grant could return to karague by water, bringing up our rear traps, and, in navigating the lake, obtain the information he had been frustrated in getting by the machinations of his attendant maribu. it was agreed to, and all seemed well; for there was much left to be done in uganda and usoga, if we could only make sure of communicating once with petherick. before going home we had some more polite conversation, during which the queen played with a toy in the shape of a cocoa du mer, studded all over with cowries: this was a sort of doll, or symbol of a baby and her dandling it was held to indicate that she would ever remain a widow. in the evening the king returned all our rifles and guns, with a request for one of them; as also for the iron chair he sat upon when calling on us, an iron bedstead, and the union jack, for he did not honour us with a visit for nothing; and the head page was sent to witness the transfer of the goods, and see there was no humbug about it. it was absolutely necessary to get into a rage, and tell the head page we did not come to uganda to be swindled in that manner, and he might tell the king i would not part with one of them. 2d.--k'yengo, who came with grant, now tried to obtain an interview with the king, but could not get admission. i had some further trouble about the disposal of the child meri, who said she never before had lived in a poor man's house since she was born. i thought to content her by offering to marry her to one of rumanika's sons, a prince of her own breed, but she would not listen to the proposal. 3d.--for days past, streams of men have been carrying faggots of firewood, clean-cut timber, into the palaces of the king, queen, and the kamraviona; and to-day, on calling on the king, i found him engaged having these faggots removed by colonel mkavia's regiment from one court into another, this being his way of ascertaining their quantity, instead of counting them. about 1600 men were engaged on this service, when the king, standing on a carpet in front of the middle hut of the first court, with two spears in his hand and his dog by his side, surrounded by his brothers and a large staff of officers, gave orders for the regiment to run to and fro in column, that he might see them well; then turning to his staff, ordered them to run up and down the regiment, and see what they thought of it. this ridiculous order set them all flying, and soon they returned, charging at the king with their sticks, dancing and jabbering that their numbers were many, he was the greatest king on earth, and their lives and services were his for ever. the regiment now received orders to put down their faggots, and, taking up their own sticks in imitation of spears, followed the antics of their officers in charging and vociferating. next, mkavia presented five hairy usoga goats, n'yanzigging and performing the other appropriate ceremonies. on asking the king if he had any knowledge of the extent of his army, he merely said, "how can i, when these you see are a portion of them just ordered here to carry wood?" the regiment was now dismissed; but the officers were invited to follow the king into another court, when he complimented them on assembling so many men; they, instead of leaving well alone, foolishly replied they were sorry they were not more numerous, as some of the men lived so far away they shirked the summons; maula, then, ever forward in mischief, put a cap on it by saying, if he could only impress upon the waganda to listen to his orders, there would never be a deficiency. upon which the king said, "if they fail to obey you, they disobey me; for i have appointed you as my orderly, and thereby you personify the orders of the king." up jumped maula in a moment as soon as these words were uttered, charging with his stick, then floundering and n'yanzigging as if he had been signally rewarded. i expected some piece of cruel mischief to come of all this, but the king, in his usual capricious way, suddenly rising, walked off to a third court, followed only by a select few. here, turning to me, he said, "bana, i love you, because you have come so far to see me, and have taught me so many things since you have been here." rising, with my hand to my heart, and gracefully bowing at this strange announcement--for at that moment i was full of hunger and wrath--i intimated i was much flattered at hearing it, but as my house was in a state of starvation, i trusted he would consider it. "what!" said he, "do you want goats?" "yes, very much." the pages then received orders to furnish me with ten that moment, as the king's farmyard was empty, and he would reimburse them as soon as more confiscations took place. but this, i said, was not enough; the wanguana wanted plantains, for they had received none these fifteen days. "what!" said the king, turning to his pages again, "have you given these men no plantains, as i ordered? go and fetch them this moment, and pombe too, for bana." the subject then turned on the plan i had formed of going to gani by water, and of sending grant to karague by the lake; but the king's mind was fully occupied with the compass i had given him. he required me to explain its use, and then broke up the meeting. 4th.--viarungi, an officer sent by rumanika to escort grant to uganda, as well as to apply to king mtesa for a force to fight his brother rogero, called on me with rozaro, and said he had received instructions from his king to apply to me for forty cows and two slave-boys, because the arabs who pass through his country to uganda always make him a present of that sort after receiving them from mtesa. after telling him we english never give the presents they have received away to any one, and never make slaves, but free them, i laid a complaint against rozaro for having brought much trouble and disgrace upon my camp, as well as much trouble on myself, and begged that he might be removed from my camp. rozaro then attempted to excuse himself, but without success, and said he had already detached his residence from my camp, and taken up a separate residence with viarungi, his superior officer. i called on the king in the afternoon, and found the pages had already issued plantains for my men and pombe for myself. the king addressed me with great cordiality, and asked if i wished to go to gani. i answered him with all promptitude,--yes, at once, with some of his officers competent to judge of the value of all i point out to them for future purposes in keeping the road permanently open. his provoking capriciousness, however, again broke in, and he put me off till his messengers should return from unyoro. i told him his men had gone in vain, for budja left without my letter or my men; and further, that the river route is the only one that will ever be of advantage to uganda, and the sooner it was opened up the better. i entreated him to listen to my advice, and send some of my men to kamrasi direct, to acquaint him with my intention to go down the river in boats to him; but i could get no answer to this. bombay then asked for cows for the wanguana, getting laughed at for his audacity, and the king broke up the court and walked away. 5th.--i started on a visit to the queen, but half-way met congow, who informed me he had just escorted her majesty from his house, where she was visiting, to her palace. by way of a joke and feeler, i took it in my head to try, by taking a harmless rise out of congow, whether the nile is understood by the natives to be navigable near its exit from the n'yanza. i told him he had been appointed by the king to escort us down the river to gani. he took the affair very seriously, delivering himself to the following purport: "well, then, my days are numbered; for if i refuse compliance i shall lose my head; and if i attempt to pass kamrasi's, which is on the river, i shall lose my life; for i am a marked man there, having once led an army past his palace and back again. it would be no use calling it a peaceful mission, as you propose; for the wanyoro distrust the waganda to such an extent, they would fly to arms at once." proceeding to the queen's palace, we met murondo, who had once travelled to the masai frontier. he said it would take a month to go in boats from kira, the most easterly district in uganda, to masai, where there is another n'yanza, joined by a strait to the big n'yanza, which king mtesa's boats frequent for salt; but the same distance could be accomplished in four days overland, and three days afterwards by boat. the queen, after keeping us all day waiting, sent three bunches of plantains and a pot of pombe, with a message that she was too tired to receive visitors, and hoped we would call another day. 6th.--i met pokino, the governor-general of uddu, in the morning's walk, who came here at the same time as grant to visit the king, and was invited into his house to drink pombe. his badge of office is an iron hatchet, inlaid with copper and handled with ivory. he wished to give us a cow, but put it off for another day, and was surprised we dared venture into his premises without permission from the king. after this, we called at the palace, just as the king was returning from a walk with his brothers. he saw us, and sent for bana. we entered, and presented him with some pictures, which he greatly admired, looked at close and far, showed to the brothers, and inspected again. pokino at this time came in with a number of well-made shields, and presented them grovelling and n'yanzigging; but though the governor of an important province, who had not been seen by the king for years, he was taken no more notice of than any common mkungu. a plan of the lake and nile, which i brought with me to explain our projects for reaching karague and gani, engaged the king's attention for a while; but still he would not agree to let anything be done until the messenger returned from unyoro. finding him inflexible, i proposed sending a letter, arranging that his men should be under the guidance of my men after they pass unyoro on the way to gani; and this was acceded to, provided i should write a letter to petherick by the morrow. i then tried to teach the king the use of the compass. to make a stand for it, i turned a drum on its head, when all the courtiers flew at me as if to prevent an outrage, and the king laughed. i found that, as the instrument was supposed to be a magic charm of very wonderful powers, my meddling with it and treating it as an ordinary movable was considered a kind of sacrilege. 7th.--i wrote a letter to petherick, but the promised wakungu never came for it. as k'yengo was ordered to attend court with rumanika's hongo, consisting of a few wires, small beads, and a cloth i gave him, as well as a trifle from nnanji, i sent bombay, in place of going myself, to remind the king of his promises for the wakungu to gani, as well as for boats to karague, but a grunt was the only reply which my messenger said he obtained. 8th.--calling at the palace, i found the king issuing for a walk, and joined him, when he suddenly turned round in the rudest manner, re-entered his palace, and left me to go home without speaking a word. the capricious creature then reissued, and, finding me gone, inquired after me, presuming i ought to have waited for him. 9th.--during the night, when sleeping profoundly, some person stealthily entered my hut and ran off with a box of bullets towards the palace, but on the way dropped his burden. maula, on the way home, happening to see it, and knowing it to be mine, brought it back again. i stayed at home, not feeling well. 10th.--k'yengo paid his hongo in wire to the king, and received a return of six cows. still at home, an invalid, i received a visit from meri, who seemed to have quite recovered herself. speaking of her present quarters, she said she loved uledi's wife very much, thinking birds of a feather ought to live together. she helped herself to a quarter of mutton, and said she would come again. 11th.--to-day viarungi, finding rozaro's men had stolen thirty cows, twelve slaves, and a load of mbugu from the waganda, laid hands on them himself for rumanika, instead of giving them to king mtesa. such are the daily incidents among our neighbours. 12th.--at night a box of ammunition and a bag of shot, which were placed out as a reserve present for the king, to be given on our departure, were stolen, obviously by the king's boys, and most likely by the king's orders; for he is the only person who could have made any use of them, and his boys alone know the way into the hut; besides which, the previous box of bullets was found on the direct road to the palace, while it was well known that no one dared to touch an article of european manufacture without the consent of the king. 13th.--i sent a message to the king about the theft, requiring him, if an honest man, to set his detectives to work, and ferret it out; his boys, at the same time, to show our suspicions, were peremptorily forbidden ever to enter the hut again. twice the king sent down a hasty message to say he was collecting all his men to make a search, and, if they do not succeed, the mganga would be sent; but nothing was done. the kamraviona was sharply rebuked by the king for allowing k'yengo to visit him before permission was given, and thus defrauding the royal exchequer of many pretty things, which were brought for majesty alone. at night the rascally boys returned again to plunder, but kahala, more wakeful than myself, heard them trying to untie the door-handle, and frightened them away in endeavouring to awaken me. 14th and 15th.--grant, doing duty for me, tried a day's penance at the palace, but though he sat all day in the ante-chamber, and musicians were ordered into the presence, nobody called for him. k'yengo was sent with all his men on a wakungu-seizing expedition,--a good job for him, as it was his perquisite to receive the major part of the plunder himself. 16th.--i sent kahala out of the house, giving her finally over to bombay as a wife, because she preferred playing with dirty little children to behaving like a young lady, and had caught the itch. this was much against her wish, and the child vowed she would not leave me until force compelled her; but i had really no other way of dealing with the remnant of the awkward burden which the queen's generosity had thrown on me. k'yengo went to the palace with fifty prisoners; but as the king had taken his women to the small pond, where he has recently placed a tub canoe for purposes of amusement, they did no business. 17th.--i took a first convalescent walk. the king, who was out shooting all day, begged for powder in the evening. uledi returned from his expedition against a recusant officer at kituntu, bringing with him a spoil of ten women. it appeared that the officer himself had bolted from his landed possessions, and as they belonged to "the church," or were in some way or other sacred from civil execution, they could not be touched, so that uledi lost an estate which the king had promised him. we heard that ilmas, wife of majanja, who, as i already mentioned, had achieved an illustrious position by services at the birth of the king, had been sent to visit the late king sunna's tomb, whence, after observing certain trees which were planted, and divining by mystic arts what the future state of uganda required, she would return at a specific time, to order the king at the time of his coronation either to take the field with an army, to make a pilgrimage, or to live a life of ease at home; whichever of these courses the influence of the ordeal at the grave might prompt her to order, must be complied with by the king. 18th.--i called at the palace with grant, taking with us some pictures of soldiers, horses, elephants, etc. we found the guard fighting over their beef and plantain dinner. bombay remarked that this daily feeding on beef would be the lot of the wanguana if they had no religious scruples about the throat-cutting of animals for food. this, i told him, was all their own fault, for they have really no religion or opinions of their own; and had they been brought up in england instead of africa, it would have been all the other way with them as a matter of course; but bombay replied, "we could no more throw off the mussulman faith than you could yours." a man with a maniacal voice sang and whistled by turns. katumba, the officer of the guards, saw our pictures, and being a favourite, acquainted the king, which gained us an admittance. we found his majesty sitting on the ground, within a hut, behind a portal, encompassed by his women, and took our seats outside. at first all was silence, till one told the king we had some wonderful pictures to show him; in an instant he grew lively, crying out, "oh, let us see them!" and they were shown, bombay explaining. three of the king's wives then came in, and offered him their two virgin sisters, n'yanzigging incessantly, and beseeching their acceptance, as by that means they themselves would become doubly related to him. nothing, however, seemed to be done to promote the union, until one old lady, sitting by the king's side, who was evidently learned in the etiquette and traditions of the court, said, "wait and see if he embraces, otherwise you may know he is not pleased." at this announcement the girls received a hint to pass on, and the king commenced bestowing on them a series of huggings, first sitting on the lap of one, whom he clasped to his bosom, crossing his neck with hers to the right, then to the left, and, having finished with her, took post in the second one's lap, then on that of the third, performing on each of them the same evolutions. he then retired to his original position, and the marriage ceremony was supposed to be concluded, and the settlements adjusted, when all went on as before. the pictures were again looked at, and again admired, when we asked for a private interview on business, and drew the king outside. i then begged he would allow me, whilst his men were absent at unyoro, to go to the masai country, and see the salt lake at the north-east corner of the n'yanza, and to lend me some of his boats for grant to fetch powder and beads from karague. this important arrangement being conceded by the king more promptly than we expected, a cow, plantains, and pombe were requested; but the cow only was given, though our men were said to be feeding on grass. taking the king, as it appeared, in a good humour, to show him the abuses arising from the system of allowing his guests to help themselves by force upon the highways, i reported the late seizures made of thirty cows and twelve slaves by the wanyambo; but, though surprised to hear the news, he merely remarked that there were indeed a great number of visitors in uganda. during this one day we heard the sad voice of no less than four women, dragged from the palace to the slaughter-house. 19th.--to follow up our success in the marching question and keep the king to his promise, i called at his palace, but found he had gone out shooting. to push my object further, i then marched off to the queen's to bid her good-bye, as if we were certain to leave the next day; but as no one would dare to approach her cabinet to apprise her of our arrival, we returned home tired and annoyed. 20th.--the king sent for us at noon; but when we reached the palace we found he had started on a shooting tour; so, to make the best of our time, we called again upon the queen for the same purpose as yesterday, as also to get my books of birds and animals, which, taken merely to look at for a day or so, had been kept for months. after hours of waiting, her majesty appeared standing in an open gateway; beckoned us to advance, and offered pombe; then, as two or three drops of rain fell, she said she could not stand the violence of the weather, and forthwith retired without one word being obtained. an officer, however, venturing in for the books, at length i got them. 21st.--to-day i went to the palace, but found no one; the king was out shooting again. 22d.--we resolved to-day to try on a new political influence at the court. grant had taken to the court of karague a jumping-jack, to amuse the young princes; but it had a higher destiny, for it so fascinated the king rumanika himself that he would not part with it--unless, indeed, grant would make him a big one out of a tree which was handed to him for the purpose. we resolved to try the influence of such a toy on king mtesa, and brought with us, in addition, a mask and some pictures. but although the king took a visiting card, the gate was never opened to us. finding this, and the day closing, we deposited the mask and pictures on a throne, and walked away. we found that we had thus committed a serious breach of state etiquette; for the guard, as soon as they saw what we had done, seized the wanguana for our offences in defiling the royal seat, and would have bound them, had they not offered to return the articles to us. 23d.--early in the morning, hearing the royal procession marching off on a shooting excursion, we sent bombay running after it with the mask and pictures, to aquaint the king with our desire to see him, and explain that we had been four days successively foiled in attempts to find him in his palace, our object being an eager wish to come to some speedy understanding about the appointed journeys to the salt lake and karague. the toys produced the desired effect; for the king stopped and played with them, making bombay and the pages don the masks by turns. he appointed the morrow for an interview, at the same time excusing himself for not having seen us yesterday on the plea of illness. in the evening kahala absconded with another little girl of the camp in an opposite direction from the one she took last time; but as both of them wandered about not knowing where to go to, and as they omitted to take off all their finery, they were soon recognised as in some way connected with my party, taken up, and brought into camp, where they were well laughed at for their folly, and laughed in turn at the absurdity of their futile venture. 24th.--hoping to keep the king to his promise, i went to the palace early, but found he had already gone to see his brothers, so followed him down, and found him engaged playing on a harmonicon with them. surprised at my intrusion, he first asked how i managed to find him out; then went on playing for a while; but suddenly stopping to talk with me, he gave me an opportunity of telling him i wished to send grant off to karague, and start myself for usoga and the salt lake in the morning. "what! going away?" said the king, as if he had never heard a word about it before; and then, after talking the whole subject over again, especially dwelling on the quantity of powder i had in store at karague, he promised to send the necessary officers for escorting us on our respective journeys in the morning. the brothers' wives then wished to see me, and came before us, when i had to take off my hat and shoes as usual, my ready compliance inducing the princes to pass various compliments of my person and disposition. the brothers then showed me a stool made of wood after the fashion of our sketching-stool, and a gun-cover of leather, made by themselves, of as good workmanship as is to be found in india. the king then rose, followed by his brothers, and we all walked off to the pond. the effect of stimulants was mooted, as well as other physiological phenomena, when a second move took us to the palace by torchlight, and the king showed a number of new huts just finished and beautifully made. finally, he settled down to a musical concert, in which he took the lead himself. at eight o'clock, being tired and hungry, i reminded the king of his promises, and he appointed the morning to call on him for the wakungu, and took leave. 25th.--makinga, hearing of the intended march through usoga, was pleased to say he would like to join my camp and spend his time in buying slaves and ivory there. i went to the palace for the promised escort, but was no sooner announced by the pages than the king walked off into the interior of his harem, and left me no alternative but to try my luck with the kamraviona, who, equally proud with his master, would not answer my call,--and so another day was lost. 26th.--this morning we had the assuring intelligence from kaddu that he had received orders to hold himself in readiness for a voyage to karague in twenty boats with grant, but the date of departure was not fixed. the passage was expected to be rough, as the water off the mouth of the kitangule kagera (river) always runs high, so that no boats can go there except at night, when the winds of day subside, and are replaced by the calms of night. i called at the palace, but saw nothing of the king, though the court was full of officials; and there were no less than 150 women, besides girls, goats, and various other things, seizures from refractory state officers, who, it was said, had been too proud to present themselves at court for a period exceeding propriety. all these creatures, i was assured, would afterwards be given away as return-presents for the hongos or presents received from the king's visitors. no wonder the tribes of africa are mixed breeds. amongst the officers in waiting was my friend budja, the ambassador that had been sent to unyoro with kidgwiga, kamrasi's deputy. he had returned three days before, but had not yet seen the king. as might have been expected, he said he had been anything but welcomed in unyoro. kamrasi, after keeping him half-starved and in suspense eight days, sent a message--for he would not see him--that he did not desire any communication with blackguard waganda thieves, and therefore advised him, if he valued his life, to return by the road by which he came as speedily as possible. turning to congow, i playfully told him that, as the road through unyoro was closed, he would have to go with me through usoga and kidi; but the gallant colonel merely shuddered, and said that would be a terrible undertaking. 27th.--the king would not show, for some reason or other, and we still feared to fire guns lest he should think our store of powder inexhaustible, and so keep us here until he had extorted the last of it. i found that the waganda have the same absurd notion here as the wanyambo have in karague, of kamrasi's supernatural power in being able to divide the waters of the nile in the same manner as moses did the red sea. 28th.--the king sent a messenger-boy to inform us that he had just heard from unyoro that the white men were still at gani inquiring after us; but nothing was said of budja's defeat. i sent bombay immediately off to tell him we had changed our plans, and now simply required a large escort to accompany us through usoga and kidi to gani, as further delay in communicating with petherick might frustrate all chance of opening the nile trade with uganda. he answered that he would assemble all his officers in the morning to consult with them on the subject, when he hoped we would attend, as he wished to further our views. a herd of cows, about eighty in number, were driven in from unyoro, showing that the silly king was actually robbing kamrasi at the same time that he was trying to treat with him. k'yengo informed us that the king, considering the surprising events which had lately occurred at his court, being very anxious to pry into the future, had resolved to take a very strong measure for accomplishing that end. this was the sacrifice of a child by cooking, as described in the introduction--a ceremony which it fell to k'yengo to carry out. 29th.--to have two strings to my bow, and press our departure as hotly as possible, i sent first frij off with nasib to the queen, conveying, as a parting present, a block-tin brush-box, a watch without a key, two sixpenny pocket-handkerchiefs, and a white towel, with an intimation that we were going, as the king had expressed his desire of sending us to gani. her majesty accepted the present, finding fault with the watch for not ticking like the king's, and would not believe her son mtesa had been so hasty in giving us leave to depart, as she had not been consulted on the subject yet. setting off to attend the king at his appointed time, i found the kamraviona already there, with a large court attendance, patiently awaiting his majesty's advent. as we were all waiting on, i took a rise out of the kamraviona by telling him i wanted a thousand men to march with me through kidi to gani. surprised at the extent of my requisition, he wished to know if my purpose was fighting. i made him a present of the great principle that power commands respect, and it was to prevent any chance of fighting that we required so formidable an escort. his reply was that he would tell the king; and he immediately rose and walked away home. k'yengo and the representatives of usui and karague now arrived by order of the king to bid farewell, and received the slaves and cattle lately captured. as i was very hungry, i set off home to breakfast. just as i had gone, the provoking king inquired after me, and so brought me back again, though i never saw him the whole day. k'yengo, however, was very communicative. he said he was present when sunna, with all the forces he could muster, tried to take the very countries i now proposed to travel through; but, though in person exciting his army to victory, he could make nothing of it. he advised my returning to karague, when rumanika would give me an escort through nkole to unyoro; but finding that did not suit my views, as i swore i would never retrace one step, he proposed my going by boat to unyoro, following down the nile. this, of course, was exactly what i wanted; but how could king mtesa, after the rebuff he had received from kamrasi be induced to consent to it? my intention, i said, was to try the king on the usoga and kidi route first, then on the masai route to zanzibar, affecting perfect indifference about kamrasi; and all those failing--which, of course, they would--i would ask for unyoro as a last and only resource. still i could not see the king to open my heart to him, and therefore felt quite nonplussed. "oh," says k'yengo, "the reason why you do not see him is merely because he is ashamed to show his face, having made so many fair promises to you which he knows he can never carry out: bide your time, and all will be well." at 4 p.m., as no hope of seeing the king was left, all retired. 30th.--unexpectedly, and for reasons only known to himself, the king sent us a cow and load of butter, which had been asked for many days ago. the new moon seen last night kept the king engaged at home, paying his devotions with his magic horns or fetishes in the manner already described. the spirit of this religion--if such it can be called--is not so much adoration of a being supreme and beneficent, as a tax to certain malignant furies--a propitiation, in fact, to prevent them bringing evil on the land, and to insure a fruitful harvest. it was rather ominous that hail fell with violence, and lightning burnt down one of the palace huts, while the king was in the midst of his propitiatory devotions. 1st.--as bombay was ordered to the palace to instruct the king in the art of casting bullets, i primed him well to plead for the road, and he reported to me the results, thus: first, he asked one thousand men to go through kidi. this the king said was impracticable, as the waganda had tried it so often before without success. then, as that could not be managed, what would the king devise himself? bana only proposed the usoga and kidi route, because he thought it would be to the advantage of uganda. "oh," says the king, cunningly, "if bana merely wishes to see usoga, he can do so, and i will send a suitable escort, but no more." to this bombay replied, "bana never could return; he would sooner do anything than return--even penetrate the masai to zanzibar, or go through unyoro"; to which the king, ashamed of his impotence, hung down his head and walked away. in the meanwhile, and whilst this was going on at the king's palace, i went with grant, by appointment, to see the queen. as usual, she kept us waiting some time, then appeared sitting by an open gate, and invited us, together with many wakungu and wasumbua to approach. very lavish with stale sour pombe, she gave us all some, saving the wasumbua, whom she addressed very angrily, asking what they wanted, as they have been months in the country. these poor creatures, in a desponding mood, defended themselves by saying, which was quite true, that they had left their homes in sorombo to visit her, and to trade. they had, since their arrival in the country, been daily in attendance at her palace, but never had the good fortune to see her excepting on such lucky occasions as brought the wazungu (white men) here, when she opened her gates to them, but otherwise kept them shut. the queen retorted, "and what have you brought me, pray? where is it? until i touch it you will neither see me nor obtain permission to trade. uganda is no place for idle vagabonds." we then asked for a private interview, when, a few drops of rain falling, the queen walked away, and we had orders to wait a little. during this time two boys were birched by the queen's orders, and an officer was sent out to inquire why the watch he had given her did not go. this was easily explained. it had no key; and, never losing sight of the main object, we took advantage of the opportunity to add, that if she did not approve of it, we could easily exchange it for another on arrival at gani, provided she would send an officer with us. the queen, squatting within her hut, now ordered both grant and myself to sit outside and receive a present of five eggs and one cock each, saying coaxingly, "these are for my children." then taking out the presents, she learned the way of wearing her watch with a tape guard round her neck, reposing the instrument in her bare bosom, and of opening and shutting it, which so pleased her, that she declared it quite satisfactory. the key was quite a minor consideration, for she could show it to her attendants just as well without one. the towel and handkerchiefs were also very beautiful, but what use could they be put to? "oh, your majesty, to wipe the mouth after drinking pombe." "of course," is the reply--"excellent; i won't use a mbugu napkin any more, but have one of these placed on my cup when it is brought to drink, and wipe my mouth with it afterwards. but what does bana want?" "the road to gani," says bombay for me. "the king won't see him when he goes to the palace, so now he comes here, trusting your superior influence and good-nature will be more practicable." "oh!" says her majesty, "bana does not know the facts of the case. my son has tried all the roads without success, and now he is ashamed to meet bana face to face." "then what is to be done, your majesty?" "bana must go back to karague and wait for a year, until my son is crowned, when he will make friends with the surrounding chiefs, and the roads will be opened." "but bana says he will not retrace one step; he would sooner lose his life." "oh, that's nonsense! he must not be headstrong; but before anything more can be said, i will send a message to my son, and bana can then go with kaddu, k'yengo, and viarungi, and tell all they have to say to mtesa to-morrow, and the following day return to me, when everything will be concluded." we all now left but kaddu and some of the queen's officers, who waited for the message to her son about us. to judge from kaddu, it must have been very different from what she led us to expect, as, on joining us, he said there was not the smallest chance of our getting the road we required, for the queen was so decided about it no further argument would be listened to. 2d.--three goats were stolen, and suspicion falling on the king's cooks, who are expert foragers, we sent to the kamraviona, and asked him to order out the mganga; but his only reply was, that he often loses goats in the same way. he sent us one of his own for present purposes, and gave thirty baskets of potatoes to my men. as the king held a court, and broke it up before 8 a.m., and no one would go there for fear of his not appearing again, i waited, till the evening for bombay, kaddu, k'yengo, and viarungi, when, finding them drunk, i went by myself, fired a gun, and was admitted to where the king was hunting guinea-fowl. on seeing me, he took me affectionately by the hand, and, as we walked along together, he asked me what i wanted, showed me the house which was burnt down, and promised to settle the road question in the morning. 3d.--with kaddu, k'yengo, and viarungi all in attendance, we went to the palace, where there was a large assemblage prepared for a levee, and fired a gun, which brought the king out in state. the sakibobo, or provincial governor, arrived with a body of soldiers armed with sticks, made a speech, and danced at the head of his men, all pointing sticks upwards, and singing fidelity to their king. the king then turned to me, and said, "i have come out to listen to your request of last night. what is it you do want?" i said, "to open the country to the north, that an uninterrupted line of commerce might exist between england and this country by means of the nile. i might go round by nkole" (k'yengo looked daggers at me); "but that is out of the way, and not suitable to the purpose." the queen's deputation was now ordered to draw near, and questioned in a whisper. as k'yengo was supposed to know all about me, and spoke fluently both in kiganda and kisuahili, he had to speak first; but k'yengo, to everybody's surprise, said, "one white man wishes to go to kamrasi's, whilst the other wishes to return through unyamuezi." this announcement made the king reflect; for he had been privately primed by his mother's attendants, that we both wished to go to gani, and therefore shrewdly inquired if rumanika knew we wished to visit kamrasi, and whether he was aware we should attempt the passage north from uganda. "oh yes! of course bana wrote to bana mdogo" (the little master) "as soon as he arrived in uganda and told him and rumanika all about it." "wrote! what does that mean?" and i was called upon to explain. mtesa, then seeing a flaw in k'yengo's statements, called him a story-teller; ordered him and his party away, and bade me draw near. the moment of triumph had come at last, and suddenly the road was granted! the king presently let us see the motive by which he had been influenced. he said he did not like having to send to rumanika for everything: he wanted his visitors to come to him direct; moreover, rumanika had sent him a message to the effect that we were not to be shown anything out of uganda, and when we had done with it, were to be returned to him. rumanika, indeed! who cared about rumanika? was not mtesa the king of the country, to do as he liked? and we all laughed. then the king, swelling with pride, asked me whom i liked best--rumanika or himself,--an awkward question, which i disposed of by saying i liked rumanika very much because he spoke well, and was very communicative; but i also liked mtesa, because his habits were much like my own--fond of shooting and roaming about; whilst he had learned so many things from my teaching, i must ever feel a yearning towards him. with much satisfaction i felt that my business was now done; for budja was appointed to escort us to unyoro, and jumba to prepare us boats, that we might go all the way to kamrasi's by water. viarungi made a petition, on rumanika's behalf, for an army of waganda to go to karague, and fight the refractory brother, rogero; but this was refused, on the plea that the whole army was out fighting at the present moment. the court then broke up and we went home. to keep the king up to the mark, and seal our passage, in the evening i took a lancaster rifle, with ammunition, and the iron chair he formerly asked for, as a parting present, to the palace, but did not find him, as he had gone out shooting with his brothers. 4th.--grant and i now called together on the king to present the rifle, chair, and ammunition, as we could not thank him in words sufficiently for the favour he had done us in granting the road through unyoro. i said the parting gift was not half as much as i should like to have been able to give; but we hoped, on reaching gani, to send petherick up to him with everything that he could desire. we regretted we had no more powder or shot, as what was intended, and actually placed out expressly to be presented on this occasion, was stolen. the king looked hard at his head page, who was once sent to get these very things now given, and then turning the subject adroitly, asked me how many cows and women i would like, holding his hand up with spread fingers, and desiring me to count by hundreds; but the reply was, five cows and goats would be enough, for we wished to travel lightly in boats, starting from the murchison creek. women were declined on such grounds as would seem rational to him. but if the king would clothe my naked men with one mbugu (bark cloth) each, and give a small tusk each to nine wanyamuezi porters, who desired to return to their home, the obligation would be great. everything was granted without the slightest hesitation; and then the king, turning to me, said, "well, bana, so you really wish to go?" "yes, for i have not seen my home for four years and upwards"--reckoning five months to the year, uganda fashion. "and you can give no stimulants?" "no." "then you will send me some from gani--brandy if you like; it makes people sleep sound, and gives them strength." next we went to the queen to bid her farewell, but did not see her. on returning home i found half my men in a state of mutiny. they had been on their own account to beg for the women and cows which had been refused, saying, if bana does not want them we do, for we have been starved here ever since we came, and when we go for food get broken heads; we will not serve with bana any longer; but as he goes north, we will return to karague and unyanyembe. bombay, however, told them they never had fed so well in all their lives as they had in uganda, counting from fifty to sixty cows killed, and pombe and plantains every day, whenever they took the trouble to forage; and for their broken heads they invariably received a compensation in women; so that bana had reason to regret every day spent in asking for food for them at the palace--a favour which none but his men received, but which they had not, as they might have done, turned to good effect by changing the system of plundering for food in uganda. 