'e tribes. IN STANLEY'S CAMPS ill Lieut. Stairs desired the writer to say particularly from him, that any such statement is entirely groundless, and Parke, Jephson, Nelson, and Bonny all testified that Stanley always punished severely any of his men who were caught stealing so much as an ear of corn from a friendly people. With hostiles, of course, severe meas- ures had sometimes to be adopted. CHAPTER XVIII. TALKS WITH EMIN PASHA. SEVERAL talks were also had with Emin Pasha, which were instructive as throwing light on the question of the disagreement between him and Stan- ley. Rumors had reached Zanzibar, in advance of their approach to the coast, that all was not harmony be- tween Stanley and Emin, and I was naturally anx- ious to get both sides of the story on any points on which there might be a difference between them. Let me then preface my interview with Emin Pasha by saying, first of all, that, in the writer's opinion, no two people in the world were less constituted by nature to pull or work together than Stanley and Emin. Their natures were totally different. Stanley was clear-headed, positive, prompt, resolute and decis. ive ; a man whom you would expect to know, in any great emergency, precisely what he did or did not want to do. Emin Pasha, though a German by birth and early education, had been living the life of the East and of Africa so long that there was little of the German or of the European in him when I met him at Msuwa. He was an Egyptian, a Levantine, an Eastern, an Oriental if you please, but hardly a Euro- pean. Not one person out of twenty, guessing at his 272 TALKS WITH EM IN PASHA. 273 nationality from his appearance and manners, would have credited him with being a German. Emin's manners were Eastern to a fault, and he had unconsciously drifted into many of the ways and many of the ideas of the people with whom he had, for the greater part of his life, been associated. Of course, he possessed sterling qualities that no pure Eastern ever possessed or ever will possess. The honest, energetic Teuton blood still coursed through the Pasha's veins, but no man ever yet worked and lived for twenty-five years as he had done, among Eas- terns, without imbibing some of their characteristics. Few men can live among fatalists for a quarter of a century without being, in a measure, one himself. Gor- don was a fatalist. Emin, who was Gordon's disciple, I was not so sure of on this point. But he is an Eastern, and will, in all probability, end his life in Egypt, or at all events in Africa. Emin told me frankly that he never expected to live in Europe again, and he seemed to shrink from the idea of even paying a visit to the great centers of Western civilization. "I have been so long away from Europe," he said, "that I would not feel at home either in Germany or England. I may, perhaps, pay a short visit to Ger- many, to Berlin, to see some friends there; but Lon- don — no, I think not. Why should I go to London? I can thank my English friends for the great interest they have taken in me and my people by letters and through the newspapers, and to express my gratitude to them would be the only object that would take me to London. I shall, perhaps, stay in Egypt and never go to either Berlin or London." 274 SCOUTIXG FOR STAiYLEY. The now famous man, av^Iio uttered these words, is a spare-built person of medium height, with a full, short beard tinged with gray; his dark eyes regard you through the medium of a pair of spectacles, which are seldom removed, for the reason that the Pasha is short- sighted. His bearing is modest, apologetic, courteous, polite, fascinating. He has a vast fund of remarkable experiences and exceptional knowledge to draw upon, and his courteous bearing and Oriental politeness and suavity of manners charms all with whom he comes in contact. "In the first place," said Emin Pasha, with that politeness which is never absent from his address, "please say to the Nezu York IVor/d that I thank them very much for the great interest taken in us. As for my province and my poor people, it is all a very sad story. It is quite impossible for any one beside myself to realize all that we have been compelled, through no fault of ours, to give up. I had built a great many very fine stations; my of^cers and soldiers were for the most part devoted to me, and to the Khedive of Egypt ; the people were contented and happy ; there was no slave-raiding, and the province not only paid its way, but was beginning to be a source of revenue to the government of Cairo." The great point I wished to get from Emin was, why he had changed his mind about leaving the Equatorial Province, after asserting so emphatically, over and over again, in his correspondence, that he would on no account consent to leave his post, and that an expedition for his relief would in no way change his purpose. It needed but a question or two to discover TALKS WITH EM IN PASHA. 