Chapter I (2)

Besides our Consulate, there is a French and an American one, and the European merchants were composed of French, Germans, and Americans,--the dark-coloured ones being principally confined to Arabs, Hindis, and the Wasuahili, or coast people. Taking advantage of the time, especially the evenings, I spent most of them in rating the chronometers and getting all the surveying instruments into working order; whilst Captain Burton, besides book-making, busied himself in making all the other arrangements for the journey, such as purchasing Venetian beads, brass wire, and American sheetings, &c., which come here in shiploads round the Cape of Good Hope, or in buying donkeys for our riding and their transport. Then in the cool of the mornings we took social walks or rides through the clove plantations, or amongst the palms, mango-trees, and orange gardens, treating pine-apples, which grew like common weeds on the roadsides, as if they were nothing better than ordinary turnips, though when placed upon the table they are certainly as delicious as any living fruit. The only fine houses are those occupied by the Europeans and the Sultan, and they front the harbour, which is considered a very good one, and is very constantly filled with shipping, the Sultan's men-of-war, foreign square-rigged vessels, and a host of buggaloes from Aden, Muscat, Catch, and Bombay. The back of the town is very much like a common Indian bazaar, but there is a hollow square in its centre, which nowadays is peculiar to this place--it is the slave-market. Immediately after every fresh importation, you can see in the early morning unhappy-looking men and women, all hideously black and ugly, tethered to one another like horses in a fair, and calculating men, knowing judges of flesh and limb, walking up and down, feeling their joints and looking out to make a bargain. Women, of course, sell better than the men, being fitted to more general purposes. For a good wife any sum might be given. But the saddest sight which came under my observation was the way in which some licentious-looking men began a cool, deliberate inspection of a certain divorced culprit who had been sent back to the market for inconstancy to her husband. She had learnt a sense of decency during her conjugal life, and the blushes on her face now clearly showed how her heart was mortified at this unseemly exposure, made worse because she could not help it.

The amount of information gathered by the expedition concerning the interior of Africa at Zanzibar, I may say was _nil_, to use Captain Burton's own words, in a letter written at the British Consulate, 22d April 1857, and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, page 52 of No. 1, vol. ii., where these remarkable words may be found:--"We could obtain no useful information from the European merchants of Zanzibar, who are mostly ignorant of everything beyond the island. The Arabs and Sawahilis, who were averse to, and fearful of, white travellers, _did_ give us information, but it was worse than none."

The orders of the Royal Geographical Society to Captain Burton were these, in short:--"The great object of the expedition is to penetrate inland from Kilwa, or some other place on the east coast of Africa, and make the best of your way to the reputed Lake of Nyassa; to determine the position and limits of that lake; to ascertain the depth and nature of its waters and tributaries; to explore the country around it, &c. Having obtained all the information you require in that quarter, you are to proceed northwards towards the range of mountains marked upon our maps as containing the probable sources of the Bahr el Abiad, which it will be your next great object to discover."

Bearing these instructions in mind, Captain Burton naturally felt desirous of penetrating from Kilwa to attack the missionaries' great slug-shaped lake in the tail. The reason why Captain Burton was prevented from doing so, I shall show again by a reference to the same letter. He writes thus:--"The accounts formerly made in Europe about the facility of penetrating inland from Kilwa (Quiloa), and the economy of travel in that region, are fabulous. The southern Sawahili are more hostile to explorers than the inhabitants of the northern maritime towns, and their distance from the seat of government renders them daring by impunity. But last year they persuaded the Waginda tribe of the interior to murder a peaceful Arab merchant, in order that strangers might be deterred from interfering with their commerce. Messrs Krapf and Erhardt, of the Mombas mission, spent a few hours at Kilwa, where they were civilly received by the governor and citizens, but they were sadly deceived in being led to imagine that they could make that port their starting-point." "We shall probably land at Bagamoyo."