5th.--by the king's order we attended at the palace early. the gun obtained us all a speedy admittance, when the king opened conversation by saying, "well, bana, so you really are going?" "yes; i have enjoyed your hospitality for a long time, and now wish to return to my home." "what provision do you want?" i said, five cows and five goats, as we shan't be long in uganda; and it is not the custom of our country, when we go visiting, to carry anything away with us. the king then said, "well, i wish to give you much, but you won't have it"; when budja spoke out, saying, "bana does not know the country he had to travel through; there is nothing but jungle and famine on the way, and he must have cows"; on which the king ordered us sixty cows, fourteen goats, ten loads of butter, a load of coffee and tobacco, one hundred sheets of mbugu, as clothes for my men, at a suggestion of bombay's, as all my cloth had been expended even before i left karague. this magnificent order created a pause, which k'yengo took advantage of by producing a little bundle of peculiarly-shaped sticks and a lump of earth--all of which have their own particular magical powers, as k'yengo described to the king's satisfaction. after this, viarungi pleaded the cause of my mutinous followers, till i shook my finger angrily at him before the king, rebuked him for intermeddling in other people's affairs, and told my own story, which gained the sympathy of the king, and induced him to say, "supposing they desert bana, what road do they expect to get?" maula was now appointed to go with rozaro to karague for the powder and other things promised yesterday, whilst viarungi and all his party, though exceedingly anxious to get away, had orders to remain here prisoners as a surety for the things arriving. further, kaddu and two other wakungu received orders to go to usui with two tusks of ivory to purchase gunpowder, caps, and flints, failing which they would proceed to unyanyembe, and even to zanzibar, for the king must not be disappointed, and failure would cost them their lives. not another word was said, and away the two parties went, with no more arrangement than a set of geese--maula without a letter, and kaddu without any provision for the way, as if all the world belonged to mtesa, and he could help himself from any man's garden that he liked, no matter where he was. in the evening my men made a humble petition for their discharge, even if i did not pay them, producing a hundred reasons for wishing to leave me, but none which would stand a moment's argument: the fact was, they were afraid of the road to unyoro, thinking i had not sufficient ammunition. 6th.--i visited the king, and asked leave for boats to go at once; but the fleet admiral put a veto on this by making out that dangerous shallows exist between the murchison creek and the kira district station, so that the boats of one place never visit the other; and further, if we went to kira, we should find impracticable cataracts to the urondogani boat-station; our better plan would therefore be, to deposit our property at the urondogani station, and walk by land up the river, if a sight of the falls at the mouth of the lake was of such material consequence to us. of course this man carried everything his own way, for there was nobody able to contradict him, and we could not afford time to visit usoga first, lest by the delay we might lose an opportunity of communicating with petherick. grant now took a portrait of mtesa by royal permission, the king sitting as quietly as his impatient nature would permit. then at home the wanyamuezi porters received their tusks of ivory, weighing from 16 to 50 lb. each, and took a note besides on rumanika each for twenty fundo of beads, barring one bogue man, who, having lent a cloth to the expedition some months previously, thought it would not be paid him, and therefore seized a sword as security; the consequence was, his tusk was seized until the sword was returned, and he was dismissed minus his beads, for having so misconducted himself. the impudent fellow then said, "it will be well for bana if he succeeds in getting the road through unyoro; for, should he fail, i will stand in his path at bogue." kitunzi offered an ivory for beads, and when told we were not merchants, and advised to try k'yengo, he said he dared not even approach k'yengo's camp lest people should tell the king of it, and accuse him of seeking for magical powers against his sovereign. old nasib begged for his discharge. it was granted, and he took a $50 letter on the coast, and a letter of emancipation for himself and family, besides an order, written in kisuahili, for ten fundo of beads on rumanika, which made him very happy. in the evening we called again at the palace with pictures of the things the king required from rumanika, and a letter informing rumanika what we wished done with them, in order that there might be no mistake, requesting the king to forward them after mula. just then kaddu's men returned to say they wanted provisions for the way, as the wazinza, hearing of their mission, asked them if they knew what they were about, going to a strange country without any means of paying their way. but the king instead of listening to reason, impetuously said, "if you do not pack off at once, and bring me the things i want, every man of you shall lose his head; and as for the wazinza, for interfering with my orders, they shall be kept here prisoners until you return." on the way home, one of the king's favourite women overtook us, walking, with her hands clasped at the back of her head, to execution, crying, "n'uawo!" in the most pitiful manner. a man was preceding her, but did not touch her; for she loved to obey the orders of her king voluntarily, and in consequence of previous attachment, was permitted, as a mark of distinction, to walk free. wondrous world! it was not ten minutes since we parted from the king, yet he had found time to transact this bloody piece of business. 7th.--early in the morning the king bade us come to him to say farewell. wishing to leave behind a favourable impression, i instantly complied. on the breast of my coat i suspended the necklace the queen had given me, as well as his knife, and my medals. i talked with him in as friendly and flattering a manner as i could, dwelling on his shooting, the pleasant cruising on the lake, and our sundry picnics, as well as the grand prospect there was now of opening the country to trade, by which his guns, the best in the world, would be fed with powder--and other small matters of a like nature,--to which he replied with great feeling and good taste. we then all rose with an english bow, placing the hand on the heart whilst saying adieu; and there was a complete uniformity in the ceremonial, for whatever i did, mtesa, in an instant, mimicked with the instinct of a monkey. we had, however, scarcely quitted the palace gate before the king issued himself, with his attendants and his brothers leading, and women bringing up the rear; here k'yengo and all the wazinza joined in the procession with ourselves, they kneeling and clapping their hands after the fashion of their own country. budja just then made me feel very anxious, by pointing out the position of urondogani, as i thought, too far north. i called the king's attention to it, and in a moment he said he would speak to budja in such a manner that would leave no doubts in my mind, for he liked me much, and desired to please me in all things. as the procession now drew to our camp, and mtesa expressed a wish to have a final look at my men, i ordered them to turn out with their arms and n'yanzig for the many favours they had received. mtesa, much pleased, complimented them on their goodly appearance, remarking that with such a force i would have no difficulty in reaching gani, and exhorted them to follow me through fire and water; then exchanging adieus again he walked ahead in gigantic strides up the hill, the pretty favourite of his harem, lubuga--beckoning and waving with her little hands, and crying, "bana! bana!"--trotting after him conspicuous amongst the rest, though all showed a little feeling at the severance. we saw them no more. chapter xv. march down the northern slopes of africa kari--tragic incident there--renewals of troubles--quarrels with the natives--reach the nile--description of the scene there--sport--church estate--ascend the river to the junction with the lake--ripon falls--general account of the source of the nile--descend again to urondogani--the truculent sakibobo. 7th to 11th.--with budja appointed as the general director, a lieutenant of the sakibobo's to furnish us with sixty cows in his division at the first halting-place, and kasoro (mr cat), a lieutenant of jumba's, to provide the boats at urondogani, we started at 1 p.m., on the journey northwards. the wanguana still grumbled, swearing they would carry no loads, as they got no rations, and threatening to shoot us if we pressed them, forgetting that their food had been paid for to the king in rifles, chronometers, and other articles, costing about 2000 dollars, and, what was more to the point, that all the ammunition was in our hands. a judicious threat of the stick, however, put things right, and on we marched five successive days to kari--as the place was afterwards named, in consequence of the tragedy mentioned below--the whole distance accomplished being thirty miles from the capital, through a fine hilly country, with jungles and rich cultivation alternating. the second march, after crossing the katawana river with its many branches flowing north-east into the huge rush-drain of luajerri, carried us beyond the influence of the higher hills, and away from the huge grasses which characterise the southern boundary of uganda bordering on the lake. each day's march to kari was directed much in the same manner. after a certain number of hours' travelling, budja appointed some village of residence for the night, avoiding those which belonged to the queen, lest any rows should take place in them, which would create disagreeable consequences with the king, and preferring those the heads of which had been lately seized by the orders of the king. nevertheless, wherever we went, all the villagers forsook their homes, and left their houses, property, and gardens an easy prey to the thieving propensities of the escort. to put a stop to this vile practice was now beyond my power; the king allowed it, and his men were the first in every house, taking goats, fowls, skins, mbugus, cowries, beads, drums, spears, tobacco, pombe,--in short, everything they could lay their hands on--in the most ruthless manner. it was a perfect marauding campaign for them all, and all alike were soon laden with as much as they could carry. a halt of some days had become necessary at kari to collect the cows given by the king; and, as it is one of the most extensive pasture-grounds, i strolled with my rifle (11th) to see what new animals could be found; but no sooner did i wound a zebra than messengers came running after me to say kari, one of my men, had been murdered by the villagers three miles off; and such was the fact. he, with others of my men, had been induced to go plundering, with a few boys of the waganda escort, to a certain village of potters, as pots were required by budja for making plantain-wine, the first thing ever thought of when a camp is formed. on nearing the place, however, the women of the village, who were the only people visible, instead of running away, as our braves expected, commenced hullalooing, and brought out their husbands. flight was now the only thought of our men, and all would have escaped had kari not been slow and his musket empty. the potters overtook him, and, as he pointed his gun, which they considered a magic-horn, they speared him to death, and then fled at once. our survivors were not long in bringing the news into camp, when a party went out, and in the evening brought in the man's corpse and everything belonging to him, for nothing had been taken. 12th.--to enable me at my leisure to trace up the nile to its exit from the lake, and then go on with the journey as quickly as possible, i wished the cattle to be collected and taken by budja and some of my men with the heavy baggage overland to kamrasi's. another reason for doing so was, that i thought it advisable kamrasi should be forewarned that we were coming by the water route, lest we should be suspected and stopped as spies by his officers on the river, or regarded as enemies, which would provoke a fight. budja, however, objected to move until a report of kari's murder had been forwarded to the king, lest the people, getting bumptious, should try the same trick again; and kasoro said he would not go up the river, as he had received no orders to do so. in this fix i ordered a march back to the palace, mentioning the king's last words, and should have gone, had not budja ordered kasoro to go with me. a page then arrived from the king to ask after bana's health, carrying the whitworth rifle as his master's card, and begging for a heavy double-barrelled gun to be sent him from gani. i called this lad to witness the agreement i had made with budja, and told him, if kasoro satisfied me, i would return by him, in addition to the heavy gun, a massey's patent log. i had taken it for the navigation of the lake, and it was now of no further use to me, but, being an instrument of complicated structure, it would be a valuable addition to the king's museum of magic charms. i added i should like the king to send me the robes of honour and spears he had once promised me, in order that i might, on reaching england, be able to show my countrymen a specimen of the manufactures of his country. the men who were with kari were now sent to the palace, under accusation of having led him into ambush, and a complaint was made against the villagers, which we waited the reply to. as budja forbade it, no men would follow me out shooting, saying the villagers were out surrounding our camp, and threatening destruction on any one who dared show his face; for this was not the highroad to uganda, and therefore no one had a right to turn them out of their houses and pillage their gardens. 13th.--budja lost two cows given to his party last night, and seeing ours securely tied by their legs to trees, asked by what spells we had secured them; and would not believe our assurance that the ropes that bound them were all the medicines we knew of. one of the queen's sisters, hearing of kari's murder, came on a visit to condole with us, bringing a pot of pombe, for which she received some beads. on being asked how many sisters the queen had, for we could not help suspecting some imposition, she replied she was the only one, till assured ten other ladies had presented themselves as the queen's sisters before, when she changed her tone, and said, "that is true, i am not the only one; but if i had told you the truth i might have lost my head." this was a significant expression of the danger to telling court secrets. i suspected that there must be a considerable quantity of game in this district, as stake-nets and other traps were found in all the huts, as well as numbers of small antelope hoofs spitted on pipe-sticks--an ornament which is counted the special badge of the sportsman in this part of africa. despite, therefore, of the warnings of budja, i strolled again with my rifle, and saw pallah, small plovers, and green antelopes with straight horns, called mpeo, the skin of which makes a favourite apron for the mabandwa. 14th.--i met to-day a mhuma cowherd in my strolls with the rifle, and asked him if he knew where the game lay. the unmannerly creature, standing among a thousand of the sleekest cattle, gruffishly replied, "what can i know of any other animals than cows?" and went on with his work, as if nothing in the world could interest him but his cattle-tending. i shot a doe, leucotis, called here nsunnu, the first one seen upon the journey. 15th.--in the morning, when our men went for water to the springs, some waganda in ambush threw a spear at them, and this time caught a tartar, for the "horns," as they called their guns, were loaded, and two of them received shot-wounds. in the evening, whilst we were returning from shooting, a party of waganda, also lying in the bush, called out to know what we were about; saying, "is it not enough that you have turned us out of our homes and plantations, leaving us to live like animals in the wilderness?" and when told we were only searching for sport, would not believe that our motive was any other than hostility to themselves. at night one of budja's men returned from the palace, to say the king was highly pleased with the measures adopted by his wakungu, in prosecution of kari's affair. he hoped now as we had cows to eat, there would be no necessity for wandering for food, but all would keep together "in one garden." at present no notice would be taken of the murderers, as all the culprits would have fled far away in their fright to escape chastisement. but when a little time had elapsed, and all would appear to have been forgotten, officers would be sent and the miscreants apprehended, for it was impossible to suppose anybody could be ignorant of the white men being the guests of the king, considering they had lived at the palace for so long. the king took this opportunity again to remind me that he wanted a heavy solid double gun, such as would last him all his life; and intimated that in a few days the arms and robes of honour were to be sent. 16th.--most of the cows for ourselves and the guides--for the king gave them also a present, ten each--were driven into camp. we also got 50 lb. of butter, the remainder to be picked up on the way. i strolled with the gun, and shot two zebras, to be sent to the king, as, by the constitution of uganda, he alone can keep their royal skins. 17th.--we had to halt again, as the guides had lost most of their cows, so i strolled with my rifle and shot a ndjezza doe, the first i had ever seen. it is a brown animal, a little smaller than leucotis, and frequents much the same kind of ground. 18th.--we had still to wait another day for budja's cows, when, as it appeared all-important to communicate quickly with petherick, and as grant's leg was considered too weak for travelling fast, we took counsel together, and altered our plans. i arranged that grant should go to kamrasi's direct with the property, cattle, and women, taking my letters and a map for immediate despatch to petherick at gani, whilst i should go up the river to its source or exit from the lake, and come down again navigating as far as practicable. at night the waganda startled us by setting fire to the huts our men were sleeping in, but providentially did more damage to themselves than to us, for one sword only was buried in the fire, whilst their own huts, intended to be vacated in the morning, were burnt to the ground. to fortify ourselves against another invasion, we cut down all their plaintains to make a boma or fence. we started all together on our respective journeys; but, after the third mile, grant turned west, to join the highroad to kamrasi's, whilst i went east for urondogani, crossing the luajerri, a huge rush-drain three miles broad, fordable nearly to the right bank, where we had to ferry in boats, and the cows to be swum over with men holding on to their tails. it was larger than the katonga, and more tedious to cross, for it took no less than four hours mosquitoes in myriads biting our bare backs and legs all the while. the luajerri is said to rise in the lake and fall into the nile, due south of our crossing-point. on the right bank wild buffalo are described to be as numerous as cows, but we did not see any, though the country is covered with a most inviting jungle for sport, which intermediate lays of fine grazing grass. such is the nature of the country all the way to urondogani, except in some favoured spots, kept as tidily as in any part of uganda, where plantains grow in the utmost luxuriance. from want of guides, and misguided by the exclusive ill-natured wahuma who were here in great numbers tending their king's cattle, we lost our way continually, so that we did not reach the boat-station until the morning of the 21st. here at last i stood on the brink of the nile; most beautiful was the scene, nothing could surpass it! it was the very perfection of the kind of effect aimed at in a highly kept park; with a magnificent stream from 600 to 700 yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks, the former occupied by fishermen's huts, the latter by sterns and crocodiles basking in the sun,--flowing between the fine high grassy banks, with rich trees and plantains in the background, where herds of the nsunnu and hartebeest could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikan and guinea-fowl rising at our feet. unfortunately, the chief district officer, mlondo, was from home, but we took possession of his huts--clean, extensive, and tidily kept--facing the river, and felt as if a residence here would do one good. delays and subterfuges, however, soon came to damp our spirits. the acting officer was sent for, and asked for the boats; they were all scattered, and could not be collected for a day or two; but, even if they were at hand, no boat ever went up or down the river. the chief was away and would be sent for, as the king often changed his orders, and, after all, might not mean what had been said. the district belonged to the sakibobo, and no representative of his had come here. these excuses, of course, would not satisfy us. the boats must be collected, seven, if there are not ten, for we must try them, and come to some understanding about them, before we march up stream, when, if the officer values his life, he will let us have them, and acknowledge karoso as the king's representative, otherwise a complaint will be sent to the palace, for we won't stand trifling. we were now confronting usoga, a country which may be said to be the very counterpart of uganda in its richness and beauty. here the people use such huge iron-headed spears with short handles, that, on seeing one to-day, my people remarked that they were better fitted for digging potatoes than piercing men. elephants, as we had seen by their devastations during the last two marches, were very numerous in this neighbourhood. till lately, a party from unyoro, ivory-hunting, had driven them away. lions were also described as very numerous and destructive to human life. antelopes were common in the jungle, and the hippopotami, though frequenters of the plantain-garden and constantly heard, were seldom seen on land in consequence of their unsteady habits. the king's page again came, begging i would not forget the gun and stimulants, and bringing with him the things i asked for--two spears, one shield, one dirk, two leopard-cat skins, and two sheets of small antelope skins. i told my men they ought to shave their heads and bathe in the holy river, the cradle of moses--the waters of which, sweetened with sugar, men carry all the way from egypt to mecca, and sell to the pilgrims. but bombay, who is a philosopher of the epicurean school, said, "we don't look on those things in the same fanciful manner that you do; we are contented with all the common-places of life, and look for nothing beyond the present. if things don't go well, it is god's will; and if they do go well, that is his will also." 22d.--the acting chief brought a present of one cow, one goat, and pombe, with a mob of his courtiers to pay his respects. he promised that the seven boats, which are all the station he could muster, would be ready next day, and in the meanwhile a number of men would conduct me to the shooting-ground. he asked to be shown the books of birds and animals, and no sooner saw some specimens of wolf's handiwork, than, in utter surprise, he exclaimed, "i know how these are done; a bird was caught and stamped upon the paper," using action to his words, and showing what he meant, while all his followers n'yanzigged for the favour of the exhibition. in the evening i strolled in the antelope parks, enjoying the scenery and sport excessively. a noble buck nsunnu, standing by himself, was the first thing seen on this side, though a herd of hertebeests were grazing on the usoga banks. one bullet rolled my fine friend over, but the rabble looking on no sooner saw the hit than they rushed upon him and drove him off, for he was only wounded. a chase ensued, and he was tracked by his blood when a pongo (bush box) was started and divided the party. it also brought me to another single buck nsunnu, which was floored at once, and left to be carried home by some of my men in company with waganda, whilst i went on, shot a third nsunnu buck, and tracked him by his blood till dark, for the bullet had pierced his lungs and passed out on the other side. failing to find him on the way home, i shot, besides florikan and guinea-chicks, a wonderful goatsucker, remarkable for the exceeding length of some of its feathers floating out far beyond the rest in both wings. [21] returning home, i found the men who had charge of the dead buck all in a state of excitement; they no sooner removed his carcass, than two lions came out of the jungle and lapped his blood. all the waganda ran away at once; but my braves feared my answer more than the lions, and came off safely with the buck on their shoulders. 23d.--three boats arrived, like those used on the murchison creek, and when i demanded the rest, as well as a decisive answer about going to kamrasi's, the acting mkungu said he was afraid accidents might happen, and he would not take me. nothing would frighten this pig-headed creature into compliance, though i told him i had arranged with the king to make the nile the channel of communication with england. i therefore applied to him for guides to conduct me up the river, and ordered bombay and kasoro to obtain fresh orders from the king, as all future wazungu, coming to uganda to visit or trade, would prefer the passage by the river. i shot another buck in the evening, as the waganda love their skins, and also a load of guinea-fowl--three, four, and five at a shot--as kasoro and his boys prefer them to anything. 24th.--the acting officer absconded, but another man came in his place, and offered to take us on the way up the river to-morrow, humbugging kasoro into the belief that his road to the palace would branch off from the first state, though in reality it was here. the mkungu's women brought pombe, and spent the day gazing at us, till, in the evening, when i took up my rifle, one ran after bana to see him shoot, and followed like a man; but the only sport she got was on an ant-hill, where she fixed herself some time, popping into her mouth and devouring the white ants as fast as they emanated from their cells--for, disdaining does, i missed the only pongo buck i got a shot at in my anxiety to show the fair one what she came for. reports came to-day of new cruelties at the palace. kasoro improved on their off-hand manslaughter by saying that two kamravionas and two sakibobos, as well as all the old wakungu of sunna's time, had been executed by the orders of king mtesa. he told us, moreover, that if mtesa ever has a dream that his father directs him to kill anybody as being dangerous to his person, the order is religiously kept. i wished to send a message to mtesa by an officer who is starting at once to pay his respects at court; but although he received it, and promised to deliver it, kasoro laughed at me for expecting that one word of it would ever reach the king; for, however, appropriate or important the matter might be, it was more than anybody dare do to tell the king, as it would be an infringement of the rule that no one is to speak to him unless in answer to a question. my second buck of the first day was brought in by the natives, but they would not allow it to approach the hut until it had been skinned; and i found their reason to be a superstition that otherwise no others would ever be killed by the inmates of that establishment. i marched up the left bank of the nile at a considerable distance from the water, to the isamba rapids, passing through rich jungle and plantain-gardens. nango, an old friend, and district officer of the place, first refreshed us with a dish of plantain-squash and dried fish, with pombe. he told us he is often threatened by elephants, but he sedulously keeps them off with charms; for if they ever tasted a plantain they would never leave the garden until they had cleared it out. he then took us to see the nearest falls of the nile--extremely beautiful, but very confined. the water ran deep between its banks, which were covered with fine grass, soft cloudy acacias, and festoons of lilac convolvuli; whilst here and there, where the land had slipped above the rapids, bared places of red earth could be seen, like that of devonshire; there, too, the waters, impeded by a natural dam, looked like a huge mill-pond, sullen and dark, in which two crocodiles, laving about, were looking out for prey. from the high banks we looked down upon a line of sloping wooded islets lying across the stream, which divide its waters, and, by interrupting them, cause at once both dam and rapids. the whole was more fairy-like, wild, and romantic than--i must confess that my thoughts took that shape--anything i ever saw outside of a theatre. it was exactly the sort of place, in fact, where, bridged across from one side-slip to the other, on a moonlight night, brigands would assemble to enact some dreadful tragedy. even the wanguana seemed spellbound at the novel beauty of the sight, and no one thought of moving till hunger warned us night was setting in, and we had better look out for lodgings. start again, and after drinking pombe with nango, when we heard that three wakungu had been seized at kari, in consequence of the murder, the march was commenced, but soon after stopped by the mischievous machinations of our guide, who pretended it was too late in the day to cross the jungles on ahead, either by the road to the source or the palace, and therefore would not move till the morning; then, leaving us, on the pretext of business, he vanished, and was never seen again. a small black fly, with thick shoulders and bullet-head, infests the place, and torments the naked arms and legs of the people with its sharp stings to an extent that must render life miserable to them. after a long struggling march, plodding through huge grasses and jungle, we reached a district which i cannot otherwise describe than by calling it a "church estate." it is dedicated in some mysterious manner to lubari (almighty), and although the king appeared to have authority over some of the inhabitants of it, yet others had apparently a sacred character, exempting them from the civil power, and he had no right to dispose of the land itself. in this territory there are small villages only at every fifth mile, for there is no road, and the lands run high again, whilst, from want of a guide, we often lost the track. it now transpired that budja, when he told at the palace that there was no road down the banks of the nile, did so in consequence of his fear that if he sent my whole party here they would rob these church lands, and so bring him into a scrape with the wizards or ecclesiastical authorities. had my party not been under control, we could not have put up here; but on my being answerable that no thefts should take place, the people kindly consented to provide us with board and lodgings, and we found them very obliging. one elderly man, half-witted--they said the king had driven his senses from him by seizing his house and family--came at once on hearing of our arrival, laughing and singing in a loose jaunty maniacal manner, carrying odd sticks, shells, and a bundle of mbugu rags, which he deposited before me, dancing and singing again, then retreating and bringing some more, with a few plantains from a garden, when i was to eat, as kings lived upon flesh, and "poor tom" wanted some, for he lived with lions and elephants in a hovel beyond the gardens, and his belly was empty. he was precisely a black specimen of the english parish idiot. at last, with a good push for it, crossing hills and threading huge grasses, as well as extensive village plantations lately devastated by elephants--they had eaten all that was eatable, and what would not serve for food they had destroyed with their trunks, not one plantain or one hut being left entire--we arrived at the extreme end of the journey, the farthest point ever visited by the expedition on the same parallel of latitude as king mtesa's palace, and just forty miles east of it. we were well rewarded; for the "stones," as the waganda call the falls, was by far the most interesting sight i had seen in africa. everybody ran to see them at once, though the march had been long and fatiguing, and even my sketch-block was called into play. though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what i expected; for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about 12 feet deep, and 400 to 500 feet broad, were broken by rocks. still it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours--the roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger-fish, leaping at the falls with all their might; the wasoga and waganda fisherman coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake,--made, in all, with the pretty nature of the country--small hills, grassy-topped, with trees in the folds, and gardens on the lower slopes--as interesting a picture as one could wish to see. the expedition had now performed its functions. i saw that old father nile without any doubt rises in the victoria n'yanza, and, as i had foretold, that lake is the great source of the holy river which cradled the first expounder of our religious belief. i mourned, however, when i thought how much i had lost by the delays in the journey having deprived me of the pleasure of going to look at the north-east corner of the n'yanza to see what connection there was, by the strait so often spoken of, with it and the other lake where the waganda went to get their salt, and from which another river flowed to the north, making "usoga an island." but i felt i ought to be content with what i had been spared to accomplish; for i had seen full half of the lake, and had information given me of the other half, by means of which i knew all about the lake, as far, at least, as the chief objects of geographical importance were concerned. let us now sum up the whole and see what it is worth. comparative information assured me that there was as much water on the eastern side of the lake as there is on the western--if anything, rather more. the most remote waters, or top head of the nile, is the southern end of the lake, situated close on the third degree of south latitude, which gives to the nile the surprising length, in direct measurement, rolling over thirty-four degrees of latitude, of above 2300 miles, or more than one-eleventh of the circumference of our globe. now from this southern point, round by the west, to where the great nile stream issues, there is only one feeder of any importance, and that is the kitangule river; whilst from the southernmost point, round by the east, to the strait, there are no rivers at all of any importance; for the travelled arabs one and all aver, that from the west of the snow-clad kilimandjaro to the lake where it is cut by the second degree, and also the first degree of south latitude, there are salt lakes and salt plains, and the country is hilly, not unlike unyamuezi; but they said there were no great rivers, and the country was so scantily watered, having only occasional runnels and rivulets, that they always had to make long marches in order to find water when they went on their trading journeys: and further, those arabs who crossed the strait when they reached usoga, as mentioned before, during the late interregnum, crossed no river either. there remains to be disposed of the "salt lake," which i believe is not a salt, but a fresh-water lake; and my reasons are, as before stated, that the natives call all lakes salt, if they find salt beds or salt islands in such places. dr krapf, when he obtained a sight of the kenia mountain, heard from the natives there that there was a salt lake to its northward, and he also heard that a river ran from kenia towards the nile. if his information was true on this latter point, then, without doubt, there must exist some connection between his river and the salt lake i have heard of, and this in all probability would also establish a connection between my salt lake and his salt lake which he heard was called baringo. [22] in no view that can be taken of it, however, does this unsettled matter touch the established fact that the head of the nile is in 3° south latitude, where in the year 1858, i discovered the head of the victoria n'yanza to be. i now christened the "stones" ripon falls, after the nobleman who presided over the royal geographical society when my expedition was got up; and the arm of water from which the nile issued, napoleon channel, in token of respect to the french geographical society, for the honour they had done me, just before leaving england, in presenting me with their gold medal for the discovery of the victoria n'yanza. one thing seemed at first perplexing--the volume of water in the kitangule looked as large as that of the nile; but then the one was a slow river and the other swift, and on this account i could form no adequate judgment of their relative values. not satisfied with my first sketch of the falls, i could not resist sketching them again; and then, as the cloudy state of the weather prevented my observing for latitude, and the officer of the place said a magnificent view of the lake could be obtained from the hill alluded to as intercepting the view from the falls, we proposed going there; but kasoro, who had been indulged with nsunnu antelope skins, and with guinea-fowl for dinner, resisted this, on the plea that i never should be satisfied. there were orders given only to see the "stones," and if he took me to one hill i should wish to see another and another, and so on. it made me laugh, for that had been my nature all my life; but, vexed at heart, and wishing to trick the young tyrant, i asked for boats to shoot hippopotami, in the hope of reaching the hills to picnic; but boating had never been ordered, and he would not listen to it. "then bring fish," i said, that i might draw them: no, that was not ordered. "then go you to the palace, and leave me to go to urondogani to-morrow, after i have taken a latitude;" but the wilful creature would not go until he saw me under way. and as nobody would do anything for me without kasoro's orders, i amused the people by firing at the ferry-boat upon the usoga side, which they defied me to hit, the distance being 500 yards; but nevertheless a bullet went through her, and was afterwards brought by the wasoga nicely folded up in a piece of mbugu. bombay then shot a sleeping crocodile with his carbine, whilst i spent the day out watching the falls. this day also i spent watching the fish flying at the falls, and felt as if i only wanted a wife and family, garden and yacht, rifle and rod, to make me happy here for life, so charming was the place. what a place, i thought to myself, this would be for missionaries! they never could fear starvation, the land is so rich; and, if farming were introduced by them, they might have hundreds of pupils. i need say no more. in addition to the rod-and-line fishing, a number of men, armed with long heavy poles with two iron spikes, tied prong-fashion to one end, rushed to a place over a break in the falls, which tired fish seemed to use as a baiting-room, dashed in their forks, holding on by the shaft, and sent men down to disengaged the pined fish and relieve their spears. the shot they made in this manner is a blind one--only on the chance of fish being there--and therefore always doubtful in its result. church estate again. as the clouds and kasoro's wilfulness were still against me, and the weather did not give hopes of a change, i sacrificed the taking of the latitude to gain time. i sent bombay with kasoro to the palace, asking for the sakibobo himself to be sent with an order for five boats, five cows, and five goats, and also for a general order to go where i like, and do what i like, and have fish supplied me; "for, though i know the king likes me, his officers do not;" and then on separating i retraced my steps to the church estate. 1st.--to-day, after marching an hour, as there was now no need for hurrying, and a fine pongo buck, the ngubbi of uganda, offered a tempting shot, i proposed to shoot it for the men, and breakfast in a neighbouring village. this being agreed to, the animal was despatched, and we no sooner entered the village than we heard that nsamma, a magnificent description of antelope, abound in the long grasses close by, and that a rogue elephant frequents the plantains every night. this tempting news created a halt. in the evening i killed a nsamma doe, an animal very much like the kobus ellipsiprymnus, but without the lunated mark over the rump; and at night, about 1 a.m., turned out to shoot an elephant, which we distinctly heard feasting on plantains; but rain was falling, and the night so dark, he was left till the morning. 2d.--i followed up the elephant some way, till a pongo offering an irresistible shot i sent a bullet through him, but he was lost after hours' tracking in the interminable large grasses. an enormous snake, with fearful mouth and fangs, was speared by the men. in the evening i wounded a buck nsamma, which, after tracking till dark, was left to stiffen ere the following morning; and just after this on the way home, we heard the rogue elephant crunching the branches not far off from the track; but as no one would dare follow me against the monster at this late hour, he was reluctantly left to do more injury to the gardens. 3d.