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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
3136 GIBRALTAR
.ocTA MESA, CAL.
COSTA Mes
92626
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SCOUTING FOR STANLEY IN
EAST AFRICA.
SCOUTING FOR STANLEY
IN
EAST AFRICA
BY
THOMAS STEVENS
AUTHOR OF " AROUND THE WORLD ON A BICYCLE," ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY
104 & 106 FOURTH AVENUE
COPYHICHT,
1890,
By O. M. DUNHAM.
All r lights reserved.
Prcso W. L. Mcrshon & Co.,
Rahway, N. J.
7f,
TO
Dr. WILLIAM L. ABBOTT,
MY GENIAL COMRADE
FOR SIX ADVENTUROUS MONTHS IN MASAI-LAND
AND THE
KILIMANJARO COUNTRY, EAST AFRICA,
Tins VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY HIS DEVOTED FRIEND,
THOMAS STEVENS.
PREFACE.
THE author of this unpretentious volume of East
African travels, sport, and adventure, submits it to
the public without apology, and without preface other
than the expression of gratitude for favors received at
the hands of many friends.
Kind remembrance is due to my friend and traveling
companion, Dr. W. L. Abbott, patron and contributor
to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., for
valuable assistance on the Masai-land expedition ; to
Mr. L. A. Bacheldcr, whose hospitality made my stay
in Zanzibar pleasant ; and to United States Consul
Seth A. Pratt and Mrs. Pratt, to whom I am indebted
for many courtesies. Also to Her Majesty's Consul-
General, Col. Euan-Smith, and to General Matthews,
Commander-in-chief of the army of His Highness the
Sultan of Zanzibar, thanks are due for courteous con-
sideration shown to the representative of an American
newspaper.
Captain Brackenbury of H. M. S. Turquoise won my
gratitude for receiving me aboard his ship in the Baga-
moyo roadstead, when Major Wissmann, German Im-
perial Commissioner, allowed himself to forget for the
moment that a German officer should always, and
under all circumstances, be a gentleman.
On the dash up country to meet Stanley and Emin,
IV PREFACE,
too much cannot be said in praise of the courtly beha-
vior of Baron von Gravenreuth, who, though compelled
to put me on parole, treated me with every considera-
tion. Thanks are also extended to his second in com-
mand. Lieutenant Langheld, for releasing me from my
parole, a courtesy that enabled me to gratify a personal
and journalistic ambition to meet Stanley and Emin
ahead of any other newspaper correspondent.
I also take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Stanley
for making me a sharer in all the good things that
reached him from the coast, on the return marches
from Msuwa to Bagamoyo — to Mr. Stanley's officers,
and to Emin Pasha.
Nor do I forget that thanks are likewise due to Bur-
roughs, Wellcome & Co., for fitting out the expedition
with a complete medicine chest, and to Mr. Henry S.
Wellcome, personally, for many kind attentions.
And, also, whilst not forgetting many other courte-
sies shown by many friends, lastly, to the editor and
business manager of the Neiv York World, who kindly
returned several installments of unpublished MSS., in
order that this book might be published without delay.
The Author.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA, - - - - i
II. RABAI TO TEITA, ----- xg
III. THE MARCH TO TAVETA, - - - - 26
IV. KILIMANJARO TRIBES, - - - . - 53
V. VISIT TO MACHAME, ----- 72
VI. MANDARA OF MOSCHI, . - - . 87
VII. INTO MASAI-LAND, 94
VIII. MASAI WOMEN, I18
IX. HUNTING ADVENTURES, .... 132
X. ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES, - - I48
XI. ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME, - - - 166
XII. ARABS AND SLAVES, . - . . 17^
XIII. THE slavers' POINT OF VIEW, ... igg
V
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
XIV. STANLEY AT LAST, - - - » - 210
XV. OVER THE "RUBICON," - - - . 223
XVI. MEETING STANLEY, - ... - 235
XVII. IN Stanley's camps, 255
XVIII. talks WITH EMIN PASHA, - - - 272
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TO FACE PAGE
PORTRAIT OF THOMAS STEVENS, - - - - Title
WANYAMWEZI PORTERS, ------ 12
PHOTO OF "world" EXPEDITION, ... jg
PORTERS BUYING FOOD, 30
KIMAWENZI KILIMA-NJARO KIBO, ... y^
MACHAME HOUSE {lluknOWIl bcfoic), - - - . - 80
MANDARA'S HOUSE, - 88
A PAIR OF EL-MORAN, ------ 96
MASAI WAR-PARTY, - - - - - - IIO
BAND OF MASAI WARRIORS APPROACHING CAMP, - I16
A SUCCESSFUL MORNING, I32
A MONSTER PYTHON, ------ 142
DR. ABBOTT'S TRIUMPH, 154
WA-TEITA WARRIORS, ---..„ 182
POSING FOR A PHOTOGRAPH, - . - . 20S
CAMP SCENE. ..------ 256
SCOUTING FOR STANLEY,
IN EAST AFRICA,
CHAPTER I.
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA.
FOR more than a year previous to the receipt of
letters from Mr. Stanley to the Chairman of the
Emin Pasha Relief Committee in London, dated
Aruwimi River, Aug. 28, 1888, and which were pub-
lished by the newspapers about April i, 1889, the
whole civilized world was wondering what had become
of the Emin Relief Expedition, and its gallant com-
mander.
In December, 1888, the desire for reliable news from
Stanley became so intense that the Nciv York World
decided to dispatch an expedition into the interior of
Africa to satisfy the public demand and relieve the
anxious suspense under which it had for eighteen
months labored. This decision arrived at, the writer set
sail on Jan. 5, 1889, from New York for England. Four
days of preparation in London, then overland to Brin-
disi to embark on the P. and O. steamer Valletta for
Port Said, Suez and Aden. At Aden, after a week's
delay in England's great "coal-hole of the East," con-
nection was made with the British-India steamer Bagh-
2 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
dad, that famous coaster whose cockroaches and bilge-
water have figured in the narrative of more than one
celebrated African explorer, and after a rather tedious
voyage of thirteen days, Zanzibar.
"Go to Zanzibar. Investigate the state of affairs
there. Let us know the truth about the troubles
between the Germans and Arabs. See what is to be
seen of the slave trade. P'ind out all you can about
Stanley and Emin Pasha, and, if necessary or advisable,
organize an expedition and penetrate the interior for
reliable news of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.
Spare no expense in carrying out the main object of
the enterprise, but at the same time don't throw away
money recklessly. Act on your own judgment when
you have reached Zanzibar and looked about you."
Such was the substance of the instructions on which
my actions were to be based. The easy facilities of
modern travel had enabled me to promptly carry out
the initial letter of this program, and after securing
comfortable quarters under the hospitable roof of an
American trading house in Zanzibar, no time was lost
in setting about the second.
When passing through England the London news-
papers had predicted that direct news from Stanley,
following dispatches that had been received from St.
Thome and Zanzibar, Dec. 21, 1888, would reach Lon-
don and appear in their columns "long before Mr.
Stevens reaches Zanzibar." This prediction, as well as
the knowledge that there was nothing very imi^rob-'
able in it, naturally kept one on "pins and needles"
C7i voyage. News was anxiously inquired for at every
port. But there was nothing new at Brindisi; nothing
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA. 3
new at Port Said, nor at Suez; at Mombasa, where we
also touched, the missionaries were in communication
with the Victoria Nyanza, but they knew no more than
I did about the Stanley Expedition.
At ail these points no news, but what of Zanzibar?
How often that question had occurred to the writer
during the eleven days' isolation abroad the crawling
Baghdad may be left to the reader's imagination. Pro-
ceeding directly to the American Consulate, I inquired
for news of Stanley. "There is nothing new," said the
Consul, "nothing later than the simultaneous dispatches
from St. Thome and Zanzibar two months ago, which
reached America before you left."
Nothing new was known either at the British Con-
sulate, which is the best informed medium in Zanzibar.
Missionaries, Hindi merchants, and Arab traders in com-
munication with the interior were sought out and inter-
viewed, and, thanks to the courtesy and friendly inter-
est of Mr. Pratt, the American Consul, even His High-
ness Khalifa-bin-Said, the late Sultan of Zanzibar, sat
patiently for half an hour in private audience under
the catechetical ordeal of the author. The Sultan was
most gracious ; he was in communications with Tip-
poo Tib, he said, had heard from the famous Arab
slave-trader and friend of Stanley, in fact, but a few
days before, but he could tell me nothing new of the
latter gentleman's movements.
All sources of possible information were probed and
every means at hand exhausted to learn something
definite on which to base future movements, but to no
avail. The whereabouts and condition of the Emin
Relief Expedition remained the same ungraspable point
4 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
of interest in the terra incognita of the unexplored
region between the Albert Nyanza and the Aruwimi,
about which the speculations and opinions of half a
world had puzzled for eighteen months past.
But though nothing of an authentic nature was to be
learned, the atmosphere of Zanzibar was electrical with
anticipation. The promised letters from Stanley had
been eagerly looked forward to from day to day for
several weeks. Hints w^ere freely indulged in by know-
ing customers that the British Government and the
officials of the Emin Relief Committee in London knew
more than they cared just at present to give to the pub-
lic. Any morning a "Renter's" might be expected to
arrive from London and prick the bubble of popular
suspense in Zanzibar with positive news of Stanley, to
be followed by the next mail with his own letters in
the Times.
On the other hand, the prognostications of the Lon-
don press had not been fulfilled, and, although the air
was thick with rumors and the hours big with expect-
ancy, there yet remained the same lack of authentic
news that had jarred on the sensibilities of a deeply
interested public for many weary months. People had
grown sick of rumors, and had been misled so often by
dispatches from Zanzibar or from the Congo that noth-
ing short of reliable information would now satisfy their
legitimate craving for news of the long-missing expedi-
tion. To try and obtain this, and transmit it to civili-
zation, was the principal part of the task tliat had
brought me to Zanzibar.
Plainly, so far as could be gathcrctl by tlie Hrst few
days' research, the only way to obtain this would be
ZANZIBAR AXD MOMBASA. 5
to organize an expedition and go and seek it in tlie
same distant sphere that had swallowed up for so long
a period the object of universal solicitation.
Here, then, was a grand opportunity ; the one chance,
mayhap, of a lifetime, to spring into fame on the stage
of African exploit. How would "How I Found Stan-
ley" look in the libraries with "How I Found Living-
stone?" Sic iter ad astra ! And yet it would never do
to risk the customary three months' advance pay of a
large caravan of porters and sink other thousancis in
outfitting an expedition to-day, if Stanley were going
to emerge, crowned with the laurel-wreath of victory,
from his puzzling obscurity to-morrow. To a modern
Croesus, responsible to no one but himself, this view of
the case might be scarcely worth a thought, but as the
writer came under neither one nor the other of these
heads, there was no dodging the fact that this was a
consideration not to be ignored.
It was no easy matter to decide what was best to be
done. What I had undertaken was anything but a
plain, straightforward task which one could go ahead
and accomplish, "looking neither to the right nor the
left." After bestowing much thought and investiga-
tion on the subject, I decided to remain in Zanzibar a
month before making up my mind about the expedi-
tion into the interior. Something authentic one way
or the other would very likely turn up in that time.
Perhaps the promised letters from Stanley would appear
in the London papers if I gave them a few weeks'
grace, or some definite clue, by which one might be
guided in prosecuting a search, would come to light.
\\\ the mean time my month of waiting would by no
6 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
means be four weeks of inactivity. There was plenty
to do and to learn, and more than enough to occupy
my time and attention in and about Zanzibar. The
place had ceased of late to be the Zanzibar of old.
Momentous changes were taking place that had riveted
upon this entrepot of African commerce the attention
of the whole Western world. Zanzibar was no longer
the Zanzibar known to Burton, to Livingstone, and to
Stanley in the earlier stages of his African career.
Difficulties thickened as one looked about him and
grew familiar with his surroundings. Africa, or at all
events the Eastern Equatorial part of it, did not now
belong to the Africans, nor even to its early colonizers,
the Arabs. The white traveler was no longer able to
come and go at his pleasure. All the old, well-known
routes to the lake region, from Bagamoyo, Dar-es-
Salaam, Sadaani, were blocked against the European,
and all the ports of the Zangian coast below Mombasa
were forbidden him as a result of the troubles growing
out of the late German acquisitions. The prestige of
that heretofore demi-god, the Mzungu (white man), had
sunk to a lower level among the Arabs and Swahali
population of Zanzibar and the adjacent coast than it
had ever reached in this region before.
German war-ships were steaming up and down the
coast, bombarding and burning. Several of the more
important coast ports were in ashes, and the trading
communities of British Indian subjects had decamped
en masse to Zanzibar and Bombay, their business
ruined, their houses burned to the ground. The native
population was in a ferment of resentment against the
whole white race. Missionaries were killed or held for
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA. 7
ransom, and the withdrawal of the Germans was de-
manded by the natives.
Moreover, scarcely a day passed in Zanzibar itself
without some arbitrary proclamation, arising from the
unsettled state of affairs, being issued to hamper and
curtail the liberty of one's movements. The whole
coast was in a state of blockade by the combined fleets
of England and Germany against the importation of
arms and ammunition. The sale and purchase of the
same articles were prohibited. Mombasa, being under
English management, was still a peaceful, open port :
yet, because of blockading restrictions, no arms or
ammunition could be landed there without a special
permit from the British Consul ; and another document
had to be obtained for the privilege of passing inland
beyond the ten-mile limit of the littoral, which marked
theboundary between the I. B. E. A. Company's actual
concessions from the Sultan of Zanzibar and their
sphere of influence beyond.
Owing to the courtesy and good will shown me, as
the representative of a great American newspaper, by
the British Consul-General, Col. Euan-Smith, the two
latter difficulties were, as a matter of fact, less real than
apparent ; but, after all, the perfect freedom of other
days was gone. Statements had to be made and inten-
tions declared. There was now a chartered company
in possession of the one available port outside the
hostile area, which had the power to demand explana-
tions and to forbid an expedition, if it willed.
This company was desirous of keeping everybody
else out of the field in the matter of the expedition for
the relief of Emin Pasha. It had invested a laree sum
8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
of money in the Stanley expedition, the great object
of which, apart from the rehef of the ex-Egyptian
governor, was to secure for its exploitation the rich
commercial field of the Equatorial Province, Uganda,
Unyoro, and the Upper Nile territory. The promoters
of the company and the chief patrons of the Emin
Relief Expedition were to all intents and purposes one
and the same, and it was fully recognized by them that
the best interests of the former depended very largely
on the success of the latter.
Three weeks passed by, and still no news of Stanley.
My plan of campaign had been thoroughly studied and
decided on. Even now I was reluctant to embark on a
costly expedition, and yet it would be equally rash to
delay active operations any longer. Oh, for some defi-
nite clue as to whether news of Stanley was actually on
the way or not !
After giving the subject much thought, I determined
to pursue a conservative policy for some time longer
and adopt a middle course which would give me com-
mand of the field should rivals appear on the scene,
and which could yet be carried out at a reasonable out-
lay. My decision was to organize the advance column
of the expedition and proceed inland a couple of hun-
dred miles from Mombasa, and, forming headquarters
near Mount Kilimanjaro, await events for some weeks
longer. If at the end of that time I felt justified in
pushing on to the far interior, it would be simply a case
of getting more men and goods up from Zanzibar and
continuing on my way.
My determination to follow out this plan was
strengthened and encouraged by the arrival from the
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA. 9
Kilimanjaro country of Dr. Abbott, who had spent a
year up there collecting specimens to be presented to
the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. He
had returned to the coast to bring his collection and to
reorganize his caravan for another campaign in the same
region. Much useful information was obtained from
this gentleman, who, as it afterwards turned out, was
to be the companion of my wanderings for several
months. As he was going back at once, we could join
forces to Kilimanjaro. We could both mak: our head-
quarters at Taveta, a friendly forest community at the
southeast corner of the great snowy mountain that forms
the most prominently interesting feature of East Equa-
torial Africa. At this point I could command three
trade routes leading up toward the region in which the
Stanley expedition had disappeared, and by knocking
about with him and interviewing returning Arab and
Swahili slave-traders I might possibly learn something
about it.
At all events, this seemed by far the most sensible
course to pursue and the one most likely to give results
worth having. For one thing, I would gain experience,
and be able to profit by it in fitting out the larger
expedition, and in many ways this preliminary move
would be of great advantage. With all caravans bound
long distances into the interior from Pangani or Mom-
basa, Taveta is regarded as a very convenient first ad-
vance. All find it desirable to halt there for a certain
length of time. One is still within touch, so to speak,
of the coast. Here everything is overhauled, and any
changes that may have been suggested by the journey
from the coast are made. Here any mistakes that may
lO SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
have been made in the organization and outfitting of a
caravan may be rectified, and any important thing that
has been overlooked or forgotten can, at a pinch, be got
up from the coast before plunging into the wilds of
Masai-land beyond, and if superfluities have been dis-
covered they may be left there in perfect safety any
length of time.
Here Thomson, when retreating from the menaces of
the Sigarari Masai, obtained refuge for his demoralized
followers for a couple of months, while he returned to
Mombasa for more men and goods ; and at Taveta, also.
Count Teleki found it necessary to spend three months
in the work of organization before undertaking his
great journey to Suk and Elgumi.
The middle of March had arrived, and nothing had
been heard of Stanley since the simultaneous and
doubtful dispatches from St. Thome and Zanzibar
three months before. Dr. Abbott and myself having
decided to join forces as far as Kilimanjaro, we deter-
mined to proceed to Mombasa.
One hundred and ten men had been engaged for us
by our Zanzibar agent, and we learned that we should be
able to secure as many more as we might want at the
mission stations of Frere Town and Rabai when we
reached the port of our departure for the interior.
Sacks of beads, bales of cloth, big coils of seneng^
(iron wire the size of telegraph wire), and lesser coils
of fine and coarser copper wire, boxes of provisions,
clothing, ammunition in tin-lined cases, tents for sleep-
ing in and storing goods — all these were weighed,
assorted, and covered with palm-fibre matting, each
piece being reduced to sixty pounds weight, a porter's
ZANZIBAR AND AfOA/BASA. H
load, and were piled up ready for shipment to Mom-
basa. By the courtesy of the British Consul-General
our arms and ammunition had already preceded us
aboard II. M. S. Turquoise, of the blockading squadron,
and were now awaiting our orders at Mombasa.
Arab dhows were invented by His Most Satanic
Majesty at some obscure period of the past for the pur-
pose of trying white men's souls and tempting Chris-
tain tongues to sulphurous profanity. They are, beyond
doubt, the most uncomfortable craft that ride the seas.
Our dhow seemed built for the express purpose of div-
ing under the first wave that might come along. Her
stern pointed rakishly cloudward and her bow dipped
toward the water like the toe of a shoe. Most dhows
are so atrociously filthy that, as they pass you to wind-
ward, though a mile away, you will, if at all fastidious, do
well to bury your nose in your handkerchief. But we
had been fortunate in securing the services of a craft
known in -Zanzibar as the "mail dhow," because it is
sometimes intrusted with the native mail between
Zanzibar and Muscat. The mail dhow, besides a
reputation for speed, had the redeeming feature of
cleanliness. Pointing this out and waving a skinny
hand at an incoming dhow, whose cargo of half-decayed
shark polluted the air, by way of emphasizing his
point, her ancient skipper demanded $300 for the
trip. After no end of bargaining, however, we beat the
old fellow down to a more reasonable price, and on the
morning in question, our preparations being complete,
we got the men and goods aboard and bid farewell to
Zanzibar.
It has become a settled custom in Zanzibar to pay
t± SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
porters engaged for an expedition into the interior three
months' wages in advance. It is one of the most
mischievous and annoying innovations that could pos-
sibly have been introduced. The money itself is noth-
ing; that might as well be paid in advance as at any
other time. But the system has called into existence a
brood of artful dodgers who engage as porters for the
sole purpose of receiving this advance pay and decamp-
ing at the first favorable opportunity with their guns.
Many of these worthies have already become quite ex-
pert bounty-jumpers, receiving as the reward of persever-
ance in this slippery course three months' advance pay
from first one white traveler and then another. Occas-
ionally the outraged Msungu has the satisfaction of
hearing that his agent has pounced on one of the delin-
quents and put him in the Zanzibar chain-gang for a
term of weeks, and with this he must fain be content.
The custom, as may be supposed, exerts a pernicious
influence on the whole tribe of porters. The East
African pegazi is a happy and irresponsible scamp at
best, and to come forward willingly and work out three
months' wages that he has already squandered in a few
days and nights of riotous living is altogether too much
to expect of one whose name is, or ought to be,
"Unstability." Nothing but the fear of dire punish-
ment prevents every Zanzibar porter who has received
and squandered this advance leaving you in the lurch
on the day of departure, and on the way up country
the knowledge that he owes you three months' service
is a standing tem])tation for him to desert. The system
ought to be abolished. Its abolition would lessen the
difficulties and annoyances of African travel one half,
-^X ^ ^i^ "^"^gg^S:
WANVAMWEZl I'ORTEKS.
I
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA. 13
and would, moreover, be a benefit rather than a hard-
ship to the men.
The Wanyamwezi are the only porters on whom the
system docs not seem to exert a pernicious influence.
Instead of squandering their money in a few days'
debauchery, these sensible men, whom the Zanzibaris
despise as "washenzies," or uncivilized, bank it with
the agent that books them until their return. In a few
years they return to Unyamwezi comparatively wealthy
men.
The day of our departure was fearfully hot. The
tropic sun glared down into the stuffy dimensions of
the dhow and heated her rude timbers like a furnace.
We stood on the after-deck and called the roll of the
expedition while the crew cleared away and hoisted sail.
The indescribable "bouquet" from a hundred sweltering
sons of Africa filled the vessel from stem to stern. Our
dhow sported one enormous and apparently top-heavy
lateen sail. With a vast expenditure of grunts and
orders this sail was finally hoisted, and a scarcely per-
ceptible breeze enabled us to tack slowly toward the
north.
About noon a launch from a British blockader
boarded us, and once during the night, which was bril-
liantly moonlit, a second Englishman overhauled us
on a stern chase. Our singing, garrulous cargo, how-
ever, although slaves for the most part, were not the
raw material, subject to confiscation, and drawing near
enough to ascertain who we were, the big blockader
passed on about her business.
Toward evening of the second day out Mombasa
Island, distinguished by cocoa-palms and the rigging
14 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
of a man-of-war in the harbor, came in view. We were
plunging at great speed, under the influence of a spank-
ing breeze, through water startlingly shallow and of
remarkable clearness. Coral reefs shone white beneath
us and pointed up in huge, jagged masses so near
the surface that we expected every minute to hear a
crash and to see the dhow shivered to splinters against
some bold submarine crag. With what seemed to us
like a sublime faith in kismet the captain of the dhow
steered his craft over these dangerous shoals without
the aid of chart or compass. His blind faith, however,
carried him through, for near sunset we swung round a
bold point of shore, and skimming through an extremely
narrow channel found ourselves inside the lovely, land-
locked harbor of Mombasa. Our old friend H. M. S.
Turquoise policed the harbor. She had, a few days
before, run aground in the canal-like entrance.
And now, as we "lay to" and submit to a second over-
hauling of the mail dhow's papers, a word about Mom-
basa, the point selected for the departure of the expedi-
tion, will not be out of order. As our craft hove to
and sandwiched herself in between various other speci-
mens of her kind which were marshaled in disorderly
array before the town, we looked about us and thought
our eyes had seldom rested on a lovelier spot. The
British Company had at least secured a noble harbor,
whatever the value of their concession as a whole.
We were in a land-locked bay in which twenty steam-
ships might find safe and easy anchorage. On the
south side lay the town of Mombasa, the same unpre-
possessing jumble of dilapidated houses that characterize
Eastern towns in general, but, like these also, present-
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA. 1$
inga fair enough picture when not too closely inspected.
An element of the mediaeval, and not a little pictur-
esqueness, is imparted to the scene by the remains of an
old Portuguese fort which occupies a position on a bold
bluff overlooking and commanding the entrance to the
harbor. The crenelated battlements of this venerable
reminder of the Portuguese occupation of the sixteenth
century is about the only interesting piece of architec-
ture in Mombasa, though some affect to see this quality
in certain remains of some old Persian houses that still
exist.
On the north shore, opposite the city, a bold coral
bluff rises from the water and describes an arc of a
mile or thereabouts to the westward, where it terminates
in the sandy beach and luxuriant vegetation of Frere
Town. All around the precipitous shore is crowned
with a continuous belt of cocoa-palms, and tropic
creepers climb in profusion down its steep face to the
water.
The flourishing C. M. S. mission settlement of Frere
Town occupies the. upper end of the harbor. It is
separated from Mombasa, which is on an island, by a
picturesque creek or inlet, which winds back a dozen
miles toward the Rabai hills, and which, with its south-
ern branch, separates Mombasa from the mainland.
Frere Town is named in honor of Sir Bartle Frere and
his memorable visit to Zanzibar to try and induce
Seyyid Barghash to agree to the suppression of the
slave trade in his dominions. The station is beauti-
fully situated, and presents a charming picture of white
houses, feathery palms, and dense mango groves, slop-
ing gently up from a curved strip of beach.
l6 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Such, then, was Mombasa as we saw it and its imme-
diate surroundings from the deck of our dhow. Its
aspect and situation are not unworthy of its history,
which has been somewhat interesting and at times quite
stirring. As far back as the fourteenth century Mom-
basa — called by its inhabitants Mvita — was known to
the Arabs as a flourishing and important place. Two
centuries later it was visited by the celebrated voyager
Vasco di Gama during his famous voyage around the
Cape of Good Hope to India. Indeed, this venture-
some navigator came near being shipwrecked on the
very reefs over which our dhow had skimmed like a
bird as we approached the entrance to its harbor.
Since those days the city has changed hands by the
stormy fortunes of siege and assault some fifteen times.
Portuguese, Arabs, Turks, and Swahilis have occupied
and been ousted from it in turn. At length, in 1827,
it came under the dominion of the Sultanate of Zanzi-
bar, since which time its trade has steadily decayed and
its importance diminished. Its latest transfer, however,
will probably change its fortunes for the better once
again. As the chief port of the I. B. E. A. Co.'s con-
cession wc may expect to see this interesting old town
revive and flourish as it never did before, for the policy
of the Company is to induce Hindis and Banyan
traders to settle and do business in Mombasa. Trade
and wealth follow in the wake of these keen business
emigrants as an infallible law of commercial gravitation.
Obtaining leave from the missionaries to make our
camp beneath a spreading mango grove in Frere Town,
wc i^itched our tent and made ourselves comfortable
until the coming of the first monsoon rains, before
ZANZIBAR AND MOMBASA. 17
which the journey inland across the wilderness for the
first five or six days would he impossible. A season
of drought had been followed, as is often the case, by
unusual delay in the breaking of the monsoon. Rain
must come to fill the pools on the trail between the
coast and the mountains of Teita before any caravan
could proceed up countr\^, and, however impatient to be
off, its advent must be waited for.
The drought delayed us at Frere Town ten days, but
the time did not hang heavily on our hands. We found
plenty to do. If our evenings and leisure hours were
those of Arcadians and the moonlight nights within our
arboreal camp gloriously tropical, our days were full of
the work and worry of preparation. Sixty more men
had to be recruited, and our rabble of Zanzibaris had to
be daily fed and kept out of mischief.
Every morning the roll was called and ration, or
posho, issued to each man. Regularly as the crowing
of the cocks, in the huts of the Wangwana round about
us rung out every morning the cry of "posho, posho !"
as we endeavored to infuse some idea of promptness
and order in the minds of the men.
To stir up the sluggish blood of the Zanzibar porter
and get him to take an interest in something beyond
the wants of his own stomach and kindred gratifications
has been tried, I suppose, by every African traveler.
All have failed. They have virtues, however ; and they
are cheaply fed when food is to be obtained. Eight pice
per day was considered princely generosity in ration
money at Frere Town. Our men, after receiving this
amount in the morning, used to go swaggering about
Mombasa with the air of men accustomed to having
1 8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
plenty of money. The high-rollers of the expedition,
after squandering four pice on food, would get glori-
ously drunk on the remainder. Drunken men came
reeling into camp, and occasionally some got into mis-
chief in Mombasa and we heard of them being incar-
cerated in the jail or serving time in the chain-gang.
These we had to get released, and all shortcomings
had to be overlooked, for at this stage of the game the
men were slippery as eels, and at any show of severity
would have deserted like rats from a ship.
Aside from the cares and worry of keeping our men
in hand, life passed pleasantly enough in the mission
station. Food was abundant. We reveled on chickens
and sweet potatoes, and drank the milk of cocoanuts
instead of water, which was rather bad. The native
life w^as new and interesting to me, though more
familiar to my companion. We were in a settlement
of freed slaves. Rescued boys now grown to men, and
women and children captured aboard slave dhows by
British "men-of-war, form the population of Frere Town.
Land has been acquired by the Church Mission Society
and divided into little plots for the maintenance of the
older refugees. The children are taught in the mission
schools.
These freed slaves form a curious and interesting
community. Here one sees types of every tribe in
East and Central Africa, from the near-by Wa-Teita to
the distant races beyond the Victoria Nyanza. The
older people, of course, retain something of the man-
ners and customs of their several tribes, and on occasions
of merry-making, or almost any evening, may be seen,
under the shade of the same grove, dances and barbar-
ous drummingpcculiar to tribes a thousand miles apart.
i
CHAPTER 11.
RABAI TO TEITA.
RAINS having come we determined, on March 26,
to move inland to the mision station of Rabai, as
our start into the wilderness would be from that point,
A day of bustling preparation at Rabai, and general
overhauling, together with the enrollment of more re-
cruits, and on Friday, March 29, the expedition was
ready to march. And as it files out past the rude mud
and thatch dwellings of the Wa-nyika and freed slaves
of the Rabai Mission settlement, a glance at its compo-
sition and personnel may be of passing interest to the
reader.
Let us see what it is composed of. At Frcre Town
and Rabai we had enlisted sixty men, thus swelling
our total to one hundred and seventy. They are, to
judge from outward appearances, as bloodthirsty and
ferocious a band as ever marched with Morgan the
buccaneer at the sacking of Panama. If a casual ac-
quaintance, ignorant of their real character, you would
fancy them afraid of nothing, and, with their Sniders
and Winchester repeaters jauntily slung at their backs
or carried in one hand, invincible among the savages of
the interior.
That elderly man starting at the head of the column
with the American flag floating proudly from a bamboo
pole is the kirangozi or guide. His name is Saburi
19
20 SCOUTING FOR STAiXLEY.
(Patience), and you can see, by the amount of lead in
his heels and the expression of sweet, cat-in-the-sun-
shine repose on his face, that his name is most appro-
priate indeed. Although he doesn't know the way any
better than you do, who have never been in Africa, he
applied for the position of kirangozi to dodge carrying
a load. Every man in the caravan would have asked
for it, too, if there had been any chance of getting it.
It is a sort of ornamental position, much coveted, be-
cause there is little to do and a chance to pose as a per-
son of some importance. We gave it to Saburi because
he was the oldest man in the caravan. Age, among Afri-
cans, carries respect, though dullness, rather than wis-
dom, comes often with riper years.
That frisky young man in a striped shirt, who is
shouting some outlandish jargon and trying his best to
start a marching song, is Kipandi Changuru (a piece of
fish), a Mnyamwezi slave, owned in Zanzibar.
That string of twenty-five nearly naked and very
dark-skinned porters following behind him are Wany-
amwezi freemen. Their homes are at Unyanyembe,
or Tabora, in far Unyamwezi, the Land of the Moon,
through which the southern route to Ujiji passes
from Bagamoyo. They have come do^\•n to Zanzibar
with some Arab ivory trader and have taken service
in the A\hitc man's caravan, knowing that his yoke
is easy and his pay good. They are all carr}'ing bales
of cloth, loads which they prefer to boxes and which
they generally manage to secure. They fasten the
bales in forked sticks, the stem of which forms a
prop to assist in setting down or shouldering the
load. They carry their loads on the shoulder, while
RABAI TO TEITA. 21
the rest of the men prefer to carry on the head. They
are less civihzed than the Zanzibaris. Many of them
wear a few coils of iron wire on the ankles, a bit
of copper wire around the neck or a few beads
threaded in the hair, by way of ornament. The hos-
tility of the Zanzibaris compels them to form a clique
or section of the caravan by themselves, and from first
to last they will be seen strung out in even line, one
man a couple of yards behind another, though the rest
of the porters may be scattered along the trail for miles.
They are the steadiest and most reliable men in the
caravan. They are used to hard fare and loads of a
hundred pounds in the service of the Arabs of Uny-
anyambe. Their weak points are their inability to swim
a stream and their timidity in the presence of hostile
savages. To do them justice, however, in the latter
particular, they do not desert at the prospect of danger
ahead, as the Zanzibaris, who claim to be more courage-
ous, will not hesitate to do. They will not take service
in a caravan where Somali askari are employed, as the
latter, being fanatical Mohammedans, delight in knock-
ing them about. They have no religion beyond the
usual fetichism of the African savage.
Behind the Wanyamwezi come three Waganda slaves.
Hamis Mganda has set up as the wit of the caravan.
Before starting out he sent all into a roar of laughter
by refusing to accept a gun, and waving his knob-stick
aloft declared himself better armed against the Masai
than anybody. This bit of bravado was very near the
truth, for nine-tenths of these negroes would be better
armed with cudgels than with Sniders.
Yon fellow, who is reeling with his load, unable to
22 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
walk straight under the influence of another "load"
within, is Mambo (The Crocodile). He is a Zanzibari,
and before the confines of Rabai are reached he flings
his load to the ground, smashes his calabash, and in
husky tones announces his intention to desert. His
chum, Kiboko (The Hippopotamus), and r5udu (The
Insect), follow his example. It is only the tembo, or
fermented sap of the cocoa-palm, however, that is act-
ing and talking so boldly on this occasion.
Next comes Ismael Pishi, our cook. Heaven help
us! Did ever you see such a blank, vacant counte-
nance, such a facial mien of doughy bread, burned
roasts and muddy coffee since the day you were born?
We have no time to think about such trifles as dys-
peptic fare, however, for the yard of the house, kindly
given over to us for the day by the Rev. Mr. Morris,
is fast turning into a pandemonium. Shall we ever be
able to restore order and get the main body of the por-
ters started? What a rabble they are, to be sure!
Early as is the hour, half of them are intoxicated.
Most of the Frere Town and Rabai men are hiding in
the houses of their friends, meaning to linger till the
last moment over pots of palm-toddy, or vaguely hop-
ing to give us the slip entirely.
What a morning of drunken, riotous confusion in the
mission settlement it was, that last hour in the shadow
of such civilization as the Zangian coast can show!
Palm-toddy flowed like water. The Rabai hills are
covered with cocoa-palms, and tembo was hawked about
among our already fuddled crew at one pice a cup.
Men could get gloriously drunk for a penny. Plights
and squabbles over the possession of the lighter loads
RABAT TO TEITA. 23
occupied us for hours. To attempt to restore order
was to waste time on an impossibility. Not until
Rabai was left behind and the fumes of its tembo had
left the childish brains of these black imps could we
hope to get them in anything like control.
At length the loads were all portioned out, and the
Sniders and Winchesters distributed, and with such
singing, yelling and shouting as one might expect from
the same number of lunatics the yard was cleared.
All Rabai turned out to shout its farewells to the por-
ters, and friends were inveigled into the huts to indulge
in yet another parting gourd of tembo. Our bales and
boxes were littered about the streets, where drunken
porters had flung them down and run away to skulk
and dodge for a while longer the duty of pulling out.
Abbott and the head-men remained to hunt these
laggards up and to clear the town of the reluctant
wretches, who, if left to themselves, would skulk for
hours, and perhaps not come at all.
The larger part of the caravan, however, is now on
the road, and so I push ahead. The young man trot-
ting at my heels is -my boy, Alfred Christopher. While
camped at Frere Town there came to our tent one
afternoon a very black and odd-looking youth. His
eyes were sunk in his head so deep that nothing was to
be seen of them but two black, beady pupils, and on
his left temple was a huge scar that shone like a sur-
face of patent leather. He took off his hat and cocked
his ears forward, and said "Good-morning, sir." The
hat and the "good-morning, sir," proclaimed the mission
boy of Fere Town. The ears were not only fine, large,
promising ears, but in moments when their owner was
24 SCOUTING FOR STAXLEY.
interested in anything they positively cocked forward
and expanded visibly. In such moments Alfred
always seemed to me to retreat perilously near to that
evolutionary line \\'hich distinguished him from an
orang-outang. Our visitor evidently had something of
importance to communicate, but hardly knew how to
begin so as to make the best impression» He stood for
a moment toying with a rude sling, with which he had
been shying stones at trees.
"I can kill a Masai with this, sir," at length he said,
breaking into an expansive grin.
"Why, you brave young man ! Kill a Masai, eh ! I
see the missionaries have been teaching you the story
of David and Goliah. Let's see if you can hit that tree."
No, he couldn't hit the tree, but if there were a big
crowd of foes bunched up together he was sure he could
hit one of them.
"Well, where did you come from — where did the
missionaries get you from — up a tree?"
"No, sir, Kavirondo."
"Egypt," spoke up Ali, our Zanzibar table-boy, — who
knew no more of Egypt than of the moon, except that
he had heard it mentioned.
"Yes, sir, Egypt," echoed Alfred.
"But which — Egypt or Kavirondo?"
"Yes, sir."
"I suppose you were captured on a dhow, eh? '
"Yes, sir, in the hot sea" (Indian Ocean).
"The hot sea — are you sure?"
"Yes, sir, or else the cold sea" (Victoria Nyanza).
"But which — hot or cold."
"Lots of bananas grow there, sir."
RABAT TO TEITA. 25
"What, in the sea?"
This was too complicated for the modern David, how-
ever, who couldn't follow a train of thought more than
a couple of stages without a vast expenditure of time
and patience on the part of his questioner.
A boy who could talk English and Ki-Swahili was
what I had been looking out for, so, independent of his
extraordinary abilities as a fighter, I engaged Alfred
Christopher. His duty on the march was to carry my
waterproof coat, water-bottle, and spare rifle, and to
always be within call. After the first three days I
never knew him to be within a mile of me when it came
on to rain, when I was thirsty, or when there was any-
thing to be shot. About once a week waterproof,
canteen, or gun-cover would be left somewhere on the
road, and as he was generally at the tail end of the
caravan while I was in the lead, the article would not
be missed until he meandered into camp, when men
would have to be sent back for it. Moreover, instead of
being the brave and warlike individual of his own repre-
sentations, he turned out as timid and panicky as a
hare in March. But he could speak English and was
fairly intelligent as an interpreter between myself and
the men, and so came in useful at times.
As we push on with rapid stride we overtake first one
section of our caravan and then another. In addition
to our own men are a number of Wa-Teita savages,
who have, like us, been waiting for the rains. They
are returning home from a visit to Mombasa, and for
safety attach themselves to us. Some of the porters
have hired them for a yard or two of cloth to assist in
carrying their loads as far as they are going.
CHAPTER III.
THE MARCH TO TAVETA.
AT last we are clear of Rabai, for those persons bring-
ing up the rear are Hamis, the winyumpari or head-
man, and Kilimbili (The Wrist), his assistant. Much
depends on the head man of a caravan, and we are a
little anxious, for we have not yet had an opportunity
to put Hamis to the test.
And now you have seen the last of the caravan file
into the wilderness, I can almost hear your comments.
"A queer lot," I fancy would be your most reserved
and cautious judgment as you feel thankful that they
have, at least, turned their backs on the tembo-gourds
of Rabai.
They are indeed far more "queer" than you imagine.
There is hardly one, outside the Wanyamwezi, who is
not abominably lazy, and as for courage, the very word
"Masai" makes the boldest porter among them think
of deserting. A flock of sheep suspicious of wolves
ahead is fairly descriptive of them from the standpoint
of courage; though, to do them justice, it is only the
Masai they are so afraid of. Most of the tribes are as
timid as themselves, and if they tremble with fear of
the warlike El-Moran, they will even matters up by
lording it over the poorly armed and less combative
people we shall visit.
Almost before we had left the confines of Rabai we
20
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 27
were in the wilderness, or Nyika. The fringe of fields
is a mere ribbon of rudely cultivated soil along the
coast at this point, and with startling abruptness the
palms degenerated into skeleton specimens here and
there, stunted and non-productive — vegetable failures.
For any evidence to the contrary about, we might have
already een hundreds of miles from the coast, although
the music of the surf was plainly audible. Marching
for a couple of hours, we formed camp in a location
called M-watchie, and spent the remainder of the day
in pulling our caravan together, distributing cartridges,
and teaching the head-men and the more intelligent of
the porters how to manipulate the Winchester repeaters.
This was no slight task. We learned early enough the
mistake of placing good guns in the hands of African
porters. Old Tower muskets are the proper weapons
to arm these people with, or some strong and simple
breech-loader like the English Snider. The chief use
of a gun in their hands is to make a noise.
Beyond M-watchie we marched through a country of
pleasing aspect, of grass and budding acacias. But a
week before the whole country had been parched and
barren, black where it had been burned, and gray and
equally forbidding to the eye where it had escaped the
fire. The tufts of parched grass crumbled into powder
beneath the tread, and spiral columns of dust careered
and swirled in all directions. Perhaps no piece of
country in the world better merited the name it bears —
the Nyika, or wilderness. In this same Nyika, how-
ever, a few showers of rain work wonders. Within the
week, the tardy monsoons we had waited Jor at Frere
Town completelj' transformed it.
28 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
With abundant rations of rice and odorous shark, our
men were in good spirits, and the long line of porters
following in Indian file the tortuous path, carrying on
their heads boxes, bales, tents and baggage, sang and
shouted noisily, frightening away the timid hartebeests
which now and then were already to be seen in the
parks.
Our Wanyamwezi, marching together in the same
regular order as yesterday, struck up a vociferous and
truly African refrain, while the rest of the caravan sang
the chorus. No matter how hot the day or how tired
his limbs, the porter seems always ready to split his
throat in singing and shouting. For this or for danc-
ing he seldom gets too tired. The Wanyamwezi are
noted shouters. They commenced a song in praise of
the white man, and many joined in heartily.
"Great is the Mzungu! Woh ! woh !" sung the
melodists from the Land of the Moon.
"Woh! woh! woh! the Mzu-n-gu-u-u ! woh!" chor-
used the caravan.
"The Mzungu is great! woh!"
"Woh! woh! woh! the Mzu-n-g-u-u ! woh!"
"Great is the Mericani (Dr. Abbott, who is widely
known by that title among the natives of East Central
Africa) woh !"
"Woh ! woh ! woh ! the Mericani ! woh !"
"Our food is rice and fish! woh!"
"Woh ! woh ! woh ! rice and fish ! !"
"Woh ! ! our food is rice and fish ! !"
"Great is the Mzungu ! woh !"
"Woh! woh! woh! the Mzungu! woh!"
"He gives us rupees! rupees!"
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 29
"VVoh ! woh ! woh ! he gives us rupees! rupees!
woh !"
This is hardly a Hteral translation, but is a fair
interpretation of the ideas on which the changes were
rung again and again until throats became too hoarse
or thirsty to continue any longer.
During the forenoon we crossed the dreaded Gombe
Nullah (Cattle Creek), the scene of a recent Masai at-
tack on a caravan. This nullah is a slight depression
or di[) in the wilderness.
Owing to the depredations of the Masai, the weaker
and less warlike tribes of this part of Africa lead a life
of constant apprehension. They are compelled to
make their homes in the depths of some dense forest
tract or on a mountain. In these fastnesses, armed
with bows and poisoned arrows, they manage to elude
extermination, the possibility of which dire fate is ever
before them. Narrow passages through the dense
jungle of cacti, thorny aloes, and wait-a-bits, form the
only approaches to the homes of small agricultural
tribes, like the Wa-Duruma. Naked savages like the
Masai, armed with spear and shield, can do nothing
against a hidden enemy, skillful with bow and arrow,
and who knows every crook and turn in the prickly maze
of his defenses. But their scant herds, grazing under
guard in the near-by glades, are ever in danger of being
wrested from them, and what with Masai marauders on
the one hand and famine ever theatening them on the
other, the Wa-Duruma may be said to lead a decidedly
precarious existence. Every few years famine over-
takes them and numbers die or sell themselves into
slavery to save their lives.
30 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
There had not been any rain yet at Sambura, three
marches from Rabai, and we were confronted by a regu-
lar water-famine. There was a scant supply somewhere
in the deep recesses of the forest ; but no amount of
bargaining nor persuading would induce the Wa-
Duruma to reveal its location. They had us at a disad-
vantage, and by and by we were buying bad water from
them for a caravan of one-hundred and seventy thirsty
souls at the rate of about a rupee a gallon !
After buying had commenced some two hundred
savages emerged from the forest, bringing chickens,
little dabs of rancid butter in leaves, and gourds of
water to sell. Our camp quickly became a very pan-
demonium of trade. I was deeply interested in witness-
ing for the first time the queer scenes of an African
market. And what a market it was, to be sure ! How
the Wa-Duruma savages laughed and screeched as they
haggled and bargained with the porters over the price
of a patriarchal rooster or an egg with a chicken in it !
Surely they must all be crazy, and the person who be-
lieved all uncivilized people to be insane must have
spent an evening at Sambura and seen these same sav-
ages, their bodies plastered with an odorous mixture
of grease and ochre, laughing and whooping like com-
mercial maniacs over the price of a skinny fowl or a
gourd of water. Many of the porters had brought
from Zanzibar pieces of cloth or a few strings of beads,
and with these they bought such luxuries as chickens
and addled eggs to increase their day's rations to a
gourmet's feast.
Our men were happy, as negroes always are, when
their immediate wants arc supplied, and in the early
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 31
morning we found some of them washing their faces in
our high-priced water, under the impression that we
were going to buy more to fill their gourds for the
second time. Several had deserted with their guns
during the night, rascals who had joined the expedition
for the advance pay and the chance of making off with
a gun, and having touched lip to the hardships of the
Nyika, many others in plaintive tones talked of a re-
treat to Rabai,
At Taro we found, fortunately, plenty of water in
several curious round, well-like holes in masses of rock.
