The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile by Samuel White Baker (best ebook reader for chromebook .txt) 📖

miles, was a fine object to

direct our course. I could distinctly see some enormous trees at the

foot of the mountain near a village, and I hastened forward, as I hoped

to procure a guide who would also act as interpreter, many of the

natives in the vicinity of Gondokoro having learnt a little Arabic from

the traders. We cantered on ahead of the party, regardless of the

assurance of our unwilling men that the natives were not to be trusted,

and we soon arrived beneath the shade of a cluster of most superb trees.

The village was within a quarter of a mile, situated at the very base of

the abrupt mountain; the natives seeing us alone had no fear, and soon

thronged around us.

 

The chief understood a few words of Arabic, and I offered a large

payment of copper bracelets and beads for a guide. After much discussion

and bargaining, a bad-looking fellow offered to guide us to Ellyria, but

no farther. This was about twenty-eight or thirty miles distant, and it

was of vital importance that we should pass through that tribe before

the trader’s party should raise them against us. I had great hopes of

outmarching them, as they would be delayed in Belignan by ivory

transactions with the chief. While negotiations were pending with the

guide, the trader’s party appeared in the distance, and avoiding us,

they halted on the opposite side of the village. I now tried

conciliatory measures, and I sent my vakeel to their headman Ibrahim to

talk with him confidentially, and to try to obtain an interpreter in

return for a large present.

 

My vakeel was in an awkward position—he was afraid of me; also

mortally afraid of the government in Khartoum; and frightened out of his

life at his own men, whose conspiracy to desert he was well aware of.

With the cunning of an Arab he started on his mission, accompanied by

several of the men, including the arch-mutineer Bellaal. He shortly

returned, saying, “that it was perfectly impossible to proceed to the

interior; that Ibrahim’s party were outrageous at my having followed on

their route; that he would neither give an interpreter, nor allow any of

the natives to serve me; and that he would give orders to the great

chief of Ellyria to prevent me from passing through his country.” At

that time the Turks were engaged in business transactions with the

natives; it therefore was all important that I should start immediately,

and by a forced march arrive at Ellyria, and get through the pass,

before they should communicate with the chief. I had no doubt that, by

paying black mail, I should be able to clear Ellyria, provided I was in

advance of the Turks, but should they outmarch me there would be no

hope; a fight and defeat would be the climax. I accordingly gave orders

for an IMMEDIATE start. “Load the camels, my brothers!” I exclaimed, to

the sullen ruffians around me; but not a man stirred except Richarn and

a fellow named Sali, who began to show signs of improvement. Seeing that

the men intended to disobey, I immediately set to work myself loading

the animals, requesting my men not to trouble themselves, and begging

them to lie down and smoke their pipes while I did the work. A few rose

from the ground ashamed, and assisted to load the camels, while the

others declared the impossibility of camels travelling by the road we

were about to take, as the Turks had informed them that not even the

donkeys could march through the thick jungles between Belignan and

Ellyria.

 

“All right, my brothers!” I replied; “then we’ll march as far as the

donkeys can go, and leave both them and the baggage on the road when

they can go no farther; but I GO FORWARD.”

 

With sullen discontent the men began to strap on their belts and

cartouche boxes, and prepare for the start. The animals were loaded, and

we moved slowly forward at 4.30 P.M. The country was lovely. The

mountain of Belignan, although not exceeding 1,200 feet, is a fine mass

of gneiss and syenite, ornamented in the hollows with fine trees, while

the general appearance of the country at the base was that of a

beautiful English park well timbered and beautified with distant

mountains. We had just started with the Bari guide that I had engaged at

Belignan, when we were suddenly joined by two of the Latookas whom I had

seen when at Gondokoro, and to whom I had been very civil. It appeared

that these fellows, who were acting as porters to the Turks, had been

beaten, and had therefore absconded and joined me. This was

extraordinary good fortune, as I now had guides the whole way to

Latooka, about ninety miles distant. I immediately gave them each a

copper bracelet and some beads, and they very good-naturedly relieved

the camels of one hundred pounds of copper rings, which they carried in

two baskets on their heads.