--after a warm search in the morning we found the nsamma buck lying in some water; the men tried to spear him, but he stood at bay, and took another bullet. this was all we wanted, affording one good specimen; so, after breakfast, we marched to kirindi, where the villagers, hearing of the sport we had had, and excited with the hopes of getting flesh, begged us to halt a day. 4th.--not crediting the stories told by the people about the sport here, we packed to leave, but were no sooner ready than several men ran hastily in to say some fine bucks were waiting to be shot close by. this was too powerful a temptation to be withstood, so, shouldering the rifle, and followed by half the village, if not more, women included, we went to the place, but, instead of finding a buck--for the men had stretched a point to keep me at their village--we found a herd of does, and shot one at the people's urgent request. we reached this in one stretch, and put up in our old quarters, where the women of mlondo provided pombe, plantains, and potatoes, as before, with occasional fish, and we lived very happily till the 10th, shooting buck, guinea-fowl, and florikan, when, bombay and kasoro arriving, my work began again. these two worthies reached the palace, after crossing twelve considerable streams, of which one was the luajerri, rising in the lake. the evening of the next day after leaving me at kira, they obtained an interview with the king immediately; for the thought flashed across his mind that bombay had come to report our death, the waganda having been too much for the party. he was speedily undeceived by the announcement that nothing was the matter, excepting the inability to procure boats, because the officers at urondogani denied all authority but the sakibobo's, and no one would show bana anything, however trifling, without an express order for it. irate at this announcement, the king ordered the sakibobo, who happened to be present, to be seized and bound at once, and said warmly, "pray, who is the king, that the sakibobo's orders should be preferred to mine?" and then turning to the sakibobo himself, asked what he would pay to be released? the sakibobo, alive to his danger, replied at once, and without the slightest hesitation, eighty cows, eighty goats, eighty slaves, eighty mbugu, eighty butter, eighty coffee, eighty tobacco, eighty jowari, and eighty of all the produce of uganda. he was then released. bombay said bana wished the sakibobo to come to urondogani, and gave him a start with five boats, five cows, and five goats; to which the king replied, "bana shall have all he wants, nothing shall be denied him, not even fish; but it is not necessary to send the sakibobo, as boys carry all my orders to kings as well as subjects. kasoro will return again with you, fully instructed in everything, and, moreover, both he and budja will follow bana to gani." four days, however, my men were kept at the palace ere the king gave them the cattle and leave to join me, accompanied with one more officer, who had orders to find the boats at once, see us off, and report the circumstance at court. just as at the last interview, the king had four women, lately seized and condemned to execution, squatting in his court. he wished to send them to bana, and when bombay demurred, saying he had no authority to take women in that way, the king gave him one, and asked him if he would like to see some sport, as he would have the remaining women cut to pieces before him. bombay, by his own account, behaved with great propriety, saying bana never wished to see sport of that cruel kind, and it would ill become him to see sights which his master had not. viarungi sent me some tobacco, with kind regards, and said he and the wazina had just obtained leave to return to their homes, k'yengo alone, of all the guests, remaining behind as a hostage until mtesa's powder-seeking wakungu returned. finally, the little boy lugoi had been sent to his home. such was the tenor of bombay's report. 11th.--the officer sent to procure boats, impudently saying there were none, was put in the stocks by kasoro, whilst other men went to kirindi for sailors, and down the stream for boats. on hearing the king's order that i was to be supplied with fish, the fishermen ran away, and pombe was no longer brewed for fear of kasoro. 12th.--to-day we slaughtered and cooked two cows for the journey--the remaining three and one goat having been lost in the luajerri--and gave the women of the place beads in return for their hospitality. they are nearly all wanyoro, having been captured in that country by king mtesa and given to mlondo. they said their teeth were extracted, four to six lower incisors, when they were young, because no myoro would allow a person to drink from his cup unless he conformed to that custom. the same law exists in usoga. chapter xvi. bahr el abiad first voyage on the nile--the starting--description of the river and the country--meet a hostile vessel--a naval engagement--difficulties and dangers--judicial procedure--messages from the king of uganda--his efforts to get us back--desertion--the wanyoro troops--kamrasi--elephant-stalking--diabolical possessions. in five boats of five planks each, tied together and caulked with mbugu rags, i started with twelve wanguana, kasoro and his page-followers, and a small crew, to reach kamrasi's palace in unyoro--goats, dogs, and kit, besides grain and dried meat, filling up the complement--but how many days it would take nobody knew. paddles propelled these vessels, but the lazy crew were slow in the use of them, indulging sometimes in racing spurts, then composedly resting on their paddles whilst the gentle current drifted us along. the river, very unlike what it was from the ripon falls downward, bore at once the character of river and lake--clear in the centre, but fringed in most places with tall rush, above which the green banks sloped back like park lands. it was all very pretty and very interesting, and would have continued so, had not kasoro disgraced the union jack, turning it to piratical purposes in less than one hour. a party of wanyoro, in twelve or fifteen canoes, made of single tree trunks, had come up the river to trade with the wasoga, and having stored their vessels with mbugu, dried fish, plantains cooked and raw, pombe, and other things, were taking their last meal on shore before they returned to their homes. kasoro seeing this, and bent on a boyish spree, quite forgetting we were bound for the very ports they were bound for, ordered our sailors to drive in amongst them, landed himself, and sent the wanyoro flying before i knew what game was up, and then set to pillaging and feasting on the property of those very men whom it was our interest to propitiate, as we expected them shortly to be our hosts. the ground we were on belonged to king mtesa, being a dependency of uganda, and it struck me as singular that wanyoro should be found here; but i no sooner discovered the truth than i made our boatmen disgorge everything they had taken, called back the wanyoro to take care of their things, and extracted a promise from kasoro that he would not practise such wicked tricks again, otherwise we could not travel together. getting to boat again, after a very little paddling we pulled in to shore, on the uganda side, to stop for the night, and thus allowed the injured wanyoro to go down the river before us. i was much annoyed by this interruption, but no argument would prevail on kasoro to go on. this was the last village on the uganda frontier, and before we could go any farther on boats it would be necessary to ask leave of kamrasi's frontier officer, n'yamyonjo, to enter unyoro. the wanguana demanded ammunition in the most imperious manner, whilst i, in the same tone, refused to issue any lest a row should take place and they then would desert, alluding to their dastardly desertion in msalala, when grant was attacked. if a fight should take place, i said they must flock to me at once, and ammunition, which was always ready, would be served out to them. they laughed at this, and asked, who would stop with me when the fight began? this was making a jest of what i was most afraid of--that they would all run away. i held a levee to decide on the best manner of proceeding. the waganda wanted us to stop for the day and feel the way gently, arguing that etiquette demands it. then, trying to terrify me, they said, n'yamyonjo had a hundred boats, and would drive us back to a certainty if we tried to force past them, if he were not first spoken with, as the waganda had often tried the passage and been repulsed. on the other hand, i argued that grant must have arrived long ago at kamrasi's, and removed all these difficulties for us; but, i said, if they would send men, let bombay start at once by land, and we will follow in boats, after giving him time to say we are coming. this point gained after a hot debate, bombay started at 10 a.m., and we not till 5 p.m., it being but one hour's journey by water. the frontier line was soon crossed; and then both sides of the river, usoga as well as unyoro, belong to kamrasi. i flattered myself all my walking this journey was over, and there was nothing left but to float quietly down the nile, for kidgwiga had promised boats, on kamrasi's account, from unyoro to gani, where petherick's vessels were said to be stationed; but this hope shared the fate of so many others in africa. in a little while an enormous canoe, full of well-dressed and well-armed men, was seen approaching us. we worked on, and found they turned, as if afraid. our men paddled faster, they did the same, the pages keeping time playfully by beat of drum, until at last it became an exciting chase, won by the wanyoro by their superior numbers. the sun was now setting as we approached n'yamyongo's. on a rock by the river stood a number of armed men, jumping, jabbering, and thrusting with their spears, just as the waganda do. i thought, indeed, they were waganda doing this to welcome us; but a glance at kasoro's glassy eyes told me such was not the case, but, on the contrary, their language and gestures were threats, defying us to land. the bank of the river, as we advanced, then rose higher, and was crowned with huts and plantations, before which stood groups and lines of men, all fully armed. further, at this juncture, the canoe we had chased turned broadside on us, and joined in the threatening demonstrations of the people on shore. i could not believe them to be serious--thought they had mistaken us--and stood up in the boat to show myself, hat in hand. i said i was an englishman going to kamrasi's, and did all i could, but without creating the slightest impression. they had heard a drum beat, they said, and that was a signal of war, so war it should be; and kamrasi's drums rattled up both sides the river, preparing everybody to arm. this was serious. further, a second canoe full of armed men issued out from the rushes behind us, as if with a view to cut off our retreat, and the one in front advanced upon us, hemming us in. to retreat together seemed our only chance, but it was getting dark, and my boats were badly manned. i gave the order to close together and retire, offering ammunition as an incentive, and all came to me but one boat, which seemed so paralysed with fright, it kept spinning round and round like a crippled duck. the wanyoro, as they saw us retreating, were now heard to say, "they are women, they are running, let us at them;" whilst i kept roaring to my men, "keep together--come for powder;" and myself loaded with small shot, which even made kasoro laugh and inquire if it was intended for the wanyoro. "yes, to shoot them like guinea-fowl;" and he laughed again. but confound my men! they would not keep together, and retreat with me. one of those served with ammunition went as hard as he could go up stream to be out of harm's way, and another preferred hugging the dark shade of the rushes to keeping the clear open, which i desired for the benefit of our guns. it was not getting painfully dark, and the wanyoro were stealing on us, as we could hear, though nothing could be seen. presently the shade-seeking boat was attacked, spears were thrown, fortunately into the river instead of into our men, and grappling-hooks were used to link the boats together. my men cried, "help, bana! they are killing us;" whilst i roared to my crew, "go in, go in, and the victory will be ours;" but not a soul would--they were spell-bound to the place; we might have been cut up in detail, it was all the same to those cowardly waganda, whose only action consisted in crying, "n'yawo! n'yawo!"--mother, mother, help us! three shots from the hooked boat now finished the action. the wanyoro had caught a tartar. two of their men fell--one killed, one wounded. they were heard saying their opponents were not waganda, it were better to leave them alone; and retreated, leaving us, totally uninjured, a clear passage up the river. but where was bombay all this while! he did not return till after us, and then, in considerable excitement, he told his tale. he reached n'yamyongo's village before noon, asked for the officer, but was desired to wait in a hut until the chief should arrive, as he had gone out on business; the villagers inquired, however, why we had robbed the wanyoro yesterday, for they had laid a complaint against us. bombay replied it was no fault of bana's, he did everything he could to prevent it, and returned all that the boatmen took. these men then departed, and did not return until evening, when they asked bombay, impudently, why he was sitting there, as he had received no invitation to spend the night; and unless he walked off soon they would set fire to his hut. bombay, without the smallest intention of moving, said he had orders to see n'yamyonjo, and until he did so he would not budge. "well," said the people, "you have got your warning, now look out for yourselves;" and bombay, with his waganda escort, was left again. drums then began to beat, and men to hurry to and fro with spears and shields, until at last our guns were heard, and, guessing the cause, bombay with his waganda escort rushed out of the hut into the jungle, and, without daring to venture on the beaten track, through thorns and thicket worked his way back to me, lame, and scratched all over with thorns. crowds of waganda, all armed as if for war, came to congratulate us in the morning, jumping, jabbering, and shaking their spears at us, denoting a victory gained--for we had shot wanyoro and no harm had befallen us. "but the road," i cried, "has that been gained? i am not going to show my back. we must go again, for there is some mistake; grant is with kamrasi, and n'yamyongo cannot stop us. if you won't go in boats, let us go by land to n'yamyongo's, and the boats will follow after." not a soul, however, would stir. n'yamyongo was described as an independent chief, who listened to kamrasi only when he liked. he did not like strange eyes to see his secret lodges on the n'yanza; and if he did not wish us to go down the river, kamrasi's orders would go for nothing. his men had now been shot; to go within his reach would be certain death. argument was useless, boating slow, to send messages worse; so i gave in, turned my back on the nile, and the following day (16th) came on the luajerri. here, to my intense surprise, i heard that grant's camp was not far off, on its return from kamrasi's. i could not, rather would not, believe it, suspicious as it now appeared after my reverse. the men, however, were positive, and advised my going to king mtesa's--a ridiculous proposition, at once rejected; for i had yet to receive kamrasi's answer to our queen, about opening a trade with england. i must ascertain why he despised englishmen without speaking with them, and i could not believe kamrasi would prove less avaricious than either rumanika or mtesa, especially as rumanika had made himself responsible for our actions. we slept that night near kari, the waganda eating two goats which had been drowned in the luajerri; and the messenger-page, having been a third time to the palace and back again, called to ask after our welfare, on behalf of his king, and remind us about the gun and brandy promised. 17th and 18th.--the two following days were spent wandering about without guides, trying to keep the track grant had taken after leaving us, crossing at first a line of small hills, then traversing grass and jungle, like the dak of india. plantain-gardens were frequently met, and the people seemed very hospitably inclined, though they complained sadly of the pages rudely rushing into every hut, seizing everything they could lay their hands on, and even eating the food which they had just prepared for their own dinners, saying, in a mournful manner, "if it were not out of respect for you we should fight those little rascals, for it is not the king's guest nor his men who do us injury, but the king's own servants, without leave or licence." i observed that special bomas or fences were erected to protect these villages against the incursions of lions. buffaloes were about, but the villagers cautioned us not to shoot them, holding them as sacred animals; and, to judge from the appearance of the country, wild animals should abound, were it not for the fact that every mganda seems by instinct to be a sportsman. at last, after numerous and various reports about grant, we heard his drums last night, but we arrived this morning just in time to be too late. he was on his march back to the capital of uganda, as the people had told us, and passed through n'yakinyama just before i reached it. what had really happened i knew not, and was puzzled to think. to insist on a treaty, demanding an answer, to the queen, seemed the only chance left; so i wrote to grant to let me know all about it, and waited the result. he very obligingly came himself, said he left unyoro after stopping there an age asking for the road without effect, and left by the orders of kamrasi, thinking obedience the better policy to obtain our ends. two great objections had been raised against us; one was that we were reported to be cannibals, and the other that our advancing by two roads at once was suspicious, the more especially so as the waganda were his enemies; had we come from rumanika direct, there would have been no objection to us. when all was duly considered, it appeared evident to me that the great king of unyoro, "the father of all the kings," was merely a nervous, fidgety creature, half afraid of us because we were attempting his country by the unusual mode of taking two routes at once, but wholly so of the waganda, who had never ceased plundering his country for years. as it appeared that he would have accepted us had we come by the friendly route of kisuere, a further parley was absolutely necessary, and the more especially so, as now we were all together and in uganda, which, in consequence, must relieve him from the fear of our harbouring evil designs against him. no one present, however, could be prevailed on to go to him in the capacity of ambassador, as the frontier officer had warned the wageni or guests that, if they ever attempted to cross the border again, he was bound in duty, agreeably to the orders of his king, to expel them by force; therefore, should the wageni attempt it after this warning, their first appearance would be considered a casus belli; and so the matter rested for the day. to make the best of a bad bargain, and as n'yakinyama was "eaten up," we repaired to grant's camp to consult with budja; but budja was found firm and inflexible against sending men up to unyoro. his pride had been injured by the rebuffs we had sustained. he would wait here three or four days as i proposed, to see what fortune sent us, if i would not be convinced that kamrasi wished to reject us, and he would communicate with his king in the meantime, but nothing more. here was altogether a staggerer: i would stop for three or four days, but if kamrasi would not have us by that time, what was to be done? would it be prudent to try kisuere now baraka had been refused the gani route? or would it not be better still for me to sell kamrasi altogether, by offering mtesa five hundred loads of ammunition, cloth and beads, if he would give us a thousand waganda as a force to pass through the masai to zanzibar, this property to be sent back by the escort from the coast? kamrasi would no doubt catch it if we took this course, but it was expensive. thus were we ruminating, when lo, to our delight, as if they had been listening to us, up came kidgwiga, my old friend, who, at mtesa'a place, had said kamrasi would be very glad to see me, and vittagura, kamrasi's commander-in-chief, to say their king was very anxious to see us, and the waganda might come or not as they liked. until now, the deputation said, kamrasi had doubted budja's word about our friendly intentions, but since he saw us withdrawing from his country, those doubts were removed. the n'yamswenge, they said--meaning, i thought, petherick--was still at gani; no english or others on the nile ever expressed a wish to enter unyoro, otherwise they might have done so; and baraka had left for karague, carrying off an ivory as a present from kamrasi. 21st.--i ordered the march to unyoro; budja, however, kept brooding over the message sent to the waganda, to the effect that they might come or not as they liked, and considering us with himself to have all been treated "like dogs," begged me to give him my opinion as to what course he had better pursue; for he must, in the first instance, report the whole circumstances to the king, and could not march at once. this was a blight on our prospects, and appeared very vexatious, in the event of budja waiting for an answer, which, considering mtesa had ordered his wakungu to accompany us all the way to gani, might stop our march altogether. i therefore argued that kamrasi's treatment of us was easily accounted for: he heard of us coming by two routes from an enemy's country, and was naturally suspicious of us; that had now been changed by our withdrawing, and he invited us to him. without doubt, his commander-in-chief was never very far away, and followed on our heels. such precaution was only natural and reasonable on kamrasi's part, and what had been done need not alarm any one. "if you do your duty properly, you will take us at once into unyoro, make your charge over to these men, and return or not as you like; for in doing so you will have fulfilled both mtesa's, and kamrasi's orders at once." "very good," says budja, "let it be so; for there is great wisdom in your words: but i must first send to my king, for the waganda villagers have struck two of your men with weapons" (this had happened just before my arrival here), "and this is a most heinous offence in uganda, which cannot be overlooked. had it been done with a common stick, it could have been overlooked; but the use of weapons is an offence, and both parties must go before the king." this, of course, was objected to on the plea that it was my own affair. i was king of the wanguana, and might choose to dispense with the attendance. the matter was compromised, however, on the condition that budja should march across the border to-morrow, and wait for the return of these men and for further orders on the unyoro side. the bait took. budja lost sight of the necessity there was for his going to gani to bring back a gun, ammunition, and some medicine--that is to say, brandy--for his king; and sent his men off with mine to tell mtesa all our adventures--our double repulse, the intention to wait on the unyoro side for further orders, and the account of some waganda having wounded my men. i added my excuses for kamrasi, and laid a complaint against mtesa's officers for having defrauded us out of ten cows, five goats, six butter, and sixty mbugu. it was not that we required these things, but i knew that the king had ordered them to be given to us, and i thought it right we should show that his officers, if they professed to obey his orders, had peculated. after these men had started, some friends of the villager who had been apprehended on the charge of assailing my men, came and offered budja five cows to overlook the charge; and budja, though he could not overlook it when i pleaded for the man, asked me to recall my men. discovering that the culprit was a queen's man, and that the affair would cause bad blood at court should the king order the man's life to be taken, i tried to do so, but things had gone too far. again the expedition marched on in the right direction. we reached the last village on the uganda frontier, and there spent the night. here grant shot a nsunnu buck. the wanguana mutinied for ammunition, and would not lift a load until they got it, saying, "unyoro is a dangerous country," though they had been there before without any more than they now had in pouch. the fact was, my men, in consequence of the late issues on the river, happened to have more than grant's men, and every man must have alike. the ringleader, unfortunately for himself, had lately fired at a dead lion, to astonish the unyoro, and his chum had fired a salute, which was contrary to orders; for ammunition was at a low ebb, and i had done everything in my power to nurse it. therefore, as a warning to the others, the guns of these two were confiscated, and a caution given that any gun in future let off, either by design or accident, would be taken. to-day i felt very thankful to get across the much-vexed boundary-line, and enter unyoro, guided by kamrasi's deputation of officers, and so shake off the apprehensions which had teased us for so many days. this first march was a picture of all the country to its capital: an interminable forest of small trees, bush, and tall grass, with scanty villages, low huts, and dirty-looking people clad in skins; the plantain, sweet potato, sesamum, and ulezi (millet) forming the chief edibles, besides goats and fowls; whilst the cows, which are reported to be numerous, being kept, as everywhere else where pasture-lands are good, by the wandering, unsociable wahuma are seldom seen. no hills, except a few scattered cones, disturb the level surface of the land, and no pretty views ever cheer the eye. uganda is now entirely left behind; we shall not see its like again; for the further one leaves the equator, and the rain-attracting influences of the mountains of the moon, vegetation decreases proportionately with the distance. fortunately the frontier-village could not feed so large a party as ours, and therefore we were compelled to move farther on, to our great delight, through the same style of forest acacia, cactus, and tall grass, to kidgwiga's gardens, where we no sooner arrived than mtesa's messenger-page, with a party of fifty waganda, dropped in, in the most unexpected manner, to inquire after "his royal master's friend, bana." the king had heard of the fight upon the river, and thought the wanguana must be very good shots. he still trusted we would not forget the gun and ammunition, but, above all, the load of stimulants, for he desired that above all things on earth. this was the fourth message to remind us of these important matters which we had received since leaving his gracious presence, and each time brought by the same page. while the purpose of the boy's coming with so many men was not distinctly known, the whole village and camp were in a state of great agitation, budja fearing lest the king had some fault to find with his work, and the wanyoro deeming it a menace of war, whilst i was afraid they might take fright and stop our progress. but all went well in the end; massey's log, which i have mentioned as a present i intended for mtesa, was packed up, and the page departed with it. some of rumanika's men, who came into unyoro with baraka, with four of k'yengo's, were sent to call us by kamrasi. through rumanika's men it transpired that he had stood security for our actions, else, with the many evil reports of our being cannibals and such-like, which had preceded our coming here, we never should have gained admittance to the country. the wanyoro, who are as squalid-looking as the wanyamuezi, and almost as badly dressed, now came about us to hawk ivory ornaments, brass and copper twisted wristlets, tobacco, and salt, which they exchanged for cowries, with which they purchase cows from the waganda. as in uganda, all the villagers forsook their huts as soon as they heard the wageni (guests) were coming; and no one paid the least attention to the traveller, save the few head-men attached to the escort, or some professional traders. 25th to 28th.--i had no sooner ordered the march than vittagura counter-ordered it, and held a levee to ascertain, as he said, if the waganda were to go back; for though kamrasi wished to see us, he did not want the waganda. it was kamrasi's orders that budja should tell this to his "child the mkavia," meaning mtesa; for when the waganda came the first time to see him, three of his family died; and when they came the second time, three more died; and as this rate of mortality was quite unusual in his family circle, he could only attribute it to foul magic. the presence of people who brought such results was of course by no means desirable. this neat message elicited with a declaration of the necessity of budja's going to gani with us, and a response from the commander-in-chief, probably to terrify the waganda, that although gani was only nine days' journey distant from kamrasi's palace, the gani people were such barbarians, they would call a straight-haired man a magician, and any person who tied his mbugu in a knot upon his shoulder, or had a full set of teeth as the waganda have, would be surely killed by them. finally, we must wait two days, to see if kamrasi would see us or not. such was unyoro diplomacy. an announcement of a different kind immediately followed. the king had heard that i gave a cow to vittagura and kidgwiga when they first came to me in uganda, and wished the wanyamuezi to ascertain if this was true. of course, i said they were my guests in uganda, and if they had been wise they would have eaten their cow on the spot; what was that to kamrasi? it was a pity he did not treat us as well who have come into his country at his own invitation, instead of keeping us starving in this gloomy wilderness, without a drop of pombe to cheer the day;--why could not he let us go on? he wanted first to hear if the big mzungu, meaning myself, had really come yet. all fudge! three days were spent in simply waiting for return messages on both sides, and more might have been lost in the same way, only we amused vittagura and gave him confidence by showing our pictures, looking-glass, scissors, knives, etc., when he promised a march in the morning, leaving a man behind to bring on the wanguana sent to mtesa's, it being the only alternative which would please budja; for he said there was no security for life in unyoro, where every mkungu calls himself the biggest man, and no true hospitality is to be found. the next two days took us through chagamoyo to kiratosi, by the aid of the compass; for the route kamrasi's men took differed from the one which budja knew, and he declared the wanyoro were leading us into a trap, and would not be convinced we were going on all right till i pulled out the compass and confirmed the wanyoro. we were anything but welcomed at kiratosi, the people asking by what bad luck we had come there to eat up their crops; but in a little while they flocked to our doors and admired our traps, remarking that they believed each iron box contained a couple of white dwarfs, which we carry on our shoulders, sitting straddle-legs, back to back, and they fly off to eat people whenever they get the order. one of these visitors happened to be the sister of one of my men, named baruti, who no sooner recognised her brother, than, without saying a word, she clasped her head with her hands, and ran off, crying, to tell her husband what she had seen. a spy of kamrasi dropped the report that the wanguana were returning from mtesa's, and hurried on to tell the king. 31st.--some waganda hurrying in, confirmed the report of last night, and said the wanguana, footsore, had been left at the uganda frontier, expecting us to return, as mtesa, at the same time that he approved highly of my having sent men back to inform him of kamrasi's conduct, begged we would instantly return, even if found within one march of kamrasi's, for he had much of importance to tell his friend bana. the message continued to this effect: i need be under no apprehensions about the road to the coast, for he would give me as many men as i liked; and, fearing i might be short of powder, he had sent some with the wanguana. both wanguana were by the king given women for their services, and an old tin cartridge-box represented mtesa's card, it being an article of european manufacture, which, if found in the possession of any mganda, would be certain death to him. finally, all the houses and plantains where my men were wounded had been confiscated. when this message was fully delivered, budja said we must return without a day's delay. i, on the contrary, called up kidgwiga. i did not like my men having been kept prisoners in uganda, and pronounced in public that i would not return. it would be an insult to kamrasi my doing so, for i was now in his "house" at his own invitation. i wished bombay would go with him (kidgwiga) at once to his king, to say i had hoped, when i sent budja with mabruki, in the first instance, conveying a friendly present from mtesa, which was done at my instigation, and i found kamrasi acknowledged it by a return-present, that there would be no more fighting between them. i said i had left england to visit these countries for the purpose of opening up a trade, and i had no orders to fight my way except with the force of friendship. that rumanika had accepted my views kamrasi must be fully aware by baraka's having visited him; and that mtesa did the same must also be evident, else he would never have ordered his men to accompany me to gani; and i now fondly trusted that these waganda would be allowed to go with me, when, by the influence of trade, all animosity would cease, and friendly relations be restored between the two countries. this speech was hardly pronounced when kajunju, a fine athletic man, dropped suddenly in, nodded a friendly recognition to budja, and wished to know what the waganda meant by taking us back, for the king had heard of their intention last night; and when told by budja his story, and by kidgwiga mine, he vanished like a shadow. budja, now turning to me, said, "if you won't go back, i shall; for the orders of mtesa must always be obeyed, else lives will be lost; and i shall tell him that you, since leaving his country, and getting your road, have quite forgotten him." "if you give such a message as that," i said, "you will tell a falsehood. mtesa has no right to order me out of another man's house, to be an enemy with one whose friendship i desire. i am not only in honour bound to speak with kamrasi, but i am also bound to carry out the orders of my country just as much as you are yours; moreover, i have invited petherick to come to kamrasi's by a letter from karague, and it would be ill-becoming in me to desert him in the hands of an enemy, as he would then certainly find kamrasi to be if i went back now." budja then tried the coaxing dodge, saying, "there is much reason in your words, but i am sorry you do not listen to the king, for he loves you as a brother. did you not go about like two brothers--walking, talking, shooting, and even eating together? it was the remark of all the waganda, and the king will be so vexed when he finds you have thrown him over. i did not tell you before, but the king says, 'how can i answer rumanika if kamrasi injures bana? had i known kamrasi was such a savage, i would not have let bana go there; and i should now have sent a forge to take him away, only that some accident might arise from it by kamrasi's taking fright; the road even to gani shall be got by force if necessary.'" then, finding me still persistent, budja turned again and threatened us with the king's power, saying, "if you choose to disobey, we will see whether you ever get the road to gani or not; for kamrasi is at war on all sides with his brothers, and mtesa will ally himself with them at any moment that he wishes, and where will you be then?" saying this, budja walked off, muttering that our being here would much embarrass mtesa's actions; whilst my wanguana, who had been attentively listening, like timid hares, made up their minds to leave me, and tried, through bombay, to obtain a final interview with me, saying they knew mtesa's power, and disobedience to him would only end in taking away all chance of escape. in reply, i said i would not listen to them, as i had seen enough of them to know it was no use speaking to a pack of unreasonable cowards, having tried it so often before; but i sent a message requesting them, if they did desert me at last, to leave my guns; and, further, added an intimation that, as soon as they reached the coast, they would be put into prison for three years. the scoundrels insolently said "tuende setu" (let's be off), rushed to the waganda drums, and beat the march. 1st.--early in the morning, as budja drummed the home march, i called him up, gave him a glass rain-gauge as a letter for mtesa, and instructed him to say i would send a man to mtesa as soon as i had seen kamrasi about opening the road; that i trusted he would take all the guns from the deserters and keep them for me, but the men themselves i wished transported to an island on the n'yanza, for i could never allow such scoundrels again to enter my camp. it was the effect of desertions like these that prevented any white men visiting these countries. this said, the waganda all left us, taking with them twenty-eight wanguana, armed with twenty-two carbines. amongst them was the wretched governess, manamaka, who had always thought me a wonderful magician, because i possessed, in her belief, an extraordinary power in inclining all the black kings' hearts to me, and induced them to give the roads no one before of my colour had ever attempted to use. with a following reduced to twenty men, armed with fourteen carbines, i now wished to start for kamrasi's, but had not even sufficient force to lift the loads. a little while elapsed, and a party of fifty wanyoro rushed wildly into camp, with their spears uplifted, and looked for the waganda, but found them gone. the athletic kajunju, it transpired, had returned to kamrasi's, told him our story, and received orders to snatch us away from the waganda by force, for the great mkamma, or king, was most anxious to see his white visitors; such men had never entered unyoro before, and neither his father nor his father's fathers had ever been treated with such a visitation; therefore he had sent on these fifty men to fall by surprise on the waganda, and secure us. but again, in a little while, about 10 a.m., kajunju, in the same wild manner, at the head of 150 warriors, with the soldier's badge--a piece of mbugu or plantain-leaf tied round their heads, and a leather sheath on their spear-heads, tufted with cow's-tail--rushed in exultingly, having found, to their delight, that there was no one left to fight with, and that they had gained an easy victory. they were certainly a wild set of ragamuffins--as different as possible from the smart, well-dressed, quick-of-speech waganda as could be, and anything but prepossessing to our eyes. however, they had done their work, and i offered them a cow, wishing to have it shot before them; but the chief men, probably wishing the whole animal to themselves, took it alive, saying the men were all the king's servants, and therefore could not touch a morsel. kamrasi expected us to advance next day, when some men would go on ahead to announce our arrival, and bring a letter which was brought with beads by gani before baraka's arrival here. it was shown to baraka in the hope that we would come by the karague route, but not to mabruki, because he came from uganda. kidgwiga informed us that kamrasi never retaliated on mtesa when he lifted unyoro cows, though the waganda keep their cattle on the border--which simply meant that he had not the power of doing so. the twenty remaining wanguana, conversing over the sudden scheme of the deserters, proposed, on one side, sending for them, as, had they seen the wanyoro arrive, they would have changed their minds; but the other side said, "what! those brutes who said we should all die here if we stayed, and yet dared not face the danger with us, should we now give them a helping hand? never! we told them we would share our fate with bana, and share it we will, for god rules everything: every man must die when his time comes." we marched for the first time without music, as the drum is never allowed to be beaten in unyoro except when the necessities of war demand it, or for a dance. wanyamuezi and wanyoro, in addition to our own twenty men, carried the luggage, though no one carried more than the smallest article he could find. it was a pattern unyoro march, of only two hours' duration. on arrival at the end we heard that elephants had been seen close by. grant and i then prepared our guns, and found a herd of about a hundred feeding on a plain of long grass, dotted here and there by small mounds crowned with shrub. the animals appeared to be all females, much smaller than the indian breed; yet though ten were fired at, none were killed, and only one made an attempt to charge. i was with the little twin manua at the time, when, stealing along under cover of the high grass, i got close to the batch and fired at the larges, which sent her round roaring. the whole of them then, greatly alarmed, packed together and began sniffing the air with their uplifted trunks, till, ascertaining by the smell of the powder that their enemy was in front of them, they rolled up their trunks and came close to the spot where i was lying under a mound. my scent then striking across them, they pulled up short, lifted their heads high, and looked down sideways on us. this was a bad job. i could not get a proper front shot at the boss of any of them, and if i had waited an instant we should both have been picked up or trodden to death; so i let fly at their temples, and instead of killing, sent the whole of them rushing away at a much faster pace than they came. after this i gave up, because i never could separate the ones i had wounded from the rest, and thought it cruel to go on damaging more. thinking over it afterwards, i came to the conclusion i ought to have put in more powder; for i had, owing to their inferior size to the indian ones, rather despised them, and fired at them with the same charge and in the same manner as i always did at rhinoceros. though puzzled at the strange sound of the rifle, the elephants seldom ran far, packed in herd, and began to graze again. frij, who was always ready at spinning a yarn, told us with much gravity that two of my men, uledi and wadi hamadi, deserters, were possessed of devils (phepo) at zanzibar. uledi, not wishing to be plagued by his satanic majesty's angels on the march, sacrificed a cow and fed the poor, according to the great phepo's orders, and had been exempted from it; but wadi hamadi, who preferred taking his chance, had been visited several times: once at usui, when he was told the journey would be prosperous, only the devil wanted one man's life, and one man would fall sick; which proved true, for hassani was murdered, and grant fell sick in karague. the second time wadi hamadi saw the devil in karague, and was told one man's life would be required in uganda, and such also was the case by kari's murder; and a third time, in unyoro, he was possessed, when it was said that the journey would be prosperous but protracted. 