These rocks are on the top of Taro Hill, and the circu-
lar holes, or "ungurunga," as our Wa-Teita contingent
called them, are worthy of mention as curious natural
phenomena. The' "ungurunga" of Taro Hill are a
source of wonderment even to the unreflecting porter.
The holes are anywhere from two to four feet in diame-
ter and from four to twelve deep, and such is their uni-
formity of outline that it seems almost impossible that
they should be nature's sole handiwork. Thomson
thinks that both man and nature had a hand in their
construction ; that water and the chemical action of
decayed vegetation first decomposed the coarse sand-
stone in which they are found and formed small hollows
in which water lodged ; thirsty men systematically
cleared out the sand to make the holes deeper, and thus
the process has gone on and on until the little holes
have developed into the remarkable reservoirs that now
supply whole caravans with abundant water. This
seems a very probable explanation. However, for an
idle experiment, I asked my boy Christopher how there
came to be water-cisterns on the summits of these hufje
32 SCOUTiXG FOR STANLEY.
boulder-like rocks — who made them? I had put the
same question to him in regard to white-ant hills the
day before. His answer in both cases was that of a
mission-taught negro, "Jesus made them."
Although I believe this youth would have made the
same reply in regard to my gun or lead-pencil, think-
ing to make a good impression by so answering, it was
nevertheless a sage enough reply in the matter of the
curious cisterns of Taro Hill.
From Taro, the hardest and most trying march of
the up-couritry journey lay before us, the long, dreary
march to Maungu, the prospect of which always fills
the porter with dread. Mindful of the improvidence
of our men, we superintended the filling of every
calabash in camp, and exhorted the porters to drink
and soak and drink again, until, like human sponges,
every pore should be ready to ooze moisture. Thq
men laughed. They were not thirst}^ Drink more
than we want? Ha-ha-ha! Whoop! Fill our cala-
bashes? Water is heavy to carry, but the way is long;
yes, everybody fill their kibuyu. The frightful waste
ahead had been crossed before by many of the porters,
and so all, as willingly as these people ever do anything
in advance of their necessities, added to their loads a
calabash of water. Making an early start we stepped
out briskly, traversing during the forenoon a pleasant,
undulating country of open parks. Hopes had been
entertained that we might find water in a hole called
"Thomson Ziwa," where the traveler of that name had
found a little liquid mud. No such luck awaited us,
however. The day was fearfully hot, and when we
reached the Ziwa and called a halt to rest the weary
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. H
men we found that many of them had already gulped
down the water that was to tide them over a two days'
tug through the heat and glare of as desolate a
piece of country as ever tried men's powers of endur-
ance.
We pushed on, and at any hour of the afternoon
might be seen porters flinging down their loads and
begging a sup of water from the gourds of the more
provident as they straggled in a long, broken file to-
ward Maungu. I was in the lead, and forged ahead
through the forbidding wilderness of gray thorn-trees
and hard red soil till dark, then camped. Guns were
fired to encourage the flagging column of laden men
to persevere on to this point, for the caravan was
stretched back along the tortuous path for fully two
miles. No tents were pitched nor cooking attempted on
that weary night. As the porters staggered into camp
in various stages of exhaustion they flung down their
loads and stretched their tired frames beside them.
Some came to us actually crying like children for water,
as though we, like Moses, had the power to produce it
by striking at a rock; or they tottered like drunken
men among the prostrate forms, seeking some com-
rade from whom to beg enough water to moisten their
parched throats. Knowing it would come to this, we
had reserved several gourdsful, and were thus able to
dole out homoeopathic doses of water to those who had
none left.
But it would have taken a hogsheadful to have satis-
fied the cravings of the whole caravan. Men are never
so thirsty and eager for water as when there is none to
be had. Its absence certainly intensifies the desire,
34 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
and for hours groans and childish pleadings for "maji,
maji!" disturbed our fitful slumbers.
Fagged out as all were, it would never do to halt too
long, as the water was still many a dreary mile ahead.
At one o'clock we roused up the still weary porters,
and by the dim starlight continued our march. That
night march through the weird Nyika to Maungu will
not soon be forgotten. At times our way seemed more
like a tunnel or burrow through the thickets of acacias
and wait-a-bits than an open path. Seldom indeed
could it be called the latter. Loaded as they were,
and in the dark, the wretched porters had constantly
to stoop beneath overhanging branches or force their
way through dense patches of thorns. Now and then
the snaky festoons of the barbed euphorbia drooping
across the path, would bring one up with a round turn,
or jerk a box off a porter's head. As we picked our
way through this dismal expanse of country the amen-
ities of the situation were scarcely improved by the
roaring of a pair of lions, who seemed to be following us
along at no great distance to- the left. "Simba, simba,"
(lion) was passed along in awesome tones from one
frightened porter to another, as we hurried forward as
best we could. It was evident that the monarchs of
the African bush were deeply interested in the long line
of human pack-animals creeping in the darkness past
their haunts. Many expected that some straggler
would surely fall a victim to the lions before morning.
But morning broke at length and the lions ceased their
roaring, nor had their majesties the doubtful luxury of
a Zanzibar jDorter for breakfast.
Soon we heard a joyful shout of "maji! maji!"
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 35
ahead, and hurrying forward we found that the foremost
men had discovered a small hole of water which the
herds of game had trampled into liquid mud. Objec-
tionable as the mixture was there was moisture in it,
and the men, scooping handfuls of it into their loin-
cloths, wrung and sucked out the water. Hastening
forward, now that it was daylight, I reached the foot of
Maungu Mountain about one o'clock, with feet so badly
blistered that for the rest of the journey to Taveta I
could hardly hobble along. The water at Maungu was
scarce and bad ; a sorry enough reward it seemed for
what we had undergone to reach it. Nor was it to be
had for the asking even now. It was hidden in a
natural rock reservoir on the very summit of the hill,
and before we could moisten our parched throats we
had to scale the rocks 2000 feet. The rear of the
caravan was miles back when Abbott and I reached
water, and as our Wa-Teita contingent came in we hired
them to return with gourds of water to help along the
more distressed. All day long exhausted men came
staggering in by ones, twos, and threes. All arrived by
nightfall, however, and a day's rest and extra posho
were granted as compensation for the toils of the
Maungu march. From our elevated camp at the foot
of Maungu Mountain we could look back for fifty miles
over the level wastes of the Nyika and also forward and
see our next camping spot at the foot of Ndara Hill.
At our next point we would find the first inhabited
district since leaving our sharp commercial friends,
the Wa-Duruma. Maungu, Ndara, Kisigau, and other
points in Teita, here form a curious chain of island
mountains, rising boldly from the broad, gray ocean
3^ SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
of the Nyika, which extends in level wastes all about
them.
Having rested and recovered ourselves, on Friday,
April 23, we marched on to Ndara Hill, passing
through fields of maize at its base, which the Wa-
Sagalla women descend the mountain daily to culti-
vate. On this hill we found a station of the Church
Missionary Society, an advanced post of the Frere
Town Mission. The incumbent of the station is the
Rev. Mr. Wray, who has held the fort here for several
years. Men with goods for Mr. Wray had accompanied
our caravan from Rabai, and our arrival in camp was
signaled by the appearance of that gentleman himself,
bearing a present of cabbages and carrots, vegetables
that have been found to flourish very well in his
elevated garden on the mountain.
Mr. Wray has striven for seven long years to gain the
confidence of the natives of Ndara, and to get boys
from them to train up in the way Africans should go,
but all to no purpose. They resist the influence of his
exemplary life, and edge away from him when he
broaches the subject of the Christian religion. They
persist in suspecting him of sinister designs toward
themselves, although he has, over and over again, played
Lord Bountiful among them with C. M. S. rice from
the coast in times of famine, and saved many of them
from starving to death. They accept his rice, and then,
as soon as their stomacks arc full, they commence
plotting against his peace and safety once again. At
times his i)ositi()n has been anything but pleasant.
Ndara is chronically subject to famine, and when the
rains fail and the crops begin to wither the wise men
THE MARCH 7'0 r A VET A. 37
of the tribes assemble and demand an explanation of
their Mzungu resident. They accuse him of practicing
witch-craft and of prejudicing the powers of the air
against them. Sometimes they refuse to sell the lone
missionary food ; anon they order him to remain shut
up in his own house, stationing bowmen with poisoned
arrows to enforce the order, and, taken all in all, they
play with him as wantonly as ever cat played with
mouse.
From Ndara the brow of a hill revealed, after fifteen
miles, the cultivated valley of the Matate Creek, nestling
among the Teita hills, with hundreds of women work-
ing in the fields.
Pitching our tent and firing guns to summon the
natives to hold a market, we issued cloth to the men,
and the scenes of traf^c and barter at Sambura were
here repeated, though' all the afternoon the rain came
down in torrents. Men who, in their extremity, three
days before, would have bartered a year of their lives
for water, now had a surfeit of it thrust upon them
whether they would or no.
Though they descend daily to the valley to cultivate
their fields, the Wa-Teita all live high upon the steep
slopes of their mountains. Only in these mountain
fastnesses can they bid defiance to those terrors of East
Central Africa, the Masai raiders, and to prevent their
scant herds being wrested from them they pasture
them, not in the magnificent parks we had traversed
on the road from Ndara, but on the summits of the
mountains above the villages and banana plantations.
As their mountains, from our outlook at Maungu, sug-
gested rocky islets, and the broad levels of the Nyika
38 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
the sea, so now the Wa-Teita seemed to me to be seals,
clambering up these rocks to escape the ravages of
sharks, the latter being represented, not inaptly, by the
dreaded war-parties of Masai, who are constantly com-
ing and going.
As we had supplied our men liberally with cloth to
trade for food, and were remaining a day for purposes
of trafific, the Wa-Teita celebrated the occasion by turn-
ing out in their most gorgeous costumes. Young
women came strutting proudly into our camp with
certainly not less than thirty or forty pounds of beads,
of various bright colors, disposed about their persons.
As the ladies of Western Asia carry about in the form
of jewels and gold coins their husband's surplus wealth,
so the belles of Teita burden, and, at the same time,
decorate themselves with their little all in beads.
The weight of beads they carry and the manner in
which they are worn must be exceedingly uncomforta-
ble. But they care no more for comfort where fashion
is concerned than do the ladies of Paris or New York.
The savage belle is, in fact, always a greater votary of
fashion than her civilized sister. If Miss Fashionplate
of America converts herself into a wasp and the Golden
Lily of China discards her feet at the dictates of fashion,
rest assured that the dark daughters of the Savage Con-
tinent act well up to their lights in the same direction.
But the M-Teita belle does nothing very absurd. There
arc no holes bored in her lips, nor is her well-oiled body
disfigured by tattooing as are the women of many sav-
age peoples. She files her front teeth to a sharp point,
which leads you to draw irreverent comparisons be-
tween her knowing smile and the jaws of a rat-trap.
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 39
Her chin is elevated like a British soldier's by the enor-
.mous collar of beads she wears, and various other little
peculiarities reveal themselves to our eyes or our nos-
trils as she poses before our tent to be admired ; but
with all this, she is neither a human wasp nor a person
who has to be carried pick-a-back from having de-
stroyed her feet.
But let us endeavor to draw a picture of her, as near
as one may in mere words.
In the first place, you see nothing of a fashionable
M-Teita woman's neck. The whole contour from chin
to collar-bone is filled out with a bulky roll of hundreds
of strings of many-colored beads that elevates the chin
and impedes the movements of the head. Forty or
fifty other and longer strings, suspended from each
shoulder, cross between the breasts, forming a bando-
lier that seemed to us as much of a burden as an orna-
ment. Another huge coil encircles the waist, or in
some instances, instead of innumerable strings, a bead
belt of curious pattern and neat design. One would
think this were beads enough to satisfy even the most
bead-loving African damsel. But even these massive
accumulations fall short of perfection in the eye of the
M-Teita belle. Wherever there is room about her per-
son to bestow a bead, there, rest assured, will the bead
be found, if she has enough to go round. The head is
shaved so as to leave a circular patch of wool on the
crown, about three inches in diameter, A broad band,
or coronet, of beads encircles and covers this shaven
part, and the hair of the crown is gathered and twisted
into hundreds of tiny strings, on each of which is
threaded a red, white, blue or green bead. Hoops of
4° SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
beads threaded on wire adorn the ears; neat cuff-hke
bands of the same bright articles encircle arms and legs ;
and, indeed, the very fig-leaf, with which her simple
soul satisfies the requirements of decency, is a tiny
apron of beads, fringed and embellished by a border of
tiny iron chains of Chaga workmanship.
But the most curious object about the M-Teita ladies'
costume, and which was seen by us on the women of
no other tribe, is observed from a back view. Sus-
pended from the beads around her waist is a piece of
goatskin, patterned after an exaggerated swallow-tail,
the pointed extremities of which descend to the calves
and flap jauntily about her legs as she walks. It is
needless to add that this strange garment also is adorned
with beads.
The Wa-Teita men are not entitled to the same
amount of space as their more interesting wives and
sisters. Like them they file the teeth, but they are,
on the whole, a rather inferior tribe of men for East
Africa, where fine types prevail. They are a thor-
oughly bad lot, as may be supposed from their stub-
born resistance to the good intentions of the Rev. Mr.
Wray for the space of seven years. They are armed
with bows and arrows, and long simes, or swords, which
they obtain in trade from the blacksmiths of Chaga or
the coast tribes. They poison their arrows with poison
obtained from some tree in Gyriama. The warriors are
not deficient in courage of the African sort. Like all
other tribes round about, however, they fear the Masai,
though they have sometimes had the luck to beat them
in battle. Whenever they kill a Masai they mince
his heart and sprinkle it about their mountain to
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 4 1
give them courage. They are full of absurd super-
stitions.
The only thing they seem to regard with veneration
is that vegetable monstrosity of the African wilderness,
the baobab. Why they venerate it the Rev. Mr. Wray
couldn't tell. But one day a lion invaded their moun-
tains and killed several cows. The sages of the tribe
assembled, as usual, to talk the matter over and to try
and discover why the lion visited them rather than
their neighbors, Mr. Wray's flock. They decided, after
much expenditure of wisdom, that it was because they
had, a week or so before, cut down a baobab, and so,
by way of propitiation, they with much ceremony set
matters right by planting several young trees of the
same variety.
The Wa-Teita are not governed by chiefs, but in
every village are elders, whose authority is, in some
degree, recognized and respected by the younger men.
The only hold these worthy ancients have over the ris-
ing generation, however, are the reins of superstition.
The young people are brought up to believe their elders
capable of working magic, producing rain, etc., and they
fear and respect them accordingly. The efforts of the
elders in these matters always fail, but they manage to
hoodwink the rising generation until the latter arrive
at a certain age, when they in turn begin to pose as
medicine men and elders, and so the strange cycle of
youthful credulity on the one hand and crafty old age
on the other goes round and round among these curi-
ous people, and some semblance of government is
maintained.
Marrying among the Wa-Teita, as with most African
42 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
tribes, is simply a question of purchasing the bride from
her parents. The price of one of those oleaginous and
bead-bejeweled damsels (presumably beads and all) is
three to four cows. Bovines are scarce in Teita, how-
ever, thanks to their evil genii, the bellicose El-Moran
(Masai warrior), and so, because he cannot afford to
pay for a bride, the Wa-Teita warrior sometimes mar-
ries his near relative.
If he gets an unrelated bride, the coy damsel, in
accordance with an ancient custom of the tribe, affect-
ing to flee from the consummation of her own happi-
ness, runs away and hides in the hut of some distant
relative.
Collecting his friends and armed with the search war-
rant of time-honored custom, the groom then enters
and searches house after house where he fancies his
bride may be concealed. At length the shrinking
maiden is discovered amid much boisterous merriment
and is hauled triumphantly from her hiding-place. Four
of the groom's assistants, seizing them each an arm or
leg, now carry her off to her new home.
A short march from Matate, and a waterless tract as
wide as that of Maungu now lay before us; but none
shrunk from it; for the marching is easy, and the open
plain comparatively cool and breezy. Moreover, we
were now on the homestretch to Taveta, a forest com-
munity, which is, in the opinions of the porters, a para-
dise second only to Zanzibar itself; though wherein the
latter place resembles an abode of bliss would be hard
for an European to say. Far different from the wilder-
ness of thorns and heat we had been traversing from
the coast was the Lanjora Plain. The elevation had
The march to t a vet a, 43
steadily increased, and we were now 2000 feet above
sea level. Except for scattering mimosas, with curious
flat tops, the country very much resembled the foiling
prairies of Nebraska. So open was it that we of the
advance could stand on one swell and, looking back,
see the long broken line of porters stretched out for
two or three miles back. On this plain, too, we first
began to see herds of game.
Halting awhile at noon to close up the ranks, we
pushed steadily on till sunset, then camped in the open
plain. While forming camp some of the men pointed
out in triumph, to the west, a white, gleaming patch of
snow, that seemed, like Mohamet's coffin, to be sus-
pended betwixt earth and heaven. It was the snow-
clad peak of Kilimanjaro, revealed to us for a few
minutes through a break in the clouds. The strange
revelation seemed like a beckoning hand to the weary
caravan, as we lay down to sleep, and we were up and
astir betimes in the morning.
Kilimanjaro stands unique among the notable moun-
tains of the earth. For many years the existence of a
snowy mountain in Equatorial Africa had been talked
of, but until 1848 the affair was shrouded in mystery.
In that year the German missionary Rebmann, while
wandering inland from Mombasa, was startled by the
same mysterious gleam of white among the clouds we
have just seen. The pious missionary is said to have
fallen on his knees and recited the iiith Psalm, quite
overcome by the grandeur of the revelation. He was
the first European to actually discover this monarch
of African mountains, though rumors of its existence
reached the Portuguese during their occupation of
44 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Mombasa, as early as the sixteenth century. It was
spoken of in those days as "Mount Olympus." Later
the mountain was seen from a distance by Rebmann's
fellow-missionary, Krapf ; but although these pioneers
of the Gospel made known their great discovery, the
sages of Europe shook their heads. "A mountain with
perpetual snow in East Equatorial Africa?" said the
learned gentlemen of the geographical societies. " Im-
possible !"
In 1 86 1, however. Baron von der Decken, a Hano-
verian traveler, made an expedition to Kilimanjaro,
surveyed part of the mountain, and removed all doubts
as to its existence. Thirty years ago, then, may be set
down as the date at which this mountain, grander and
higher than Ararat, was revealed without reserve to the
wondering geographers of this late day. Yet, as we
have seen, it is but a scant two hundred miles from the
coast and no great difficulties in the way of reaching it.
It was yet early on the following day when the scat-
tering mimosas of the Lanjora Plain gradually thickened
into dense jungle ; and soon the long line of the caravan
was disappearing from view in what might aptly be
termed a small and winding tunnel of prickly vegetation.
We had reached the defenses that nature had provided
for one of the strangest communities of East Africa.
As Dr. Abbott was already acquainted with the elders
and people of Taveta, he led the way. I waited to see
the last porter disappear in the thorny labyrinth, and
then followed. The place we had now reached was
the forest community of Taveta, at the foot of Kili-
manjaro.
The end of our winding tunnel brought us to a
THE M Alien TO TAP ETA. AS
"gate," a tremendous barrier of thorns and logs. A
square opening in the center, like the embrasure of a
fortress, admitted us, one at a time, by squeezing and
tugging through the loads. Banana fronds, instead of
the thorny and skeleton branches of the wilderness, now
waved above our heads. Beneath the shade of these
luxuriant plants dusky warriors stood leaning on their
spears, and women and young girls, leaving their labor
in the fields, came hurrying forward to gratify their
curiosity about the new arrivals, bearing in hand their
clumsy native jembes.
The warrior dandies of Taveta were something of an
improvement, at all events in picturesqueness, to the
Wa-Teita. In them we saw what might be termed
humble understudies of the El-Moran of Masai-land, the
cattle-lifting warriors they so much feared, and whose
presence seems to dominate this entire region. Unlike
the magnificent El-Moran, however, who disdains all
food save beef and milk, the vegetarian braves of
Taveta are short in stature and rarely weigh more
than one-hundred and forty pounds. Though armed
with formidable spears and huge cowhide shields, to-
gether with Chaga made simes or swords, they are the
mildest and gentlest of savages. They are the only
warriors in East Africa, away from the coast, who
abstain from all aggressive adventures. Their spears
are never lifted save in defense of their homes. They
never indulge in slave-hunting expeditions, nor can the
beads and blandishments of the Arab slave-traders
induce them to sell their wives, their sisters, or even
their helpless old mothers into slavery. These latter,
be it remarked, are considered a very convenient article
4^ SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
of barter by the warriors of some of the neighboring
tribes.
The Wa-Taveta warrior dandy never washes, yet his
toilet is sufficiently elaborate to merit description.
His sole raiment consists of a yard or so of merikani
or bandera slung jauntily over one shoulder by a string.
I'rom our point of view this garment is altogether use-
less. It seems to be worn for ornament or, still more
likely, because it is the fashion rather than for any
useful purpose. It never reaches below the waist.
The innumerable little bunches of crisp wool on his
head are separated and lengthened out by palm-fibre
strings until they hang about his head like a thick swab.
The front part is carefully trimmed into a square-cut
bang that bulges like an eave of thatch over the eyes ;
the rest is allowed to hang down his back and shoulders
in a heavy mass, or is gathered into a stumpy queue
and tightly bound with a ribbon of kid-skin.
In early youth the lobes of his ears were pierced by
his fond mother and the holes stretched with a wooden
plug. This stretching process has been persevered in
ever since, until the holes are large enough to thrust a
goose-egg through, and the lobes are represented by
mere rubber-like bands of skin that hang well-nigh to
the shoulder. To these rings now depend fanciful
ornaments of beads and iron chain, and, not excepting
even his weapons or his wives, the Wa-Taveta warrior
takes a greater pride in his ears than in any other of
his possessions.
Curious ornaments of iron or rhinoceros-hide adorn
his biceps and apparently pinch that portion of his
arm half in two. A string or two of beads hang about
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 47
his neck and perhaps a tiny pcuch of snake-skin, con-
taining some amulet to ward off evil spirits. To one
corner of his modest toga is fastened a tiny beaded
snuff-box, in the shape of a miniature powder-horn. In
his belt of rawhide is a sime, and a small rhinoceros-horn
knob-kerrie, with which he pounds tobacco into snuff
whenever his box needs replenishing. Around his
ankles a string of little cowrie-shaped bells, the work of
Moschi smiths, jingle like sleigh-bells as he walks. The
warrior plasters his mop-like head, his one garment and
his whole person with as much grease and red clay as
will stick on. This unctuous and by no means sweet-
smelling coating is the finishing touch of his toilet ; and
he now seizes his spear and shield and sallies forth from
his smoky hut into the glorious sunshine, as proud of
his appearance as any peacock. During our stay in
Taveta his steps were invariably turned toward our
stockade. He used to delight to pose in the market-
place, conscious of deserving our admiration, and inno-
cent as the veriest babe of any unseemliness in his glar-
ing want of clothing.
The ladies used to admire his get-up immensely on
these show occasions, although he, wath a savage's con-
tempt of the weaker sex, used to reward their worship-
ful comments by regarding them as quite beneath his
notice. At times, however, little by-scenes would be
enacted that gave one a new idea of the life of these
gentle savages and simple Arcadians of Taveta.
Like the men, the women of Taveta lean toward
Masai ideas in the matter of ornament, though hardly
to the same extent. Their dress is a goatskin loin-
cloth of ample dimensions, trimmed with beads. Huge
4 8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
coils of thick brass wire depend from the ears, or from
the head rather, for they are so heavy that they have
to be supported by a band over the crown to prevent
the ears from being torn. Beads and brass wire orna-
ments adorn the neck, arms and legs.
As might be expected in such an African Arcadia,
these ladies are gentle dames, too amiable by far for
their own good or for the good of the commonwealth.
What we call immorality is not so considered in Taveta.
Husbands and wives there are, and all the family ties;
but conjugal fidelity is not regarded as a necessity.
Jealousy is an unknown sentiment among the Wa-
Taveta. The husband, indeed, seems to consider it a
compliment to himself that his wife possesses charms
sufficient to attract the attention of others.
The ladies are in high feather when a caravan of por-
ters is quartered in the place. Then, if the work in
their fields is not too pressing, they love to spend their
time in the shade of a giant tree that stands in the
market-place, gossiping and selling food and fhrting with
the gentlemen who have carried your boxes and bales
from the coast, and who have stolen your beads with
a view to lavishing them on the fairest and most amia-
ble of the women.
Marriage with the Wa-Taveta is simply a matter of
purchase. Wives cost three cows apiece, or their
equivalent in goats, wire or cloth. Polygamy is the rule,
and the number of connubial partners a man indulges
in is limited only by his financial ability. Wives are
considered a good investment, and a man's importance
in the community is measured by the number of them
as well as the number of cows and goats he possesses.
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 49
The women do all the work. The warriors arc past-
masters in the noble art of doing nothing. They bask
in the sun, they gossip in a listless way, and they some-
times condescend to repair a fish weir in the River
Lumi : but they do not even make their oleaginous
toilet without the assistance of the willing hands of wife
or sister. Chary about venturing beyond the boundary
of their own forest fortress, the Wa-Taveta warriors do
not even hunt, though all around them is the finest big
game region in the world. At long intervals, overcome
by the desire for animal food, and possessing few domes-
tic animals, they muster in force, and, venturing to
Lake Jipe, make a grand assault on the wary hippo-
potamus. Hippo meat is regarded as a great delicacy,
and if the white traveler wishes to bring about a gen-
eral rejoicing among the people he can do so very
easily by going down to Jipe and shooting them a
hippo.
As one strolls about Taveta he cannot resist the subtle
influence of his surroundings. All the way from the
coast you have seen nothing worthy to be called a tree.
Euphorbias, aloes, and others of the thorn-tree family,
stretching out their skeleton arms, have barred your
way in the jungle with their formidable thorns, and on
the more open plains the scattered mimosas afforded
scant protection from the sun. But here giant trees of
the forest present a hundred feet of smooth columnar
trunk, then spreading out into a gorgeous cloud of foli-
age that would shade a regiment. Clusters of these
grand old trees stand here and there about the banana
plantations, and round them are patches of green sward,
ideal loafing-places, where at any hour of the day bright
50 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
spears may be seen stuck in the ground and dusky war-
riors stretched at lazy length. Troops of monkeys
may be observed wending their way between these
groves and the outer forest, or making astonishing
leaps from branch to branch and tree to tree along the
Lumi. To these trees also repair at night hundreds of
ghostly lemurs (a species of galago), whose peculiar
chuckling cry is heard at all hours of the night. Sus-
pended from the branches, too, are many native honey-
boxes for the accomodation of the swarms of wild bees.
These are sections of hollow log, closed at both ends,
with a hole left to admit the bees.
Small circular groves of a different nature also abound
in the plantations, of which the growth is mostly
dracsena. These are the cemeteries of Taveta. Creep-
ing on hands and knees through a low opening in the
shrubbery of one of these groves one morning, I found
myself in strange company indeed. The dense shade of
the dracaenas, overtopped by the foliage of two or three
large trees, admitted but a few ghostly streaks of sun-
light. A feeling as if I were invading the sanctity of a
cathedral vault crept over me as I crawled into the
gloom, and an unmistakable odor of human remains
smote the nostrils. As soon as my eyes accommodated
themselves to the darkness, I detected a white object
almost within reach of my hand. It was a grinning
human skull, peering out of an earthen jar that was
set on its side. Other jars containing skulls then re-
vealed themselves, set here and there about this curi-
ous graveyard. Surveying the weird picture for a min-
ute, I was not sorry to leave the uncanny company into
which my quest of the novel and interesting had
THE MARCH TO TAVETA. 51
brought me, and to find myself again in the region of
life and light. The Wa-Taveta bury the dead in a sit-
ting position until the bodies are reduced to skeletons,
when they remove the skulls and place them in the
jars of the draCciina groves as we have seen.
The little clusters of forest giants standing in the
open places ; the gentle whispering of the banana fronds
heard everywhere ; the murmuring of the Lumi ; the
grinning skulls in the dark dracaena groves ; the dusky
warriors moving silently about with spear and shield ;
the air of peace and plenty ; the impenetrable wall of
forest on every hand — ^all these make Taveta seem a
place apart from the world in which one has heretofore
moved. And besides these is another influence, another
presence that one always seems conscious of, though
it is seldom visible from inner Taveta because of the
trees — the presence of mighty Kilimanjaro. It is
always the same in the presence of a great, solitary,
snowy peak. In Teheran the Spirit of Demavend seems
present in the very houses, and all Japan acknowledges
the subtle influence of Fujiyama.
Ikit the atmosphere of Taveta, though soothing and
restful for a time, would hardly suit the active tempera-
ment of the Anglo-Saxon. The drowsy monotony of
its life would sap his mental energies and sooner or
later make him "melancholy mad." It is, moreover, a
feverish ground, and for that reason the missionaries
have passed it by. And with all due respect and rever-
ence for the aims and objects of those reverend gentle-
men in carrying the good tidings of peace and good
will to the savages of Africa, one cannot help think-
ing that to '"enlighten" the Wa-Taveta would spoil
52 SCOUTIA'G FOR STANLEY.
them. Probably all Christendom cannot produce a
community of 4000 people so honest, so amiable, so
gentle and so contented with themselves and all the
world as these same Wa-Taveta.
Before leaving Zanzibar arrangements had been
made to have any positive news of Stanley that might
reach there, sent to me at Taveta. For this I would
make Taveta my headquarters for several weeks ; in
the meantime, however, knocking about in search of
information.
CHAPTER IV.
KILIMANJARO TRIBES.
ONE of our excursions from Taveta was to Marangu,
one of the Chaga states, ruled by the young chief
MiHaH. It is one of the fourteen httle mountain states
or chieftainships that are situated on the southern
and eastern slopes of Kilimanjaro. In the moist and
temperate zone, between the eternal snows that crown
this tropic giant and the warm plains at its feet, is a
narrow strip of cultivated country that passes half-way
round the big waist of the mountain at an elevation of
4000 feet above sea level, and supports a dense popu-
lation. From the plains below you can distinguish
very plainly the girdle of banana plantations that
delimitate the inhabited belt from the elephant forests
above and below by its brighter shade of green. This
green band, varying from one to six miles wide and
about sixty long, is cut up into fourteen independent
states, ranging in size and population from Mivika with
less than a hundred families, to Machame with probably
ten thousand people and forty square miles of terri-
tory. The whole population of Kilimanjaro may be
roughly estimated at forty or fifty thousand. Between
the boundaries of each state a strip of primeval wilder-
ness is maintained as neutral ground, and ravines and
other natural barriers are taken advantage of and
improved for purposes of defense, one against another.
Instead of living in neighborly peace and friendship
53
54 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
and uniting their scant resources against possible
enemies from without, these bantam states are as pug-
nacious against each other as the stout and belHcosc
bantam cocks to which their size invites comparison.
The pohtics and feuds of the Chaga states are in such
a Gordian tangle that to unravel them and render the
situation intelligible to the reader would require a
special map and a special volume. One state forms
the slave-hunting ground of another; each chief wants
to annihilate every other chief on the mountain ; desul-
tory war is always in progress, and combinations and
coalitions are made by the smaller states to guard
against being wiped out by the larger and more power-
ful. Their complications and alliances suggest an under-
study of Europe in the most troublous period of
Napoleon I. And, like Europe in that period, Chaga
has its great central ligure and military genius also.
The Napoleon of Chaga is Mandara, Chief of Moschi.
We shall pay this extraordinary African chief a visit
by and by, however, and so defer a closer acquaintance
until then.
At present our subject is Miliali, of Marangu, and our
business with him is to purchase a supply of food for
a journey to Arusha-wa-Chini. Camped at the former
place was an Arab caravan en route to the coast from
the region about Lake Victoria, from whom some news
of Mr. Stanley and the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
might be obtained. Dr. Abbott also wanted to secure
a few buffalo heads, and this noble African game is par-
ticularly plentiful about Arusha-wa-Chini. After that
we would visit the chiefs of Chaga on our way back to
Taveta.
KILIMAA'JAKO TRIBES. 55
First of all, supplies must be obtained from Marangu ;
and so, leaving men to look after the goods in Tavcta,
we took the remainder and started on what promised
to be a pleasant and very interesting excursion. Nor
did the outcome fall short of its promise. With no
loads to carry the porters were in high glee, and struck
up a chorus of " Yo-ho, yo-ho ! " as we proceeded
through the forest. The sound of their voices produced
the same effect as if we were in some vast cathedral, and
called to memory the sublime echoes of the Taj Mahal.
No sooner were we clear of this enchanted forest,
however, than our old bugbear, the Masai, immediately
took possession of our souls. War parties often
crossed the plain directly west of Tavcta, and as that
valuable article, his own skin, was supposed to be in
jeopardy, no matter how remote, every porter did his
best to step on the heels of the man in front of him as
we emerged into the open country.
We formed camp on a clear, cold stream that hailed
from the mountain, and in the evening were treated to
a grand spectacle.
Kilimanjaro, with its vast glaciers and fields of snow,
forms a great disturbing element in the high and equa-
ble temperature of a tropic region. The cold air about
its hoary crown, and the warm breezes from the heated
plains, wage perpetual conflict, and the marshaled
masses of the clouds surge and roll tumultuously along
its upper slopes. Especially is this the case in spring,
when the monsoons from the coasts are moist as well
as warm, and violent snowstorms rage on the broad
cone plain of Kibo, and whiten the dark crevasses of
its older sister, Kimawenzi.
56 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
A regular battle royal of these conflicting elements
was raging high up the mountain slopes on the evening
in question. The scene was wild beyond description.
Peal after peal of thunder rolled over the dark elephant
forests and up the great barren canons above timber
line, and among the surging clouds that obscured the
states of Chaga the lightning flashed vividly. But
above all this wild play of the forces of the air, the
white cone of Kibo rose, bold and serene, too grand,
too lofty, too much above the mere earth to concern
itself about the rumpus below. The porters stood and
surveyed the scene in wonder ; even their souls seemed
to rise for the moment above beans and bananas.
Mr. Stanley writes of similar spectacles witnessed on
the slopes of the new snow mountains Ruwenzori — the
Mountains of the Moon. These wild scenes are char-
acteristic of snowy mountains in tropic countries;
whether in India, South America, or Africa.
After witnessing the wonderful battle of the clouds
on the giant flanks of Mount Kilimanjaro, we proceeded
up the foothills of the mountain next morning. Our
way led through what might easily have been taken for
a vast quince orchard, till at last we came to a gate
similar to that of Taveta. Warriors stood on guard,
and, recognizing white men, led the way toward the
boma of their chief. We now threaded our way
through narrow lanes, real winding lanes, between neat
draca:na hedges or mossy stone walls. Now and then
we passed through lovely little parks with shade-trees
and clear water bubbling along the irrigating ditches.
Running water was in abundance everywhere, led by
means of ditches to all parts of the banana groves.
KILIMANJARO TRIBES. 57
We seemed to have reached a civiUzed country, where
the cultivation of the soil was carried on with considera-
ble care and skill. The Wa-Chaga were evidently a
more enterprising people than our friends of Taveta.
At length we arrived at the boma of the chief, Miliali.
Hisboma was a massive stone wall ten feet high, inclos-
ing about four acres of ground on the crest of a hill.
Entrance was effected through an opening large enough
to admit a man by stooping.
Learning of our arrival, Miliali crept through this
opening to bid us welcome and then crept back again
to lead the way. We honored him with a volley and
then followed him. He was an amiable-looking young
man of about twenty-five. We accepted a gourd of
pombe and took our leave to form camp in one of the
delightful little parks, in preparation for his visit. In a
very short time he was upon our heels, and a memora-
ble visit it certainly was for him.
He entered our tent clad in a dingy gown of meri-
kani, differing from the troop of warriors behind him
only in the amount of cloth he wore. He left it as
proud and gorgeous as a peacock. Among our pre-
sents to him were a crimson Arab joho, trimmed with
gold braid, a white helmet, and a purple umbrella. We
dressed him up in the gay joho, put the white helmet
on his head, opened the purple umbrella for him, and
started him off to exhibit himself to his wives and his
people in a visible tremor of delight at his own vastly
altered appearance.
We paid him a longer visit later in the day. We
found him seated on a stool in the boma, in all the gar-
ish glory of the joho, the helmet, and the gamp, sur-
5^ SCOUTING FOR STANLE/.
rounded by fourteen plump and.flirtatious young women,
who were admiring his appearance much as they might
have done had he been some rare, big doll and they a
bevy of little girls.
The fourteen young women were Miliali's wives.
He possesses only fourteen, but it was evident to the
most superficial observer that the amiable young chief
of Marangu was quite a connoisseur in the matter of
feminine charms. It is, indeed, a poor sort of an Afri-
can chief who is not : and when one limits himself to
fourteen, rest assured that those few have been chosen
with a careful and critical eye. Stools were brought,
and one of the wives fetched a jar of pombe. As we
sat and chatted and quaffed gourds of this millet beer,
the fourteen helpmeets of our royal host stood in a
semicircle before us, looking on, chewing ears of maize,
and smiling and flirting over each others' shoulders at
their lord and master's Wazungu guests. They had
come to see ; but like young ladies everywhere who
know themselves to be good-looking they were equally
anxious to be seen. They strutted about to show their
fine forms and elegant motion, as proud of these attrac-
tions as any civilized belle could possibly be of her
manifold charms of dress and person.
The Wa-Chaga, as well as all tribes in this part of
Africa, are featured much like Europeans. They are
by no means black, and among Miliali's wives were
faces that would be called pretty in any part of the
world.
Inside thcboma stood anumbcr of grass houses of bee-
hive pattern. These were the habitations of the wives.
"Where is your hpusc, Miliali?" we asked.
kILIMANJARO TRIBES. 59
"All these," he repHed, sweeping his pombe-dipper
around. "I live in fourteen houses, sometimes in one,
sometimes in another."
Such, we learned, is the custom in Chaga, with both
chief and people. The husband, in theory, divides his
time and attention equally between his wives. As a
matter of fact, however, he bestows most of his atten-
tion upon some favorite, to the neglect of the others,
and in her house practically lives. In this respect all
polygamous husbands are Brigham Youngs, and we
soon discovered that the now gorgeous young chief of
Marangu was no exception.
We were shown the residence of the favorite spouse.
The interior of the house was interesting as showing us
the way in which the most favored lady in all Marangu
is lodged. Her quarters were anything but elegant.
The circular room was about ten feet in diameter and
in shape suggested, as from without, a huge bee-hive.
One-half the space was occupied by three fat cows that
had either been built in or had entered the house in
their calfhood and never been outside since. The part
of the floor devoted to them was littered with fresh-cut
grass, which is brought to them daily. The lady's half
of the hut was floored with packed red clay. The
furniture consisted of a few jars, a rude bed, like an
Indian charpoy, and a low stool. Fire was built on the
floor, and as there was no outlet for the smoke the
whole interior was as black as a chimney. The atmos-
phere was suffocating. We were both strong young
men, but we couldn't stand the air of this Princess's
fairy boudoir, and we were glad when we could retire.
Whew! and Kilimanjaro so cold and pure close by.
6o SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
We found here in Marangu ornaments that we saw
nowhere else. Instead of the broad belts or big folds
of beads peculiar to other tribes, the ladies of Marangu
encircle their waists with prettily beaded rolls of leather.
A length of dressed kidskin is rolled up the size of a
small rope, strings of seed beads of many colors are
then neatly coiled around it. The result is a very
pretty and substantial-looking ornament, smaller edi-
tions of which are worn about the neck and arms.
About the waist is worn any number, from one to
eight, according to the wealth of the lady. Huge col-
lars of hammered brass, obtained in barter from
Ugweno, are also worn. A brass collar and a coil or
two of beads about the waist, with a beaded apron
three inches wide and six long, used to form the sum
total of a Marangu lady's costume a few years ago.
What with traders and white visitors, however, cloth
has become more plentiful with them nowadays, and
only girls of twelve and under are now to be seen in
this truly simple and effective garb.
The costume of the warriors differs but little from
what we have seen on the braves of Taveta.
The warriors themselves, however, are more ener-
getic and warlike than the lotus-eating soldiers of the
forest delta on the Lumi. Not content with goatskin
togas, many of the Wa-Chaga warriors hunt for their
fur a species of hyrax that abounds in the forests of
the higher slopes, and whose skins are soft and warm.
Many of them are armed with Snider carbines, and
Miliali, Mandara and other prominent chiefs are am-
bitious to see all their warriors thus effectively
armed. During our stay we were continually plagued
KILIMANJARO TRIBES. 6i
with requests to exchange "bunduki Snaider" for
spears.
These latter are well worth securing as trophies, for
the Chaga spear is a remarkably handsome though not
a very finely finished weapon. The blade of the latest
fashioned spear (for the shape of their spears change
about as often as the pattern of rifles in European
armies) is three feet long, slender, and tapering most
gracefully : the pointed hilt for sticking it in the ground
is about the same length, and blade and hilt are joined
by a short, smooth stick of wood.
We left Marangu favorably impressed by the place
and people, and particularly by the amiable disposition
and intelligence of its young Sultan. It seemed to us
hardly possible that he could be the same savage who
had, but two weeks before our visit, caused his own
brother to be speared in the most brutal manner. This
brother, it seems, was a gay young cattle-lifter and
slave raider whose growing popularity excited Miliali's
jealousy. The latter therefore ordered his body-guard
to waylay him and spear him to death. What brutes
these Africans are, even the best of them ! They place
no more value on life, except their own, than the beasts
of their native forests. Of the finer feelings they know
absolutely nothing. Mandara, Miliali, these "intelligent
and amiable" chiefs of Kilimanjaro, what are they?
Human beings? Undoubtedly; for they stand on two
legs, wear clothes, talk, and get drunk.
But beyond that what do we find? Animals who
would, if they possessed the power, kill or sell into
slavery every chief, every man, woman and babe on the
whole mountain outside their own people. Such is
02 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Africa and the Africans, at any rate East Central Africa,
and no exaggeration. It is, alas! only too true that
the spirit displayed by the average chief is more fero-
cious, more atrociously bloodthirsty toward his fellows
than that of the hyenas that prowl about his capital.
I have yet to see an African in Africa with the "soul"
of a Newfoundland. But then, come to think it over,
he displays more noble qualities than most of us whites
do, and why then should we, forsooth, expect to find
his equal, or anything approaching him in people four
thousand years behind the times?
It is the utter absence of "feeling," of sympathy for
their kind, of pity for sufTering, of all that is best in
the heart of a white man, that jars so harshly on the
sensibilities when one first comes in contact with Afri-
cans. That young warrior who has been making him-
self so agreeable about your tent, whose fine physique
you have admired, and whose amiability has created a
favorable impression on you from the first, will take
part in a slave hunt to-morrow. He will think no more
of jabbing his spear through a poor old woman because
she isn't worth bringing away than you would of kill-
ing a dog, nor half so much.
And that laughing young woman with the intelligent
face and symmetrical form, who wants you to buy her
bunch of bananas, wall see her sisters of a neighboring
tribe brought in with their necks in heavy yokes, their
babes clinging to their backs, their pickaninnies fol-
lowing at their heels, bellowing with fright. She will
know they arc doomed to slavery, never to see their
homes again : she has heard exaggerated stories of the
dreadful march to the distant coast, of deaths on the
tCILIMANJARO TRIBES. 63
way, of babes sold one way and mothers another. She
thhiks their fate ten thiies worse than it will in reality
be, but she doesn't care. In the stare of curiosity
with which she greets the shackled wretches as they are
driven in there is not one glint of sympathy or pity.
On the contrary, she laughs and claps her hands, for
has not her husband taken a prominent part in the
raid, and may she not therefore look confidently for-
ward to coming in for a necklace or two of beads
from the Swahili traders who will buy the slaves? She
hopes that her gallant warrior of a husband will con-
tinue to spear his fellow Africans, burn their houses,
rip up their helpless and unmarketable old mothers,
chop down their banana groves and sell their wives and
children into slavery, until she shall become the most
bead-bedecked woman in the tribe.
But our brief visit to Marangu is over. For the pres-
ent "kweheri!" "Kweheri, bwana kweheri !" returns
Miliali ; "kweheri, kweheri, kweheri !" chorus his four-
teen wives, grinning at us in great good humor as we
file past the royal home. "Kweheri !" shout the people
as we wind our way back through the narrow dracaena
lanes, across the charming little parks, through the
banana plantations, crawl through the hole in the log
gate, and reach the Taveta trail.
A few days later found us at Arusha-wa-Chini, three
days' march southwest of Taveta, interviewing the Arab
traders. They had heard nothing of Stanley, they
said ; among them was a man who had accompanied
the great explorer on his journey "Through the Dark
Continent." Our way led us through a thin forest of
hyphene palms toward the low dark mass of the Kahe
64 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
forest. The Wa-Kahe are celebrated gatherers of wild
honey, and from hundreds of the hyphene palms swung
their crude honey-boxes, hollow cylinders of wood,
such as we had seen at Taveta. We saw but little of
them, as it was near dark when we reached camp ;
but they are rather inferior, physically, to the other
tribes of the Kilimanjaro region. They arm them-
selves with bows and poisoned arrows rather than with
spears, this being a matter of poverty in iron, how-
ever, rather than of choice.
At the time of our brief visit their poverty was more
apparent than usual, as they were but slowly recover-
ing from an awful thrashing administered by Mandara,
chief of Moschi. One day a band of Wa-Kahe hunters
met three of Mandara's people on the hyphene plain
we had just crossed and wantonly murdered them. A
few days later the koodoo-horn trumpets blared fiercely
on the hills of Moschi; the "Napoleon of Chaga" col-
lected his warriors, and, after killing a goat and examin-
ing the liver and entrails to make sure that the fates
were propitious and success a certainty, ordered them
to go and "eat up" Kahc. The Moschi spearmen suc-
ceeded in gaining entrance into Kahe during the night,
and in the gray of the morning smote the astonished
foresters hip and thigh. Many warriors were killed
and many women and children carried off and sold as
slaves. The victors then completed the orders of their
chief by chopping down the banana groves and burn-
ing the houses. The remnant of the tribe found it
extremely convenient to sue for peace. They got it,
and now, at certain seasons of the year, long files of
Kah6 women and warriors may be seen wending their
KILIMANJARO TRIBES.. 65
way to Moschi, carrying on their heads tribute ot nat-
ron, which is the salt of this part of Africa, The Wa-
Kahe collect this on the plain and convey it to Moschi
in sacks made of the fibre of the borassus palm.
