The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile by Samuel White Baker (best ebook reader for chromebook .txt) đź“–
- Author: Samuel White Baker
- Performer: -
Book online «The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile by Samuel White Baker (best ebook reader for chromebook .txt) 📖». Author Samuel White Baker
powder completely blinded me, and the sudden reaction of darkness
increased the obscurity. I could distinguish nothing; but I heard a
heavy fall, and a few moments after I could hear a rustling in the grass
as the herd of elephants retreated into the grass jungles. Richarn
declared that the elephant had fallen; but I again heard a rustling in
the high grass jungle within eighty yards of me, and this sound
continued in the same place. I accordingly concluded that the elephant
was very badly wounded, and that he could not move from the spot.
Nothing could be seen.
At length the birds began to chirp, and the “blacksmith” (as I named one
of the first to wake, whose two sharp ringing notes exactly resemble the
blows of a hammer upon an anvil) told me that it was nearly daybreak.
The grey of morning had just appeared when I heard voices, and I saw
Mrs. Baker coming along the field with a party of men, whom she had
brought down from the village with knives and axes. She had heard the
roar of the heavy rifle, and knowing the “Baby’s” scream, and the usual
fatal effects, she had considered the elephant as bagged. The natives
had also heard the report, and people began to accumulate from all
quarters for the sake of the flesh. The elephant was not dead, but was
standing about ten yards within the grass jungle; however, in a short
time a heavy fall sounded his knell, and the crowd rushed in. He was a
fine bull, and before I allowed him to be cut up, I sent for the
measuring tape; the result being as follows:
From tip of trunk to fleshy end of tail … 26 feet 0.5 inches
Height from shoulder to forefoot in a perpendicular line 10 ft 6.5 in
Girth of forefoot .… … … . 4 ft 10.25 in
Length of one tusk in the curve … … . 6 ft 6 in
Ditto of fellow tusk (el Hadam, the servant) … . 5 ft 11 in
Weight of tusks, 80 lbs. and 69 lbs. = 149 lbs.
The ridiculous accounts that I have read, stating that the height of
elephants attains FIFTEEN feet, is simply laughable ignorance. A
difference of a foot in an elephant’s height is enormous; he appears a
giant among his lesser comrades. Observe the difference between a horse
sixteen hands high and a pony of thirteen hands, and the difference of a
foot in the height of a quadruped is exemplified. The word being given,
the crowd rushed upon the elephant, and about three hundred people were
attacking the carcase with knives and lances. About a dozen men were
working inside as though in a tunnel; they had chosen this locality as
being near to the fat, which was greatly coveted.
A few days later I attempted to set fire to the grass jungle, but it
would not burn thoroughly, leaving scorched stems that were rendered
still tougher by the fire. On the following evening I took a stroll over
the burnt ground to look for game. No elephants had visited the spot;
but as I was walking along expecting nothing, up jumped a wild boar and
sow from the entrance of a large hole of the Manis, or great scaled
anteater. Being thus taken by surprise, the boar very imprudently
charged me, and was immediately knocked over dead by a shot through the
spine from the little Fletcher rifle, while the left-hand barrel rolled
over his companion, who almost immediately recovered and disappeared in
the grass jungle; however, there was pork for those who liked it, and I
went to the camp and sent a number of natives to bring it home. The Obbo
people were delighted, as it was their favourite game, but none of my
people would touch the unclean animal. The wild pigs of this country
live underground; they take possession of the holes made by the Manis:
these they enlarge and form cool and secure retreats.
A bad attack of fever laid me up until the 31st of December. On the
first day of January, 1864, I was hardly able to stand, and was nearly
worn out at the very time that I required my strength, as we were to
start south in a few days.
Although my quinine had been long since exhausted, I had reserved ten
grains to enable me to start in case the fever should attack me at the
time of departure. I now swallowed my last dose, and on 3d January, I
find the following note in my journal: “All ready for a start tomorrow.
I trust the year 1864 will bring better luck than the past, that having
been the most annoying that I have ever experienced, and full of fever.
I hope now to reach Kamrasi’s country in a fortnight, and to obtain
guides from him direct to the lake. My Latooka, to whom I have been very
kind, has absconded: there is no difference in any of these savages; if
hungry, they will fawn upon you, and when filled, they will desert. I
believe that ten years’ residence in the Soudan and this country would
spoil an Angel, and would turn the best heart to stone.”
It was difficult to procure porters, therefore I left all my effects at
my camp in charge of two of my men, and I determined to travel light,
without the tent, and to take little beyond ammunition and cooking
utensils. Ibrahim left forty-five men in his zareeba, and on the 5th of
January we started. Mrs. Baker rode her ox, but my animal being very
shy, I ordered him to be driven for about a mile with the others to
accustom him to the crowd: not approving of the expedition, he bolted
into the high grass with my English saddle, and I never saw him again.