3d.--though we stormed every day at being so shamefully neglected and kept in the jungles, we could not get on, nor find out the truth of our position. i asked if kamrasi was afraid of us, and looking into his magic horn; and was answered, "no; he is very anxious to see you, or he would not have sent six of his highest officers to look after you, and prevent the unruly peasantry from molesting you." "then by whose orders are we kept here?" "by kamrasi's." "why does kamrasi keep us here?" "he thinks you are not so near, and men have gone to tell him." "how did we come here from the last ground?" "by kamrasi's orders; for nothing can be done excepting by his orders." "then he must know we are here?" "he may not have seen the men we sent to him; for unless he shows in public no one can see him." the whole affair gave us such an opinion of kamrasi as induced us to think it would have served him right had we joined mtesa and given him a thrashing. this, i said, was put in our power by an alliance with his refractory brothers; but kidgwiga only laughed and said, "nonsense! kamrasi is the chief of all the countries round here--usoga, kidi, chopi, gani, ulega, everywhere; he has only to hold up his hand and thousands would come to his assistance." kwibeya, the officer of the place, presented us with five fowls on the part of the king, and some baskets of potatoes. 4th.--we halted again, it was said, in order that kwibeya might give us all the king had desired him to present. i sent bombay off with a message to kamrasi explaining everything, and begging for an early interview, as i had much of importance to communicate, and wished, of all things, to see the letter he had from gani, as it must have come from our dear friends at home. seven goats, flour, and plantains, were now brought to us; and as kidgwiga begged for the flour without success, he flew into a fit of high indignation because these things were given and received without his having first been consulted. he was the big man and appointed go-between, and no one could dispute it. this was rather startling news to us, for vittagura said he was commander-in-chief; kajunju thought himself biggest, so did kwibeya, and even dr k'yengo's men justified budja's speech. 5th and 6th.--still another halt, with all sorts of excuses. frij, it appeared, dreamt last night that the king of uganda came to fight us for not complying with his orders, and that all my men ran away except uledi and himself. this, according to the interpretation of the coast, would turn out the reverse, otherwise his head must be wrong, and, according to local science, should be set right again by actual cautery of the temples; and as grant dreamt a letter came from gani which i opened and ran away with, he thought it would turn out no letter at all, and therefore kamrasi had been humbugging us. we heard that bombay had shot a cow before kamrasi and would not be allowed to return until he had eaten it. at last we made a move, but only of two hours' duration, through the usual forest, in which elephants walked about as if it were their park. we hoped at starting to reach the palace, but found we must stop here until the king should send for us. we were informed that doubtless he was looking into his uganga, or magic horn, to discover what he had to expect from us; and he seemed as yet to have found no ground for being afraid of us. moreover, it is his custom to keep visitors waiting on him in this way, for is he not the king of kings, the king of kittara, which includes all the countries surrounding unyoro? chapter xvii. unyoro invitation to the palace at last--journey to it--bombay's visit to king kamrasi--our reputation as cannibals--reception at court--acting the physician again--royal mendicancy. we halted again, but in the evening one of dr k'yengo's men came to invite us to the palace. he explained that kamrasi was in a great rage because we only received seven goats instead of thirty, the number he had ordered kwibeya to give us, besides pombe and plantains without limitation. i complained that bombay had been shown more respect than myself, obtaining an immediate admittance to the king's presence. to this he gave two ready answers--that every distinction shown my subordinate was a distinction to myself, and that we must not expect court etiquette from savages. 9th.--we set off for the palace. this last march differed but little from the others. putting dr k'yengo's men in front, and going on despite all entreaties to stop, we passed the last bit of jungle, sighted the kidi hills, and, in a sea of swampy grass, at last we stood in front of and overlooked the great king's palace, situated n. lat. 1° 37' 43", and e. long. 32° 19' 49", on a low tongue of land between the kafu and nile rivers. it was a dumpy, large hut, surrounded by a host of smaller ones, and the worst royal residence we had seen since leaving uzinza. here kajunju, coming from behind, overtook us, and breathless with running, in the most excited manner, abused dr k'yengo's men for leading us on, and ordered us to stop until he saw the king, and ascertained the place his majesty wished us to reside in. recollecting mtesa's words that kamrasi placed his guest on the n'yanza, i declined going to any place but the palace, which i maintained was my right, and waited for the issue, when kajunju returned with pombe, and showed us to a small, dirty set of huts beyond the kafu river--the trunk of the mwerango and n'yanza branches which we crossed in uganda--and trusted this would do for the present, as better quarters in the palace would be looked for on the morrow. this was a bad beginning, and caused a few of the usual anathemas in which our countrymen give vent to their irritation. two loads of flowers, neatly packed in long strips of rushpith, were sent for us "to consume at once," as more would be given on the morrow. to keep us amused, kidgwiga informed us that kamrasi and mtesa--in fact, all the wahuma--came originally from a stock of the same tribe dwelling beyond kidi. all bury their dead in the same way, under ground; but the kings are toasted first for months till they are like sun-dried meat, when the lower jaw is cut out and preserved, covered with beads. the royal tombs are put under the charge of special officers, who occupy huts erected over them. the umbilical cords are preserved from birth, and, at death, those of men are placed within the door-frame, whilst those of women are buried without--this last act corresponding, according to bombay, with the custom of the wahiyow. on the death of any of the great officers of state, the finger-bones and hair are also preserved; or if they have died shaven, as sometimes occurs, a bit of their mbugu dress will be preserved in place of the hair. their families guard their tombs. the story we heard at karague, about dogs with horns in unyoro, was confirmed by kidgwiga, who positively assured us that he once saw one in the possession of an official person, but it died. the horn then was stuffed with magic powder, and, whenever an army was ordered for war, it was placed on the war-track for the soldiers to step over, in the same way as a child is sacrificed to insure victory in unyomuezi. of the karague story, according to which all the kidi people sleep in trees, kidgwiga gave me a modified version. he said the bachelors alone do son, whilst the married folk dwell in houses. as most of these stories have some foundation in fact, we presumed that the people of kidi sometimes mount a tree to sleep at night when travelling through their forests, where lions are plentiful--but not otherwise. 10th.--i sent kidgwiga with my compliments to the king, and a request that his majesty would change my residence, which was so filthy that i found it necessary to pitch a tent, and also that he would favour me with an interview after breakfast. the return was a present of twenty cows, ten cocks, two bales of flour, and two pots of pombe, to be equally divided between grant and myself, as kamrasi recognised in us two distinct camps, because we approached his country by two different routes--a smart method for expecting two presents from us, which did not succeed, as i thanked for all, grant being "my son" on this occasion. the king also sent his excuses, and begged pardon for what happened to us on entering his country, saying it could not have taken place had we come from rumanika direct. his fear of the waganda gave rise to it, and he trusted we would forget and forgive. to-morrow our residence should be changed, and an interview follow, for he desired being friends with us just as much as we did with him. at last bombay came back. he reported that he had not been allowed to leave the palace earlier, though he pleaded hard that i expected his return; and the only excuse he could extract from the king was, that we were coming in charge of many wakungu, and he had found it necessary to retard our approach in consequence of the famine at chaguzi. his palace proper was not here, but three marches westward: he had come here and pitched a camp to watch his brothers, who were at war with him. bombay, doing his best to escape, or to hurry my march, replied that he was very anxious on our account, because the waganda wished to snatch us away. it was no doubt this hint that brought the messenger to our relief yesterday; and otherwise we might have been kept in the jungle longer. when told by bombay of our treatment on the nile, the king first said he did not think we wished to see him, else we would have come direct from rumanika; but when asked if baraka's coming with rumanika's officers was not sufficient to satisfy him on this point, he hung down his head, and evaded the question, saying he had been the making of mtesa of uganda; but he had turned out a bad fellow, and now robbed him right and left. [23] the gani letter, supposed to be from petherick, was now asked for, and a suggestion made about opening a trade with gani, but all with the provoking result we had been so well accustomed to. no letter like that referred to had ever been received, so that frij's interpretation about grant's letter-dream was right; and if we wished to go to gani, the king would send men travelling by night, for his brothers at war with him lay upon the road. as to the uganda question, and my desiring him to make friends with mtesa, in hopes that the influence of trade would prevent any plundering in future, he merely tossed his head. he often said he did not know what to think about his guests, now he had got them; to which bombay, in rather successful imitation of what he had heard me say on like occasions, replied, "if you do not like them after you have seen them, cut their heads off, for they are all in your hands." 11th.--with great apparent politeness kamrasi sent in the morning to inquire how we had slept. he had "heard our cry"--an expression of regal condescension--and begged we would not be alarmed, for next morning he would see us, and after the meeting change our residence, when, should we not approve of wading to his palace, he would bridge all the swamps leading up to it; but for the present he wanted two rounds of ball-cartridge--one to fire before his women, and the other before his officers and a large number of kidi men who were there on a visit. to please this childish king, bombay was sent with two other of my men, and no sooner arrived than a cow was placed before them to be shot. bombay, however, thinking easy compliance would only lead to continued demands on our short store of powder, said he had no order to shoot cows, and declined. a strong debated ensued, which bombay, by his own account, turned to advantage, by saying, "what use is there in shooting cows? we have lots of meat; what we want is flour to eat with it." to which the great king retorted, "if you have not got flour, that is not my fault, for i ordered your master to come slowly, and to bring provisions along with him." then getting impatient, as all his visitors wanted sport, he ordered the cow out again, and insisted on my men shooting at it, saying at the same time to his kidi visitors, boastfully, "now i will show you what devils these wanguana are: with firearms they can kill a cow with one bullet; and as they are going to gani, i advise you not to meddle with them." the kidi visitors said, "nonsense; we don't believe in their power, but we will see." irate at his defeat, bombay gave orders to the men to fire over the cow, and told kamrasi why he had done so--bana would be angry with him. "well," said the king of kings, "if that is true, go back to your master, tell him you have disappointed me before these men, and obtain permission to shoot the cow in the morning; after which, should you succeed, your master can come after breakfast to see me--but for the present, take him this pot of pombe." 12th.--to back bombay in what he had said, i gave him two more cartridges to shoot the cow with, and orders as well to keep kamrasi to his word about the oft-promised interview and change of residence. he gave me the following account on his return:--upwards of a thousand spectators were present when he killed the cow, putting both bullets into her, and all in a voice, as soon as they saw the effect of the shot, shouted in amazement; the kidi visitors, all terror-stricken, crying out, as they clasped their breasts, "oh, great king, do allow us to return to our country, for you have indeed got a new specimen of man with you, and we are greatly afraid!"--a lot of humbug and affectation to flatter the king, which pleased him greatly. it was not sufficient, however, to make him forget his regal pride; for though bombay pleaded hard for our going to see him, and for a change of residence, the immovable king, to maintain the imperial state he had assumed as "king of kings," only said, "what difference does it make whether your master sees me to-day or to-morrow? if he wants to communicate about the road to gani, his property at karague, or the guns at uganda, he can do so as well through the medium of my officers as with me direct, and i will send men whenever he wishes to do so. perhaps you don't know, but i expect men from gani every day, who took a present of slaves, ivory and monkey-skins to the foreigners residing there, who, in the first instance sent me a necklace of beads [showing them] by some men who wore clothes. they said white men were coming from karague, and requested the beads might be shown them should they do so. they left this two moons before baraka arrived here, and i told them the white men would not come here, as i heard they had gone to uganda." bombay then, finding the king very communicative, went at him for his inhospitality towards us, his turning us back from his country twice, and now, after inviting us, treating us as suwarora did. on this he gave, by bombay's account, the following curious reason for his conduct:--"you don't understand the matter. at the time the white men were living in uganda, many of the people who had seen them there came and described them as such monsters, they ate up mountains and drank the n'yanza dry; and although they fed on both beef and mutton, they were not satisfied until they got a dish of the 'tender parts' of human beings three times a-day. now, i was extremely anxious to see men of such wonderful natures. i could have stood their mountain-eating and n'yanzi-drinking capacities, but on no consideration would i submit to sacrifice my subjects to their appetites, and for this reason i first sent to turn them back; but afterwards, on hearing from dr k'yengo's men that, although the white men had travelled all through their country, and brought all the pretty and wonderful things of the world there, they had never heard such monstrous imputations cast upon them, i sent a second time to call them on: these are the facts of the case. now, with regard to your accusation of my treating them badly, it is all their own fault. i ordered them to advance slowly and pick up food by the way, as there is a famine here; but they, instead, hurried on against my wishes. that they want to see and give me presents you have told me repeatedly--so do i them; for i want them to teach me the way to shoot, and when that is accomplished, i will take them to an island near kidi, where there are some men [his refractory brothers] whom i wish to frighten away with guns; but still there is no hurry,--they can come when i choose to call them, and not before." bombay to this said, "i cannot deliver such a message to bana; i have told so many falsehoods about your saying you will have an interview to-morrow, i shall only catch a flogging"; and forthwith departed. 13th.--more disgusted with kamrasi than ever, i called kidgwiga up, and told him i was led to expect from rumanika that i should find his king a good and reasonable man, which i believed, considering it was said by an unprejudiced person. mtesa, on the contrary, told me kamrasi treated all his guests with disrespect, sending them to the farther side of the n'yanzi. i now found his enemy more truthful than his friend, and wished him to be told so. "for the future, i should never," i said, "mention his name again, but wait until his fear of me had vanished; for he quite forgot his true dignity as a host and king in his surprise and fear, merely because we were in a hurry and desired to see him." he was reported to-day, by the way, to be drunk. as nothing could be done yesterday, in consequence of the king being in his cups, the wakungu conveyed my message to-day, but with the usual effect, till a diplomatic idea struck me, and i sent another messenger to say, if our residence was not changed at once, both grant and myself had made up our minds to cut off our hair and blacken our faces, so that the king of all kings should have no more cause to fear us. ignoring his claims to imperial rank, i maintained that his reason for ill-treating us must be fear,--it could be nothing else. this message acted like magic; for he fully believed we would do as we said, and disappoint him altogether of the strange sight of us as pure white men. the reply was, kamrasi would not have us disfigured in this way for all the world; men were appointed to convey our traps to the west end at once; and kidgwiga, vittagura, and kajunju rushed over to give us the news in all hast lest we should execute our threat, and they were glad to find us with our faces unchanged. i now gave one cow to the head of dr k'yengo's party, and one to the head of rumanika's men, because i saw it was through their instrumentality we gained admittance in the country; and we changed residence to the west end of chaguzi, and found there comfortable huts close to the kafu, which ran immediately between us and the palace. still our position in unyoro was not a pleasant one. in a long field of grass, as high as the neck, and half under water, so that no walks could be taken, we had nothing to see but kamrasi's miserable huts and a few distant conical hills, of which one udongo, we conceive, represents the padongo of brun-bollet, placed by him in 1° south latitude, and 35° east longitude. we were scarcely inside our new dwelling when kamrasi sent a cheer of two pots pombe, five fowls, and two bunches of plantains, hoping we were now satisfied with his favour; but he damped the whole in a moment again, by asking for a many-bladed knife which his officers had seen in grant's possession. i took what he sent, from fear of giving offence, but replied that i was surprised the great king should wish to see my property before seeing myself, and although i attached no more value to my property than he did to his, i could not demean myself by sending him trifles in that way. however, should he, after hearing my sentiments, still persist in asking for the knife to be sent by the hands of a black man, i would pack it up with all the things i had brought for him, and send them by a black man, judging that he liked black men more than white. dr k'yengo's men then informed us they had been twice sent with an army of wanyoro to attack the king's brothers, on a river-island north of this about three days' journey, but each time it ended in nothing. you fancy yourself, they said, in a magnificent army, but the enemy no sooner turn out than the cowardly wanyoro fly, and sacrifice their ally as soon as not into the hands of the opponents. they said kamrasi would not expect us to attack them with our guns. rionga was the head of the rebels; there were formerly five, but now only two of the brothers remained. 15th.--kamrasi, after inquiring after our health, and how we had slept, through a large deputation of head men, alluded to the knife question of yesterday, thinking it very strange that after giving me such nice food i should deny him the gratification of simply looking at a knife; he did not intend to keep it if it was not brought for him, but merely to look at and return it. to my reply of yesterday i added, i had been led, before entering unyoro, to regard kamrasi as the king of all kings--the greatest king that ever was, and one worthy to be my father; but now, as he expected me to amuse him with toys, he had lowered himself in my estimation to the position of being my child. to this the sages said, "bana speaks beautifully, feelingly, and moderately. of course he is displeased at seeing his property preferred before himself; all the right is on his side: we will now return and see what can be done--though none but white men in their greatest dare send such messages to our king." dr k'yengo's men were now attacked by kidgwiga for having taken a cow from me yesterday, and told they should not eat it, because both they and myself were the king's guests, and it ill became one to eat that which was given as a dinner for the other. fortunately, foreseeing this kind of policy, as kamrasi had been watching our actions, i invariably gave in presents those cows which came with us from uganda, and therefore defied any one to meddle with them. this elicited the true facts of the case. dr k'yengo's men had been sent out to our camp to observe if anybody received presents from us, as kamrasi feared his subjects would have the fleecing of us before his turn came; and these men had reported the two cows given by me as mentioned above. kamrasi no sooner heard of this than he took the cows and kept them himself. in their justification, dr k'yengo's men said that had they not been in the country before us, kamrasi would not have had such guests at all; for when he asked them if the waganda reports about our cannibalism and other monstrosities were true, their head man denied it all, offered to stand security for our actions, and told the king if he found us cannibals he might make a mohammedan of him, and sealed the statement with his oath by throwing down his shield and bow and walking over them. to this kamrasi was said to have replied, "i will accept your statements, but you must remain with me until they come." kajunju came with orders to say kamrasi would seize anybody found staring at us. i requested a definite answer would be given as regards kamrasi's seeing us. dr k'yengo's men then said they were kept a week waiting before they could obtain an interview, whilst kajunju excused his king by saying, "at present the court is full of kidi, chopi, gani, and other visitors, who he does not wish should see you, as some may be enemies in disguise. they are all now taking presents of cows from kamrasi, and going to their homes, and, as soon as they are disposed of, your turn will come." 16th.--we kept quiet all day, to see what effect that would have upon the king. kidgwiga told us that, when he was a lad, kamrasi sent him with a large party of wanyoro to visit a king who lived close to a high mountain, two months' journey distant, to the east or south-east of this, and beg for a magic horn, as that king's doctor was peculiarly famed for his skill as a magician. the party carried with them 600 majembe (iron spades), two of which expended daily paid for their board and lodgings on the way. the horn applied for was sent by a special messenger to kamrasi, who, in return, sent one of his horns; from which date, the two kings, whenever one of them wishes to communicate with the other, sends, on the messenger's neck, the horn that had been given him, which both serves for credentials and security, as no one dare touch a mbakka with one of these horns upon his neck. a common source of conversation among our men now was the desertion of their comrades, all fancying how bitterly they would repent it when they heard how we had succeeded, eating beef every day; and uledi now, in a joking manner, abused mektub for having urged him to desert. he would not leave bana, and if he had not stopped, mektub would have gone, for they both served one master at zanzibar, and therefore were like brothers; whilst mektub, laughing over the matter as if it were a good joke, said, "i packed up my things to go, it is true; but i reflected if i got back to the coast said majid would only make a slave of me again." m'yinzuggi, the head of rumanika's party, gave me to-day a tippet monkey-skin in return for the cow i had given him on the 14th. these men, taking their natures from their king rumanika, are by far the most gentle, polite, and attentive of any black men we have travelled amongst. 17th.--tired and out of patience with our prison--a river of crocodiles on one side, and swamps in every other direction, while we could not go out shooting without a specific order from the king--i sent kidgwiga and kajunju to inform kamrasi that we could bear this life no longer. as he did not wish to see white men, our residing here could be of no earthly use. i hoped he would accept our present from bombay, and give us leave to depart for gani. the wakungu, who thought, as well as ourselves, that we were in nothing better than a prison, hurried off with the message, and soon returned with a message from their king that he was busily engaged decorating his palace to give us a triumphant reception; for he was anxious to pay us more respect than anybody who had ever visited him before. we should have seen him yesterday, only that it rained; and, as a precaution against our meeting being broken up, a shed was being built. he could not hear of our leaving the country without seeing him. 18th.--at last we were summoned to attend the king's levee; but the suspicious creature wished his officers to inspect the things we had brought for him before we went there. here was another hitch. i could not submit to such disrespectful suspicions, but if he wished bombay to convey my present to him, i saw no harm in the proposition. the king waived the point, and we all started, carrying as a present the things enumerated in the note. [24] the union jack led the way. at the ferry three shots were fired, when, stepping into two large canoes, we all went across the kafu together, and found, to our surprise, a small hut built for the reception, low down on the opposite bank, where no strange eyes could see us. within this, sitting on a low wooden stool placed upon a double matting of skins--cows' below and leopards' above--on an elevated platform of grass, was the great king kamrasi, looking, enshrouded in his mbugu dress, for all the world like a pope in state--calm and actionless. one bracelet of fine-twisted brass wire adorned his left wrist, and his hair, half an inch long, was worked up into small peppercorn-like knobs by rubbing the hand circularly over the crown of the head. his eyes were long, face narrow, and nose prominent, after the true fashion of his breed; and though a finely-made man, considerably above six feet high, he was not so large as rumanika. a cow-skin, stretched out and fastened to the roof, acted as a canopy to prevent dust falling, and a curtain of mbugu concealed the lower parts of the hut, in front of which, on both sides of the king, sat about a dozen head men. this was all. we entered and took seats on our own iron stools, whilst bombay placed all the presents upon the ground before the throne. as no greetings were exchanged, and all at first remained as silent as death, i commenced, after asking about his health, by saying i had journeyed six long years (by the african computation of five months in the year) for the pleasure of this meeting, coming by karague instead of by the nile, because the "wanya beri" (bari people at gondokoro) had defeated the projects of all former attempts made by white men to reach unyoro. the purpose of my coming was to ascertain whether his majesty would like to trade with our country, exchanging ivory for articles of european manufacture; as, should he do so, merchants would come here in the same way as they went from zanzibar to karague. rumanika and mtesa were both anxious for trade, and i felt sorry he would not listen to my advice and make friend with mtesa; for unless the influence of trade was brought in to check the waganda from pillaging the country, nothing would do so. kamrasi, in a very quiet, mild manner, instead of answering the questions, told us of the absurd stories which he had heard from the waganda, said he did not believe them, else his rivers, deprived of their fountains, would have run dry; and he thought, if we did eat hills and the tender parts of mankind, we should have had enough to satisfy our appetites before we reached unyoro. now, however, he was glad to see that, although our hair was straight and our faces white, we still possessed hands and feel like other men. the present was then opened, and everything in turn placed upon the red blanket. the goggles created some mirth; so did the scissors, as bombay, to show their use, clipped his beard, and the lucifers were considered a wonder; but the king scarcely moved or uttered any remarks till all was over, when, at the instigation of the courtiers, my chronometer was asked for and shown. this wonderful instrument, said the officers (mistaking it for my compass), was the magic horn by which the white men found their way everywhere. kamrasi said he must have it, for, besides it, the gun was the only thing new to him. the chronometer, however, i said, was the only one left, and could not possibly be parted with; though, if kamrasi liked to send men to gani, a new one could be obtained for him. then, changing the subject, much to my relief, kamrasi asked bombay, "who governs england?" "a woman." "has she any children?" "yes," said bombay, with ready impudence; "these are two of them" (pointing to grant and myself). that settled, kamrasi wished to know if we had any specked cows, or cows of any peculiar colour, and would we like to change four large cows for four small ones, as he coveted some of ours. this was a staggerer. we had totally failed, then, in conveying to this stupid king the impression that we were not mere traders, ready to bargain with him. we would present him with cows if we had such as he wanted, but we could not bargain. the meeting then broke up in the same chilling manner as it began, and we returned as we came, but no sooner reached home than four pots of pombe were sent us, with a hope that we had arrived all safely. the present gave great satisfaction. the wanguana accused frij of having "unclean hands," because the beef had not lasted so long as it should do--it being a notable fact in mussulman creed, that unless the man's hands are pure who cuts the throat of an animal, its flesh will not last fresh half the ordinary time. 19th.--as the presents given yesterday occupied the king's mind too much for other business, i now sent to offer him one-third of the guns left in uganda, provided he would send some messengers with one of my men to ask mtesa for them, and also the same proportion of the sixty loads of property left in charge of rumanika at karague, if he would send the requisite number of porters for its removal. but of all things, i said, i most wished to send a letter to petherick at gani, to apprise him of our whereabouts, for he must have been four years waiting our arrival there, and by the same opportunity i would get a watch for the king. he sent us to-day two pots of pombe, one sack of salt, and what might be called a screw of butter, with an assurance that the half of everything that came to his house--and everything was brought from great distances in boats--he would give me; but for the present the only thing he was in need of was some medicine or stimulants. further, i need be under no apprehension if i did not find men at once to go on the three respective journeys; it should be all done in good time, for he loved me much, and desired to show us so much respect that his name should be celebrated for it in songs of praise until he was bowed down by years, and even after death it should be remembered. i ascertained then that the salt, which was very white and pure, came from an island on the little luta nzige, about sixty miles west from the chaguzi palace, where the lake is said to be forty or fifty miles wide. it is the same piece of water we heard of in karague as the little luta nzige, beyond utumbi; and the same story of unyoro being an island circumscribed by it and the victoria n'yanza connected by the nile, is related here, showing that both the karague and unyoro people, as indeed all negroes and arabs, have the common defect in their language, of using the same word for a peninsula and an island. the waijasi--of whom we saw a specimen in the shape of an old woman, with her upper lip edged with a row of small holes, at karague--occupy a large island on this lake named gasi, and sometimes come to visit kamrasi. ugungu, a dependency of kamrasi's, occupies this side, the lake, and on the opposite side is ulegga; beyond which, in about 2° n. lat. and 28° e. long., is the country of namachi; and further west still about 2°, the wilyanwantu, or cannibals, who, according to the report both here and at karague, "bury cows but eat men." these distant people pay their homage to kamrasi, though they have six degrees of longitude to travel over. they are, i believe, a portion of the n'yam n'yams--another name for cannibal--whose country petherick said he entered in 1857-58. among the other wild legends about this people, it was said that the wilyanwantu, in making brotherhood, exchanged their blood by drinking at one another's veins; and, in lieu of butter with their porridge, they smear it with the fat of fried human flesh. 20th.--i had intended for to-day an expedition to the lake; but kamrasi, harbouring a wicked design that we should help in an attack on his brothers, said there was plenty of time to think of that; we would only find that all the waters united go to gani, and he wished us to be his guests for three or four months at least. fifty gani men had just arrived to inform him that rionga had lately sent ten slaves and ten ivory tusks to petherick's post, to purchase a gun; but the answer was, that a thousand times as much would not purchase a weapon that might be used against us; for our arrival with kamrasi had been heard of, and nothing would be done to jeopardise our road. to talk over this matter, the king invited us to meet him. we went as before, minus the flag and firing, and met a similar reception. the gani news was talked over, and we proposed sending bombay with a letter at once. i could get no answer; so, to pass the time, we wished to know from the king's own lips if he had prevented baraka from going to gani, as he had carried orders from rumanika as well as from myself to visit kamrasi, to give him fifty egg-beads, seventy necklaces of mtende, and seventy necklaces of kutuamnazi beads, and then to pass on to gani and give its chief fifty egg-beads and forty necklaces of kutuamnazi. kamrasi replied, "i did not allow him to go, because i heard you had gone to uganda"; and dr k'yengo's men happening to be present, added, "baraka used up all the beads save forty which he gave to kamrasi, living upon goats all the way; and when he left, took back a tusk of ivory." this little controversy was amusing, but did not suit kamrasi, who had his eye on a certain valuable possession of mine. he made his approach towards it by degrees, beginning with a truly royal speech thus: "i am the king of all these countries, even including uganda and kidi--though the kidi people are such savages they obey no man's orders--and you are great men also, sitting on chairs before kings; it therefore ill becomes us to talk of such trifles as beads, especially as i know if you ever return this way i shall get more from you." "begging your majesty's pardon," i said, "the mention of beads only fell in the way of our talk like stones in a walk; our motive being to get at the truth of what baraka did and said here, as his conduct in returning after receiving strict orders from rumanika and ourselves to open the road, is a perfect enigma to us. we could not have entered unyoro at all excepting through uganda, and we could not have put foot in uganda without visiting its king." without deigning to answer, kamrasi, in the metaphorical language of a black man, said, "it would be unbecoming of me to keep secrets from you, and therefore i will tell you at once; i am sadly afflicted with a disorder which you alone can cure." "what is it, your majesty? i can see nothing in your face; it may perhaps require a private inspection." "my heart," he said, "is troubled, because you will not give me your magic horn--the thing, i mean, in your pocket, which you pulled out one day when budja and vittagura were discussing the way; and you no sooner looked at it than you said, 'that is the way to the palace.'" so! the sly fellow has been angling for the chronometer all this time, and i can get nothing out of him until he has got it--the road to the lake, the road to gani, everything seemed risked on his getting my watch--a chronometer worth £50, which would be spoilt in his hands in one day. to undeceive him, and tell him it was the compass which i looked at and not the watch, i knew would only end with my losing that instrument as well; so i told him it was not my guide, but a time-keeper, made for the purpose of knowing what time to eat my dinner by. it was the only chronometer i had with me; and i begged he would have patience until bombay returned from gani with another, when he should have the option to taking this or the new one. "no; i must have the one in your pocket; pull it out and show it." this was done, and i placed it on the ground, saying, "the instrument is yours, but i must keep it until another one comes." "no; i must have it now, and will send it you three times every day to look at." the watch went, gold chain and all, without any blessings following it; and the horrid king asked if i could make up another magic horn, for he hoped he had deprived us of the power of travelling, and plumed himself on the notion that the glory of opening the road would devolve upon himself. when i told him that to purchase another would cost five hundred cows, the whole party were more confirmed than ever as to its magical powers; for who in his sense would give five hundred cows for the mere gratification of seeing at what time his dinner should be eaten? thus ended the second meeting. kamrasi now said the gani men would feast on beef to-morrow, and the next day be ready to start with my men for petherick's camp. he then accompanies us to the boats, spear in hand, and saw us cross the water. long tail-hairs of the giraffe surrounded his neck, on which little balls and other ornaments of minute beads, after the uganda fashion, were worked. in the evening four pots of pombe and a pack of flour were brought, together with the chronometer, which was sent to be wound up--damaged of course--the seconds-hand had been dislodged. 21st.--i heard from kidgwiga that some of those gani men now ordered to go with bombay had actually been visiting here when the latter shot his first cow at the palace, but had gone to their homes to give information of us, and had returned again. eager to get on with my journey, and see european faces again, i besought the king to let us depart, as our work was all finished here, since he had assured us he would like to trade with england. the n'yanswenge--meaning petherick's party--who have hitherto been afraid to come here, would do so now, when they had seen us pass safely down, and could receive my guns and property left to come from uganda and karague, which we ourselves could not wait for. kamrasi, thinking me angry for his having taken the watch so rudely out of my pocket, took fright at the message, sent some of his attendants quickly back to me, requesting me to keep the instrument until another arrived, and begged i would never say i wished to leave his house again. 22d.