The Arusha-wa-Chini are a tribe of Wa-Kwavi, or
sedentary Masai, who have been compelled to adopt an
agricultural life through the loss of their herds. Once
they owned vast herds of long-horned cattle and lived
a nomadic, or semi-nomadic, life, as many thousands of
their kindred do at the present time. Then the young
warriors were valorous El-Moran, the salt of the earth,
and lived on beef and milk exclusively, despising all
other kinds of food. In those good old days they con-
sidered themselves the aristocrats of all the world, for
whose particular benefit all cattle were created, and
they were wont to see the big Swahili caravans cringe
and tremble in their presence. Sometimes they were
so amused at the abject terror of these caravans that
the temptation to take advantage of it was too great,
and so they speared the porters and appropriated the
goods. "Another caravan annihilated in Masai-land"
would be the news in the bazaars of Zanzibar and Mom-
basa.
But at length misfortune overtook them and humbled
them. Tribal wars broke out in Masai-land ; the Arusha-
wa-Chini were sadly beaten and their cattle swept off
by thousands. Only a remnant of their once numer-
ous herds remained — not nearly enough to provide the
clan with food. The war continued and they were in
great danger of losing even these. All the El-Moran
were slain in battle. Only the El-Morau (the married
men) and the women and children were left. The out-
Oo SCOUTIMG FOR STANLEY
look was about as bad as it well could be. They were
in danger of starving to death. A council was held, a
sad council, in which, after much palaver, it was decided
to make a virtue of necessity by adopting a new mode
of life. Like the Wa-Kahe, the Wa-Taveta, the Wa-
Duruma, people whom they had hitherto despised, they
must now place barriers of thorns between themselves
and the rest of the world, and take to growing bananas
and cassava for a living. This was a terrible come-
down for the proud Masai clan, but there was no alter-
native.
As Wa-Kwavi, however, the Arusha-wa-Chini still
retain many of their ancient customs, and although the
warriors eat vegetable food, they ape the manners of
the El-Moran in every possible way. Soon after our
arrival they assembled and gave us an interpretation of
the Masai war-dance. Each warrior was armed with a
huge spear of the old-style shovel-bladed pattern, a
sime and a big elliptical shield of cow or buffalo hide.
In the pride and memory of other days their shields
were painted with the heraldic device of their clan in
red and white. To match their shields, red and white
were also the predoininating colors of their bodies.
The groundwork was an odorous layer of grease and
ochre; on this some had streaked and figured them-
selves most fantastically with a darker red, others with
some substance white as chalk.
Gathering into a compact company, the flower and
chivalry of Arusha-wa-Chini held their shields above
their heads at full arms' length, like umbrellas, shelter-
ing themselves from the sun as if roofed over. Their
;appearance was jjrofoundly savage and remarkably
KILIMANJARO TRIBES. 67
picturesque, as they now advanced in this close order
toward our camp. A stalwart warrior led them by a
pace or two, taking the initiative in every move, as
proud and important in his bearing as the proudest of
drum-majors. Following his lead the dark-red band
advanced with a peculiar, high-stepping prance, flourish-
ing their gleaming spears and chanting the Masai war-
song. There isn't much to the latter, by the bye, but
its melody ; only a repetition of "Yakh-yaho ! Yakh-
yaho ! Yakh-yaho-yaho-yaho-o-o !" But it was musi-
cal enough, and the whole performance was certainly
very striking as they pranced about in perfect time
to the melody. The spectacle was among the most
interesting sights I ever saw, as this fantastic band of
fifty naked warriors advanced and retreated and wheeled
to the right and left on the green ground of the sward
on which we were camped. Their movements sug-
gested a crude knowledge of military evolutions. In
their performance we probably saw the savage germ
from which has developed the marching and wheeling
and the machine-like movements of the modern regi-
ment. The Arusha-wa-Chini are governed by elders,
much like the Wa-Teita and Wa-Taveta. These ancient
gentlemen decide the question of war or peace, and exact
hongo, or tribute, from passing or visiting caravans. No
longer warlike and terrible, as they used to be in their
old nomadic days, instead of demanding tribute as their
right without giving anything in return, they now take
advantage of the necessities of their visitors and refuse
to sell them food until a satisfactory present has been
given. This is, indeed, the method resorted to by most
African tribes when situated favorably for putting the
68 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
screws on a hungry caravan. Like true Africans, the
Arusha-wa-Chini elders exact all they think they can get
before <Trantinw a market. Hours of "shauri" were
spent in arguing down their exorbitant demands, before
the expectant porters could indulge their insatiable
appetites for bananas.
The ladies of Arusha-wa-Chini were a revelation to us.
They had, true to the conservatism of the sex,.retained
even more than the warriors the customs and dress of
the Masai. They came in great numbers to our camp
to sell bananas and sugar-cane, and to enjoy the rare
excitement of white visitors.
I have often, as an amusing experiment, pointedly
looked some dusky Eve in the eye as she stood among
the crowd, gazing wondcringly at the things about our
tent. Why did the great Mzungu look at her in that
pointed way? Magic? Horrible possibility! and the
young lady would quickly dodge out of sight behind
the crowd. A moment later one black eye would be
seen peeping cautiously over a neighbor's shoulder.
Was the white man still interested in her? still following
her with those strange, blue eyes of his, eyes the color
of makona beads.
Good heavens! Yes; they were still looking at her
as fixedly as if she had never hidden herself! Could it
be possible that those eyes, so strange in color and
expression, were able to look straight through the dark
mass of humanity in front of her, and see her there,
behind. Not quite sure of this, the maiden would, after
a longer interval of concealment, venture on another
sly peep. Surely by this time the Mzungu would have
forgotten ail about her. Not so, however; the blue
KILIMANJARA TRIBES. 69
eyes were still interested in her movements, and, to licr
further bewilderment and fright, their owner smiled —
smiled pointedly at her!
The limit was reached. The smile was quite too
much for the superstitious damsel ; it was only too
evident that the Mzungu had some design in singling
her out in so marked a manner from the crowd. Fear-
ful always of "ichaw,"or black magic, and having heard
all sorts of marvelous stories of the white man's powers
in that mysterious art, the maiden would, quietly, for
fear of attracting further attention, steal away to another
part of the camp.
I tried this little experiment on a sleek-skinned, red-
dish-colored young beauty of Arusha-wa-Chini, and, to
my utter astonishment, it wouldn't work at all. On
the contrary the lady seemed remarkably pleased with
my attentions, and the black eyes twinkled knowingly
as they met and returned my gaze.
"Ah, ha! my fine lady," thought I, "do you mean
to say you're not afraid of the Mzungu? We'll see
about this; come, how's that for a smile?"
"Not so bad," the young woman evidently thought,
for instead of bolting or dodging behind the crowd, as
an M-Teita woman would have done in a moment, she
smiled in return. As a last resource I tried the effect
of a wink. Imagine my astonishment when the lady
winked boldly, and, I must say, very knowingly indeed,
in reply! To say I felt crushed is expressing it
very mildly. We subsequently discovered this to be
one of their old Masai customs. Winking is one of
the accomplishments of the Masai lady, but the art
does not seem to have spread to other tribes in East
70 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Africa. The Arusha-wa-Chini ladies inherit the prac-
tice just as they inherit the huge senenge ornaments
and the habit of painting the face. Many of the mark-
ings on the face were very grotesque. The correct thing
among the more fashionable is to paint a broad white
circle around each eye. These rings, whitening cheek
bones, temples and forehead, contrasting sharply with
the dull-red ground of the face, produce an effect most
comical to the white man's eye. It would make a
capital face for a circus clown ; none better. The head
is smoothly shaven and all traces of hair are care-
fully removed from the eyebrows. The lady wears no
head-covering, and the hot sun glistens on her smooth,
shiny pate almost as brightly as on her senenge
ornaments. Senenge is thick iron wire, as thick as
telegraph wire, and when worn as ornaments is kept
polished bright as silver. Senenge ornaments encom-
pass the Arusha-wa-Chini belle like a suit of armor.
But as a more detailed description of these remarkable
ornaments will be in order when we encounter the real
Masai lady, of whom the Arusha-wa-Chini lady is but
an imitator and a forty-second cousin, it only remains
to be said that the latter wears more clothing than any
we have seen since leaving the coast. From shoulder
to ankles she is shrouded in a loose-fitting sheet of
cowskin, dressed smooth. This is fastened over one
shoulder, passes under the other arm, and is bound at
the waist with a beaded belt.
A message was to reach me from Zanzibar at Taveta
in two months from the date of our departure from
the Sultan's capital. It was to be, for me, a momen-
tous message. On its import would depend the scope
K I LIMA MJA RO TRIBES. 7 1
and nature of my African experiences. If nothing had
come of the hints and rumors born of the simultane-
ous dispatches from Zanzibar and St. Thome, after this
further two months' grace, my duty would plainly be
to organize my expedition and, without further delay,
proceed to the far interior.
The porters were happy. They were thinking of
their sweethearts in the forest Arcadia, and the warm
reception that would await them should they return with
huge loads of dried buffalo meat, their perquisite to
give away or trade for this and that. So in this happy
frame of mind we bade farewell to the good people of
Arusha-wa-Chini.
CHAPTER V.
VISIT TO MACHAME.
FIRST we determined to pay a visit to the Chief of
Machame in order to make purchases of food, and
besides we anticipated much pleasure in visiting a chief
who had never yet set eyes on a white man. Our way
led through a very charming plain country, very African
in its appearance. The gently undulating plains were
dotted with small cones of a hundred feet or there-
about in height, so small, symmetrical, and uniform in
shape as to suggest bubbles floating on the green waves
of the plain. Rhinoceroses, giraffes, antelope, buffalo,
and zebra abounded in great numbers, roaming over
the free, broad plains like herds of cattle.
We camped near a swamp, in which we found abun-
dant signs of elephants, but saw none of them, and in
the morning proceeded to Machame. Machame is the
largest and most populous of the Kilimanjaro States,
and with its neighbor, Kibonoto, occupies the western
extremity of the cultivated plateau that distinguishes
the mountain on its southern and eastern slopes.
Though the largest, it is the least known to Europeans,
and so we looked forward to a novel and interesting
visit to its Sultan and people. So long ago as 1849,
Rcbmann, of the Mombasa Mission, who as stated, gave
to the world the first reliable news of Kilimanjaro,
paid a visit to Machame. The chief looted the mis-
72
VISIT TO MACIIAME. 73
sionaiy's caravan and ruined his expedition. Reb-
mann returned to the coast broken in health and spirits,
and died.
Snce that event no white traveler, I beheve, has ven-
tured into Machame, much to the disadvantage of the
latter. While Mandara, Miliali and other chiefs have
profited and grown in power and importance from the
visits and the presents of the white man, Ngamini, the
present Sultan of Machame, still lives and languishes
under the shadow of that ancestral sin.
The approaches to Machame consist of the usual
narrow, tortuous paths, leading through dense thickets
of scrubby and thorny vegetation, and instead of gates
the defenses by this route are deep, narrow ravines,
which have been trimmed down and deepened into big
trenches. A pole thrown across one of these ditches
forms a bridge, on Avhich the natives, sure of foot as
monkeys, cross over, and in times of war remove.
Passing these obstacles with no little difflculty, we
at once found ourselves in the proximity of banana
groves, and objects of more than usual mterest to
swarms of bronze-skinned warriors who had in a remark-
ably short time collected on the adjacent ridges. We
wondered where they had all come from so quickly.
They were by no means certain of our intentions, and
for some time held aloof, watching us with the keenest
interest. At length we managed to make them under-
stand that our intentions were commercial only, and a
few of the more venturesome individuals came and
pointed out a place for us to camp. After much palaver
with an ancient and exceedingly peaceful-looking savage
in a greasy goat-skin toga and anklets of the same
74 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
material, we sent a present to the Sultan and stated
our intention of paying him a visit next day.
Our delegation was hospitably entertained by the
chief, with a goat and big jars of pombe, but the men
were kept in the royal boma until our appearance next
day; this as a guarantee, so we afterwards understood,
that we would keep our promise and come to see him.
He was most anxious to receive us, and particularly
requested that the entire caravan might be brought to
his residence. We hardly liked the look of this latter
proposition with the example of the last white visitor
before us; but, on the other hand, we knew that our
men would stand by us here, notwithstanding their
ridiculous fears of the Masai.
We had no idea how far it was nor how difficult
might be the way. It turned out to be up hill and
down dale for many trying miles, through banana
plantations of astonishing area and across clear, cold
mountain streams that nearly swept us ofif our feet.
It was a much longer distance than we had expected.
The paths, moreover, after a drizzling night were slip-
pery as ice to the naked feet of the porters. But fifty
eager warriors, probably acting under orders from their
Mange, ran ahead, and with the hilts of their spears
dug footholes in the steeper and more slippery places,
helping us along all they could in this way. It is cus-
tomary in Uganda, and I believe in Unyoro also, for
the King to send porters and carry the travelers'
baggage from the frontier of the country; but such is
not the custom among the chiefs of Kilimanjaro. The
warriors of Machamc, though anxious to help us along,
would laugh at the struggling porter as his feet slipped
ViStT TO MACHAME. 75
from under him and his load came to grief. They
would gouge a hole to give him footing, but were much
too proud to render him laborious aid.
The country was lovely, a chaotic jumble of narrow
hills and dales, the whole sloping gently up toward
Kibo and clothed with luxuriant vegetation of every
shade of green. Everywhere could be heard the music
of mountain streams coursing over rocky beds at the
bottom of the canons, or leaping and tumbling over
cataracts or down rapids. Between the banana planta-
tions stood little patches of primeval forest, and about
them, so characteristic of Chaga, were the charming
little parks we have noted in Marangu. The groves
are believed to be peopled with the shades of their
ancestors, and votive offerings are placed before the
trees.
Irrigating ditches were everywhere, and narrow lanes
of draCc'Ena hedges divided the plantations. Much wet
weather had converted these lanes into gutters of
very slippery mud, in which many a porter sat down
very abruptly with his burden, to the uproarious
approval of his comrades, one of whom, however, was
only too certain to quickly follow his example. At
length we came to a halt on a strip of sward, at the
brink of a formidable caflon several hundred feet deep,
down which coursed one of the largest streams we had
yet encountered. No more charming situation could
be imagined. Five hundred feet below us a torrent,
clear as crystal, cold and fresh from the glaciers of Kibo,
tumbled and foamed over the rocks or raced along
with gurgling tones. Immediately beyond the chasm a
broad table-land of parks and groves and banana planta-
76 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
tions stretched away with a slope of one in twenty.
Tlie variegated shades of green in the irregular patch-
work of forests, park, and field made a most delightful
study in colors. The dark remnants of the primeval
woods contrasted beautifully with the lighter shade of
the parks, and these again with the yet lighter fields of
wimbi and the pale green of the banana groves; more-
over, the far-reaching table-land sloping down toward
our position placed the picture before us as on an easel.
All this, easy enough to put in words, conveys but a
meagre idea of the real beauty of the scene. Nor was
this all nature had to show our wondering eyes in
Machame. Hundreds of warriors, with spear and shield,
their naked forms the only dark objects in the land-
scape, showed out in bold contrast and picturesque
relief against the green groundwork of their surround-
ings as they stood and squatted in dense groups or
stretched in long, irregular lines on the opposite
brink of the canon. Beyond all this was a dense mass
of cloud that rested on the farther reaches of the green
table-land and hid almost the whole of Kilimanjaro.
But not all, for the higher strata of the clouds some-
times broke and revealed the eternal wreath of snow
on Kibo, at whose very base we now seemed to be
standing. Someday an artist will come and paint this
picture I have feebly attempted to describe, and make
himself famous.
Preparatory to visiting the Sultan, whose boma was
a couple of miles beyond the cafion, we had to take
part in a curious ceremony. A fat young goat was
brought and its throat cut. The ancient ambassador
and a few of the older and wiser warriors then examined
VltilT TO MACIIAME. 77
critically the liver and certain parts of the intestines for
favorable signs. This investigation turning out to their
satisfaction, they next brought several small strips of
the animal's skin and slit holes in them sufificiently
large to insert the middle finger. These were solemnly
placed on Abbott's finger and mine, each ring by five
separate pushes and to the accompaniment of the
Ki-Swahili numerals: "Moja, bill, tatu, ena, tano" —
"Moja, bili, tatu, ena, tano," etc. This done, we on
our part were required to perform the same ofifice,
numerals and all, for them.
These preliminaries over, we collected our men on
the brink of the cafion and fired down into its echo-
ing depths a volley in honor of the Sultan of Machame.
The echoes of this noisy compliment rolled along up
the cafion and died away in its far recesses with a rum-
ble like distant thunder. We then took a guard of
honor of twenty men, and, preceded by a troop of
warriors, made our way down a steep and narrow path
to the stream below. Fording this, several of us hand
in hand to prevent being swept off our feet by the cur-
rent, we found awaiting us on the other side, and in the
bottom of the gorge, another group of the Sultan's
people with another goat. This animal was slain and
examined like the other, more goatskin rings were
placed on our fingers, and more numerals solemnly
repeated. Thus doubly fortified against a breach of
good faith on either side, we proceeded on our way.
Hardly had we started, however, than the Machame
warriors ahead of us motioned us to halt, and a mo-
ment later the report of several guns and the appear-
ance of a large body of people hurrying down the steep
7^ SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
slope of the caiion, announced the arrival of the Sul=
tan. He had come to meet us and to conduct us to
his boma. It was a great day for this savage young
chief. He eyed us with the intense curiosity of one
who had often heard of the strange, white-skinned
people of another world, but whom he now for the first
time had an opportunity of seeing for himself. Such
a prolonged, wondering stare at face, hands, and the
strange habiliments we wore, from head to foot, we
should, I suppose, in like manner bestow upon a couple
of visitors from Mars or Jupiter. Certainly our scru-
tiny could never be more searching.
Our first impression of him was not very favorable.
He was a young man of medium stature, under thirty,
but he looked like a drunkard and debauchee, and a de-
cided expression of brutishness marked his face. His
voice was thick and husky, but whether from extreme
indulgence in pombe, or from an attack of laryngitis,
was not then apparent. There was, however, small
room for doubt about his being a constant worshiper
at the shrines of the twin deities, before which every
chief in Chaga, and well-nigh every one in Africa, bows
the knee. But whatever he might ordinarily be, he
seemed determined to'make as good an impression as
he knew how upon his rare visitors, and before we left
Machame we voted him, notwithstanding first impres-
sions, a very good sort of a fellow. The visit of Reb-
mann, we quickly learned, was now little more than a
tradition among the people. The Wa-Chaga are not a
long-lived race any more than other African savages ;
a person of sixty is rarely seen and not many over fifty.
To the present generation we were the first white visi-
VISIT TO MACHAME. 1^
tors. The Sultan and nine-tenths of his subjects had
never set eyes on a Mzungu before.
The customary handshaking — which all East Afri-
can tribes perform in our own fashion — and interchange
of compliments as to health, etc., over, the Sultan led
the way to his boma. He was very shabbily clad in a
dotted print wrapper that had never been washed.
This garment and the ordinary cow-skin sandals of the
country completed his costume, and the only ornaments
he sported were a pair of massive iron anklets.
A vast crowd of people awaited us as we emerged
from the cafion. The Sultan shouted threateningly
to the rabble to clear out, and because they didn't run
fast enough to suit his royal pleasure gave chase and
hurled his knob-kerrie at their heels. He walked with
a peculiar, stagey strut, much like Henry Irving in "The
Merchant of Venice," before us, and every few steps
looked back over his shoulders, overcome with curiosity
to see us w-alk.
Knowing that we had visited Miliali and intended
visiting Mandara, both of whom were to the native
mind possessed of many wondrous things from Europe,
the Sultan of Machame, ashamed of his own poverty,
seemed reluctant to take us inside his boma. For
some time we sat without in a little park surrounded by
a crowd of elders and warriors, and through the inter-
preter tried to engage our host in conversation. On
his part he seemed more intelligent .than a good many
whites — that is to say, he was quite conscious of his own
ignorance — and so remained for the most part dumb
as an oyster, though eagerly drinking in all we had to
say. He seemed bewildered and overawed by the im-
8o SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
portance of the occasion. Anxious to do anything he
could think of to please his visitors, he and all his elders
were too ignorant of the white man's character and
requirements to know just what to do. The whole
assembly appeared to be in a profound puzzle. We, on
our part, made him the customary present of cloth,
beads and wire.
We entertained him and his astonished people with
the performance of the "Mikado." This was not Gil-
bert and Sullivan's spectacular creation, if you please,
though I doubt whether that charming opera ever had
a more appreciative audience than did our little metallic
Jap with his revolving umbrella and waving fan — a
shilling toy bought in London. We showed him his
own bloated features for the first time in a mirror, and
amazed him with the ticking of a Waterbury watch.
After much discussion among themselves, he and his
elders seemed to make up their minds that the proper
thing would be to take us into the royal boma, poverty
or no poverty. The boma itself was a poor affair. It
consisted of a small stockade of planks set on end,
which had been laboriously hewn from big logs with
native tools. Inside the stockade were several houses
of very neat construction and of a pattern that is pecu-
liar to Machame. At all events, we had never seen
anything like them anywhere else. Instead of the bee-
hive houses of Marangu and Taveta, the Machame hut
is of an exaggerated bell-shape. Set the lower half of
a turnip on a table and cut off the root ^\■ithin a trifle
of the bulb, and you have a miniature model of a Ma-
chame house, without the porch. The framework is a
mere cage of poles, bent to the requisite shape; over
VISIT TO MACIIAME. 8 1
this is a thatch of banana fronds a foot thick, which are
laid on and trimmed in the neatest possible manner.
On one side the poles and thatch, instead of descend-
ing to the ground, form a little porch over the en-
trance.
The house we were led to had a longer porch than
ordinary, and inside and out was thickly bedded down
with dry fern, which graceful plant we had seen in great
variety and abundance in Machame and elsewhere on
the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro. It was a perfect snug-
gery, low of entrance and bedded down with the nice,
dry bracken ; very suitable indeed it seemed for the lair
of this fine young human animal, the Mange of a sav-
age state.
Just outside this boma was an inclosure of quite an-
other sort— the kraal in which were kept the royal cattle.
This was a remarkable affair, and strong enough to be
a good fort. Young trees had been planted in a ring
to form a fence. They were planted in such numbers
and so close together that as they grew up they formed
a living wall of tree-trunks several feet thick, and so
compact that one could not see through it.
To our astonishment the King's boma seemed to con-
tain no women, a most extraordinary state of affairs,
and when we asked the question as to the number of
wives he had — always a complimentary piece of curi-
osity at an African court — he smiled and shook his
head.
"What, none! — why, Miliali, of Marangu, has four-
teen, and Mandara, of Moschi, many more than that."
Our looks of surprise and incredulity set the chief
and all his elders to laughing. There was evidently a
82 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
"nigger in the fence" somewhere. This full-blown, sen-
suous-faced young potentate without a harem? Im-
possible. And then one of us remembered that, con-
trary to our experience elsewhere in the country, the
fair sex in Machame had kept themselves well out of
sight as our caravan passed their houses. They were
too timid and superstitious to let themselves be seen
by the white strangers, who might, for all they knew,
take it into their heads to assail them with their mys-
terious powers of ichaw, which everybody knew they
possessed to an alarming degree. The Sultan had
wives, then — a goodly number, no doubt — but all had
scampered off and hid themselves at our approach,
fearful of ichaw. We had scarcely come to this con-
clusion when a bright and prepossessing young woman
came into view from behind one of the other houses
and bravely advanced to satisfy her curiosity. This
feminine trait had conquered her fears of ichaw, but
she was the only one who mustered up courage enough
to face us. She walked up in the most grotesque man-
ner, with a mincing step and smiling face. Her sense
of modesty was admirably in an African belle, and she
seemed a far superior person to her liege, the Mange.
Her bandera wrapper was folded about her shoulders
and held together from within. Nothing was in evi-
dence but face and feet — not even a hand. As she
stooped to clear the porch and enter the house, how-
ever, one of those shapely members was thrust timidly
into view beneath the chin and presented for a shake.
We shook and smiled. The Sultan laughed, the elders
laughed, all laughed. The fiction of an African chief
without the pick and choice of the young women of his
VISIT TO MACIIAME. ^l
tribe dancing attendance on him had been exploded
by the curiosity and courage of one dusky belle.
Bacchus, however, seemed to have rather the upper
hand at Ngamini's primitive court. I doubt if anything
weaker than millet pombe is ever drunk inside the
royal boma. During our visit that beverage flowed
as freely as beer in a brewery. A huge jar of it was
lugged in and placed in the middle of the assembly,
and men ladled it out and passed around the gourds
continually.
The Sultan was opulent enough in the matter of
pombe, if not in European goods, and so did his best
to win our approval of his immense resources in that
product. He took us into his brewery, a smaller inclo-
sure that formed an annex to his resident kraal, and
enjoyed immensely our astonishment at the vast size
of the vats. These were earthenware jars, of bulbous
shape, eight in number, and capable of holding two
hundred gallons or more of liquor. I had seen wine
jars as large, though of different shape, in Persia, but
never expected to find such giant pottery in a Chaga
state.
In brewing pombe the millet, or wimbi, is first
pounded with stones to break the grain, then boiled in
earthen kettles until it resembles thin cereal soup ; the
whole is then emptied into the big jars, covered with
a cowhide and allowed to ferment. When dipped out
for use the sediment is stirred up from the bottom, as
also when dipped from smaller vessels to be passed
round. Pombe in this condition is a solid tipple
which comes as near being both food and drink as any-
thing of an intoxicating nature can be, and many an
84 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
African chief all but lives on it. It has a pleasant
twang to it, and the I: iropean soon comes to like it
almost as well as the native boozer does, it goes to the
head, too. A pint puts a white man in a joyous frame
of mind and sets a negro, who effervesces easier than
his white brother, to singing and whooping. The
chiefs, however, are as a general thing animated pombe-
sponges, constantly soaked and with the gourd seldom
out of reach.
Our interview over we returned to camp, the Sultan
promising to return our visit on the morrow. Soon
after our arrival we heard a ripple of half-suppressed
laughter, sundry low whoops and other signs of merri-
ment in the camp. We stepped outside the tent in
time to receive an ambassador from the Sultan with
presents. These consisted of a goat, several bunches
of bananas, and a brace of exceedingly plump but badly
frightened — I would like to add, "partridges," but
veracity compels me to say — young women.
Dr. Abbott blushed profoundly, but was neverthe-
less as much amused as the writer. It was, in short,
this latter valuable item, of the Sultan's present that
had caused the irreverent outburst of merriment
ainong our followers. An African camp, be it known,
is the most public place in the world, and in no place
in the world is public o])inion more freely expressed.
The daily affairs of one are known to all. The "bwana"
is as conspicuous as a king in the camj). and everything
he does — his mode of eating, his ability as a hunter,
his temper, his habits, the color and luxuriance, or
otherwise, of his whiskers, his particular way of doing
this or that — all are discussed with scant reserve by the
VISIT TO iMACHAME. 85
porters, and one often hears from these mental feather-
weights quaint scraps of sage comment, such as in more
intellectual lands fall from the lips of precocious babes.
And now this august concave of a hundred colored
judges and commentators stood by, enjoying our per-
plexity with the negro's keen appreciation of the ridi-
culous roused to its highest pitch. That the Sultan of
Machame should, in the innocence of his soul, think
the white men cannibals filled their black skins so full
of merriment that some of them went off and rolled on
the grass.
As for ourselves, we soon came to a decision. Dur-
ing our brief experience in the Kilimanjaro country we
had breakfasted off rhinoceros steak and lunched off cold
saddles of zebra ; but a roasted African belle was more
than we had bargained for for dinner. We accepted
the goat and bananas, made the other two items of the
present happy with strings of beads, and still happier,
1 suppose, at finding that they were not to be cut up
and eaten. And we sent a message to the Sultan thank-
ing him for the present, but informing him that Ameri-
cans never indulged in cannibalism.
We stayed at our pleasant camp on the edge of the
caflon two days, and discovered in that time that the
large population of Machame lives almost exclusively
on bananas. A homestead consists of a neat little hut,
fenced in with an equally neat dracaena fence and a
grove of bananas. Very little else seems to be grown,
tliough on the outskirts of the State were fields of
millet, from which was brewed the Sultan's pombe;
but not a chicken, yam, or root of cassava was to be
obtained.
86 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Everywhere on exposed places were patches of
ground cleared of grass, and little groups of women
and children fanning the ground with banana leaves to
drive or attract white ants. They were brought to us
for sale in banana-leaf cylinders, and as an extra recom-
mendation for us to purchase, one or two would be
taken out and rolled between the palms to show us
how nice and fat they were. These termites, lightly
roasted, are considered a great delicacy by the people
of Machame.
The Sultan of Machame provided us with a guide
for a hunting trip to the Letima Plains, below his coun-
try, after which we would return to Taveta, visiting
Mandara of Moschi on the Vay.
w
CHAPTER VI.
MANDARA OF MOSCHI.
E reached the confines of Moschi in a warm,
pattering rain, and proceeded toward the royal
boma over slippery clay paths. Our way led us past
Mandara's baby-farm, a curious institution where his
wives and concubines are domiciled to bring up their
offspring out of their loving husband's sight and hear-
ing. The "farm" consists of a large boma, or kraal, sur-
rounded by a wall of piled boulders built up ten or
twelve feet thick and eight high, inside of which are a
number of large conical huts for the accommodation of
the women and children. The number of women and
children it contains is not known even to Mandara,
whose mind has never yet awakened to the advantages
of a census. Indeed, that gay old potentate doesn't
even know how many spouses he happens to be blessed
with, and can only give an approximate guess at the
number of his own offspring. If you ask him how many
wives and children he has, he smiles proudly and says
"minge" (many), and .that is as near as he can come to
it. Whenever any of the blooming buds of the country
whom he falls in love with, and installs in his royal
favor from time to time, give promise of adding addi-
tional lustre to his name, they are packed off to his
flourishing establishment within the big stone wall,
where they receive bountiful rations of bananas, maize,
87
88 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
and cassava. Mandara's own boma was plainly visible
on the crest of a hill a mile or so farther on, and so we
halted in a little park outside the baby-farm and hon-
ored him with a salute. We were answered by the
squalling of many infants inside the enclosure, and a
number of chocolate-faced women came and peeped
timidly through the entrance.
The doughty chief of Moschi used to live in this
kraal himself a couple of years before our visit. But
one morning the warriors of his mortal foe, Cena of
Kibosho, attacked it suddenly, and only by the valor
of his body-guard and by scuttling over the wall and
into a banana grove was Mandara able to escape.
After that thrilling event he moved higher up the
mountain, and now installs therein the numerous ob-
jects of the royal affection in regular succession as their
youthful attractions begin to fade. Here, in this park,
too, were the granaries that supplied the baby-farm
with maize. And you might guess for a week at the
shape and dimensions of these granaries — for there
were many of them — and miss the mark. Imagine a
tree with many stout branches ; and hanging from
every branch, a number of ears of corn in the husk,
made up in big bunches. Then picture to yourself
a number of such trees scattered about a small park,
and you have before you the granary that astonished
my unaccustomed eyes in Moschi. After no end of
slipping and sliding and scrambling up steep paths,
we entered a big boma enclosed with a neat (lrac;cna
hedge. It contained a large, barn-like house of Swahili,
or coast, architecture, besides several large specimens of
the usual bee-hive houses of the country. A still larger
MANDARA OF MOSCHT. 89
Swahili house was in process of construction. On the
front wall of the chief's residence was fastened a mirror,
six feet long and three deep, and seated on a bench
where he could admire himself in it, was a man as re-
markable for a negro chief — though as yet less widely
known, — as the late Mteza of Uganda.
He has lost one eye ; but the other seems to have
absorbed the light and "cuteness" of the departed in
addition to its own ; and every moment, as we sat and
talked, it roved in restless curiosity all over our persons.
The lobe of his left ear was stretched to enormous pro-
portions, and passed round a wheel-like disc of wood
like a rubber tyre. Occasionally Mandara poses before
his people as a big medicine-man able to control the
elements. The chiefs of this part of the Dark Conti-
nent are not given to rain-making and the assumption
of supernatural abilities to the extent that we find them
in the Niletic provinces, as described by Emin Pasha,
but Mandara when in his cups is fully persuaded that
he is no ordinary son of Ham, and so takes a shy, so
to speak, at the business once in a while. When
building the new boma and the house we found him
living in, after his narrow escape from the vengeance
of Cena, and moreover, being anxious to finish it as
soon as possible, he sent heralds with loud-tooting
koodoo-horn trumpets, up and down the hills and dales
of Moschi, proudly proclaiming that he had ordered it
not to rain until his new house was finished. Luck
was with him. The rain did happen to hold off, and
great was the reputation of Mandara in consequence.
But he is shrewd enough not to try this sort of thing
too often ; and so far as I u^as able to learn had rested
90 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
on his laurels ever since this signal success was granted
him.
In the matter of European novelties such as find their
way to African chiefs, Mandara might be said to have
already had a surfeit. He even possessed a sewing-
machine, which, however, wouldn't work, and a real opera
hat ! Yes, there it was hanging on a peg in Mandara's
bedroom, coy and unassuming in its collapsed condition.
Mandara fetched it out, tapped it tenderly with his
knuckles to remove the dust, and — ah! up flies the
crown; it assumes at once all the dignity that rightfully
belongs only to the stove-pipe; and, smiling proudly,
the old chief holds it out for our inspection. To this
important acquisition to his treasures, Mandara is
indebted to Mr. Otto Ehlers of Berlin.
It is related of Mandara that a visitor once gave him
a wax doll; an article he had never seen or dreamed
of at that time. The Napoleon of Chaga was greatly
taken with tljis miniature European lady. He examined
it very critically, then gave utterance to a low whistle
of astonishment. "Was this a correct representation
of a white lady?" he asked the donor; "and were all
European ladies built that way?" "If so," — and the
severely critical African chief plainly intimated that
if such were the case, he was perfectly content with the
sex as they existed in his own dominions.
He, of course, was given to understand that the doll
was in no sense perfect, at which he seemed much
gratified, and nowadays there is nothing in the world
that he wishes to see so much as a real white woman.
Any lady with a taste for being lionized and well-nigh
worshiped, may gratify herself to the full by taking a
MANDARA OF MOSCHI. 91
trip to Moschi. She would find the intelligent chief I
am now treating of, kind but critical, predisposed in
her favor, and he would probably offer her his hand and
heart inside of an hour after her arrival.
Some time ago, General Matthews, Commander-in-
chief of the Sultan of Zanzibar's army, came to Moschi
and presented Mandara with the Arab flag. By and
by along came the Germans and handed him the Ger-
man flag in token of the new dominion that had, with
the German concession of territory, been established
over him and his people. Mandara accepted them both
with the greatest of pleasure; and is moreover equally
ready to accept the flags of England, Italy, Austria,
Russia, China, Japan, and all the other nations of the
world, so long as he can get them for nothing. He
didn't think much of the Sultan's flag because it is only
a plain red affair, and he had plenty of plain red calico
among his own stores. The red, white, and blue of
Germany was somewhat better, but still nothing to
enthuse over. What he wanted was something of a
different pattern to anything any of his young women
had ever worn about their waists before, so that he could
bestow it on the favorite of the day. This extraordi-
nary conception of the duty of flags having come to our
notice by seeing one young woman encased in the Arab
flag and another in the German tricolor, we at once
pointed out to Mandara the superior beauty of the
Stars and Stripes.
"What do you think of tJiis one, Mandara?" we
asked.
"Minge sana!" (much prettier than the others).
"Think you that your.handsomest young woman will
92 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
have any objections to coming under the protection of
the American flag?"
Mandara intimated that the said young person would
be perfectly delighted ; and so in our simple republi-
can way, without any fuss or ceremony, we then and
there humbled the Arab and German emblems of
authority and dominion to the dust, and bestowed upon
the fairest portion of Mandara's possessions the protec-
tion — literally — of the starry emblem of freedom. For
a moment we turned our eyes to Kibo's snowy summit,
and listened solemnly for the scream of the eagle. The
young lady, who stepped behind the partition and
enrolled herself under the banner of light and liberty,
was as plump and well put together as Miss Columbia
herself, and her skin was about the color of copper. The
day after this exploit our caravan re-entered Taveta,
and there I found the expected message from Zanzibar.
And what a message it turned out to be, that reached
me there in this African Arcadia on the Lumi ! It was
a message direct from Mr. Stanley himself, telling, in
graphic, forceful language, of all that had befallen him
since that memorable day, June 28, 1887, now two
years gone, when he cut loose from the strings of civili-
zation and with the advance of his expedition turned
his back on his Yambuya camp. It went on to tell all
about the terrible hardships of the journey through the
savage and unknown Congo Forest, the frightful mor-
tality among his people, the wholesale desertions and
the harrowing perfidity of his porters. Then came the
brighter words : the escape from the dismal forest into
the sunlight of an open country ; the meeting with Emin
Pasha, and the hopeful prospect of success; and further
MANDARA OF MOSCIIT. 93
on, the dismay at finding the dispersion of his officers
of the rear guard, and the shipping of his personal
effects down the Congo under the supposition that he
was dead ! And how did this message from Stanley
reach me?
I handed to my companion the clipping from the
London Times, through the medium of which Stanley's
long message had reached me, and sat down, to reflect.
Accompanying the clippings from the Times, was a
private letter stating that Stanley was understood to
be coming down through Masai-land toward Mombasa.
It did not take me long to make up my mind what
course to pursue. Both Abbott and myself wanted to
see something of the Masai. If Stanley was coming
down through Masai-land, why not go and meet him,
as the best thing left to be done by a newspaper?
CHAPTER VII.
INTO MASAI-LAND.
THUS it happened that on a bright June morning
we emerged from an area of thorn-grown plain, on
to the open pastures of the Lytokitok Masai. On our
left was the rugged peak, Kimawenzi, and beyond it,
to the west, peeping over its dark rugged shoulder, was
ever-snowy Kibo. We met long files of Masai women
with donkeys, going to Useri to buy vegetable food,
and we passed several of those landmarks of the Masai
border — deserted kraals.
It was always to us a curious phase of the savage
life of these people, to see the women fearlessly ventur-
ing to places where the warriors, with all the bravery of
arms and masculine courage, dared not go. The aban-
doned kraals, too, spoke eloquently of the vast differ-
ence between the Wa-Seri and their truculent neigh-
bors. One a race of timid toilers, carrying bundles of
grass ten miles every day rather than expose their cat-
tle to the raiders; the others, fighters and marauders,
disdaining work as beneath their dignity, grazing their
herds under the very noses of the Wa-Chaga, and in
defiance of a host of covetous neighbors.
A few hours' march took us from the spot where
people ran away when they saw us, to a fine open park,
in which, on the crest of a swell commanding a broad
view of the surrounding country, stood three young
warriors, who certainly hadn't the remotest idea of bolt-
94
INTO MASAI-LAND. 95
ing at our approach. On the contrary they stood,
shading their eyes with the hands, and boldly sizing us
up as we marched toward them. As we came near
they motioned us to pass on by, with the air of men
who owned the earth, and claimed the right to tell
other people where they might or might not tread.
Their gestures were of a proud and domineering people,
accustomed to dictate and to be obeyed. When we
had passed by they motioned us to stop, and waved at
us bunches of grass in token of peace. Here were three
young men, assuring a party of more than a hundred
that they would do us no harm! We were extremely
amused at their insolent bearing, which seemed to sit
on them as naturally as politeness on a Jap. The por-
ters, who had bull-dozed the Wa-Seri most unmercifully
but a few hours before, now became the humblest and
the most anxious to please of mortals. They smirked
and grinned in ghastly compliance, as the three Masai
inquisitors poked them with their knob-sticks and turned
them about in curiously impudent scrutiny of their per-
sons. As for Minara, our M-Taveta interpreter, he had
begged the day before a piece of cloth for the purpose
of binding up his fine large ears, lest the Masai should
yield to temptation and, grabbing for his ear-ornaments,
tear his slender lobes in twain. And indeed it seemed
not an unreasonable precaution to have taken, for the
manner in which these three warriors poked him and
others about, looked very much like a case of highway-
men going through our party for valuables. They did
all this, however, with such great good-humor, and,
withal, it seemed so natural to them, that all we could,
or cared, to do, was to laugh in return.
9^ SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
They showed us where to camp on a little stream,
where we ran up a boma in short order.
When traveling in Masai-land, as soon as the caravan
reaches its camping-ground for the night, "boma,
boma!" is the order, and immediate execution is en-
forced. Ready to hand, in all directions, is a choice
and varied assortment of bushes, belonging to the sav-
age vegetation of the pliocene age rather than ours,
bearing thorns anywhere from one to six inches long.
Some of these thorns are of fish-hook or wait-a-bit pat-
tern, others resemble miniature scimitars, others again
are little pairs of cow-horns set on knobs, or from a
common center shoot forth several formidable spikes,
three inches long. The African bush may be said to
bear thorns instead of leaves.
In the matter of the boma, the porter's sense of dan-
ger is usually suiTicient to stimulate him to unwonted
activity, and a hundred men, some with axes chopping
down and the others dragging them in and arranging
them in a circle, tops outward, soon put the camp in
an efficient state of defense.
Our boma was on a strip of open pasture, through
which meandered a tiny rivulet. The population of
several kraals visited us, and made our presence the
occasion of a general turn-out and sight-seeing.
Four bands of El-Moran came dancing and drum-
ming, chanting and evoluting up to our camp, one after
another, to demand their hongo. The day was bright,
and with my Hawkeye detective camera I crouched be-
hind the scattering bushes and took instantaneous
])hotographs of the bands as they came prancing up.
These were the savage gentlemen, whose reputation
INTO MASAI-LAND 97
for annihilating caravans and stabbing porters made it
so exceedingly difficult to drag the latter out of such
safe havens as Taveta, and gives you endless trouble
to prevent them stampeding at their very shadows,
and bolting like demoralized mules.
Behold these people, then, of whom we have heard
so much, on that grassy knoll, outlined in bold relief
against the gray clouds. One of them seems to be
delivering an oration ; and if his words are but half so
eloquent as his gestures, depend upon it they are as
worthy of your ear as an after-dinner speech from
Chauncey M. Depew. Now, like a member of Con-
gress, a second warrior "rises to explain." Number
one motions him to resume his seat. "Just three words,
Mr. Speaker; only three words, upon my honor."
"No! — sit down; you're out of order, I tell you."
Number two, realizing the justice of the rebuke, falls
back without another word and squats beside his spear.
The speaker who has the floor, as though thrown on
his mettle by the interruption, grows more and more
eloquent as he proceeds. At the beginning of his
discourse his hand mechanically sought the knob-
kerrie, thrust, sword-fashion in the strip of raw-hide
about his waist, and drew it forth. Was he going to
crack some presumptuous opponent on the head with
it, or only keep it in hand to be used in case of a
general row? Neither of these, my readers; nothing is
further from his intentions. Holding it by the stem
end, the orator emphasizes each important remark by
a curious half-striking motion toward first one and then
others of his audience, as though impressing them with
the weighty character of his views by tapping them
98 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
one after another on the nose. Having at length ex-
hausted his stock of ideas, number one retires. Three
others rise simultaneously to take his place. One is a
splendid six-foot savage, of whose superiority to the
others as a fighter there can be no doubt. His acknowl-
edged physical superiority gives him the upper-hand.
He waves his rivals back to their seats with scant show
of courtesy, and drawing his knob-kerrie proceeds to
deliver his opinions in the same manner as number one.
Being of even more forceful delivery that that indi-
vidual, however, the tapping action of his knob-kerrie is
yet more demonstrative, and the noses of the listeners
apparently in still greater danger.
In this manner some half-dozen orators addressed the
assembly, when they at length seemed to have reached
a satisfactory conclusion, and surely an important one
as the result of so great an expenditure of words.
Four of the Masai now separated themselves from their
comrades and came over to us, the rest remaining in
their squatting attitude, looking on in silence. Rising
to speak in turn these four brought to bear on our in-
terpreter their formidable battery of eloquence, stand-
ing about him, towering head and shoulders above him
almost in the attitude of fencers, and making play at his
small figure with their knob-sticks at the end of every
sentence. Minara was an undersized individual, and
when he entered our service we had taken him a step
':\\ tlic direction of civih'zation, or thought we had, by
presenting him with enough merikani to make himself
a shirt. Some of our warm-hearted men had kindly
volunteered to make up this garment for him, and, as
a matter of course, purloined half the material. The
INTO MASAI-LAND. 99
result was that it fitted him as tight as a sausage-skin
and lacked a foot of reaching his knees. It was the
most uncomfortable and undignified garment that ever
spoilt the appearance of a savage. His small person,
further reduced in size by the tension of this abortive
costume, and by it also deprived of the last vestige of
that dignity which naturally belongs to the savage, cut
a sorry figure indeed as the oratorical opponent of the
four stalwart Masai. Only one of these nomads stood
under six feet, and all were proportioned like athletes.
As our very meeking-looking little interpreter drew
his knob-kerrie and cleared his throat to reply, we
could hardly keep our countenances ; and when he
actually began to lay down the law of what his employ-
ers, the great white men, would or would not consent
to, and described emphatic curves at them with his
baton, we almost expected to see one of them rebuke
his impudence by picking the manikin up under his
arm and walking off with him. Notwithstanding his
size and meekness, however, they heard him out very
respectfully, replied each in turn, allowed him to answer
again, then came to an understanding with him.
The amount of tribute exacted was forty coils of
thick iron wire, sufficient to make two leg ornaments
for a fashionable Masai woman ; several pounds of cop-
per wire and the same of beads, to which was added,
for the El-Moran, half a dozen naibere or war-dresses.
