EMBARKING on the lake in a fine canoe, with five
stout men as
propellers, Livingstone in a few hours reached an island
where he
remained a short tirfte, going on before night to the
more import-
ant Mbahala, where his appearance created the greatest
excitement
amongst the natives, who had never before seen a white
man. Walking
across to the north end of the island, Livingstone ascertained
it to be
about one mile broad, and from the eastern point he made
out a larger
island on the right, called by the natives Chirubi, and
said to contain a
large population, possessing many sheep and goats. These
minor facts
determined, our hero prepared to continue his voyage,
hoping to pass, if
he could not touch at, the spot where the Lualaba leaves
Lake Bang-
weolo on its journey to Moero.
But, alas ! in July the canoe-men struck. They had heard
of a medi-
tated attack upon their little bark ; they dared not
remain longer on the
lake ; but if Livingstone liked to stay on Mbahala they
would come
and fetch him presently, when all danger was over. Believing
this to be
a gotten up tale to avoid further work in his service,
their wages having
been paid in advance, the unfortunate explorer at first
thought of seizing
their paddles, and appealing to the head-man of the island.
Reflecting
still further, however, that he was entirely in their
power, and that the
islanders would probably side with them, he resolved
to bear ''with
meekness, though groaning inwardly," the disappointment
inflicted upon
him.
" I had only," says Livingstone, " my coverlet to hire
another canoe,
and it was now very cold ; the few beads left would all
be required to
buy food on the way back. I might have got food by shooting
buffaloes,
but that on foot, and through grass with stalks as thick
as a goosequill, is
dreadfully hard work." Back then he must go to Masantu's,
compelled
to trust to native reports, for the present at least,
for his computation of
distances, etc., on the lake.
Livingstone's reference to getting food by shooting buffaloes
shows
how abundant these animals are in the southern part of
Africa. This is
one of the attractions of this part of the continent
for the hunter,
although our great explorer seldom hunted merely for
sport. Travellers
give us interesting accounts of the African buffalo and
the excitement of
the chase.
Fine Sport for the Hunter.
In the first place, he is a handsome animal, of graceful
shape, and a
giant in strength; in his native wilds he is just a peaceful
grazer, con-
tented to pass his life cropping grass and green leaves,
and to interfere
with no animal, human or other ; but, challenge him to'
war, and the
fiercest hunter could not desire bolder game ; capture
and tame him, and
he will draw your plough or wagon as submissively as
the ox. He is a
faithful friend, and will fight to the, death on behalf
of his companions,
and for the sake of his young will do battle with the
lion himself
Of retiring habits, they affect vast solitudes where verdure
abounds,
and there is no lack of rivers and pools in which they
may luxuriate,
immersing themselves till only their heads appear above
the surface, cool-
ing their leathery hides and getting respite from the
formidable stinging
things that fly, or the biters that closely adhere to
their bodies. If water
is unattainable, the buffalo will content himself with
mud, if there is
plenty of it. Throwing himself flat upon his side in
the mire, he shuf-
iles round and round, the soil yielding to his immense
weight the exuda-
tion of any moisture there may be, till he manufactures
for himself a
delicious basin of mortar, covering him to his very eyes.
When he rises and walks off he presents a decidedly unhandsome
ap-
pearance, which is not improved when, in the course of
an hour or so,
the sun bakes his mud crust, and he looks, when standing
still, like
some hideous clay image. Ease, however, is of considerably
more im-
portance to the buffalo than elegance, and until the
motion of his
limbs causes his ugly coat to peel off he may defy all
the vermin in the
world.
When Captain Methuen and his party were hunting at the
Cape of
Good Hope he had an opportunity of judging how terrible
a beast the
bull buffalo is when wounded and hard driven by the daring
sportsman.
With the captain were a Hottentot attendant, named Frolic,
and a friend,
named Moneypenny, and having discovered a herd of buffaloes,
the trio
let fly at them, wounding some, but not so badly but
that the entire
drove escaped to an impenetrable patch of forest. The
captain, however,
climbed into a tree, and thereby sighted and shot another
bull, whereon
the wounded animal ran toward the report, his ears outstretched,
his
eyes moving in all directions, and his nose carried in
a right line with the
head, evidently bent on revenge. He passed within thirty
yards of me,
and was lost in the bush. Descending from our frail perch.
Frolic again
discovered this buffalo standing among some small thick
bushes which.
nearly hid him from view ; his head was lowered, not
a muscle of the
body moved, and he was without doubt listening intently.
We crept
noiselessly to a bush and I again fired.
"His Horn Struck the Muzzle of the Gun."
"The huge brute ran forward with the wind, fortunately
not in our di-
rection, and again stood still. Presently he lay gently
down, and know-
ing that buffaloes are exceedingly cunning, and will
adopt this plan
merely to escape notice and entrap their persecutors,
we drew near with
great caution. I again fired through his shoulder, and
concluded from
his not attempting to rise that he was helpless. We walked
close up to
him, and never can the scene which followed be erased
from my memory.
Turning his ponderous head round, his eye caught our
figures. I fired
the second barrel of my rifle behind his horns, but it
did not reach the
brain. His wounds gave him some difificulty in getting
up, which afford-
ed Moneypenny and myself just time to ensconce ourselves
behind the
slender shrubs that grew round the spot, while Frolic
unwisely took to
his heels. The buffalo saw him, and uttering a continued
unearthly noise
between a grunt and a bellow, advanced at a pace at which
these unwieldy
creatures are rarely seen to run, unless stirred by revenge.
"Crashing through the low bushes as if they were stubble,
he passed
me, but charged quite over Moneypenny's lurking-place,
who aimed at
him as he came on, and lodged the ball in the rocky mass
of horn above
his head ; the buffalo was so near at the time of his
firing that his horn
struck the barrel of the gun the next instant; but whether
the noise and.
smoke confused the animal, or he was partially stunned
by the bullet, he
missed my friend, and continued in pursuit of Frolic.
"The Hottentot dodged the terrible brute round the bushes,
but
through these slight obstacles it dashed with ease and
gained ground
rapidly. Speechless we watched the chase, and in the
awful moment,
regardless of concealment, stood up and saw the buffalo
overtake his
victim and knock him down. At this crisis my friend fired
his second
barrel at the beast, which gave Frolic one or two blows
with his fore-feet,
and pushing his nose under, endeavored to toss him; but
the Hottentot,
aware of this, with much presence of mind lay perfectly
still. Directly
after the buffalo stumbled and fell dead, and Frolic
got on his legs and
limped toward us. He was much hurt, and the powder-flask
in his
game-bag was stamped quite flat."
A Terrible Foe.