--kamrasi sent to say bombay was not to start to-day, but to-morrow, so we put the screw on again, and said we must go at once; if he would give us guides to gani, we would return him his twenty cows and seven goats with pleasure. i let him understand we suspected he was keeping us here to fight his brothers, and told him he must at once know we would never lift hand against them. it was contrary to the laws of our land. "i have got no orders to enter into black men's quarrels, and my mother" (the queen), "whom i see every night in my sleep calling me home, would be very angry if she heard of it. rumanika once asked me to fight his brothers rogero and m'yongo, but my only reply to all had been the same--i have no orders to fight with, only to make friends of, the great kings of africa." the game seemed now to be won. at once kamrasi ordered bombay to prepare for the journey. five wanyoro, five chopi men, and five gani men, were to escort him. there was no objection to his carrying arms. the moment he returned, which ought to be in little more than a fortnight, we would all go together. an earnest request was at the same time made that i would not bully him in the mean time with any more applications to depart. so bombay and mabruki, carrying there muskets, and a map and letter for petherick, departed. 23d and 24th.--kamrasi, presuming he had gained favour in our eyes, sent, begging to know how we had slept, and said he would like us to inform him what part of his journey bombay had this morning reached--a fact which he had no doubt must be divinable through the medium of our books. the reply was, that bombay's luck was so good we had no doubt regarding his success; but now he had gone, and our days here were numbered, we should like to see the palace, his fat wives and children, as well as the wanyoro's dances, and all the gaiety of the place. we did not think our reception-hut by the river sufficiently dignified, and our residence here was altogether like that of prisoners--seeing no one, knowing no one. in answer to this, kamrasi sent one pot of pombe and five fowls, begging we would not be alarmed; we should see everything in good time, if we would but have patience, for he considered us very great men, as he was a great man himself, and we had come at his invitation. he must request, in the mean time, that we would send no more messages by his officers, as such messages are never conveyed properly. at present there was a great deal of business in the palace. we asked for some butter, but could get none, as all the milk in the palace was consumed by the wives and children, drinking all day long, to make themselves immovably fat. 25th.--in the morning, the commander-in-chief wished us to cast a horoscope, and see where bombay was, and if he were getting on well. that being negatived, he told us to put our hut in order, as kamrasi was coming to see us. accordingly we made everything as smart as possible, hanging the room round with maps, horns, and skins of animals, and places a large box covered with a red blanket, as a throne for the king to set upon. as he advanced, my men, forming a guard of honour fired three shots immediately on his setting foot upon our side the river; whilst frij, with his boatswain's whistle, piped the 'rogue's march,' to prepare us for his majesty's approach. we saluted him, hat in hand, and, leading the way, showed him in. he was pleased to be complimentary, remarking, what waseja (fine men) we were, and took his seat. we sat on smaller boxes, to appear humble, whilst his escort of black "swells" filled the doorway, squatting on the ground, so as to stop the light and interfere with our decorations. after the first salutations, the king remarked the head of a nsamma buck, and handled it; then noticed my mosquito-curtains hanging over the bed, and begged for them. he was told they could not be given until bombay returned, as the mosquitoes would eat us up. "but there were two," said the escort, "for we have seen one in the other hut." that was true; but were there not two white men? however, if the king wanted gauze, here was a smart gauze veil--and the veil vanished at once. the iron camp-bed was next inspected, and admired; then the sextant, which was coveted and begged for, but without success, much to the astonishment of the king, as his attendants had led him to expect he would get anything he asked for. then the thermometers were wanted and refused; also table-knives, spoons, forks, and even cooking-pots, for we had no others, and could not part with them. the books of birds and animals had next to be seen, and being admired were coveted, the king offering one of the books i first gave him in exchange for one of these. in fact, he wanted to fleece us of everything; so, to shut him up, i said i would not part with one bird for one hundred tusks of ivory; they were all the collections i had made in africa, and if i parted with them my journey would go for nothing; but if he wanted a few drawings of birds i would do some for him--at present i wished to speak to him. "well, what is it? we are all attention." "i wish to know positively if you would like english traders to come here regularly, as the arabs do to trade at karague? and if so, would you give me a pembe (magic horn) as a warrant, that everybody may know kamrasi, king of unyoro, desires it?" kamrasi replied, "i like your proposition very much; you shall have the horn you ask for, either large or small, just as you please; and after you have gone, should we hear any english are at gani wishing to come here, as my brothers are in the way we will advance with spears whilst they approach with guns, and between us both, my brothers must fly--for i myself will head the expedition. but now you have had your say i will have mine if you will listen." "all right, your majesty; what is it?" "i am constantly stricken with fever and pains, for which i know no remedy but cautery; my children die young; my family is not large enough to uphold my dignity and station in life; in fact, i am infirm and want stimulants, and i wish you to prescribe for me, which considering you have found your way to this, where nobody came before, must be easy to you." two pills and a draught for the morning were given as a preliminary measure, argument being of no avail; and to our delight the king said it was time to go. we jumped off our seats to show him the way, hoping our persecutions were over; but still he sat, and sat, until at length, finding we did not take the hint to give him a parting present, he said, "i never visited any big man's house without taking home some trifle to show my wife and children." "indeed, great king! then you did not come to visit us, but to beg, eh? you shall have nothing, positively nothing; for we will not have it said the king did not come to see us, but to beg." kamrasi's face changed colour; he angrily said, "irokh togend" (let us rise and go), and forthwith walked straight out of the hut. frij piped, but no guns fired; and as he asked the reason why he was told it would be offensive to say we were glad he was going. the king was evidently not pleased for no pombe came to-day. chapter xviii. unyoro--continued the ceremonies of the new moon--kamrasi's rule and discipline--an embassy from uganda, and its results--the rebellious brothers--an african sorcerer and his incantations--the kamraviona of unyoro--burial customs--ethiopian legends--complicated diplomacy for our detention--proposal to send princes to england--we get away. 26th.--we found that the palace was shut up in consequence of the new moon, seen for the first time last evening; and incessant drumming was the order of the day. still, private interviews might be granted, and i sent to inquire after the state of the king's health. the reply was, that the medicine had not taken, and the king was very angry because nothing was given him when he took the trouble to call on us. he never called at a big man's house and left it mwiko (empty-handed) before; if there was nothing else to dispose of, could bana not have given him a bag of beads? to save us from this kind of incessant annoyance, i now thought it would be our best policy to mount the high horse and bully him. accordingly, we tied up a bag of the commonest mixed beads, added the king's chronometer, and sent them to kamrasi with a violent message that we were thoroughly disgusted with all that had happened; the beads were for the poor beggar who came to our house yesterday, not to see us, but to beg; and as we did not desire the acquaintance of beggars, we had made up our minds never to call again, nor receive any more bread or wine from the king. this appeared to be a hit. kamrasi, evidently taken aback, said, if he thought he should have offended us by begging, he would not have begged. he was not a poor man, for he had many cows, but he was a beggar, of course, when beads were in the question; and, having unwittingly offended, as he desired our friendship, he trusted his offence would be forgiven. on opening the chronometer, he again wrenched back the seconds-hand, and sent it for repair, together with two pots of pombe as a peace-offering. frij, who accompanied the deputation, overheard the counsellors tell their king that the waganda were on their way back to unyoro to snatch us away; on hearing which the king asked his men if they would ever permit it; and, handling his spear as if for battle, said at the same time he would lose his own head before they should touch his guests. then, turning to frij, he said, "what would you do if they came?--go back with them?" to which frij said, "no, never, when gani is so near; they might cut our heads off, but that is all they could do." the watch being by this time repaired, it gave me the opportunity of sending kidgwiga back to the palace to say we trusted kamrasi would allow budja to come here, if only with one woman to carry his pombe, else mtesa would take offence, form an alliance with rionga, and surround the place with warriors, for it was not becoming in great kings to treat civil messengers like dogs. the reply to this was, that kamrasi was very much pleased with my fatherly wisdom and advice, and would act up to it, allowing budja only to approach with one woman; we need, however, be under no apprehensions, for kamrasi's power was infinite; the gani road should be opened even at the spear's point; he had been beating the big drum in honour of us the whole day; he would not allow any beggars to come and see us, for he wanted us all to himself, and for this reason had ordered a fence to be built all round our house; but he had got no present from grant yet, though all he wanted was his mosquito-curtains, whilst he wished my picture-books to show his women, and he returned. we sent a picture of mtesa as a gift, the two books to look at and an acknowledgement that the mosquito-curtains were his, only he must have patience until bombay arrived; but his proposition about the fence we rejected with scorn. the king had been raising an army to fight rionga--the true reason, we suspect, for the beating of the drums. 27th and 28th.--there was drumming and music all day and night, and the army was being increased to a thousand men, but we poor prisoners could see nothing of it. frij was therefore sent to inspect the armament and brings us all the news. some of n'yamyonjo's men, seeing mine armed with carbines, became very inquisitive about them, and asked if they were the instruments which shot at their men on the nile--one in the arm, who died; the other on the top of the shoulder, who was recovering. the drums were kept in private rooms, to which a select few only were admitted. kamrasi conducts all business himself, awarding punishments and seeing them carried out. the most severe instrument of chastisement is a knob-stick, sharpened at the back, like that used in uganda, for breaking a man's neck before he is thrown into the n'yanza; but this severity is seldom resorted to, kamrasi being of a mild disposition compared with mtesa, whom he invariably alludes to when ordering men to be flogged, telling them that were they in uganda, their heads would suffer instead of their backs. in the day's work at the palace, army collecting, ten officers were bound because they failed to bring a sufficient number of fighting men, but were afterwards released on their promising to bring more. nothing could be more filthy than the state of the palace and all the lanes leading up to it: it was well, perhaps, that we were never expected to go there, for without stilts and respirators it would have been impracticable, such is the dirty nature of the people. the king's cows, even, are kept in the palace enclosure, the calves actually entering the hut, where, like a farmer, kamrasi walks amongst them up to his ankles in filth, and, inspecting them, issues his orders concerning them. what has to be selected for his guests he singles out himself. dr k'yengo's men, who had been sent three times into action against the refractory brothers, asked leave to return to karague; but the king, who did not fear for their lives when his work was to be done, would not give them leave, lest accident should befall them on the way. we found no prejudice against eating butter amongst these wahuma, for they not only sold us some, but mixed it with porridge and ate it themselves. 29th.--the king has appointed a special officer to keep our table supplied with sweet potatoes, and sent us a pot of pombe, with his excuses for not seeing us, as business was so pressing, and would continue to be so until the army marched. budja and kasoro were again reported to be near with a force of fifty waganda, prepared to snatch us away; and the king, fearing the consequences, had sent to inform budja, that if he dared attempt to approach, he would slip us off in boats to gani, and then fight it out with the waganda; for his guests, since they had been handed over to him, had been treated with every possible respect. to keep kamrasi to his promise, as we particularly wished to hear the uganda news, frij was sent to inform him on my behalf that mtesa only wished to make friends with all the great kings surrounding his country before his coronation took place, when his brothers would be burnt, and he would cease to take advice from his mother. to treat his messengers disrespectfully could do no good, and might provoke a war, when we should see my deserters joined with the waganda really coming in force against us; whereas, if we saw budja, we could satisfy him, and mtesa too, and obviate any such calamity. the reply was, that kamrasi would arrange for our having a meeting with budja alone if we wished it; he did not fear my deserters siding with king mtesa, but he detested the waganda, and could not bear to see them in his country. 30th.--at breakfast-time we heard that my old friend kasoro had come to our camp without permission, to the surprise of everybody, attended by all his boys, leaving budja and his children, on account of sickness, at the camp assigned to the waganda, five miles off. kasoro wished to speak to us, and we invited him into the hut; but the interview could not be permitted until kamrasi's wishes on the subject had been ascertained. in a little while the kamraviona, having seen kamrasi, said we might converse with one another whilst his officers were present listening, and sent a cow as a present for the waganda. kasoro with his children now came before us in their usual merry manner and, after saluting, told us how the deserters, on reaching uganda, begged for leave to proceed to karague; but mtesa, who would only allow two of them to approach him, abused them, saying, "did i not command you to take bana to gani at all risks? if there was no road by land, you were to go by water; or, if that failed, to go under-ground, or in the air above, and if he died, you were to die with him: what, then, do you mean by deserting him and flying here? you shall not move a yard from this until i receive a messenger from him to hear what he has got to say on the matter." mtesa would not take their arms, even at the desire of budja, on my behalf; for as no messenger on my behalf came to him, he would not believe what budja said, and feared to touch any of our property. the chief item of court news was, that mtesa had shot a buffalo which was attacking him behind the palace, and made his wakungu carry the animal bodily, whilst life was in it, into his court. the ammunition i wrote for to rumanika had been brought by maula. as kasoro still remained silent with regard to mtesa's message, i told him we shot two of n'yamyonjo's men on our retreat up the nile, and that kamrasi turned us back because some miscreant waganda had forged lies and told him we were terrible monsters, who ate hills and human flesh, and drank up all the water of the lake. he laughed, but still was silent; so i said, "what message have you brought from mtesa?" to which, in a timid, modest kind of manner, he said, "bana knows--what more need i say? has he forgotten mtesa, who loves him so?" i said, "no, indeed, i have not forgotten mtesa; and, moreover, as i expected you back again, i have sent bombay to bring the stimulants and all the things i promised mtesa from gani; in two or three days he will return." "no," said kasoro, "that is not it; we must go to gani with you; for mtesa says he loves you so much he will never allow you to part from his hand until his servants have seen you safely at your homes." i replied, "if mtesa wishes you to see my vessels and all the wonders they contain, as far as i am concerned you may do so, and i shall be only too happy to show you a little english hospitality; but the road is in kamrasi's hands, and his wishes must now be heard." the commander-in-chief, now content with all he had heard, went to kamrasi to receive his orders, whilst i gave kasoro a feast of porridge and salt, with pombe to wash it down, and a cow to take home with him; for the poor creatures said they were all starving as the wanyoro would not allow them to take a single plantain from the field until kamrasi's permission had been given. kamrasi's reply now arrived; it was to the following effect:--"tell my children, the waganda, they were never turned out of unyoro by my orders: if they wish to go to gani, they can do so; but, first of all, they must return to mtesa, and ask him to deliver up all of bana's men." i answered, "no; if any one of those scoundrels who has deserted me ever dares show his face to me again, i will shoot him like a dog. moreover, i want mtesa to take their guns from them, and, without taking life, to transport them all to an island on the n'yanza, where they can spend their days in growing plantains; for it is such men who prevent our travelling in the country and visiting kings." kasoro on this said, "mtesa will do so in a minute if you send a servant to him, but he won't if we only say you wish it." the commander-in-chief then added, as to kasoro's wish to accompany me, "if mtesa will send another time one of his people whose life he wishes sacrificed on the journey, or tells, here is a man whom i wish you to send to gani at all hazards, and without responsibility for his life on our part, we will be very glad to send him; but as we are at war with the gani people continually, there will be no security for a mganda's life there." to this i added, "now, kasoro, you see how it is; kamrasi does not wish you to do to gani, so if you take my advice you will return to mtesa. give this tin cartridge-box, which first came from him, back to him again, to show him you have seen me, and say, this is bana's letter; he wishes you to transport the deserters and seize their guns. the guns, of course, i shall want again at some other time, when i will send one of my english children to visit him; for now kamrasi has opened his country to us, and given us leave to come and purchase ivory, i never shall be very far away." i gave them three pills for budja, blistered two of the pages, and started the whole merrily off, kasoro asking me to send mtesa some pretty things from england such as he never saw. 1st.--kamrasi sent his commander-in-chief to inquire after my health, and to say budja had left in fear and trembling lest mtesa should cut all their heads off for failing in the mission; but he had sent kidgwiga's brother with a pot of pombe to escort the waganda beyond his frontier, and cheer them on the way; for the tin cartridge-box, he thought, would save their lives by satisfying mtesa they had seen me. the commander-in-chief then told me kamrasi did not wish them to accompany me through kidi for the kidi people don't like the waganda, and, discovering their nationality by the fullness of their teeth, would bring trouble on us whilst trying to kill them. i said i thanked kamrasi for his having treated the waganda with such marked respect, in allowing them to see me, and sending them back with an escort; but i thought it would have been better if he had spoken the truth plainly out, for then i could have told them i feared to have them in company with me. in return for my civilities, the king then send one of his chopi officers to see me, who went four stages with bombay, and he also sent some rich beads which he wished me to look at. they were nicely kept in a neat though very large casing of rush pith, and were those sent as a letter from gani, to inform him that we were expected to come via karague. after this, to keep us in good-humour, kamrasi sent to inform us that some gani men, twenty-five in number, had just arrived, and had given him a lion-skin, several tippet monkey-skins, and some giraffe hair, as well as a stick of copper or brass wire. bombay was met by them on the confines of gani. 2d.--the king sent me a pot of pombe to-day, inquiring after my health, and saying he would like to take the medicine i gave him if i would send frij over to administer it, but he would be ashamed to swallow pills before me. hitherto he had not been able to take the medicine from press of business in collecting an army to fight his brothers; but as his troops would all leave for war to-day, he expected to have leisure. in plying the kamraviona to try if we could get rid of the annoying restraints which made our residence here a sort of imprisonment, i discovered that the whole affair was not one of blunder or accident, but that we actually were prisoners thus by design. it appeared that kamrasi's brothers, when they heard we were coming into unyoro, murmured, and said to the king, "why are you bringing such guests amongst us, who will practise all kinds of diabolical sorcery, and bring evil on us?" to which kamrasi replied, "i have invited them to come, and they shall come; and if they bring evil with them, let that all fall on my shoulders, for you shall not see them." he then built a palaver-house on the banks of the kafu to receive us in privately; and when we were to go to gani, it was his intention to slip us off privately down the kafu. the brothers were so thoroughly frightened, that when kamrasi opened his chronometer before them to show them the works in motion, they turned their heads away. the large block-tin box i gave kamrasi, as part of his hongo, was, i heard, called mzungu, or the white man, by him. in the evening the beads recently brought from gani were sent for my inspection, with an intimation that kamrasi highly approved of them, and would like me to give him a few like them. some of kamrasi's spies, whom he had sent to the refractory allies of rionga his brother, returned bringing a spear and some grass from the thatch of the hut of a chopi chief. the removal of the grass was a piece of state policy. it was stolen by kamrasi's orders, in order that he might spread a charm on the chopi people, and gain such an influence over them that their spears could not prevail against the wanyoro; but it was thought we might possess some still superior magic powder, as we had come from such a long distance, and kamrasi would prefer to have ours. these chopi people were leagued with the brothers, and thus kept the highroad to gani, though the other half of chopi remained loyal; and though kamrasi continually sent armies against the refractory half which aided his brothers, they never retaliated by attacking this place. we found, by the way, that certain drumming and harmonious accompaniments which we had been accustomed to hear all day and night were to continue for four moons, in celebration of twins born to kamrasi since we came here. 3d.--kamrasi's political department was active again to-day. some gani officials arrived to inform him that there were two white men in the vessel spoken of as at gani; a second vessel was coming in there, and several others were on their way. a carnelian was shown me which the gani people gave to kamrasi many years ago. kamrasi expressed a wish that i would exchange magic powders with him. he had a very large variety, and would load a horn for me with all those i desired most. he wanted also medicines for longevity and perpetual strength. those i had given him had, he said, deprived him of strength, and he felt much reduced by their effects. he would like me to go with him and attack the island his three brothers, rionga, wahitu, and pohuka, are in possession of. when i said i never fought with black men, he wished to know if i would not shoot them if they attacked me. my replay was, alluding to our fight in the river, "how did n'yamyonjo's men fare?" i found that kamrasi had thirty brothers and as many sisters. 4th.--i gave kamrasi a bottle of quinine, which we call "strong back," and asked him in return for a horn containing all the powders necessary to give me the gift of tongues, so that i should be able to converse with any black men whom i might meet with. we heard that kamrasi has called all his gani guests to play before him, and a double shot from his blissett rifle announced to our ears that he in turn was amusing them. this was the first time the gun had been discharged since he received it, and, fearing to fire it himself, he called one of my men to do it for him. 5th.--at 9 a.m., the time for measuring the fall of rain for the last twenty-four hours, we found the rain-gauge and the bottle had been removed, so we sent kidgwiga to inform the king we wished his magicians to come at once and institute a search for it. kidgwiga immediately returned with the necessary adept, an old man, nearly blind, dressed in strips of old leather fastened to the waist, and carrying in one hand a cow's horn primed with magic powder, carefully covered on the mouth with leather, from which dangled an iron bell. the old creature jingled the bell, entered our hut, squatted on his hams, looked first at one, then at the other--inquired what the missing things were like, grunted, moved his skinny arm round his head, as if desirous of catching air from all four sides of the hut, then dashed the accumulated air on the head of his horn, smelt it to see if all was going right, jingled the bell again close to his ear, and grunted his satisfaction; the missing articles must be found. to carry out the incantation more effectually, however, all my men were sent for to sit in the open before the hut, when the old doctor rose, shaking the horn and tinkling the bell close to his ear. he then, confronting one of the men, dashed the horn forward as if intending to strike him on the face, then smelt the head, then dashed at another, and so on, till he became satisfied that my men were not the thieves. he then walked into grant's hut, inspected that, and finally went to the place where the bottle had been kept. there he walked about the grass with his arm up, and jingling the bell to his ear, first on one side, then on the other, till the track of a hyena gave him the clue, and in two or three more steps he found it. a hyena had carried it into the grass and dropped it. bravo, for the infallible horn! and well done the king for his honesty in sending it! so i gave the king the bottle and gauge, which delighted him amazingly; and the old doctor who begged for pombe, got a goat for his trouble. my men now, recollecting the powder robbery at uganda, said king mtesa would not send his horn when i asked for it, because he was the culprit himself. 6th.--kidgwiga told us to-day that king kamrasi's sisters are not allowed to wed; they live and die virgins in his palace. their only occupation in life consisted of drinking milk, of which each one consumes the produce daily of from ten to twenty cows, and hence they become so inordinately fat that they cannot walk. should they wish to see a relative, or go outside the hut for any purpose, it requires eight men to lift any of them on a litter. the brothers, too, are not allowed to go out of his reach. this confinement of the palace family is considered a state necessity, as a preventive to civil wars, in the same way as the destruction of the uganda princes, after a certain season, is thought necessary for the preservation of peace there. 7th.--in the morning the kamraviona called, on the king's behalf, to inquire after my health, and also to make some important communications. first he was to request a supply of bullets, that the king might fire a salute when bombay returned from gani; next, to ask for stimulative medicine, now that he had consumed all i gave him, and gone through the preliminary course; further, to request i would spread a charm over all his subjects, so that their hearts might be inclined towards him, and they would come without calling and bow down at his feet; finally, he wished me to exchange my blood with him, that we might be brothers till death. i sent the bullets, advised him to wait a day or two for the medicine, and said there was only one charm by which he could gain the influence he required over his subjects--this was, knowledge and the power of the pen. should he desire some of my children (meaning missionaries) to come here and instruct his, the thing would be done; but not in one year, nor even ten, for it takes many years to educate children. as to exchanging by blood with a black man's, it was a thing quite beyond my comprehension; though rumanika, i must confess, had asked me to do the same thing. the way the english make lasting friendships is done either by the expressions of their hearts, or by the exchange of some trifles, as keepsakes; and now, as i had given kamrasi some specimens of english manufacture, he might give me a horn, or anything else he chose, which i could show to my friends, so as to keep him in recollection all my life. the kamraviona, before leaving, said, for our information, that a robbery had occurred in the palace last night; for this morning, when kamrasi went to inspect his mzungu (the block-tin box), which he had forgotten to lock, he found all his beads had been stolen. after sniffing round among the various wives, he smelt the biggest one to be the culprit, and turned the beads out of her possession. deputies came in the evening with a pot of pombe and small screw of butter, to tell me some gani people had just arrived, bringing information that the vessel at gani had left to go down the river; but when intelligence reached the vessel of the approach of my men they turned and came back again. bombay was well feasted on the road by kamrasi's people, receiving eight cows from one and two cows from another. 8th and 9th.--we had a summons to attend at the kafu palace with the medicine-chest, a few select persons only to be present. it rained so much on the 8th as to stop the visit, but we went next day. after arriving there, and going through the usual salutations, kamrasi asked us from what stock of people we came, explaining his meaning by saying, "as we, rumanika, mtesa, and the rest of us (enumerating the kings), are wawitu (or princes), uwitu (or the country of princes) being to the east." this interesting announcement made me quite forget to answer his question, and induced me to say, "omwita, indeed, as the ancient names for mombas, if you came from that place: i know all about your race for two thousand years or more. omwita, you mean, was the last country you resided in before you came here, but originally you came from abyssinia, the sultan of which, our great friend, is sahela selassie." he pronounced this name laughing, and said, "formerly our stock was half-white and half-black, with one side of our heads covered with straight hair, and the other side frizzly: you certainly do know everything." the subject then turned upon medicine, and after inspecting the chest, and inquiring into all its contents, it ended by his begging for the half of everything. the mosquito-curtains were again asked for, and refused until i should leave this. as kamrasi was anxious i should take two of his children to england to be instructed, i agreed to do so, but said i thought it would be better if he invited missionaries to come here and educate all his family. his cattle were much troubled with sickness, dying in great numbers--could i cure them? as he again began to persecute us with begging, wanting knives and forks, etc., i advised his using ivory as money, and purchasing what he wanted from gani. this brought out the interesting fact, the truth of which we had never reached before, that when petherick's servant brought him one necklace of beads, and asked after us, he gave in return fourteen ivories, thirteen women, and seven mbugu cloths. one of his men accompanied the visitors back to the boats, and saw petherick, who took the ivory and rejected the women. 10th.--at 2 p.m. we were called by kamrasi to visit him at the kafu palace again, and requested to bring a lot of medicines tied up in various coloured cloths, so that he might know what to select for different ailments. we repaired there as before, putting the medicines into the sextand-stand box, and found him lying at full length on the platform of his throne, with a glass-bead necklace of various colours, and a charm tied on his left arm. nobody was allowed to be present at our interview. the medicines, four varieties, were weighed out into ten doses each, and their uses and effects explained. he begged for four bottles to put them in, till he was laughed out of it by our saying he required forty bottles; for if the powders were mixed, how could he separate them again? and to keep his mind from the begging tack, which he was getting alarmingly near, i said, "now i have given you these things because you would insist on having them. i must also tell you they are dangerous in your hands, in consequence of your being ignorant of their properties. if you take my advice you won't meddle with them until the two children you wish educated have learnt the use of them in england; and if i have to take boys from this, i hope they will be of your family." he said, "you speak like a father to us, and we very much approve. here is a pot of pombe; i did not give you one yesterday." 11th.--to-day, the king having graciously granted permission, we went out shooting, but saw only a few buffalo tracks. 12th.--the kamraviona was sent to inquire after our health, and to ascertain from me all i knew respecting the origin of kamrasi's tribe, the distribution of countries, and the seat of the government. i sent the king a diagram, painted in various colours, with full explanations of everything, and asked permission to send two more of my men in search of bombay, who had now been absent twenty days. the reply was, that if bombay did not return within four days, kamrasi would send other men after him on the fifth day; and, in the meantime, he sent one pot of pombe as a token of his kind regard. 13th.--the kamraviona was sent to inquire after our health, to ask for medicine for himself, and to inquire more into the origin of his race. i, on the other hand, wishing to make myself as disagreeable as possible, in order that kamrasi might get tired of us, sent frij to ask for fresh butter, eggs, tobacco, coffee, and fowls, every day, saying, i will pay their price when i reach gani, for we were suffering from want of proper food. kamrasi was surprised at this clamour for food, and inquired what we ate at home that we were so different from everybody else. we heard to-day a strange story, involving the tragic fate of budja. on coming here, he had been bewitched by kamrasi's frontier officer, who put the charm into a pot of pombe. from the moment budja drank it he was seized with sickness, and remained so until he reached the first station in uganda, when he died. the facts of the bewitchment had been found out by means of the perpetrator's wives, who, from the moment the pombe was drunk, took to precipitate flight, well knowing what effects would follow, and dreading the chastisement mtesa would bring upon their household. we heard, too, that the deserters had returned to the place they deserted from, with thirty waganda, and a present of some cows for me. 14th.---kamrasi sent me four parcels of coffee, very neatly enclosed in rush pith. 15th.--getting more impatient, and desirous to move on at any sacrifice, i proposed giving up all claims to my muskets, as well as the present of cows from mtesa, if kamrasi would give us boats to gani at once; but the reply was simply, why be in such a hurry? 16th.--the kamraviona was sent to us with a load of coffee, which kamrasi had purchased with cowries, and to inquire how we had slept. very badly, was the reply, because we knew bombay would have been back long ago if kamrasi was not concealing him somewhere, and we did not know what he was doing with deserters and waganda. kamrasi then wanted us to paint his mbugu cloths in different patterns and colours; but we sent him instead six packages of red-ink powder, and got abused for sauciness. he then wanted black ink, else how could he put on the red with taste; but we had none to give him. next, he asked leave for my men to shoot cows, before his kidi visitors, which they did to his satisfaction, instructing him at the same time to fire powder with his own rifle; when, triumphant with his success, he protested he would never use anything but guns again, and threw away his spear as useless. bombay, we learned, had reached gani, and ought to return in eight days. 17th and 18th.--a large party of chopi people arrived, by kamrasi's orders, to tell the reason which induced them to apply for guns to the white men at gani, as it appeared evident they must have wished to fight their king. the kidi visitors got broken heads for helping themselves from the wanyoro's fields, and when they cried out against such treatment, were told they should rob the king, if they wished to rob at all. 19th.--nothing was done because kamrasi was dismissing his kidi guests, 200, with presents of cows and women. 20th.--having asked kamrasi to return my pictures, he sent the book of birds, but not of animals; and said he could not see us until a new hut was built, because the old one was flooded by the kafu, which had been rising several days. we must not, he said, talk about bombay any more, because everybody said he was detained by the n'yanswenge (petherick's party), and would return here with the new moon. i would not accept the lie, saying, how can my "children" at gani detain my messengers, when they have received strict orders from me by letter to send an answer quickly? it was all kamrasi's doing, for he had either hidden bombay, or ordered his officers to take him slowly, as he did us, stopping four days at each stage. frij again told me he was present when said said, the sultan of zanzibar, sent an army to assist the wagunya at amu, on the coast, against the incursions of the masai. these amu people have the same wahuma features as kamrasi, whom they also resemble both in general physical appearance, and in many of them having circular marks, as if made by cautery, on the forehead and temples. these marks i took not to be tatooing or decorative, but as a cure for disease--cautery being a favourite remedy with both races. the battle lasted only two days, though the masai brought a thousand spears against the arabs' cannon. but this was not the only battle said said had to fight on those grounds; for some years previously he had to subdue the waziwa, who live on very marshy land, into respect for his sovereignty, when the battle lasted years, in consequence of the bad nature of the ground, and the trick the waziwa had of staking the ground with spikes. the wasuahili, or coast-people, by his description, are the bastards or mixed breeds who live on the east coast of africa, extending from the somali country to zanzibar. their language is kisuahili; but there is no land usuahili, though people talk of going to the suahili in the same vague sense as they do of going to the mashenzi, or amongst the savages. the common story amongst the wasuahili at zanzibar, in regard to the government of that island, was, that the wakhadim, or aborigines of zanzibar, did not like the oppressions of the portuguese, and therefore allied themselves to the arabs of muscat--even compromising their natural birthright of freedom in government, provided the arabs, by their superior power, would secure to them perpetual equity, peace and justice. the senior chief, sheikh muhadim, was the mediator on their side, and without his sanction no radial changes compromising the welfare of the land could take place; the system of arbitration being, that the governing arab on the one side, and the deputy of the wakhadim on the other, should hold conference with a screen placed between them, to obviate all attempts at favour, corruption, or bribery. the former report of the approach of my men, with as many waganda and cows for me, turned out partly false, inasmuch as only one of my men was with 102 waganda, whilst the whole of the deserters were left behind in uganda with cows; and kamrasi hearing this, ordered all to go back again until the whole of my men should arrive. 21st.