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

far the most acceptable welcome to

Richarn, who drank like a whale. So large was the gourd, that even after

the mighty draught enough remained for the rest of the party to sip.

Refreshed by the much-loved drink, Richarn now told us his story. When

separated from Mahommed at the village he had found a great number of

people, some of whom were our runaway porters; on his attempting to

persuade them to return, a quarrel had taken place, and the chief of the

village heading his men had advanced on Richarn and seized his gun;—at

the same time the chief called to his men to kill him. Richarn drew his

knife to release his gun; seeing which, the chief relaxed his hold, and

stepping a pace back he raised his lance to strike;—at the same moment

Richarn pulled the trigger and shot him dead. The natives,

panic-stricken at the sudden effect of the shot, rushed away, and

Richarn, profiting by the opportunity, disappeared in the high grass,

and fled. Once in the interminable sea of grass that was almost

impenetrable, he wandered for two days without water: hearing the

distant roar of the Nile, he at length reached it when nearly exhausted

with thirst and fatigue;—he then followed up the stream to Karuma,

avoided the M’was,—and knowing the road thence to M’rooli that we had

formerly travelled, he arrived at Foweera. His ramrod had been broken in

the struggle when the chief seized his gun, and to his great

astonishment I now showed him the piece that we had picked up on the

pool of blood. He had made an excellent loading-rod with his hunting

knife by shaping a sapling of hard wood, and had reloaded his gun; thus

with a good supply of ammunition he had not much fear of the natives.

Kamrasi had evidently heard the true account of the affair.

 

Late in the evening we heard from a native that the whole of Kalloe’s

cattle that he had driven from Foweera had been captured by the enemy on

their way to the river island, and that one of his sons and several

natives who had driven them were killed;—this was the result of his

precipitate flight.

 

The M’was followed up their advantages with uninterrupted success,

overrunning the entire country even to the shores of the Albert lake,

and driving off the cattle, together with all the women that had not

taken refuge upon the numerous islands of the Victoria Nile. During this

time, Kamrasi and his wives, together with his principal chiefs, resided

in the misery of mosquitoes and malaria on the river; great numbers of

people died of disease and starvation.

 

M’Gambi appeared frequently at our camp in order to procure corn, and

from him we received reports of the distress of the people; his

appearance had much changed; he looked half starved, and complained that

he had nothing to drink but Nile water, as they had neither corn, nor

pots in which they could make merissa, and the M’was had destroyed all

the plantains, therefore they could not prepare cider.

 

Among other losses my two cows were reported by M’Gambi to have been

stolen by the M’was, in company with the cattle of Kamrasi, with which

they had been driven from Kisoona. I did not believe it, as he also told

me that all the luggage that I had left at Deang had like wise been

stolen by the enemy. But I had heard from Bacheeta that the natives of

that neighbourhood had carried it (about six loads) direct to Kamrasi’s

island; thus it was in his possession at the same time that he declared

it to have been stolen by the M’was. I told him, that I should hold him

responsible, and that he should pay me the value of the lost effects in

a certain number of cows.

 

A few days after this conversation, my cows and the whole of my luggage

were delivered to me in safety. Kamrasi had evidently intended to

appropriate them, but being pressed by the M’was and his old enemies on

the east bank of the Nile (the Langgos), who had made common cause with

the invaders, the time was not favourable for a quarrel with either me

or the Turks.

 

On the evening of the 19th September, a few days after this occurrence,

intelligence was brought into camp that Ibrahim and a hundred men had

arrived at Karuma Falls at the ferry by which we had formerly crossed

the river to Atada. I immediately despatched ten men to investigate the

truth of the report. In about two hours they returned in high spirits,

having exchanged greeting with Ibrahim and his party across the river.

Kamrasi had despatched boats to another ferry above the Falls to

facilitate the passage of the entire party on the following morning, as

he wished them to attack the M’was immediately.

 

Not being desirous of such an encounter, the M’was, who had witnessed

the arrival of this powerful reinforcement, immediately retreated, and

by sunrise they had fallen back about twenty miles on the road to

M’rooli.

 

On the morning of the 20th Ibrahim arrived, bringing with him the Post

from England; that being addressed to the consul at Khartoum had been

forwarded to Gondokoro by the annual boats, and taken charge of by

Ibrahim on his arrival at that station last April with ivory from the

interior. My letters were of very old dates, none under two years, with

the exception of one from Speke, who had sent me the Illustrated London

News, containing his portrait and that of Grant; also Punch, with an

illustration of Punch’s discovery of the Nile sources. For a whole day I

revelled in the luxury of letters and newspapers.