All this time the main party of warriors kept them-
selves carefully aloof, as though it might be a point of
honor with them not to come near enough to influence
the negotiations by their presence. It is not likely that
this was their object, but still it looked to me very
lOO SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
much like it. At any rate their behavior was in marked
contrast to that of the people in other places under
similar circumstances, where the chiefs or elders usually
had to shout at and bully their people, to keep them
from crowding too closely about us.
Seeing that we had come to an amicable understand-
ing with their representatives, however, and were pro-
ceeding to our boma to make up their hongo, they rose
as one man from the ground and proceeded to cele-
brate the occasion with a war-dance. As my assistance
was not needed particularly in the boma, I remained
outside with our four friends and orators and looked
on. The married men, having retired on their laurels
from war-raids, cattle-lifting, and all military pursuits,
took no part in the dance. There were, in fact, but a
couple of El-Morau present, their village being repre-
sented and their share of the hongo looked after by
this small delegation. The El-Moran seized their
shields and spears and divided themselves into two
bands, representative of the two villages, or military
kraals to which they belonged. Striking up a musical
chant of "yakh-yaho !" they moved in compact double
rows, like soldiers at company drill, this way and that,
marching with the same cock-of-the-walk strut we had
observed in the warriors of Arusha-wa-Chini. We had
seen and admired their humble imitators then ; but
now the real article, the warlike El-Moran, the salt of
the earth, who never touched vegetable food, and I
must say the difference was great. These men were
full of martial pride, and as they warmed up to their
exercises one could see their eyes kindle with the spirit
of the born soldier. Now and then some enthusiastic
INTO MASAI-LAX D. lOl
warrior, unable to contain himself under the stirring
influence of the chanting and marching, would rush out
of the ranks, and, drawing his sime, run amuck amo-ng
imaginary foes, cutting and slashing like a madinan.
Sometimes two would thus leave the ranks together, and
engage in mimic fight, the victor chasing the vanquished
with his sime until others ran from the ranks and inter-
posed. It seemed a case of touch and go, whether
these combats were real or mimic, so viciously did they
whack away with their rude simes. These little side-
shows were, I fancy, largely for the benefit of the por-
ters. Several of those gentlemen, seeing no bloodshed,
had actually ventured outside the boma, while the
others watched the proceedings over the barrier of
thorns.
At length, the dance proper being over, the two
bands spread out into single lines of men and wheeled
and wheeled and marched, their big oval shields all held
in the same position on the left arm and their spears at
the perpendicular in the right hand. They made a fine
military picture of savage life as they spread out into
these even lines, and the effect was greatly heightened
by the strange heraldic devices of the clan, which were
painted in red and white on the black ground, of the
buffalo-hide shields. Their evolutions ended, they fin-
ished the interesting performance by squatting down
in even rows and gently scraped and strummed on the
inside of their shields with their spear-hilts.
This produced a peculiar buzzing, waspish noise that
sounded well in keeping with the whole performance.
It was the only military band these soldiers had ever
had to thrill their ardor; it wasn't much, but their black
I02 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
eyes kindled and they displayed their even rows of
ivories, attesting their delight.
The Masai, like all East Africans save the Wa-Taveta,
are atrocious thieves ; and having the courage and im-
pudence to back up their propensities, they are trouble-
some at times. Often articles were grabbed and made
off with. We would then have to give chase to the
culprits, who, upon being detected and overtaken, would
laughingly relinquish their plunder.
. I never saw such people for laughing at anything
and everything. I believe the Masai warrior laughs at
the foe he is attacking, and dodges poisoned arrows
and spear-thrusts with the same good-humor that you
or I would dodge a snow-ball. And he thinks so little
of human life that he would v/ith a chuckle of glee split
a skull with his sime, or with a merry laugh thrust his
huge spear into a man's stomach and twist it round
and round. Life is a short and a merry one to the
Masai warrior. He never knows a pang of remorse,
though he may in a quarrel kill his own brother or
bosom friend. He faces death with a laugh and deals
the same out to his enemies with equal good-humor.
From first to last we never saw any expression on the
face of. a Masai warrior but the merry devilment of
good-natured but mischievous boys; nor could the
writer imagine him capable of a genuine scowl of anger,
though I have often seen him assume the same, to
scare, and enjoy the fright of, a porter. The asinine
terror of our men seemed to us the most ridiculous
thing we had ever heard of.
The Masai were much mystified at the way we killed
game. They called us "lyboni" (medicine men), and
INTO MASAI-LAND. 103
pointed out to one another the holes in the animal's
skin, and the trickling blood. They do not yet under-
stand firearms, nor have they any ambition to arm
themselves with them. The perfect weapon, to them,
is the long, handsome, but really cumbersome and in-
ferior spear which they are armed with. In this we
realized the gulf we passed in crossing over the Masai
border. The Wa-Chaga would swap their wives, if
necessary, for guns and ammunition. The Masai, living
near by, know nothing of guns, nor seem to have any
desire in that direction. To them the gun with its
noise and smoke is a mysterious product of the white
man's power of magic. That there was some uncanny
connection between those little punctures in the skins
of the stricken animals and the hollow tubes of our
rifles, they quite understood, but beyond that they
shook their heads and answered "dower " (magic medi-
cine). In dress the Lytikitok warriors differ but little
from the Arusha-wa-Chini. They wore the same fan-
tastic rings around the eyes, the short goat-skin toga
over one shoulder, and their massy "mops" of hair and
string were mostly gathered into a heavy pig-tail be-
hind. As for the rest they were quite naked, although
they didn't know.it. One soon comes to understand
in Africa that clothes have very little to do with
modesty, and that the whole matter of clothes or no
clothes is purely an affair of education. A coating of
grease and clay protects the East African savage from
evil effects of sudden climatic changes, as clothing pro-
tects us ; and with plenty of that, and a few ornaments,
he deems himself well and fashionably dressed.
They believe themselves to be the salt of the earth,
I04 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
and ages of domineering over other people has made
them insolent in their bearing and tremendous fighters
in their own opinion, as well as in the opinion of others.
They now act very much like spoilt children and bad
boys, who have become so used to doing as they pleased
that they ill-brook any attempt at restraint. The big
warriors used to pout like school-girls when we ordered
them to stand back or keep their hands off; but any
little difiiculties of the kind always ended with a laugh
and victory for us. Like any other half-wild animal the
El-Moran is capable of being managed with a little tact
and patience. He is a great and amusing braggard.
"I'm an El-Moran!" he says proudly, conscious unto
himself that he could give you no higher recommenda-
tion, no greater credentials. He seems fond of using
the word. "El-Moran, El-Moran — El-Moran," this is
the burthen of his remarks, to a ridiculous extent.
One of his peculiar beliefs, and the one that guides
and governs his whole scheme of life, is that all cow-
kind were made for his especial benefit. He considers
it his right to search out and seize upon those animals
wherever he can find them. He has no objection to
fighting for' them. All he wants to know is where
cattle are to be found; and a raid is organized and
away he and his comrades go, to Kavirondo, to Ulu,
Ukambani, or the coast, as the case may be. On
these raids a herd of cattle are driven with them for
food.
So persistently have they followed this course that
they have left very few cattle in the surrounding coun-
try to raid for. All other tribes have been driven to
seek safety with the remnants of their herds on
INTO MASAI-LAND. I05
mountains, like the Wa-Teita and Wa-Chaga, or in
forest fastnesses like the Wa-Kahe and Wa-Arusha.
They have, in their savage improvidence, about killed
the goose that laid them golden eggs, and their maraud-
ing must eventually end for the lack of cattle to
repay them.
Like everybody else — whether they ever had any
good old times or not — the Masai warriors of to-day
sigh for the good old times when their neighbors
owned ten cattle where they now own one, and when
they used to come back from a raid into Gyriama with
a thousand head instead of a beggarly hundred and
fifty. But hard as times are with him, w^ar and cattle-
raiding are still the life occupations of the El-Moran.
Fromi the day he becomes a warrior and enters the
ranks of the warriors and the community of the military
kraal, to the time when his powers of endurance begin
to wane and he leaves the military life to marry and
settle down, the Masai lives on an exclusive diet of
beef and milk. Vegetable food he regards as the diet
of women and children and toothless old men, and he
would be irredeemably disgraced in the eyes of his
comrades by eating it. They regard cattle as the one
thing above all others necessary to their existence.
Cattle is to them more than the reindeer to the Lap-
lander, or the bison to the American Indian fifty years
ago. Though game, as big and almost as tame as cattle,
abounds in astonishing qualities, they scorn to eat it,
and though when raiding their enemies they may chop
down banana groves, they would go with empty stom-
achs for a week rather than taste the fruit. They differ
from their neighbors in that they never raid for slaves ;
lo6 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
and this at least ought to secure for them the good will
of the Anti-slavery Society, and of humane people every-
where.
As a boy the young Masai's sole ambition is to
become an El-Moran. If there is an object in the
whole world worthy of worship, it is to his young
savage mind the warrior with the big spear and shield,
who is a terror to all the tribes, and in whose presence
the big trading caravans stand humiliated with fear.
As soon as he is old enough he whittles out a wooden
spear, rigs up a small shield, and plays at being an El-
Moran, as boys in America play soldier.
He hasn't much time for play, however, for during
the first ten years of his life he has to herd the cows
and goats of the domestic, or home kraal. He belongs
to a race where might is very near right, and so long
as he is too small to assert himself he has to shoulder
a good share of the drudgery. But about the age of
ten or twelve he is promoted to a similar position in
the warrior kraal. He now herds the cattle belonging
to the El-Moran, a tremendous step upwards in his
estimation from a domestic cow-herd.
Seven or eight years later he has become big enough
to join the ranks of the military. Good-by all drudgery
now. The humble cow-herd blossoms out into the
proudest of mortals. Spear and shield are procured ;
he is admitted into the close comradeship of an experi-
enced warrior and into the charmed circle of En-ditto
(young unmarried women) and El-Moran.
A pleasing feature to contemplate in this military
circle is the comradeship of the warriors. A sort of
brotherhood appears to be established between these
INTO MASAI-LAND. I07
comrades-in-arms, who fight and wander about in
pairs. We could not find out whether any sworn
brothership or any ceremonial was indulged in ; but
we often saw these pairs walking about with arms
thrown affectionately round one another's necks, and
laughing and chatting like a couple of school-girl com-
panions. It is considered a disgrace for one of these
comrades to return from a fight in which his brother
warrior has been killed. Thus do we find in these sav-
age soldiers something of the spirit of chivalry that
animated the knighthood of crusading days.
Twenty years or so of beef-eating and gallantry in
the military kraal, and in the pursuits of this new and
exalted estate are passed by the Masai. He has in
that time been on twenty or thirty expeditions far and
near; sometimes to make war, but generally with the
sole object of stealing cattle. Every time a caravan
has made its appearance in his part of the country, he
has joined his comrades in the war-dance heretofore
described, and prancing up to the camp of the strangers
has demanded tribute of their goods. With much
amusement and self-pride he has seen the legs of the
porters tremble beneath them at his approach, and for
a lark he has sometimes scowled at them and threat-
ened to spit them on his huge spear. Sometimes a
panicky trader, exaggerating the situation, has lost his
head, and resorting to his guns has brought about a
fight in which all the savagery of the hot-blooded young
warriors has been aroused, and the unlucky caravan
has been utterly annihilated.
But these glorious days of his ardent youth finally
draw to an end. Age and its infirmities are close
lo8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
upon him, and he has not yet begun to raise a family.
Heretofore his hfe has been httle less than a prolonged
career of wild-oat sowing ; but he now singles out a
likely young woman for a first wife, and settles down
into a comparatively steady individual, taking up his
abode in a community of other married men, or El-
Morau, whose experiences have been a duplication of
his own. The ambition of his declining years is to be
blessed with a large family of boys, who shall in their
turn become warriors, cattle-thieves, and "terrors," as
expert as he himself was in the heyday of his career as
an EI-Moran. After thus settling down as a benedict
the Masai sometimes condescends to eat vegetable food,
which, however, he never attempts to grow, but dis-
patches his wife with the family donkey to buy from
some agricultural tribe.
The Masai have no well-regulated system of govern-
ment. They come, indeed, very near having no form
of government whatever. Might, in Masai-land, means
right. In the division of the hongo we gave them, the
biggest, strongest warriors always seemed to get the
lion's share. It is the same in the division of cattle
brought in from their raids. In the matter of distribut-
ing the hongo, so flagrant was the robbery of the others
by the representatives, who were evidently such by
right of personal prowess, that we always feared trouble
would arise from the dissatisfaction of the others. But
none seemed to think it a matter to feel injured about,
that he should have received nothing.
There was, in fact, no end of "queer" doings among
themselves over this hongo. They treated one another
ten times more like rogues than they did us.
INTO Jl/ASAI-LAAtD. toC)
One day three stalwart warriors, representing the
same number of military kraals, were squatting around
the little heap of wire, beads and naibere we had given
them, portioning it out. The three bands of El-Moran
sat by, at thirty paces, watching the proceedings. The
three worthies, quite demoralized by the touch of so
much portable wealth, were nodding, whispering, and
sorting over the goods, and looking back over their
shoulders to see if their comrades were paying atten-
tion to their little game.
The "game" was too glaringly open, however, to de-
ceive even a simple savage ; and presently one bold
warrior walked up to see what all this whispering and
looking around portended. The representatives waved
him away. He refused to wave, however, and came
on. To appease him they then tossed him a coil of
senenge. This contented him, and he went back. The
three then selected all the copper wire (the most valua-
ble currency in East Africa), all the better sort of beads,
and a war-dress apiece. Making a ridiculous attempt
to hide these articles beneath their tiny togas, they
walked off; leaving about one-fourth of the hongo to
be divided among fifty warriors.
We, who had been quietly watching all this, expected
to see trouble. But what was our astonishment to see
a few of the biggest fellows run up and grab the rest of
the goods, while over forty of the warriors got nothing
whatever. Individual prowess seems to decide every-
thing. The warrior who feels himself unequal to the
Cceur de Leons of the band keeps himself well in the
background and gets nothing. The said lion-hearts,
knowing well their position, seize whatever they want,
no SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
and stand prepared to hold it against all comers. In
all their actions there seems a singular want of unity.
Each for himself and the devil take the hindmost,
seems to be the governing principle of their society.
They, however, look up to and seek advice from cer-
tain great "lyboni," or medicine men, and suffer their
affairs to be regulated, after a manner, by the old men
of the clan. The warriors, moreover, choose a captain
or leader to head them on their raids, and to prance
before them in their military evolutions when coming
for hongo. He keeps in front of the ranks, as a drum-
major before a band, and is usually distinguished by a
most magnificent physique, and a perfect spear and
shield.
A remarkable change comes over the Masai as soon
as he leaves the military, and marries and settles down
to domestic life.
In Masai-land I never saw a married man smile!
And this in a land where, as before noted, the single
men are all jovial blades. Whether it results from the
responsiblities of the married state, or whether eternal
regret pursues them at leaving the wild, dissolute life of
the warrior kraal, who shall say? — but certainly the
sharp contrast between the deep gravity of the married
men, and the merry devilment of the El-Moran, is very
striking indeed.
Such then is a cursory sketch of the life, appearance,
and characteristics of the remarkable men who swarmed
into our boma at Lytokitok. A further glimpse of
their social life was afforded us when they got ready to
swarm out again and go home. Two-thirds of our
audience were women and young girls. The 'varriors,
INTO MASAI-LAND. Ill
when they thought it time for clearing out, simply
picked up sticks and proceeded to drive the females
before them toward the opening, as though they were
a flock of sheep.
Notwithstanding the friendly relations we had main-
tained with the El-Moran of Lytokitok, our party were
all the time in a panicky frame of mind. Their ridicu-
lous fears are not to be described in print. Even inside
our own thorn castle, porters might be seen edging
away from warriors with every symptom of fear. And
once when an axe and a package of beads were stolen,
and the whole crowd of Masai rushed from the boma,
the excitement was prodigious. "Bunduki! bunduki!
(guns! guns!) was the panicky shriek, and for a minute
we really expected some trembling lunatic to fire his
gun, and bring about a fight, in which that same brave
soul would have been speared in the back while running
away. Not a man would have dared to raise a hand in
defense of our goods, and so when in "dangerous"
localities one of us always remained in camp. We re-
ceived a fair warning not to relax this precaution, one
afternoon. We had just selected a camping-place on
the Kimangelia River, and the rear of the caravan was
straggling in, when, without the slightest warning,
several Masai warriors appeared on the bluff above our
heads. For a moment our hearts beat anxiously.
Here was a new experience, according to all accounts,
of a most ticklish nature, confronting us without a
moment's notice. True we had met the dread warriors
in their own country behind our strong thorn bomas;
but here was a war-party, and not so much as a bush
to protect the camp.
ti2 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
"It would be bad enough, in all conscience, to come
in contact with them (the El-Moran) in their own
country. But to meet them on the war-path with
heated blood, and without any restraint, was a matter
still more serious to contemplate," says the gallant
pioneer of Masai-land, Mr. Thomson, in justification of
his decision to retreat "and stand our chance with the
notorious chief Mandara" ; at the rumor of a war-
party ahead. We thought of Mr. Thomson's words,
and might have followed his example had we had the
chance, notwithstanding our favorable impression of
them in their own country, for surely there must be
some foundation for that gentleman's terrifying descrip-
tions.
But we had no chance to bolt ; for here the dreaded
warriors were, not forty yards from us, in all their hide-
ous and fantastic war-paint, calmly looking down on us
from the bluff. They said nothing; they were quietly
"taking us in." I wonder what opinion they arrived
at from our conduct. Abbott and I had set our guns
up against a tree. Ordering the men to look to their
Sniders, we hastened to secure our own weapons, quite
expecting this time to have to fight for it. At the same
time, however, we plucked grass and waved it at the
El-Moran in token of peace.
Those savage gentlemen, in happy contrast to our
own trepidation, and the utter collapse of the valiant
people about us, who were now meekly sitting down
on their loads awaiting their doom, stood leaning on
their big painted shields in splendid indifference, as we
stepped to the tree and grabbed our Winchesters. Did
we mean to shoot? They didn't know, and they
INTO MASAI-LAND. 1 13
seemed to care still less. We felt rather ashamed of
our suspicions, too, I must say, as they scrambled
down the bluff and jumped the little stream, and
advanced in the most confident manner to shake our
hands.
In reply to our questions: "We're El-Moran," they
said, "going for ngombe" (cattle). This in the most
matter-of-fact way in the world, as from men pursuing
a calling of which they had no reason to be ashamed.
But they wouldn't tell us where they were bound for;
they laughed and shook their heads at this. As yet
we didn't know how many the party might number, for
the main body kept out of sight. They soon turned
up, however, about seventy or eighty warriors. Among
the curious head-dresses, we noticed the stomachs of
calves or goats, with the spongy cell-surface turned out.
These fitted the head as snugly as nightcaps, and were
trimmed to come down to the eye-brows and slope
down over the neck, much like a close-fitting leather
helmet.
The Masai gave us a war-dance on the bluff. We
presented them with a few handfuls of beads, and for
the rest of the day fraternized in the most agreeable
manner. They had about two hundred head of cattle
with them — their commissary on the raid. They
earned, if anything, even a better opinion from us here
than at their homes. They acted very like a crowd of
jovial blades out on a tremendous skylarking affair.
Evidently they regard a raid as a sort of holiday. They
made great sport of the all too apparent terror of the
porters. A great joke among themselves, was for a war-
rior to assume a truly theatrical scowl and pretend to
114 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
spear one of the latter, amid roars of merriment from
his comrades. The porter thus honored would respond
with a grin so ghastly that the delighted El-Moran
would go into another fit of laughter.
But even here the spirit of commerce was dominant.
These people may love fighting, but they are ten
times more anxious to trade. Even though on a war-
like expedition, some offered their spears, others
shields, simes, head-dresses — anything they had, for
trade.
They camped a short distance below us for the night.
We had read, among other things, that to observe,
whether accidentally or otherwise, a band of El-Moran
eating, was to do so at the imminent peril of one's life.
But we had by this time grown rudely skeptical of the
many dangerous qualities attributed to these warriors,
so that while my companion went out to shoot some-
thing, I had no hesitation about strolling down to their
camp.
They were in the act of knocking over a cow when I
arrived. They knocked it down with a spear thrust
behind the ear, then opening the jugular with a small
knife, one after another applied lip to the hole and
drank with great relish the warm blood. They then
hacked the carcass to pieces, and proceeded to roast it,
after the manner of our own men. It was a strange
sight to see them eat. A chunk of beef being ready,
several warriors would take possession of it, and pro-
ceed to devour it with as much haste and as little cere-
mony as the same number of dogs. It was very evi-
dent that among this ravenous band a modest, retiring
individual would soon starve to death. Such an one-
INTO MASAI-LAND. 115
however, was not among them. All were eager, grab-
bing, devouring, rending animals at this truly savage
feast. It was grab and hack and bite, from hand to
hand, mouth to mouth. Each warrior, as he could get
his hand in, grabbed the meat, stuck his teeth into it,
and with his spear slashed a piece off. The play of the
spears, for carving off big mouthfuls, looked so rapid
and reckless that I expected every moment to see one
of them slice off his nose.
In this mode of eating the Masai resemble the Abys-
sinians, though the latter, I believe, use knives rather
than spears.
Equally marvelous with the play of spears, was the
sharpness of their teeth. They handed me a piece of
beef, which I found so tough that I couldn't get my
teeth through it, though I have excellent incisors ; yet
these carnivorous "buffateers" masticated the rubbery
flesh with the ease of wolves. Later in the evening
they brought roast beef into our camp to sell. Pieces
they didn't sell they devoured in the same manner, to
the astonishment of our men.
This was the last occasion on which we saw Masai
warriors. That they are a strangely interesting people
the foregoing remarks amply testify. I have endeav-
ored to give a faithful account of them as we saw
tham, though in so doing the disagreeable task has
sometimes fallen to my pen, of flatly contradicting
the evidence of an illustrious traveler to whom we
are indebted for well-nigh all we know of Masai-
land.
Great is the opportunity of the pioneer explorer, and
great is the world indebted to the pioneer of Masai-land.
Ii6 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
But when that gentleman solemnly (?) tells us that cer-
tain ferocious warriors will kill you for your impudence
in approaching them while they are eating; that from
boyhood up they carefully cultivate a fiendish scowl ;
that they hold vultures and marabout storks sacred,
and are murderously angry if you shoot one ; that they
rigidly abstain from the universal East African vice of
snuffing, etc, etc, — it is certainly rather startling to find
these same warriors always begging you and your men
for snuff ; constantly worrying you to shoot vultures
and storks for them, in order that they may secure
feathers to stick in their hair; to not only kill and eat
beef in your presence, but to offer you pieces; and
whenever you meet them and under all conditions to
find them with laughing instead of scowling faces ! But
never mind ; this is a changeful world ; perhaps the
next traveler in these regions will find the Masai warriors
wearing trousers and smoking cigarettes.
In the author's opinion their ferocity has been exag-
gerated, and their amiability has been overlooked in
order to magnify the danger of travel and exploration
in their country. Their boyish laugh that ever ripples
over their pleasant, intelligent faces has been tortured
into a fiendish scowl, and because they are not cowards,
and the poor human asses who arc bought and sold
at from fifty to one hundred dollars apiece in Zanzibar,
and who are dragged into their country with bales of
goods on their heads, tremble before them as asses
before lions, they have been dubbed human devils.
The white man they scarcely regard as a being of their
own world ; he hails from another sphere, which they
know nothing about. They regard him with a sort of
I
INTO MASAI-LAND. 1 17
mild awe, as they do anything they don't understand,
and though they demand hongo from him as from every-
body else when he visits their country, and though
they might even have the rashness to fight him if he
refused to pay it, they yet have the African instinct
which teaches them that they are in the presence of
superiors.
CHAPTER VIII.
MASAI WOMEN.
THE Masai women are quite as interesting, in away,
as the men. From the standpoint of physical excel-
lence, however, they are strangely inferior to the sterner
sex; though the opposite holds good in many of the
other East African tribes. The Masai women are
altogether unlovely. They seemed of a race apart from
the men. They were angular and spindle-shanked and,
forsooth, an ill-favored lot from any point of view.
The plumpness that characterizes the women of the
Chaga and other neighboring tribes, was entirely want-
ing in the women of Masai-land. Even the young
damsels were not plump ; all seemed skinny and spare
of flesh.
Nor did they possess even the charm of modesty to
redeem them, or the timidity before strangers that be-
comes so well, elsewhere, the African maiden. Even
the little girls of this strange people were bold and
agressive in their demeanor. I well remember an amus-
ing illustration of the insolent character of the very
children that came under my eye at Lytokitok. Rashid-
mitt-Athmani, one of Dr. Abbott's gun-bearers, was
stationed in the rear of the tent to guard against itching
fingers at that point. A number of women and little
girls were crowded around there looking in.
"Open that box you're sitting on, you pack-animal.
MASAI WOMEN. 119
and let's see what wonderful things it contains," com-
manded a domineering miss of seven or eight summers.
"No," replied Rashid, and he shook his head.
"What? — you wont open it, eh! Well then, take
that !" and little Miss Arrogance gave the astonished
gun-bearer a sounding smack on the face, that came
very near waking him up from the lethargy that had
defied our daily threats and promises for three months.
The ornaments of the women are very remarkable,
and we wondered whether these were not, in a measure,
responsible for their slim, bony figures — their lack of
embonpoint. The habits of the sexes are responsible
perhaps for these striking contrasts. To the exercise of
mountain-climbing every day between field and house,
we attributed the well-developed limbs of the Wa-Teita
women, and to the loafing lives of the men, their spin-
dle shanks. And if these surmises were correct in
regard to the Wa-Teita, perhaps it will be sufificient to
point out in Lytokitok that the duties of the" women
are confined to the household and the milking, while
the warriors are always coming and going on maraud-
ing expeditions after cattle. Other speculations touch-
ing upon the domestic relations of the Masai woman
to the tribe might be indulged in concerning these
physical peculiarities, but as the wise (?) parent conceals
knowledge from the children, so, because of the refine-
ments of civilization must the traveler among barbarous
people refrain from criticizing in a popular book some
of their habits.
In speaking of limbs, however, it is quite impossible
that a Masai lady should be well-formed. Arms and
legs are the victims of cruel fashion in the same degree,
I20 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
if not quite to the same extent, as the feet of the Golden
Lily of China. A Masai lady has no calf to speak of;
and if she is an aristocrat and a fashionable woman, she
has none whatever. From foot to knee her leg is com-
pressed within a cylindrical ornament of closely coiled
big iron wire. This is brightly polished and might
aptly be termed a steel stocking without a foot, or,
better yet, a steel gaiter. The coils widen out to a
bell-shaped bottom at the ankle, to give free play to
the foot.
Arms are encased in like manner from hand to elbow ;
and around the neck is a huge plate-like collar of the
same heavy material, that rests on the shoulders, and
above which the head protrudes as through a hole in a
steel trencher, two feet in diameter. The more fashion-
able ladies can scarcely walk; their movements are en-
cumbered to the same extent as those of a dismounted
knight in the days of Agincourt and Cressy. The
clothing is an ample garment of dressed cow-skin, which
envelops them from armpit to below the knee. And
so with their massive iron ornaments, covering about
all of the body that is visible, it is not difficult to sup-
pose them Amazonian warriors armored cap-a-pie.
Other ornaments arc heavy brass coils of wire in the
ears, the weight of which has to be supported by a
band over the head ; bead ornaments around the neck,
and neatly patterned bead belts. Beside these is a curi-
ous ornament of many iron chains that loop down from
a neck-band to the waist. Their cow-skin garment is
belted at the waist with a band of beads. The head is
smoothly shaven, and the by no means lovely face, is
rendered grotesque beyond descrij^tion by broad white
MASAI women: 121
rings painted around the eyes, which we have seen the
beginning of at Arusha-wa-Chini. The Masai ladies
have a wicked habit of winking at strangers, a compH-
ment that seems to lose none of its significance from
these clownish white circles.
The fair sex of Masai-land lead curious lives. As
a baby the future consort of the El-Moran spends her
days in a leather sling strapped to her mother's back,
and her nights on a cow-skin mat. She is never washed,
and swarms of flies buzz about her young head all day,
and myriads of fleas make sport of her helplessness all
night. One wonders she lives through it all ; but she
does.
After babyhood she grows up about the kraal like a
rank young weed, in dress and ornaments a miniature
of her mother. She is precocious according to our
ideas, for nothing is hidden from her, and before she
reaches her teens she know^s as much as her mother
does, and believes in her inmost soul that she knows a
great deal more.
As she develops into a sentimental miss, much of
her conversation relates to the El-Moran. The big
bumptious warriors are the beau ideal of all that is
admirable in man, in her eyes, in the eyes of her young
brothers, in the eyes of her mother, of her father. From
the day of her birth she has heard more talk of the El-
Moran than of any other subject on earth or off it.
"El-Moran" is the topic in Masai-land as the dollar is in
America ; Bass and sport in England ; bier, shport
and Fatherland in Germany ; and pice and rupees in
Zanzibar.
Her father boasts of the doughty deeds he performed,
ti2 SCOUTING FOk STANLEY.
of the number of foes he speared and the cattle he
lifted when he was a proud occupant of the military
kraal and a leading spirit among the El-Moran in their
great expeditions for cattle ; and he sighs because age
and failing powers at length compelled him to retire
from military life. Her mother, too, often refers to
the happy days, when as an En-ditto she was one of a
hundred or so young women whose privilege it was to
live and love in the warrior kraal, companions and con-
sorts of the El-Moran. To become an El-Moran has
been the dream of her young bro'her from the day he
was old enough to talk, and often has the bloodthirsty
instincts of that youth impelled him to chase her with
his wooden spear.
What more natural, then, and what more certain in
the very nature of things, than that our j^oung lady's
maiden fancy should dwell chiefly on that same wor-
shipful being, as she approaches the mature age of twelve
or thirteen summers, which period of her life she has
been looking forward to with impatience, as does the
civilized young lady to the time of her entrance into
society.
At that age the Masai girl has become a young
woman. Up to that period she has been but a "chit
of a girl," too young to have a lover; but now arrives
the days of her social emancipation, and her admission
into the charmed circle of the warrior kraal. Rigged
out in a bran new cow-skin mantle, and loaded down
with an astonishing cjuantity of sencnge and bead
ornaments, the armor-like leg-ornaments, arm-orna-
ments and huge neck piece, polished till they sliine
like silver, she leax'cs the paternal roof and enters
MASAI IVOMEIV. 123
the strange community of the big warrior kraal,
near by.
Here she finds, say, a hundred and fifty warriors,
the proud young manhood of the clan, and about the
same number of young women. The former are
known as El-Moran, and the latter as En-ditto. She
now becomes an En-ditto herself, and for a number of
years she leads a happy, romantic existence from the
Masai point of view. From our point of view, however,
it must be confessed that the domestic economy of the
military kraals might be improved upon. The duties
of the new En-ditto are to aid her sisters in attending
to the wants of the El-Moran, to roast the beef and
milk the cows that are set apart by the tribe for the
support of the military kraals. Her duties are not ardu-
ous, and she may be said to live an easy and luxurious
life at this period of her career.
In the course of time some warrior of thirty-five or
forty years, is forced to the sad conclusion that his pow-
ers of endurance are no longer what they ought to be.
He returned from that last big cattle-lifting raid to
Kavirondo regularly done up. Upstart young warriors
whom he once bullied and ordered about, have now
taken to bullying and ordering him about, and to twit-
ting him on his failing powers. He therefore reluc-
tantly decides to leave the gay circle of brave warriors
and fair women, and marry and settle down. His
proud title of El-Moran is relinquished as sadly as a
fallen monarch yields up his crown ; he picks out for a
wife our En-ditto, pays her father half a dozen cows
for her, and retiring from the glory and circumstance of
the big military kraal, the couple, after an absence of ten
124 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
years on her part and fifteen on his, re-enter the hum-
ble precincts of the domestic kraal and settle down to
rear a family.
As she grows old and atrociously ugly, her husband
buys a younger wnie. She has no objections, and
though, feminine-like, she views with sorrow the deep-
ening wrinkles and crows-feet of old age, her compen-
sation is found in the merry donkey-parties it now
becomes her privilege to join, that go on food-purchas-
ing expeditions to agricultural tribes.
Even though the Masai and their agricultural neigh-
bors may be at war, and the men of either side would,
if caught, be brutally speared, it is the custom to let
the women pass back and forth unmolested, to trade.
Africans, even the Masai, who are supposed to be
chiefly devoted to war and raiding for cattle, are above
all else commercial in their instincts. It appears that,
with all their savagery, choice scraps of wisdom are to
be picked up among these people here and there. Who
could imagine the armies of two European countries
proceeding against each other, while the trade across
the frontier flourished unimpaired in the care of their
women?
Masai-land proper is a strip of territory averaging
about a hundred miles in width, and situated about
twice that distance from the coast. It extends through
six degrees of latitude— i*^ N. to $^ S. inclusive. The
inhabitants are in many respects the most remarkable
people in Africa. To one whose ideas of the Africans
have been largely drawn from the distinct negro types,
the savages of Masai-land are a wonderful revelation.
Their skin is of a fine, rich chestnut color, shading from
MASAI women: 125
chocolate hue to the hght sallow of a Chinaman in
different individuals; and their features are, as we have
seen, strikingly Caucasian-like.
To quote Mr. Thomson's interesting work: "Learned
philologists profess to have discovered, from a study
of the Masai language, that it belongs to the Hamitic
family, as does also the language spoken by the tribes of
the Nile and North Africa. This seems to be the only
clue to their family relationship, and it reveals very
little. The reader will therefore clearly understand
that the Masai are in no sense negroes," etc.
Very little seems to be known about their origin ; but
their mode of life, the breed of their cattle, their phy-
sique and courage, lead one to turn an inquiring eye
in the direction of Zululand rather than northward.
Their semi-nomadic life, their dependence on cattle for
a living, their warlike disposition, splendid physique, all
point suggestively toward Zululand and the Zulus.
Though great fighters, however, and with every man's
hand against them, they have no central government,
and no great militar}^ organization, like the irresistible
army which made the Zulus terrible in South Africa.
There is no Masai "Nation," like the people who flocked
to the banner of savage conquest under King Chaska.
No great "impis" gather at the call of powerful chiefs
to set out and wipe whole tribes from the face of the
earth in campaigns of terribly savage onslaught.
Fortunately for their neighbors the Masai are too
uncivilized for organization and big schemes of con-
quest and territorial aggression; otherwise they could,
united, sweep East Africa as disastrously as Chaska's
armies used to overrun the south. It is impossible to
126 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
say anything reliable about their number. The greatest
number of warriors we ever saw at one time was at
Lytokitok, which could not have been more than a
hundred. Perhaps all Masai-land might muster ten
thousand El-Moran. Uganda and the Somali are pro-
bably the only two powers in East Africa capable of
holding their own against such a force, organized into
one body of fighting men.
But there is no likelihood of such organization tak-
ing place under any conditions. The whole race con-
sists of a large number of small divisions or clans,
which acknowledge no authority but their own sweet
will. Each goes off cattle-raiding on its own hook ; or,
for a larger expedition, joins forces with the warriors of
another friendly kraal or district. Internal warfare
between clan and clan is not uncommon, though their
fights and raids are generally directed against people
of alien race.
Having prosecuted my enquiries about the Emin
Pasha Relief Expedition in all directions, and as far north
as Njiri, where a band of El-Moran had just returned
from Kavirondo and had heard nothing of a white man's
caravan, I decided that Mr. Stanley was not coming that
way, and so set about returning to Zanzibar. There was
no satisfaction in longer groping in the dark. Stanley
might reach the coast by another route, and I be out
of the swim altogether, if I stayed at Kilimanjaro longer.
Again wc were in Taveta, I bound coastward, my
companion there to see me off. He had determined to
remain some little time longer on Kilimanjaro. So
here, in charming Taveta, our wanderings in this interest-
ing region ; my waiting for the tardy coming of Stanley ;
MASAI women: 127
our search for the novel and interesting among its
strange people; our glimpses of the slave traffic and its
story of woe (to which I have devoted a special chap-
ter); our visits to the warlike Masai and our exploits
in the field of sport, came, as all things earthly will and
must, to an end.
Circumstances had thrown us together much longer
than either of us expected when we left Zanzibar.
Stanley having at length revealed the secret of his long
silence, in his letters from the Aruwimi, which reached
London shortly after our start into Africa, had, by
altering my program, extended our companionship to
six months, instead of two. Need I add, then, that
we parted with regret ; that after the hearty grip and the
good-bye, outside the forest delta of Taveta, each turned
on his heel with suspicious abruptness, and hurried
away, my warm-hearted companion back to Kiliman-
jaro, I toward our camp for the night, on the Big
Lanjora.
I expected a dry march to the coast ; but my men
were now lightly laden, and now that their faces were
turned homeward their feet would not lag, nor would
the want of water dismay them.
Our march was rapid, and on August 23 we again
found ourselves among the cassava fields of the Wa-
Nyika and within sight of Rabai. Our faces were
fanned by the breeze of the ocean, and we answered
the music of the surf with our guns.
There was no danger of Masai now, and so the por-
ters astonished the peaceful cultivators of Rabai, by
assuming, as far as they could, the character of those
dreaded warriors, and there is small doubt but the
12^ SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
women and girls working in the fields believed them a
fierce and dangerous body of men. We had a number
of Masai spears as curios, and they flourished and bran-
dished these fearlessly at the terrified women and child-
ren in the fields, uttered blood-curdling yells, sang the
Masai war-chant and pranced and danced the military
measures of Lytokitok with prodigious spirit.
They addressed each other as "El-Moran," as they
swaggered haughtily about among the astonished and
worshipful people of Rabai ; and when any of the latter
presumed to favor a porter with a homely "Yambo,"
he scornfully answered, "Subai, subai !" Upon my
honor, these people are capital actors in their simple
way, and as imitative as monkeys.
We lay at Mombasa ten days waiting for the coast-
ing steamer Kikva, on which passage was secured to
Zanzibar.
The region in which I had been knocking about for
five months has come into prominence of late, in con-
nection with the Imperial British East Africa Company's
possessions, and the possessions of Germany in East
Africa. Taveta, and the country to the north and east
of Kilimanjaro visited, come within the British sphere of
interest. All the Chaga States, Kilimanjaro, Arusha-wa-
Chini and Kahe, belong to the Germans. The future
development of the two territories will be watched with
great interest. Notwithstanding the blunders of their
first efforts, the Germans will eventually profit by the
example of their tactful and more experienced neigh-
bors, the British Company, in dealing with the natives,
and the code of humanity and civilization will prevail,
instead of bullets. Slavery will be wiped out in a very
MASAI WOMEM. 129
short time, within their respective spheres of interest.
The Masai will be compelled to cease their depreda-
tions, or migrate. The agricultural tribes will be en-
couraged to extend their fields and increase their flocks
and herds. On their prosperity and consequent capacity
to consume European goods will depend very largely
the commercial value of the concessions. We may
fairly assume that a railway will be built by one or
the other, or, perhaps, by both, within a few years, to
the Victoria Nyanza. Hindi merchants and traders
will then flock to the terminus of the railway, and a
city will spring up on the shores of the Lake. It
will be the Chicago of Africa. Five years after the
railway is finished, it will be a city more populous
than Zanzibar, and its trade will be $30,000,000 a
year.
In the author's opinion none of the territory in either
concession is fit for the colonization of small European
farmers. No white man could cultivate Equatorial
African soil and retain his health. But, on the other
hand, there is no finer ranching country in the world,
than the millions of acres of elevated and well-watered
plains that roll away in every direction from Kiliman-
jaro. There is pasture for countltess herds, and so far
as could be learned, no tsetse flies. The Masai raiders
drive cattle for commissary purposes wherever they go.
Horses, too, should do well. And it occurred to me
that this might eventually be the breeding-place of
remounts for the British Indian cavalry. The idea was
suggested by the numbers and large size of the zebras;
and supported by the fact that we never shot one of
those animals that wasn't plump and well-conditioned.
130 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Asses do well among the Masai, who rear them by
the thousands.
It is only by pursuing a wise course of development
that the country can be made financially valuable to
the concessionaires. It is idle, to say the least, to hint
at India and the East India Company, as a parallel case
from a commercial point of view, as was done by the
promoters of the I. B. E. A. Co., in a prospectus issued
in the early part of 1889. There is absolutely no simil-
arity from any point of view. India, with its teeming
population of civilized, tax-paying and industrious
people is in no sense to be compared with these East
African concessions. The taxable capacity of any tribe
we visited is nil. The territory can be made valuable
by development, but every attempt to make a trading-
station in the interior pay its way, has so far failed, be-
cause the natives have nothing to sell beyond a scant
supply of food. Nothing can be done with the country
that will return dividends on money invested, without
a railway to the Victoria Nyanza. With the railway,
substantial and enduring results may be confidently
anticipated.
Perfect health for the average European is not to be
hoped for in Equatorial Africa. From Mombasa inland
to Kilimanjaro, however, and on the elevated plains
over which the author hunted, and scouted for news of
Stanley, one need fear nothing worse than what the
pioneer settlers of America had to contend with in tlie
line of fevers and agues. It was always something of
a puzzle to Dr. Abbott and myself, why a robust man
should not escape sickness altogether. We lived well.
Every day we disposed of a saddle of venison ; ringing
MASAI WOMEN. 131
the changes from day to day on hartebeest, wildebeest,
mpalla, zebra, water-buck, eland, with now and then
a rhinoceros roast or steak, or other variations.
About once a month, however, we would come in for a
touch of fever. Burroughs, Wellcome & Company, the
American chemists of Snow Hill, London, had kindly
fitted out the expedition with a chest of their excellent
tabloids. These were always immediately effective in
breaking up the fever, as well as in curing the many ail-
ments of the men. One cannot speak too highly of the
medicines put up in the compact form of tabloids by this
firm. Their extreme portability is not the least of their
recommendations to the African traveler. Stanley, in
recommending these medicines in his "Congo and the
founding of its Free State," has earned the gratitude of
every man who goes to a tropical country. Their sac-
charine tabloids are especially valuable, as they have
three hundred times the sweetening power of sugar.
With a railway and the introduction of a few of the
comforts of civilized locomotion, however, I believe the
European might escape even the light taps of fever we
experienced in this region, which is undoubtedly the
most salubrious part of Equatorial Africa.
For a photographic outfit the traveler should avoid
all "apparatus." The "Hawkeye" detective camera is
the best. It is extremely compact, portable, and effi-
cient. As an aid, for securing small objects, I also
found the little "Kodak" handy at times. The pho-
tographs to illustrate this work were secured by the
"Hawkeye." Our hunting adventures I have grouped
into special chapters, as being a more presentable form
of "narrative to the general reader of books of African
travel and adventure.
CHAPTER IX.
HUNTING ADVENTURES.
GAME is extremely abundant in the Kilimanjaro
region. The pictures of wild animal life were
often very imposing. One morning when marching from
Taveta toward Masai-land, short dry grass and bare
adobe plains characterized our way. The big game of
the country seemed to appreciate this half-barren
region ; for, like domestic cattle, these wild herds pre-
fer short pasturage to long.
Big herds of zebras galloped across the dry patches
of adobe, and showed their contempt for our long
crawling line of men, by kicking up their heels in
sportive mood and creating in their wake dense clouds
of dust. Brimful of their wild, free life, these beauti-
ful striped chargers of the Kilimanjaro plains seemed to
think that in us and our insignificant show of speed
they had found something to make merry over. What
a picture they made, as the great herds thundered across
our path a couple of hundred yards ahead, their glossy
black and white stripes glistening in the bright, hot sun-
light of an African noon I The front squadrons would
kick up such clouds of dust that the remainder of the
herd would be half the time obscured; and we would
be treated to the weird spectacle of a host of striped
creatures flitting at racing speed through tlic breaks in
the clouds of dust. And now a sight truly African, if
132
HUNTING ADVENTURES. 133
ever there was one, greets our vision. The zebras, find-
ing that we are not to be fooled into a trial of speed,
have halted, and now stand in long lines, symmetrical
almost as troops of cavalry, looking at us and greeting
us with their peculiar barking neigh. The whole herd
seems to be taunting us for a set of dotards and stick-
in-the-muds ; and now and then a spirited stallion walks
toward us a few paces and in a few well-chosen barks
berates us for our glaring want of speed, and demands
to know our business.
But this is only part of the picture of wild Africa
presented to our view. A dozen ostriches are seen off
to the right, strutting leisurely about in search of choice
morsels of lava, bleached bones, and kindred delicacies
to which these birds in their native haunts are partial.
They haven't seen the circus over our way yet. But
see ! — one wary old cock, some distance in advance of his
fellows, now hears the excited barking of the zebras,
and looking in this direction, takes in the situation at a
glance. Away he goes, straight as an arrow across the
plain, in long, even strides. His alarm is immediately
communicated to the others, and in an instant they
are strung out in single file at curiously regular dis-
tances apart, and speeding away at a pace that would
for a mile or two try the mettle of the swiftest horse.
And how big they look, too. One never realizes the
size of an ostrich until you see a party of them racing
across the open plains of their native country. As
they pass behind our neighbors with the black and
white stripes, the latter look quite small and squatty
beside them, though the zebras of the Kilimanjaro
region are much larger than those you see in the mena-
134 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
geries at home, which are a smaller variety, caught, I
believe, in Abyssinia. But the sight of the fleeting
ostriches seems to electrify the zebras, and turning tail
on us and giving us a parting fling of dust, they gallop
off in thundering pursuit. Yon herd of hartebeest
too, who from a distance have been quietly observant
of all that has passed, think it about time to be off.
They also join in the rout with their curious, stiff-jointed
canter; and so the strange company speed on together
until out of sight.
On the march from Taveta to Arusha-wa-Chini we
encountered our first herd of buffalo, but the ground
was too open to admit of successful stalking. A herd
of those animals is extremely difficult to approach.
Always more or less scattered, they seem ever keenly
on the alert, and when a hundred pairs of eyes, ears
and nostrils are watching, listening and scenting, wary
indeed must be the sportsman to escape detection.