--i was told how a myoro woman, who bore twins that died, now keeps two small pots in her house, as effigies of the children, into which she milks herself every evening, and will continue to do so five months, fulfilling the time appointed by nature for suckling children, lest the spirits of the dead should persecute her. the twins were not buried, as ordinary people are buried, under ground, but placed in an earthenware pot, such as the wanyoro use for holding pombe. they were taken to the jungle and placed by a tree, with the pot turned mouth downwards. manua, one of my men, who is a twin, said, in nguru, one of the sister provinces to unyanyembe, twins are ordered to be killed and thrown into water the moment they are born, lest droughts and famines or floods should oppress the land. should any one attempt to conceal twins, the whole family would be murdered by the chief; but, though a great traveller, this is the only instance of such brutality manua had ever witnessed in any country. in the province of unyanyembe, if a twin or twins die, they are thrown into water for the same reason as in nguru; but as their numbers increase the size of the family, their birth is hailed with delight. still there is a source of fear there in connection with twins, as i have seen myself; for when one dies, the mother ties a little gourd to her neck as a proxy, and puts into it a trifle of everything which she gives the living child, lest the jealousy of the dead spirit should torment her. further, on the death of the child, she smears herself with butter and ashes, and runs frantically about, tearing her hair and bewailing piteously; whilst the men of the place use towards her the foulest language, apparently as if in abuse of her person, but in reality to frighten away the demons who have robbed her nest. 22d.--i sent frij to kamrasi to find out what he was doing with the waganda and my deserters, as i wished to speak with their two head representatives. i also wanted some men to seek for and to fetch bombay, as i said i believed him to be tied by the leg behind one of the visible hills in kidi. the reply was, 102 waganda, with one of my men only, had been stationed at the village my men deserted from since the date (13th) we heard of them last. they had no cows for me, but each of the waganda bore a log of firewood, which mtesa had ordered them to carry until they either returned with me or brought back a box of gunpowder, in default of which they were to be all burnt in a heap with the logs they carried. kamrasi, still acting on his passive policy, would not admit them here, but wished them to return with a message, to the effect that mtesa had no right to hold me as his guest now i had once gone into another's hands. we were all three kings to do with our subjects as we liked, and for this reason the deserters ought to be sent on here; but if i wished to speak to the waganda, he would call their officer. there was no fear, he said, about bombay; he was on his way; but the men who were escorting him were spinning out the time, stopping at every place, and feasting every day. to-morrow, he added, some more gani people would arrive here, when we should know more about it. i still advised kamrasi to give the road to mtesa provided he gave up plundering the wanyoro of women and cattle; but if my counsel was listened to, i could get no acknowledgment that it was so. 23d and 24th.--i sent to inquire what news there was of bombay's coming, and what measures kamrasi had taken to call the waganda's chief officer and my deserters here; as also to beg he would send us specimens of all the various tribes that visit him, in order that me might draw them. he sent four loads of dried fish, with a request for my book of birds again, as it contains a portrait of king mtesa, and proposed seeing us at the newly-constructed kafu palace to-morrow, when all requests would be attended to. in the meanwhile, we were told that bombay had been seen on his way returning from gani; and the waganda had all run away frightened, because they were told the kidi and chopi visitors, who had been calling on kamrasi lately, were merely the nucleus of an army forming to drive them away, and to subdue uganda. mtesa was undergoing the coronation formalities, and for this reason had sent the deserters to kari's hill, giving them cows and a garden to live on, as no visitors can remain near the court while the solemnities of the coronation were going on. the thirty-odd brothers will be burnt to death, saving two or three, of which one will be sent into this country--as was the case with one of the late king sunna's brothers, who is still in unyoro--and the others will remain in the court with mtesa as playfellows until the king dies, when, like sunna's two brothers still living in uganda, one at n'yama goma and one at ngambezi, they will be pensioned off. after the coronation is concluded, it is expected mtesa will go into kittari, on the west of uganda, to fight first, and then, turning east, will fight with the wasoga; but we think if he fights anywhere, it will be with kamrasi. 25th and 26th.--i sent frij to the palace to inquire after bombay, and got the usual reply: "why is bana in such a hurry? he is always for doing things quickly. tell my 'brother' to keep his mind at rest; bombay is now on the boundary of gani coming here, and will in due course arrive." both rumanika's men and those belonging to dr k'yengo asked kamrasi's leave to return to their homes, but were refused, because the road was unsafe. "had they not," it was said, "heard of budja's telling mtesa that k'yengo's children prevented the white men from returning to uganda? and since then mtesa had killed his frontier officer for being chicken-hearted, afraid to carry out his orders, and had appointed another in his stead, giving him strict orders to make prisoners of all foreigners who might pass that way; and, further, when some twenty wanyoro were going to karague, they were hunted down by mtesa's orders, and three of their number killed; for he was determined to cut off all intercourse between this country and karague. they must therefore wait till the road is safe." hearing this, dr k'yengo's men, who happened to be as well off here as anywhere, accepted the advice; but rumanika's men said, "we are starving; we have been here too long already doing nothing, and must go, let what will happen to us." kamrasi said, "what will be the use of your going empty-handed? i cannot send cows and slaves to rumanika when the road is so unsafe; you must wait a bit." but they still urged as before, and so forced the king reluctantly to acquiesce, but only on the condition that two of their head men should remain behind until some more of rumanika's men came to fetch them away--in fact, as we had been accredited to him by rumanika, he wanted to keep some of that king's people as a security until we were out of his hands. 27th.--i sent frij to the palace to ask once more for leave to visit the luta nzige river-lake to the westward, and to request kamrasi would send men to fetch my property from karague. he sent four loads of small fish and one pot of pombe, to say he would see me on the morrow, when every arrangement would be made. late at night orders came announcing that i might write my despatches, as sixty men were ready to start for karague. 28th.--i sent one of my men with despatches to kamrasi, who detained him half the day, and then ordered him to call to-morrow. this being the fifteenth or twentieth time kamrasi had disappointed me, after promising an interview, that we might have a proper understanding about everything, and when no begging on his party was to interrupt our conversation, i sent him a threatening message, to see what effect that would have. the purport of it was, that i was afraid to send men to karague, now i had seen his disposition to make prisoners of all who visit him. here had i been kept six weeks waiting for bombay's return from gani, where i only permitted him to go because i was told the journey to and fro would only occupy from eight to ten days at most. then rumanika's men, who came here with baraka, though daily crying to get away, were still imprisoned here, without any hope before them. if i sent msalima, he would be kept ten years on the road. if i went to the lake luta nzige, god only knows when he would let me come back; and now, for once and for all, i wished to sacrifice my property, and leave the countries of black kings; for what kamrasi had done, mtesa had done likewise, detaining the two men i detached on a friendly mission, which made me fear to send any more and inquire after my guns, lest he should seize them likewise. i would stay no longer among such people. kamrasi, in answer, begged i would not be afraid; there was no occasion for alarm; bombay would be here shortly. i had promised to wait patiently for his return, and as soon as he did return, i would be sent off without one day's delay, for i was not his slave, that he should use violence upon me. rumanika's men, too, would be allowed to go, only that the road was unsafe, and he feared rumanika would abuse him if any harm befell them. 29th.--to-day i met kamrasi at his new reception-palace on this side the kafu--taking a bible to explain all i fancied i knew about the origin and present condition of the wahuma branch of the ethiopians, beginning with adam, to show how it was the king had heard by tradition that at one time the people of his race were half white and half black. then, proceeding with the flood, i pointed out that the europeans remained white, retaining japhet's blood; whilst the arabs are tawny, after shem; and the african's black, after ham. and, finally, to show the greatness of the tribe, i read the 14th chapter of 2d chronicles, in which it is written how zerah, the ethiopian, with a host of a thousand thousand, met the jew asa with a large army, in the valley of zephathah, near mareshah; adding to it that again, at a much later date, we find the ethiopians battling with the arabs in the somali country, and with the arabs and portuguese at omwita (mombas)--in all of which places they have taken possession of certain tracts of land, and left their sons to people it. to explain the way in which the type or physical features of people undergo great changes by interbreeding, mtesa was instanced as having lost nearly every feature of his mhuma blood, but the kings of uganda having been produced, probably for several generations running, of waganda mothers. this amused kamrasi greatly, and induced me to inquire how his purity of blood was maintained--"was the king of unyoro chosen, as in uganda, haphazard by the chief men--or did the eldest son sit by succession on the throne?" the reply was, "the brothers fought for it, and the best man gained the crown." kamrasi then began counting the leaves of the bible, an amusement that every negro that gets hold of a book indulges in; and, concluding in his mind that each page or leaf represented one year of time since the beginning of creation, continued his labour till one quarter of the way through the book, and then only shut it up on being told, if he desired to ascertain the number more closely, he had better count the words. i begged for my picture-books, which were only lent him at his request for a few days; and then began a badgering verbal conflict: he would not return them until i drew others like them; he would not allow me to go to the little luta nzige, west of this, until bombay returned, when he would send me with an army of spears to lead the way, and my men with their guns behind to protect the rear. this was for the purpose of making us his tools in his conflict with his brothers. i complained that he had, without consulting me, ordered away the men who had been sent, either to fetch me back to uganda, or else get powder from me, although they had orders to carry out their king's desire, under the threat of being burnt with the fire logs they carried; and all this kamrasi had professed to do merely out of respect for my dignity, as i was no slave, that mtesa should order me about. i argued, founding on each particular in succession, that his conduct throughout was most unjustifiable, and anything but friendly. he then produced an officer, who was to escort my man msalima to karague, giving him orders to collect the sixty men required on the way; five of rumanika's men could go with him, but five must stop, until other karague men came to say the road was safe, when he would send by them the present he had prepared for rumanika. then, turning to us, he said, "why have you not brought the medicine-chest and the saw? we wish to see everything you have got, though we do not wish to rob you." when these things came for inspection, he coveted the saw, and discovered there were more varieties of medicine in the chest than had been given him. this he was told was not the case, because the papers given him contained mixed medicines--a little being taken from every bottle. "but there are no pills; why won't you give us pills? we have men, women, and children who require pills as well as you do." we were much annoyed by this dogged begging; and as he said, "well, if you won't give my anything, i will go," we at once rose, hat in hand; when, regretting the hastiness of his speech, he begged us to be seated again, and renewed his demands. we told him the road to gani was the only condition on which we would part with any more medicine; we had asked leave to go a hundred times, and that was all we now desired. at last he rose and walked off in a huff; but, repenting before he reached home, he sent us a pot of pombe, when, in return, i finished the farce by sending him a box of pills. 30th.--i gave msalima a letter in the kisuahili or coast language to convey to rumanika, ordering all my property to be sent here, his account of the things as they left him to be given to msalima to convey to the coast, while i sent him one pound of gunpowder as a sort of agency fee. msalima also took a map of all the countries we had passed, with lunar observations, and a letter to rigby, by which he, baraka, and uledi would be able to draw their pay on arrival. 31st.--i sent frij with a letter to the king, containing an acknowledgment that, on the arrival of the rear property from karague, he would be entitled to half of everything, reserving the other half for any person i might in future send to take them from him. he accepted the letter, and put it into his mzungu--the tin box i had given him. he said he would take every care of the kit from the time it arrived, and would not touch his share of it till my deputy arrived. an inhabitant of chopi reported that he heard bombay's gun fire the evening before he left home, and was rewarded with the present of a cow. 1st.--i purchased a small kitten, felis serval, from an unyoro man, who requested me to give it back to him to eat if it was likely to die, for it is considered very good food in unyoro. bombay at last arrived with mabruki in high glee, dressed in cotton jumpers and drawers, presents given them by petherick's outpost. petherick himself was not there. the journey to and fro was performed in fourteen days' actual travelling, the rest of the time being frittered away by the guides. the jemadar of the guard said he commanded two hundred turks, and had orders to wait for me, without any limit as to time, until i should arrive, when petherick's name would be pointed out to me cut on a tree; but as no one in camp could read my letter, they were doubtful whether we were the party they were looking out for. they were all armed with elephant-guns, and had killed sixteen elephants. petherick had gone down the river eight days' journey, but was expected to return shortly. kamrasi would not see bombay immediately on his return, but sent him some pombe, and desired an interview the following day. 2d.--i sent bombay with a farewell present to kamrasi, consisting of one tent, one mosquito-curtain, one roll of bindera or red cotton cloth, one digester pot, one saw, six copper wires, one box of beads, containing six varieties of the best sort, and a request to leave his country. much pleased with the things, kamrasi ordered the tent to be pitched before all his court, pointed out to them what clever people the white people are, making iron pots instead of earthen ones. covetous and never satisfied, however, instead of returning thanks, he said he was sure i must have more beads than those i sent him; and, instead of granting the leave asked for, said he would think about it, and send the kamraviona in the evening with his answer. this, when it came, was anything but satisfactory; for we were required to stop here until the king should have prepared the people on the road for our coming, so that they might not be surprised, or try to molest us on the way. kamrasi, however, returned the books of birds and animals, requesting a picture of the king of uganda to be drawn for him, and gave us one pot of pombe. 3d.--i sent the picture required, and an angry message to kamrasi for breaking his word, as he promised us we should go without a day's delay; and go we must, for i could neither eat nor sleep from thinking of my home. his only reply to this was, bana is always in a preposterous hurry. he answered, that for our gratification he had directed a dwarf called kimenya to be sent to us, and the kamraviona should follow after. kimenya, a little old man, less than a yard high, called on us with a walking-stick higher than himself, made his salaam, and sat down very composedly. he then rose and danced, singing without invitation, and following it up with queer antics. lastly, he performed the tambura, or charging-march, in imitation of wakugnu, repeating the same words they use, and ending by a demand for simbi, or cowrie-shells, modestly saying, "i am a beggar, and want simbi; if you have not 500 to spare, you must at any rate give me 400." he then narrated his fortune in life. born in chopi, he was sent for by kamrasi, who first gave him two women, who died; then another, who ran away; and, finally, a distorted dwarf like himself, whom he rejected, because he thought the propagation of his pigmy breed would not be advantageous to society. bombay then marched him back to the palace, with 500 simbi strung in necklaces round his neck. when these two had gone, the kamraviona arrived with two spears, one load of flour, and a pot of pombe, which he requested me to accept, adding that the spears were given as it was observed i had accepted some from the king of uganda; a shield was still in reserve for me, and spears would be sent for grant. then with regard to my going, kamrasi must beg us to have patience until he had sent messengers into kidi, requesting the natives there not to molest me on the way, for they had threatened they would do so, and if they persisted, he would send us with a force by another route via ugungu--another attempt to draw us off to fight against his brothers. i stormed at this announcement as a breach of faith; said i had given the king my only tent, my only digester, my only saw, my only wire, my only mosquito-curtains, and my last of everything, because he had assured me i should have to pay no more chiefs, and he would give me the road at once. if he did not intend now to fulfil his promise, i begged he would take back his spears, for i would only accept them as a farewell present. the kamraviona finding me rather warm, with the usual pertinacious duplicity of a negro, then said, "well, let that subject drop, and consider the present kamrasi promised you when you gave him the uganga" (meaning the watch); "kamrasi's horn is not ready yet." this second prevarication completely set my dander up. if i did not believe in his dangers of the way before, it quite settled my opinion of the worth of his words now. i therefore tendered him what might be called the ultimatum to this effect. there was no sincerity in such haggling; i would not submit to being told lies by kings or anybody else. he must take back the spears, or give us the road to-morrow; and unless the kamraviona would tell him this and bring me an answer at once, the spears should not remain in my house during the night. evidently in alarm, the kamraviona, with kidgwiga and frij in company to bear him witness, returned to the palace, telling kamrasi that he saw we were in thorough earnest. he extracted a promise that kamrasi would have a farewell meeting with us either to-morrow or the next day, when we should have a large escort to petherick's boats, and the men would be able to bring back anything that he wanted; but he could not let us go without a parting interview, such as we had at uganda with mtesa. the deputation, delighted with their success and the manner in which it was effected, hurried back to me at once, and said they were so frightened themselves that they would have skulked away to their homes and not come near me if they could not have arranged matters to my satisfaction. kamrasi would not believe i had threatened to turn out his spears until frij testified to their statements; and he then said, "let bana keep the spears and drink the pombe, for i would not wish him to be a prisoner against his will." bombay, after taking back the dwarf, met one of n'yamasore's officers, just arrived from uganda on some important business, and upbraided mtesa for not having carried out my instructions. the officer in turn tried to defend mtesa's conduct by saying he had given the deserters seventy cows and four women, as well as orders to join us quickly; but they had been delayed on the road, because wherever they went they plundered, and no one liked their company. had we returned to uganda, mtesa would have given us the road through masai, which, in my opinion, is nearer for us than this one. this officer had been wishing to see us as much as we had been to see him; but kamrasi would not allow him to get access to us, for fear, it was said, lest the waganda should know where we were hidden, and enable mtesa to send an army to come and snatch us away. as the officer said he would deliver any message i might wish to send to uganda, i folded a visiting-card as a letter to the queen-dowager, intimating that i wished the two men whom i sent back to mtesa to be forwarded on to karague; but desired that the remainder, who deserted their master in difficulty, should be placed on an island of the n'yanza to live in exile until some other englishman should come to release them; that their arms should be taken from them and kept in the palace. i said further, that should mtesa act up to my desires, i would then know he was my friend, and other white men would not fear to enter uganda; but if he acted otherwise, they would fear lest he should imprison them, or seize their property of their men. if these deserters escaped punishment, no white men would ever dare trust their lives with such men again. the officer said he should be afraid to deliver such a message to mtesa direct; but he certainly would tell the queen every word of it, which would be even more efficacious. 4th.--i bullied kamrasi by telling him we must go with this moon, for the benefit of its light whilst crossing the kidi wilderness; as if we did not reach the vessels in time for seasonable departure down the nile, we should have to wait another year for their return from khartum. "what!" said kamrasi, "does bana forget my promised appointment that i would either see him to-day or to-morrow? i cannot do so to-day, and therefore to-morrow we will certainly meet and bid good-bye." the gani men, who came with bombay, said they would escort us to their country, although, as a rule, they never cross the kidi wilderness above once in two years, from fear of the hunting natives, who make game of everybody and everything they see; in other words, they seize strangers, plunder them, and sell them as slaves. to cross that tract, the dry season is the best, when all the grass is burnt down, or from the middle of december to the end of march. i gave them a cow, and they at once killed it, and, sitting down, commenced eating her flesh raw, out of choice. 5th.--the kamraviona came to inform us that the king was ready for the great interview, where we could both speak what we had at heart, for as yet he had only heard what our servants had to say; and there was a supplement to the message, of the usual kind, that he would like a present of a pencil. the pencil was sent in the first place, because we did not like talking about trifles when we visited great kings. the interview followed. it was opened on our side by our saying we had enjoyed his hospitality a great number of days, and wished to go to our homes; should he have any message to send to the great queen of england, we should be happy to convey it. a long yarn then emanated from the throne. he defended his over-cautiousness when admitting us into unyoro. it was caused at first by wicked men who did not wish us to visit him; he subsequently saw through their representations, and now was very pleased with us as he found us. of course he could not tie us down to stopping here against our wish, but, for safety's sake, he would like us to stop a little longer, until he could send messengers ahead, requesting the wild men in kidi not to molest us. that state trick failing to frighten and stop us, he tried another, by saying, when we departed, he hoped we would leave two men with guns behind, to occupy our present camp, and so delude the people into the belief that merely a party of their followers, and not the white men themselves, had left his house, for the purpose of spreading terror in the minds of the people we might meet, who, not knowing the number of men behind, would naturally conclude there was a large reserve force ready to release us in case of necessity. this foxy speech was too transparent to require one moment's reflection. in a country where men were property, the fate of one or two left behind was obvious; and had we doubted that his object was to get possession of them, his next words would have sufficiently revealed it. he said, "as you gave men to mtesa, why would you refuse them to me?" but was checkmated on being told, "should any of those men who deserted us in this country ever reach their homes, they will all be hung for breaking their allegiance or oath." "well," says the king, "i have acceded to everything you have to say; and the day after to-morrow, when i shall have had time to collect men to go with you, and selected the two princes you have promised to educate, we will meet again and say good-bye; but you must give me a gun and some more medicine, as well as the powder and ball you promised after reaching the vessels." this was all acquiesced in, and we wished to take his portrait, but he would not have it done on any consideration. the kamraviona and kidgwiga followed us home, and told bombay the king did not wish us to leave till next moon, and then he would like us to fight his brothers on the way. this message, sent in such an underhand manner after the meeting, bombay failed to deliver, telling them he should be afraid to do so. 6th.--the kamraviona was sent to us with four loads of fish and a request for ammunition, notwithstanding everything asked for yesterday had been refused until we reached the vessels. "confound kamrasi!" was the reply; "does he think we came here to trick kings that he doubts our words? we came to open the road; and, as sure as we wish it, we will send him everything that has been promised. why should he doubt our word more than anybody else? we are not accustomed to be treated in this manner, and must beg he won't insult us any more. then about fighting his brothers, we have already given answer that we never fight with black men; and should the king persist in it, we will never take another thing from his hands. the boys shall not go to england, neither will any other white men come this way." the kamraviona made the following answer:--"but there are two more things the king wishes to know about: he has asked the question before, but forgotten the answers. is there any medicine for women or children which will prevent the offspring from dying shortly after birth?--for it is a common infirmity in this country with some women, that all their children die before they are able to walk, whilst others never lose a child. the other matter of inquiry was, what medicine will attach all subjects to their king?--for kamrasi wants some of that most particularly." i answered, "knowledge of good government, attended with wisdom and justice, is all the medicine we know of; and this his boys can best learn in england, and instruct him in when they return." 7th.--we went to meet kamrasi at his kafu palace to bid good-bye. after all the huckstering and begging with which he had tormented us, the state he chose to assume on this occasion was very ludicrous. he sat with an air of the most solemn dignity, upon his throne of skins, regarding us like mere slaves, and asking what things we intended to send to him. on being told we did not like being repeatedly reminded of our promises, he came down a little from his dignity, saying, "and what answer have you about the business on the island?"--meaning the request to fight his brothers. that, of course, could not be listened to, as it was against the principle of our country. grant's rings were then espied, and begged for, but without success. we told him it was highly improper to beg for everything he saw, and if he persisted in it, no one would ever dare to come near him again. then, to change the subject, we begged k'yengo's men might be allowed to go as far as gani with us; but no reply was given, until the question was put again, with a request that the reason might be told us for his not wishing it, as we saw great benefit would be derived to unyoro, as the wanyamuezi instead of trading merely with karague and zanzibar, would bring their ivory through this country and barter it, thus converting unyoro into a great commercial country; when kamrasi said, "we don't want any more ivory in unyoro; for the tusks are already as numerous as grass." kidgwiga was then appointed to receive all the things we were to send back from gani; our departure was fixed for the 9th; and the king walked away as coldly as he came, whilst we felt as jolly as birds released from a cage. floating islands of grass were seen going down the kafu, reminding us of the stories told at kaze by musa mzuri, of the violent manner in which, at certain season, the n'yanza was said to rise and rush with such velocity that islands were uprooted and carried away. in the evening a pot of pombe was brought, when the man in charge, half-drunk, amused us with frantic charges, as if he were fighting with his spear; and after settling the supposed enemy, he delighted in tramping him under foot, spearing him repeatedly through and through, then wiping the blade of the spear in the grass, and finally polishing it on this tufty head, when, with a grunt of satisfaction, he shouldered arms and walked away a hero. 8th.--as the king seemed entirely to disregard our comfort on the journey, we made a request for cows, butter, and coffee, in answer to which we only got ten cows, the other things not being procurable without delay. twenty-four men were appointed us to escort us and bring back our presents from gani, which were to be--six carbines, with a magazine of ammunition, a large brass or iron water-pot, a hair-brush, lucifers, a dinner-knife, and any other things procurable that had never been seen in unyoro. two orphan boys, seized by the king as slaves, were brought for education in england; but as they were both of the common negro breed, with nothing attractive about them, and such as no one could love but their mothers, we rejected them, fearing lest no english boys would care to play with them, and told kamrasi that his offspring only could play with our children, and unless i got some princes of that interesting breed, no one would ever undertake to teach children brought from this country. the king was very much disappointed at this announcement; said they were his adopted children, and the only ones he could part with, for his own boys were mere balls of fat, and too small to leave home. chapter xix. the march to madi sail down the kafu--the navigable nile--fishing and sporting population--the scenery on the river--an inhospitable governor--karuma falls--native superstitions--thieveries--hospitable reception at koki by chongi. after giving kamrasi a sketching-stool, we dropped down the kafu two miles in a canoe, in order that the common people might not see us; for the exclusive king would not allow any eyes but his own to be indulged with the extraordinary sight of white men in unyoro! the palace side of the river, however, as we paddled away, was thronged with anxious spectators amongst whom the most conspicuous was the king's favourite nurse. dr k'yengo's men were very anxious to accompany us, even telling the king, if he would allow the road to be opened to their countrymen, all would hongo, or pay customs-duty to him; but the close, narrow-minded king could not be persuaded. bombay here told us kamrasi at the last moment wished to give me some women and ivory; and when told we never accepted anything of that sort, wished to give them to my head servants; but this being contrary to standing orders also, he said he would smuggle them down to the boats for bombay in such a manner that i should not find out. we were not expected to march again, but being anxious myself to see more of the river, before starting, i obtained leave to go by boat as far as the river was navigable, sending our cattle by land. to this concession was accompanied a request for a few more gun-caps, and liberty was given us to seize any pombe which might be found coming on the river in boats, for the supplies to the palace all come in this manner. we then took boat again, an immense canoe, and, after going a short distance, emerged from the kafu, and found ourselves on what at first appeared a long lake, averaging from two hundred at first to one thousand yards broad before the day's work was out; but this was the nile again, navigable in this way from urondogani. both sides were fringed with the huge papyrus rush. the left one was low and swampy, whilst the right one--in which the kidi people and wanyoro occasionally hunt--rose from the water in a gently sloping bank, covered with trees and beautiful convolvuli, which hung in festoons. floating islands, composed of rush, grass, and ferns, were continually in motion, working their way slowly down the stream, and proving to us that the nile was in full flood. on one occasion we saw hippopotami, which our men said came to the surface because we had domestic fowls on board, supposing them to have an antipathy to that bird. boats there were, which the sailors gave chase to; but, as they had no liquor, they were allowed to go their way, and the sailors, instead, set to lifting baskets and taking fish from the snares which fisherman, who live in small huts amongst the rushes, had laid for themselves. after arrival, as we found the boatmen wished to make off, instead of carrying out their king's orders to take us to the waterfall, we seized all the paddles, and kept their tongues quiet by giving them a cow to eat. the overland route, by which kidgwiga and the cattle went, was not so interesting, by all accounts, as the river one; for they walked the whole way through marshy ground, and crossed one drain in boats, where some savages struggled to plunder our men of their goats. with a great deal of difficulty, and after hours of delay, we managed to get under way with two boats besides the original one; and, after an hour and a half's paddling in the laziest manner possible, the men seized two pots of pombe and pulled in to koki, guided by a king's messenger, who said this was one of the places appointed by order to pick up recruits for the force which was to take us to gani. we found, however, nothing but loss and disappointment--one calf stolen, and five goats nearly so. fortunately, the thief who attempted to run off with the goats was taken by my men in the act, tied with his hands painfully tight behind his back, and left, with his face painted white, till midnight, when his comrades stole into bombay's hut and released him. after all these annoyances, the chief officer of the place offered us a present of a goat, but was sent to the right-about in scorn. how could he be countenanced as a friend when the men under him steal from us? the big boat gave us the slip, floating away and leaving its paddles behind. to supply its place, we took six small boats, turning my men into sailors, and going as we liked. the river still continued beautiful; but after paddling three hours we found it bend considerably, and narrow to two hundred yards, the average depth being from two to three fathoms. at the fourth hour, imagining our cattle to be far behind, we pulled in, and walked up a well-cultivated hill to yaragonjo's, the governor of these parts. the guide, however, on first sighting his thorn-fenced cluster of huts, regarding it apparently with the awe and deference due to a palace, shrank from advancing, and merely pointed, till he was forced on, and in the next minute we found ourselves confronted with the heads of the establishment. the father of the house, surprised at our unexpected manner of entrance--imagining, probably, we were the king's sorcerers, in consequence of our hats, sent to fight "the brothers"--without saying a word, quietly beckoned us to follow him out of the gate by the same way as we came. preferring, however, to have a little talk where we were, we remained. the eldest son, a fine young man considerably above six feet high, with large gashes on his body received in war during late skirmishes with the refractory brothers, now came in, did the honours, and, on hearing of the importance of his visitors, directed us to some huts a little distance off, where we could rest for the night, for there was no accommodation for such a large party in the palace. the red hill we were now on, with plantain-gardens, fine huts neatly kept, and dense grasses covering the country, reminded us of our residence in uganda. the people seemed of a decidedly sporting order, for they kept hippopotamus-harpoons, attached to strong ropes with trimmers of pith wood, in their huts; and, outside, trophies of their toil in the shape of a pile of heads, consisting of those of buffalo and hippopotami. the women, anything but pretty, wore their mbugu cut into two flounces, fastened with a drawing-string round the waist; and, in place of stockings, they bound strings of small iron beads, kept bright and shining, carefully up the leg from the ankle to the bottom of the calf. kidgwiga with our cattle arrived in the morning. a bundle of cartridges, stolen from one of the men's pouches, which we knew could only have been done by some comrade, was discovered by stopping the rations of flesh. the guilty person, to save detection, threw it on the road, and allowed some of the natives to pick it up. strange as it may appear, the only motive for this petty theft was the hope of being able to sell the cartridges for a trifle at gani. yaragonjo brought us a present of a goat and plantains. he was sorry he sent us back yesterday from his house; and invited us to change ground to another village close by, where he would make arrangements for our receiving other boats, as the ones we had in possession must go back. presuming this to be a very fair proposition, and thinking we would only have to walk across an elbow of land where the river bends considerably, we gave him a return-present of beads, and did as we were bid; but, after moving, it was obvious we had been sold. we had lost our former boats, and no others were near us; therefore, feeling angry with yaragonjo, i walked back to his palace, taking the presented goat with me, as i knew that would touch the savage in the most tender part; then flaring up with the officer for treating the king's orders with contempt, as well as his guests, by sending us into the jungles like a pack of thieves, whose riddance from his presence was obviously his only intent, i gave him his goat again, and said i would have nothing more to say to him, for i should look to the king for redress. this frightened him to such an extent that he immediately produced another and finer goat, which he begged me to accept, promising to convey all my traps to the next governor's, where there would be no doubt about our getting boats. he did not intend to deceive us, but committed an error in not informing us he had no boats of his own; and, to show his earnestness, accompanied us to the camp. here i found the missing calf taken at koki, and a large deputation of natives awaiting our arrival. they told me that the koki governor had taken such fright in consequence of my anger when i refused his proffered goat, that he had traced the calf back to kitwara, and now wished to take kidgwiga a prisoner to kamrasi's for having seized five cows of his, and a woman from another governor. as yet i had not heard of this piece of rough justice; and, on inquiry, found out that he had been compelled to do as he had done, because those officers, on finding we had gone ahead in boats would not produce the complement of men required of them by the king's orders for escorting us to gani; but now they sent the men, the woman and cows could not be returned, as they had been sent overland by the ordinary route to the ferry on the nile. of course we would not listen to this reference for justice with kamrasi, as the woman and cows were still all alive; commended kidgwiga for carrying out his orders so well, and told the officers they had merited their punishment--as how could the affairs of government be carried on, when subordinate officers refused immediate compliance? the submkungu of northern gueni, kasoro, now proffered a goat and plantains, and everything was settled for the day. with a full complement of porters, travelling six miles through cultivation and jungle, we reached the headquarters of governor kaeru, where all the porters threw down their loads and bolted, though we were still two miles from the post. we inquired for the boats at once, but were told they were some distance off, and we must wait here for the night. four pots of pombe were sent us, and kaeru thought we would be satisfied and conform. we suspected, however, that there was some trick at the bottom of all; so, refusing the liquor, we said, with proper emphasis, "unless we are forwarded to the boats at once, and get them on the following morning, we cannot think of receiving presents from any one." this served our purpose, for a fresh set of porters was found like magic, and traps, pombe, and all together, were forwarded to the journey's end--a snug batch of huts imbedded in large plantain cultivation surrounded by jungle, and obviously near the river, as numerous huge harpoons, intended for striking hippopotami, were suspended from the roof. kaeru here presented us with a goat, and promised the boats in the morning. after fighting for the boats, we still had to wait the day for kidgwiga and his men, who said it was all very well our pushing ahead, indifferent as to whether men were enlisted or not, but he had to prepare for the future also, as he could never recross the kidi wilderness by himself; he must have a sufficient number of men to form his escort, and these were now grinding corn for the journey. numerous visitors called on us here, and consequently our picture-books were in great request. we gave kaeru some beads. after walking two miles to the boats, we entered the district of chopi, subject to unyoro, and went down the river, keeping the kikunguru cone in view. on arrival at camp, viarwanjo, the officer of the district, a very smart fellow, arrived with a large escort of spearmen, presented pombe, ordered fowls to be seized for us, and promised one boat in the morning, for he had no more disposable, and even that one he felt anxious about lest the men on ahead should seize it. i gave viarwanjo some beads, and dropped down the river in his only wretched little canoe--he, with grant and the traps, going overland. i caught a fever, and so spent the night. here i halted to please magamba, the governor, who is a relation of the king. he called in great state, presented a cow and pombe, was much pleased with the picture-books, and wished to feast his eyes on all the wonders in the hut. he was very communicative, also, as far as his limited knowledge permitted. he said the people are only a sub-tribe of the madi; and the reason why the right bank of the river is preferred to the left for travelling is, that rionga, who lives down the river, is always on the look-out for kamrasi's allies, with a view to kill them. magamba also, on being questioned, told us about ururi, a province of unyoro, under the jurisdiction of kimerziri, a noted governor, who covers his children with bead ornaments, and throws them into the n'yanza, to prove their identity as his own true offspring; for should they sink, it stands to reason some other person must be their father; but should they float, then he recovers them. one of kamrasi's cousins, kaoroti, with his chief officer, called on us, presenting five fowls as an honorarium. he had little to say, but begged for medicine, and when given some in a liquid state, said his sub would like some also; then kidgwiga's wife, who was left behind, must have some; and as pills were given for her, the two men must have dry medicine too, to take home with them. severe drain as this was on the medicine-chest, magamba and his wife must have both wet and dry; and even others put in a claim, but were told they were too healthy to require physicking. many kidi men, dressed as in the woodcut, crossed the river to visit kamrasi; they could not, however, pass us without satisfying their curiosity with a look. usually these men despise clothes, and never deign to put any covering on except out of respect, when visiting kamrasi. their "sou'-wester"-shaped wigs are made of other men's hair, as the negro hair will not grow long enough. a message came from ukero, the governor-general of chopi, to request we would not go down the river in boats to-morrow, lest the chopi ferrymen at the falls should take fright at our strange appearance, paddle precipitately across the river, hide their boats, and be seen no more. we started, leaving all the traps and men to follow, and made this place in a stride, as a whisper warned me that kamrasi's officers, who are as thick as thieves about here, had made up their minds to keep us each one day at his abode, and show us "hospitality." such was the case, for they all tried their powers of persuasion, which failing, they took the alternative of making my men all drunk, and sending to camp sundry pots of pombe. the ground on the line of march was highly cultivated, and intersected by a deep ravine of running water, whose sundry branches made the surface very irregular. the sand-paper tree, whose leaves resemble a cat's tongue in roughness, and which is used in uganda for polishing their clubs and spear-handles, was conspicuous; but at the end of the journey only was there anything of much interest to be seen. there suddenly, in a deep ravine one hundred yards below us, the formerly placid river, up which vessels of moderate size might steam two or three abreast, was now changed into a turbulent torrent. beyond lay the land of kidi, a forest of mimosa trees, rising gently away from the water in soft clouds of green. this, the governor of the place, kija, described as a sporting-field, where elephants, hippopotami, and buffalo are hunted by the occupants of both sides of the river. the elephant is killed with a new kind of spear, with a double-edged blade a yard long, and a handle which, weighted in any way most easy, is pear-shaped. with these instruments in their hands, some men climb into trees and wait for the herd to pass, whilst others drive them under. the hippopotami, however, are not hunted, but snared with lunda, the common tripping-trap with spike-drop, which is placed in the runs of this animal, described by every south african traveller, and generally known as far as the hametic language is spread. the karuma falls, if such they may be called, are a mere sluice or rush of water between high syenitic stones, falling in a long slope down a ten-feet drop. there are others of minor importance, and one within ear-sound, down the river, said to be very grand. the name given to the karuma falls arose from the absurd belief that karuma, the agent or familiar of a certain great spirit, placed the stones that break the waters in the river, and, for so doing, was applauded by his master, who, to reward his services by an appropriate distinction, allowed the stones to be called karuma. near this is a tree which contains a spirit whose attributes for gratifying the powers and pleasures of either men or women who summon its influence in the form appropriate to each, appear to be almost identical with that of mahadeo's ligna in india. 