Although of a pacific disposition, the buffalo will defend
himself with
astonishing courage against the attacks of either man
or beast when
brought to bay. The bear has no chance with, and even
the cunning
tiger dare not face the buffalo's terrible horns, and
can only obtain the
mastery by lying in ambush and springing on to the buffalo's
flanks.
The buffalo cow will attack the lion fearlessly in defence
of her young.
Dr. Livingstone asserts that a toss from the buffalo
will often kill a lion,
and that he had seen two who had evidently come to their
death by the
horns of the buffalo.
In a letter to his friend Dr. Livingstone, Mr. Vardon
thus describes a
terrific struggle between a buffalo and three lions as
witnessed and
assisted at by himself and Mr. Oswell, on the banks of
the Limpopo :
^' Oswell and I were riding along the banks of the river
when a water-
buck started in front of us. I dismounted, and was following
it through
the jungle, when three buffaloes got up, and after going
a little distance
stood still, and the nearest bull turned round and looked
at me. A ball
from a two-ouncer crashed into his shoulder, and they
all three made off.
Oswell and I followed as soon as I had reloaded, and
when we were in
sight of the buffalo, and gaining on him every stride,
three lions leaped
on the unfortunate brute.
" He bellowed most lustily as he kept up a running fight,
but he was of
course soon overpowered and pulled down. We had a fine
view of the
struggle, and saw the lions on their hind-legs tearing
away with teeth
and claws in the most ferocious style. We crept up within
thirty yards,
and kneeling down blazed away at the lions. My rifle
was a single
barrel, and I had no spare gun. One lion fell dead almost
on the buffalo;
he had merely time to turn towards us, seize a bush with
his teeth, and
drop dead with the stick in his jaws.
"The second made off directly; and the third raised his
head coolly,
looked around for a moment, then went on tearing and
biting at the
carcase as hard as ever. We retired a short distance
to load, then again
advanced and fired. The lion made off, but the ball that
he had received
oz^^/z/ to have stopped him, as it went clear through
his shoulder-blade.
He was followed up and killed, after having charged several
times. Both
lions were males. The buffalo had of course gone close
to where the
lions were lying down, and they seeing him lame and bleeding,
thought the
opportunity too good a one to be lost. It is not often
that one bags a
brace of lions and a bull buffalo in about ten minutes."
Captain Speke, in his " Journal of the Discovery of the
Nile," relates
the experience of a day in hunting the buffalo. Accompanied
by two
natives, he had met a large herd early in the day, and
followed them
some time, killing a cow, and wounding several others,
among them a
bull. "As they 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 pro-
voking ; 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 on
a charge the instant
I showed myself close to her. One crack of the rifle
rolled her over.
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 no sooner arrived than he plunged headlong at us from
his ambush,
just, and only just, giving me time to present my rifle.
" 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, while 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.
" We commenced retracing our steps. Tracking back to the
first post
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 misery. Taking compassion, I leveled
my gun ; but
as bad luck would have it, a bough intercepted the flight
of the bullet
and it went ' pinging ' into the air, while the 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 a small clearance, rifle in
hand, the great
beast, from the thicket at 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 that 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
off at some terrible apparition."
Such are some of the thrilling adventures among the wild
animals of
Africa. Livingstone often escaped starvation by the expert
use of his gun.
Flying for Ljfe.
Proceeding with our narrative, from Masantu's the march
back to
Chikumbi, where Mohammed and his party had been left,
was com-
menced, and in August the settlement of an Arab trader
named Kombo-
kombo, a little to the south of Chikumbi, was reached.
Here Living-
stone was cheered by the news that Mohammed was contemplating
a
journey west, which would take him to the great Lualaba.
" The way
seems opening before me," he exclaims, "and I am thankful."
Before
arrangements for accompanying Mohammed could be made,
however,
came rumors of war on the other side of the Lualaba.
Syde bin Omar,
an Arab trader from Iramba, the country on its western
shores between
Lake Bangweolo and the Rua district, declared it would
be madness to
attempt any explorations in that direction.
Mohammed therefore readily gave up his scheme for the
present, and
united with Omar in objecting strongly to Livingstone's
going with his
small party even down the right bank of the Lualaba,
though it was in
sight. Our hero resolved then to wait until all were
ready to go, little
dreaming that the delay would last until the beginning
of October, that
the country would be convulsed with war, and that when
he did leave
Chikumbi it would be to flee to the north for his life.
First came a raid
from devastating hordes of Mazitu, who were repulsed
by the united
forces of the Arab traders and the native chiefs ; then
a quarrel between
the successful allies, resulting in an attack, headed
by Casembe and
Chikumbi, on the Arabs, beginning with the Kombokombo
mentioned
above.
Confusion now prevailed everywhere. The daily entries
in Living-
stone's journals became impossible, but on the 5th of
October he writes
how he and his little band of servants were on one occasion
surrounded
by a party of fifteen or twenty natives, who attacked
them with spears
and poisoned arrows ; how " one good soul helped them
away a bless-
ing be on him and his ; " how he narrowly escaped from
the hands of
another chief, who took him and his men for Mazitu ;
and how, lastly, he
joined forces with the Arab traders, and started north,
fences being built
every night to protect the united camps, which were,
however, unmolested
till the northern bank of the Kalongosi river was reached.
Here 500 natives were drawn up to dispute the passage,
but as Living-
stone and an advanced party with thirty guns crossed
over they retired.
Our hero, however, went amongst them, explained who he
was, was
recognized by some old acquaintances, and obtained a
truce for the
Arabs. All became friendly, an elephant was killed, stores
of provisions
were bought, and two days later the march was resumed.
Kabwawata, on the north-west of Lake Moero, was reached,
and an-
other long delay ensued before the Arab traders were
again ready to
start. The time was employed by Livingstone in making
an exhaustive
resume of his own work and that of his predecessors in
connection with
the Nile, his conviction being that in Lake Bangweolo
he had found the
final, or at least one of the final, sources of that
great river. The work
of Cameron and Stanley has, however, since proved the
Lualaba to be
the upper course, not, as supposed by Livingstone, of
the Nile, but of
the Congo, and we therefore pass over all that the hero
of our present
chapter urges in support of the former view.
Return of Deserters.
Whilst Livingstone was at Kabwawata he was cheered by
the return
of some of the men who had deserted before the trip to
Bangweolo, and
now begged to be taken back. Readily forgiven by their
master, who
observes that there was great excuse for them, after
the conduct of their
Johanna comrades, they now became apparently devoted
to his service,
though we shall presently have to relate their renewed
faithlessness.