The African buffalo is quite a different animal from
his distant and now almost extinct relative, the Ameri-
can bison. Had the latter been half so wary and dan-
gerous as the former, many a noble herd would yet be
roaming the Western plains. The African buffalo is
peculiar for the massiveness of his horns. They rarely
attain a spread of more than four feet from curve to
curve, but often weigh as much as fifty pounds, and pre-
sent at their base a surface as rough as oak bark. The
sportsman seldom obtains his victims from a herd, for
reasons mentioned above. It is the solitary old bulls
whom the youngsters have driven from the herd, and
strayaways or loiterers, that he happens on in the bush
that fall to his rifle.
HUNTING ADVENTURES. 135
It may be added that of all African game — save in
certain kinds of ground, the elephant — the buffalo is
the most dangerous to hunt. The Hon? By no means.
A noble beast, of course ; but as regards danger to the
hunter, not a circumstance to a fierce old buffalo bull.
The lion is easily killed or disabled by a well-placed
bullet of forty-five calibre; but a buffalo is as tenacious
of life as a grizzly bear, and to wound him with a rifle
of small calibre is a dangerous performance. You may
riddle him through and through and even pierce his
vitals, and the peppering only serves to make him more
savage and revengeful. And if you wound but fail to
kill him, and escape his charges, as you value your life
hunt no longer in that particular "neck o' woods."
Many a gallant sportsman has paid the penalty of his
rashness with his life by hunting over ground on which
he had, the previous day, left a wounded buffalo.
But he is noble game. He almost always charges
you when you wound him, and he is full of fight so long
as he is able to' draw a breath. Luckily for his future
he has no valuable robe on his back, that fatal covering
which sealed the fate of the American bison. His
body is virtually hairless, and it is only for the grand
trophy of his massive horns that the sportsman covets
him. He is nocturnal in his habits, another point in
his favor against annihilation. During the day the
herd usually lies hidden in the dense rushes or papyrus
of a swamp, or in some thick patch of jungle by a stream.
At nightfall they come out on the plains to graze,
and usually get under cover again by eight or nine next
morning. To hunt him successfully you must remain
for some time in the vicinity of his habitat, long enough
136 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
to learn his daily habits and movements. You must
be out and about before daylight in the mornings, or
your chances of bagging will be very slender. But you
are likely to stumble on solitary specimens at any hour
of the day and in all sorts of unexpected places, as my
friend, Dr. Abbott, once had good cause to remember.
The plains about Arusha-wa-Chini afforded good sport.
Rhinoceroses and giraffes abounded, and big herds of
buffalo and zebras, while hartebeest, wildebeest and
other antelopes were there by the thousands. We found
the buffalo extremely wild and wary, as they had been
hunted perseveringly week after week, and as a matter
of necessity, by two German traders who had occupied
the station. They had been left to rub along without
supplies much of the time, and had to hunt buffalo and
pay their way among the natives with m'eat, A herd
of buffalo that have been hunted much by sportsmen
with guns, are afflicted with chronic wildness for a
year after, and it needs but the report of a gun to start
them off, helter-skelter across the plains for miles.
One morning I was out with my two gun-bearers and
ten men to carry in meat. I had come upon a herd of
water-buck in a dry basin, and knocked over three
before they had discovered which way to run. Leaving
the men to skin and cut them up, I walked with the
gun-bearers up the wind to the brow of a swell that
would give us an extensive view beyond. We dis-
covered a small lake or ziwa, with an area of dense
green grass on the farther side. A herd of animals,
which, with the aid of my field glass, I made out to be
buffalo, were grazing on this sward. They were headed
towards us, slowly grazing along, and I could see the
HUNTING ADVENTURES. 137
swarm of birds that always hover about a herd of buffalo,
in quest of the ticks that infest their bodies. Fortu-
nately the wind was favorable, though in the absence
of cover between them and us, they had us at a disad-
vantage. They had not heard the report of my gun.
Beyond them, moreover, from the lake was a fringe of
brush, which, if it could only be gained, would place
me within range. As this fringe broadened out into
quite a patch of jungle to our left, it seemed but a ques-
tion of tramping a mile or so, to gain the point desired.
Soon we were creeping up a small, bushy nullah
that led into the thicket, I leading the way, followed
closely by the two gun-bearers. We had penetrated a
hundred yards or so into the jungle, when, with a crash
of bushes and a snort of alarm, a huge bull buffalo
sprang from the cover of a dense patch of thorns less
than ten yards away. He was lying down, hidden
under the thick brush away from the heat and flies, and
we had wellnigh blundered into his lair without seeing
him.
With head erect and eyeballs glaring wildly, he stood
for a moment, snorting savagely and shaking his head,
as I stood, gun in hand, waiting for him to present
some vulnerable point. I had taken the precaution of
carrying the heavy rifle myself before entering the
thicket, as I didn't yet know my gun-bearers. It was
a wise precaution, for both of these worthies at the first
crashing of the bushes bolted in an opposite direction
and hid.
The buffalo presented no mark above the bushes but
his head, which it would be quite useless, not to say
suicidal, to shoot at under the circumstances. Should
13^ SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
I blaze away through the twigs on the chance of a kicky
neck shot? It was that or nothing. I was just raising
my gun to carry this idea into effect, when, as if con-
scious of my intention, the gallant old fellow gave a
locomotive snort and charged me. I could only dodge
to one side and crouch, hoping to see him rush past
and away. Losing sight of his enemy, however, he
stopped short, thought better of it and, turning about
so close that the commotion of the bushes knocked off
my helmet, he went crashing through the thicket in an
opposite direction.
The whole affair happened in far less time than one
can tell it, and from first to last I saw nothing but his
massive head and horns. The latter were a fine pair.
I hated to see them escape me. As he left the thicket
on the far side, we heard a tremendous commotion and
smashing of bushes in the shrubbery beyond, and the
ground we stood on fairly seemed to quake as he com-
municated his alarm to a big herd of his fellows, of
whose presence we had until then been ignorant. We
rushed up the bank of the nullah and had the mortifi-
cation of seeing this second herd thundering along
towards the first. A minute later both herds, number-
ing, perhaps, three hundred bufTalo, were engaged in a
neck and neck race across the basin, throwing up
two clouds of dust towards the disturbers of their
peace.
On the way back out of the nullah occurred a comi-
cal incident, illustrative of the nerve possessed by some
of the colored gentlemen from Zanzibar, on whom your
life might possibly depend at times. I was in the lead,
the two gun-bearers, one behind the other, close on my
J
HUNTING ADVENTURES. 139
heels. Suddenly the one in the rear blew his nose —
snort ! His comrade, hearing but not seeing, sprang
about three feet off the ground, nearly knocked me
over with the butt of his gun, and dodged into a bush.
The nose-blower, seeing his companion spring into
cover, and fancying he must have good reason for his
action, followed suit. Turning around and seeing noth-
ing to warrant all this fright, but thinking they surely
must have seen something, perhaps a lion, I stood for
a moment on the defensive, gun at full cock.
The nose-blower now uttered a loud guffaw and both
the startled darkies issued from their hiding-place.
Explanations followed. Sulieman Hassan, not yet re-
covered from the scare of a few minutes before, and in
prime condition to see a savage buffalo bull behind
every bush, naturally fled when he thought one of those
animals snorted close at his heels. Umwazi, who did
the snorting, and not realizing that he was the inno-
cent cause of his comrade's flight, merely followed suit
on impulse.
On another occasion we were hunting on the Letima
Plain, a district swarming with game. We were a mile
or so from the scene of an adventure with a rhinoceros,
and were forcing our way through heavy masses of
rank grass and bush, when we heard a noise, which we
at first mistook for the distant roar of a water-fall in the
stream on which our camp was pitched. Louder and
louder the strange noise grew, however, and the men,
ever quick to scent danger, cried out, "boga, boga!"
(buffalo) in tones of alarm, and dropping their loads
of venison sought safety in the tops of the scrubby
thorn trees round about. It was too dark for me to
I40 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
see much, but the sense of hearing grows acute in mo-
ments such as these. The herd of buffalo, for such it
Avas, was plainly in headlong flight, stampeded, most
likely, by lions, and was coming in our direction. The
indistinct noise quickly developed into a tramping
under foot of bushes and a snapping of the long,
tangled rope-grass by the irresistible rushing of the
herd. I waited a moment and listened, to satisfy my.
self that they were really coming our way, then, for
the second time within an hour, meekly followed the
example of the men and sought a tree.
On the herd thundered, and from my perch I could
faintly distinguish the moving mass by its dark color;
though it was more of a mental recognition, born of the
crashing noise, than of the sight. Some of the men
committed themselves to the care of Allah, like true
Moslems ; others, getting panicky, shouted like maniacs
to try and turn the buffalo from their course. Their
Sniders would have been popping, too, had I not shouted
out strict orders against firing a gun. A wounded
African buffalo is a dangerous foe at the best of times,
and with an unknown number of such enemies laying
for us, our position in that thick scrub on a dark, rainy
night would have been critical indeed. The buffalo
passed by a little to the right, making tremendous
havoc of the thicket, and, without slackening their
speed, disappeared in the thick darkness beyond. The
nearer edge of the herd swept over the spot where the
men had dropped their loads, and trampled part of the
meat into the ground ; but the loss was nothing com-
pared to the appreciation of our own escape from a like
experience. The African buffalo is never seen in such
HUNTING ADVENTURES. I4I
enormous herds as used to move over the Western prai-
ries. He never migrates to great distances, for he Hves
in a summer land, and so there are no great musterings
and marchings in the spring and autumn. The limit of
the herds in the Kilimanjaro country seems to be about
three hundred head. The African buffalo, however,
is a larger animal than the bison, and stands shorter and
more cow-like on his legs. One never hears of people
being trampled by them here, as sometimes used to
happen to horses, wagons and emigrants in the West.
But this does not prove that such occurrences never
take place, and our own experience on this occasion
savored, at least, of such a possibility. And a lone
M-Kamba hunter, stalking a herd of buffalo, with his
bow and arrow, in the long grass, might be supposed to
run a certain amount of danger.
Although the buffalo is of nocturnal habits, you
sometimes come upon a belated herd, chiefly on dull,
cloudy mornings. Out of such a herd, I secured a pair
of horns with the widest spread of any that had been
seen in Zanzibar. Others have been secured of longer
curve measurement, but these were of an exceptional
width and peculiar curve. Mr. W. Chanler, of the
Knickerbocker Club, New York, who has hunted in the
same region, also secured several very fine pairs.
The dimensions of my pair are :
huhes.
Under measurement, from base to tip, each horn 43
Upper measurement, from base to tip, each horn 38
Round base, greatest girth, each horn 26
Between the tips, straight line 34
Between the greatest breadth or bend 48
Round the horns, across forehead from one tip to the other.. 85
142 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
I use the personal pronoun in connection with them
with mental reservation, and kindly remembrance of my
companion. We both fired into the herd. Dr. Abbott
insisted that it was I who did the deed. I insisted
that it was he. We came near quarreling over that
splendid trophy. I finally consented to keep it.
Danger to the sportsman is not to be apprehended
from a herd. It is of solitary old bulls, or cows with
young calves that get separated from their fellows, that
the sportsman must beware. Many a gallant fellow has
paid the final tribute to the savage charge of a solitary
African buffalo. We camped one afternoon near the
Ziwa, or papyrus swamp of Ngiri. We took possession
of an old boma beside the swamp. On a big tree within
was carved the inscription "G. C. D., Feb. 28, 1889."
Another thorn boma, smaller than this, near by, con-
tained an oblong mound, and on another tree at its
head was another inscription to the same purport.
Here was buried the Hon'ble G. C. Dawnay, M.P.,
who, six months before, had been killed by a buffalo.
His companion, Mr. Buckley, the celebrated English
naturalist, had returned to Mombasa just as we were
leaving. We remembered a request he had made, and
"touched up" the boma around the grave.
This gallant sportsman and well-known member of
Parliament was a victim to his own intrepidity. He
had successfully hunted big game in all parts of the
world. He had fearlessly plunged into the thickest of
the jungle about the Ngiri swamp. In a thicket where,
fully aware of the danger, he had magnanimously
forbidden his gun-bearers to follow, he, within an hour,
laid low a buffalo and a lion, stopping the lattrr on the
HUNTING ADVENTURES. 143
charge when but six feet from iiim ; and had then
bearded in this dangerous den a second old bull buffalo,
the most dangerous animal, at close quarters, in Africa.
But the sportsman's time had come. In the harness he
loved so well to wear, he died. Never did Nimrod fall
before a foe so worthy of his bullets as the grim old
Masai-land "boga" of the Ngiri swamp.
Mr. Dawnay was, at the time of his death, a member
of the Emin Pasha Relief Committee. I shall never for-
get the expression of deep and painful interest that
came into Mr. Stanley's face, as I told him of the fatal
adventure in the Ngiri swamp, in his camp at Msuwa.
Doctor Abbott had a very narrow escape one day,
whilst marching at the head of the caravan along a
creek known to us as the Ziwa Stream. Without the
slightest betrayal of his presence there, a buffalo rushed
from behind a bush he was passing, and catching him be-
tween its horns tossed him into the air. The brute was
frightened at the shouts of the men and hurried away.
Fortunately the Doctor escaped the points of its horns,
and as no bones were broken, he received no perma-
nent injury. He stoutly maintains that he went up as
high as a good-sized tree. He admits, however, to
being slightly flurried at the moment, and acknowl-
edges that the conditions were favorable to exaggera-
tion.
LIONS.
Lions are quite plentiful in many localities of the
country we ranged over. A favorable place for shoot-
ing them is at some isolated spring, where all the ani-
mals for a long way round have to resort for water.
In knocking about you often camp at one of these
144 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
spots, for the country offers much the same conditions
to you in regard to water, as to its wild denizens. The
nights would then be enlivened by the roaring of lion
after lion, who, all night long, sought the spring for
water or for prey. Every hour or so the men would
spring up and replenish the fires, as the moaning roar
of a thirsty "simba" would startle us by its nearness to
the camp. On one occasion, a dark, rainy night set in,
a most miserable one for the men, and their situation
was made yet more miserable toward morning by the
roaring of three lions, who seemed to be investigating
our position. The men couldn't light fires and so
wanted to fire their guns to scare the lions away, but I
forbade this, hoping to get a shot at them in the morn-
ing, and confident that they wouldn't molest our camp.
The impressive concert ended before morning, however;
the beasts went away without being able to appease
their hunger at our expense This leonine concert, so
unpleasantly near our camp, was a demand for food
rather than water, for there was no scarcity of the latter.
As a general thing they have no designs on human
flesh, though that of goat or donkey has an attraction
for them. Nine times out of ten, however, you are
camped at a spot where lions are in the habit of drink-
ing, and because they are afraid to come and drink in
your undesirable company, they squat on their haunches
in the near-by bush and roar.
Our nights at Ngiri were such as to impress our
memories of the place so deeply that they will never
be forgotten. The papyrus swamp, close beside which
our camp was pitched, seemed alive with lions. So
close did they prowl about, that their roars seemed at
HUNTING ADVENTURES. 145
times to issue from our very midst, causing us to start
up more than once and seize our guns. The nights
were brilliantly moonlit — almost as light as day. One
evening, when alone outside the boma, and without
arms, the writer was fairly driven inside by a prowling
lion. His moaning roar came nearer and nearer as he
crept toward me through the dense papyrus, until it
became glaringly evident that I was the object of his
solicitations, when I retired at discretion. The safest
place to hunt lions on moonlight nights is undoubtedly
up in the fork of a tree. You cannot take the quick,
sure aim that is very necessary in lion hunting, by the
light of the moon, however bright that luminary may
shine.
My companion was a much better sportsman than I,
and his adventures were consequently more varied and
interesting than mine. It never fell to the writer's
share to be tossed by a buffalo or to bag a lion, nor did
the novel sensation of a steeple-chase in competition
with a pugnacious orphan rhino fall to my experience.
One of the most interesting of Dr. Abbott's experi-
ences, though devoid of active adventure, happened
one day in the theatre of a small open park. Similar
spectacles may have been seen by other African sports-
men ; but since the writer never happened to hear of
such a thing before, it may be presumed that it will
also prove new to many of my readers.
The Doctor was out hunting, not far from the junc-
tion of the Tsavo and Useri, and about noon emerged
upon a small open glade. As he stepped from the
bush, he found himself in the presence of the most
novel tableau he had ever witnessed in the wild animal
146 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
world. Quietly stepping back under cover, he stood
and watched the scene with absorbing interest. On a
bare spot in the center of the glade lay a lion and
lioness, blinking and napping in the warm sun, and
collected about them, at a respectful distance, were
hundreds of mpalla and Grantii gazelle. These animals
were looking at their formidable majesties, stamping
their fore feet excitedly and giving utterance to angry
scolding cries ! They were simply mobbing the lions,
as the reader has, doubtless, many a time, seen a swarm
of small birds mobbing an owl or night hawk, when
those predatory enemies have ventured to appear in
the daytime. The lions were taking not the slightest
notice of the scolding antelopes and their excited
demonstrations. Abbott watched the fascinating sight
awhile, then shot at and wounded the lion, who, how-
ever, limped nimbly off after his consort and escaped.
One is likely to stumble on lions at any time. As a
general thing the king of beasts will bolt like the veriest
cur, on sighting a man. Abbott and I came unex-
pectedly on a pair, one day, while walking some distance
in advance of the caravan. I had nothing but a shot-
gun at the time, but my comrade had a Winchester
sporting rifle. The lion bolted before Abbott could
get a shot at him. The lioness paused a moment, and
got a bullet for her temerity, but she carried it away
into a thorny ravine, where prudence forbade us to
follow. On another occasion, my companion happened
on three lions devouring the carcass of a rhinoceros.
He was within thirty feet of them when he saw them.
Carrion of a very "high" order had been apparent to
his nostrils for some time, and going toward it, he was
i
HUNTING ADVENTURES. I47
suddenly confronted by the sight of three of these royal
epicures bunched up inside the capacious carcass of the
rhinoceros, and feeding off the foulest carrion imagina-
ble. The Doctor fired into them with his Winchester.
Two of the lions leapt over the carcass and bolted, while
the third, evidently badly hit, turned to one side and
crept under a bush. Abbott, following it up, dispatched
it, the lion growling menacingly at his approach. It
turned out to be a patriarchal old fellow, mangy and
covered with the scars of many fights.
I also had good sport that afternoon, but with less
noble game — though, speaking of nobility, one's idea
of the king of beasts is apt to receive a rude shock by
discovering three of them bunched up in the stomach
of a dead rhinoceros, feeding on carrion ; fit food for
jackals and hyenas, but hardly for a monarch among
beasts. Many people have a romantic idea, derived
from school books and hunters' yarns, that the lion, in
his kingliness, disdains to eat anything that he has not
himself killed. Nothing is more erroneous than this
idea. The lion is a big dog without any of the fastidi-
ousness of the domesticated canine. He has no more
scruples about his food and the manner of obtaining
it than a hungry pariah. In fact the lion of Africa,
like his figurative relative, John Bull, prefers his venison
'high." The higher, the better.
CHAPTER X.
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES.
IN many localities rhinoceroses are extremely numer-
ous. When on the march, encounters with these
animals are of almost daily occurrence. Every other
fighting animal in Africa runs away from man, if given
half a chance, and only becomes dangerous and com-
bative when wounded. The "stupid rhino," however,
charges on sight, and refuses to be driven ofT save by
a bullet. ]\Iy first adventure with a rhinoceros was a
day's march south-west of Taveta. It was amusing
enough, in the light of experience acquired later, and
illustrates the difficulties under which the no\'ice essays
to hunt big fighting animals in Africa.
I took my gun-bearers, Suliman Hassan and Umwazi,
and skirmished around a little in search of game.
Meeting with no success beyond partridges, I was
returning to camp when we stumbled on a place where a
rhinoceros had very recently treated himself to a roll in
the mud, a luxury to which these animals are exceed-
ingly partial. We judged his performance in the mud
to be less than half an hour old, and his spoor told us
that he had sauntered very leisurely away. We fol-
lowed his track for a while, and then losing it on a
stony hill, again started for camp. At the foot of
the hill we encountered an area of thorny jungle.
148
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. 149
We had barely entered this when SuHman Hassan, who
carried my heavy double-barreled rifle, whispered ex-
citedly just behind me, "kifaru, bwana, kifaru !" Look-
ing in the direction he pointed, I saw a huge, dark mass
showing indistinctly among the dense thorns. Motion-
ing the gun-bearers to drop out of sight and to remain
quiet, I seized my heavy twelve-bore and crept softly
forward. As yet I was unacquainted with the rhi-
noceros in his native lair and his extremely eccentric
behavior in the presence of an enemy. Only in ignor-
ance or accident is there any danger to speak of in
stalking these big brutes, whom one soon comes to
regard as the most stupid of animals, and their killing
mere butchery. As it was, I was decidedly inexperi-
enced, and crept toward this my first rhino, not with-
out a sense of rather oppressive curiosity as to what
would happen when I fired.
There seemed small hope, in that dense bush, of
doing him much damage at the first shot. The ques-
tion then was, would he charge me or bolt, when
wounded? I drew nearer to the spot where he stood,
and was peering about for an opening through which I
might get good aim, when I was startled by a tremen-
dous crashing in the bushes ahead. The game had
scented me, or the gun-bearers had made their presence
known, and up the wind he sped with a snort of alarm,
crashing through the wait-a-bits, and breaking down
the big thorn-bushes with his ponderous form. I was
really in more danger than I knew of at the moment,
as his course brought him so close to where I crouched
that the bushes swayed above me as he went past. The
danger lay in the fact that he might have run right
15° SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
over me, while his allies, the tenacious wait-a-bits, pre-
vented any active dodging on my part.
Three months after this incident I had become so
intimately acquainted with the rhinoceros and his weak
points as an antagonist, as to spring my detective
camera on him at twenty paces. But I had also grown
wise enough to avoid such traps as a wait-a-bit thicket
in which to approach him.
Sometimes, however, you stumble on the rhino in
some ugly thicket unawares. Two weeks after the
above incident we were camped on a stream of water
on the Letima Plain. We found hunting in the shoul-
der-high, sopping grass and the never-ceasing rain any-
thing but agreeable. In many places it was all one
could do to force a way through the rank, tangled
growth, and to stalk game in it in the rain might have
been rare sport for an amphibian. I spent one whole
afternoon at it, trying to scrape up an acquaintance
with a herd of giraffe, but shot a zebra and three harte-
beest instead, and then gave it up. The day was not
to pass, however, without adventure. One never knows
what is in store for him when hunting the big game of
Africa.
On our way back to camp we had to pass through a
dense piece of thicket, I in the lead. It was growing
dark and still raining. While picking our way through
I well-nigh butted my head against a huge rhinoceros
that stood "unpercciving and unpcrccived" behind a
clump of bushes, in passing through which I liad to
bend down pretty low. I wasn't hunting for rhinoceroses
or anything else just then, being chiefly interested in
getting b^ck t9 t^iup before d,'U'k ; and the bushes, th^
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. 151
rain and the gathering gloom were all against a success-
ful shot. However, I crept back a few paces, and pok-
ing my gun through the bushes, took a quick, half-
random shot at his neck. The peculiar smashing sound
of the bullet as it struck the thick skin of the big dark
object aimed at told its own story, but a crashing of
bushes as the stricken rhino spun round and round told
another.
My ball had found its billet, but instead of being
killed, the rhino was only badly wounded, and as these
animals nearly always do when shot in the neck and
not brought down, he was spinning furiously around on
the axis of his ponderous legs. The scared negroes,
who were at my heels when I ran afoul of him and
wondered what was up when I fired, flung down their
loads of meat and fled out of sight as the bewildered
monster made the ground we stood on tremble, and
in his pain and rage trampled the big bushes under
foot like straws. In the circumstances it was im-
possible to deliver a second shot. I could only follow
the excellent example set by my men and hide, and like
them hope the enemy would be magnanimous enough,
or cowardly enough, to betake himself off in some
other direction. Nor were our hopes futile, for in a
minute we had the satisfaction of hearing him tramp-
ling a new path through the thicket, quite anxious to
escape from the scene of his late lively surprise. We
drew a breath of relief and continued on our way.
Our caravan was marching across the same plain one
afternoon, when some of the men descried a cow rhi-
noceros browsing just within the edge of a thin clump
pf mimosas, As there was every probability of her
152 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
charging the caravan if she saw us, I decided to go and
have it out with her in advance.
Followed by a gun-bearer carrying Dr. Abbott's dou-
ble-barreled eight-bore, I succeeded in gaining the
shelter of the mimosas without awakening her suspi-
cions. A few minutes careful stalking brought us
within fifty yards; but by this time our game was all
attention, having scented danger in the air. Not quite
certain which way the hidden enemy was, however, she
stood sniffing the air, when, with a roar like a small
cawon from the eight-bore, I planted a bullet behind
her shoulder. The rhino trotted off up the wind, snor-
ting violently, and as she passed by, I gave her the
contents of the second barrel at thirty paces. Even
this failed to bring her down, however, and she disap-
peared over a swell of the plain.
Hastily reloading we gave chase, but on the top of the
ridge discovered her bulky form stretched full-length
on the ground. The men of the caravan had seen her
fall and were now racing, helter-skelter, to get first
chances at the meat. Ismael Nasib, the gun-bearer,
reached her first, and, standing on her neck, essayed
to cut her throat in orthodox Moslem fashion, so that
no reproach might result to him and his brother Moham-
medans by eating the meat without first drawing off
the blood. (These people have no hesitation about
eating an animal that dies from your bullet, but if you,
an infidel, cut its throat, they will not touch it. It
must be a Mussulman who slits its jugular.)
The rhinoceros, however, notwithstanding the five
ounces of lead in her vitals, had no idea of meekly
pandering to Moslem tomfoolery, as practised by Swa-
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. IS3
hill porters, and so at the first thrust of Ismael Nasib's
keen blade, the old lady gallantly scrambled to her
knees and dumped that worthy all of a heap on the
ground. At the same time several others, who had just
run up, turned sharply about and took to their heels.
But the effort was too much for the stricken rhino ; she
rolled over again, and a minute later Ismael Nasib
had taken his revenge by half severing her head from
her body, while fifty black butchers, with formidable
knives, were hacking and slashing at her carcass in gory
rivalry over the choicest cuts.
It is one of the sights of Africa to see a crowd of
porters struggling over the carcass of an animal you
have shot. A pack of wolves would hardly make the
same amount of clamor, nor could their behavior be a
whit less violent and savage. They swarm over the
defunct animal like a pack of dogs, hacking it to pieces
in a surprizingly short time. Hands are often slashed,
all get covered with blood, and squabbles over pieces
of meat are the rule. The liver and parts of the entrails
are very much coveted. There are always wrangles,
sometimes fights, over these choice tit-bits ; and you
may see one porter racing away with the liver, and
others giving chase, altogether like animals. When
the squabble is over the men tie the chunks of meat to
their loads, and proceed on their way, a gory and happy
crew, rejoicing in the contemplation of an evening's
ifeast.
Several times, on that and succeeding days, were we
annoyed by the tendency of these big, stupid brutes to
charge the caravan on sight. The rhinoceros in his
native wilds is an animal of a curious disposition.
154 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
After you come to understand him, from experience,
you can tell, almost to a turn of his big body, just how
he will act under certain circumstances. If he scents
you without seeing you, and is not feeling particularly
pugnacious at the time, he invariably runs away up the
wind. This often brings him uncomfortably near you
as he passes by, but at the same time enables 'you to
pour a broadside into him if you are properly weaponcd
at the moment for game of his size.
Your gun, for rhino, ought not to be smaller than a
double-barreled rifle of eight-bore calibre, carrying ten
drams of powder and two and one-half ounces of lead.
The gun should be provided with a rubber pad at the
butt to protect the shoulder. A good first shot is to
take him squarely through the shoulder; this will bring
him to a halt and enable you to finish him with your sec-
ond ball through the heart. One shot, unless through
his most vital parts, rarely brings a rhinoceros to the
ground ; a second shot is necessary, even with a gun of
the size and power mentioned above. He may run a
mile with a two-ounce bullet through his lungs, and
where game is so plentiful as in the region I am writ-
ing about, that distance seems too great to follow
even a wounded rhinoceros, unless you know him to be
mortally stricken.
If the rhinoceros sees .his enemy without scenting
him, he almost always charges him; your best chance
then is to dodge out of sight behind a bush or quietly
drop down in the grass; or this failing you, a shot
in the most vulnerable part presented will, in nine
cases out of ten, cause him to think better of it and
sheer off. Fortunately for you if you happen to become
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. 1^5
the hunted, he is anything but keen of sight, and when
he charges, it is usually sufficient for you to drop down
in the grass and remain motionless. In adopting this
course, there is certainly the danger of being stepped
on as he blunders by ; but between lying down and
running away, if the ground is open, the chances of
escape are ten to one in favor of the former.
Our plan when we saw rhinos ahead, near the road,
was to go forward in advance of the main body of the
caravan, and try to drive them off. We had no wish to
kill them, in fact had compunctions against doing so,
unless the caravan happened to be short of meat, or
now and then, when one carried an exceptionally fine
pair of horns (the African rhino is two-horned) ; and still
more senseless did it seem to us to inflict unnecessary
wounds. In many cases, however, it was absolutely
necessary for our own safety to bring the pugnacious
brutes to their senses with a bullet.
Not more than two miles from where I shot the cow
rhinoceros we came upon another pair. Walking up
to within a hundred yards of them, Abbott and I shouted
and whistled and flaunted our hats to try and get them
to clear off. The rhinos pricked up their stumpy little
ears, and thrusting their great horns aloft, sniffed the air
and looked toward us in the most belligerent manner.
Hi-ih ! whoop ! ya-ah ! whistle ! and wave hats,
ya-ah ! Ah, the stupid brutes !— here they come; it's
no use to study their safety, because they are too pig-
headed to act for their own good.
On they came toward us with their steady, ponder-
ous trot, which always suggested to the writer's mind
a locomotive. Waiting till they were near enough for
15^ SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
a sure shot, Abbott's bone-crusher smashed into one, and
my twelve-bore into the other. Simultaneously with
the thud of the bullets on their bodies, they both did
what we had been trying our best to get them to do
before harm should overtake them, and striking off at
right angles, sought safety in flight. "You stupid
brutes, why couldn't you run away just as easily be-
fore being wounded, as after?" After running a few
miles they would lie down and bleed to death, or fall
prey to lions that very night.
What a shame it seemed, and certainly was ; and we
determined then and there that we would try an
experiment on the next ones that crossed our path.
Instead of crashing into them with a heavy rifle, why
wouldn't it answer the purpose just as well to merely
prick them through their thick armor of hide, with a
ball from a Winchester carbine? Happy thought ! and
all in the interest of humanity, too. Surely we ought
to be kindly remembered by the S. P. C. A.
An opportunity for the experiment was not long in
presenting itself, for our friends with the horns on their
noses were exceedingly plenty. This interview was
with a happy family party of three — a bull, a cow and a
half-grown youngster. The whole caravan was in plain
view, but the rhinos had neither seen or scented us yet.
Our men laughed as I called up Kilimbili, the second
head man, and took from him the little 44 cal. Win.
Chester carbine he carried ; and all predicted that my
attempt to drive away the kifarus with it, would be
"hyfie" (a failure). Abbott, with his eight-bore, and a
gun-bearer with my twelve, were to form a reserve to
stand by and defend the caravan, should my attack
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. 1^7
turn out abortive, and the rhinos charge past or over
me. This arranged, and all being ready, I crept cau-
tiously toward the enemy, who were already sniiifing
suspiciously in our direction. Coming to within seventy-
five yards, I stood up in plain view, took careful aim
at the paterfamilias, and fired. "Spat !" went the little
conical messenger spitefully against his armor-like skin,
but whether to flatten out against some horny fold, or
to puncture it, was the question.
Anyhow it sufficed to wake him up and kindle his
belligerent spirit to action. Instead of turning tail
he elevated his ugly proboscis and charged the all too
well-meaning author of the assault on his person and
his repose.
"You impudent clown, you !" his actions seemed to
say, as he trotted threateningly in my direction. "I'll
teach you to play your measly little practical jokes on
a creature of my size and importance — snort!"
In this indignant resolve the old fellow was most
heartily supported by his wife, and small but equally
offensive-looking son, both of whom trotted doggedly
by his side, and like him, bent on avenging the com-
mon insult. They seemed to regard it as a family
matter throughout. I already began to feel sorry for
what I had done, though there was no philanthropy in
my thoughts this time.
I had a full magazine to the Winchester, and rattled
away at them as they came on, the balls pattering
against their solid fronts as against a rock, and appar-
ently doing as little damage in one case as they would
in the other. So far as stopping them was concerned,
I might as well have been peppering away at a locomo-
1S8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
tive. Finding my bullets and my phlianthropic efforts
of no avail, I dodged out of sight behind a friendly
bush, and as the rhinos thundered on to charge the
caravan, Abbott's big gun roared, and in a twinkling all
three were showing us their heels, "A great pity," we
said again ; for with two ounces and a half of lead in
him, the old bull would surely fall a prey to lions that
very night ; but we could do no more than we had
done to try and save him from the reward of his own
uncalled-for pugnacity.
On the plains of Lytokitok, too, we had many curious
adventures with rhinoceroses, which were as numerous
and combative here as at any place we visited. At one
point we had a regular stampede, the only occasion
during the expedition that we didn't manage to kill
or turn the course of a charging rhino. Luckily
nobody got hurt. The whole affair was laughable in the
extreme, and afforded the men amusement for days.
We had just crossed a nullah and resumed our march
across the plain, when, with an excited snort, which had
become a very familiar sound in our ears by this time, a
cow rhinoceros issued from behind a clump of bushes
and charged the caravan.
Abbott and I were in the lead, and we had passed the
rhino without seeing her or attracting her attention ;
we had no time to use our guns to prevent a charge,
nor could we have used them, anyhow, without danger of
hitting the men. There was a scrambling scatterment
of the porters, who dropped their loads and inconti-
nently fled. Pursuing her headlong career, the rhino
made a pass with her horn at a wicker hamper contain-
ing our tableware, which lay in her path. And now we
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. l59
were treated to the ridiculous spectacle of the big, ex-
cited brute, blundering along, with the hamper impaled
on her sharp horn, while tea-pot, enameled cups and
saucers, pots, pans and what-not, littered the ground in
her wake. As soon as she had passed well clear of
the caravan and out of the range of the men, we blazed
away at her, causing her to spin furiously round and
round. She shook the basket off her horn, and
made her escape with one, perhaps two, bullets in her
hide.
Another encounter on the same day was of a rather
exciting, though quite different, character. Sighting an
old bull rhino ahead of us, who, if left alone, would be
pretty sure to charge, we halted the caravan and went
ahead to drive him off. We succeeded in this, but
saw two others half a mile ahead. We both carried our
heavy rifles, but no extra cartridges. These animals
turned out to be pugnacious, refusing to clear out, or
to cease their belligerent charging hither and thither
in search of the mysterious foe who was shouting at
them, until we had given them a taste of lead.
This left us with one cartridge apiece ; and to our
astonishment, yet another pair of the big, ugly brutes
were in our track ahead ! There was nothing for it but
to tackle these also. They, too, were decidedly on the
war-path. To all our shouting and whistling efforts
to frighten them off, they replied by assuming a most
offensive front, and by sniffing the air and trotting
excitedly this way and that, endeavoring to find us.
At length my companion fired at the bull and broke
his back._ The cow, as is always the case when her
lord is stricken down, became terribly excited. She
l6o SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
ran here and there, circled about her wounded mate,
snorting violently and raging like a demon. The bull
dragged himself about with his fore-legs, trailing his
hind quarters on the ground, and in his rage and pain
rooting up earth and bushes with his horn. The cow
hovered and charged about him, refusing to run away.
We were crouching behind a small bush, but half
concealed, not twenty yards away, viewing, not without
apprehension, this formidable tableau of brute rage
and ferocity, having but one cartridge left in my gun.
This must be kept in reserve, for fear of discovery and
a charge from the enraged cow, while more ammuni-
tion could be got up. With extreme caution my com-
panion crawled away and shouted to the gun-bearers
to bring more cartridges.
While these were coming up, my position, as may
be supposed, was of absorbing interest. The wounded
monster, dragging himself about, tearing up bushes
and digging his long horn viciously into the ground,
while his faithful old wife fussed about him in prodig-
ious excitement, snorting and charging this way and
that, in search of the enemy, was a sight to behold, I
assure you. And here was I, the very culprit the angry
old dame was so anxious to interview, crouching behind
a flimsy bush, almost within her reach. In a few
minutes my bold boy Alfred came running up with
cartridges. Alfred advanced fearlessly until the wild
tableau of animal passion, as described, burst upon his
startled senses, when he wheeled about and as fearlessly
took to his heels. I was afraid to shout after him for
fear of attracting the infuriated enemy to my hiding-
place. So I had to crouch low until Abbott came up
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. i6l
with replenished rifle, and with a couple of shots from his
eight-bore bone-crusher, sent the cow away to die within
an hour, and turned up the toes of the gallant old bull.
Rhinos are seldom seen more than two together,
though I have stalked families of four full-grown ani-
mals. One day I stalked a pair, with the idea of secur-
ing a remarkably fine horn possessed by the male.
(The females have the longest horns, the males the
thickest.) Taking but one gun-bearer and keeping to
leeward, I found no difficulty in creeping up to within
a dozen yards of where the fussy-looking old couple
stood cogitating on their domestic affairs and crouch-
ing behind the only available bush, waited for the big-
horned bull to present a vulnerable point.
He seemed determined to stand head on, however.
I whistled, coughed, and in various ways within the
limits of discretion endeavored to arouse his dormant
suspicions, without exposing myself to view and attack,
but all in vain. The most he would do was to prick
up his stumpy ears and sniff the air in an indifferent
sort of way. Perched along his spine and scrambling
all over his big body and head, in search of ticks, were
a number of rhinoceros-birds, which — in the school-books
and the imaginations of certain old African sports-
men — are the rhinos's guardian angels, and should have
notified him of the nearness of danger.
After waiting patiently for some time, and as the
rhino refused to turn broadside on, I decided to risk a
shot behind the ear, as he slightly turned his head to
protest against the actions of his wife, who was scratch-
ing her rump against his shoulder. It was not without
a sharp twinge of compunction, however, that I raised
1 62 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
my gun to destroy the happiness of this affectionate
old couple. At any rate, let us say, it must have been
this prick of conscience that caused me to hit the old
chap an inch higher up than I intended, and to flatten
my bullet on the neck bone, instead of putting it into
the hollow behind his ear.
Down he dropped, however, like a pole-axed steer.
In her excitement and rage, the old cow was terrible.
She charged madly about and came near smashing into
the bush that only half-concealed the author of this
gross outrage, and she fussed and fumed around her
stricken lord at such a prodigious rate that prudence
compelled me to hide as best I could. I felt small
indeed in the presence of her mighty rage.
The rhino scrambled to his feet in a few moments,
and as though conscious that the source of the mischief
lay behind my solitary bush, the cow shielded him
with her own bulky form and away they went, helter-
skelter around a knoll and out of sight. Not wishing
to wound the cow, I let them get off without a second
shot.
On stepping to the spot where the bull had stood,
there, on the ground, lay a rhinoceros-bird. I picked
the little fellow up and examined him, and found not
so much as a feather rufifled, and he, moreover, imme-
diately began to revive in my hand. He was sitting
on the head of his big friend, foraging for insects, when
I fired, and the concussion of bullet against bone had
simply stunned him.
And in connection with this little incident allow me
to say that the pretty little fiction about the rhinoceros-
bird warning the rhinoceros of approaching danger.
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. 163
evolved from the imaginative brain of the Munchausen
sportsman who wrote it. There is not a pencil-stroke
of truth in the picture, though it is pretty enough to
deserve to be true, and not at all a congenial task to
deny it. Time and again, however, has the writer
crept, gun in had, to within twenty paces of a rhinoc-
eros, on which dozens of these birds have been picking
about for insects, and never once did I see any attempt
on their part to notify the rhinoceros of his danger.
While on the subject of rhinoceroses, I remember see-
ing one morning, in a patch of timber, one of these bulky
animals jump «)ver a dead log, that I measured and
found fully five feet above the ground. I was rooted
to the spot with astonishment at the sight. I couldn't
see whether he touched his fore feet to the obsta-
cle, or whether it was a square steeple-chaser; but
it gave me a new idea of the nimbleness of these huge
quadrupeds.
On these hunting excursions I sometimes used to
take my detective camera, and attempt a little stalking
with that. One morning I spotted a rhino standing
beside a bush ; another small bush stood about twenty
yards from him. Creeping up to the latter, camera
in hand, I gently moved from behind cover and
took four instantaneous photographs of him, without
exciting his suspicions. Such feats can only be per-
formed with a detective camera. I also succeeded in
stalking a herd of zebra with the camera, and got near
enough to secure a very good picture. Probably these
feats in photography have often been accomplished
before, however, by sportsmen whose duties did not
embrace the responsibilities of a scribe, and consequent
164 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
public announcement of the facts. But if so, it has
never been my fortune to hear of them.
Before leaving the subject of the rhinoceros, my
companion will, I know, pardon me if the temptation
to relate a certain little tableau of wild and exciting
adventure, in which he figured as the "heavy villain"
pursued by outraged innocence — an adventure that
often formed the theme of conversation between us —
prove too great.
One day the Doctor was ungallant enough to knock
over a cow rhinoceros, because she sported a particularly
long horn, regardless of the fact that a youthful edition
of his father ran joyously by her side. Having laid his
victim low, Abbott walked up and endeavored to shoo
away the aforesaid youth by shouting and waving his
arms at him. But the young kifaru, though no higher
than a table, refused to "shoo." He looked at his
mother's destroyer in an enquiring sort of way, then
assumed the offensive and charged him. The tall M.D.
"shoo'd" and menaced him a moment, then seeing
that the pugnacious young avenger meant business,
took to his heels. He hadn't a single cartridge left in
his Winchester, and would probably have been too
astonished at the temerity of his assailant, if he had,
to have used it. His astonishment at the youngster's
pugnacity, however, was quickly overshadowed by his
still greater astonishment at his speed.
My friend is six feet two in his socks, and active ;
but the bumptious young kifaru hustled along in the
culprit's wake with his eager snort, perilously near where
the latter's coat-tails would have been had any such
garment been worn, as pursued and pursuer rushed
ADVENTURES WITH RHINOCEROSES. 165
along through the tall grass. "Whoo !" grunted the
savage young brute as he reached the object of his
wrath, and, with a vicious upward prod of his undevel-
oped horn, essayed to lift the Doctor from the ground.
Abbott had the disadvantage of having to break a road
through the grass, otherwise, he says, he could easily
have outstripped his pursuer. But as it was, he was
badly handicapped in the race, and felt singularly un-
comfortable, as the warm, snorting breath of the pursuer
pierced his trousers, and an avenging, rooting sort of
lift now and then accelerated his pace. After chasing
him about three hundred yards, the young rhinoceros
returned to its mother; while the Doctor sat down to
recover his wind, and collect his thoughts. One of the
first thoughts that came home to him, now that the
perils of the situation were over, was that he had all
the time had a big six-shooter full of cartridges at his
hip.
E
CHAPTER XI.
ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME.
LEPHANTS are not so numerous about Kiliman-
jaro as in some parts of Africa. We were con-
stantly stumbling on evidences that elephants were in
our vicinity, but we never attempted seriously to hunt
them. Dr. Abbott, however, killed one shortly after I
returned to Mombasa. In order to hunt elephants suc-
cessfully the sportsman must devote himself solely to
their pursuit. The natives of Kilimanjaro capture
them in pits. Mandara keeps a force of Wa-Kamba
elephant hunters in his employ, and among the re-
tainers of the chiefs of Chaga, are numerous " pit-
tenders," whose duties are to visit the pits, keep them
in repair, and see if anything is captured. In travers-
ing the forests, one has to be constantly on the alert
for these pits, which are dug in the elephant paths.
The pits are dug wide enough to admit the body
of an elephant, and carefully covered over with cross-
sticks and grass, to look as near like the rest of the
ground as possible. They are dug in the pattern of a
wedge, the sides sloping down gradually till they meet
at the depth of twelve or fifteen feet. Drive a com-
mon iron wedge, for splitting logs, in the ground, pull
it out again, and you have in the hole a miniature ele-
phant pit, as they arc dug in the elephant forests of Kili-
manjaro. This shape is adopted to prevent the captive
i66
ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME. 167
animal getting its feet to the ground and trying to
scramble out. With his body sustained by the sloping
of the sides, and his feet dangling helplessly below, the
prisoner is absolutely powerless.
We saw no elephants, though we heard them trumpet-
ing at night, and had been so close on them that the
blades of grass in their huge tracks were rising from
the pressing as we passed. But elephants have a won-
derful knack of keeping out of sight. They can hurry
through the forests without making the least noise, and
big as they are, have the faculty of hiding themselves
in places one would never think it possible from their
bulk. They are also very acute of hearing. A word,
the snap of a twig in the path, and away they go,
swift, silent, betraying their presence only by their
fresh foot-prints.
Among other animals that intrude on the sports-
man's notice, may be mentioned the hyena. These
ghoulish animals are singularly numerous in the Kili-
manjaro region. Though you seldom see them, they
invest your camp every night, and for hours keep up
their dismal, howling "laugh." Sometimes they do
not hesitate to invade the camp when everybody is
asleep, and make off with anything they can find. A
dog is a very necessary thing to have, as a precaution
against these midnight prowlers. The best is a small
fox-terrier, who will make a good deal of noise, and yet
not be so presumptuous as to think he could chew up
the intruder. A big dog that felt himself equal to
these chisel-teethed brutes would get killed in no time.
We had a little clog of no particular breed and no
particular name, who made a very good camp dog. He
l68 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
would chase a hyena out of camp with prodigious cour-
age and a vast expenditure of noise, and then, when
outside the camp, the hyena would turn round to snap
him up, he would change the notes of his song and
come scurrying into the tent and creep under my bed.
This little program would be gone over, in some par-
ticularly hyena-infested spot, many times a night. I
am ashamed to say how often we reproached that poor
pup on his parentage, and how many times we
threatened to shoot him, but it was a case of putting
up with his nightly racket or allowing the hyenas to
range at will in the camp, and so the pup was spared, as
being of two evils the least.