20th.--we halted for the men to collect and lay in a store of food for the passage of the kidi wilderness. presents of fish, caught in baskets, were sent us by kija. they were not bad eating, though all ground animals of the lowest order. at the grand falls below this, kidgwiga informs us, the king had the heads of one hundred men, prisoners taken in war against rionga, cut off and thrown into the river. 21st and 22d.--the governor, who would not let us go until we saw him, called on the 22d with a large retinue, attended by a harpist, and bringing a present of one cow, two loads flour, and three pots of pombe. he expected a chair to sit upon, and got a box, as at home he has a throne only a little inferior to kamrasi's. he was very generous to bombay on his former journey to gani; and then said he thought the white men were all flocking this way to retake their lost country; for tradition recorded that the wahuma were once half-black and half-white, with half the hair straight and the other half curly; and how was this to be accounted for, unless the country formerly belonged to white men with straight hair, but was subsequently taken by black men? we relieved his apprehensions by telling him his ancestors were formerly all white, with straight hair, and lived in a country beyond the salt sea, till they crossed that sea, took possession of abyssinia, and are now generally known by the name of hubshies and gallas; but neither of these names was known to him. on the east, beyond kidi, he only knew of one clan of wahuma, a people who subsist entirely on meat and milk. the sportsmen of this country, like the wanyamuezi, plant a convolvulus of extraordinary size by the side of their huts, and pile the jaw-bones and horns of their spoils before, as a means of bringing good-luck. this same flower, held in the hand when a man is searching for anything that he has lost, will certainly bring him to the missing treasure. in the evening, kidgwiga, at the head of his brave army, made one of their theatrical charges on "bana" with spear and shield, swearing they would never desert him on the march, but would die to a man if it were necessary; and if they deserted him, then might they be deprived of their heads, or of other personal possessions not much less valuable. just as we were ready for crossing the river, a line of kidi men was descried filing through the jungle on the opposite side, making their way for a new-moon visit to rionga, who occasionally leads them into battle against ukero. the last time they fought, two men only were killed on kamrasi's side, whilst nine fell on rionga's. there was little done besides crossing, for the last cow was brought across as sunset--the ferrying-toll for the whole being one cow, besides a present of beads to the head officer. kidgwiga's party sacrificed two kids, one on either side the river, flaying them with one long cut each down their breasts and bellies. these animals were then, spread-eagle fashion, laid on their backs upon grass and twigs, to be steeped over by the travellers, that their journey might be prosperous; and the spot selected for the ordeal was chosen in deference to the mzimu, or spirit--a sort of wizard or ecclesiastical patriarch, whose functions were devoted to the falls. after a soaking night, we were kept waiting till noon for the forty porters ordered by kamrasi, to carry our property to the vessels wherever they might be. only twenty-five men arrived, notwithstanding the wife and one slave belonging to a local officer, who would not supply the men required of him, were seized and confiscated by ukero, of wire. we now mustered twenty wanguana, twenty-five country porters, and thirty-one of kidgwiga's "children"--making a total, with ourselves, of seventy-eight souls. by a late arrival a message came from kamrasi. its import was, that we must defer the march, as it was reported the refractory brother rionga harboured designs of molesting us on the way, and therefore the king conceived it prudent to clear the road by first fighting him. without heeding this cunning advice, we made a short march across swamps, and through thick jungle and long grasses, which proved anything but pleasant--wet and labouring hard all the way. it was a rainy day, and we had still to toil on fighting with the grasses. we marched up the wet margin of swamp all day, crossing the water at a fork near the end. the same jungle prevails on all sides, excluding all view; and the only signs of man's existence in these wilds lay in the meagre path, which is often lost, and an occasional hut or two, the temporary residence of the sporting kidi people. after toiling five miles through the same terrible grasses, and crossing swamp after swamp, we were at last rewarded by a striking view. the jungles had thinned; we found ourselves unexpectedly standing on the edge of a plateau, on the west of which, for distance interminable, lay apparently a low flat country of grass, yellowed by the sun, with a few trees or shrubs only thinly scattered over the surface; while, from fifteen to twenty miles in the rear, bearing south by west, stood conspicuously the hill of kisuga, said to be situated in chopi, not far from the refractory brothers. but this view was only for the moment; again we dived into the grasses and forced our way along. presently elephants were seen, also buffalo; and the guide, to make the journey propitious, plucked a twig, denuded it of its leaves and branches, waved it like a wand up the line of march, muttered some unintelligible words to himself, broke it in twain, and threw the separated bits on either side of the path. immediately after starting, the guide ran up on an ant-hill and pointed out to us all the glories of the country round. in our rear we could see back upon wire and the hill of kisuga; to the west were the same low plains of grass; east and by south, the jungles of kidi; and to the northward, over downs of grass, the tops of some hills, which marked the neighbouring village of koki, which we were making for. its appearance in the distance warned us that we were closing on the habitations of men, and we were told that bombay had drunk pombe there. then plunging through grass again over our heads, and crossing constant swamps, we arrived at a stream which drains all these lands to westward, and rested a while that the men might bathe, and also that they might set fire to the grass as a telegraph to the settlement of koko, to apprise the people of our advance, and be ready with their pombe ere our arrival. shortly after, towards the close of the day's work, as a solitary buffalo was seen grazing by a brook, i put a bullet through him, and allowed the savages the pleasure of despatching him in their own wild fashion with spears. it was a sight quite worthy of a little delay. no sooner was it observed that the huge beast could not retire, than, with springing bounds, the men, all spear in hand, as if advancing on an enemy, went top speed at him, over rise and fall alike, till, as they neared the maddened bull, he instinctively advanced to meet his assailants with the best charge his exhausted body could muster up. wind, however, failed him soon; he knew his disadvantage, and tried to hide by plunging in the water,--the worst policy he could have pursued, for the men from the bank above him soon covered him with bristling spears, and gained their victory. now, what was to be done with this huge carcass? no one could be induced to leave it. a cow was ordered as a bribe on reaching camp; but no, the buffalo was bigger than a cow, and must be quartered on the spot; so, to gain our object, we went ahead and left the rear men to follow, thus saving a cow in rations, for we required to slaughter one every day. by dint of hard perseverance we accomplished ten miles over the same downs of tall grass with occasional swamps. we saw a herd of hartebeest, and reached at night a place within easy run of koki in gani. the weather had now become fine. at length we reached the habitations of men--a collection of conical huts on the ridge of a small chain of granitic hills lying north-west. as we approached the southern extremity of this chain, knots of naked men, perched like monkeys on the granite blocks were anxiously awaiting our arrival. the guides, following the usages of the country, instead of allowing us to mount the hill and look out for accommodation at once, desired us to halt, and sent on a messenger to inform chongi, the governor-general, that we were visitors from kamrasi, who desired he would take care of us and forward us to our brothers. this mercury brought forth a hearty welcome; for chongi had been appointed governor by kamrasi of this district, which appears to have been the extreme northern limit of the originally vast kingdom of kittara. all the elite of the place, covered with war-paints, and dressed, so far as their nakedness was covered at all, like clowns in a fair, charging down the hill full tilt with their spears, and, after performing their customary evolutions, mingled with our men, and invited us up the hill, where we no sooner arrived than chongi, a very old man, attended by his familiar, advanced to receive us--one holding a white hen, the other a small gourd of pombe and a little twig. chongi gave us all a friendly harangue by way of greeting; and taking the fowl by one leg, swayed it to and fro close to the ground in front of his assembled visitors. after this ceremony had been also repeated by the familiar, chongi then took the gourd and twig, and sprinkled the contents all over us; retired to the uganga, or magic house--a very diminutive hut--sprinkled pombe over it; and, finally, spreading a cow-skin under a tree, bade us sit, and gave us a jorum of pombe, making many apologies that he could not show us more hospitality, as famine had reduced his stores. what politeness in the midst of such barbarism!!! nowhere had we seen such naked creatures, whose sole dress consisted of bead, iron, or brass ornaments, with some feathers or cowrie-beads on the head. even the women contented themselves with a few fibres hung like tails before and behind. some of our men who had seen the watuta in utambara, declared these savages to resemble them in every particular, save one small specialty in their costume, alluded to in the description of the zulu kafir's dress. the hair of the men was dressed in the same fantastic fashion, and the women placed half-gourds over the baby as it rode on its mother's back. they also, like the kidi people, whom they much fear, carry diminutive stools to sit upon wherever they go. their habitat extends from this to the asua river, whilst the madi occupy all the country west of this meridian to the nile, which is far beyond sight. the villages are composed of little conical huts of grass, on a framework of bamboo raised above low mud walls. there are no sultans here of any consequence, each village appointing its own chief. the granitic hills, like those of unyamuezi, are extremely pretty, and clad with trees, contrasting strangely with the grassy downs of indefinite extend around, which give the place, when compared with the people, the appearance of a paradise within the infernal regions. from the site of koki we saw the hills behind which, according to bombay, petherick was situated with his vessels; and we also saw a nearer hill, behind which his advanced post of elephant-hunters were waiting our arrival. i tried to ascertain if there were any prefixes, as in the south african dialects, by which one might determine the difference between the people and the country; but i was assured that both here and in the adjacent countries these people saw chopi, kidi, gani, madi, bari, alike for person and place, though jo in their language is the equivalent for wa in south africa, and dano takes the place of mtu. all the words and system of language were wholly changed--as for example, poko poko wingi bongo, means "we do not understand"; mazi, "fire"; pi, "water"; pe, "there is none"; bugra, "cow." in sound, the language of these people resembles that of the tibet tartars. chongi considers himself the greatest man in the country, and of noble descent, his great-grandfather having been a mhuma, born at ururi, in unyoro, and appointed by the then reigning king to rule over this country, and keep the kidi people in check. 30th.--we halted at the earnest solicitation of chongi, as well as of the chopi porters, who said they required a day to lay in grain, as the wichwezi, or mendicant sorcerers--for so they thought fit to designate petherick's elephant-hunters--had eaten up the country all about them, and those who went before with bombay to visit their camp could get no food. 1st.--we halted again at the request of all parties, and much to the delight of old chongi, who supplied us with abundant pombe, promised a cow, that we should not be put to any extra expense by stopping, and said that without fail he would furnish us with guides who knew a short cut across country, by which we might reach the wichwesi camp in one march, instead of going by the circuitous route which bombay formerly took. the cow, however, never came, as the old man did not intend to give his own, and his officers refused to obey his orders in giving one of theirs. we left koki with difficulty, in consequence of the chopi porters refusing to carry any loads, leaving the burden of lifting them on the country people, as they said, "we have endured all the trouble and hardships of bringing these visitors through the wilderness; and now, as they have visited you, it is your place to help them on." the consequence was, we had to engage fresh porters at every village, each in turn saying he had done all the work which with justice fell to his lot, till at last we arrived at the borders of a jungle, where the men last engaged, feeling tired of their work, pleaded ignorance of the direct road, and turned off to the longer one, where villages and men were in abundance, thus upsetting all our plans, and doubling the actual distance. to pass the night half-way was now imperative, as we had been the whole day travelling without making good much ground. from the gani people we had, without any visible change, mingled with the madi people, who dress in the same naked fashion as their neighbours, and use bows and arrows. their villages were all surrounded with bomas (fences), and the country in its general aspect resembled that of northern unyamuezi. at one place, the good-natured simple people, as soon as we reached their village, spread a skin, deposited a stool upon it, and placed in front two pots of pombe. at the village where we put up, however, the women and children of the head man at first all ran away, and the head man himself was very shy of us, thinking we were some unearthly creatures. he became more reconciled to us, however, when he perceived we fed like rational beings; and, calling his family in by midnight, presented us with pombe, and made many apologies for having allowed us to dine without a drop of his beer, for he was very glad to see us. chapter xx. madi junction of the two hemispheres--the first contact with persons acquainted with european habits--interruptions and plots--the mysterious mahamed--native revelries--the plundering and tyranny of the turks--the rascalities of the ivory trade--feeling for the nile--taken to see a mark left by a european--buffalo, eland, and rhinoceros stalking--meet baker--petherick's arrival at gondokoro. after receiving more pombe from the chief, and, strange to say, hot water to wash with--for he did not know how else to show hospitality better--we started again in the same straggling manner as yesterday. in two hours we reached the palace of piejoko, a chief of some pretensions, and were summoned to stop and drink pombe. in my haste to meet petherick's expedition, i would listen to nothing, but pushed rapidly on, despite all entreaties to stop, both from the chief and from my porters, who, i saw clearly, wished to do me out of another day. half of my men, however, did stop there, but with the other half grant and i went on; and, as the sun was setting, we came in sight of what we thought was petherick's outpost, n. lat. 3° 10' 33", and e. long. 21° 50' 45". my men, as happy as we were ourselves, now begged i would allow them to fire their guns, and prepare the turks for our reception. crack, bang, went their carbines, and in another instant crack, bang, was heard from the northerners' camp, when, like a swarms of bees, every height and other conspicuous place was covered with men. our hearts leapt with an excitement of joy only known to those who have escaped from long-continued banishment among barbarians, once more to meet with civilised people, and join old friends. every minute increased this excitement. we saw three large red flags heading a military procession, which marched out of the camp with drums and fifes playing. i halted and allowed them to draw near. when they did so, a very black man, named mahamed, in full egyptian regimentals, with a curved sword, ordered his regiment to halt, and threw himself into my arms, endeavouring to hug and kiss me. rather staggered at this unexpected manifestation of affection, which was like a conjunction of the two hemispheres, i gave him a squeeze in return for his hug, but raised my head above the reach of his lips, and asked who was his master? "petrik," was the reply. "and where is petherick now?" "oh, he is coming." "how is it you have not got english colours, then?" "the colours are debono's." "who is debono?" "the same as petrik; but come along into my camp, and let us talk it out there;" saying which, mahamed ordered his regiment (a ragamuffin mixture of nubians, egyptians, and slaves of all sorts, about two hundred in number) to rightabout, and we were guided by him, whilst his men kept up an incessant drumming and fifing, presenting arms and firing, until we reached his huts, situated in a village kept exactly in the same order as that of the natives. mahamed then gave us two beds to sit upon, and ordered his wives to advance on their knees and give us coffee, whilst other men brought pombe, and prepared us a dinner of bread and honey and mutton. a large shed was cleared for grant and myself, and all my men were ordered to disperse, and chum in ones and twos with mahamed's men; for mahamed said, now we had come there, his work was finished. "if that is the case," i said, "tell us your orders; there must be some letters." he said, "no, i have no letters or written orders; though i have directions to take you to gondokoro as soon as you come. i am debono's vakil, and am glad you are come, for we are all tired of waiting for you. our business has been to collect ivory whilst waiting for you." i said, "how is it petherick has not come here to meet me? is he married?" "yes, he is married; and both he and his wife ride fore-and-aft on one animal at khartum." "well, then, where is the tree you told bombay you would point out to us with petherick's name on it?" "oh, that is on the way to gondokoro. it was not petherick who wrote, but some one else, who told me to look out for your coming this way. we don't know his name, but he said if we pointed it out to you, you would know at once." 4th.--after spending the night as mahamed's guest, i strolled round the place to see what it was like, and found the turks were all married to the women of the country, whom they had dressed in clothes and beads. their children were many, with a prospect of more. temporary marriages, however, were more common than others--as, in addition to their slaves, they hired the daughters of the villagers, who remained with them whilst they were trading here, but went back to their parents when they marched to gondokoro. they had also many hundreds of cattle, which it was said they had plundered from the natives, and now used for food, or to exchange for ivory, or other purposes. the scenery and situation were perfect for health and beauty. the settlement lay at the foot of small, well-wooded granitic hills, even prettier than the outcrops of unyamuezi, and was intersected by clear streams. at noon, all the rear troops arrived with bombay and piejoko in person. this good creature had treated bombay very handsomely on his former journey. he said he felt greatly disappointed at my pushing past him yesterday, as he wished to give me a cow, but still hoped i would go over and make friends with him. i gave him some beads and off he walked. old chongi's "children," who had escorted us all the way from kamrasi's, then took some beads and cast-off clothes for themselves and their father, and left us in good-humour. this reduced the expedition establishment to my men and kidgwiga's. with these, now, as there was no letter from petherick, i ordered a march for the next morning, but at once met with opposition. mahamed told me that there were no vessels at gondokoro; we must wait two months, by which time he expected they would arrive there, and some one would come to meet him with beads. i said in answer, that petherick had promised to have boats there all the year round, so i would not wait. "then," said mahamed, "we cannot go with you, for there is a famine at this season at gondokoro." i said, "never mind; do you give me an interpreter, and i will go as i am." "no," said mahamed, "that will not do, as the bari people are so savage, you could not get through them with so small a force; besides which, just now there is a stream which cannot be crossed for a month or more." unable to stand mahamed's shifting devices with equanimity any longer, i accused him of trying to trick me in the same way as all the common savage chiefs had done wherever i went, because they wished me to stop for their own satisfaction, quite disregarding my wishes and interest; so i said i would not stop there any longer i would raft over the river, and find my way through the bari, as i had through the rest of the african savages. we talked and talked, but could make nothing of it. i maintained that if he was commissioned to help me, he at least could not refuse to give me a guide and interpreter; when, if i failed in the direct route, i would try another, but go i must, as i could not hold out any longer, being short of beads and cows. i had just enough, but none to spare. he told me not to think of such a thing, as he would give me all that was needful, both for myself and my men; but if i would have patience, he would collect all his officers, and the next morning would see what their opinions were on the subject. 5th.--i found that every one of mahamed's men was against our going to gondokoro. they told me, in fact, with one voice, that it was quite impossible; but they said, if i liked they would furnish me guides to escort me on ten marches to a depot at the further end of the madi country, and if i chose to wait there until they could collect all their ivory tusks together and join us, we would be a united party too formidable to be resisted by the bari people. this offer of immediate guides i of course accepted at once, as to keep on the move was my only desire at that time; for my men were all drunk, and kidgwiga's were deserting. once more on the way, i did not despair of reaching gondokoro by myself. in the best good-humour now, i showed mahamed our picture-books: and as he said he always drilled his two hundred men every friday, i said i would, if he liked, command them myself. this being agreed to, all the men turned out in their best, and, to my surprise, they not only knew the turkish words of command, but manoeuvred with some show of good training; though, as might have been expected with men of this ragamuffin stamp, all the privates gave orders as well as their captains. when the review was over, i complimented mahamed on the efficiency of his corps, and, retiring to my hut, as i thought i had him now in a good-humour, again discussed our plans for going ahead the next day. scarcely able to look me in the face, the humbugging scoundrel said he could not think of allowing me to go on without him, for if any accident happened he would be blamed for it. at the same time, he could not move for a few days, as he expected a party of men to arrive about the next new moon with ivory. my hurry he thought was uncalled for; for, as i had spent so many days with kamrasi, why could i not be content to do so with him? i was provoked beyond measure with this, as it upset all my plans. kidgwiga's men were deserting, and i feared i should not be able to keep my promise to kamrasi of sending him another white visitor, who would perhaps do what i had left undone, when i did not follow up the connection of the little luta nzige with the nile. we battled away again, and then mahamed said there was not one man in his camp who would go with me until their crops were cut and taken in; for whilst residing here they grew grain for their support. we battled again, and mahamed at last, out of patience himself, said, "just look here, what a fix i am in," showing me a hut full of ivory. "who," he said, "is to carry all this until the natives have got in their crops?" this, i said, so far as i was concerned, was all nonsense. i merely had asked him for a guide and interpreter, for go i must. in a huff he then absconded; and my men--those of them who were not too drunk--came and said to me, "for godsake let us stop here. mahamed says the road is too dangerous for us to go alone; he has promised to carry all our loads for us if we stop; and all kamrasi's men are running away, because they are afraid to go on." 6th.--next morning i called kidgwiga, and begged him to procure two men as guides and interpreters. he said he could not find any. i then went at mahamed again, who first said he would give me the two men i wanted, then went off, and sent word to say he would not be visible for three days. this was too much for my patience, so i ordered all my things to be tied up in marching order, and gave out that i should leave and find out the way myself the following morning. like an evil spirit stirred up, my preparations for going no sooner were heard of than mahamed appeared again, and after a long and sharp contest in words, he promised us guides if i would consent to write him a note, testifying that my going was against his expressed desire. this was done; but the next morning (7th), after our things were put out for the march, all kidgwiga's men bolted, and no guides would take service with us. it was now obvious that, even supposing i succeeded in taking kidgwiga to gondokoro, he would not have a sufficient escort to come back with, unless, indeed, it happened that englishmen might be there who might wish to carry out my investigations by penetrating to the little luta nzige, and to pay a visit to kamrasi. i therefore called kidgwiga, and after explaining these circumstances, advised him to go back to kamrasi. he was loth to leave, he said, until his commission was fully performed; but as i thought it advisable, he would consent. i then gave him a double gun and ammunition, as well as some very rich beads which i obtained from mahamed's stores, to take back to kamrasi, with orders to say that, as soon as i reached gondokoro or khartum, i would send another white man to him--not by the way i had come through kidi, but by the left bank of the nile: to which kidgwiga replied, "that will do famously, for kamrasi will change his residence soon, and come on the nile this side of rionga's palace, in order that he may cut in between his brother and the turks' guns." after this, i gave a lot of rich beads to kidgwiga for himself, and a lot also for the senior officers at the chopi and kamrasi's palaces, and sent the whole set off as happy as birds. when these men were gone, i tried to get up an elephant-shooting excursion due west of this, with a view to see where the nile was, for i would not believe it was very far off, although no one as yet, since i left chopi, either would or could tell me where the stream had gone to. 8th. mahamed professed to be delighted i had made up my mind to such a scheme. he called the heads of the villages to give me all the information i sought for, and went with me to the top of a high rock, from which we could see the hills i first viewed at chopi, sweeping round from south by east to north, which demarked the line of the asua river. the nile at that moment was, i believed, not very far off; yet, do or say what i would, everybody said it was fifteen marches off, and could not be visited under a month. [25] it would be necessary for me to take thirty-six of mahamed's men, besides all my own, to go there, which, he said, i was welcome to, but i should have to pay them for their services. this was a damper at once. i knew in my mind all these reports were false, but, rather than be out of the way when the time came for marching, i agreed to wait patiently, write the history of the wahuma, and make collections, till mahamed was ready, trusting that i might find some one at gondokoro who would finish what i had left undone; or else, after arriving there, i might go up the nile in boats and see for myself. the same evening i was attracted by the sound of drums to a neighbouring village, where, by the moonlight, i found the natives were dancing. a more indecent or savage spectacle i never witnessed. the whole place was alive with naked humanity in a state of constant motion. drawing near, i found that a number of drums were beaten by men in the centre. next to them was a deep ring of women, half of whom carried their babies; and outside these again was a still deeper circle of men, some blowing horns, but most holding their spears erect. to the sound of the music both these rings of the opposite sexes kept jumping and sidling round and round the drummers, making the most grotesque and obscene motions to one another. 9th to 14th.--nothing of material consequence happened until the 14th, when eighty of rionga's men brought in two slaves and thirty tusks of ivory, as a present to mahamed. of course, i knew this was a bribe to induce mahamed to fight with rionga against kamrasi; but, counting that no affair of mine, i tried to induce these men to give me some geographical information of the countries they had just left. not one of them would come near me, for they knew i was friends with kamrasi; and mahamed's men, when they saw mine attempting to converse with them, abused them for "prying into other men's concerns." "these men," they said, "are our friends, and not yours; if we choose to give them presents of cloth and beads, and they give us a return in ivory, what is that to you?" mysterious mahamed next came to me, and begged for a blanket, as he said he was going off for a few days to a depot where he had some ivory; and he also wanted to borrow a musket, as one of his had been burnt. my suspicions and even apprehensions, were now greatly excited. i began to think he had prevailed on me to stop here, that i might hold the place whilst he went to fight kamrasi with rionga's men; so i begged him to listen to my advice, and not attempt to cross the nile, "else," i said, "all his guns would be taken from him, and his passage back cut off." at once he saw the drift of my thought, and said he was not going towards the nile, but on the contrary, he was going with rionga's men in the opposite direction, to a place called paira. "if that is the case," i said, "why do you want a gun?" "because there are some other matters to settle. i shall not be long away, and my men will take care of you whilst i am gone." i gave him the blanket after this, but was too suspicious of his object to lend him a gun. 15th to 20th.--i saw mahamed march his regiment out of the place, drums and fifes playing, colours flying, a hundred guns firing, officers riding,--some of them on donkeys and others--yes, actually on cows! whilst a host of the natives, rionga's men included, carrying spears and bows and arrows, looked little like a peaceful caravan of merchants, but very much resembled a band of marauders. after this i heard they were not going to rionga himself, but were going to show rionga's men the way that they made friends with old chongi of koki. in reality, chongi had invited mahamed to fight against an enemy of his, in whose territories immense stores of ivory were said to be buried, and the people had an endless number of cattle--for they lived by plunder, and had lifted most of old chongi's; and this was the service on which the expedition had set off. 21st to 31st.--i had constantly wondered, ever since i first came here, and saw the brutal manner in which the turks treated the natives, that these madi people could submit to their "egyptian taskmasters," and therefore was not surprised now to find them pull down their huts and march off with the materials to a distant site. every day this sort of migration continued, just as you see in the picture; and nothing more important occurred until christmas-day, when an armadillo was caught, and i heard from mahamed's head wife that the turks had plundered and burnt down three villages, and in all probability they would return shortly laden with ivory. this was a true anticipation; for, on the 31st, mahamed came in with his triumphant army laden with ivory, and driving in five slave-girls and thirty head of cattle. 1st to 3d.--i now wished to go on with the journey, as i could get no true information out of the suspicious blackguards who called themselves turks; but mahamed postponed it until the 5th, by which time he said he would be able to collect all the men he wanted to carry his ivory. rionga's men then departed, and mahamed showed some signs of getting ready by ordering one dozen cows to be killed, the flesh of which was to be divided amongst those villagers who would carry his ivory, and the skins to be cut into thongs for binding the smaller tusks of ivory together in suitable loads. 4th and 5th.--another specimen of turkish barbarity came under my notice, in the head man of a village bringing a large tusk of ivory to mahamed, to ransom his daughter with; for she had been seized as a slave on his last expedition, in common with others who could not run away fast enough to save themselves from the turks. fortunately for both, it was thought necessary for the turks to keep on good terms with the father as an influential man; and therefore, on receiving the tusk, mahamed gave back the girl, and added a cow to seal their friendship. 6th to 10th.--i saw this land-pirate mahamed take a blackmail like a negro chief. some men who had fled from their village when mahamed's plundering party passed by them the other day, surprised that he did not stop to sack their homes, now brought ten large tusks of ivory to him to express the gratitude they said they felt for his not having molested them. mahamed, on finding how easy it was to get taxes in this fashion, instead of thanking them, assumed the air of the great potentate, whose clemency was abused, and told the poor creatures that, though they had done well in seeking his friendship, they had not sufficiently considered his dignity, else they would have brought double that number of tusks, for it was impossible he could be satisfied at so low a price. "what," said these poor creatures, "can we do then? for this is all we have got." "oh," says mahamed, "if it is all you have got now in store, i will take these few for the present; but when i return from gondokoro, i expect you will bring me just as many more. good-bye, and look out for yourselves." tired beyond all measure with mahamed's procrastination, as i could not get him to start, i now started myself, much to his disgust, and went ahead again, leaving word that i would wait for him at the next place, provided he did not delay more than one day. the march led us over long rolling downs of grass, where we saw a good many antelopes feeding; and after going ten miles, we came, among other villages, to one named panyoro, in which we found it convenient to put up. at first all the villagers, thinking us turks, bolted away with their cattle and what stores they could carry; but, after finding out who we were, they returned again, and gave us a good reception, helping us to rig up a shed with grass, and bringing a cow and some milk for our dinner. 12th.