Now we did land at Kaolé, close to Bagamoyo, but the route from Kilwa to Nyassa was afterwards safely traversed by Dr Boscher, though, after that, Boscher was murdered by some thieves in Whiyow.[41] Having said this much, which shows that Captain Burton was bent on going by the great caravan road to Ujiji, I shall first of all dwell on the nature of the men we took with us, what agreements they made, and what pays they received. I feel bound to state this, as I was called on by the Consul to witness the agreements, and much of the journey was performed by myself alone; added to which, the funds of the expedition fell short, and as soon as it did so, I made a compact with Captain Burton that, in the event of the Government not paying our excess of expenditure, I would pay him the half of all those expenses; and I did so to the extent of £600 after the journey was over.

Our cafila bashi (head of caravan) was Sheikh Said, who went with us to Mombas. He said he would go with us if we only went to Ujiji on the Tanganyika Lake, but he would not go on any other line, as his relatives feared some accident might befall him. For this he received from Colonel Hamerton 500 dollars; and he was promised, if he succeeded in pleasing us, 1000 dollars more, and a gold watch, on his return. There was a little more difficulty in getting a Beluch escort, for the Consul cautioned us that we could not expect the Sultan to give one gratis. He asked the Sultan, however, for men, and we were told we might have them out of his army if they would volunteer. The head jemadar then came to make a bargain, and we said we would give to each man five dollars a-month, besides rations and clothing the same as Bombay got. This bait would not take, and we could not get one man until the Consul again spoke to the Sultan about it. A party then were marched up to the Consulate, when, in addition to the pay already offered, they demanded flesh as often as we killed a goat, bullock, or sheep, but they would not serve more than six months. To this last stipulation, arguing on my Somali experiences, I stoutly objected, but was overruled both by Colonel Hamerton and Captain Burton. The Colonel then gave the jemadar of our party a present of 25 dollars, and to each of the privates 20 dollars, to set themselves up for the journey. Further, he promised them a handsome reward on their return if they served us well, to be paid out of some public fund in the same way as he paid Sheikh Said.

The rest of our escort consisted of some slaves, who were furnished us by a Banyan named Ramji. They were armed with muskets, and enlisted not to carry loads, but to guard us and treat with the native chiefs on the line of march, as they were familiar with the road to Ujiji, and were friends with the chiefs we should find there. Their pay was fixed at 5 dollars a-month, half of which they were to keep themselves, and the other half to be given to their master in compensation for the loss of their services. Further, six months' wages at this rate was to be paid in advance, and the remainder when the journey was over; but leaving a clause to the effect that they might be discharged at any time, supposing we did not require their services further.

Everybody at Zanzibar did his best to assist us, from the Sultan downwards. The European merchants gave us most hospitable entertainments on a very grand scale, and Mr Oswald, in particular, transported our spare boxes to England. Ladha, the customs master, was our banker, and found our outfit of beads, brass wire, and cloths, which is the circulating medium in inner Africa instead of money. Colonel Hamerton was so anxious for the success of the expedition, that he obtained a man-of-war--the corvette Artemise--from the Sultan on the 16th June 1857, and accompanied us over to Kaolé on the mainland, notwithstanding at the time he was dangerously ill. For some time we were detained here collecting baggage animals to carry our property. All we wanted could not be procured, as the bulk of the pagazis (porters) had been previously hired by the ivory merchant traders. However, thirty-six men were sent forward to Zungoméro by Ladha, and we bought thirty donkeys. When all was done that could be done in a hurry, we bade the generous old Colonel adieu, as well as his medical attendant, Mr Frost, and commenced the journey inland on the 27th June--Ladha promising to send the rest of our property after us as soon as he could find carriage for it.