Hyenas are great travelers at night. In the morning
their tracks are seen on every path, and if you drop
anything on the road and leave it there over night, be
assured that the brutes have overhauled it before morn-
ing. One evening, on the Letima Plain, far from any
spot suggestive of hyenas or other carnivora, my boy
Alfred fell behind a moment to adjust his sandals, and,
as a matter of course, left my gun-cover on the road.
We sent several men back for it next morning. They
found the case exactly where it had been left, but
chewed to pieces by hyenas.
The brutes seem well-nigh omnipresent. They are
not dangerous to man, though instances have been
known of their attacking children and very old people.
Our men used, on moonlight nights, to have great sport
chasing them from camp with clubs and stones.
Monkeys are very numerous. You see them in big
crowds grubbing for roots on the plains near a stream.
Their presence is a sure indication that water is not far
ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME. 169
away, as they never leave the vicinity of water any dis-
tance.
It is in the forest of Kahe that the beautiful Colobus
Guereza, of all monkeys the most interesting in appear-
ance, is found. .These Kahe monkeys are black and
white, with soft, straight fur four inches long on back
and sides, and often a foot long on the tail, which is
sweeping and graceful to a degree. The skin of one of
these monkeys was given me by our friend, Miliali.
There is a similar monkey, a branch of the same spe-
cies, in Abyssinia, and Emin Pasha's lost province, but
neither of these are so beautiful as the specimens to be
found in Kah^.
The Wa-Kahe object to having them shot. They
believe that the spirits of their ancestors dwell in the
bodies of the monkeys, and reverence them accordingly.
In other words, a Wa-Kahe warrior protests against
having his departed father or grandfather ignominiously
knocked out of a tree, skinned and otherwise disposed
of. He wouldn't mind about his ancestors so much,
perhaps, but for fear that calamity might overtake him
for permitting the sacrilege ; besides which he expects
to inhabit one of those same graceful forms himself
when he departs this life, and shudders to think that if
he allows the precedent, his spirit, too, might fall a
victim to the poisoned shaft of the native hunter, or the
mysterious "dower" of the white man's gun.
The little groves that are left standing in the Chaga
States are peopled by colonies of large baboons.
Of the zebra, giraffe, hartebeest, wildebeest, bush-
buck, koodoo, Grantii Gazelle, Gazelli Thomsonii, water-
buck, mpallah, and other of the exceedingly plentiful
170 SCOUTLVG FOR STANLEY.
\ game, I will not weary the reader by treating of at
length. Enough has been written to show that the
plains about Kilimanjaro may well be called the sports-
man's paradise. It is almost superfluous to deal with
particular localities.
We never saw signs of such tremendous quantities
of game anywhere, however, as at Maraga Kanga, a
little spring on the plains, between Njiri and Lytoki-
tok. It was the only water for many miles around,
and the whole of the ground about it was trampled into
deep dust, as if by vast herds of cattle. Roads too,
that looked like great cattle trails, led to the spring
from many directions; all tramped by herds of game.
During the hour or two we were in camp before setting
out, every few minutes giraffes, zebras, rhinoceroses, har-
tebeest, wildebeest, mpallah, would approach the spring
for water, and finding the place occupied by intruders,
would retire.
Brindled gnu, the wildebeest of this region, were
exceedingly tame and plentiful on the Lytokitok pas-
tures. The Masai never hunt game, and so big herds
of the finest game in the world graze securely on the
same range as their own cattle, and are never molested
by them.
Hippos arc plentiful in Lake Jipe, below Taveta,
and in a few other places ; and I must bring this chapter
on game shooting to a close, by relating what was, in
some respects, a most interesting discovery. In a little
strip of unexploited country, between the junction of
the Useri and Tsavo rivers and the Kyulu Mountains,
we discovered a clear, cold stream about the size of the
Tsavo itself, flowing into the latter river. We followed
ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME. I7I
this new stream northward, till, after some three or four
miles, it disappeared beneath the surface of a peculiarly
rough lava country. Continuing on, we, at length,
found ourselves on the brink of a small crater, in the
bottom of which nestled a lovely little lake, bordered
with borassus palms. We found a way down, and
formed camp on the margin of our discovery. Its
water was marvelously clear and sweet, and swarming
with fish so tame that you could almost catch them
with the hand. They were of the perch family, with
greenish back and silvery belly, and the largest of
them weighed as high as eight pounds. We distributed
fish-hooks to the men, as far as we had them. The
others made rude hooks of bent wire. They tied these
to pieces of string, baited them with meat, and scatter-
ing themselves along the shore, with this rude tackle,
woo'd the finny strangers with such surprising success
that, half an hour after getting into camp, our hundred
Isaac Waltons must have caught not less than a ton of
fish, or an average of twenty pounds to the man! In a
little while our camp was like a fish market — an African
Billingsgate. It was the greatest bonanza the fish-lov-
ing porters had struck for many a day. How they
reveled in their abundance !
It was as evident as anything of a circumstantial
nature could prove, that we had scrambled over the
waves and breakers of a volcanic upheaval into an inter-
esting little bit of solitude, which had never before been
desecrated by human foot-prints. Certainly the con-
fidence of these fish had never before been trifled with,
nor had the even current of their lives been intruded
upon by a hungry horde of blacks, who, finding them
172 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
innocent of guile, straightway fell to catching them,
roasting them, eating them, drying them, making merry
over their simplicity.
But a discovery more interesting than the fish was in
reserve. I was sitting on the branch of a tree that
overhung the Avater, having rare sport with the fish.
I could drop my line down into the crystal depths
beneath my swinging feet, and see every motion of the
finny denisons as in the tank of an aquarium. The rush
of the big beauties for the bait, the consternation of
the successful fellow as he felt the prick of the hook and
found himself a captive ; the frantic struggle, the strong,
steady pull for liberty as I paid him out my rude, rod-
less line; the bringing him gradually to goal — all was
visible as through a pane of glass.
What a fisherman's paradise ! — but look ! Heavens ! —
what is that monstrous object, walking on the smooth,
gravelly bottom, twenty feet below the surface? —
What is it? Almost beneath my feet a flat-bodied red-
dish-colored animal, as large as a rhinoceros, and unlike
anything I ever saw, was strolling leisurely along the
floor of the lake. The men have seen it too, and ex-
citedly shout "kiboko, kiboko !" What? — that object
a kiboko? — a hippopotamus? Such it was, however,
but so distorted by the water as to deceive my startled
vision into thinking it some monstrous amphibian,
which, cooped up here in this isolated crater lake, had
survived the ages and provided us with a living link to
prehistoric times. But it was sufficiently curious to
find hippopotami in this little hidden sheet of water.
Later in the day we discovered a school of about
twenty, and found much pleasure in watching them
ELEPHANTS AND OTHER GAME. 173
walk along the bottom of this crystal lakelet, now and
then rising to the surface to breathe.
Our lake was not more than a mile long, and a couple
of hundred yards wide, so that it will hardly secure us
the recognition of the R. G. S., but it certainly makes
up in beauty what it lacks in size. We christened it
Lake Sumaki (Fish Lake), and I can, at least, heartily
recommend it to any lover of good fishing who may
visit the Kilimanjaro region, and to anybody who
wishes to see the rare novelty of a school of hippos
browsing about the bottom of a crystal lake as peace-
fully as cows in a meadow. This little jewel, baby sis-
ter to Lake Chala, at the foot of Kilimanjaro, is situ-
ated Lat. 2° 52' S; Long. 37° 53' E. Its elevation is,
approximately, 3000 feet above sea-level. It reposes in
the basin of a crater, a hundred feet below the wall,
which, in places, consists of such uniform blocks of lava
as to suggest the handiwork of man.
Before closing this chapter let me protest against the
senseless slaughter of the few magnificent relics of the
golden age of wild animal life that still exist in Africa.
Only a year or so before my advent in these great
game pastures, a couple of English gentlemen, army
of^cers, spent their leave of absence hunting on the
plains east of Kilimanjaro. Their time was limited, to,
I believe, about six weeks actual shooting. They made
up their minds to "beat the record," killing rhinos;
that is to say, they determined to try and kill more of
those animals than had ever been done by huntsmen
before in the same length of time. They succeeded in
their ambition ; killing somewhere between fifty and
sixty head ! Some people may call such a performance
174 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
as this sport, and the gentlemen in the case sportsmen ;
but, for my part, I prefer to call things by their right
names. It is almost as easy to shoot rhinoceroses as
cows, and the man who wantonly kills fifty of either in
a month is more butcher than sportsman. The conduct
of these gentlemen contrasted strangely with that of
another Englishman, a true sportsman and a naturalist
of world-wide reputation, whom we had the pleasure of
meeting in Mombasa. The conversation turned on
rhinoceros hunting. "Don't shoot them down wan-
tonly," said this gentleman, "they're such jolly old
duffers; it's more pleasure to sit behind a bush and see
them roll in the dust and enjoy themselves, than to
knock them over, any day. I never mean to shoot
another one as long; as I live."
CHAPTER XII.
ARABS AND SLAVES.
ASIDE from my quest of Stanley, part of my com-
mission to Africa was to see what I could of the
slave-trade. I endeavored to investigate and report
upon it from as many sides as was possible within the
scope of actual observation.
All African travelers, and even many missionaries,
agree, that once the slave reaches his destination in
Zanzibar, Pemba, or Arabia, his or her condition is
often, though not always, improved. The violence and
bloodshed of the raids in the interior, and the hard-
ships and misery of the long march to the coast, are
the revolting features of the slave-trade. It was the
author's privilege to see something of both the darker
and the brighter sides, as well as to take a glance at
the subject from the standpoint of an old Arab slaver.
One Sunday I accepted an invitation to accompany
a party of Europeans to an Arab shamba on a day's
outing. A shamba is a country estate, or plantation.
Spending a Sunday at an Arab shamba is a favorite
form of recreation with the European residents of Zanzi-
bar. The one to which we had been invited was
situated about ten miles northeast of Zanzibar, near the
shore.
There were six in the party ; four were to ride out on
horseback, the other two would proceed along the coast
175
176 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
in a cutter. The latter means of reaching our destina-
tion fell to my lot. Six stalwart blacks rowed us over,
to the music of a monotonous refrain. They kept it
up for nearly two hours, when, through our field-glasses,
we could see black figures on the shore, near a house,
making passes in the air with their bandera loin-cloths.
These were monkeyish young slaves belonging to our
host, imitating the signaling of the English sailors
aboard the boats of the blockading squadron. In this
manner they were hailing the coming of the Wazungu
guests.
Soon our boat grounded on the coral beach, and
ready slaves rushed into the water to carry us, picka-
back, ashore. Broad grins and salutations of "yambo
bwana" by a crowd of salaaming slaves, the property
of the city Arab who had invited us to go out and
"accept his shamba as a gift," greeted us on the shore.
The welcome and the whole scene were eminently typi-
cal of slaveland and the East. The house was a ramb-
ling old mansion, built of coral rag, and cement, made
by burning the same into lime. Of unpretentious Arab
architecture, the palms and the dark massy foliage of
the mango trees, in which it was half concealed,
redeemed it from the commonplace far more effectually
than gables and architectural devices.
Loafing about in sun and shade, doing nothing, were
a crowd of slaves of every age and many tribal types.
Arrayed in long white gowns, the head men, having
seen us comfortably settled down in the place provided,
squatted around and idly flicked the earth with slender
canes. Young men scattered out to scale the tall
cocoanut trees for madaffoo to quench the thirst of
ARABS AND SLAVES. 177
their master's Wasungu friends. A madaffoo is a green
young cocoanut containing nothing but milk. The
way the Zanzibaris cHmb the cocoa pahns is to sHp both
feet in a noose or loop of rope. Instead of cork-screw-
ing their legs about the tree, as we do, they half
encircle it with feet and rope, and, alternately advancing
hands and feet, hop upward in frog-like motions, two
feet at a jump. The ease and rapidity with which these
supple young slaves mounted tall cocoanut palms in
this simple manner, were highly suggestive of monkeys.
Throwing down the madaffoo, they removed with a
cleaver the thick outer husks to the shell. The green
nutshell, though pliant as leather, is, of course, quite
waterproof, and in this condition might fairly be
described as a bulbous bottle of deliciously-flavored
water. A lot of these madaffoo were thus prepared,
dipped in water, and hung up in the breeze to cool.
When hung up in this manner in the tropics the milk
cools quickly, much as water does in the porous clay
bottles of India. By slicing off the stem ends of the
green nuts the slaves presented us with brimming ves-
sels of fluid, the most healthful and palatable one could
imagine, and which, as a quencher of thirst, is not to be
surpassed by even fresh spring water.
Near by the open veranda and the dense shade of
the mango trees, selected for our picnicking, was a
square tank. Our host had been trying his hand at
running a sugar mill, and had built a tank, sluices,
water-wheel and aqueduct for power. The tank con-
tained about four feet of water. Into this one of our
party flung a handful of coppers. "Ki hi!" — Every
slave-boy under twenty, within sight and hearing, came
lyS SCOUTIiVG FOR STANLEY.
racing like black water-imps to the wall of the tank and
plunged in. The tank was for some minutes a wrig-
gling mass of black, shiny forms, ducking and diving,
splashing, gamboling, competing for the prizes that lay
hidden somewhere about the bottom. Failing to find
all the pice, these rollicking imps then opened the sluice
and drained the tank.
Near by the house was a tiny mosque. At noon an
ancient Swahili Mussulman entered, and lifting up his
melodious voice, summoned all within its hearing to
prayer. In Persia, Turkey, or Afghanistan, such a sum-
mons would have been the signal for sighs and prostra-
tions from everybody present. But the negroes seemed
to regard the invitation of this pious old Uncle Tom
with as much indifference as the donkeys that stood
and wagged their ears at the flies beneath the shed.
The youngsters continued to fish around for missing
pice in the tank, and the others stretched their black
limbs at lazy length and gossiped, all oblivious to the
summons to prayer. Evidently these slaves trouble
themselves as little about their souls as they do about
their bodies. The greatest boon they ask in life is to
be spared the torture of having to exercise their brains.
Now and then throughout the day a troop of plump
young damsels flitted timidly across the compound
with jars of water. In Africa, as in Asia, and indeed
the greater part of Europe, it is the women who do
nearly all the hard work. This rule seems to hold good
even among the slaves on an Arab shamba. Our Sun-
day, it must be rememberd, is not Sabbath in Islam.
We were present on a working day. All the women
seemed industrious as bees — all the men and boys we
ARABS AND SLAVES. 179
saw were doing nothing. Now and then we would stir
the people up and put a Httle animation into their
limbs, by drawing a bead on them with my handy
detective camera. They quickly understood that the
object was to secure their pictures. To the negroes of
Zanzibar there is something uncanny about having
their photos taken. They dread the idea as they do
ghosts and goblins. When a Msungu comes near them
their first apprehension is very apt to be as to whether
or not he has the means about him for taking their
pictures. The warning cry of "picture, picture," from
some waggish looker-on will scatter them like a flock of
partridges. Anything in the form of a box is magni-
fied at once by their suspicions into a camera.
Outside the compound we had heard for an hour
cheery voices singing, and now and then the welkin
rang with merry laughter. What was going on out
there — some merry-making? So the sounds indicated,
but, proceeding thither, we surprised about a score of
young women quarrying and burning into lime coral
rag. The singing ceased as the white visitors revealed
their presence, but these were the merriest set of lime-
burners I had ever set eyes on. They seemed to re-
gard the whole process of prying out the lumps of
coral and carrying them on their heads to the lime-
kilns as a huge joke. More than that, they seemed
bent on enjoying the joke to the utmost. Though too
modest to sing in. our presence their animal spirits were
not to be suppressed entirely, even for a brief ten min-
utes, and so they laughed and laughed.
These young women were all well dressed, even hand-
somely, for Zanzibaris. Their wrappers of bright calico
I So SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
commenced above the breasts and fell to the feet.
These wrappers, too, were of the most astonishing pat-
terns. Big sunflowers, peacocks with spread tails, roos-
ters, elephants, giraffes, lions, camels; and suns, moons
and stars, as big as soup plates, were the figures that
adorned and beautified these maidens' clothes. Every-
thing about them seemed sunny, tropical and radiant,
in perfect keeping with their surroundings. Their task
of burning lime they performed as children play at
work.
All day long till the cool of the evening we stayed
at the Arab shamba. We wandered among the clove
trees, inhaling the subtle perfume of green cloves, and
we strolled down the avenues of cocoa palms and looked
over the plantation. Everybody we saw looked fat
and lazy, happy and contented, at peace with them-
selves and ail the world. Your correspondent couldn't
help thinking that it would be extremely difficult to
find a community of poor people anywhere else, on
whom the burden of existence sat half so lightly as on
these careless blacks.
One couldn't help contrasting the young women who
were burning coral lime with the white slaves of Lon-
don or New York of the same age and sex. The for-
mer were merry as larks — so brimful of animal spirits
that they kept up a continuous round of song and
laughter. Theirs, at least, the generous, sunny, out-
door life, the freedom from carking care. It seemed to
me that, though, as a remote possibility, they were sub-
ject to appraisement and sale, like cattle, they were far
less in need of the pity and philanthropic attention of
people at home than the white slave girls of London
ARABS AND SLAVES. I«I
or New York, who suffer and toil under the sweating
system.
Such were the reflections conjured up by a visit to
an Arab shamba, and a glimpse of slavery in Zanzibar,"
in what is, no doubt, its pleasantest phase. That there
is a darker side to the picture of slavery in Africa, hov/-
ever, all are only too well aware.
On several occasions I came in direct contact with
this darker side, on the journey from Mombasa to Kili-
manjaro, and in the states of Chaga, When halting at
Taro there came into our camp three of the toughest-
looking specimens of the hybrid Arab Swahilis I ever
saw. They regarded us with a curious, leering scrutiny
of apprehension as they approached, but advanced with
more assurance as they recognized and were recognized
by my comrade. Dr. Abbott, who had met them in
Taveta some time previous. Although I had never
met their ilk before, no explanation was necessary to
announce their character and their calling. Slave-trader
was legibly written all over them, from the hang-dog
and brutish expression of their faces to the soles of
their sandaled feet.
There seems to be an impression among the people
of Zanzibar that Americans are not prejudiced against
slave-trading, as are the English and other nations of
Europe, and may be depended on not to interfere or
make trouble. They attribute this to the fact that
slavery prevailed in the United States itself until com-
paratively recent times, which makes them expect from
Americans something akin to sympathy, or at all events,
tolerance. Morever, while English ships are always on
the lookout to capture their dhows and make it warm
1 82 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
for them, American ships are seldom seen and never in
the character of slave-chasers.
As soon as our visitors ascertained that we were
"Merikanis," and assured themselves that I, as well as
Abbott, was "all right," they disappeared in the thorny
jungle and brought their caravan up to the water with-
out further ado.
They had between thirty and forty women and chil-
dren and a few tusks of ivory. The latter were carried
by their own porters. The slaves looked excessively
thin and foot-weary, and some of the women, with
babes, were relieved of the burden of their offspring by
Wa-Teita warriors, who were accompanying the cara-
van to the coast. You always find in these convoys of
slaves a greater proportion of women with babes in
arms than any others. This is because their maternal
instincts are against them in the chase when their vil-
lages are raided by marauders. While others, unen-
cumbered, manage to seek safety in flight, the rhothers
subject themselves to capture by endeavoring to save
their babes.
While water was being passed around from slave to
slave, the infants were unstrapped from the backs of the
Wa-Teita and allowed to seek refreshment at their
mothers' breasts. And when the caravan started again,
it was indeed a strange and touching sight to see the
grim Wa-Teita savages carrying pickaback in a piece
of cloth a number of squalling and quite naked infants,
who had evidently been unable, during the brief halt,
to satisfy their hunger at those shrunk breasts.
Except in the case of three or four favored women,
reserved as consorts for the leading men of the caravan,
ARABS AND SLAVES. 183
•
the whole consignment of slaves were so woefully
emaciated that their heads seemed disproportionately
large. This was difficult to understand, as they had
been brought from one of the Chaga States, but a few
days' journey beyond, where food was at the time cheap
and abundant. It would certainly seem to have been
to the interest of the slavers to have brought them to
the coast in good condition. We remarked, however,
that the slavers themselves seemed about as lean and
travel-worn as their charges. The usual plan is to make
each slave carry a small bag of grain, sufficient to last
them to their destination, when coming from a point
no farther inland than Kilimanjaro. Nothing approach-
ing humane considerations is to be expected from
Africans, of whatever condition or degree, and least of
all from Swahili mongrels, who, brutal enough by nature,
are further hardened and brutalized by their traffic in
human flesh. Yet, while these slaves were poorly fed,
all, save of course the youngsters, who in Africa always
go naked, were decently clad — better, perhaps, from our
point of view and our ideas of decency, than they had
ever been before. All the women and girls had wrap-
pers of kanika sufficiently ample to cover the breasts
and fall below the knees. None of the slaves had yokes,
though these were very likely taken off and passed on
down the road to avoid the appearance of unnecessary
harshness before us.
I hastily produced my camera and tried to secure a
picture of the slaves as the Swahilis huddled them up
together and passed around the gourds of water. Here
were some forty helpless women and children being
driven along like cattle, and like cattle bunched up and
184 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
guarded by villainous men while being "watered." No
white man, I suppose, ever looked for the first time on
this all too common African spectacle unmoved. Had
the slaves been men, instead of women and children, it
would perhaps have been different ; but had I followed
the impulses of the moment I should certainly then
and there have blown the brains out of those brutal-
faced traffickers in helpless women and tender children,
and have taken the slaves under our protection.
Yet, impassionately viewed, that would have been a
very foolish thing to have done, even setting aside the
tragic part of the proceeding as unnecessary, and, more-
over, all things considered, the release of the slaves
would have been an act of very doubtful humanity.
What could we have done with forty half-starved
women and children whose homes were probably scat-
tered over a wide extent of county?
Moreover, Dr. Abbott, regarding the scene with
more accustomed eyes, would, in no case, have been in
favor of interfering. He had received a useful lesson
the previous year from the experience of a couple of
Australians, who went to Kilimanjaro for the purpose
of buying ivory. These gentlemen, on the way up,
met a slave caravan not far from the spot I am now
writing about. It was the first time they had witnessed
the spectacle, and, as in my own case, their sympathies
were deeply enlisted on behalf of defenseless women
and children. But they made the mistake of acting on
their impulses, without thinking the matter over a
second time. They drove the Swahilis off, and took
thc slaves on with them to Tavcta.
Thus far they had no doubt that they had at least
ARABS AND SLAVES. 185
done something for the cause of humanity. The slaves,
they ascertained, were from Ugvveno, a mountainous
district to the south of Taveta, a few days' march.
Their idea was, of course, to return the captives to their
homes. To their utter astonishment, however, they
found out that the latter were decidedly opposed to
this apparently happy arrangement. They rarely got
enough to eat in Ugvveno, they said, where the ground
was poor and the rain uncertain, and they wouldn't go
back unless they were made to. The Australians were
completely taken aback and at their wits' end what to
do with them. They would now willingly have handed
them back to the traders, and very likely have been will-
ing to have given the latter something to take them off
their hands. But it was too late for this remedy, and, in
the end, they were forced to leave them in Taveta.
Shortly afterwards the Taveta people sold them to a
Swahili slave trader, and for a second time they started
for the coast and the "plenty to eat," for which, it
seems, they were very willing to exchange their liberty.
One hesitates to say a word that would seem to
detract ever so little from the atrocity of the African
slave trade. One even runs the risk of appearing to be
in sympathy with it by revealing its less repulsive fea-
tures, instead of confining one's self exclusively to its
most devilish aspects.
Nearly all slaves are captured amid scenes of blood
and violence, but not all. In times of famine women
and children are often sold, and men often sell them-
selves into slavery to avoid starvation. And again,
many chiefs sell individual subjects into slavery for cer-
tain crimes and offenses, as the law in more civilized
l86 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
communities sends them into the far harsher slavery of
the penitentiary, or of some far penal settlement for
life. For example, the celebrated chief Mandara, of
Moschi, cognizant of the evil that has come upon some
of the neighboring tribes through the flirtations of the
women with the porters of passing or visiting caravans,
maintains the health and morals of his own people by
holding over the women the penalty of being sold into
slavery.
On the other hand, Mandara, intelligent chief as he
is, and the chiefs of the fourteen Chaga States, are for-
ever raiding each other, killing, destroying and captur-
ing at the instigation of such human brutes as those we
met at Taro. Like vultures these wretched dealers in
women and children squat on their haunches day after
day about the bomas of the chiefs, expectant of profits,
as the wild young warriors assemble and start off with
exultant acclaim to attack and surprise their neighbors
in the gray of the morning; and gloating as buzzards
over a carcass, at the sight of their returning, leading,
in hastily-improvised yokes of forked sticks, a score or
so of miserable victims.
As the convoy started for Sambura and the coast, our
porters, mostly slaves themselves, and thorough Afri-
cans all, whooped and yelled in brutal sport at the
sight which, in the white man, touched a spring of infi-
nite pity. Some days later near Kilimanjaro we sur-
prised a small slave caravan, proceeding, like the one
we met at Taro, from Chaga to the coast. We were
within two hundred yards of the traders before they
saw us. They immediately tried to hustle the slaves
out of sight among the bushes. We were too close
ARABS AND SLAVES. 187
upon them, however, for this, and we reached them in
the midst of their confusion and alarm. As we came
up they essayed to put a bold face on the matter, and
they shook hands and "yambo sana'd" profusely when
they found that we were not disposed to interfere. It
was a small caravan of only a dozen slaves and four
tusks of ivory. The slaves, as usual, were women,
mostly with babes, and little boys.
One of the women was an ancient, leathery-faced
dame, who seemed to us scarcely worth taking to the
coast. She had probably been "thrown in" to complete
a bargain, or some hopeful Chaga warrior had sold the
venerable but no longer useful author of his being for
a few strings of beads or a doti of merikani. She was
dear, however, at any price ; it seemed unlikely that she
would ever live to reach the coast. Many of the slaves
from the Chaga States die of the fever at the coast.
The change from the raw cold of their mountain homes
to the heat of the clove plantations of Pemba proves
fatal, it is said, to 25 per cent.
All had slave-yokes about their necks, save the ancient
dame, who was too old and feeble to run away had she
wanted to. The yokes consisted of a coil of thick iron
wire around the neck, to which was attached a stout
stick four or five feet long. The slaves were not
fastened together, but each one was allowed to carry
the weight of the stick with the hands, as it stuck out
before them. This seemed a most uncomfortable
arrangement ; more so than if they had been tied
together neck and neck, as they sometimes are. The
stick offered an impediment to running away, much as
the "poke" of the Western farmer prevents breachy
i88 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
cows from jumping fences. The slaves also carried on
their heads small bags of beans, their food for their
weary march to the coast.
I couldn't afford to antagonize the slavers, no matter
how much I should have relished releasing the necks of
their victims from the yoke and returning them to their
homes. In the performance of the task he sets out to
accomplish, the newspaper correspondent has often to
suppress the more generous promptings of his nature,
and wink at things he, at heart, abhors the sight of.
I must confess that I felt very much like a criminal,
an accessory after the fact, as I looked back and saw
the poor wretches in the yokes, their faces set toward
their dreary destiny, toiling on in front of the villain-
ous traders. It took me hours to get rid of the suspi-
cion that I must be as big a villain as they, not to have
raised a hand against them in behalf of the shackled
women and boys they had in charge.
Apart from the experience of the two Australians,
however, it has come to be very generally understood
among African travelers, that the spasmodic interfer-
ence of the casual European with the Arab slave-trader,
does more harm than good. It merely irritates the
Arabs against the whites, and incites them to be more
crafty in eluding the vigilance of organized effort.
An hour beyond this point our nostrils were assailed
by the stench of carrion of some kind, not far from the
path. The dismal picture of the little slave convoy
was still before me, or, perhaps, I should have associ-
ated the unpleasant stench with the carcass of some
animal and thought no more about it. But as it was,
a suspicion of what it might be drew me to the spot.
ARABS AND SLAVES. 189
My suspicions were confirmed, for there, half eaten by
the hyenas, was the body of an old woman. Not a bead
or a scrap of clothing lay around, a fact which told at
once her sad, simple story. She had been one of a
convoy of slaves bound coastward, and losing her life
from sickness or hardship, or from brutal treatment, the
body had been cast into the bushes — and that was all.
There is a regular traffic in slaves between the Chaga
States, on Kilimanjaro, and the coast. In this part of
Africa the Arabs and Swahilis accomplish by cunning,
what such slavers at Tippoo Tib do by force, and on a
larger scale, in the farther interior. Instead of hunting
the slaves themselves, the slavers of Kilimanjaro set
the chiefs to raiding their neighbors, and then they buy
the captives for a few doti of cloth, and drive them
down to the coast. During our stay in Chaga, we saw
something of the cunning intriguing of the Arabs, and
its results.
One day at Mandaras there was a grand mustering of
the warriors. Heralds hurried up and down the steep
paths, shouting with marvelous lung-power "y^-^^ •
towot, towot, towot, towot ! ya-ah ! towot I" And a
sight to be remembered was the long files of bronzed
warriors, in red bandera waist-cloths, some with spear
and shield, others with guns, racing along the ridges,
dipping down into the valleys, and all streaming toward
the boma of their chief.
These forces were collecting in response to messages
from the Sultan of Machame to come to his assistance
against Cena of Kibosho. We trembled for poor Cena
of Kibosho, as we listened to the fierce blare of the
koo-doo horns and the blood-curdling shouts of "ya-ah!
19^ SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
towot, towot !" He, it appeared, had been the ag-
grieved party, the victim of a peculiarly atrocious
attack.
Swahili slavers, hungry for human merchandise, had
made the foolish young chief of Machame believe that
Cena was dead. "Cena dead I" — Ngamini's savage
heart leapt for very joy at the news. He would rather
have heard that every man on Kilimanjaro, outside
Machame, was dead ; but Cena was his worst enemy,
and small favors were thankfully received. Hastily
killing a goat and examining the liver and entrails, he
and the old wiseacres of his tribe decided that the in-
formation was true and the fates propitious.
So, summoning his warriors, Ngamini sent them off
to attack Kibosho, while everything should be in con-
fusion over the death of the chief. Slaves and cattle
were, of course, to be the booty. Cena, however,
turned out to be a very lively sort of a corpse. The
announcement of his decease was one of the many art-
ful tricks that the slave-traders employ to set these
simple chiefs to warring and raiding one against another.
The chief of Kibosho not only thrashed Ngamini's war-
riors and drove them out of his own territory, but in-
vaded Machame and for three days worked his ven-
geance on the people and property of that state for the
fatal error of its Mange. The Kibosho warriors killed
a hundred and fifty of Ngamini's braves, burned as
many houses, and carried off many women and children.
The villains who had planned all this bloodshed and
misery then went over to the court of the victorious
Cena, and, buying the Machame captives, marched
them off in yokes to the slave-markets of the coast. It
ARABS AND SLAVES. tgi
was a matter of indifference to them which side was
victorious, so long as slaves were captured and they
were in a position to buy them.
The warlike mutterings and tooting of war-horns at
Mandara's ended in nothing but noise, as such gather-
ings very often do among Africans. The whole party,
some four hundred strong, started off with great 6clat
and belicose intent, through the elephant forest toward
the seat of war. In the afternoon of the same day,
when half-way to Machame, they turned back. We
could not learn whether it was the queer actions of a
bird, this time, or of a lizard that had provided the por-
tentious omen of disaster. It is no uncommon thing,
however, for a Chaga army to give up or postpone an
expedition because a goat, a bird, or a lizard is observed
to "act queerly."
The chief they were going against so valiantly is
Mandara's great rival on the mountain. His country
is locally famous for a system of subterranean ways in
which the people take refuge at the last extremity,
when hard pressed by an invader. We saw similar
tunnels in Machame. They are a system of well-like
holes twenty to thirty feet deep, connected by tunnels
large enough for people to run along. Mandara's men
once succeeded in driving a lot of Kibosho warriors
down these holes, and then, by means of fire and red
pepper, suffocated them like rats.
Much of Mandara's time is taken up in devising
schemes of destruction against this rival chief. The
Napoleon of Chaga's one eye glints ominously every
time he speaks of Cena, It would be a sorry day for
the Sultan of Kibosho, should he ever fall into Man-
192 SCOUTIiVG FOR STANLEY.
dara's hands; flaying alive would be the most merciful
punishment thought of, so savage and ferocious is the
hatred of these bantam chiefs one toward another.
One day I went down to Mandara's boma to pay
my farewell visit. Outside his house, seated around a
jar of pombe, were four warriors in European garb.
"Goot morning, Herr Merikani ; yah, yah ;" said they,
in response to our greeting. These were the four en-
voys Mandara had sent to the Emperor of Germany,
and who had just returned. They wore billy-cock hats,
red blanket coats, and black trousers. They were, of
course, the heroes of the hour. They were quite over-
whelmed with what they had seen in Germany, and
with the lionizing they had received in that country.
The soldiers, the ships, the crowded cities, the big
cannons, and the innumerable marvels that had been
revealed to their simple souls, had bewildered them
utterly.
The immense number of people in Germany, how-
ever, seemed to have impressed them greater than any-
thing else. "After seeing Germany, we come back and
find in all Chaga only two people," was the expressive
way they put it.
We talked to Mandara about Germany, and the
impressions of the gay young blades without. Man-
dara had sent the Emperor several of the beautiful
Chaga spears, and a pair of tusks. His mind naturally
dwelt on the subject of the presents he was expecting
to receive in return. The power, wealth and magnifi-
cence of Germany, as poured into his astonished ears
by his ambassadors, had given him a new idea of Europe.
The Krupp cannons! — his men had seen big scige guns,
ARABS AND SLAVES. 1 93
and had seen salutes fired from ships of war ; and Man-
dara had somehow made up his mind that the Em-
peror would send him two of these monster weapons.
"Then — ah then!" said Mandara, his eye glaring with
hatred of his formidable rival, "when tJiey Q.ovi\&, I shall
be able to kill Cena, and destroy all his people." And
yet Mandara is the most intelligent and civilized chief
in East Africa. Though he talked sensibly enough on
most subjects, his prevailing idea was nevertheless
worthy of a bloodthirsty savage.
We paid a farewell visit too to Miliali. We found
the young chief of Marangu in high feather at the suc-
cess of a recent raid against the Wa-Rhombo. He had
captured lots of slaves, and on the day of our arrival
we found him arrayed in a European overcoat and
perched on the wall of his boma talking business to a
couple of evil-looking slave-traders. Inside the boma
a number of fat, naked young women were seated on
the ground weeping and lamenting. They were the
select of the prisoners, and had been plastered and
groomed with grease and ochre until their bronze skins
shone gloriously, and they were profusely decorated
with beads and Chaga ornaments. These embellish-
ments were intended to set forth their charms to greater
advantage, in the eyes of the slavers, and secure for
them a larger price.
These plump prizes would probably sell for eight to
ten dollars' worth of goods apiece. The price of an
ordinary adult slave in Chaga, is about five dollars.
Few, if any, adult males are captured and sold. Women
and children are the booty sought for. Boys and young
women are the more valuable ; the former grow up on
194 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
the clove plantations of Pemba and forget their old
homes, the latter also make good plantation hands,
and there is always the possibility of a bargain in a
good-looking girl. Young people fetch anywhere from
two to twenty dollars, according to age, sex, con-
dition, etc ; though the last named price would only be
for a very handsome girl, and is rarely realized. On
the coast, or rather, in Pemba, which is the great slave-
absorbing portion of East Equatorial Africa, Chaga
slaves fetch from twenty-five to a hundred dollars
apiece.
Outside the boma, in charge of other Swahilis, were a
number of miserable-looking Wa-Rhombo women and
children in yokes. These represented purchases already
made ; and the two long-gowned gentlemen on the wall
were negotiating with Miliali for the polished and
beaded young women inside ; without, of course, the
beads. The latter had been temporarily contributed
by Miliali's wives for decorative purposes. These
ladies, described in a previous chapter, were strolling
about the boma, taking about as much notice of the
tears and lamentations of their captive sisters as they
would of the bleating of the same number of goats.
Upon seeing white men approach, the Swahili vul-
tures and the young chief descended from the wall, and
the tearful damsels were taken out of sight. We entered
the boma and quaffed a social gourd of pombc with
Miliali, then, desiring to secure a photograph of the
wretches in yokes, I started to procure my camera.
But these also had been hurried away.
Upon talking the matter of his Rhombo exploits
over with Miliali, wc were somewhat surprised to find
ARABS AND SLAVES. 1 95
that there was "a woman at the bottom of the mischief."
Even here, where, as we have seen, plump young women
are poHshed up and groomed Hke fillies for the market,
to be sold for a few paltry dollars apiece, wars may yet
be waged on account of a single one. This one, how-
ever, was Miliali's sister, a young lady celebrated
throughout Chaga for her beauty, and with whom an
English sportsman, of a well-known aristocratic family,
is said to have fallen in love, a couple of years before
our visit. Moreover, it is hardly necessary to say, per-
haps, that the young woman was a mere instrument
in the hands of others, and played but the passive part
of an African damsel.
Miliali is Mandara's son-in-law, he having wedded that
chief's daughter. Consequently, they have been great
friends and allies. Mandara, hearing of that young
person's extraordinary charms, desired to add to his
already choice assortment of young wives, Miliali's sis-
ter. Nothing loath, but conscious of the young lady's
value, her brother set the price at thirty cows, the
value of ten ordinary young women. These negotia-
tions were going on during our first visit to Chaga.
We now learned that the worldly-wise chief of Moschi,
unwilling to part with so many bovines, had entered
into a scheme with his son-in-law by which he might
obtain possession of the coveted young princess with-
out paying anything at all.
Mandara has long extended the protection of self-
interest (the only African friendship) to a section of
the Wa-Rhombo. Deficient in pasture-land in his own
limited state, he sometimes sends cows and goats across
the mountain to be fattened by the Wa-Rhombo i and.
196 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
SO tacitly regarded them as hisporteges. In considera-
tion of the free gift of his handsome sister, however,
Mandara argeed to shut his restless eye and permit
Miliali to raid for slaves and cattle in Rhombo. The
result we have partly seen in the long row of shackled
slaves without, and the brutal furbishing up and parad-
ing of naked young women within our amiable young
savage's boma.
The rest of the picture w^e could see quite as plainly,
though the vision was mental. We could see the
Marangu braves, starting off over the mountain the pre-
vious day, and in the early gray of the morning, silent
and swift, swooping down on the unsuspecting hamlets
of Rhombo, a band of two hundred men. No organized
resistance was possible, so sudden was the attack. For
an hour there was a pandemonium of gun-shots, and
wild yells, mingled with screams of fright and dismay
from women and children. These latter, surprised in
their houses, were gathered together, with cows and
goats, and ere the Wa-Rhombo warriors could collect
for defense or rescue, were hurried over the mountain
toward Marangu.
It was all over in less than an hour. There was little
real fighting. A dozen Wa-Rhombo braves had been
shot down or stabbed before they could run away.
They were horribly mutilated, after the manner of the
Wa-Chaga soldiers. They were ripped up the back,
with chopping blows of spear or sime, and the big
shovel-headed spears were thrust into the bowels and
twisted round and round in wanton deviltry by the
younger men of the victorious raiders. A few hours
later, the captives were driven into Marangu, fastened
ARABS AND SLAVES. 197
together with rough wooden yokes, carried and con-
cealed outside Rhombo for the purpose.
And who, think you, was at the bottom of this ingeni-
ous scheme of murder and outrage? Who thought it
out from beginning to end? Who played on old Man-
dara's cupidity, and whispered into his big willing ear the
siren story of how he might possess the beautiful prin-
cess of Marangu without parting with so much as a
'single cow? And who also, think you, persuaded the
foolish and unsophisticated, but powerful brother of
the princess that it would be to his pecuniary advant-
age to hand her over on these new terms? Who, indeed,
but the same crafty villains who inveigled the Sultan
of Machame to attack Kibosho, and then, when he was
defeated, bought and drove to the slave-markets of the
coast the wretched subjects of their dupe, who had been
captured by the victorious Cena!
These two instances are fair samples of the manner in
which these cunning scoundrels, these dealers in women
and children, set the chiefs of Chaga to warring and
raiding in order that they may obtain slaves for the Zan-
zibar and Pemba shambas. Some of these Wa-Swahili
fairly live at the courts of the Chaga chiefs. They
make it their business to hang about and keep informed
of all that is going on, in order that they may concoct
such rascally schemes as the above, by which they,
without endangering their own precious persons, keep
up the supply of slaves. They secure the confidence
of the chiefs, then act in the capacity of advisers and
friends. If these inhuman vultures were kept out of
Chaga or suppressed, the great incentive of the chiefs
to make war on each other would be removed ; and
there is no reason why, with a little good management,
ipS SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
peace and good-will might not be established between
the fourteen bantam states of Kilimanjaro.
This populous and delightful country, the future
sanatorium of East Equatorial Africa, is all within the
territory of the German acquisitions. If one energetic
European, with a force of fifty disciplined Somalis or
Zulus, were posted on the mountain, with full powers
to suppress warring and slave-raiding, and to keep slave-
dealers away, a good understanding might soon be
brought about between the chiefs. The Wa-Chaga are
naturally amiable, well-disposed people, industrious and
commercial, and, owing to their situation, there is pro-
bably no community of 50,000 people in Africa whose
condition might be improved so readily if proper meas-
ures were adopted.
It is not sufficient to send missionaries. The gentle
methods of the pioneers of the Christian religion are
worthy of all praise ; but Africans must first be made
to feel the strong arm of authority ; then they may be
taught. Only power is respected by Africans. You may
appeal to the finer feelings of the average son of Ham
till you grow gray, and your reward will some day be
the discovery that he has been systematically pilfering
from your stores and playing you for an amiable fool
all the years of your painstaking efforts to improve his
moral character. With the small force mentioned above,
a sensible European could, in two years, establish a reign
of peace from one end of Chaga to the other. Then,
on this good, peaceful ground, and this clear, well-pre-
pared soil, missionaries may go and sow the seeds of
the Christian religion, and the tares of the slave-traffic
and the stones of ferocious hatred between chief and
chief will not be there to choke and smother.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE slavers' point OF VIEW.
FOR reasons before stated the Arabs are friendlier to
Americans than to other whites. The Arabs of Zan-
zibar, while they would be reticent and suspicious with a
German or an Englishman, will talk more freely to one
whom they understand to be an American. Wishing
to hear the views of an intelligent Arab on the question
of slavery, and compare them with my own experiences
and impressions, as given in the foregoing pages, I
had a long talk with an old half-caste Arab, who had
passed most of his life in the interior of Africa, buying
and hunting slaves. He was of the same blood and
breeding as Tippoo Tib — Half Muscati Arab and half
Swahili. These half-castes are the brightest and most
vigorous t5/pes of manhood on the Zanzibar coast. On
condition that his name should not be used, the old
slave-dealer consented to give his views of the slave
trade, as well as sundry of his experiences.
He also spoke quite freely on what he considered the
"mischievous effects of European interference between
the Arabs and the blacks." There was a deal of sound
logic in what he said, although much of his talk
sounded like the irrational gabble of a child. The
Arabs of Zaiizibar, like the Turks, Persians, Chinese,
and, indeed, all Oriental people, are a strange mixture
of child and sage. The explanation is that the East is
in its dotage. Its people are in their second childhood,
199
200 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
but they have inherited the wise saws and sage maxims
of a more vigorous age.
According to this old Arab, the advent of the Euro-
pean in Africa has, up to date, produced nothing but
evil on the people all round. He frequently spoke of
Europeans as a race of "meddlers with other people's
affairs." Now and then the old man grew very sarcas-
tic, and he chuckled amusedly as I spoke of putting
an end to slave-trading by blockading the coast, and
kindred repressive measures. Said he :
"You might as well talk about stopping the heaving
and tossing of the ocean, by taking measures against
the surf on the shores, as of stopping slave-trading with
a fleet of cruisers. One proposition is about as practica-
ble as the other.
"There will always be slavery in Africa," he went on
to say. "There always was and always will be. The
Wa-shenzi (Africans of the interior) were cursed by
Allah in the beginning, and were turned over to the
whites, the Turks and the Arabs for slaves. Europeans,
in giving it up themsleves, and in turning their hand
against the Arabs, are outraging the will of Allah, and
consequently cannot prevail. If the whites were to go
to war and kill off every Arab in Africa, there would
still be slavery and slave-hunting. Long before the
Arabs spread over Africa, tribe made war on tribe for
no other purpose than capturing slaves."
I jotted all this down, but smiled, for it was the veri-
est child-talk, and peculiarly Oriental. But flashes of
wisdom soon came to the rescue, and the old slave-
trader presented the matter in a light that was, to say
the least, ingenious.
THE SLAVERS' POINT OF VIE IV. 201
"What you are pleased to consider the horrors of the
slave trade," said he, fingering his string of amber beads
a little more lively, "have kept pace with the demands
for ivory from Europe and America. The invention
of ivory piano keys has caused the death of a million
Africans and the devastation of vast tracts of country.
Europe and America will have ivory. Very well.
Who is to get it? Inshallah, the Arabs. How? By
making long journeys into the wilds of Africa. Some-
times they are gone from the coast for years. Many
of the porters they take with them get killed or die off.
The money and goods that were advanced by the Ban-
yans and Hindis, of Zanzibar, have, after years of peril-
ous knocking about, finally been invested in ivory. But
it is many moons' journey from Zanzibar. Who is
there to carry it? Nobody.
"Still, the Arab trader must not think of defeat. All
the world would be against him. Europe would be-
rate him for bringing no ivory, the Banyan at Zanzibar
would imprison him for debt, the Sultan would flog
him for an ass, he and his family would be ruined and
disgraced forever. What is he to do? All around him
are human animals, strong in muscle, but weak in brain.
The Arab seizes them, puts ivory on their shoulders
and marches to the coast. Europe pats him on the
head for bringing the white ivory, but belabors him
with a stick for bringing the black. Yet without the
one he couldn't have brought the other."
This was Eastern logic, plain and simple, and I
begged him to go on. The old fellow, warming up to
his theme, grew quite eloquent.