Once more surrounded by the retinue who had come with
him from
Lake Nyassa, Livingstone started for Ujiji with the Arabs
in December^
his party and Mohammed's leading the way. The march to
Tanganyika,
which was in a more northerly direction than the westward
journey,
seems to have been one long agony to Livingstone. In
his journal he
tells of heavy rains impeding progress, the escape and
recapture of slaves
and the hostility of villagers ; but the entries became
shorter and shorter,
and on the first of January, 1869, he records that the
new year was
opening badly ; he had been wet times without number,
but the wet-
ting of yesterday was once too often ; he felt very ill,"
and in crossing
the Lofuko, within some six weeks' journey of the lake,
he was " cold up
to the waist," which made him worse, though he struggled
on for another
two hours and a half.
On the 3d January, after one hour's march, he found himself
too weak
to go further ; his lungs were affected ; he did not
know how the next
few days were passed. A rill was crossed, and sheds were
built, but
whether he took any share in the work he cannot tell.
" I lost count,"
he says, " of the days of the week and month after this,"
but about Jan-
uary 7th he managed to write the following touching sentence
:
" I cannot walk. Pneumonia of right lung, and I cough
all day and
all night; distressing weakness. Ideas flow through the
mind with great
rapidity and vividness, in groups of twos and threes.
If I look at any
piece of wood, the bark seems covered all over with figures
and faces of
men, and they remain though I look away and turn to the
same spot
again. I saw myself lying dead in the way to Ujiji, and
all the letters I
expected there useless. When I think of my children and
friends, the
lines run through my head perpetually
' I shall look into your faces,
And listen to what you say,
And be often very near you
When you think I am far away.'
Mohammed Mogharib came up, and I have got a cupper, who
cupped my chest."
Serious Illness.
A little further we have the following entry, dated the
8th January :
" Mohammed Mogharib offered to carry me. I am so weak,
I can
scarcely speak. We are in Marungu proper now a pretty
but steeply
undulating country. This is the first time in my life
I have been carried
in illness, but I cannot raise myself to the sitting
posture. No food ex-
cept a little gruel. Great distress in coughing all night
long; feet
swelled and sore. I am carried four hours each day on
a kitanda or
frame, like a Cot ; carried eight hours one day. We seem
near the brim
of Tanganyika. Mohammed Mogharib is very kind to me in
my ex-
treme weakness ; but carriage is painful ; head down
and feet up alter-
nates with feet down and head up ; jolted up and down
sideways
changing shoulders involves a toss from one side to the
other of the
kitanda. The sun is vertical, blistering any part of
the skin exposed,
and I try to shelter my face and head as well as I can
with a bunch of
leaves, but it is dreadfully fatiguing in my weakness."
After this we have no note for five weeks. Then, on the
14th Feb-
ruary, 1869, the arrival at Tanganyika is announced,
succeeded by a few
lines to the effect that Livingstone felt if he did not
get to Ujiji, where he
could have proper food and medicine, soon he must die.
Not until late in the same month, after fearful sufferings
in a miserable
hut infested with vermin on the shores of the lake, were
canoes obtained,
and the transit begun. A little revived by the pure air
on the water,
and already near Ujiji, he had hoped soon to be in that
village, where he
believed letters from home and stores from Zanzibar must
long have been
awaiting him.
The Same Dauntless Hero.
On the 14th of March, Ujiji was at last reached, but,
on landing, our
hero found that more than half his goods had been made
away with, and
that the road to Unyanyembe was blocked up by a Mazitu
war. No
hope of receiving anything more from the east for the
present, no hope of
getting home by way of Zanzibar; but not one repining
word is uttered
by Livingstone in the now more frequent notes in his
journal. He says
nothing about the improvement in his health, though that
is implied in
the plans he hints at for further researches on the west.
No change of
purpose is allowed to result from all he has undergone.
He has reached
Ujiji; he is better. He will make Ujiji the starting
point for a journey
direct to Manyuema, far aVay on the north-west, not only
of Moero, but
of that other unseen lake known as Kamolondo, and supposed
by him to
be the most northerly and elevated of the series of which
Bangweolo is
probably the lowest and most southerly.
Forty-two letters were now written home, and entrusted
to Arabs for
transmission to Zanzibar, but they never reached their
destination, and
are supposed to have been wantonly destroyed. One ingenious
theory
respecting the relation of Tanganyika to the other lakes
of Central
Africa is worked out after another what is the meaning
of the current
. setting towards the north? is the long narrow sheet
of water only a
river after all ? if a lake, has it an outlet, and,
if so, where is that outlet ?
such are some of the questions propounded, but not
answered, by the
great explorer, as he bides his time for an opportunity
to go and see the
great rivers reported to intersect Manyuema, that unknown
country of
which little more than rumors had then reached even the
Arab traders of
Ujiji.
Presently came rumors of vast herds of elephants in Manyuema,
and
of a sturdy race of blacks differing essentially from
any of those yet met
with. A horde of Arabs determined to go and test the
truth of these
reports.
The dangers incident to elephant hunting in all this part
of Africa are
vividly seen in the following narrative, related by a
member of a hunting
party who was a participant in the perilous sport :
"We had bagged a good many birds, when a beautiful little
gazelle
came bounding across our path. It put me in mind of an
Italian grey-
hound, only it had a longer neck and was somewhat larger.
I was quite
sorry when Chickango (a native connected with our party),
firing, knocked
it over. It was, however, a welcome addition to our game
bag. He
called it Ncheri. It was the most elegant little creature
I met with in
Africa among the numberless beautiful animals which abound
in the re-
gions we passed through.
"We were at the time proceeding along the foot of a hill.
Scarcely
had he fired, when a loud trumpeting was heard, and directly
afterwards
we saw a negro rushing through the underwood, followed
by a huge ele-
phant. 'Up! up the hill!' cried Chickango, suiting the
action to the
word. I followed, for as we were wishing to kill birds
alone, my gun was
loaded only with small shot. The elephant made towards
us. The negro
stranger came bounding on. Chickango and I had got some
way up the
hill, but Wilson, one of our number, who stood his ground,
was engaged
in ramming home a bullet. The elephant had all the time
been keeping
one eye on the black and one on us.
"When I thought he was on the point of seizing us, he
suddenly turned
on his first assailant. The black darted to a tree, when
the elephant
seizing him with his trunk, threw him with tremendous
force to the ground.
This enabled Wilson to spring up after us; and the hill
being very steep,
with rolling stones, we hoped that we were there safe
from the infuriated
beast. It cast a glance at the unfortunate black, who
was endeavoring to
crawl away along the ground. Again the elephant was about
to seize
him with his trunk, and in an instant would have crushed
him to death,,
when Wilson, raising his gun, fired, and struck the creature
in the most
vulnerable part behind the ear. The ball must have
entered the brain,,
for, sinking down instantly, it rolled over, and, we
thought, must have
killed the black by its weight.
"He was Still Breathing."
" We hurried down, hoping that there might yet be time
to save the
poor fellow's life, regardless at the moment of our victory,
which, with
hunters in general, would have been a cause of triumph.