275 that it was on this matter, the pivotal point of interest in the whole story of his relief and his retirement, that the Pasha and Mr. Stanley differed. Here was the question, then, on which there was a want of harmony between them, a hint of which, as before mentioned, had reached Zanzibar in letters sent in advance from Msalala. "I would very much like you to say, in plain lan- guage. Pasha, so that all may fully understand, why you left your post and came out with Mr. Stanley." "Well, you see," replied Emin, "Mr. Stanley brought instructions from the Khedive of Egypt for me to return with him. I am an Egyptian officer, and have no option but to obey the Khedive's wishes. I did not wish to leave ; and if the Khedive should order me back again to-morrow, and would provide me with men and means to maintain my position, I would re- turn with the greatest pleasure." Our conversation was held just outside the Pasha's tent, beneath a tree. At this moment the Pasha's daughter, Farida, a young lady of Abyssinian parent- age on the maternal side, issued from the tent and re- garded us with mild interest. Her complexion was about as dusky as a Spanish gypsy's, and her skin smooth and soft, like velvet. Her eyes were large, black and languishing, and her luxuriant tresses were black as raven's feathers. I was smitten with her charms. I invited her to sit on my knee and de- manded a kiss, a favor which was granted in a pas- sive Oriental way. She was only five years old. "She is very beautiful," I said to her father. "Yes/' answered the Pasha, "it is for her sake that I 276 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY. consented to leave my province and return to Egypt. I wish to give her an education, and have her brought up in a civihzed and proper manner. This I could not do in the Equatorial Province." This was the sentiment of a fond and doting parent and the answer of a kindly soul. But it seemed rather startling to the writer at the moment, to be jotting down in his note-book two entirely different reasons, almost in the same breath, from Emin's own lips, as to why he had consented to leave the Equatorial Province, which he had declared so often he never would give up. Here we see revealed the Eastern side of Emin Pasha's character. The last answer, coming so close upon the first, would at once suggest that he was a man whose word was not to be relied on. But to those acquainted with the East and its ways, it simply shows that the Pasha had drifted into the Oriental fashion of saying things that he knew would fall pleasantly on his questioner's ear without troubling to weigh his words. And had your correspondent pointed out to him the contradiction in the two statements, Emin Pasha's sur- prise that any one should have viewed the matter in that light would have been most genuine. "Do you wish me to understand then, Pasha, that you could have maintained your position, and were under no necessity of coming away with Mr. Stanley, had you not received instructions from the Khedive to do so?" "I think if Mr. Stanley would have consented to wait, much could have been done. Things had got to be very bad, however, and Mr. Stanley would not wait. He seemed only anxious that I and my people, the TALKS IViril EM IN PASHA. 277 Egyf)ti'ans, should go as quickly as we could with him to the coast." "Were you and your people in great need of assist- ance when Mr. Stanley reached you, Pasha?" "We were very glad to have Mr. Stanley come to our relief, of course, and we all feel very grateful to the people of England for the great interest they have taken in us ; but we were in no great need of anything but ammunition. Food was very plenty with us. Our people grew cotton, and had learned to make a coarse, strong kind of cloth. See, here is the cloth," and Emin showed me a pair of trousers made of coarse, strong, loosely woven cotton cloth. "We also made soap," resumed the Pasha, "and candles. We had plenty of sugar-cane, plenty of honey, some European vegetables, tomatoes, onions, carrots. We had rice, and, I think, if we could have obtained the seed, we could have grown wheat with success in some districts. As for ammunition, we had some, but of a very poor quality. Such as we were, however, we had fought our enemies many times and beat them. We were very grateful for the ammunition which Mr. Stanley brought to us from the Egyptian Government. The dangers and