 

We now crossed the broad dry bed of a torrent, and the banks being

steep, a considerable time was occupied in assisting the loaded animals

in their descent. The donkeys were easily aided, their tails being held

by two men, while they shuffled and slid down the sandy banks; but every

camel fell, and the loads had to be carried up the opposite bank by the

men, and the camels to be reloaded on arrival. Here again the donkeys

had the advantage, as without being unloaded they were assisted up the

steep ascent by two men in front pulling at their ears, while others

pushed behind. Altogether, the donkeys were far more suitable for the

country, as they were more easily loaded. I had arranged their packs and

saddles so well, that they carried their loads with the greatest

comfort. Each animal had an immense pad well stuffed with goats’ hair;

this reached from the shoulder to the hip-bones; upon this rested a

simple form of saddle made of two forks of boughs inverted, and fastened

together with rails—there were no nails in these saddles, all the

fastenings being secured with thongs of raw hide. The great pad,

projecting far both in front, behind, and also below the side of the

saddle, prevented the loads from chafing the animal. Every donkey

carried two large bags made of the hides of antelopes that I had

formerly shot on the frontier of Abyssinia, and these were arranged with

taggles on the one to fit into loops on the other, so that the loading

and unloading was exceedingly simple. The success of an expedition

depends mainly upon the perfection of the details, and where animals are

employed for transport, the first consideration should be bestowed upon

saddles and packs. The facility of loading is all important, and I now

had an exemplification of its effect upon both animals and men; the

latter began to abuse the camels and to curse the father of this, and

the mother of that, because they had the trouble of unloading them for

the descent into the river’s bed, while the donkeys were blessed with

the endearing name of “my brother,” and alternately whacked with the

stick. It was rather a bad commencement of a forced march, and the

ravine we had crossed had been a cause of serious delay. Hardly were the

animals reloaded and again ready for the march, when the men remembered

that they had only one waterskin full. I had given orders before the

start from Belignan that all should be filled. This is the unexceptional

rule in African travelling—“fill your girbas before starting.” Never

mind what the natives may tell you concerning the existence of water on

the road; believe nothing; but resolutely determine to fill the girbas

—should you find water, there is no harm done if you are already

provided: but nothing can exceed the improvidence of the people. To

avoid the trouble of filling the girbas before starting, the men will

content themselves with “Inshallah (please God), we shall find water on

the road,” and they frequently endure the greatest suffering from sheer

idleness in neglecting a supply.

 

They had in this instance persuaded themselves that the river we had

just crossed would not be dry. Several of them had been employed in this

country formerly, and because they had at one time found water in the

sandy bed, they had concluded that it existed still. Accordingly they

now wished to send parties to seek for water; this would entail a

further delay, at a time when every minute was precious, as our fate

depended upon reaching and passing through Ellyria before the arrival of

the Turks. I was very anxious, and determined not to allow a moment’s

hesitation; I therefore insisted upon an immediate advance, and resolved

to march without stopping throughout the night. The Latooka guides

explained by signs that if we marched all night we should arrive at

water on the following morning. This satisfied the men; and we started.

For some miles we passed through a magnificent forest of large trees:

the path being remarkably good, the march looked propitious—this good

fortune, however, was doomed to change. We shortly entered upon thick

thorny jungles; the path was so overgrown that the camels could scarcely

pass under the overhanging branches, and the leather bags of provisions

piled upon their backs were soon ripped by the hooked thorns of the

mimosa—the salt, rice, and coffee bags all sprang leaks, and small

streams of these important stores issued from the rents, which the men

attempted to repair by stuffing dirty rags into the holes. These thorns

were shaped like fish-hooks, thus it appeared that the perishable

baggage must soon become an utter wreck, as the great strength and

weight of the camels bore all before them, and sometimes tore the

branches from the trees, the thorns becoming fixed in the leather bags.

Meanwhile the donkeys walked along in comfort, being so short that they

and their loads were below the branches.

 

I dreaded the approach of night. We were now at the foot of a range of

high rocky hills, from which the torrents during the rainy season had

torn countless ravines in their passage through the lower ground; we

were marching parallel to the range at the very base, thus we met every

ravine at right angles. Down tumbled a camel; and away rolled his load

of bags, pots, pans, boxes, &c. into the bottom of a ravine in a

confused ruin.—Halt! . . and the camel had to be raised and helped up

the opposite bank, while the late avalanche of luggage was carried

piecemeal after him to be again adjusted. To avoid a similar catastrophe

the remaining three camels had to be UNLOADED, and reloaded when safe

upon the opposite bank. The operation of loading a camel with about 700

lbs. of luggage of indescribable variety is at all times tedious; but no

sooner had we crossed one ravine with difficulty than we arrived at

another, and the same fatiguing operation had to be repeated, with

frightful loss of time at the moment when I believed the Turks were

following on our path.

 

My wife and I rode about a quarter of a mile at the head of the party as

an advance guard, to warn the caravan of any difficulty. The very nature

of the country declared that it must be full of ravines, and yet I could

not help hoping against hope that we might have a clear mile of road

without a break. The evening had passed, and the light faded. What had

been difficult and tedious during the day, now became most serious;—

we could not see the branches of hooked thorns that overhung the broken

path; I rode in advance, my face and arms bleeding with countless

scratches, while at