As we got
round, we found the black had narrowly escaped being
crushed to death;
indeed, as it was, his legs appeared to lie almost under
the monster's back.
We drew him out, however, and to our satisfaction found
that he was stilL
breathing. Chickango said that he belonged to the Bakeles,
and was
probably a chief hunter among them. As, however, we were
much nearer
our own abode than their village, Wilson and I agreed
to carry him
with us, somewhat I fancied, to Chickango's astonishment.
Oh! he
black fellow, he die; what use carry?' he remarked. Of
course we kept
our own opinion, hoping that with our doctor's skill
the poor man might
recover. He was unable to speak, and was indeed apparently
uncon-
scious.
"'Had my rifle been loaded with ball, I should have saved
that poor
fellow the last fearful crush; and in the future we must
not go without
one or two of our fowling-pieces loaded with ball,' obsei^ved
Wilson ram-
ming down a bullet into his rifle."
" Chickango and I did the same. We then constructed a
rough litter^
on which we placed the injured negro. We bore him along,
a porter and
Chickango carrying the head and I the feet part of the
litter. We found
the weight considerable, especially over the rough ground
we had to
traverse, but the life of a fellow-creature depended
upon our perseverance.
Chickango carefully noted the spot where the elephant
lay, that we might
return as soon as possible for some of the meat and the
tusks, which were
very large. We reached the spot where our friends were
cutting out the
canoe just as they were about to leave it, and we were
thankful to have
their assistance in carrying the stranger. The doctor
instantly applied
himself to examining the hurts of the negro. He found
that his left arm
had been broken, and the ribs on the same side severely
crushed. 'The
injuries might be serious for a white man,' he observed;
'but the blood
of an African, unheated by the climate, escapes inflammation,
and I have
hopes that he may recover.' Chickango was very eager
to set out im-
mediately, in order to bring in the eleahant's tusks
and some meat, but
Wilson considered that it was too late in the day, and
put off the expedi-
tion till the following morning.
"We were somewhat later in starting than we intended.
We carried
baskets and ropes, to bring with us the ivory and a supply
of meat. On
reaching the spot, however, where the huge monster lay,
we found that
others had been before us. The tusks were gone, and a
portion of the
flesh. Innumerable birds of prey, also, were tearing
away at it, or seated
on the surrounding trees devouring the pieces they had
carried off, while
hyenas, already gorged, crept sulkily away, doubting
whether they should
attack us or not. The spectacle was almost ghastly, and
it showed how
soon a mountain of flesh might disappear in that region.
Beautiful Little Monkeys.
"Chickango was greatly disappointed, as not a particle
of flesh which
he could touch remained, while, of course, we regretted
the loss of the
valuable tusks. On our way back, we caught sight of a
number of beau-
tiful little monkeys skipping about in the trees. Chickango
called them
"oshingui." They were the smallest I ever saw. Below
the trees where
they had their abode ran a small stream ; and Chickango
told me they
were very fond of water, and were never found at a distance
from it. On
the same trees, and playing with them, were numerous
birds, called mon-
key-birds from their apparent attachment to those creatures.
" We saw another very beautiful little bird, with an extremely
long flowing
tail of pure milk-white. It had a crest on its head of
a greenish black,
and its breast was of the same color, while lower down
the feathers were
of an ashy brown. Snow-white feathers on the back rose
up, like those
of the birds of paradise, to which it had a strong resemblance.
Soon
after this I saw some creatures on the ground, and catching
hold of one
of them, I found it was an enormous ant of a greenish
white color, with
a head of a reddish black. The, fangs were so powerful
that when I put
my fingers to them, they literally tore a piece of flesh
out.
"'Why, these creatures would eat us all up, if we were
to encounter
them as we did those the other day,' I remarked.
" ' No fear massa,' answered a native. ' Dey no come in
same way.
Dey no go into house, no climb tree, and only just a
few hundred or
t'ousand march together.'
" It was satisfactory to hear this, for really I felt
that should an army
invade us, we might have more reason to dread them than
the blacks
themselves. I was not soriy to miss the elephant flesh,
for I had not for-
gotten the tough morsals we had placed between our teeth
when pre-
sented to us by the friendly blacks soon after we landed."
The journey to Manyuema commenced on the 12th of July,
1869.
After crossing the lake, the line of march was directly
north-west until
Bambarre, the district of a friendly chief named Moenekuss,
was reached
in September. Numerous rivers and minor streams were
crossed on the
way, some flowing into Tanganyika, and others westward
the Lualaba;
the district near the lake is mountainous and covered
with dense forests.
The Manyuema country is described by Livingstone as surpassingly
beautiful.
Palms crown the highest heights of the mountains, and
their gracefully bended
fronds wave beautifully in the wind ; and the forests,
usually about five miles
broad, between groups of villages, are indescribable.
Climbers of cable size in great numbers are hung among
the
gigantic trees, many unknown wild fruits abound, some
the
size of a child's head, and strange birds and monkeys
are every-
where. The soil is excessively rich, and the people,
although
isolated by old feuds that are never settled, cultivate
largely.
They have selected a kind of maize that bends its fruit-stalk
ants on the march.
round into a hook, and hedges some eighteen feet high
are made by insert-
ing poles, which sprout like Robinson Crusoe's hedge,
and never decay.
Lines of climbing plants are tied so as to go along from
pole to pole,
and the maize-cobs are suspended to these by their own
hooked fruit-
stalk. As the corn-cob is forming, the hook is turned
round, so that the
fruit-leaves of it hang down and form a hatch for the
grain beneath or
inside it. This upright granary forms a solid-looking
wall round the vil-
lages, and the people are not stingy, but take down the
maize and hand
it to the men freely.
The streets of the villages often run east and west, in
order that the
bright blazing sun may lick up the moisture quickly from
off them. The
dwelling houses are generally in line, with public meeting-houses
at each
end, opposite the middle of the street ; the roofs are
low, but well
thatched with a leaf resembling the banana-leaf, from
which the water
runs quickly off. The walls are of well-beaten clay,
and screened from
the weather. Inside, the dwellings are clean and comfortable,
and before
the Arabs came, bugs were unknown. In some places, where
the south-
east rains are abundant, the Manyuema place the back
of the houses to
this quarter, and prolong the low roof down, so that
the rain does not
reach the walls. These clay walls stand for ages, and
men often return
to the villages they left in infancy and build again
the portions that
many rains have washed away. Each housewife has from
twenty-five to
thirty earthen pots slung to the ceiling by very neat
cord-swinging tas-
sels ; and often as many neatly-made baskets hung up
in the same fashion,
and much firewood.
The population is very large, and the people are fine-looking;
Living-
stone thinks that a crowd of Londoners, divested of their
clothing and
set opposite a crowd of Manyuema, would make a sorry
spectacle. The
people are very naked, answering to Cowper's lines:
" Time was, when clothing, sumptuous or for use.