difficul- ties he had to overcome for our sakes were very tremen- dous. The Egyptian Government, however, has always sent the worst of everything to the Equatorial Prov- ince. Even the ammunition which Mr. Stanley brought, sent to us from the government magazines at Cairo, was for the most part utterly worthless. They were old, damaged stores that the corrupt officials at Cairo took this opportunity of getting off their hands, to cover up their wretched speculations. Percussion 278 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY. caps were sent to us, not one in a dozen of which would strike fire. This was not the Khedive's fault, nor, of course, Mr. Stanley's. "It was very discouraging to my poor soldiers to find that, even when so much trouble had been taken to reach us, they had sent us worthless ammunition mostly. This outrageous treatment from the Egyptian Govern- ment, while a powerful enemy was within our very gates, would have shaken the loyalty of any body of troops in the world. Yet my brave fellows fought a great battle with Omar Saleh at Dufile, after Mr. Jeph- son had joined me and Mr. Stanley had returned to the Congo to bring up his rear column. On this occasion we captured a very interesting relic, the first Mahdist flag, the sacred banner of the Mahdi, that was carried into Khartoum after the death of Gen. Gordon. I have this flag in my baggage here now. I am taking it to Egypt. The battle at Dufile was the last one we fought. My soldiers then saw that they were fighting against fate unless assistance came to us from without." "The second time Mr. Stanley came to the Albert Nyanza you were, I understand, a prisoner in the hands of your own people?" "Yes, Mr. Jephson and myself and Capt. Casati. They treated us very well and allowed us to do much as we pleased, except leave the stations. They kept us under surveillance for five months. They had been encouraged to resist the Mahdists in the hope that very great assistance would reach us with Mr. Stanley. Instead of this, so great had been Mr. Stanley's disas- ters, that he could only leave with us Mr. Jephson and thirteen Soudanese soldiers. I had more than twelve TALKS WITH EM IN PASHA. 279 hundred soldiers, regulars and irregulars, of my own, at the different stations. We had six hundred Reming- tons and three hundred percussion muskets. "We were all very much discouraged at the way mat- ters had turned out. Mr. Jephson and I visited several stations on the Nile and read to the garrisons the Khe- dive's message. The people refused to believe it was a genuine message from the Khedive. They thought we were deceiving them and trying to get them to leave with us. After the fight at Dufile, Omar Saleh had returned with steamers and boats down the Nile for reinforcements. For a long time the Khalifa (the Mah- di's successor) had been tempting my people to rebel against me by promises and threats. My ofificers and soldiers had received no pay for several years, and were about naked. The Khalifa seduced them by promises of big and regular pay, promotions, and, more tempt- ing still, a free hand among the natives." "What was their idea in detaining you prisoner?" "Many of them said that Stanley would never come back. They wished to wait and see what would happen. If Mr. Stanley had not returned, and Omar Saleh, the Khalifa's General, had come with overwhelming forces, then my people could have done nothing but submit, and it was well known among them that the Khalifa was very anxious that we should be delivered up to him. Honor and promotion would have been the re- ward of those who should take us to him at Khartoum. Many of'the soldiers were still devoted to me and loyal to the Khedive, but many of the Egyptian ofificers were bad. "It is not generally known, I think, in England or 2 So SCOUTING FOR STANLEY. America, that the Equatorial Province has always been considered a sort of Egyptian Siberia by the authorities at Cairo. Most of my of^cers were sent to me as a punishment for committing some crime or some act of insubordination in Egypt. These people were sent to the Equatorial Province, much as political offenders in Russia are sent to Siberia, only they were sent to me for employment. These ofT-scourings of Egypt always gave me much trouble. They were always a source of weakness; were always conspiring against my author- ity ; and, very naturally, as soon as they found the tide of misfortune set against us, they were ready to conspire with our enemies. The very first officer that was sent to me from Egypt after I w^as appointed Governor of the Province was discovered plotting against me. "In addition to this, at the best of times, the corrupt