I have already published, in my 'Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile,' a description of the countries we had to pass through to reach Kazé, so I shall not trouble the reader with the details on that point, contained in my previous publication. Suffice it to say that Kazé is a place in the centre of Unyamuézi, the Land of the Moon, situated in S. lat. 5°, and E. long. 33°. It is occupied by Arab merchants as a central trading depôt, and is fast expanding into a colony. At the time of our starting we did not know that, but imagined we should find a depôt of that sort at Ujiji. Travelling through the country of Uzaramo, both Captain Burton and I contracted fevers. Mine occasionally recurred at various intervals, but his stuck to him throughout the journey, and even lasted till some time after he came home.

At Zungoméro we overtook the porters that Ladha had sent forward. I calculated our rate of expenditure, found we had not enough for the necessities of the journey, and prevailed on Captain Burton to write back for more, notwithstanding our Government subsidy was out; for I could not brook the idea of failure, even though we might have to pay our future travelling expenses out of our own pockets.

I was also shocked here to hear that our good stanch friend, Colonel Hamerton, had died shortly after we left him. It struck a blow also on the minds of Sheikh Said and the Beluches, for they naturally thought their security was gone. Sheikh Said, however, I must say, very much to his credit, soon shook off his fears, and even told the Beluches to do the same, for another consul would come who would see justice done to them.

We then left Zungoméro and crossed the East Coast Range. During this stage the Beluches one day struck for food, as they were disappointed at our not killing goats, the fact being that I had supplied our table with guinea-fowls. An altercation took place which I had to settle, as was invariably the case when any difficulties arose in the camp. I managed the matter by ordering a march. This brought them to reason, for hitherto they thought we should be afraid to go without them. The consequence was that, finding themselves left behind, they forgot their wrath and followed us. On the way they found Captain Burton lying by the roadside prostrate with fever, and, taking compassion on him, brought him into camp. They were forgiven; but another difficulty arose in consequence of our donkeys dying faster than their loads were consumed, so that we could not have proceeded had not some of Ramji's slaves carried some loads for us. Our supplies were already too short for our journey; nevertheless, Captain Burton said he would pay them if they carried our loads.

They did so; but Captain Burton, on my saying we should find it difficult to keep faith with them, mildly replied, "Arabs made promises in that way, but never kept them; and, moreover, slaves of this sort never expected to be paid." I grew angry at this declaration--for I had seen Tibet ruined by officers not keeping faith with their porters--and argued the matter, but without effect. On arrival at Ugogi, on the west flank of the East Coast Range, our cattle were so completely done up that we could not have proceeded, had it not happened, by the greatest luck in the world, we found some pagazis here desirous of going to their homes in Unyamuézi. They had been left there by a caravan in consequence of a quarrel which originated in seduction. This lift took us over the interior plateau across Ugogo and Mgunda Mkhali to Kazé, where we arrived on the 7th November 1857. The Arabs we found collected here were extremely obliging, especially one Sheikh Snay, who furnished us with a house, looked after our wants, and supplied us with much useful information.

On my opening Messrs Rebmann and Erhardt's map, and asking him where Nyassa was, he said it was a distinct lake from Ujiji, lying to the southward. This opened our eyes to a most interesting fact, for the first time discovered. I then asked what the word Ukéréwé meant, and was answered in the same way, that it was a lake to the northward, much larger than Ujiji, and this solved the mystery. The missionaries had run three lakes into one. In great glee at this I asked Snay, through Captain Burton, whether or not a river ran out of that lake? to which he replied, he thought the lake was the source of the Jub river; and he strongly advised us, if our only motive in coming here was to look at a large piece of water, to go to it instead of on to Ujiji. Captain Burton and I argued that we thought the lake in question, which was the Victoria N'yanza, would more likely prove to be the source of the Nile, from the simple fact of our knowing the Jub to be separated from the interior plateau by the East Coast Range. Time wore on. Our pagazis all left us, as is usual, on their arriving at their homes, and we had to procure more to carry our traps on to Ujiji.

