How I Found Livingstone by Henry M. Stanley (read after .txt) đź“–
- Author: Henry M. Stanley
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As I approached the tembe of Sayd bin Salim, Sheikh bin Nasib and
other great Arabs joined us. Before the great door of the tembe
the men had stacked the bales, and piled the boxes, and were using
their tongues at a furious rate, relating to the chiefs and
soldiers of the first, second, and fourth caravans the many events
which had befallen them, and which seemed to them the only things
worth relating. Outside of their own limited circles they
evidently cared for nothing. Then the several chiefs of the other
caravans had in turn to relate their experiences of the road; and
the noise of tongues was loud and furious. But as we approached,
all this loud-sounding gabble ceased, and my caravan chiefs and
guides rushed to me to hail me as “master,” and to salute me as
their friend. One fellow, faithful Baruti, threw himself at my
feet, the others fired their guns and acted like madmen suddenly
become frenzied, and a general cry of “welcome” was heard on all
sides.
“Walk in, master, this is your house, now; here are your men’s
quarters; here you will receive the great Arabs, here is the
cookhouse; here is the store-house; here is the prison for the
refractory; here are your white man’s apartments; and these are
your own: see, here is the bedroom, here is the gun-room,
bath-room, &c.;” so Sheikh Sayd talked, as he showed me the
several places.
On my honour, it was a most comfortable place, this, in Central
Africa. One could almost wax poetic, but we will keep such
ambitious ideas for a future day. Just now, however, we must
have the goods stored, and the little army of carriers paid
off and disbanded.
Bombay was ordered to unlock the strong storeroom, to pile the
bales in regular tiers, the beads in rows one above another, and
the wire in a separate place. The boats, canvas, &c., were to be
placed high above reach of white ants, and the boxes of ammunition
and powder kegs were to be stored in the gun-room, out of reach of
danger. Then a bale of cloth was opened, and each carrier was
rewarded according to his merits, that each of them might proceed
home to his friends and neighbours, and tell them how much better
the white man behaved than the Arabs.
The reports of the leaders of the first, second, and fourth
caravans were then received, their separate stores inspected, and
the details and events of their marches heard. The first caravan
had been engaged in a war at Kirurumo, and had come out of the
fight successful, and had reached Unyanyembe without loss of
anything. The second had shot a thief in the forest between
Pembera Pereh and Kididimo; the fourth had lost a bale in the
jungle of Marenga Mkali, and the porter who carried it had received
a “very sore head” from a knob stick wielded by one of the
thieves, who prowl about the jungle near the frontier of Ugogo.
I was delighted to find that their misfortunes were no more, and
each leader was then and there rewarded with one handsome cloth,
and five doti of Merikani.
Just as I began to feel hungry again, came several slaves in
succession, bearing trays full of good things from the Arabs;
first an enormous dish of rice, with a bowlful of curried chicken,
another with a dozen huge wheaten cakes, another with a plateful of
smoking hot crullers, another with papaws, another with pomegranates
and lemons; after these came men driving five fat hump backed oxen,
eight sheep, and ten goats, and another man with a dozen chickens,
and a dozen fresh eggs. This was real, practical, noble courtesy,
munificent hospitality, which quite took my gratitude by storm.
My people, now reduced to twenty-five, were as delighted at the
prodigal plenitude visible on my tables and in my yard, as I was
myself. And as I saw their eyes light up at the unctuous
anticipations presented to them by their riotous fancies,
I ordered a bullock to be slaughtered and distributed.
The second day of the arrival of the Expedition in the country
which I now looked upon as classic ground, since Capts. Burton,
Speke, and Grant years ago had visited it, and described it, came
the Arab magnates from Tabora to congratulate me.
Tabora* is the principal Arab settlement in Central Africa. It
contains over a thousand huts and tembes, and one may safely
estimate the population, Arabs, Wangwana, and natives, at five
thousand people. Between Tabora and the next settlement, Kwihara,
rise two rugged hill ridges, separated from each other by a low
saddle, over the top of which Tabora is always visible from
Kwihara.
________________
* There is no such recognised place as Kazeh.
________________
They were a fine, handsome body of men, these Arabs. They mostly
hailed from Oman: others were Wasawahili; and each of my visitors
had quite a retinue with him. At Tabora they live quite luxuriously.
The plain on which the settlement is situated is exceedingly fertile,
though naked of trees; the rich pasturage it furnishes permits them
to keep large herds of cattle and goats, from which they have an
ample supply of milk, cream, butter, and ghee. Rice is grown
everywhere; sweet potatoes, yams, muhogo, holcus sorghum, maize,
or Indian corn, sesame, millet, field-peas, or vetches, called
choroko, are cheap, and always procurable. Around their tembes
the Arabs cultivate a little wheat for their own purposes, and
have planted orange, lemon, papaw, and mangoes, which thrive
here fairly well. Onions and garlic, chilies, cucumbers, tomatoes,
and brinjalls, may be procured by the white visitor from the more
important Arabs, who are undoubted epicureans in their way. Their
slaves convey to them from the coast, once a year at least, their
stores of tea, coffee sugar, spices, jellies, curries, wine,
brandy, biscuits, sardines, salmon, and such fine cloths and
articles as they require for their own personal use. Almost every
Arab of any eminence is able to show a wealth of Persian carpets,
and most luxurious bedding, complete tea and coffee-services, and
magnificently carved dishes of tinned copper and brass lavers.