ofificials at Khartoum always sent me the very worst and cheapest stores they could get, and charged me the highest prices. I could always have sold my stores of ivory to Arab traders from Uganda, at my own maga- zines, for twenty or thirty per cent more than was credited to me for it at Khartoum, but I had to send it all to Khartoum. We have received powder from the Government arsenal there that was so shamefully adulterated with charcoal that it would barely spit the bullets out of the muzzles of our guns. I couldn't make our own powder, for, although we could have made charcoal, there was neither saltpetre nor sulphur in the province. Yet, with all this neglect and shame- ful treatment, my soldiers fought well, and the prov- ince was beginning to pay a handsome surplus to the Government. TALKS WITIt EMIN PASHA. 281 "The soldiers had gardens, cows, wives and plenty of everything to eat. They were much better off than they had ever been in Egypt or the Soudan. They had come to regard the province as their home, and had no wish to ever return to Egypt. They considered that they were fighting for their homes, and so fought well and bravely, so long as there was a chance of success and the hope of assistance from our friends without. It was only when there was no longer anything to hope for, and when we read to them the message that they must leave with Mr. Stanley or never expect any more assistance from the Egyptian Government, that they began to waver in their allegiance to me. Poor fellows, what could they do? They didn't wish to leave; the Khalifa's forces were advancing up the Nile ; they now had everythirg to gain and nothing to lose by turning against me. I do not blame them ; they are but Africans, and nothing else was to be expected of them. "I first heard of the proposition to send us a relief expedition, through some English newspapers that reached me in April, 1887, from Mr. Mackay, of the Uganda Mission. I decided at once that, come what would, I would never leave my post and give up the work that had been intrusted to me by that great and good man. Gen. Gordon. But here we are. I have left, as you see. I have told you why already." "Do you think the Egyptian Government will ever try to recover the lost provinces?" "This I cannot say. I do not know what the inten- tions of the Egyptian Government may be in regard to the future. The Equatorial Provinces and the whole 282 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY. of the Soudan might easily be recovered, I feel sure, by an European expedition up the Nile. Many people think the Soudanese are fanatical, and that the rebellion was a religious movement. This is a great mistake. True, the Mahdi claimed to be the expected ' last pro- phet,' and an attempt was made to give a fanatical rea- son for the uprising, but the plain truth is that the Sou- danese and the people of all the Nile and Equatorial Provinces hate the Egyptian rule as thoroughly as the Armenians of Asia Minor, or the Greeks of Constanti- nople hate the rule of the Turks. There is no fanati- cism in their objections, however ; no hatred based on a difference in religious beliefs. They simply hate Egyptian rule because it is corrupt ; because the offi- cials regard them simply as cows, from which the last drop of taxation is to be milked. "Why, when I first went as Governor to the Equa- torial Province, every muderie (Government station) was a nest of vile corruption, in which thousands of idle vagabonds were, in the name of the Government, living off taxes forced from a population of blacks, perhaps not more than three or four times their own number. At one station (Amadi) I found a loafing mob of soldiers, irregulars, followers, their wives, concubines, slaves and children, between two and three thousand altogether, living off the taxes exacted from a district whose popu- lation did not exceed nine thousand all told. That will give you some idea of the state of affairs that the people were reduced to under the rule of Egyptian officers, to say nothing of outrages that it is just as well not to speak of." "You mean to say, then, that the uprising in the TALKS WITH EM IN PASHA. 