Captain Burton attempted to get porters by giving presents to the best two men we had for that purpose, but without the least effect. They promised and kept us waiting, but never performed. In the mean time Captain Burton got desperately ill, whilst I picked up all the information I could gather from the Arabs, with Bombay as an interpreter.[42] I heard that the Babisa, who live on the west of Nyassa, came to the southeast corner of Tanganyika in quest of ivory for the Kilua merchants. That caravans sometimes reached the Cazembé country by land, crossing the Manungu river, and also went to Katata for copper, which is of a dark rich red colour, and more prized than the imported copper. Some Arabs also went down the Tanganyika, disembarked at Manungu, and reached Cazembé. Further, I heard from Snay and his associates that the Kitangulé and Katonga rivers ran out of the Ukéréwé Lake (Victoria N'yanza), and that another river, which is the Nile, but supposed by them to be the upper portions of the Jub river, ran into the N'yanza. Further conversation explained this away, and I made them confess that all these rivers ran exactly contrary to the way they first stated; as it was obvious, if the N'yanza was the source of the Jub, the last river alluded to must flow out of the lake instead of into it, as they had said. Still more extraordinary than this, I heard from Snay that vessels frequented some waters to the northward of the equator, which confirmed some statement I had heard of the same nature in 1855 when travelling in the Somali country. I could not fix in my own mind exactly what this alluded to; but I felt so curious to find out, and so sure in my own mind that the Victoria N'yanza would prove to be the source of the Nile, I proposed going to see it at once, instead of going on to Ujiji. The route, however, to the northward was said to be dangerous--Usui alone would seize all our property--and Captain Burton preferred going west. How this even was to be managed then seemed very dubious, for not one of Ramji's slaves would come near us, and the Beluches were so tired of the journey they begged for their discharge, crying it was their due, as they had served their turn of service. They wanted no pay if we would only give them certificates of satisfaction. We would not do this; and then they said, as they saw we wanted them, they would not desert us.

We had now been at Kazé rather more than a month, and I thought Captain Burton would die if we did not make a move, so I begged him to allow me to assume the command _pro tem._, and I would see what I could do to effect a move. Accordingly, as he agreed, I made arrangements with Snay, and transported half our property to Zimbili, where I prepared a house for Captain Burton's reception on the 5th December. Three days after he was carried over, and he begged me to take account of his effects, as he thought he would die. I cheered him up, and found the change of air had the effect I desired. Still Ramji's men would not come out to camp, so I tried with Bombay to see what they had at heart, and then it transpired they had not been paid for carrying loads on from the East Coast Range to Kazé. In a minute I recollected Captain Burton's promise to them, brought them into the camp, and paid them their dues.

Bit by bit we pushed on to Mséné, another small colony occupied chiefly by Wasuahili, and here we ate our Christmas dinner. The country was rich in the extreme, and well under rice cultivation. Ramji's men were quite in their element here, and even Bombay became so _love-sick_ we could hardly tear him away. We broke ground on the 10th January 1858, but not until three days after did the whole of our men join us. I saw now we had too many mouths to feed; and as Ramji's men had been hired more for show than work, their term of service had just expired, and I did not think we should require their guns any more, I begged Captain Burton to give them a present each, with leave to go to their homes--for it must be remembered they possess homes in Unyamuézi as well as at Zanzibar. The men craved to be allowed to go on with us, but I, more than any one else, insisted we ought to get rid of them, for the reasons stated above; and so they were discharged. I found we were on a great decline of the country draining to the westward; the soil was deeper and richer, and the vegetation proportionately richer as we went on with the journey. Shortly we crossed the Malagarazi river in a bark canoe at the Mpété ferry, and found that, after having travelled along this decline from Kazé about one hundred and fifty miles, we began to ascend at the eastern horn of a large crescent-shaped mass of mountains overhanging the northern half of the Tanganyika Lake, which I am now about to describe.