Save their own painted skins, our sires had none,
As yet black breeches were not ; satin, smooth, '
Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile ;
The hardy chief upon the rugged rock
Washed by the sea, or on the grav'ly bank
Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud,
Fearless of wrong, reposed his weary strength."
The natives plait the hair into the form of a basket behind
; it is first
rolled into a very long coil, then wound around something
till it is about
eight or ten inches long, projecting from the back of
the head. The
Manyuema, with their great numbers, their favored country,
and their
industrious habits, would seem to possess all the elements
of a strong
and progressive nation; but they are among the most barbarous
tribes
of Central Africa.
They are cannibals of the most degraded sort, for they
eat the bodies
of those who die of disease; they are suspicious, vindictive,
and cruel;
and they are so quarrelsome and treacherous that inhabitants
of one
village or district seldom dare venture beyond the confines
of the next.
Even Livingstone's large charity, quickened as it was
by the outrages to
Avhich he saw them subjected at the hands of the Arabs,
could find but
little that was good in them except their physique. "
The Manyuema,"
he says, after a long stay among them had made him familiar
with their
ihabits, "are the most bloody, callous savages I know;
one puts a scarlet
ifeather from a parrot's tail on the ground, and challenges
those near to
stick it in the hair : he who does so must kill a man
or woman ! An-
other custom is that none dare wear the skin of the musk
cat, ngawa,
lunless he has murdered somebody : guns alone prevented
them from
killing us all, and for no reason either."
One of the great institutions of the Manyuema country
is their mar-
kets, held in certain villages and at stated times. Even
in war-time mar-
ket people are allowed to pass freely to and from the
fairs with their
wares. People from distant districts collect here, and
exchange their
surplus product for Manyuema luxuries. Fish-wives, goat-herds,
slave-
owners; dealers in ivory, palm oil, pottery, skins, cloth,
and iron-ware;
sellers of fruit, vegetables, salt, grain, and fowls,
all mingle in the motley
throng, and shout the merits of their particular goods
at the top of their
lungs, and with a perseverance and ardor that would make
the fortune
of an auctioneer at home. Strange varieties of savage
costume and no
costume are to be seen in these groups : the wild Balegga
man-eater
:stalking side by side with the white-skirted Moslem
man-hunter from
Zanzibar ; and the plumed, painted, tattooed, and bespangled
chieftain
laying his dignity temporarily aside to chaffer with
a poor commoner in
liis simple waistcloth, over the price of a pig or of
a mess of roasted
white ants.
Dreadful Massacre.
At Nyangwe there was a market once in eveiy four days,
and the
assemblage generally numbered about three thousand. One
fdir day the
Arabs, who had been sauntering peaceably among the crowd,
suddenly
produced their arms and began firing on the helpless
multitude, chiefly
composed of women. Flinging down their Avares, the panic-stricken
people fled on all sides, many of them dashing into the
river that flowed
close by, or cHmbing into boats that filled and sank
with the numbers
that crowded into them. The market-place was strewn with
the dead
and dying, and with the confused heaps of merchandise
which had been
dropped or thrown down in the flight, while the murderous
scoundrels
c:ontinued firing so long as they' could see a victim
to aim at.
Livingstone believed that five hundred Hves were sacrificed
in this
unprovoked massacre. The object was to "strike terror"
into the
hearts of the inhabitants, and show them the irresistible
power of the
gun. The result was that the country became too hot to
hold the mur-
derers.
Having rested at Bambarre until November, Livingstone
resolved to
go west to the Lualaba, and buy a canoe for its exploration.
Travelling
was very difficult, as it was now the rainy season ;
and the attitude of the
natives became so threatening that after penetrating
to within ten miles
of the Lualaba he was compelled to turn back and return
to Bambarre.
Towards the end of December he set out with Mohammed's
ivory party
hoping to reach another part of the Lualaba, and thus
carry out his origi-
nal scheme. The route pursued was due north, and was
followed for
about a month; but rheumatism and \yeakness, accompanied
by a chol-
eraic complaint, drove him back, and in February, 1870,
he went into
winter quarters at Mamohela, a town some distance north
of Bambarre^
which the Arabs had made their chief depot. Here he remained
several
months, regaining strength, and making preparations for
further explor-
rations and discoveries.
In June a third attempt was made to reach Lualaba, which
proved even
more disastrous than either of the preceding ones. In
the first place
most of his men deserted him, so that he was obliged
to start with only-
three attendants The country proved exceedingly difficult
from forest
and water ; trees fallen across the path formed a breast-high
wall which
had to be climbed over ; flooded rivers, breast and neck
deep, had to be
crossed ; the mud was awful ; and nothing but villages
eight or ten miles
apart, the people of which were far from friendly. For
the first time in
his life Livingstone's feet failed him ; instead of healing
quietly, as here-
tofore, when torn by hard travel, irritable eating-ulcers
fastened on both
feet, and he was barely able to limp back to Mamohela
in July
The ulcers now laid him up. If the foot were put to the
ground a
discharge of bloody ichor followed, and the same discharge
happened
every night with considerable pain that prevented sleep.
They eat
through everything muscle, tendon, and bone; and medicines
have
very little elTect upon them. Their periodicity would
seem to indi-
cate that they are allied to fever. For eighty days Livingstone
never
came out of his hut ; and even then the ulcers had only
begun to
heal.
His journal shows that during the period of his confinement
Living-
stone was gathering information from both natives and
Arabs as to the
great lake and river system which he had discovered ;
speculating with
apparent seriousness upon the possibility of Moses having
penetrated to
this region and founded the lost city of Meroe ; and
observing the habits
of the people. He learned that another large lake, called
Chibungo, lay
about twelve days distant \vest from the Lualaba; and
that a large river,
which he called Lualaba West, flows out of it in a north-easterly
direc-
tion and empties into the main stream.
To the central Lualaba, or main stream, he gave the name
of "Webb's
River;" to the western, "Young's River;" and to Chibungo,
"Lake
Lincoln," in honor of our own President Lincoln.
Concerning one whose name was given to a river, Livingstone
says :
" Osvvell and Webb were fellow-travellers, and mighty
hunters. Too
much engrossed myself with mission-work to hunt, except
for the chil-
dren's larder, when going to visit distant tribes, I
relished the sight of
fair stand-up fights by my friends with the large denizens
of the forest,
and admired the true Nimrod class for their great courage,
truthfulness,
and honor."
Under date of August 24th he gives an interesting account
of the
soko, which he believed to be identical with the gorilla,
but which Mr.
Waller is probably right in regarding as an entirely
new species of chim-
panzee. The narrative is as follows :
Four gorillas or sokos were killed yesterday : an extensive
grass-burn-
ing forced them out of their usual haunt, and coming
on the plain they
were speared. They often go erect, but place the hand
on the head as
if to steady the body. When seen thus, the soko is an
ungainly beast.