283 Soudan was virtually a rebellion against the misrule of the Egyptians?" "Nothing else. And if some power, in whom the tribes had confidence, would come — some power like England — which would take an interest in the welfare of the people, instead of plundering and oppressing them, it would be welcomed with open arms. It would not be difificult to recover the whole country. The Mahdists will treat the people, on the whole, worse than the Egyptian officials did." "What do you think of the commercial prospects of the country? Do you think the country would repay the expense of such an enterprise on the part of an European power?" "The Equatorial Provinces are a very rich and pro- ductive country. So is the whole of the Soudan. Good government is all that the country needs to aston- ish the world at its commercial possibilities. My own province is very rich. The great ivory field of Africa lies to the west of the Equatorial Provinces. All that the natives of that vast region desire is to know that (here are trading stations to bring their ivory and other pro- ducts to, where they will receive considerate treatment, and the world would be astonished at the vast number of tusks they would bring in. Then we have for export vast quantities of palm oil, skins, furs, ostrich feathers, vegetable butter (fat of the butyrospermum tree), india- rubber, beeswax, all of which would be produced in almost limitless quantity under a civilizing and encour- aging administration. Cotton, too, can be grown to any extent ; also sugar, and I doubt not many other things valuable for export ; cinchona, for example, would in 284 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY. my province find congenial soil and climate. With all our disadvantages and want of development, I was able, in 1883, only the fifth year of my administration, to turn over to the Government a surplus revenue of £\2,- 000 for that year. This alone will show what might be done in time by means of an honest and efficient government." "It was rumored that you had vast stores of ivory in hand. Pasha. What of that?" "Ivory! I had collected for the Government more than 6000 fine, large tusks since our communications had been cut off. I had ivory enough, if I could have got it to market, to have paid off all the back salaries of my people, and have had a handsome surplus besides." Six thousand fine, large tusks would weigh in the neigh- borhood of two hundred American tons, worth in Zan- zibar about $6000 per ton. The value in Emin's sta- tions would, of course, in no wise approach this great sum of value — $1,200,000. Emin told the writer that he valued his stores of ivory, as they lay in his stations, at about ;^ 70,000. "We couldn't bring it with us," the Pasha continued, "so I threw most of it into the Nile, to prevent the enemy from getting it. Some, however, in outlying stations, I intrusted to the care of friendly native chiefs, not know- ing what changes and what opportunities time might bring." "What were you expecting as a result of Mr. Stan- ley's expedition? You say, or intimate, in everything you have said, that the results have been to you disap- pointing." "The results have certainly been disappointing to my TALKS WITH EM IN PASHA. 285 ambition. I did not wish to give up the work of so many years. Wlien we learned that a reHef expedition was talked of, we hoped for such relief as would enable me to maintain my province against the Mahdists. Perhaps we had no right to expect this. The wish was, perhaps, father to the thought." Since these talks with Emin and Stanley were penned by the author, the breach between them has widened; and as this volume goes to press, in May, 1890, word comes that Emin, having recovered from his mishap at Bagamoyo, has taken service with the Germans and proceeded into the interior again. It was Wednesday, Dec. 4, after the sunset gun had greeted our ears at Kikoko. The caravan, impatient for a glimpse of the sea, pulled out early and marched well. When I reached the never-to-be-forgotten Mtoni ferry, a big crowd of porters had already arrived and were waiting to be ferried over. There we were met by Major Wissmann. A champagne lunch was spread at the ferry for the Europeans, and every one present invited — all except the author! While the others reveled in champagne, cold ham, tongue, German sau- sage, and what not, one hapless white sat behind a bush and nibbled a few dry biscuits. Was there ever such a pitiful exhibition of small spleen, I wonder, as the gallant Major — ^who, to give him his due, is an excellent officer, and under ordinary conditions a good fellow — permitted himself to display that afternoon? Mr. Stanley evidently thought not, and so did Emin Pasha — so did every European present. After the lunch, Stanley and Emin mounted horses which had been brought out for them from Bagamoyo 286 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY. to ride on. A short distance from the ferry Wissmann, Stanley and Emin together overtook me and my boys. I was Hmping sHghtly from blistered feet. "Send back for my donkey and ride it, Mr. Stevens," said Stanley, in a tone meant as a pointed rebuke to