This mountain mass I consider to be THE TRUE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, regarding which so many erroneous speculations have been ventured. I infer this because they lie beyond Unyamuézi (country of the Moon), and must have been first mentioned to geographical inquirers by the Wanyamuézi (people of the Moon), who have from time out of mind visited the coast, and must have been the first who gave information of them. I am the more satisfied of the correctness of this view from observing the missionaries' map; for what could have induced them to call their great lake, in general terms, the Sea of the Moon, except that it lay beyond the country of the Moon?[43] The mountains form a crescent overhanging the north end of the lake, large and deep in the body to the north, and tapering to horns as they stretch southwards down the east and west sides of the lake. Our line of march, about six hundred rectilinear geographical miles, had been nearly due west from Zanzibar. Here you may picture to yourself my bitter disappointment when, after toiling through so many miles of savage life, all the time emaciated by divers sicknesses and weakened by great privations of food and rest, I found, on approaching the zenith of my ambition, the Great Lake in question nothing but mist and glare before my eyes. From the summit of the eastern horn the lovely Tanganyika Lake could be seen in all its glory by everybody but myself. The fact was, that fevers and the influence of a vertical sun had reduced my system so, that inflammation, caught by sleeping on the ground during this rainy season, attacked my eyes, brought on an almost total blindness, and rendered every object before me enclouded as by a misty veil. Proceeding onwards down the western slopes of the hill, we soon arrived at the margin of the lake, and hired a canoe at Ukaranga to take us to Ujiji, the chief place on the lake which Arabs frequent. This is a name we had long been familiar with, and is the term by which the Arabs in general call this lake. This mode of nomenclature is quite in accordance with the usual custom of semi-civilised people, as we see in Arabia, where the Arabs call the Red Sea by the names of the different ports which they frequent. Thus, for instance, at Jeddah, it is called by them the Sea of Jeddah, whilst at Suez it is the Sea of Suez, &c. &c. The Tanganyika Lake, lying between 3° and 8° south latitude, and in 29° east longitude, has a length of three hundred miles, and is from thirty to forty broad in its centre. The surface-level, as I ascertained by the temperature of boiling water, is only eighteen hundred feet, and it appears quite sunk into the lap of these mountains. Its waters are very sweet, and abound with delicious fish in great variety. The fertility of the northern end of the lake surpassed anything we had hitherto seen; but this was not surprising when duly considered. The hills, instead of being, as on the great plateau we had recently left, outcrops of granite, were composed of argillaceous sandstone. Rains there lasted all the year round, and the temperature was very considerable. In consequence of this the sides of the lake are thickly inhabited by numerous tribes of the true negro breed, amongst which the most conspicuous are the Wabembé cannibals, into whose territory no Arabs durst ever venture. Bombay, my interpreter, describes them as being very dreadful creatures, who are "always looking out for some of our sort." The port we finally arrived at is called Kawélé, a small village in the Ujiji district. Here we landed all our property, and took up our abode in a deserted house, which had been left to decay by some Arab merchants. The Beluch guard received a present of cloth; they seemed very glad the land march was at an end. In that respect we felt the same as our men; but we found ourselves in the hands of a very ill-disposed chief, called Kannina--tyrannical, and, as such savages invariably are, utterly unreasonable. A heavy tribute was paid for the advantages of this savage monster's _protection_, and we were too short of beads and cloth to search out for and pay another chief of more moderate inclinations. This was a serious misfortune; for, having once entered his dominions and established our headquarters there, we could not very well leave them. This was the more distressing, as comfort, pleasure, and everything is at the mercy of these headsmen's wills, and we were destined for a long sojourn here. To war with these chiefs is like "cutting off the nose to spite the face." Nobody, let his desire be what it may, dares assist you without the chief's full approbation; and Kannina's austere government we had occasion to feel from first to last. Our first object on arrival was to get boats for the survey of the lake; but here arose a difficulty. Hostilities were rife with nearly all the border tribes; and the little cockle-shell canoes, made from the hollowed trunks of trees, are not only liable to be driven ashore by the slightest storm, but are so small that there is but little stowage-room in them for carrying supplies. The sailors, aware of this defect, fear to venture anywhere except on certain friendly beats, and therefore their boats were quite unfitted for our work.