The most sentimental young lady would not call him a
" dear," but a
bandy-legged, pot-bellied, low-looking villain, without
a particle of the
gentleman in him. Other animals, especially the antelopes,
are graceful,
and it is pleasant to see them either at rest or in motion
: the natives are
also well made, lithe and comely to behold ; but the
soko, if large, would
do well to stand for a picture of the devil.
He takes away my appetite by the disgusting bestiality
of appearance.
His light-yellow face shows off his ugly whiskers, and
faint apology for
a beard ; the foreground of the great dog-mouth ; the
teeth are slightly
human, but the canines show the beast by their large
development. The
hands, or rather the fingers, are like those of the natives.
The flesh of
the feet is yellow, and the eagerness with which the
Manyuema devour it
leaves the impression that eating sokos was the first
stage by which
they arrived at being cannibals ; they say that the flesh
is delicious.
Freaks of a Strange Animal.
The soko is represented by some to be extremely knowing,
success-
fully stalking men and women while at their work, kidnapping
children
and running up trees with,them he seems to be amused
by the sight of
the young native in his arms, but comes down Avhen tempted
by a bunch
of bananas, and as he lifts that, drops the child : the
young soko in such
a case would cling closely to the armpit of the elder.
One man was cut-
ting out honey from a tree, and naked, when a soko suddenly
appeared
and caught him, then let him go : another man Avas hunting,
and missed
in his attempt to stab a soko ; it seized the spear and
broke it ; then grap-
pled with the man, who called to his companions, " Soko
has caught
me;" the soko bit off the ends of his fingers and escaped
unharmed.
Both men are now alive at Bambarre.
The soko is cunning and has such sharp eyes that no one
can stalk
him in front without being seen, hence, when shot, it
is always in the
back ; when surrounded by men and nets, he is often speared
in the back
too ; otherwise he is not a very formidable beast ; he
is nothing as com-
pared in power of damaging his assailant to a leopard
or lion, but is
more like a man unarmed, for it does not occur to him
to use his canine
teeth, which are long and formidable. Numbers of them
come down in
the forest within a hundred yards of our camp, and would
be unknown
but for giving tongue Hke fox-hounds ; this is their
nearest approach to
speech. A man hoeing was stalked by a soko, and seized
; he roared
out, but the soko giggled and grinned, and left him as
if he had done it
in play. A child caught up by a soko is often abused
by being pinched
and scratched, and let fall.
Never Attacks Women.
The soko kills the leopard occasionally, by seizing both
paws and
biting them so as to disable them; he then goes up a
tree, groans over
his wounds, and some time recovers, while the leopard
dies: at other
times both soko and leopard die. The lion kills him at
once, and some-
times tears his limbs off, but does not eat him. The
soko eats no flesh
small bananas are his dainties, but no maize. His food
consists of wild
fruits which abound. The soko brings forth at times twins.
A very large
soko was. seen by Mohammed's hunters sitting picking
his nails; they
tried to stalk him, but he vanished. Some Manyuema think
that their
buried dead rise as sokos, and one was killed with holes
in his ears, as if
he had been a man. He is very strong, and fears guns
but not spears;,
he never catches women.
Sokos collect together and make a drumming noise, some
say with,
hollow trees, then burst forth into loud yells which
are well imitated by
the natives' embryotic music. If a man has no spear,
the soko goes
away satisfied, but if wounded he seizes the wrist, lops
off the fingers,
and spits them out, slaps* the cheek of his victim, and
bites without
breaking the skin: he draws out a spear (but never uses
it), and takes
some leaves and stuffs them into his wound to staunch
the blood; he
does not wish an encounter with an armed man. He sees
women do
him no harm, and never molests them; a man without a
spear is nearly
safe from him. They beat hollow trees as drums with hands,
and then
scream as music to it; when men hear them, they go to
the sokos; but
sokos never go to men with hostility. Manyuema say, "Soko
is a man,
and nothing bad in him."
They live in communities of about ten, each having his
own female ;.
an intruder from another camp is beaten off with their
fists and loud
yells. If one tries to seize the female of another, he
is caught on the
ground, and all unite in boxing and biting the offender.
A male often
carries a child, especially if they are passing from
one patch of forest to
another over a grassy space; he then gives it to the
mother.
Later on, one of the Arabs caught a young female soko
whose mother
had been killed, and gave it to Livingstone, who gives
the following
amusing account of it: She is eighteen inches high, has
fine long black
hair all over, Avhich was pretty, so long as it was kept
in order by her
dam. She is the least mischievous of all the monkey tribe
I have seen,
and seems to know that in me she has a friend, and sits
quietly on the
mat beside me. In walking, the first thing observed is
that she does not
tread on the palms of her hands, but on the backs of
the second line of
bones of the hands: in doing this the nails do not touch
the ground, nor
<io the knuckles; she uses the arms thus supported
crutch fashion, and
hitches herself along between them; occasionally one
hand is put down
before the other, and alternates with the feet, or she
walks upright and
holds up a hand to any one to carry her.
If refused, she turns her face down, and makes grimaces
of the most
bitter human weeping, wringing her hands, and sometimes
adding a
fourth hand or foot to make the appeal more touching.
Grass or leaves
she draws around her to make a nest, and resents anyone
meddling with
Jier property. She is a most friendly little beast, and
came up to me at
once, making her chirrup of welcome, smelled my clothing,
and held out
her hand to be shaken. She eats everything, covers herself
with a mat
to sleep, and makes a nest of grass or leaves, and wipes
her face with a
leaf.
Shocking Barbarity.
The arrival of ten men from Ujiji with stores early in
1871, enabled
Livingstone to penetrate to the Lualaba; but he was unable,
after the
most strenuous efforts, to procure a boat to descend
the river, and his
men utterly refused to cross over into the^ountry beyond.
While staying on the banks of the Lualaba, which he found
to be a
mighty river, at least 3,000 yards broad and always deep,
he witnessed a
scene so shocking that he could stand the companionship
of the Arabs
no longer, and resolved to return at once to Ujiji. Almost
from the day
the Arab hordes entered the country petty outrages on
either side had
kept up a chronic state of hostility between them and
the natives; and
as their stay was protracted these outrages became gradually
more
numerous and more murderous. At the time when the scene
referred to
occurred, Livingstone was staying at the headquarters
of Dugumbe, who
had a large ivory- hunting party with him.