In my weak state I had to walk. We had not gone far when a large fly
fastened upon Mrs. Baker’s ox, just by his tail, the effect of which was
to produce so sudden a kick and plunge, that he threw her to the ground
and hurt her considerably: she accordingly changed the animal, and rode
a splendid ox that Ibrahim very civilly offered. I had to walk to the
Atabbi, about eighteen miles, which, although a pleasant stroll when in
good health, I found rather fatiguing. We bivouacked on the south bank
of the Atabbi.
The next morning, after a walk of about eight miles, I purchased of one
of the Turks the best ox that I have ever ridden, at the price of a
double-barrelled gun–it was a great relief to be well mounted, as I
was quite unfit for a journey on foot.
At 4.30 P.m. we arrived at one of the villages of Farajoke. The
character of the country had entirely changed; instead of the rank and
superabundant vegetation of Obbo, we were in a beautiful open country,
naturally drained by its undulating character, and abounding in most
beautiful low pasturage. Vast herds of cattle belonged to the different
villages, but these had all been driven to concealment, as the report
had been received that the Turks were approaching. The country was
thickly populated, but the natives appeared very mistrustful; the Turks
immediately entered the villages, and ransacked the granaries for corn,
digging up the yams, and helping themselves to everything as though
quite at home. I was on a beautiful grass sward on the gentle slope of a
hill: here I arranged to bivouac for the night.
In three days’ march from this point through beautiful parklike
country, we arrived at the Asua river. The entire route from Farajoke
had been a gentle descent, and I found this point of the Asua in lat N.
3 degrees 12 minutes to be 2,875 feet above the sea level, 1,091 feet
lower than Farajoke. The river was a hundred and twenty paces broad, and
from the bed to the top of the perpendicular banks was about fifteen
feet. At this season it was almost dry, and a narrow channel of about
six inches deep flowed through the centre of the otherwise exhausted
river. The bed was much obstructed by rocks, and the inclination was so
rapid that I could readily conceive the impossibility of crossing it
during the rains. It formed the great drain of the country, all its
waters flowing to the Nile, but during the dry months it was most
insignificant. The country between Farajoke and the Asua, although
lovely, was very thinly populated, and the only villages that I saw were
built upon low hills of bare granite, which lay in huge piles of
disjointed fragments.
On arrival at the river, while the men were washing in the clear stream,
I took a rifle and strolled along the margin; I shortly observed a herd
of the beautiful Mehedehet antelopes feeding upon the rich but low grass
of a sandbank in the very centre of the river. Stalking them to within a
hundred and twenty paces they obtained my wind, and, ceasing to graze,
they gazed intently at me. I was on the high bank among the bushes, and
I immediately picked out the biggest, and fired, missing my mark. All
dashed away except the animal at which I fired, who stood in uncertainty
for a few moments, when the second barrel of the Fletcher 24 rifle
knocked him over, striking him through the neck. Hearing the quick
double shot, my people came running to the spot, accompanied by a number
of the native porters, and were rejoiced to find a good supply of meat;
the antelope weighed about five hundred pounds, and was sufficient to
afford a good dinner for the whole party.
The Mehedehet is about 13 hands high, with rough, brown hair like the
Samber deer of India. Our resting-place was on the dry, rocky bed of the
river, close to the edge of the shallow but clear stream that rippled
over the uneven surface. Some beautiful tamarind trees afforded a most
agreeable shade, and altogether it was a charming place to bivouac.
Although at Obbo the grass was not sufficiently dry to burn, in this
country it was reduced to a crisp straw, and I immediately set fire to
the prairies; the wind was strong, and we had a grand blaze, the flames
crackling and leaping about thirty feet high, and sweeping along with so
mad a fury that within an hour the entire country was a continuous line
of fire. Not a trace of vegetation remained behind; the country appeared
as though covered with a pall of black velvet. Returning from my work, I
found my camping place well arranged—beds prepared, and a good dinner
ready of antelope soup and cutlets. On waking the next morning, I found
that the Turks had all disappeared during the night, and that I was
alone with my people. It was shortly explained that they had departed to
attack some village, to which they were guided by some natives who had
accompanied them from Farajoke.
I accordingly took my rifle and strolled along the margin of the river
to look for game, accompanied by two of my porters. Although it was a
most likely country, being a natural park well timbered, with a river
flowing through the midst, there was a great scarcity of wild animals.
At length, in crossing a ravine that had stopped the progress of the
fire, an antelope (water buck) jumped out of a hollow, and, rushing
through the high grass, he exposed himself for an instant in crossing
the summit of a bare knoll, and received a ball from the little Fletcher
in the hindquarters. Although badly wounded, he was too nimble for my
natives, who chased him
Comments (0)