"But missionaries and travelers tell of burning vil-
202 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
lages, slaughtered people and general ruin, wantonly
brought about by your people in the interior," said I.
"What have you got to say to that?"
"Many things," answered the Arab, shaking his head
thoughtfully. "Missionaries and travelers sometimes
tell strange stories. They write books ; a pen is a small
thing and easily makes wrong marks; missionaries and
travelers are very imaginative. An Arab never kills a
M-shenzi unless compelled to do so in self-defense.
When we go to a village to take slaves we prefer to
take them peaceably, but if the wild men try to drive
us off with spears and arrows, then our guns speak and
we cease to spare. In the sight of Allah it is better
that all the Wa-shenzi in Africa should be killed than
one Mussulman."
"But, having killed off the warriors, you then drive off
the women and children."
"That is true, for women and children give little
trouble and bring good prices on the coast. Some-
times, with all our searching, ivory is scarce, and then,
to prevent disaster and the anger of the men who ad-
vance the capital, slaves are the next best thing to
bring down and sell. At Bagamoyo a woman is worth
$75, a boy $50, and a girl $100, varying, of course, con-
siderably from these average figures. I once brought
a Mnyamwezi girl down to Dar-es-Salaam, and sold
her to a Pemba clove planter for $300. I didn't cap-
ture her. I bought her from a chief for $50 worth of
Merikani and beads. She was a perfect lulu (pearl) and
a great bargain at $50.
"Three hundred dollars is the price of a very good
tusk of Ujiji ivory, so you may guess she was a beauty.
THE SLAVERS' rOINT OF VIEW. iOj
Bringing her down to the coast and selh'ng her was the
best thing that could have possibly happened to her.
It was a stroke of Allah's good will all round. It was
a good thing for the Mnyamwezi chief to receive many
dotis of cloth and half a farsilah of beads. It was good
for me to make a profit of over $200, and, as I have
just said, it was best of all for the young woman. The
transfer from the huts and the crude, harsh life of
Unyamwezi to the shamba of the Pemba planter
would be to her like moving from earth to heaven.
One month after being sold she would weep tears,
bitter as aloes, at the bare threat of sending her back
to Unyamwezi and her people.
"This is the history of three-fourths of the girls that
the Arabs bring down from the darkness of Africa to
the coast and the islands of the seas, w^here shines the
creed of Islam. They realize the improvement in their
condition in no time, and to send them back home
would be more cruel than to cut their throats."
"According to all accounts throat-cutting is not so
rare an occurrence on the journey to the coast," I sug-
gested. "Is there any truth in that?"
"Truth in it? Why shouldn't there be truth in it?"
returned the slave-dealer, with an impressive shrug,
peculiar to the East.
"But you don't mean to say that you coolly cut the
throats of people, as if they were animals?"
"Nobody cuts the throat of a slave for sport or wanton-
ness," said he. "Slaves are worth money. Arabs don't
fling away valuable property any more than white men
do. I never saw a slave's throat cut, unless th'ere were
very good reasons. It is not a common occurrence, by
204 ' SCOUTIA'G FOR STANLEY.
any means. When such a thing happens, it is resorted
to as an act of mercy or of dire necessity. It is never
done except as the very last resort.
"Sometimes a caravan, in crossing desert countries, is
reduced to very great straits for food and water. A
weakly woman drops down exhausted by the way. If
there is water anywhere in the caravan it is brought ; if
there is food it is brought. If there are asses or camels
the woman is placed on the back of one and the caravan
hurries on. Everything possible is tried to save her,
for we are now, perhaps, half or two-thirds over our long
journey, and in one month the woman would be in our
pockets.
"But sometimes there is neither water nor food nor
asses, and no surplus strength in the whole party. The
woman cannot walk. The caravan cannot wait. Which,
then, is better: to leave the woman a living prey to
the hyenas and the jackals, or, worse still, to spend
days in slowly dying of thirst, or to " and here
the old Arab tragically drew his finger across his
throat.
"We put a slave out of misery now and then, from
motives of compassion," he resumed, "just as we would
a sick ass; but to kill a slave wantonly would be like
flinging rupees into the sea. Don't you believe that
either one or the other is ever done by an Arab. Such
things are inventions of prejudiced people and men who
make books and pictures to please and amuse the
people of England and America." (I had just shown
the old Arab a picture from an English paper of a slave
hunt.)
"But whether this is true or not, many people think
THE SLAVERS' POINT OF VIEW. 205
the whole business of capturing and selHng slaves is
nefarious — an invention of Sheitan."
"There are many inventions of Sheitan in the world,"
sagely returned the Arab, "but whether slave-trading
is one of them or not, is a question with two faces.
Slaves and ivory are the two products of Africa.
Europe demands all it can get of one, and Asia and the
Isles of the Seas all that can be got of the other. To
obtain them both, rupees and sovereigns flow like water-
We Arabs are simple traders in the matter. When
people cease to demand slaves and to offer rupees for
them, we shall cease to obtain them. That is all.
"As for the matter of cruelty, the hunters endure very
much the same hardships as the hunted. When I go
up country I separate myself from my wife and children
for years at a stretch. This wrings my heart, but busi-
ness must be transacted. I would much prefer to sit
down quietly in Zanzibar. The Wa-shenzi have no
feelings, such as Arabs and whites have. We separate
wives from husbands and children from parents. That
is a necessary evil of the business. Europeans greatly
exaggerate the evil, however. There is a little cruelty
in it, just as there is in forcibly separating or weaning a
calf from its mother, but that is all. In a few days the
Wa-shenzi forget ; they never cared much.
"The grief of the wild African is never more than
skin deep. A week after we have carried off their
women and children, the Wa-shenzi warriors have taken
new wives and built new huts. Where do they find
new wives so quickly? Mashallah! women grow on
trees in the country of the Wa-shenzi. There are
women, women everywhere. Nothing is so plentiful
2o6 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
as women. New families spring up like vegtables. In
a very little time all damage is repaired. Meanwhile
the condition of every African brought to the coast by
an Arab has been, immeasurably improved. In the
interior he was an animal, with his mind clothed in
darkness. Whether he goes to Pemba, to Zanzibar,
to Muscat or to Mecca, he comes to hear the voice of
the muezzin and to know of Mohamet — he becomes a
man and a child of the Prophet."
Much more to the same purpose the old Arab slave-
dealer stated, but enough has been said to give readers
an insight into the native way of looking at the question
of slavery. This old fellow winked mysteriously at
the idea of a blockading squadron doing anything
effective by way of stopping the slave-trade. He inti-
mated that a hundred slaves were exported to Pemba,
Muscat, and Arabia for every one that was inter-
cepted by the cruisers.
The late Sultan Khalifa, on the contrary, in an inter-
view I had" with him, expressed the opinion that the
blockade was slowly throttling the trade in slaves, and
would eventually stop it. It would be politic for the
Sultan to so express himself, however. Europeans in
Zanzibar were of the same opinion as the old slave-trader
about the effects of a blockade. All manner of subter-
fuges are employed to dodge the fleet. By the treaty
of 1873, between England and the Sultan of Zanzi-
bar, any raw slave found aboard a dhow is "forfeited to
Her Majesty." The dhow is subject to confiscation,
and the captain and crew to fines and imprisonment.
One favorite plan of transporting raw slaves is to dress
them up like native coast people and cmba'k them
THE SLAVERS' POINT OF VIEW. 207
for Pemba, or wherever they arc to be taken, as pas-
sengers.
The mouths of the slaves are closed by weird stories
about the designs and objects of the whites. These
ignorant people are told that the whites are cannibals,
whose real object in securing them is to eat them, or
that they are clinical monstrosities who desire to dis-
sect them and secure their vitals for making medicine
and magic. They are instructed what to say in reply
to questions. They are provided with bogus papers of
freedom. Women pass themselves off as wives of the
captain and crew of the dhow. It is often the most
difficult task to tell which are slaves and which are not,
or which are "raw slaves" and which domestic.
Running slaves over from the mainland to Pemba
through the blockade has become a regular occupation
of many Arabs with a taste for adventure. With a fair
wind the run can easily be made between darkness and
dawn. In case the wind is unfavorable the Arabs run
the slaves over to one of the little coral islands that dot
the intervening sea in canoes. Here they land both
slaves and canoes, and remain concealed in the bush
all day; the next night they finish the journey to
Pemba. What is known as the "slave monsoon''
commences in April. This is a breeze that blows from
the southwest. By its aid the Arab slave-dhows flit,
like a flock of birds, over the Indian Ocean to the vari-
ous slave-markets on the Arabian and Persian coasts,
and to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. During
this monsoon the dhows can run across to Zanzibar and
Pemba in a few hours.
Since the author left Zanzibar, a law has been passed.
2o8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
providing for the gradual emancipation of slavery in
the Sultan's dominions.
The words of the Arab slaver were specious enough
from his point of view if facts would only bear them
out. Though nothing that he said could for a moment
mitigate one's hatred of the vile traffic in human
beings, or soften the white man's contempt for the
people engaged in it, yet his talk was interesting and
instructive as giving one an insight into the Arab view
of the matter. There was even wisdom, of a sort, in
some of his answers. It is well known that ivory is
the only product of the far interior of Africa, that will
bear the cost of transportation on men's shoulders to
the coast. And even so valuable a product as ivory
would often leave no margin of profit to the Arab
trader and the Hindi financial backer in Zanzibar, if
transported by free carriers to whom wages had to be
paid.
In the writer's opinion, the one remedy for slavery
in Africa, is cheap and improved methods of transpor-
tation — in short, railways. With a railway from the
Zangian coast, from Bagamoyo or Mombasa, to the
great lakes, the Arabs could not afford to carry even
ivory on men's shoulders. They could transport it to
market ten times cheaper by the railway, than by
means of even unpaid slave labor. The slave question
is a matter of gain, of profit and loss, and no fact in
the field of economics is so well known and under-
stood, as that a costly and cumbersome system of
doing business, retires rapidly before a cheaper and
quicker method. A railway to the Victoria Nyanza
would do more for the suppression of slave-trading in
^ t- V 9r
THE SLAVERS' POINT OF VIEW. 209
Africa than any number of military measures directed
against the Arabs. There is every prospect that such
a railway will soon be built from Mombasa, by the
Imperial British East African Company through their
new territory. The Congo Railway has already been
commenced, so that in a very few years, it is not un-
likely that an all-rail and steamer journey may be taken
from Zanzibar to Banana Point, across the Dark Conti-
nent- — then no longer "Dark," save in the color of its
people's skins.
CHAPTER XIV.
STANLEY AT LAST.
" A NY news of Stanley?" "Any news of Stanley?"
I~\ was the question asked me right and left in Zanzi-
bar upon my return from Masai-land, at the end of
August.
"Don't yo?i know anything of his whereabouts?" I
replied to the British Cousul, who \vould be sure to
know, if anybody in Zanzibar did, of the officers of the
Imperial British East African Company, who were di-
recting and supporting the movements of several cara-
vans, which the Company had up country.
"Absolutely nothing," was the reply from all
sources — "nothing whatever."
It seemed almost incredible. I had been six months
in the interior, prosecuting my inquiries up in the
direction whence Stanley was supposed to be coming.
The Imperial British East African Company had six
Europeans, with not less than one thousand porters
and askari in the field ; the missionary societies were
in correspondence with their stations as far inland as
the Victoria Nyanza, and the British Consulate was pro-
vided with a thousand sharp eyes and ears, through the
medium of the Hindi merchants of Zanzibar and the
coast ports, and their trading caravans in the interior.
All were interested in getting the first news, or any
news at all, of the Stanley Expedition ; but we were in
210
STANLEY AT LAST. 211
the dark, one and all. The various rumors of his ap-
proach to the coast, which had been eagerly seized
upon, from time to time, and cabled home to the expect-
ant public, had been unfounded. Some of them, I am
afraid, had even been sent without the broken reed of
native rumors.
All sorts of conjectures were indulged in at the
English Club. With many others, I was constrained
to believe that Stanley and Emin Pasha were yet in the
Equatorial Province, quietly engaged in carrying out
the territorial and commercial schemes of the British
Company, the chief patrons of the Emin Relief Expedi-
tion, and waiting for the Company's caravans to make
connection with them from Mombasa. It was well
known that one of the chief inducements for sending
the Emin Relief Expedition was to secure the rich field
of the Equatorial Province for the exploitation of the
I. B. E. A. Company, and open a road by returning
from it through their concession to their port of Mom-
basa. Naturally, then, the public eye was directed
toward the region of my own late experiences about
Kilimanjaro and Masai-land, expecting to hear, any day,
that the long expected party had at length been com-
municated with, and that Stanley had triumphed over
the difficulties of the road between Wadelai and Mom-
basa as successfully as he had over the dread Congo
forest. Nobody in Zanzibar seemed to suspect that
all this time Stanley might, for reasons which he would
eventually make known, be slowly working his way
down the same route he had traversed on his "Through
the Dark Continent" journey. Such, however, was the
news that came to us from Stanley, the first since his
212 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Aruwimi letters of Aug. 28, 18S8. The news was that
Stanley, Emin Pasha, Casati, Stanley's officers. Stairs,
Jephson, Bonny, Nelson and Surgeon Parke; two of
the French fathers of the Algerian Mission, with two
hundred and ninety-four of Emin's people — with Stan-
ley's porters, making altogether seven hundred and
fifty people— were coming down through the German
territory to Bagamoyo. The letters were dated at
Msalala, at the south end of the Victoria Nyanza,
Aug. 29. The party would reach Mpwapwa about the
end of November, and the coast about the middle of
January.
The English community refused to believe it. There
had been such a thorough understanding that Stanley
would come to the coast through the British conces-
sion to Mombasa, by the patrons and supporters of
the Emin Relief Expedition, that the possibility of his
coming to Bagamoyo, by the old Unyamwezi route,
was considered out of the question entirely. Stanley
might find it difficult to come the other way, but if too
difficult, then he would wait and work in Emin's prov-
ince until the Company's caravans should make con-
nection. Personal stores for the Europeans of the
expedition, and rice in abundance for the people, had
been dispatched northward from Mombasa and Lamoo,
caravan after caravan, without regard to expense ;
and, to crown all, the I. B. E. A. Company had, in
a prospectus inviting the public to subscribe for
;^2,ocxD,ooo worth of shares, stated, with the utmost con-
fidence, that their caravans had probably long since
connected with Stanley and Emin.
All doubts of the truth of the reports were, however,
STANLEY AT LAST. 213
speedily removed, for at the end of October, Capt. Wiss-
mann, with an escort of five hundred Zulus, Soudanese
and native askari, returned from Mpwapwa, where he
had been in pursuit of the insurgent chief Bushiri, and
under his protection came messengers from Stanley
bearing letters and telegrams. The party were in con-
siderable distress, owing to the large number of incapa-
bles among Emin's Egyptians, but they were pushing
steadily forward. In the party were fifty-nine children,
"mostly orphans of Egyptian ofificers." There was talk
of a long line of stretchers of poor, way-weary women
and children, sick and cripples, who, after passing
through the many dangers of the road, occasionally
died in their hammocks as they were carried along.
Fights and quarrels with warlike tribes had been ex-
perienced since leaving Emin's territory, and interest-
ing geographical discoveries had been made.
Yes, it was true then, stand aghast as doubters might.
Here was the interesting party toiling on towards Baga-
moyo in sorry plight, a few miles a day, on the old
trade route from Unyamwezi. Their material wants
must be attended to. According to Stanley they
would reach the mission station of Mpwapwa, a hun-
dred and seventy miles inland from Bagamoyo, by the
end of November.
Mail-runners were at once despatched with letters,
and a caravan of two hundred porters was organized by
the British Company to carry up rice and provisions to
Mpwapwa. As the road was not yet safe from insur-
gent attacks, the Germans, who were also sending goods
up to Emin, w^ould provide an escort of soldiers.
The German authorities were in high feather at the
214 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
turn affairs had taken. Stanley coming down through
their territory would, so they thought, prove that they
possessed the only road to the interior, about which
there was much rivalry and friction between the two
candidates for the privilege of exploiting the lake
regions. And there is no denying that, on the other
hand, the English Company felt a trifle sore that the
plans, for which they had sacrificed much, had, for some
reason or other, miscarried. Meanwhile, to those not
particularly interested in the road question, the mental
vision of the approaching multitude was of peculiar
interest. Here, at last, were the people in whom the
whole world had for so long been deeply interested —
Stanley and his plucky assistants; Emin and the
remnant of his Egyptian force, including "fifty-nine
children, mostly orphans." The pencil of romantic in-
terest, too, was working still on this picture of a Central
African exodus. As if the elements that composed
it — the stirring history, the strange experiences of hard-
ship, of danger, of Mahdist fanaticism, of vicissitude, of
heroic resolve and brilliant relief that surrounded this
. approaching remnant of a lost Egyptian province and
of a relief expedition — w^ere not enough to interest, in
a general sense, we now heard for the first time of Emin
Pasha's "beautiful daughter." Emin's daughter! In
all that the world had ever heard or read of Emin ; his
own letters from the Equatorial Province ; of those
written by his friends about him, not a hint had ever
been given that Emin Pasha was a man of family.
Meanwhile, as soon as it was ascertained that there
was really no doubt this time, I applied to Capt. Wiss-
mann, the German Imperial Commissioner, for permis-
STANLEY AT LAST. 215
sion to proceed inland and meet Stanley at Mpwapwa.
Notwithstanding the fact that I had perhaps more
reason than anybody to feel resentment that while I
was looking out for him in Masai-land, Stanley was
making his way down country five hundred miles to the
south-west, I determined to heap coals of fire on his
honored crown by hastening on ahead of the larger
caravan, with a few porter loads of champagne and
substantial luxuries, which he, Emin and the Euro-
peans of the party would appreciate, and at the same
time convey to the great explorer the congratulations
of the Nezv York World at the successful accomplish-
ment of his great undertaking, the relief of Emin
Pasha, and his rescue from a position that had, from
accounts to hand, become indeed perilous.
"Military exigencies," however, compelled Capt.
Wissmann (v/ho, by-the-bye, impressed the writer as a
good fellow and a superior sort of man), to refuse me
permission to enter the German territory. The whole
German concession, he said, was under military law, and
none could proceed inland without a passport and a
German-provided escort of soldiers." "Military law
and a passport," in Equatorial Africa! Had it come
to this? Alas! Yes!
Much difficulty was experienced by the British Com-
pany in getting together and starting the two hundred
porter caravan of rice. The Bagamoyo route, since the
German occupation and consequent hostilities, had
gained an evil reputation among the porters, and the
enterprise languished, notwithstanding double wages to
porters, and big profits to the Hindi contractor. The
mail-runners who had been dispatched to meet Stanley
2i6 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
returned, reporting that they had been attacked and
had been compelled to throw away the mail. The lost
mail included a packet of letters to Stanley weighing
nine pounds.
Close on the heels of the discomfited mail-runners
came other letters from Stanley. The party had made
good headway since leaving the Victoria Nyanza and
had reached Mpwapwa on Nov. lo, twenty days ahead
of time, and would proceed to the coast without" delay.
The European community of Zanzibar was thrown
into a fever of expectancy. Stanley and Emin within a
few days of Bagamoyo ! The rice caravan had not yet
started, and the most any caravan could now do would
be to extend tardy relief indeed, a half-dozen marches
inland. Instead of Jan. 15, as Stanley had thought, or
the Jan. 30 of Emin Pasha's estimate, they would
reach the coast about the end of November.
Instant preparations for their reception were set in
motion. There would be many sick, many helpless
women and children. A pathetic incident was told of
an old Egyptian woman, seventy years of age, who,
after bravely enduring the hardships of the long jour-
ney from the Equatorial Province to Mpwapwa, had
died on a stretcher, almost within sight, we might say,
comparatively speaking, of the ocean, whose beckoning
voice, bidding her be of good cheer, had stimulated her
feeble spirit to endure thus far.
Gen. Matthews, the British Consul General, the
ladies of the Missions, everybody who could assist,
now took hold of matters in earnest. Every needle
and Goancse sewing machine in Zanzibar was em-
ployed to make up articles of clothing, for the women
Stanley at last. 217
and children would be particularly in need of apparel.
A large house, formerly the British Consulate, was pre-
pared for the reception of the latter, and temporary
accommodations were secured for Emin's Soudanese
soldiers.
But what about my own ambition to be, at least, the
first newspaper correspondent to congratulate Stanley
and Emin Pasha upon their return to civilization. In
order to do that it would be absolutely necessary that I
should proceed into the interior; and I had been told,
point blank, by Capt. (now Major) Wissmann, the
Imperial German Commissioner, "You cannot go."
"Why not?"
"The country is under military law and the German
Government holds itself responsible for the lives of
Europeans. You cannot go without a military escort
from us, and that privilege is impossible, unless we get
special orders from Berlin — so you cannot go."
"But you are going to take the New York Herald
correspondent up, and do you consider such discrimina-
tion right?"
"We have orders from Berlin to take the Herald
correspondent, with our own expedition, to meet Mr.
Stanley."
"Oh, very well, Captain. Good-day."
Though I couldn't get a permit from the German
Imperial Commissioner, I thereupon decided that it
was my privilege, as a correspondent against whom this
unjust discrimination was being made, whatever the
reason for it might be, to outwit him if possible.
At any rate, no stone must remain unturned to accom-
plish my purpose of securing, in spite of Berlin,
2i8 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Wissmann, soldiers, military laws, a hostile country, or
what not, the honor of being the first newspaper cor-
respondent to welcome Stanley and Emin. It was a
truly forlorn hope, however, and it was in a very doubt-
ful frame of mind that I set about forming my plans.
The German caravan of several hundred soldiers and
porters, and my lucky rival, had already left Bagamoyo
for the interior, when on Saturday, Nov. 23, having
exhausted my efforts with the German ofificials at Zanzi-
bar, I came to the above resolve.
I obtained a knowledge of Capt. Wissmann's move-
ments for the next few days. He would go to Baga-
moyo on Saturday, and take a run up the coast with his
little steamer to Pangani on Sunday. He would not re-
turn to Bagamoyo till Tuesday. I immediately engaged,
through a friendly Hindi, a small dhow, and on Sunday
afternoon proceeded quietly to Bagamoyo, a six hours
sail from Zanzibar, to spy out the chances of proceeding
inland. Nobody dislikes the necessity of having to act
in defiance of the authorities in any country, more than
the writer, but the discrimination made against me was
not to be tolerated. At Bagamoyo I learned that no
European would be allowed to proceed inland without
a passport and a special escort of soldiers. "You are
Mr. Stevens?" asked the German officer commanding in
the absence of Capt. Wissmann, who, fortunately for
me, had left for Pangani that morning.
"Yes."
"You cannot go, then."
That same evening I quietly engaged, through another
Hindi, a few of whom had lately returned to Baga-
moyo to trade, five sound-limbed, athletic young Wang-
1
STANLEY AT LAST. 219
wana runners, who, for large pay and the promise of
backsheesh galore, ageed to risk, with me, a dash
through a dangerous country. The young men were
soon looked up, and while the Hindi's clerk held a
kerosene lamp, 1 examined carefully, in a rear room of
the house, their limbs, to see that every one was sound
and fit for the hard march I intended to give them.
One was rejected because one ankle was slightly bigger
than the other, or, at all events, seemed so to my super-
critical inspection ; but another was soon found to
take his place.
I now explained to them the object to be attained.
Their wages were to be treble the ordinary pay, and
if I should be the first to meet Mr. Stanley and Emin
Pasha, great should be their reward. It was, I told
them frankly, a bold undertaking, with the chances very
much against us; but if they did exactly as I wanted
them to, from first to last, we should succeed. If we
tried, and failed through no fault of theirs, they should
still be rewarded, and if the Germans made trouble for
them for coming with me, I would protect them.
"Inshallah!" was the answer, and I shook them all
warmly by the hand. The Hindi was less hopeful.
He shook his head dolefully, and informed me that
at Mtoni, the ferry across the Kingani River, was a fort
with many soldiers and several German officers, and
that if I succeeded in leaving Bagamoyo, my progress
would be arrested there. This fort and ferry are a
couple of hours' march from Bagamoyo. A single
ferry on a deep river swarming with crocodiles, is a point
of advantage that is supposed to control the move-
ments of every person in the country. Evidently here
2 20 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
was the crucial point of at least the beginning of the
adventure.
I slept little that night, up in my friend the Hindi's
spare chamber, thinking over the knotty problem of
this Mtoni ferry. My cogitations amounted to little
in the way of comfort. There was no possible way of
avoiding this ferry and gaining the open wilderness
beyond. I might risk swimming, but it was not to be
expected of the men that they would dare a river full
of crocodiles, to begin with. Their reward, poor fel-
lows, would be but a handful of rupees at the best. I
knew their limit too well to damp their courage to
begin with, by a suicidal proposition. No, it must be
the ferry that must be managed.. There was positively
no alternative. If anybody had offered me one to ten
against the chances of being able to overcome the
difificulties of that ogreish fort and ferry of Mtoni, with
my five bold sprinters, I am afraid I should have taken
him up on Monday morning. But I had made up my
mind to a plan. That was something though, as yet,
only one party knew anything about it.
However, in the early morning of Monday, we quietly
slipped away from Bagamoyo. My baggage for this
dash was reduced to a minimum. Speed, of course, was
the prime consideration. My commissary consisted of
three tins of Chicago corned beef, two tins of salmon, a
small tin of biscuits and a bottle of brandy. My
other stores were a couple of changes of underclothes
and plenty of soft merino socks, a pair of blankets — a
light marching kit, surely, for a run of unknown length
in Africa. But food and clothes were minor affairs.
The ferry was the burden of my thoughts, every foot of
STANLEY AT LAST. 22 1
the pleasant way through the mango siiambas, that
extended for some miles beyond the port of Bagamoyo.
On we trudged, however, our hopes rising sensibly as
we found ourselves away from habitations and treading
the free-looking, open country. My best chance, I had
concluded, with the Germans at the Mtoni ferry would
be to put on an exceedingly bold, though not neces-
sarily defiant, front. Whether sheer American "impu-
dence" would prevail against German military law,
with its orders and what not, would remain to be
seen.
On the outskirts of Bagamoyo were camped some
three tho^lsand Wanyamwezi porters, waiting to be
escorted by the Germans back to the Land of the
Moon, beloved by them as their homes. At the Mtoni
ferry we found a small iron boat, operated by natives,
under the supervision of three German of^cers stationed
at the fort. The leading officer addressed me in polite
terms :
"Mr. Stevens, of the Nczv York World f
"Yes."
"Have you a passport?"
"A what? — a passport in Africa! No, of course
not. You must be making a mistake. I've been in
Africa for months, and never heard of a passport before."
A courier was immediately dispatched to Baga-
moyo, while I v/as invited to halt and partake of cham-
pagne.
"Certainly, gentlemen; champagne with pleasure;
but I must push leisurely on, and cannot think of halt-
ing." And so, as no opposition was offered, we entered
the ferry, a rupee was slipped into the palm of the
222 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
astonished boatman, and in a minute or two we were
landed on the opposite shore. This is a true account of
how the difficulty of the Mtoni ferry was overcome.
Major Wissmann* afterwards declared that I had bribed
his officers, but I take this opportunity of assuring him
that the three officers at the Mtoni ferry were gentle-
men who would have scorned to take a bribe.
* The seeming contradiction in Wissmann's rank, in the following and other
chapters, comes from the fact that his promotion from Captain to Major took place
during my dash up country to meet Stanley. T. Stevens.
1
CHAPTER XV.
OVER THE "RUBICON."
THERE now seemed a clear road ahead of us at last.
We were in the wilderness, and for some time made
the most of our opportunity, mindful of the courier to
Bagamoyo. Two hours beyond Mtoni we passed the
camp of the large caravan that had been sent up to
meet Stanley by the Imperial British East African
Company.
The country inland from Bagamoyo is the finest
in the world for bushwhacking. It is a country of
scrubby trees and small, open parks, studded with
patches of dense thicket. Of arms we had a truly scant
array for a dash through a hostile country. Any
attempt to arm my men with guns, however, would
have brought the German authorities at Bagamoyo
about my ears, and would have proved fatal to my
plans. I had a Winchester sporting rifle and a revol-
ver, but the best that could be done for the men was
to arm them with a butcher-knife apiece.
And just here let me say that I learned from these
five Bagamoyo runners that there are such qualities
as pluck and faithfulness among these people, after all ;
a fact that I should have admitted with many qualifi-
cations upon my return from Masai-land. The names
of these five young blacks deserve to be immortalized.
They are Zaidi, Nivova, Fomi, Mfomo, Omali. Though
^24 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
Fomi finally deserted, carr}'ing with him my bottle of
brandy and every bite of food I had, the other four
deserve to be called "faithfuls." They risked their
lives for rupees, it is true, and from no loftier motive ;
but because they followed faithfully at my heels, from
morn till night, through the heat of a fiery African sun,
on that memorable Monday, let their names be duly
honored in these annals of African adventure. I only
regret that circumstances made it impossible for me
to take their pictures.
With Winchester on shoulder, Zaidi at my heels
with the Colt's revolver, and my terrible butcher-knife
brigade of four, we slipped along the winding path, a
silent, compact little band, ready at a moment's notice
for a brush with ambushed foes. Any of those patches
of thicket might conceal Bushiri's Arab rangers, and
any moment bullets might come whistling about our
ears. Now and then w^e passed skulls or skeletons
bleaching in the sun by the wayside, ghastly reminders
that we were traversing a country but yesterday the
scene of war. My bold runners kept up their spirits
by joking about the grinning skulls, but I noticed that
they instinctively huddled along, closer and yet closer
together, at the Bwana Mkooba's heels, whenever we
passed these evidences of the disturbed state of the
country.
When we left the Mtoni ferry, besides the messenger
dispatched to Bagamoyo, three Wangwana soldiers
were also sent to follow on after us. We soon shook
off these sleuths. "Hyar, boys, hyar!'' (hurry, hurry,
come on !) Bravely my five immortals responded, and
in a very short time we had the satisfaction of looking
OVER THE ''RUBICON." 225
back and coming to the conclusion that they must have
laid down under a bush to rest. Bravo !
"Let us rest a little, too, Master; the sun is getting
hot ; after resting, Inshallah, we shall be strong to walk
all day without stopping."
"Rest! rest! if one of you dares to talk rest to me
before three o'clock this afternoon, not one pice of
backsheesh shall any of you ever get. More than that,
I'll shoot the first man who sits down to rest without
leave, or lags behind — sikia?"
"Hey wallah; hey wallah."
Ten o'clock. Eleven. High noon, and a wilting sun
had been glaring down on us for hours. My clothes
were wet and heavy; the black skins of the runners
shone and glistened like silk velvet with the perspira-
tion that streamed from every pore in their bodies.
Chafed and blistered feet were already upon me, for I
had been unable in Zanzibar to obtain good walking
shoes. At two o'clock I gave, reluctantly enough, the
order for a brief halt for refreshments. The panting
runners flung themselves full length under the scant
shade of a mimosa, and in that recumbent position,
chewed ears of Indian corn, brought ready roasted from
Bagamoyo. The "Bwana" was too wilted by the fear-
ful heat to be hungry, but I washed a few biscuits
down with water from my bottle. Brandy was not to
be thought of; firstly, alcohol is a mistake under such
conditions ; secondly, I had forgotten to bring a cork-
screw.
Fifteen minutes' rest, new words of encouragement
to the boys, and we are again on the road. Thus far
we had seen neither hostiles, fugitives, nor friendly
2 26 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
natives. What few villages we passed were burned to
the ground and the people gone. But soon after our
brief halt the men spotted a lone native in the bush a
hundred yards away. He had already seen us and was
trying to steal away unobserved.
"Shoot him, Bwana; shoot him!" shouted the run-
ners, excitedly.
"Shoot him? What for? The man is running away ;
he's done nothing to us. Why should he be shot?"
"Shoot him ; he's a bad man. He's running, run-
ing, Bwana; he's running."
"Take this gun and go and catch him if you can,
and let's see who he is, but; don't shoot him."
Mfomo, Omali and Nivova took after the fugitive,
but the bush was too thick, and so he escaped. Half
an hour later we had the same experience over again,
only with three natives, instead of one. The runners
said they were some of Bushiri's people, who had got
scattered in the bush, and were on the lookout to join
a party of their friends. At the sight of a white man,
being but two or three, they ran away.
By three o'clock we were out of water. By four we
were badly distressed, for the sun seemed to glare
hotter and fiercer as the afternoon drew out. But
succor of a very unexpected nature awaited us.
Nearing a small ravine I ordered Zaidi to repair to
a certain clump of bushes to see if there was water.
A minute later, "Bwana, bwana, njoe!" (master, mas-
ter; come here!) shouted the runner, excitedly.
We all hastened to the spot. Ye gods, what's this!
There, lying under the bushes, was a case marked "Emin
Pasha, No. 27." Some porter of the German caravan,
O VER THE • ' R U EICON. " 227
taking goods up to meet Emin Pasha and his people,
had flung his load into the bush and deserted. So, at
least, thought my men. We turned the box over, and
there, on the under side, was the magic stenciling:
"Champagne !" Now, who says fortune: doesn't favor
the foolish? Truly, we had been found famishing in
the wilderness, and the ravens had brought us, not
bread, but the very thing above all others I should that
moment have named had the choice of all the world's
good things been at our disposal. Our lucky star was
with us beyond a doubt.
Property found in the African wilderness is any-
body's property to appropriate, if in need. In a trice
we had that case of champagne open, and the author
had his parched lips glued to the mouth of one of the
bottles as firmly and lovingly as Mr. Pickwick glued
his to Bob Sawyer's bottle of milk punch. Soothing,
indeed, was the gentle gurgle of Emin Pasha's cham-
pagne, as it passed from the neck of a bottle to the
more appreciative one of flesh and blood, and wonder-
fully exhilarating it was.
Dividing a couple of bottles among the runners, whose
black eyes danced and sparkled as they drank down
their first taste of this nectar, which they declared
Allah had sent us, we were again ready to continue on
our way. I took a half-dozen bottles with us, put a
receipt and an explanation in the box, and nailed it up
again. Soon we came to a camping place called Ros-
ako. Here the path forks, and parallel roads, varying
from ten to twenty-five miles apart, lead to Mpwapwa,
the point Stanley proposed to leave two weeks before.
Mr. Stanley, in his letter from Mpwapwa^ had, stated
2 28 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
his intention of coming down the southern or Simba
Mweni road. To my surprise, however, upon examin-
ing the two trails, it was evident that the German cara-
van had taken the northern road. How was this?
The only explanation I could think of was that they
must have got later news, and learned that Stanley had
changed his plans as to which of the two roads he would
take. Here was a dilemma ! My intention all along was
to elude these people ; meet Stanley first, avoid them
again on the return, and secure a journalistic victory
worth having. Now, however, there was plainly noth-
ing for it but to follow after them and find out why
they had taken this route.
We traveled hard till dusk, when our ears were
greeted by the blare of a bugle ahead, and soon we
were in sight of their camp at Usigwa. It was a mili-
tary camp, and in the center of it were two fine large
tents and several smaller ones, surmounted by German
flags. One of the big tents belonged to Baron von
Gravenreuth, the German officer commanding the expe-
dition, and second in command to Capt. Wissmann ;
the other belonged to Mr. Vizetelly of the Herald.
The Baron and his brother officers were making their
toilets preparatory to the evening meal. They hurried
out of their tents, and crowded together in eager surprise
at the apparition of a dusty European and five natives
trudging into camp. The Baron spoke very good
English.
"What is the matter? What is it?" he cried, appar-
ently under the impression that I must be the bearer of
some startling news from Bagamoyo. Had Bagamoyo
been attacked by Bushiri's people, and the German gar-
OVER THE ''Rubicon:' 229
rison massacred, and was I a fugitive, was what this
worthy officer asked himself in the first moments of
his surprise, though he never uttered the words.
"No, no, Baron; nothing of the kind. There is noth-
ing the matter. I have merely come up to meet Mr.
Stanley and Emin Pasha; that's all."
"But have you a passport from Capt. Wissmann?"
No.
"Then I cannot let you go. You are Mr. Stevens,
of the Nezv York World? "
"Yes."
"And Capt. Wissmann said you must not come.
How is this, you come without permission?"
But dinner was now nearly ready, and the gallant
Baron, being hungry, proposed that we should post-
pone the matter of what was to be done until that meal
was over, a proposition to which I had no objections.
Before dinner, I walked over to my rival's tent and
looked in. He was tying on a dotted cravat, by
way of preparation for the coming meal. "Hello, old
man! good evening!" I said cheerfully. The recipi-
ent of this companionable greeting, strange to say,
turned pale. He looked for fully ten seconds before
he could recover his astonishment sufficiently to reply.
"Has your paper got you a permit from Berlin?" he
at length managed to gasp. A minute later he rushed
across the camp and spent some time in secret but
excited conference with the Baron. All this happened
in a very short space of time.
Dinner was now ready. The Baron seated me on his
right, Mr. Vizetelly on his left. Luckily for me the
Baron turned out to be one of the finest fellows imag-
230 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
inable. I never had the pleasure of meeting a more
thorough gentleman, nor a more gallant officer in any
army or anywhere, than Baron von Gravenreuth.
Already the Baron had gained a name among the natives
of "Simba Mrima," (the lion of the coast-land). He
led the first cavalry charge that ever took place in
Equatorial Africa, and one day, when charging a body
of the enemy, he felt for his revolver, and found that he
had lost it. He charged all the same, using the butt
of his riding-whip with good effect on the heads of
the foe. But he is, like all brave men, modest, and
perhaps will not thank me for thus recording his deeds
of daring. There was a merry twinkle in the Baron's
eye as the humor of the situation stole over him.
Everything had been arrayed against me, as he well
knew. Berlin, Wissmann and his military laws, the
unsettled state of the country, the difficulty of obtaining
men on short notice for perilous feats in Africa — every-
thing, in fact ; yet here we were, thirty miles in the
wilderness, sitting at table, talking together.
The audacity of the plan, and the dash with which Ave
had so far carried it out, appealed strongly to the sym-
pathies of the gallant cavalry officer at the head of the
table, and I felt pretty sure of the Baron, so far as his
duties as an army officer would allow him freedom of
action. But as a military officer he must first do his
duty. He had had positive orders about me. And so,
immediately after supper, he dispatched soldiers to
Bagamoyo and decided to halt a day at Usigwa for a
reply.
I now broached the subject of whether he was not on
the wrong road. He knew that Mr. Stanley had pro-
1
OVER THE ''Rubicon:' 231
posed to come on the other road, he said, but he had
heard from the natives the story of a white man's
caravan coming down this road, instead of the other,
and so had taken this one. He had heard the same
story from four different sources, which seemed conclu-
sive. However, he was having the other road watched
also, and so would be quite sure to catch Mr. Stanley
sooner or later.
The Baron placed me on my word of honor, in the
presence of witnesses, that I would make no attempt
to leave camp without permission ; and, to make doubly
sure of me, he quartered me in his own roomy tent, and
in addition to the usual sentries, a couple of Soudanese
soldiers were placed at the doors of the tent. It was a
mild form of arrest, to which no one could, in the
circumstances, have objected.
I was under no apprehension about Bagamoyo, if we
were only to halt at Usigwa one day. No reply came
from Bagamoyo on Tuesday, and as the Baron was
anxious to push on, he decided to take me with him.
Of course ! what else, indeed, could this gallant officer
do.
"I cannot send you back now, Mr. Stevens, because
you would not willingly go; and so, although you have
placed me in a very difficult position, I must take you
on with us. You are here without a permit, but I can-
not see what I can do but take you with us."
More than this the genial Baron said, and so in the
early morning a company of people, nearer five hundred
now than five, and half of them soldiers, w^e pushed
on to the next camping place, Sagara. The Baron,
mounted on a magnificent Muscat donkey, and taking
232 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
an escort of picked Soudanese soldiers, pushed on ahead,
and scouts had been despatched to interview chiefs and
Unyamwezi caravans on up towards Mpwapwa. Others
were scouting on the southern road. At Sagara we
heard fresh news of a big white man's caravan coming
down the northern road — the road we were on. This
was the fifth report of the kind ; but they were all from
native sources. The Baron agreed that though this
repetition of the same story made it probable, yet there
was nothing so unreliable as native reports, and that
the vigilance of his scouts, on the Simba Mweni road,
must not be relaxed.
We pushed on up to Pongwe. Wednesday and
Thursday passed away and still nothing came to hand
more reliable than the native reports. But about mid-
night on Thursday, the Baron's own scouts came back
from their reconnoitre towards Mpwapwa, and reported
that they had learned of a big Unyamwezi ivory cara-
van coming down, but nothing whatever of any white
man's caravan. The Baron asked my opinion of what
was best to be done.
"If I were in your place. Baron, I should march at
daybreak for the nearest point on the road Stanley
said he should take. Leave scouts on this road, with a
letter for him, telling him where we are, and asking him
to halt for us to join him, if he comes this way."
The decision was that we make a forced march on a
cross-country trail to Kisima, the nearest point on the
Simba Mweni road.
Friday, Nov, 29, was ush(;rc(l in with lowering clouds
and light showers of rain. The skies ought to have
laughed upon us that eventful morning, as our caravan
OVER THE " RUBICON." 233
wound its way through the thorny wilds about Pongwc,
for it was to be a truly momentous day; a day that
was to bring joy and satisfaction to the hearts of many.
Such a meeting of civilized white men in the African
bush was to take place that afternoon as the Dark Con-
tinent had seldom seen before— a little band of devoted
men, who for three long years had been several times
lost to the world, for whose safety and success, in a
glorious enterprise, thousands of hearts beat anxiously
day after day, month after month, year after year, were
in a few hours to meet Europeans, who would greet
them as heroes and brothers, succor them with good
cheer, tell them all the news, congratulate them and
welcome them all back. And with them was Emin
Pasha, whom they had relieved and rescued, and Capt.
Casati, his companion in peril, an exile for so many
years.
On the road to Kisima we heard, from a native, that
Stanley's party had passed down the Simba Mweni
road, and had gone on towards Bagamoyo. Another
native, later on, confirmed the story. This was start-
ling news. Could it be possible that we had, notwith-
standing all the scouting and inquiring, missed Stanley
entirely? Ah! what a fool I was, after all, not to
have acted on my own judgment at Rosako, and taken
the southern road ! I almost persuaded myself at this
point.
Between Pongwe and our next halting place, I had
the extreme satisfaction of saving a fellow correspon-
dent from what would, undoubtedly, have been a seri-
ous accident. Mr. Vizetelly was riding a splendid, but
headstrong Muscat donkey. This animal, on the occa-
234 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
sion referred to, defying all the efforts of its rider to
restrain him, tried to pass under the horizontal limb of
a tree, as thick as a man's leg, and so low that its mas-
ter could not possibly pass under with it. I sprang to
his rescue and, seizing the bridle, managed to bring the
brute up just as he had got the stomach of his rider,
who had flung himself backward in the saddle, jambed
tightly against the limb.
He thanked me gratefully for saving him from what
would, undoubtedly, have been a bad accident, and
possibly a fatal one.
As usual, the Baron had ridden ahead very early in
the morning. About noon we halted at a place of
divergent village trails, waiting for an expected run-
ner from the Baron himself, directing our movements
from this point. Soon the message came — positive
news of Stanley! And such news! Stanley's camp
was believed to be not more than an hour from where
we were halting, at a camping place called Msuwa. A
second runner came fifteen minutes later, confirming
the news and ordering the lieutenant to march.
Hurrah ! Our doubts and anxieties were over at
last. It had been a veritable chase for four days, but
the glorious quarry was at length rim down, and was
almost within our reach. Stanley, Emin Pasha, Casati,
Parke, Stairs, Nelson, Jephson, Bonny, but an hour
away! The Soudanese heard the message with stolid
satisfaction, the porters uttered a yell of delight, the
Kirangozi waved the German flag, when Lieutenant
Langheld summoned us about him, and read aloud
Baron von Gravenrcuth's message :
"Stanley and Emin Pasha arc camped at Msuwa!"
CHAPTER XVI.
MEETING STANLEY.
THE moment for energetic action had arrived. The
rivalry between the only two newspaper "specials"
in the field, to be the first to welcome and congratulate
the returning explorers, had been carried to extreme
lengths. I had known for hours that when the supreme
moment should arrive, Lieut. Langheld would permit
me to break my parole and push ahead ; and I had re-
solved, if possible, to not only win the coveted point
of getting to Stanley and Emin first, but to make the
victory more complete by introducing Mr. Vizetelly to
the illustrious explorer, when he should arrive. With
the Lieutenant's permission, I quietly left the caravan
and started alone, at a rapid pace, in the general direc-
tion of Msuwa. Exactly where Msuwa was, however,
none of us knew. There was but one guide with the
caravan, and he, of course, was not at my disposal. Ten
minutes after starting I found myself confronted by a
network of divergent trails leading to distant villages,
none of which were visible. It was the veriest guess-
work which one to take. There was, in fact, no choice
whatever to a stranger. Not a native, nor a sign of a
native, was to be seen.
But there was no time to be lost, come what would,
chances had to be taken. Selecting one of the paths
at random, I sped on, and by and by reached a village
235
236 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
inclosed in a big circular thorn hedge. Stepping inside
the gate, I found myself gazing at and gazed upon by
a hundred people, who were squatting on their hams,
idling, gossiping and passing the hot afternoon away,
as African villagers do. They looked in open-mouthed
astonishment as a solitary Mzungu, panting like a deer,
entered their village gate, and at once beckoned some
of them to him. They looked at each other and smiled
in a wondering way, but refused to stir.
Fortunately I had a rupee in my pocket. (The
people for a long way up the Unyamwezi road know
the value of rupees.) I held it up and motioned to a
young man to come and take it. The effect of the
rupee was truly magical. Three young men sprung up
and hurried to me.
"There's a white man's camp with many Wa-zungu
in it over there; do you know where it is?"
"Bwana Stanley?"
"Yes ; take me to it quick and this rupee is yours."
It is wonderful how the prospect of immediate and
exceptional gain quickens these people's intellects.
Had I been without that blessed rupee to hold up to
view, it would probably have taken me a precious fifteen
minutes to have made them understand what I wanted
of them. Perhaps I could have done nothing with
them at all, for many villages, afraid of Bushiri's ven-
geance, though abstaining from open hostility to the
whites, refused to have anything to do with them in
those troublous times.