His people seemed to be on friendly enough terms with
the natives;
"but one day in July the Arabs in camp became very much
incensed on
learning that Kimburu and several other local chiefs
had mixed the blood
of friendship with a slave named -Manilla. The result
shall be given in
Livingstone's own words:
The reports of guns on the other side of the Lualaba all
the morning-
tell of the people of Dugumbe murdering those of Kimburu
and others
who mixed blood yvith Manilla. " Manilla is a slave,
and how dares he
to mix blood with chiefs who ought only to make friends
with free men
like us?" This is their complaint. Kimburu gave Manilla
three slaves,
and he sacked ten villages in token of friendship; he
proposed to give
Dugumbe nine slaves in the same operation, but Dugumbe's
people
destroy his villages, and shoot and make his people captives
to punish
Manilla; to make an impression, in fact, in the country
that they alone
are to be dealt with "make friends with us, and not
with Manilla or
anyone else" such is what they insist upon.
About 1,500 people came to market, though many villages
of those
that usually come from the other side were now in flames,
and every now
and then a number of shots were fired on the fugitives.
Panic-stricken Crowd.
It was a hot, sultry day, and when I went into the market
I saw Adie
and Manilla, and three of the men who had lately come
with Dugumbe.
I was surprised to see these three with their guns, and
felt inclined to
reprove them, as one of my men did, for bringing weapons
into the
market, but I attributed it to their ignorance, and,
it being very hot, I
was walking away to go out of the market, when I saw
one of the fellows
haggling about a fowl, and seizing hold of it. Before
I had got thirty
yards out, the discharge of two guns in the middle of
the crowd told me
that slaughter had begun: g:rowds dashed off from the
place, and ran. .
At the same time that the three opened fire on the mass
of people
near the upper end of the market-place volleys were discharged
from a
party down near the creek on the panic-stricken women,
who dashed at
the canoes. These, some fifty or more, were jammed in
the creek, and
the men forgot their paddles in the terror that seized
all. The canoes
were not to be got out, for the creek was too small for
so many; men
and women, wounded by the balls, poured into them, and
leaped and
scrambled into the water, shrieking. A long line of heads
in the river
showed that great numbers struck out for an island a
full mile off: in
going towards it they had to put the left shoulder to
a current of about
two miles an hour; if they had struck away diagonally
to the opposite
bank, the current would have aided them, and, though
nearly three miles
off, some would have gained land; as it was, the heads
above water
showed the long line of those that would inevitably perish.
Shot after shot continued to be fired on the helpless
and perishing^
Some of the long line of heads disappeared quietly ;
whilst other poor
creatures threw their arms high, as if appeah'ng to the
great Father
above, and sank. One canoe took in as many as it could
hold, and all
paddled with hands and arms: three canoes, got out in
haste, picked up
sinking friends, till all went down together, and disappeared.
One man
in a long canoe, which could have held forty or fifty,
had clearly lost his
head ; he had been out in the stream before the massacre
began, and now
paddled up the river nowhere, and never looked to the
drowning.
By and by all the heads disappeared; some had turned down
stream
towards the bank, and escaped. Dugumbe put people into
one of the
deserted vessels to save those in the water, and saved
twenty-one, but
one woman refused to be taken on board from thinking
that she was to
be made a slave of; she preferred the chance of life
by swimming to the
lot of a slave : the Bagenya women are expert in the
water, as they are
accustomed to dive for oysters, and those that went down
stream may
have escaped, but the Arabs themselves estimated the
loss of life at
between 330 and 400 souls. The shooting-party near the
canoes were
so reckless, they killed two of their own people ; and
a Banyamwezi fol-
lower, who got into a deserted canoe to plunder, fell
into the water, went
down, then came up again, and down to rise no more,
My first impulse was to pistol the murderers, but Dugumbe
protested
against my getting into a blood-feud, and I was thankful
afterwards that
I took his advice. Two wretched Moslems asserted " that
the firing was
done by the people of the English;" I asked one of them
why he lied
so, and he could utter no excuse : no other falsehood
came to his aid as
he stood abashed before me, and so telling him not to
tell palpable false-
hoods, I left him gaping.
After the terrible affair in the water, the party of Tagamoio,
who was
the chief perpetrator, continued to fire on the people
there, and fire their
villages. As I write I hear the loud wails on the left
bank over those
who are there slain, ignorant of their many friends now
in the depths of
Lualaba. Oh, let Thy Kingdom come ! No one will ever
know the
exact loss on this bright sultry summer morning ; it
gave me the impres-
sion of being in hell. All the slaves in the camp rushed
at the fugitives
on land, and plundered them : women were for hours collecting
and car-
rying loads of what had been thrown down in terror.
I proposed to Dugumbe to catch the murderers, and hang
them up in
the market-place, as our protest against the bloody deeds
before the
Manyuema. If, as he and others added, the massacre was
committed by
Manillo's people, he would have consented ; but it was
done by Taga-
moio's people, and others of this party, headed by Dugumbe.
This
slaughter was peculiarly atrocious, inasmuch as we have
always heard
that women coming to or from market have never been known
to be
anolested : even when two districts are engaged in actual
hostilities, " the
women," say they, " pass among us to market unmolested
; " nor has one
ever been know to be plundered by the men. These Nigger
Moslems
are inferior to the Manyuema in justice and right. The
people under
Hassani began the superwickedness of capture and pillage
of all indis-
criminately. Dugumbe promised to send over men to order
Tagamoio's
men to cease firing and burning the villages ; they remained
over among
the ruins, feasting on goats and fowls all night, and
next day continued
their infamous work till twenty-seven villages were destroyed.
The murderous assault on the market people, felt to me
like Gehenna,
-without the fire and brimstone ; but the heat was oppressive,
and the fire-
arms pouring their iron bullets in the fugitives, was
not an inapt repre-
sentation of burning in the bottomless pit. The terrible
scenes of man's
inhumanity to man brought on a severe headache, which
might have been
serious had it not been relieved by a copious discharge
of blood ; I was
laid up all yesterday afternoon with the depression the
bloodshed made
it filled me with unspeakable horror.
Off on Foot for Ujiji.
The foregoing description by Livingstone of this bloody
conflict will
eanable the reader to understand his eager desire to
get away and pursue
his journey.
Collecting his own little retinue, he started on foot
for Ujiji three days
later, the Arabs trying to prove their penitence by pressing
their goods
upon him, begging him not to hesitate to tell them of
anything he wanted.
A little gunpowder was all he would accept. Again attacked
by fever, and
"almost every step in pain," he pressed on, past miles
of burning villages,
until he came to a party of Manyuema who refused to come
near, threw
stones at him and his men, and "tried to kill those who
went for water."