Several of them sport gold watches and chains, mostly all a watch
and chain of some kind. And, as in Persia, Afghanistan, and
Turkey, the harems form an essential feature of every Arab’s
household; the sensualism of the Mohammedans is as prominent here
as in the Orient.
The Arabs who now stood before the front door of my tembe were the
donors of the good things received the day before. As in duty
bound, of course, I greeted Sheikh Sayd first, then Sheikh bin
Nasib, his Highness of Zanzibar’s consul at Karagwa, then I greeted
the noblest Trojan amongst the Arab population, noblest in bearing,
noblest in courage and manly worth—Sheikh Khamis bin Abdullah;
then young Amram bin Mussoud, who is now making war on the king of
Urori and his fractious people; then handsome, courageous Soud,
the son of Sayd bin Majid; then dandified Thani bin Abdullah; then
Mussoud bin Abdullah and his cousin Abdullah bin Mussoud, who own
the houses where formerly lived Burton and Speke; then old
Suliman Dowa, Sayd bin Sayf, and the old Hetman of Tabora—Sheikh
Sultan bin Ali.
As the visit of these magnates, under whose loving protection white
travellers must needs submit themselves, was only a formal one,
such as Arab etiquette, ever of the stateliest and truest, impelled
them to, it is unnecessary to relate the discourse on my health,
and their wealth, my thanks, and their professions of loyalty, and
attachment to me. After having expended our mutual stock of
congratulations and nonsense, they departed, having stated their
wish that I should visit them at Tabora and partake of a feast
which they were about to prepare for me.
Three days afterwards I sallied out of my tembe, escorted by
eighteen bravely dressed men of my escort, to pay Tabora a
visit. On surmounting the saddle over which the road from the
valley of Kwihara leads to Tabora, the plain on which the Arab
settlement is situated lay before us, one expanse of dun pasture
land, stretching from the base bf the hill on our left as far as
the banks of the northern Gombe, which a few miles beyond Tabora
heave into purple-coloured hills and blue cones.
Within three-quarters of an hour we were seated on the mud veranda
of the tembe of Sultan bin Ali, who, because of his age, his
wealth, and position—being a colonel in Seyd Burghash’s unlovely
army—is looked upon by his countrymen, high and low, as referee
and counsellor. His boma or enclosure contains quite a village of
hive-shaped huts and square tembes. From here, after being
presented with a cup of Mocha coffee, and some sherbet, we
directed our steps towards Khamis bin Abdullah’s house, who had,
in anticipation of my coming, prepared a feast to which he had
invited his friends and neighbours. The group of stately Arabs
in their long white dresses, and jaunty caps, also of a snowy
white, who stood ready to welcome me to Tabora, produced
quite an effect on my mind. I was in time for a council of war
they were holding—and I was,requested to attend.
Khamis bin Abdullah, a bold and brave man, ever ready to stand up
for the privileges of the Arabs, and their rights to pass through
any countries for legitimate trade, is the man who, in Speke’s
`Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile,’ is reported
to have shot Maula, an old chief who sided with Manwa Sera during
the wars of 1860; and who subsequently, after chasing his
relentless enemy for five years through Ugogo and Unyamwezi as far
as Ukonongo, had the satisfaction of beheading him, was now urging
the Arabs to assert their rights against a chief called Mirambo of
Uyoweh, in a crisis which was advancing.
This Mirambo of Uyoweh, it seems, had for the last few years been
in a state of chronic discontent with the policies of the
neighbouring chiefs. Formerly a pagazi for an Arab, he had now
assumed regal power, with the usual knack of unconscionable rascals
who care not by what means they step into power. When the
chief of Uyoweh died, Mirambo, who was head of a gang of robbers
infesting the forests of Wilyankuru, suddenly entered Uyoweh, and
constituted himself lord paramount by force. Some feats of
enterprise, which he performed to the enrichment of all those who
recognised his authority, established him firmly in his position.
This was but a beginning; he carried war through Ugara to Ukonongo,
through Usagozi to the borders of Uvinza, and after destroying
the populations over three degrees of latitude, he conceived a
grievance against Mkasiwa, and against the Arabs, because they
would not sustain him in his ambitious projects against their
ally and friend, with whom they were living in peace.
The first outrage which this audacious man committed against the
Arabs was the halting of an Ujiji-bound caravan, and the demand for
five kegs of gunpowder, five guns, and five bales of cloth. This
extraordinary demand, after expending more than a day in fierce
controversy, was paid; but the Arabs, if they were surprised at
the exorbitant blackmail demanded of them, were more than ever
surprised when they were told to return the way they came; and
that no Arab caravan should pass through his country to Ujiji
except over his dead body.
On the return of the unfortunate Arabs to Unyanyembe, they
reported the facts to Sheikh Sayd bin Salim, the governor of the
Arab colony. This old man, being averse to war, of course tried
every means to induce Mirambo as of old to be satisfied with
presents; but Mirambo this time
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