A rupee for a half-hour's service as guide, however,
was not to be resisted. Selecting the likeliest-looking
young man, I started him ahead, and away we went.
MEETING STANLEY. 237
A half-hour's good, steady going brought myself and
guide within two hundred yards of Stanley's camp.
Big tents and little tents, groups of the little grass
huts which the African porter or soldier constructs for
himself at every camp, were scattered over a large
space, on a gentle slope, between the thorny environs
of a hidden village and a dry ravine. Egyptian flags,
the crescent and stars on a red ground, floated lazily
from tent-poles and tall stakes here and there about
the big camping-ground, and enlivened the prospect.
Paying off the guide, I walked into camp and
inquired for Mr. Stanley's tent. A soldier pointed it
out ; a large square tent of faded green water-proof
canvas. The great explorer wasn't in it, however, and
I was directed to a rude open shed, which Mr. Stanley
usually has erected in his camps for receiving native
chiefs in when they visit him. Repairing to this shed
I saw, sitting on a native stool, smoking an English
brierwood pipe and conversing with Baron von Graven-
reuth, Mr. Jephson and Surgeon Parke, Mr. Stanley.
He had on an old Congo cap that had been covered and
re-covered with canvas, as its orginal material had, from
time to time, worn away ; a short jacket, made out of
the canvas of an old green tent, knee-breeches of Ameri-
can domestics, dark woolen stockings, and a pair of
shoes which, I believe, he had found among his stores
at Msalala.
This quiet-looking, unassuming individual then was
the man in whose movements the whole civilized world
had been so deeply interested for the past three years.
I immediately explained to the Baron that Lieuten-
ant Langheld had released me from my parole.
238 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
The Baron rose up with a smile, and at once intro-
duced me to Mr. Stanley. Stanley, pleased in a mo-
ment at the enterprise that had brought a journalist
alone and afoot to his camp in the African wilds,
grasped me warmly by the hand.
The coveted words of welcome and congratulation
were given, and letters of introduction from Mr. Stan-
ley's friend, M. French Sheldon, of "Salambo" fame,
were delivered.
"You are Mr. Stevens, the bicycler, who rode around
the world, are you not?" Then, turning with a smile
to Surgeon Parke and Mr. Jephson, Stanley observed:
"There you are. Didn't I tell you that an American
newspaper correspondent would be right at the
front?"
"I am sorry to say I haven't even a bottle of cham-
pagne to offer you, Mr. Stanley," I resumed. "I have
had a Nciv York World caravan in Masai-land and the
Kilimanjaro country all last summer, hoping to make
connection with you, and afford you some assistance
up there, but, contrary to all expectations, you have
come out this way."
I then went on to explain how I had managed to be
first on hand on the present occasion, and why I arrived
with nothing but the clothes I stood in. Mr. Stanley
laughed.
"You have my sympathy, Mr. Stevens," said he.
"Since you have no champagne of your own, try some
of ours."
Mr. Stanley and his party had been in receipt of
sundry good things, by the courtesy of Capt. Wissmann
and his officers, since leaving Mpwapwa, so that when
MEETING STANLEY. 239
I came into camp they were able to open a bottle of
fizz for my benefit and refreshment.
Emin Pasha, Capt. Casati, Capt. Nelson, Lieut. Stairs
and Mr. Bonny were now sent for to come and be
introduced. Emin Pasha was the first to turn up. He
wore a fez and spectacles. After the introduction, I
welcomed and congratulated Emin as I had Mr. Stanley.
One by one the absent ones came up and were intro-
duced and congratulated. Ten minutes after my arrival
in camp we were all seated under Mr. Stanley's baraza
or palaver shed, chatting like old acquaintances.
It was a happy occasion all around. As might be
imagined, all were eager for news; and who, as Stanley
himself remarked, in mild banter, "who so qualified to
give it to us fresh and crisp as a newspaper correspon-
dent, whose business it is to know all that is going on
all over the world?"
And so we gathered together under the rude palaver
shed — Mr. Stanley, Emin Pasha, Casati, Stairs, Parke,
Nelson, Jephson, Bonny — an illustrious audience,
truly — and the author "did a tale unfold" of all that
had taken place of importance in the civilized world
of late. The little company of African travelers, so
long cut off from the world, sat smoking and listening
with rapt attention, you may be sure, as I recounted
to them the many interesting events that had tran-
spired during the past three years, and the moving
scenes of the present.
How eagerly Mr. Stanley and his young officers drank
in the news I was very happy to be able to give to them !
How they plied me with questions, too, if I paused a
moment in the telling!
240 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
There was no lack of subjects to talk about, though
there had not been, as in the case of the meeting
between Stanley and Livingstone, any such tremendous
event in their absence as the Franco-German war.
Mr. Stanley's earlier American experiences were
largely in the West. His memory dwells fondly on
those early days yet, and nothing that I told him seemed
to interest him more than the admission of Montana
and the two Dakotas into the Union, the Oklahoma
affair and the marvelous growth of various Western
cities. He was also, of course, greatly interested in the
proposed World's Exposition of 1892; the tremendous
rivalry between New York and Chicago ; the Paris Ex-
position; the Eiffel Tower; the marriage of the Duke
of Fife and the Prince of Wales's eldest daughter;
Gen. Boulanger and the French elections; the death
of the King of Portugal ; the doings and sayings of the
the young German Kaiser; the triple alliance and the
attitude of England, France, Russia and Turkey ; affairs
in Servia and Bulgaria; the Shah's visit to Europe;
the proposed Chinese railways; the extension of the
Trans-Caspian railway to Samarkand ; the Samoan af-
fair; Burmah, and the proposed Burmese Shan-Chinese
railway — all these, and many other subjects, were talked
about, not forgetting the state of affairs at Zanzibar.
Then the conversation turned on individuals. Who
were the prominent men to-day in this and that branch
of busy American life?
"Men and measures come and go, rise and fall so
rapidly in America," Mr. Stanley explained to Emin
Pasha, "that you never know whether the millionaire,
and the bootblack may not have changed places with
MEETING STANLEY. 241
one another since we have been in Africa. The pccu-
h'arity of American Hfe is that no one can afford to
halt and say, 'I've done enough.' If you stop, you're
done and done for. In America no man can afford
to rest on his laurels. If he attempts it he is tram-
pled under by new men and forgotten in no time.
Now, in England," he continued, addressing himself
more directly to the young Englishmen, "in England it
is different. A man may accomplish some big thing, and
the fame of it upholds him for years, if not till death.
But in America he has got to keep on doing ; keep on
working; moving, pushing, striving, hurrying along in
the swim, or he sinks, despite his little buoy of fame,
and he is forgotten, till his death brings him to public
notice again, when the newspapers take his remains in
hand for an hour or a day, and pursue the spirit that
has gone with a parting volley of obituaries."
Stanley is a most entertaining man to listen to. I
had been led to expect in him a silent, taciturn sort of
individual, and was most agreeably surprised to find
him one of the most charming talkers I ever heard.
In the midst of our interesting talk, somewhere near
a half-hour after my arrival, the German caravan and
Mr. Vizetelly came into camp. After I had introduced
him to Mr. Stanley, Vizetelly, on behalf of the news-
paper he represented, handed the rescuer of Emin a
small American flag.
I was particularly struck when I first found myself
face to face with Mr. Stanley, under his palaver shed
at Msuwa, with his healthy, robust appearance. I was
expecting to see a man prematurely old, worn out and
enfeebled by the innumerable attacks of African fever he
242 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
has sustained, and the accumulated effects of the hard-
ships of nineteen years, off and on, of African exploit.
His hair and moustache were gray, it is true, but apart
from that, he did not look older to me than his nine and
forty years. He is a man slightly below the medium
height, but weighs much more than one would be likely
at first sight to guess. His normal weight is about a
hundred and seventy-five pounds. He looks like a
hard, stocky man of the Phil Sheridan or Stonewall
Jackson type, and struck one, on first appearance, as
being good yet for two or three more such expeditions
as the relief and rescue of Emin Pasha. He neverthe-
less suffered much on the expedition.
"I suffered much," Mr. Stanley said, "with the other
members of the expedition, from hunger and bad food,
in the great Congo Forest region. Fever I have had
so often, during my many years of African experience,
that I no longer regard it with particular dread. I have
experienced three very close calls, however, on this
expedition. Twice I have been brought to death's
door by sub-acute gastritis, brought about by bad and
insufficient food, and once in the Congo Forest I had a
very narrow escape from death by poison. One of the
gastritis attacks occurred at Fort Bodo, the fortified
camp built and occupied by part of our force, with
Stairs, Nelson and Parke, while I returned to Banalya
to bring up the rear column. The other attack occurred
at Kavali, the camp at the southwest corner of the
Albert Nyanza, A\hcre wc waited for Emin Pasha's
people to come in. Both times I was laid up for a
month. I say, without reserve, that I owe my life
on both these occasions, to Surgeon Parke. It was
MEETING STANLEY. 243
touch-and-go with mc, particularly at Kavah' ; but the
skill, the unremitting attention and tender solicitude
and care of Surgeon Parke eventually pulled me through.
"In the Congo Forest, when the whole force were re-
duced to eating fungus, berries and whatever they could
scrape up in the forest, I one day found a tree of lus-
cious fruit. It looked something like a semi-trans-
parent hot-house pear — particularly luscious. I am
usually very careful about eating unknown fruits and
berries in Africa; but this fruit looked so good — and
then, a famishing man, you know, has ceased to be a
reasonable being — that I ate and ate without reserve.
In a very short time I began to experience a peculiar
sense of pressure about the top of the head, and the
first thing I knew my head was in a cheese press and
all the evil imps of the Congo Forest were twisting and
tugging at the screw. I thought my head would simply
crack, like a walnut, under the awful pressure; then I
commenced to vomit, and for a while was deathly sick.
I finally came around all right ; but I had had a narrow
squeak from poisoning, and had experienced an entirely
novel sensation."
Mr. Stanley considers the relief of Emin Pasha the
most difficult of all his African achievements. "There
was nothing in the expedition 'Through the Dark Con-
tinent' to compare with the frightful experiences of the
great and gloomy Congo Forest," said Stanley. "Had
we made the passage through that valley of the shadow
of death but once, its horrors, its deaths, its starvation,
its miseries and depressing gloom would remain im-
bedded on my memory for all time, as the blackest
nightmare of all my experiences in the Dark Continent,
244 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
but I had to pass through and through it altogether no
less than four times before we got clear of it. Not one
of us will ever forget it to our dying day. Day after
day the dripping rain, the saturated forest, the sodden
ground ; and half the time not even the dull, leaden
sky above was visible through the damp ceiling of the
thick forest trees over our heads. Looking like verita-
ble evil spirits, in the half-light, were the ugly dwarfs,
with their tiny bows and poisoned arrows, shooting at
us from their lurking-places, as we hacked and hewed
our way. At first we regarded these insignificant, pot-
bellied and atrociously ugly little wretches with a good
deal of contempt. What could they do against such
people as we, with our breech-loaders? Ah! but they
soon taught us to respect them, as man after man fell
victim to their poisoned arrows. They came near get-
ting my first officer, Lieut. Stairs ; he carried the point
of one of their arrows in his breast for fourteen months,
before it came away. One inch closer to the heart and
it would have killed him.
"These dwarfs are called Wambutti. They arc an
utterly savage and vindictive little people, allied to
the Akka and the Bushmen of the south — Bantu Bush-
men would, perhaps, be their proper racial description."
"I suppose you are aware, Mr. Stanley, that it is the
opinion of several African explorers, that in choosing
the Congo route to Emin's province you made a mis-
take — that you had far better have gone in from the
East coast, Mombasa or Bagamoyo?"
Mr. Stanley's pride was evidently touched by the
assumption of fault-finders. "The best and most relia-
ble evidence on this subject," said he, "is the general be-
MEETING STANLEY. 245
lief and sentiment of our people of the camp. There
are men among our people who have been through and
through Africa; who know from experience all the
general and peculiar difficulties and troubles of every
great route to the interior. Talk to them — ask them."
The sentiment of the camp was unanimous in Mr.
Stanley's favor on this question. The belief of the
blacks in Stanley, however, it is but fair to say, would
have lead them to support him, had he stated that the
moon was a Cheshire cheese. That their great leader
could err in anything, not one of them could have
been brought to admit.
"What about Tippoo Tib, Mr. Stanley; was he a
traitor to you, do you think?"
Mr. Stanley shook his head. "Circumstances were
too much for Tippoo Tib," he said. "I wouldn't care
to say he was a traitor. He certainly didn't carry out
the agreement I made with him in Zanzibar, Still, I
should hesitate to say that he deliberately betrayed his
trust. The mischief makers were Nzizi, Selim-bin-
Mohammed, and others of Tippoo's kinsmen."
"How did you find Emin Pasha situated' on your
first visit to him?"
"As regards material wants, the Pasha and his people
were not so badly off. They had plenty of food ; his
people had learned to make a coarse kind of cotton
cloth to clothe themselves with, and Emin himself had
been in Africa so long that he was able to live very
comfortably and contentedly on the products of the
country. Ammunition was his greatest need. We
turned over the ammunition that Ave had brought for
him, but it afterwards fell into the hands of the rebels."
246 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
"Was Emin anxious or willing to come away with
you at your first interview with him?"
"Emin didn't know what he wanted to do, neither at
our first nor our second visit to him. Emin said he
would go if the people would go ; the people said they
would go if Emin would go ; Casati said he would go if
Emin would go, and that is the state of indecision we
found them all in ! Nobody, from the Pasha down,
seemed to know what they wanted to do. At our first
interview I tried my best to get some definite reply
from the Pasha, to base future actions on, but to no
purpose. When I returned from bringing up the rear
guard, it was just the same. He had had nine months
to think it over, but still didn't know what he wanted
to do.
"I admire the Pasha greatly. In his proper place he
is a wonderful man. He is a great linguist. He will
talk to you in English; turn to Capt. Casati there and
talk in Italian ; to Baron von Gravenreuth and talk
German ; to that Egyptian officer in Egyptian ; to the
people in Swahili. He knows a dozen European and
Asiatic languages and a number of African. He is a
good botanist, entomologist, etc., and he takes an enthu-
siastic interest in the different races of people, their
manners, customs and history. It is in these that the
Pasha is great, and so long as his people remained loyal
to his government, contented to cast their fortunes on
his side, the Equatorial Province was a grand field for
a man of a scientific turn like Emin.
"AH this I concede to him, and more. He has
proved himself a good administrator of his province in
the face of many difficulties. But with all this, mark
MEETING STANLEY. 247
my words, Emin Pasha and Capt. Casati would have
been in chains at Khartoum, betrayed by the people
Emin persisted in trusting so blindly. Had there not
been a grand scheme on the boards to entrap us all?
Had we been as credulous and as easily deceived as the
Pasha, every one of us would, at this moment, instead
of sitting here and recounting our adventures, have
been slaves at Khartoum ! What do you say to that,
Mr. Jephson? You were with Emin nine months, right
among his people ; you ought to know the situation."
"I say the same, sir," replied that gentleman, who
was sitting by, listening to Mr. Stanley and the writer.
"In fact, there is not the slightest doubt about it in
my mind. I think we all had a very narrow escape as
it was."
"You understand," resumed Mr. Stanley^ ''that after
a stay of some twenty-six days with the Pasha I left
Mr. Jephson with him to assist him in whatever prepa-
ration for departure he wished to make, and on May
25, 1888, returned to bring up the rear guard and the
remainder of the stores. I expected, of course, to meet
it on the way, perhaps three weeks from the Lake, per-
haps six, or more. But, as you know, I had to go back
all the way to Banalya, where I found nobody left but
Mr. Bonny and a sorry remnant of but seventy-one
sickly, emaciated people out of the two hundred and
fifty-seven I left there. Bartellot was shot by one of
the Manyema, Jamieson had gone to Stanley Falls.
[Mr, Stanley only learned of Jamieson's death when
the expedition reached Msalala on its return, Aug.
29, 1889, a year after it had taken place; here they
found a bundle of newspapers, and from them first
248 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
learned the sad news.] Ward and Troupe had gone
home.
"It was nine months before I again stood on the
shores of the Albert Nyanza. We reached there on
Jan. 18, of the present year. There I found letters
awaiting me, from Jephson, of the most startling charac-
ter. He, of course, had been expecting us back to the
Lake for some time.
"Eminand Jephson had been visiting all the stations
left to the Pasha on the Nile, reading to the garrisons
the message I had brought to Emin, and to them, from
the Khedive. The Khedive's message left it optional
with the officers and soldiers to leave the province with
us or not. If they returned to Egypt they were to be
confirmed in any rank Emin had bestowed upon them,
and to receive all back pay due. If they remained, they
need not expect any further support or assistance from
the Egyptian Government. Jephson and Emin had
made out a number of duplicates of the Khedive's letter
to distribute to the garrisons, and one of these copies
very promptly found its way into the hands of the
Mahdi, and was sent to Gen. Grcnfell at Assouan to be
palmed off as the original letter, in proof that we were
all in the hands of Omar Saleh. We learned about
this letter incident and other things from the news-
papers found at Msalala.
" ' For God's sake come, or we shall all be annihilated ! '
read one of Mr. Jephson's letters. ' If you get here by
Dec. 16 you may possibly be able to save us.' A later
letter read : ' If you get here by Dec. 30 it may not be
too late; but if it is, kindly say farewell to my friends
in England.'
MEETING STANLEY. 249
"One of these letters had been sent from Wadelai by
a native in a canoe ; the last had come in the same way
from Tunguru, a small island or peninsula at the entrance
of the Nile, to which Emin, Jephson, Casati and a few
people had retreated.
"I immediately sent a native in a canoe with a letter
for Jephson, giving him the most peremptory orders I
could frame into words, to immediately come away and
join us. If he couldn't come, then to send me word
how, and in what manner, I could best come to his res-
cue. In response Jephson managed to escape in a canoe,
and from him I learned the whole story of the past
nine months — of the fight at Dufile, the desertion of
nearly all Emin's troops at Wadelai, and of how the
Egyptian ofificers were humbugging the Pasha and
secretly conspiring with the Mahdists to capture us all.
I then sent a final letter to Emin, suggesting, that if he
wished to join us, I would make a night attack or send
picked men in canoes to his rescue, or offering to act
on any suggestions from himself.
"Well, in a few days Emin, several Egyptian officers
and fifty soldiers came to us in the last of Emin's little
steamers that had not fallen into the enemy's hands.
Emin was a sort of cover or decoy in these people's
hands, though you couldn't convince him of it probably
even now. They had come in to size us up and to
learn all about us. They were afraid to come in with-
out Emin, because they knew I would immediately
have clapped them in irons as hostages for his appear-
ance. Their idea in bringing Emin was to deceive
us simply, as they had deceived Emin. Emin believed
these miscreants had repented of their many acts of
250 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
treachery, and returned to their allegiance to him.
They pretended they wanted to leave with us, and
begged for time to return to Wadelai and gather up
their people and effects.
"We let them take the steamer back to Wadelai. Of
course I wanted to give all of Emin's people, who
desired to come out with us, a chance to come in, and
for this purpose we camped at Kavali, at the south-
west corner of the Albert Nyanza, from Feb. 14 to
May 8. To this camp Emin's people began to flock in.
Among these ofificers, Jephson pointed out to me rebels
who were known to have been plotting against him.
We kept a sharp eye on these gentlemen, and soon dis-
covered that they were tampering with our men, and
conspiring against us in our own camp. I at once had
the ring-leader put under arrest. On him we found
incriminating correspondence, proving conclusively that
he was in the Mahdist plot to capture us all. At this
time I was about reduced to a skeleton by my second
attack of gastritis. I ordered a court-martial to try him.
He was found guilty on every count. I was in my
tent on the flat of my back, so weak and emaciated that
I couldn't sit up. I made them prop me up in a chair
outside, however, and I swallowed a bracing tonic to
strengthen me to the task of pronouncing sentence on
this villain. I determined to make such an example
of him that there would be no further conspiracy in our
camp at any rate.
"They brought him before me. The people stood
round in silence. I looked at him and mustered what
little strength I had to address him : — *We came
through a thousand difficulties, and have risked our
MEETIiVG STANLEY. 251
lives a hundred times, to save and succor you, and
now, in return for all we have passed through for your
sake, what do you do? You conspire in our own camp
to have us taken as slaves to Khartoum! A court-
martial of white men and of your own comrades has
given you a fair trial, and you have been found guilty
on every count — depart to God !'
"The people were so wrought upon by these words,
and the whole scene," said Mr. Stanley, "that they
rushed at him and seized him.
" 'What shall we do with him?' they shouted. 'What
shall we do with him?'
" 'To God with him ! — take him to God !' and I
pointed to the limb of a tree,
"The next minute a rope was around his neck, and a
hundred willing hands were hauling him up, running
away with the rope.
" 'Now you see,* I cried, addressing the rest of the
Egyptians, 'there will be no coaxing, no patting on the
back with me. I'll hang every traitor among you I
can lay hands on !' "
Several magazine articles have been written on "Stan-
ley's character." There is a whole volume, however,
in this scene of sentencing the Egyptian conspirator to
death. What a triumph of the will over physical
weakness !
"Why had Emin's people mutinied while you were
away bringing up the rear column?"
"They simply didn't wish to leave and return to
Egypt, and at the prospect of the Mahdist triumph their
idea was, of course, to curry favor with the Khalifa by
delivering up Emin and Jephson. They were holding
25 2 SCOUTING FOR STAN LEV.
Emin and Jephson, awaiting events. Emin's Egyptian
officers were a set of blackguards who had been exiled
from Egypt 'for their country's good.' If they returned
to Egypt with us, they would have to fall in line again
and attend to discipline. Here they did very much as
they pleased. They knew no discipline ; they led an
idle, luxurious life, with houses full of wives and con-
cubines, plenty to eat, and all under the Pasha's mild
and considerate rule.
"They were attached to the Pasha and he to them,
but you know what attachment means among these
Easterns, these Africans. On the part of the people
it simply means the attachment of self-interest, no more,
no less. As soon as they thought it would be to their
interest to desert the Pasha for the Mahdi, they not
only took the side on which self-interest lay, but were
even willing to curry favor with the Mahdi by deliver-
ing up to him, in chains, their faithful and devoted
Governor, and the wdiite men who had come to their
relief."
"We were all expecting you to come out at Mom-
basa, through Masai-land. I suppose you found it im-
possible to come that way?
"Well, hardly impossible, perhaps. But we should
have been compelled to wait on the Albert Nyanza
five months longer before we could have ventured on
that road. The season was wrong when we were ready
to return. Masai-land, too, would have been a terrible
country to have attempted with these women and chil-
dren. No food to be had but meat, and water scarce
and bad. I'm afraid we should have had a sorry rem-
nant on hand when we reached Mombasa. I simply
MEETING STANLEY. i%%
chose the road I thought the best to bring the people
out on ; the road on which I knew food and water
could be obtained."
"What about that snowy mountain to the west of
the Albert Nyanza, which you thought in your letters
might turn out to be the Gordon Bennett Mountain in
Gambaragara?"
"It isn't the Gordon Bennett Mountain. In my
opinion, we discovered in that mountain, or range, the
old 'mythical' Mountains of the Moon. The range is
crescent-shaped, or the shape of the new moon. My
theory is that it derives its name from this shape. We
were in poor condition at the time, or we should have
made an expedition to the summit. Lieut. Stairs went
up nearly ii,ooo feet, and as near as we could ascer-
tain, without making an ascent, the snowy summit
must be between 18,000 and 19, 000 feet high. It
would have been interesting to have decided whether
this or Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Equatorial
Africa."
"How many of Emin's people did you bring away?"
"We waited at Kavali, at the southwest corner of
the Albert Lake, nearly three months for Emin's people
to come in. By May 8, five hundred and seventy were
collected and started with us. There are now left two
hundred and eighty.
"Of our people, we have one hundred and seventy-
eight left of the six hundred and twenty-six we took
from Zanzibar. The mortality of the expedition has
been very great, chiefly in the Yambuya and Banalya
camps, and in the great Congo Forest country. Out of
thirteen Somali askari we took with us, only one is left.
254 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
Out of sixty-two Soudanese we have only twelve.
Neither Soudanese nor Somalis are fit for long inland
expeditions. Somalis are capital boatmen, and Sou-
danese do very well, indeed, for campaigning in districts
near the coast, but neither can stand the drag of such
an experience as we have just passed through. With
all their faults, Zanzibaris are the best people for big
African expeditions."
Would this be Mr. Stanley's last African expedition?
"Well, you know," he replied, "we always say so
every time we leave Africa, but we always come back
again, and keep coming back again, till we die, if there
is anything left to be done. Look at Livingstone."
CHAPTER XVII.
IN Stanley's camps.
1 FOUND Mr. Stanley an interesting man to listen
to, and in no wise averse to a friendly chat. He
is, in fact, heard at his best when his talk is voluntary
and not in reply to direct questions.
From Msuwa all journeyed together to Bagamoyo,
except Baron von Gravenreuth and his military expe-
dition, whose business was to subjugate the Mafiti,
farther inland. Our journey from Msuwa to Bagamoyo
was an interesting and picturesque one. Day by day,
on the march, the author had opportunity to observe
something of the daily life of camp and trail and of
Stanley's methods. The explorer was quartered in a
green water-proof tent about eighteen or twenty feet
square. It is well known that Stanley considers a
comfortable, water-proof, roomy tent a very necessary
thing to have in Africa. It seemed to the writer, that
a little forethought on Mr. Stanley's part, on behalf of
his young officers, who had not had the same experi-
ence to guide them, would not have been out of place.
Their tents might very well have been about three
times larger than they were. Each one had a very
small separate tent.
Emin Pasha had a roomy, very good tent, and beside
it was pitched another equally comfortable, in which
were housed three Egyptian women and the Pasha's
little daughter, Farida.
255
256 SCOUTIXG FOR STANLEY.
On the march from camp to camp Stanley and his
choice following of picked pegazis and soldiers, cut a
picturesque and prominent figure in the long proces-
sion of nearly a thousand people in Indian file on the
winding African road. Thirty or forty men of the ex-
pedition had been rewarded with flaming red blankets
for good service, and had been promoted by Stanley
to the honor of carrying his tent and personal effects.
Stanley rode a very good donkey, which was presided
over by a young man with a red turban, red knee-
breeches, and red shirt, and who seemed particularly
proud of the exalted position to which he had, on
his personal merits, climbed. Behind the donkey
streamed the great explorer's red-blanket brigade,
with boxes, tent, etc., on their heads, and with the red
blankets proudly trailing to their heels behind. This
scarlet brigade, with Mr. Stanley on his donkey in the
lead, hurried along, passing the others, as a fast train
passes a slow one, and usually reached camp in ad-
vance. If the sun was shining, Stanley hoisted a big,
greenish umbrella. The rest of Stanley's people were
divided into companies or divisions, of which each offi-
cer had command, and was responsible for certain
goods.
Of the Europeans, Stanley, Emin, Casati, Jephson
and Bonny rode donkeys; Parke, Stairs and Nelson
walked. Parke had never ridden a step of the way
across Africa. Two picked carriers conveyed Emin
Pasha's little girl in a litter, and of the Egyptian and
mongrel women, some rode donkeys, some walked,
and some were carried on stretchers.
Men and women carried infants on their shoulders,
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 257
though not always, for one of the sad sights of the
daily march was poor Httle picaninnies of six or seven
years old, sore-footed and weary, hobbling along and
crying all the time to be carried. What a time it must
have been to these small miserables, trudging along,
day after day, on the endless road, thirsty, hungry, tired,
stubbing sore toes, stepping on a thorn now and then,
weeping and snuffling, losing sight of their mothers if
they had any, jostled and passed by rude, brutish men,
who wished them dead and out of the way — poor little
wretches !
Then there were Wanyamwezi porters bringing ivory,
who had joined the caravan for safety to the coast ;
Emin's Egyptian officers, and a motley assortment of
negresses from the Equatorial Province, wives and con-
cubines of the officers and soldiers, some in the primi-
tive costumes of their country and tribe, others wearing
clothes. Altogether these various elements must have
swelled the total to near a thousand souls.
Owing to the admirable arrangement of Major Wiss-
mann, who detailed an officer and a certain number of
soldiers and carriers to escort Stanley, and provide for
his comfort, from Mpwapwa to Bagamoyo, coffee and
light refreshments were always ready for Stanley upon
his arrival in a new camp. "Sheikh" Schmidt was this
excellent officer's name, and the author testifies to the
able manner in which he carried out Wissmann's wishes,
having more than once been indebted to him for an
opportune bite and sup.
And so our interesting cavalcade marched seaward,
from camp to camp, and at Kikoka our ears were
greeted by the distant boom of the sunset gun at Baga-
258 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
moyo. Stanley's people danced and sang with joy at
the familiar sound of a cannon-boom. Some of them
sat up all night singing and dancing, so that they would
hear the morning gun also, and so reassure themselves
that there was no mistake.
It was »a time of great feasting and merrymaking,
those few last days of the great expedition. "Better
late than never" was never more aptly illustrated than
on the occasion of the arrival of the Emin Relief Com-
mittee's caravan. Think of two hundred loads of pro-
visions reaching this mob but three marches from Baga-
moyo ! Stanley and his officers hardly knew what to
do with the things. Black-skinned Goths and Vandals
were seen running about the camp with tins of sweet
biscuits, bottles of pickles, pots of marmalade and jam,
tins of meat, cheese and other good dainties from that
^■egion of the blest "Ulaya," eating, handing them
about, dividing, swapping, rioting, reveling, as never
negroes did before in Africa, surely. Stanley pre-
sented my runners with a whole load of rice — sixty
pounds — which they lugged into Bagamoyo to their
homes the following day.
In the camps, over pipes, of an evening, Mr. Stanley
said a great deal to me that was of peculiar interest.
In speaking about other African travelers and explorers,
and their views and expressions concerning the Dark
Continent and its people, he said :
"It is astonishing to me how few the people are who
come to Africa, and wish to be considered travelers,
explorers and the Lord only knows what, who take
the trouble to try and understand the African. They
find it so much easier to read other people's opinion's
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 259
out of books, and to echo the words that seem to them
most Hkely to be true, or nearest the truth. As a gen-
eral thing you will find the man who has studied the
African the least, the most emphatic in his declarations
concerning him. There is nothing surprising in this,
however; it is simply a phase of the old worn adage
that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, applied
to Africa."
One evening the conversation turned on the subject
of people keeping or breaking their promises. This is
the sort of theme that a man of Stanley's character
enjoys. His face assumed a look of calm relish, and he
at once dropped into a bantering vein of quiet sarcasm
at the expense of nearly everybody present, as well as
a few people who were not with us in the flesh.
"It's curious," said Stanley, "but hardly anybody ever
keeps promises but me. In an African expedition it
would make all the difference in the world if people
could be depended on to keep their promises ; and the
results of their failure to do so are often most disas-
trous. Now, take the case of the Pasha (Emin) there,
and Jephson. When I left them, on our second visit to
the Albert Nyanza, to return for the rear column, they
both promised very readily, and without hesitation,
that they would come away in a couple of months or
so, and retire to Fort Bodo to meet me there — but they
didn't come.
"Bartellott, Jamieson, Ward, Troupe, and Bonny,
too — they promised to follow on after me with the rear
column; but they didn't. The result was that I had
to retrace my steps all through the terrible Congo
Forest, clear to Banalya, Tippoo Tib promised to
26o SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
supply six hundred carriers; he also broke his promise.
Nearly everybody does the same.
"Now," continued Stanley, with the same sly humor,
and a bantering glance all round the table, "I always
keep my promises ; and don't understand me to mean
by that that I'm a superior sort of being to the rest of
you. My methods are different, that's all there is to
it. The difference between me and most other people
is that I never commit myself to a promise unless I
know positively beforehand that I shall be able to ful-
fill it. And it isn't that other people are not sincere
when they make these promises ; the trouble is that
they are too free in making them. It is so very easy
to make promises, you know — so very easy. It was a
simple, easy thing, for instance, for the Pasha and Mr.
Jephson to promise to meet me in a couple of months
at Fort Bodo. But if I had been in the Pasha's place
I should never have made it, because I should have
known, as he ought to have known, that it was quite
impossible to say, at that time, whether or no such a
promise could be kept."
Mr. Stanley said, also, that he believes that in every
profession and every walk of life, simple, straightfor-
ward truth always triumphs over falsehood and deceit.
He is a great admirer, in this connection, of Bismarck.
He said that the secret of the German Chancellor's
success as a statesman and diplomat is that he never
dissimulates — never lies. Instead of telling lies or
twisting the truth to beguile and dupe the diplomats
of other countries, Stanley said Bismarck always tells
the simple truth, and says exactly A\hat he means.
The others don't believe him, — as Bismarck very well
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 261
knows they will not — and so deceive themselves and
spare the Iron Chancellor the trouble and the odium
of deceiving them. By this simple plan Bismarck
arrives at the same ends as if he puzzled his brains and
weaved foxy webs for the entrapment of his opponents.
An adept in dry humor, Mr. Stanley's observations
on the fair sex were always interesting, often very
amusing. Said he one evening: "Although I admire
the ladies very much indeed, somehow I have never
been successful with them. I've explored Africa with
success, but have never yet learned the secret of
exploring the female heart. I don't know why I
shouldn't be a success with them, I'm sure. They are
always greatly interested in my conversation: I'm
still a young man; nobody can say I'm not good-look-
ing ; and in many other respects I compare favorably
with men who have been markedly successful among
the ladies; but I have always fallen short of success.
"Now, there's Bonny, for instance. What there is
about him for women to admire particularly I never
could see, yet he's been married three times. I suppose
it's fate. Yes, it must be fate, because my own efforts
to secure a better half have been ably seconded by any
number of influential friends, and not one of them has
been able to get me married off.
"I thought I'd made a capture once," Stanley went
on to explain. "It was aboard an Atlantic steamer. I
was going across to New York. The captain, with
whom I was well acquainted, was a great friend of mine.
His great delight was to get me seated next to him and
get me to tell stories of my African experiences. Well,
on this occasion, I sat on his right, and opposite me, on
262 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
his left, was a very charming young woman. She was
strikingly handsome and looked very lovable, and all
that. She seemed as delighted as my friend the cap-
tain was, at my stories of African adventure. I, at the
same time, was charmed with her. With me it was a
case of love at first sight. The captain introduced us
to one another, and for several days my suit seemed to
progress swimmingly. She seemed to have eyes and
ears for none but me.
"My next neighbor to the left was a young fellow,
all collars and cuffs, who didn't seem to have two ideas
in his head, and had never achieved anything more
heroic than smoking cigarettes and wearing an eye-
glass. Well, this youth hardly ever said a word at the
table, but one day at dinner he happened to remark
that he knew how to make an exceptionally good salad.
At the mention of salad the angelic young fairy oppo-
site immediately dropped all interest in what I was
saying to her, and bestowed her attentions on him.
Very well; the young man was not blind to this dis-
play of interest in his salad, and that evening had a
dish of it prepared and invited her to help him eat it.
The end of it all was that she cruelly threw mc over,
and shortly after reaching New York married a person
wdiose sole recommendation, so far as I could sec, was
that he knew how to make a good salad, and whose
accomplishments consisted in wearing an eye-glass and
puffing cigarettes."
We may fairly assume that Mr. Stanley's want of
\ success with the ladies is all owing to his love for the
\ Albert Nyanza, and his consequent failure to be present
\ in the flesh to take advantage of his opportunities.
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 263
But coming down to a serious understanding of the
great explorer's case, it was quite evident to the writer
that Stanley is chivalrous above the age in which he
lives. In spite of his little story of the dude and the
salad, our illustrious entertainer would never have got
any further along with the young lady in the case than
making himself agreeable. He would have been too
scared to have seriously sought her hand, simply be-
cause she was young and beautiful. Mr. Stanley thinks
a lovely young woman a sort of wingless angel — a supe-
rior being who was made for rough man to admire at
a respectful distance, but not to be approached too
closely without sacrilege.
Stanley then went on to qualify his previous remarks
by admitting that he could get along very well with
old ladies, though not with young ones.
"The young women will never take me seriously,"
he said. "When I talk seriously they wont believe
that I am sincere. They expect nonsense ; moonshine
is not in my line, and so in the end I have to take
refuge with their mothers or grandmothers."
The great hero of African exploration is understood,
by those who know the inside story of his life, to have
had several romantic attachments.
The author, who was hospitably assigned by Mr.
Stanley to the mess of Lieutenant Stairs and Mr. Jeph-
son, also had many talks with all the young ofificers of
the Expedition. Their opinions of Mr. Stanley, as giv-
ing us an insight into his remarkable character, were of
peculiar interest and value.
This was the first time that Stanley had had the
good fortune to bring any of his European assistants
264 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
out of Africa with him. When he went in search of
Dr. Livingstone, in 1871, his two European aides, Shaw
and Farquhar, died, and the then almost unknown
young newspaper correspondent came out alone. His
next African adventure was the expedition "Through
the Dark Continent." Three young Englishmen ac-
companied him on that journey, Frank and Edward
Pocock and Frederick Barker. Frank Pocock died at
Suna, on the Ujiji road, two months after leaving
Bagamoyo; Barker died after two hours' severe illness
at Zagehyi, at the south end of the Victoria Nyanza,
and Edward Pocock was drowned in the Congo River.
Thus a second time Stanley emerged from the interior
of the Dark Continent without any of the white assist-
ants he had taken with him.
This time, however, white men came out of Africa
with Stanley, superior men, gentlemen of position and
education for the most part ; volunteers serving with-
out pay, and even paying something, some of them, for
the privilege of serving.
"Stanley is one of the most remarkable men I ever
met," said Stairs. "He is the hardest man to under-
stand that any of us ever came in contact with or ever
expect to. There's no place like an African expedition
to reveal men's natures one to another; but although
we have served with Stanley now close on to three
years, there is not one of us that would venture to say
we know Stanley thoroughly. Now, I know Jephson
and Parke and Nelson by this time, as well as I know
myself. Every trait of their characters, every side of
their natures, has been revealed to me over and over
again, and I suppose I have revealed myself without
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 265
reserve in the same way to each of them. That is quite
a natural consequence of the exceptional conditions
under which we have Hved together and worked to-
gether for the past three years, and because we are
possessed of ordinary natures, in the sense that we are
fathomable.
"But Stanley's is not an ordinary nature, not a
character that is to be met with any day. He is a
wonderful man. Not one of us believes that there is
another man in existence who would have made a suc-
cess of this expedition. We had confidence in Stanley,
of course, from the beginning; otherwise I, for one,
should never have volunteered, but now, in the light of
long experience, the way he has pulled us through all
difificulties is a revelation. We, of course, have done
our duty, as Stanley himself will not deny, and by so
doing have contributed our share towards the success
of the enterprise."
"What about Stanley's treatment of you and your
ofificers? Is he a considerate man? I've heard the
opinion, more than once, that Stanley wouldn't bring
one of you out of Africa. You are the first Europeans,
you, know, that he has ever brought out."
Stairs — and Jephson, who was sitting by, laughed.
"I guess we've been too tough for him," he replied.
"There have been times when we have thought Stan-
ley a harsh, unfeeling man, who had no sympathy for
the sufferings of others, and was bent on working us to
death. I have seen days when, if I could have had the
ear of the public at home, I should have felt inclined to
vent, in the columns of the paper, some grievances that
seemed very real, I can assure you, at the moment.
266 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
But now it is all over, I can look back and see that Stan-
ley was right. Without the hard, exacting w^ork we
should never have pulled through, and Stanley's seem-
ing harshness never goes beyond the point necessary for
the success of the undertaking he is engaged in. It is
a great point to have a leader in whom you have confi-
dence. It is the same on an African expedition as with
an army in the field. The soldier who has confidence in
his General will go through twice as much as the man
who feels that he is relying on a reed that may break
and bring disaster. Our success is due, very largely, to
the feeling that, come what might, Stanley's judgment
could be depended on. This feeling of confidence has
kept up our spirits under the most trying circumstances,
and has enabled us to triumph over fevers, starvation
and all the rest of it."
Lieut. Stairs, when asked if he would go on another
African expedition, said it would depend altogether on
what it was. He thought it would be interesting to
make an expedition to the summit of the new snowy
mountain Ruenzorj, and further explore .the region to
the west, southwest and northwest of the Albert
Nyanza and Albert Edward Nyanza ; but said, if he
ever again went into Africa, it would be as com-
mander of an expedition. A subordinate position in
an African expedition is trying to a European at the
best, and the next time he would go as chief, or not
at all.
From the writer's knowledge of what Stanley thinks
of his chief officer's capabilities, the probability is, that
in the event of another important African expedition,
if Lieut. Stairs is ambitious to engage in it, he will
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 267
stand a fair chance of taking command on Stanley's
recommendation.
Surgeon Parke is a young medical officer in the
British army. Like Stairs, he had to obtain leave of
absence for the purpose of joining the expedition, and
he was also a volunteer serving without pay. He is a
native of Dublin, and has won the distinction of being
the first Irishman to cross the Dark Continent. Ireland
couldn't have been more honorably represented in this
gallant enterprise than by Surgeon Parke. Parke also'
enjoys the distinction of never having been carried a
foot of the way across Africa.
When the author mentioned to him -his satisfaction
at Mr. Stanley's robust appearance, Surgeon Parke
replied that the great explorer was less robust than he
looked. "Mr. Stanley commenced his African career
with an iron constitution," he said, "or he would have
been a dead man years ago. Whatever anybody may
say about Stanley, I am a witness from whom you can
say that, in trying times and situations that called for
the exertions of the whole strength of the expedition,
Mr. Stanley never spared himself any more than he did
any of us. Few men could have gone through what
Stanley has in the past twenty years — fever, more than
a hundred attacks, starvation and all the train of African
ills — and have been alive and in reasonably good health
and preservation to-day."
Surgeon Parke agreed with Stairs that their leader
was a remarkable man, a man whom many people would
be sure to misunderstand, simply because he is not
ordinary. Parke said Stanley is in reality a tender-
268 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
hearted man, though stern and uncompromising where
the performance of duty is concerned.
According to this now famous young Irish officer,
Stanley can steel his heart until there seems no atom
of pity or consideration for others left in him, one day,
and can be as tender as a woman the next. "When-
ever there was important work to be done, so long as
we could totter on our feet, half-dead perhaps with
fever, Stanley demanded from us our last gasp of
energy and strength. But the strain of the situation
over, Stanley was himself again — a kindly, though
never effusive, soul."
Nelson had a curious account to give of the dwarfs
of the Congo Forest. He described them as the ugliest
and most depraved specimens of humanity he ever heard
of. "They struck me as the dark and forbidding crea-
tures of a bad nightmare," he said, "rather than actual
human beings, when we first saw them. Oh, they're a
bad lot, I can tell you. Sometimes we struck a district
where they seemed a trifle less wild, or more confident,
and they used to come in swarms to the camp. They
had never seen a white man before.
"The most disagreeable thing about them was their
guilty, sneaking expression. They are cannibals, and
it always seemed to me that they came into our
camp for the purpose of feasting their eyes on us, as
a pack of hungry dogs might gaze longingly at a leg
of mutton. They could never look us in the face. I
have felt their baleful gaze on me, as I sat at my tent
door, and the moment that I looked, all eyes would
instantly be dropped. But I liave detected them sizing
up the others, and fairly licking their chaps. It used
IN STANLEY'S CAMPS. 269
to make my flesh creep. They used to pay more atten-
tion to Jephson than any of us. We were none of us
overburdened with brawn in those days, but Jephson is
of plumper build than any of the others, hence his
popularity with these impish cannibals. They admired
Jephson because they saw, at a glance, that he would cut
up into more steaks and better rib-roasts than the
others."
Nelson also told an amusing story of Jephson's
attempt one day to capture one of these small aborig-
ines single-handed. They were in a pathless stretch of
forest and needed a guide to show the way. The
column was picking its way along, Indian file, Jephson
in the lead, when a lone dwarf suddenly confronted
him. The meeting was quite unexpected on both sides,
and both were for the moment too astonished to move.
Remembering that he wanted a guide, and seeing the
manikin about to flee, however, Jephson made a grab
for him. The dwarf, utterly naked, wriggled away and
darted into the bush. Jephson went in after him, and
gave hot chase. The dwarf sped towards a ravine, Jeph-
son at his heels, and gaining on him at every jump.
Just as the precipitous edge of the ravine was reached,
Jephson made a final dart to secure his prey. The
agile little fellow, however, without a moment's hesita-
tion, tumbled recklessly head over heels into the thick
undergrowth of the ravine. Jephson sprang after him,
and for a minute Briton and gnome were rolling, tumb-
ling and dodging among the dense growth of the ravine;
but the dwarf was in his element and was not to be
caught. Jephson returned to the column and said if it
2 70 SCOUTING FOR STANLEY.
had been a monkey he might have caught it; but
he would never again try to run down a Wambutti
dwarf.
Capt. Nelson swears by Stanley; but, like Stairs, will
lead the next African expedition he becomes interested
in, or stay at home and give others a chance to obey
orders, do their duty and become famous.
Mr. Mounteney Jephson is a young gentleman who
paid a thousand . pounds into the Emin Relief Fund
for the privilege of serving in the expedition. He and
poor Jamieson were the two who paid money as well
as gave their services.
By the time the expedition reached Bagamoyo, Mr.
Jephson thought he had received, considering every-
thing, a lumping thousand pounds' worthy of experi-
ence. He wasn't quite certain whether he would have
given that sum for it had he known all about it in ad-
vance. Mr. Jephson, however, won laurels enough to
last him many years.
Some of Stanley's ofHcers complained that he always
picked out the best men for carrying his own tent, kit,
provisions, etc., and to attend to his personal require-
ments; and Mr. Bonny says that after he had picked
out a raw youth and trained him to wait on him, and
had with no end of trouble made a valuable servant
out of him, Stanley cooly "promoted" him to his own
service. But all agreed that their commander fared no
better than the rest of them when food was scarce and
bad. Stories have also gone the round of the papers
that Stanley's policy on iiis expeditions has been to
secure the attachment of his followers by allowing them
to plunder and work their will among the nati>'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.
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