--to-day i went out shooting, but though i saw and fired at a rhinoceros, as well as many varieties of antelopes, i did not succeed in killing one head. all my men were surprised as well as myself; and the villagers who were escorting me in the hope of getting flesh, were so annoyed at their disappointment, they offered to cut my fore-finger with a spear and spit on it for good-luck. joining in their talk, i told them the powder must be crooked; but, on inspecting my rifle closer, i found that the sights had been knocked on one side a little, and this created a general laugh at all in turn. going home from the shooting, i found all the villagers bolting again with their cattle and stores, and, on looking towards faloro, saw a party of turks coming. as well as i could i reassured the villagers, and brought them back again, when they said to me, "oh, what have you done? we were so happy yesterday when we found out who you were, but now we see you have brought those men, all our hearts have sunk again; for they beat us, they make us carry their loads, and they rob us in such a manner, we know not what to do." i told them i would protect them if they would keep quiet; and, when the turks came, i told them what i had said to the head man. they were the vanguard of mahamed's party, and said they had orders to march on as far as apuddo with me, where we must all stop for mahamed, who, as well as he could, was collecting men. there was a certain tree near apuddo which was marked by an englishman two years ago, and this, mahamed thought, would keep us amused. the next march brought us to paira, a collection of villages within sight of the nile. it was truly ridiculous; here had we been at faloro so long, and yet could not make out what had become of the nile. in appearance it was a noble stream, flowing on a flat bed from west to east, and immediately beyond it were the jbl (hills) kuku, rising up to a height of 2000 feet above the river. still we could not make out all, until the following day, when we made a march parallel to the nile, and arrived at jaifi. this was a collection of huts close to a deep nullah which drains the central portions of eastern madi. at this place the turks killed a crocodile and ate him on the spot, much to the amusement of my men, who immediately shook their heads, laughingly, and said, "ewa, allah! are these men, then, mussulmans? savages in our country don't much like a crocodile." after crossing two nullahs, we reached apuddo, and at once, i went to see the tree said to have been cut by an englishman some time before. there, sure enough, was a mark, something like the letters m. i., on its bark, but not distinct enough to be ascertained, because the bark had healed up. in describing the individual who had done this, the turks said he was exactly like myself, for he had a long beard, and a voice even much resembling mine. he came thus far with mahamed from gondokoro two years ago, and then returned, because he was alarmed at the accounts the people gave of the countries to the southward, and he did not like the prospect of having to remain a whole rainy season with mahamed at faloro. he knew we were endeavouring to come this way, and directed mahamed to point out his name if we did so. we took up our quarters in the village as usual, but the turks remained outside, and carried off all the tops of the villagers' huts to make a camp for themselves. i rebuked them for doing so, but was mildly told they had no huts of their own. they carried no pots either for cooking their dinners, and therefore took from the villagers all that they wanted. it was a fixed custom now, they told us, and there was no use in our trying to struggle against it. if the natives were wise, they would make enough to sell; but as they would not, they must put up with their lot; for the "government" cannot be baulked of its ivory. truly there seemed to be nothing but misery here; food was so scarce the villagers sought for wild berries and fruits; whilst the turks helped themselves out of their half-filled bins--a small reserve store to last up to the far-distant harvest. then, to make matters worse, all the village chiefs were at war with one another. at night a party of warriors walked round our village, but feared to attack it because we were inside. next morning the villagers turned out and killed two of the enemy; but the rest, whilst retreating, sang out that they would not attempt to fight until "the guns" were gone--after that, the villagers had better look out for themselves. i now proposed going on if the apina, or chief of the village, would give me a guide; but he feared to do so lest i should come to grief, and mahamed would then be down upon him. struggling was useless, for i had no beads to pay my way with, and my cows were now all finished; so i took the matter quietly, and went out foraging with the rifle. 18th and 19th.--antelopes were numerous, but so wild i could not get near them. on bending round homewards, however, three buffaloes, feeding in the distance, on the top of a roll of high ground beyond where we stood, were observed by the natives, who had flocked out in the hopes of getting flesh. to stalk them, i went up wind to near where i expected to find them; then bidding the natives lie down, i stole along through the grass until at last i saw three pairs of horns glistening quite close in front of me. anxious lest they should take sudden fright, i gently raised myself, wishing to fire, but i was quite puzzled; there was no mistake about what they were; still, look from as high as i would, i could not see their bodies. the thought never struck me they were lying down in such open ground in the day-time; so, as i could not go closer without driving them off, i took a shot with my single rifle at where i judged the chest of the nearest one ought to be, and then discovered my error. in an instant all three sprang on their legs and scampered off. i began loading, but before i had half accomplished my object, those three had mingled with the three previously seen grazing, and all six together came charging straight at me. i really thought i should now catch a toss, if i were not trampled to death; but suddenly, as they saw me standing, whether from fear or what else i cannot say, they changed their ferocious-looking design, swerved round, and galloped off as fast as their legs could carry them. this was bad luck; but grant made up for it the next day by killing a very fine buck nsamma. 20th.--i went again after the herd of six buffaloes, as i thought one was wounded, and after walking up a long sloping hill for three miles towards the east, i found myself at once in view of the nile on one hand, and the long-heard-of asua river on the other, backed by hills even higher than the jbl kuku. the bed of the asua seemed very large, but, being far off, was not very distinct, nor did i care to go and see it them; for at that moment, straight in front of me, five buffaloes, five giraffes, two eland and sundry other antelopes, were too strong a temptation. the place looked like a park, and i began stalking in it, first at the eland, as i wanted to see if they corresponded with those i shot in usagara; but the gawky giraffes, always in the way, gave the alarm, and drove all but two of the buffaloes away. at these two i now went with my only rifle, leaving the servants and savages behind. they were out in the open grass feeding composedly, so that i stole up to within forty yards of them, and then, in a small naked patch of ground, i waited my opportunity, and put a ball behind the shoulder of the larger one. at the sound of the gun, in an instant both bulls charged, but they pulled up in the same naked ground as myself, sniffing and tossing their horns, while looking out for their antagonist, who, as quick as themselves, had thrown himself flat on the ground. there we were, like three fools, for twenty minutes or so; one of the buffaloes bleeding at the mouth and with a broken hind-leg, for the bullet had traversed his body, and the other turning round and round looking out for me, while i was anxiously watching him, and by degrees loading my gun. when ready, i tried a shot at the sound one, but the cap snapped and nearly betrayed me, for they both stared at the spot where i lay--the sound one sniffing the air and tossing his horns, but the other bleeding considerably. some minutes more passed in this manner, when they allowed me to breathe freer by walking away. i followed, of course, but could not get a good chance; so, as the night set in, i let them alone for the time being, to get out the following morning. 21st and 22d.--at the place where i left off, i now sprang a large herd of fifty or more buffaloes, and followed them for a mile, when the wounded one, quite exhausted from the fatigue, pulled up for a charge, and allowed me to knock him over. this was glorious fun for the villagers, who cut him up on the spot and brought him home. of course, one half the flesh was given to them, in return for which they brought us some small delicacies to show their gratitude; for, as they truly remarked, until we came to their village they never knew what it was to get a present, or any other gift by a good thrashing. 23d.--to-day i tried the ground again, and, whilst walking up the hill, two black rhinoceros came trotting towards us in a very excited manner. i did not wish to fire at them, as what few bullets remained in my store i wished to reserve in better sport, and therefore for the time being, let them alone. presently, however, they separated; one passed in front of us, stopped to drink in a pool, and then lay down in it. not heeding him, i walked up the hill, whilst the other rhinoceros, still trotting, suddenly turned round and came to drink within fifty yards of us, obstructing my path; this was too much of a joke; so, to save time, i gave him a bullet, and knocked him over. to my surprise, the natives who were with me would not touch his flesh, though pressed by me to "n'yam n'yam," or to eat. i found that they considered him an unclean beast; so, regretting i had wasted my bullet, i went farther on and startled some buffaloes. though i got very near them, however, a small antelope springing up in front of me scared them away, and i could not get a front shot at any of them. thus the whole day was thrown away, for i had to return empty-handed. 24th to 30th.--grant and i after this kept our pot boiling by shooting three more antelopes; but nothing of consequence transpired until the 30th, when bukhet, mahamed's factotum, arrived with the greater part of the turk's property. he then confirmed a report we had heard before, that, some days previously, mahamed had ordered bukhet to go ahead and join us, which he attempted to do; but, on arrival at panyoro, his party had a row with the villagers, and lost their property. bukhet then returned to mahamed and reported his defeat and losses; upon hearing which, mahamed at once said to him, "what do you mean by returning to me empty-handed? go back at once and recover your things else how can i make my report at gondokoro?" with these peremptory orders bukhet went back to panyoro, and commenced to attack it. the contest did not last long; for, after three of bukhet's men had been wounded, he set fire to the villages, killed fifteen of the natives, and, besides recovering his own lost property, took one hundred cows. 31st.--to-day mahamed came in, and commenced to arrange for the march onwards. this, however, was no easy matter, for the turks alone required six hundred porters--half that number to carry their ivory, and the other half to carry their beds and bedding; whilst from fifty to sixty men was the most a village had to spare, and all the village chiefs were at enmity with one another. the plan adopted by mahamed was, to summon the heads of all the villages to come to him, failing which, he would seize all their belongings. then, having once got them together, he ordered them all to furnish him with so many porters a-head, saying he demanded it of them, for the "great government's property" could not be left on the ground. their separate interests must now be sacrificed, and their feuds suspended: and if he heard, on his return again, that one village had taken advantage of the other's weakness caused by their employment in his service, he would then not spare his bullets,--so they might look out for themselves. some of the turks, having found ninty-nine eggs in a crocodile's nest, had a grand feast. they gave us two of the eggs, which we ate, but did not like, for they had a highly musky flavour. 1st.--on the 1st of february we went ahead again, with bukhet and the first half of mahamed's establishment, as a sufficient number of men could not be collected at once to move all together. in a little while we struck on the nile, where it was running like a fine highland stream between the gneiss and mica-schist hills of kuku, and followed it down to near where the asua river joined it. for a while we sat here watching the water, which was greatly discoloured, and floating down rushes. the river was not as full as it was when we crossed it at the karuma falls, yet, according to dr khoblecher's [26] account, it ought to have been flooding just at this time: if so, we had beaten the stream. here we left it again as it arched round by the west, and forded the asua river, a stiff rocky stream, deep enough to reach the breast when waded, but not very broad. it did not appear to me as if connected with victoria n'yanza, as the waters were falling, and not much discoloured; whereas judging from the nile's condition, it ought to have been rising. no vessel ever could have gone up it, and it bore no comparison with the nile itself. the exaggerated account of its volume, however, given by the expeditionists who were sent up the nile by mehemet ali, did not surprise us, since they had mistaken its position; for we were now 3° 42' north, and therefore had passed their "farthest point" by twenty miles. in two hours more we reached a settlement called madi, and found it deserted. every man and woman had run off into the jungles from fright, and would not come back again. we wished ourselves at the end of the journey; thought anything better than this kind of existence--living entirely at the expense of others; even the fleecings in usui felt less dispiriting; but it could not be helped, for it must always exist as long as these turks are allowed to ride rough-shod over the people. the turks, however, had their losses also; for on the way four bari men and one bari slave-girl slipped off with a hundred of their plundered cattle, and neither they nor the cattle could be found again. mijalwa was here convicted of having stolen the cloth of a turk whilst living in his hut when he was away at the paira plundering and got fifty lashes to teach him better behaviour for the future. a party of fifty men came from labure, a station on ahead of this, to take service as porters, knowing that at this season the turks always come with a large herd of plundered cattle, which they call government property, and give in payment to the men who carry their tusks of ivory across the bari country. we now marched over a rolling ground, covered in some places with bush-jungle, in others with villages, where there were fine trees, resembling oaks in their outward appearance; and stopping one night at the settlement of barwudi, arrived at labure, where we had to halt a day for mahamed to collect some ivory from a depot he had formed near by. we heard there was another ivory party collecting tusks at obbo, a settlement in the country of panuquara, twenty miles east of this. next we crossed a nullah draining into the nile, and, travelling over more rolling ground, flanked on the right by a range of small hills, put up at the madi frontier station, mugi, where we had to halt two days to collect a full complement of porters to traverse the bari country, the people of which are denounced as barbarians by the turks, because they will not submit to be bullied into carrying their tusks for them. here we felt an earthquake. the people would not take beads, preferring, they said, to make necklaces and belts out of ostrich-eggs, which they cut into the size of small shirt-buttons, and then drill a hole through their centre to string them together. a passenger told us that three white men had just arrived in vessels at gondokoro; and the bari people, hearing of our advance, instead of trying to kill us with spears, had determined to poison all the water in their country. mahamed now disposed of half of his herd of cows, giving them to the chiefs of the villages in return for porters. these, he said, were all that belonged to the government; for the half of all captures of cows, as well as all slaves, all goats, and sheep, were allowed to the men as part of their pay. when all was settled we marched, one thousand strong, to wurungi; and next day, by a double march, arrived at marson, in the bari country. i wished still to put up in the native villages, but mahamed so terrified all my men, by saying these bari would kill us in the night if we did not all sleep together in one large camp, that we were obliged to submit. the country, still flanked on the right by hills, was undulating and very prettily wooded. villages were numerous, but as we passed them the inhabitants all fled from us, save a few men, who, bolder than the rest, would stand and look on at us as we marched along. both night and morning the turks beat their drums; and whenever they stopped to eat they sacked the villages. pushing on by degrees, stopping at noon to eat, we came again in sight of the nile, and put up at a station called doro, within a short distance of the well-known hill rijeb, where nile voyagers delight in cutting their names. the country continued the same, but the grass was conspicuously becoming shorter and finer every day--so much so, that my men all declared it was a sign of our near approach to england. after we had settled down for the night, and the turks had finished plundering the nearest villages, we heard two guns fired, and immediately afterwards the whole place was alive with bari people. their drums were beaten as a sign that they would attack us, and the war-drums of the villages around responded by beating also. the turks grew somewhat alarmed at this, and as darkness began to set in, sent out patrols in addition to their nightly watches. the savages next tried to steal in on us, but were soon frightened off by the patrols cocking their guns. then, seeing themselves defeated in that tactic, they collected in hundreds in front of us, set fire to the grass, and marched up and down, brandishing ignited grass in their hands, howling like demons, and swearing they would annihilate us in the morning. we slept the night out, nevertheless, and next morning walked in to gondokoro, n. lat. 4° 54' 5", and e. long. 31° 46' 9", where mahamed, after firing a salute, took us in to see a circassian merchant, named kurshid agha. our first inquiry was, of course, for petherick. a mysterious silence ensued; we were informed that mr debono was the man we had to thank for the assistance we had received in coming from madi; and then in hot haste, after warm exchanges of greeting with mahamed's friend, who was debono's agent here, we took leave, to hunt up petherick. walking down the bank of the river--where a line of vessels was moored, and on the right hand a few sheds, one-half broken down, with a brick-built house representing the late austrian church mission establishment--we saw hurrying on towards us the form of an englishman, who, for one moment, we believed was the simon pure; but the next moment my old friend baker, famed for his sports in ceylon, seized me by the hand. a little boy of his establishment had reported our arrival, and he in an instant came out to welcome us. what joy this was i can hardly tell. we could not talk fast enough, so overwhelmed were we both to meet again. of course we were his guests in a moment, and learned everything that could be told. i now first heard of the death of h.r.h. the prince-consort, which made me reflect on the inspiring words he made use of, in compliment to myself, when i was introduced to him by sir roderick murchison, a short while before leaving england. then there was the terrible war in america, and other events of less startling nature, which came on us all by surprise, as years had now passed since we had received news from the civilised world. baker then said he had come up with three vessels--one dyabir and two nuggers--fully equipped with armed men, camels, horses, donkeys, beads, brass wire, and everything necessary for a long journey, expressly to look after us, hoping, as he jokingly said, to find us on the equator in some terrible fix, that he might have the pleasure of helping us out of it. he had heard of mahamed's party, and was actually waiting for him to come in, that he might have had the use of his return-men to start with comfortably. three dutch ladies [27], also, with a view to assist us in the same way as baker (god bless them), had come here in a steamer, but were driven back to khartum by sickness. nobody had even dreamt for a moment it was possible we could come through. an italian, named miani, had gone farther up the nile than any one else; and he, it now transpired, was the man who had cut his name on the tree by apuddo. but what had become of petherick? he was actually trading at n'yambara, seventy miles due west of this, though he had, since i left him in england, raised a subscription of £1000, from those of my friends to whom this journal is most respectfully dedicated as the smallest return a grateful heart can give for their attempt to succour me, when knowing the fate of the expedition was in great jeopardy. instead of coming up the nile at once, as petherick might have done--so i was assured--he waited, whilst a vessel was building, until the season had too far advanced to enable him to sail up the river. in short, he lost the north winds at 7° north, and went overland to his trading depot at n'yambara. previously, however, he had sent some boats up to this, under a vakil, who had his orders to cross to his trading depot at n'yambara, and to work from his trading station due south, ostensibly with a view to look after me, though contrary to my advice before leaving him in england, in opposition to his own proposed views of assisting me when he applied for help to succour me, and against the strongly-expressed opinions of every european in the same trade as himself; for all alike said they knew he would have gone to faloro, and pushed south from that place, had his trade on the west of the nile not attracted him there. baker now offered me his boats to go down to khartum, and asked me if there was anything left undone which it might be of importance for him to go on and complete, by survey or otherwise; for, although he should like to go down the river with us, he did not wish to return home without having done something to recompense him for the trouble and expense he had incurred in getting up his large expedition. of course i told him how disappointed i had been in not getting a sight of the little luta nzige. i described how we had seen the nile bending west where we crossed in chopi, and then, after walking down the chord of an arc described by the river, had found it again in madi coming from the west, whence to the south, and as far at least as koshi, it was said to be navigable, probably continuing to be so right into the little luta nzige. should this be the case, then, by building boats in madi above the cataracts, a vast region might be thrown open to the improving influences of navigation. further, i told baker of my contract with kamrasi, and of the property i had left behind, with a view to stimulate any enterprising man who might be found at this place to go there, make good my promise, and, if found needful, claim my share of the things, for the better prosecution of his own travels there. this baker at once undertook, though he said he did not want my property; and i drew out suggestions for him how to proceed. he then made friends with mahamed, who promised to help him on to faloro, and i gave mahamed and his men three carbines as an honorarium. i should now have gone down the nile at once if the moon had been in "distance" for fixing the longitude; but as it was not, i had to remain until the 26th, living with baker. kurshid agha became very great friends with us, and, at once making a present of a turkey, a case of wine, and cigars, said he was only sorry for his own sake that we had found a fellow-countryman, else he would have had the envied honour of claiming us as his guests, and had the pleasure of transporting us in his vessels down to khartum. the rev. mr moorlan, and two other priests of the austrian mission, were here on a visit from their station at kich, to see the old place again before they left for khartum; for the austrian government, discouraged by the failure of so many years, had ordered the recall of the whole of the establishment for these regions. it was no wonder these men were recalled; for, out of twenty missionaries who, during the last thirteen years, had ascended the white river for the purpose of propagating the gospel, thirteen had died of fever, two of dysentary, and two had retired broken in health, yet not one convert had been made by them. the fact is, there was no government to control the population or to protect property; boys came to them, looked at their pictures, and even showed a disposition to be instructed, but there it ended; they had no heart to study when no visible returns were to be gained. one day the people would examine the books, at another throw them aside, say their stomachs were empty, and run away to look for food. the bari people at gondokoro were described as being more tractable than those of kich, being of a braver and more noble nature; but they were all half-starved--not because the country was too poor to produce, but because they were too lazy to cultivate. what little corn they grew they consumed before it was fully ripe, and then either sought for fish in the river or fed on tortoises in the interior, as they feared they might never reap what they sowed. the missionaries never had occasion to complain of these blacks, and to this day they would doubtless have been kindly inclined to europeans, had the white nile traders not brought the devil amongst them. mr moorlan remembers the time when they brought food for sale; but now, instead, they turn their backs upon all foreigners, and even abuse the missionaries for having been the precursors of such dire calamities. the shell of the brick church at gondokoro, and the cross on the top of a native-built hut in kich, are all that will remain to bear testimony of these christian exertions to improve the condition of these heathens. want of employment, i heard was the chief operative cause in killing the poor missionaries; for, with no other resource left them to kill time, they spent their days eating, drinking, smoking, and sleeping, till they broke down their constitutions by living too fast. mr moorlan became very friendly, and said he was sorry he could not do more for us. his headquarters were at kich, some way down the river, where, as we passed, he hoped at least he might be able to show us as much attention and hospitality as lay in his power. mosquitoes were said to be extremely troublesome on the river, and my men begged for some clothes, as petherick, they said, had a store for me under the charge of his vakil. the storekeeper was then called, and confirming the story of my men, i begged him to give me what was my own. it then turned out that it was all petherick's, but he had orders to give me on account anything that i wanted. this being settled, i took ninety-five yards of the commonest stuff as a makeshift for mosquito-curtains for my men, besides four sailor's shirts for my head men. on the 18th, kurshid agha was summoned by the constant fire of musketry, a mile or two down the river, and went off in his vessels to the relief. a party of his had come across from the n'yambara country with ivory, and on the banks of the nile, a few miles north of this, were engaged fighting with the natives. he arrived just in time to settle the difficulty, and next day came back again, having shot some of the enemy and captured their cows. petherick, we heard, was in a difficulty of the same kind, upon which i proposed to go down with baker and grant to succour him; but he arrived in time, in company with his wife and dr james murie, to save us the trouble, and told me he had brought a number of men with him, carrying ivory, for the purpose now of looking after me on the east bank of the nile, by following its course up to the south, though he had given up all hope of seeing me, as a report had reached him of the desertion of my porters at ugogo. he then offered me his dyabir, as well as anything else that i wanted that lay within his power to give. suffice it to say, i had, through baker's generosity, at that very moment enough and to spare; but at his urgent request i took a few more yards of cloth for my men, and some cooking fat; and, though i offered to pay for it, he declined to accept any return at my hands. though i naturally felt much annoyed at petherick--for i had hurried away from uganda, and separated from grant at kari, solely to keep faith with him--i did not wish to break friendship, but dined and conversed with him, when it transpired that his vakil, or agent, who went south from the n'yambara station, came amongst the n'yam n'yam, and heard from them that a large river, four days' journey more to the southward, was flowing from east to west, beyond which lived a tribe of "women," who, when they wanted to marry, mingled with them in the stream and returned; and then, again, beyond this tribe of women there lived another tribe of women and dogs. now, this may all seem a very strange story to those who do not know the negro's and arab's modes of expression; but to me it at once came very natural, and, according to my view, could be interpreted thus:--the river, running from east to west, according to the native mode of expressing direction, could be nothing but the little luta nzige running the opposite way, according to fact and our mode of expression. the first tribe of women were doubtless the wanyoro--called women by the naked tribes on this side because they wear bark coverings--an effeminate appendage, in the naked man's estimation; and the second tribe must have been in allusion to the dog-keeping waganda, who also would be considered women, as they wear bark clothes. in my turn, i told petherick he had missed a good thing by not going up the river to look for me; for, had he done so, he would not only have had the best ivory-grounds to work upon, but, by building a vessel in madi above the cataracts, he would have had, in my belief, some hundred miles of navigable water to transport his merchandise. in short, his succouring petition was most admirably framed, had he stuck to it, for the welfare of both of us. [28] we now received our first letters from home, and in one from sir roderick murchison i found the royal geographical society had awarded me their "founder's medal" for the discovery of the victoria n'yanza in 1858. conclusion my journey down to alexandria was not without adventure, and carried me through scenes which, in other circumstances, it might have been worth while to describe. thinking, however, that i have already sufficiently trespassed on the patience of the reader, i am unwilling to overload my volume with any matter that does not directly relate to the solution of the great problem which i went to solve. having now, then, after a period of twenty-eight months, come upon the tracks of european travellers, and met them face to face, i close my journal, to conclude with a few explanations, for the purpose of comparing the various branches of the nile with its affluences, so as to show their respective values. the first affluent, the bahr el ghazal, took us by surprise; for instead of finding a huge lake, as described in our maps, at an elbow of the nile, we found only a small piece of water resembling a duck-pond buried in a sea of rushes. the old nile swept through it with majestic grace, and carried us next to the geraffe branch of the sobat river, the second affluent, which we found flowing into the nile with a graceful semicircular sweep and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not more than fifty yards broad. next in order came the main stream of the sobat, flowing into the nile in the same graceful way as the geraffe, which in breadth it surpassed, but in velocity of current was inferior. the nile by these additions was greatly increased; still it did not assume that noble appearance which astonished us so much, immediately after the rainy season, when we were navigating it in canoes in unyoro. i here took my last lunar observations, and made its mouth n. lat. 9° 20' 48", e. long. 31° 24' 0". the sobat has a third mouth farther down the nile, which unfortunately was passed without my knowing it; but as it is so well known to be unimportant, the loss was not great. next to be treated of is the famous blue nile, which we found a miserable river, even when compared with the geraffe branch of the sobat. it is very broad at the mouth, it is true, but so shallow that our vessel with difficulty was able to come up it. it has all the appearance of a mountain stream, subject to great periodical fluctuations. i was never more disappointed that with this river; if the white river was cut off from it, its waters would all be absorbed before they could reach lower egypt. the atbara river, which is the last affluent, was more like the blue river than any of the other affluences, being decidedly a mountain stream, which floods in the rains, but runs nearly dry in the dry season. i had now seen quite enough to satisfy myself that the white river which issues from the n'yanza at the ripon falls, is the true or parent nile; for in every instance of its branching, it carried the palm with it in the distinctest manner, viewed, as all the streams were by me, in the dry season, which is the best time for estimating their relative perennial values. since returning to england, dr murie, who was with me at gondokoro, has also come home; and he, judging from my account of the way in which we got ahead of the flooding of the nile between the karuma falls and gondokoro, is of opinion that the little luta nzige must be a great backwater to the nile, which the waters of the nile must have been occupied in filling during my residence in madi; and then about the same time that i set out from madi, the little luta nzige having been surcharged with water, the surplus began its march northwards just about the time when we started in the same direction. for myself, i believe in this opinion, as he no sooner asked me how i could account for the phenomenon i have already mentioned of the river appearing to decrease in bulk as we descended it, than i instinctively advanced his own theory. moreover, the same hypothesis will answer for the sluggish flooding of the nile down to egypt. i hope the reader who has followed my narrative thus far will be interested in knowing how "my faithful children," for whose services i had no further occasion, and whom i had taken so far from their own country, were disposed of. at cairo, where we put up in shepherd's hotel, i had the whole of them photographed, and indulged them at the public concerts, tableaux vivants, etc. by invitation, we called on the viceroy at his rhoda island palace, and were much gratified with the reception; for, after hearing all our stories with marked intelligence, he most graciously offered to assist me in any other undertaking which would assist to open up and develop the interior of africa. i next appointed bombay captain of the "faithfuls," and gave him three photographs of all the eighteen men and three more of the four women, to give one of each to our consuls at suez, aden, and zanzibar, by which they might be recognised. i also gave them increased wages, equal to three years' pay each, by orders on zanzibar, which was one in addition to their time of service; an order for a grand "freeman's garden," to be purchased for them at zanzibar; and an order that each one should receive ten dollars dowry-money as soon as he could find a wife. with these letters in their hands, i made arrangements with our consul, mr drummond hay, to frank them through suez, aden, and the seychelles to zanzibar. since then, i have heard that captain bombay and his party missed the seychelles, and went on to the mauritius, where captain anson, inspector-general of police, kindly took charge of them and made great lions of them. a subscription was raised to give them a purse of money; they were treated with tickets to the "circus," and sent back to the seychelles, whence they were transported by steamer to zanzibar, and taken in charge by our lately-appointed consul, colonel playfair, who appears to have taken much interest in them. further, they volunteered to go with me again, should i attempt to cross africa from east to west, through the fertile zone. footnotes: [footnote 1: the equator was crossed on the 8th february 1862.] [footnote 2: the wahuma are treated of in chapter ix.] [footnote 3: the list of my fauna collection will be found in an early number of the "proceedings of the zoological society of london."] [footnote 4: captain burton, on receiving his gold medal at the hands of sir roderick i. murchison, said, "you have alluded, sir, to the success of the last expedition. justice compels me to state the circumstances under which it attained that success. to captain speke are due those geographical results to which you have alluded in such flattering terms. whilst i undertook the history and ethnography, the languages, and the peculiarity of the people, to captain speke fell the arduous task of delineating an exact topography, and of laying down our positions by astronomical observations--a labour to which, at times, even the undaunted livingstone found himself unequal."] [footnote 5: vol. iii. of a. d. 1801.] [footnote 6: it was such an attack as i had on my former journey; but while mine ceased to trouble me after the first year, his kept recurring every fortnight until the journey ended.] [footnote 7: it may be as well to remark here, that the figures both in latitude and longitude, representing the position of kaze, computed by mr dunkin, accord with what appeared in blackwood's magazine, computed by myself, and in the r. g. s. journal map, computed by captain george. this applies also to the position of ujiji; at any rate, the practical differences are so trifling that it would require a microscope to detect them on the map.] [footnote 8: the jub is the largest river known to the zanzibar arabs. it debouches on the east coast north of zanzibar, close under the equator.] [footnote 9: the two first gold watches were given away at zanzibar.] [footnote 10: if one asked the name of a tree, and it happened to be the kind from which this cloth was made, the answer would be "mbugu." if, again, the question was as to the bark, the same answer; and the same if one saw the shirt, and asked what it was. hence i could not determine whether the word had been originally the name of the tree, of its bark, or of the article made from the bark, though i am inclined to think it is the bark, as there are many varieties of these trees, which, being besides being called mbugu, had their own particular names.] [footnote 11: rumanika's present.--one block-tin box, one raglan coat, five yards scarlet broadcloth, two coils copper wire, a hundred large blue egg-beads, five bundles best variegated beads, three bundles minute beads--pink, blue, and white.] [footnote 12: nnanaji's present.--one deole or gold-embroidered silk, two coils copper wire, fifty large blue egg-beads, five bundles best variegated beads, three bundles minute beads--pink, blue and white.] [footnote 13: since named by dr p. l. sclater "tragelaphus spekii." these nzoe have been drawn by mr wolf, from specimens brought home by myself.] [footnote 14: round arm, 1 ft. 11 in.; chest, 4 ft. 4 in.; thigh, 2 ft. 7 in.; calf, 1 ft. 8 in.; height, 5 ft. 8 in.] [footnote 15: i.e. dead locust lake,--luta, dead--nzige, locust.] [footnote 16: in 'blackwood's magazine' for august 1859.] [footnote 17: see p. 211.] [footnote 18: 1 block-tin box, 4 rich silk cloths, 1 rifle (whitworth's), 1 gold chronometer, 1 revolver pistol, 3 rifled carbines, 3 sword-bayonets, 1 box ammunition, 1 box bullets, 1 box gun-caps, 1 telescope, 1 iron chair, 10 bundles best beads, 1 set of table-knives, spoons, and forks.] [footnote 19: the straight road down the nile through unyoro no one dares allude to at this time, as the two kings were always fighting.] [footnote 20: some say a group of forty islands compose sese.] [footnote 21: named by dr p. l. sclater, cosmetornis spekii. the seventh pen feathers are double the length of the ordinaries, the eighth double that of the seventh, and the ninth 20 inches long. bombay says the same bird is found in uhiyow.] [footnote 22: it is questionable whether or not this word is a corruption of bahr (sea of) ingo.] [footnote 23: this obviously was an allusion to the way in which the first king of uganda was countenanced by the great king of kittara, according to the tradition given in chapter ix.] [footnote 24: 1 double rifle, 1 block-tin box, 1 red blanket, 1 brown do., 10 copper wire, 4 socks full of different-coloured minute beads, 2 socks full of blue and white pigeon eggs, 1 rodgers's pen-knife, 2 books, 1 elastic circle, 1 red handkerchief, 1 bag gun-caps, 1 pair scissors, 1 pomatum-pot, 1 quart bottle, 1 powder flask, 7 lb. powder, 1 dressing-case, 1 blacking-box, 1 brass lock and key, 4 brass handles, 8 brass sockets, 7 chintz, 7 binders, 1 red bag, 1 pair glass spectacles, 1 lucifer-box.] [footnote 25: it will appear shortly that is was actually not more than two marches to the northward of faloro.] [footnote 26: dr khoblecher, the founder of the austrian church mission establishment of gondokoro, ascertained that the nile reached its lowest level there in the middle of january.] [footnote 27: the baroness miss a. van capellan, and mrs and miss tinne.] [footnote 28: see petherick's succouring petition, addressed to the right hon. lord ashburton, president of the royal geographical society, in the proceedings of that society, date 10th june 1860.] 