Wissmann. "Ride my donkey, Mr Stevens," echoed Emin Pasha, in still more pointed tones. "Thanks, very much, Pasha," — and these were the last words your correspondent exchanged with Emin Pasha on this memorable occasion. That same even- ing, as all the world now knows, Emin Pasha stepped out of an upper window in Bagamoyo, and came within a hair's breadth of meeting his death. And when this happened I was a "refugee" aboard a British man-of- war in the harbor, the result of a further idiotic exhibi- tion of spleen on the part of the ofificer who had tried to prevent me going up country to meet Stanley and had failed. Would it not have been enough, if Major Wissmann deemed it necessary to show his disapproval of my actions in violating his orders, to have simply discrimi- nated against me at Bagamoyo, as he had done at Mtoni? I would never have said a word against that. It was his lunch at Mtoni and ///j" banquet again at Bagamoyo, to invite or not invite whom he pleased. The Major was feeling very sore, however, over the "very bad way he had been treated," as he expressed it. He didn't seem capable of reflecting that the unfair treatment had all along been directed against me. And when I sought the house of my good friend, the Hindi contractor who had aided mc in engaging my runners, TALKS WITE EM IN PA SUA. 287 I found that an order had gone forth — a ukase — threat- ening arrest, fine and imprisonment to any native who should give me shelter for so much as ten minutes! A white man — a Mzungu in Africa — high noon and a bhstering sun — hospitable Hindi wishes to take him in — coffee, sherbet, etc. — but obliged to beg him to pick up his traps and clear out ! "Clear out," all very well, but where to? Mtoni was a farce, a thing to smile at : a picture in which there was a certain amount of humor. But this order threat- ening people with arrest and imprisonment if they gave the white man shelter, whose offense was that he had successfully fought against an unrighteous dis- crimination, was of a different nature entirely. It was, considering the conditions, to say the least, a brutal and inhuman thing for a European officer to do. Wissmann can only be excused for issuing such an order on the supposition that he had indulged too freely at Mtoni and was not himself at the time. The writer is free to make this concession, because a few days later, in Zanzibar, when his ire had cooled and he had had time to reflect, the Major lifted his hat with the utmost courtesy whenever we met, and seemed anxious to make amends. He also paid a very flattering tribute to what I had achieved against such formidable odds, and told an English officer that it was the "pluckiest thing he had ever seen done in Africa." Mine was probably the first case on record, of Afri- cans being ordered by an European, to turn a white man out of their houses into the broiling sun of an African noon in a barbarous country. I was cordially received and hospitably entertained 288 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY. by Capt. Brackenbury of H. M. S. Turquoise, and the officers under his command. Nor did the gallant Captain pause to ask me whether I was English or American. It seemed sufficient for him that a white man in Africa was in need of assist- ance. On the following day he kindly gave me a pass- age to Zanzibar. My dispatches were sent and letters written. Con- gratulations, that I had prevailed against the Herald- German combination, and revenged myself by gaining a complete victory were cabled by the managers of TJie World, from New York. A fortnight's stay in Egypt, en route homeward, and a brief stay in London wxre made. Special courtesies were shown me at the Savage and Whitehall Clubs, London, and by the Hon. Secretary of the Royal Geo- graphical Society, who invited me to write a paper, to be read before the Society. By the end of February, 1890, I was again in New York. I had been gone four- teen months. I had not "found Stanley," as Stanley had found Livingstone in 1871 ; the circumstances were altogether different. I had, however, gratified a pardonable journalistic ambition in being the first cor- respondent to reach him and to give him the news of the world, after his long period of African darkness. That I had done this under most trying conditions, Mr. Stanley fully appreciated ; and warmly reciprocated by showing me every courtesy in his power, on the march to the coast, in Zanzibar, and in Egypt. THE END. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. RECEIVED AUG 3 19H3 CIRC. D£PJ. Ufi. i il FEB 271991 4mFZlr PSD 2343 9/77 ^t 3 1158 00881 6844 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 998 444 4