 

Ibrahim had very kindly thought of our necessities when at Gondokoro,

and had brought me a piece of coarse cotton cloth of Arab manufacture

(darmoor) for clothes for myself, and a piece of cotton print for a

dress for Mrs. Baker, in addition to a large jar of honey, and some rice

and coffee—the latter being the balance of my old stock that I bad

been obliged to forsake for want of porters at Shooa. He told me that

all my effects that I had left at Obbo had been returned to Gondokoro,

and that my two men, whom I had left in charge, had returned with them

to Khartoum, on board the vessel that had been sent for me from that

place, but which had joined the traders’ boats on their return voyage.

Ibrahim had assured the captain that it was impossible that we could

arrive during that year. It was thus fortunate that we had not pushed on

for Gondokoro after April in expectation of finding the boat awaiting

us. However, “All’s well that ends well,” and Ibrahim was astounded at

our success, but rather shocked at our personal appearance, as we were

thin and haggard, and our clothes had been so frequently repaired that

they would hardly hold together.

 

On the 23d September we moved our camp, and took possession of a village

within half a mile of the Victoria Nile. Kamrasi was now very valorous,

and returned from his island to a large village on the banks of the

river. He sent Ibrahim an immense quantity of ivory, in addition to the

store that had been concealed by Eddrees on our departure from Kisoona;

this was sent for, and in a few days it was safely deposited in the

general camp. Ibrahim was amazed at the fortune that awaited him. I

congratulated him most heartily on the success of the two expeditions—

the geographical, and the ivory trade; the latter having far more than

fulfilled my promise.

 

Kamrasi determined to invade the Langgo country immediately, as they had

received Fowooka after his defeat, and he was now residing with the

chief. Accordingly, eighty of Ibrahim’s men were despatched across the

river, and in three days they destroyed a number of villages, and

captured about 200 head of cattle, together with a number of prisoners,

including many women. Great rejoicings took place on their return;

Ibrahim presented Kamrasi with a hundred cows, and in return for this

generosity the king sent thirty immense tusks, and promised a hundred

more within a few days.

 

Another expedition was demanded, and was quickly undertaken with similar

success; this time Fowooka narrowly escaped, as a Turk fired at him, but

missed and killed a native who stood by him. On the return of the party,

Kamrasi received another present of cattle, and again the ivory flowed

into the camp.

 

In the meantime, I had made myself excessively comfortable; we were in a

beautiful and highly cultivated district, in the midst of immense fields

of sweet potatoes. The idea struck me that I could manufacture spirit

from this source, as they were so excessively sweet as to be

disagreeable as a vegetable. Accordingly I collected a great number of

large jars that were used by the natives for brewing merissa; in these I

boiled several hundredweight of potatoes to a pulp. There were jars

containing about twenty gallons; these I filled with the pulp mashed

with water, to which I added yeast from a brewing of merissa. While this

mixture was fermenting I constructed my still, by fixing a jar of about

twelve gallons on a neat furnace of clay, and inserting the mouth of a

smaller jar upon the top; the smaller jar thus inverted became the dome

of the still. In the top of this I bored a hole, in which I fitted a

long reed of about an inch in diameter, which descended to my condenser;

the latter was the kettle, sunk by a weight in a large pan of cold

water.

 

My still worked beautifully, and produced four or five bottles of good

spirit daily;—this I stored in large bottle gourds, containing about

four gallons each. My men were excessively fond of attending to the

distillery, especially Richarn, who took a deep interest in the

operation, but who was frequently found dead asleep on his back; the

fire out; and the still at a standstill. Of course he could not be

suspected of having tried the produce of his manufactory! I found an

extraordinary change in my health from the time that I commenced

drinking the potato whisky. Every day I drank hot toddy. I became

strong, and from that time to the present day my fever left me,

occurring only once or twice during the first six months, and then

quitting me entirely. Not having tasted either wine or spirits for

nearly two years, the sudden change from total abstinence to a moderate

allowance of stimulant produced a marvellous effect. Ibrahim and some of

his men established stills; several became intoxicated, which so

delighted M’Gambi, who happened to be present, that he begged a bottle

of spirit from Ibrahim as a sample for Kamrasi. It appears that the king

got drunk so quickly upon the potent spirit, that he had an especial

desire to repeat the dose—he called it the maroua (cider) of our

country, and pronounced it so far superior to his own that he determined

to establish a factory. When I explained to him that it was the produce

of sweet potatoes, he expressed his great regret that he had never

sufficiently appreciated their value, and he expressed a determination

to cultivate whole districts. Ibrahim was requested to leave one of his

men who understood the management of a still, to establish and undertake

the direction of “King Kamrasi’s Central African Unyoro Potato-Whisky

Company, unlimited.”

 

Ibrahim had brought a variety of presents for Kamrasi: fifty pounds of

beads, a revolver pistol, cotton cloths, blue glass tumblers,

looking-glasses, &c. These donations, added to the pleasure afforded by

the defeat of his enemies, put his majesty into excellent humour,