On the 8th of August, after a bad night, an attack being
every moment
expected, our hero attempted to come to a parley with
his enemies, feel-
ing sure that he could soon convince them of his friendly
intentions, but
they would not listen to his envoys, and in passing along
a narrow path,
"with a wall of dense vegetation touching each hand,"
he came to a spot
where trees had been cut down to obstruct his party whilst
they were
-speared. Clambering over the barrier, though expecting
instant death,
Livingstone was surprised at meeting with no opposition,
but as he crept
slowly along, preceded by his men, who really seemed
to have behaved
very well, and peered into the dense foliage on either
side, a dark
shadow, that of an infuriated savage, here and there
intervened between;
him and the sun. Every rustle in the leaves might now
mean a spear,,
any sound might be the signal for a massacre. Presently
a large spear
from the right almost grazed Livingstone's back, and
stuck into the
ground behind him. He looked round and saw two men from
whom it
came in an opening in the forest only ten yards off,
but again his foes
disappeared as if by magic.
Within Twelve Indies of Death
All were now allowed to go on for a few minutes unmolested,
but soon
another spear was thrown at Livingstone by an unseen
assailant, missing-
him again by about a foot. A red jacket he wore, he tells
us, led our
hero to be taken for Mohammed Mogharib, one of the slave-dealers,
and
it soon became evident that his men were to be allowed
to escape whilst
the attack was concentrated upon him. Ordering his attendants
to fire
their guns into the bush the first time, be it observed,
that he had ever
in the course of his long wanderings used weapons in
his own defence
our hero still went calmly on, congratulating himself
that no yells or
screams of agony succeeded his volley, till he came to
a part of the forest
cleared for cultivation.
Here he noticed a gigantic tree, made still taller by
growing on an
ant-hill twenty feet high, to which fire had been applied
near the roots.
As he came up to it, he heard a crack which told that
the destructive ele-
ment had done its work, but he felt no fear till he saw
the huge bulk falling
forwards towards himself He started back, and only just
escaped beings
crushed. "Three times in one day," he remnrks, "was I
delivered from
impending death." His attendants, gathering round him,
and taking
this third preservation as a good omen, shouted, " Peace
! peace! you will
finish your work in spite of these people, and in spite
of everything."
Five hours more of "running the gauntlet" ensued, and
then the little
band emerged unscathed on the cleared lands of a group
of villages, to
be met by a friendly chief named Muanampanda, who invited
them to be
his guests. On learning the meaning of all the firing
he had heard,
Muanampanda offered to call his people together and punish
those who
had molested the explorer, but, true to his generous
character, Living-
stone declared he wished no revenge for an attack made
in error, and
with some little difficnlty the chief consented to humor
what must have
seemed to him a strange whim.
At Muanampanda's, Livingstone had unmistakable proof of
the prac-
tice of cannibalism amongst the Manyuema, who eat their
foes killed in
battle, not from any lack of other animal food, but with
a view to inspir-
ing themselves with courage. They are said to bury a
body which is to
be eaten for two days in a forest, and then to disinter
and cook it. We
are glad to be able to add that they seem rather ashamed
of this horrible
practice, and do not like strangers to look at their
human meat.
From Muanampanda's Livingstone went on eastwards by very
slow
stages, for he was overtaken by a serious return of his
old illness, and the
entries in his journal, as on his last trip to Tanganyika,
are very short
and unsatisfactory. On the 23d September he writes, "
I was sorely
knocked up by this march from Nyangwe back to Ujiji.
In the latter
part of it I felt as if dying on my feet. Almost every
step was in pain
the appetite failed, whilst the mind, sorely depressed,
reacted on the
body. All the traders were returning successful. I alone
had failed,
and experienced worry, thwarting, baffling, when almost
in sight of the
end towards which I strained."
Another Misfortune.
Another week and he chronicles his third arrival on the
shores of
Tanganyika, close to the entry into the lake of the river
Logumba,
which rises in the Kalogo mountains on the west. ** Perhaps,"
hazards
Livingstone, "this river is the outlet of Tanganyika."
"Great noises
as of thunder were heard as far as twelve days off, which
were ascribed
to Kalogo, as if it had subterranean caves into which
the water rushed
with great noise ; the country slopes that way," he adds,
" but I was too
ill to examine its source " (that of the Logumba).
On the 9th October the worn-out, almost dying, explorer
arrived on
the islet of Kasenge, landed on the eastern shores of
the lake, and on the
23d entered Ujiji, reduced, to use his own words, "to
a skeleton."
Warmly welcomed by the Arabs, who had believed him to
be dead, and
finding the market full of all kinds of native provisions,
he hoped
that proper food and rest would soon restore him, but
in the evening his
people came to tell him that the goods he left under
the care of a man
named Shereef had been sold at a nominal price, the Arabs
adding that
they protested, but the " idiot" would not listen to
them.
" This was distressing," exclaims poor Livingstone, thus
again cut off
from hope of fresh explorations. " I had made up my mind,
if I could
not get people at Ujiji, to wait till men should come
from the coast, but
to wait in beggary was what I never contemplated." The
man Shereef
actually came without shame to shake hands with his old
master, and on
Livingstone's refusing him that courtesy he assumed an
air of displeas-
ure, as if badly treated, observing on leaving, " I am
going to pray."
In his destitution Livingstone felt, he tells us, as if
" he were the man
who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves," but
for him there was no hope of priest, Levite, or good
Samaritan. Never,
however, was the oft-quoted proverb, " when things are
at the worst
they will mend," more thoroughly verified than in this
instance. First
came a generous offer of aid in the form of a stock of
valuable ivory
from an Arab named Syed bin Magid, and then the news
brought by
Susi of the approach of an " Englishman," who proved
to be more of an
American than was supposed.
The fact that Stanley reached Ujiji without the knowledge
of Living-
stone and those composing his expedition, shows how difficult
it is in
Africa to obtain news of what is transpiring even a short
distance away.
In our own country it could be known for hundreds of
miles away from
a party of travellers that they were on the march ; starting
on one side
of the continent, the other side could be made aware
of the fact imme-
diately. From time to time reports could be furnished,
and enterprising
newspapers could present cuts showing the various experiences
through
which the travellers were passing. But Africa is not
America. For a
long time Stanley and his men journeyed from Zanzibar
towards the
lake on the shores of which, now historic, Livingstone
was secluded.
No news went ahead, no messengers told the story, no
telegraph flashed
hope to the despairing explorer, and suddenly, unexpectedly,
yet with joy
like that of the morning, the great American hero stood
face to face with
the one whom he was seeking.
This is the statement of the fact. In the subsequent chapter
we shall
trace Mr. Stanley's journey, and shall see what befell
him on the way.
We shall also learn a little later the wonderful effect
produced upon Liv-
ingstone by this timely arrival. It is safe to say that
if help had not
come as opportunely as it did, the explorer would have
died there upon
the banks of the lake which he had struggled so long
and heroically to
reach. He was a broken-down, worn-out man, and needed
the strong
support, sympathy and timely help of just such a young,
bold, heroic
soul as Stanley was.
CHAPTER 12
Continued
at ERBzine 6099_12