This dilemma made us try to hire a dhow or sailing-vessel, belonging to Sheikh Hamed bin Suléyim, living at Kasengé Island, on the opposite or western shore, as it was the only boat afloat on these waters fitted for carrying provisions and moving about independent of the border clans. On arriving here, we were so disabled by sickness--Captain Burton utterly, and I suffering from ophthalmia, and a weakness in the lower extremities resembling paralysis--that my companion proposed sending our Ras-cafila, Sheikh Said, across the lake to bargain for the dhow, and applied to Kannina for the means of transport. At first he seemed inclined to treat, though at an exorbitant rate; but when we came direct to terms, he backed entirely out. Fortunately we obtained a boat and crew from another chief, at the extortionate charge of four kitindis and four dhotis merikani, besides the usual sailors' fee. The dhoti is a piece of American sheeting measuring eight cubits. The cubit is still the negro's yard, the same as was adopted at the time of the Flood; they have no other measure than that with which nature has provided them--viz., the first joint of the arm, or from the elbow to the top of the middle finger. These kitindis are a sort of brass-wire bracelet worn on the lower arm by the negro females, coiled up from the wrist to the elbow, like a wax taper circling up a stick or stem. Sometimes this wire is reformed and coiled flat out round the neck to a breadth of about eight inches, and gives the wearer's head much the appearance of John the Baptist's standing in the middle of a charger. These necklaces are never taken off, so at night, or resting-time, the wearer on lying down places a block of wood or stone beneath his head, to prevent the wire from galling. This concession of the chief was given under the proviso that Kannina would not object, which, strange to say, he promised not to do; and hopes were entertained of an early departure. However, this, like every other earthly expectation in these black regions, was destined to be disappointed. In the first place, an African must do everything by easy stages, nor can he entertain two ideas in his head at the same moment. First a crew had to be collected, and when collected to be paid, and when paid the boat was found to be unseaworthy, and must be plugged; and so much time elapsed, and plans were changed. But after all, things, it happened, were wisely ordained; for the time thus wasted served to recruit my health, as I employed it in bathing and strolling gently about during the cool of the mornings and evenings, and so gained considerable benefit. There is a curious idea here with regard to the bathing-place, in fancying the dreaded crocodile will obey the mandates of a charm. They plant the bough of a particular tree in the water about fifty yards from the shore, which marks the line of safe bathing, for within it they say the animal dares not venture. At noon, protected by an umbrella, and fortified with stained-glass spectacles, I usually visited the market-place, with beads in hand, to purchase daily supplies. The market is held between the hours of 10 A.M. and 4 P.M., near the port, and consists of a few temporary huts, composed of grass and branches hastily tied together. Most of these are thrown up day by day. The commodities brought for sale are fish, flesh, tobacco, palm oil, and spirits, different kinds of potatoes, artichokes, several sorts of beans, plantains, melons, cotton, sugar-cane, a variety of pulse and vegetables, ivories, and sometimes slaves. Between these perambulations, I spent the day reclining with my eyes shut. At length, after eighteen days' negotiations, improved by these constitutional diversions and rest, and longing for a change, especially one that led across the sea, and afforded the means of surveying it, I proposed to go myself, and treat directly with Sheikh Hamed. Captain Burton threw obstacles in my way at first, saying canoes were not safe on such a large lake, but he finally gave in when I pressed the advisability of my doing so. This intention soon reached the ears of Kannina, who, fearing that he might thus lose much cloth, threw obstacles in the way, and most unjustly demanded as large a passport-fee for my crossing as had been given to the other chief; which demand we were obliged to comply with, or the men would not take up an oar.