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 GAETANO CASATI
 
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 in. 
 
 ITALIAN EXPLORERS 
 
 - i 
 
 IN AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 SOFIA BOMPIANI 
 
 WITH MANY PORTRAITS 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 
 
 56 PATERNOSTER ROW, 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD 
 AND 164 PICCADILLY
 
 865 
 
 HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE substance of these sketches appeared in the 
 Leisure Hour in the years 1888 and 1890. At 
 that time they were the first connected account of 
 Italian Exploration in Africa which had appeared 
 in this country. The suggestion was made in the 
 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society that 
 they would serve a useful purpose if reprinted. 
 With this object in view the author has carefully 
 revised and in several cases considerably enlarged 
 the original sketches. Resident in Rome, she has 
 had special opportunities of access to the records 
 of the Italian Geographical Society, and for con- 
 sulting other reliable sources of information. It 
 is hoped that the list of portraits, which is as 
 complete as it could be made, will give additional 
 value to the volume.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION n 
 
 II. GIOVANNI MIANI 14 
 
 III. CARLO PIAGGIA . 21 
 
 IV. ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT ... 27 
 
 V. DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI .... 43 
 
 VI. ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS . . .-4 
 
 VII. CECCHI AND CHIARINI AMONG THE EQUATORIAL 
 
 LAKES 71 
 
 VIII. DR. TRAVERSI 91 
 
 IX. RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS IN NORTH-EASTERN 
 
 AFRICA 101 
 
 X. CARDINAL MASSAJA 117 
 
 XI. PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER AND ITALIAN MIS- 
 SIONARY ENTERPRISE 126 
 
 XII. COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA 139 
 
 XIII. GIACOMO DI BRAZZA, ATTILIO PECILE, AND 
 
 PIETRO ANTONELLI 154 
 
 XIV. GIUSEPPE HAIMANN AND GIACOMO BOVE . . 162 
 
 XV. LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI'S JOURNEY ACROSS 
 
 LIBYA . 169 
 
 XVI. GAETANO CASATI 183
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 GAETANO CAS ATI Frontispiece 
 
 GIOVANNI MIANI IN ARAB COSTUME .... 14 
 
 CARLO PIAGGIA 21 
 
 ROMOLO GESSI 27 
 
 PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI 43 
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI 54 
 
 MENILEK 56 
 
 THE QUEEN OF SHOA 71 
 
 ANTONIO CECCHI 77 
 
 CHIARINI 82 
 
 GUSTAVUS BlANCHI IOI 
 
 CAPTAIN GIULIETTI 102 
 
 CARLO COCASTELLI DI MONTIGLIO 104 
 
 COUNT SALIMBENI 109 
 
 MAJOR PIANO 113 
 
 COUNT TANCREDI SAVOIROUX 115 
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA 117 
 
 G. P. WEITZECKER 126 
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA 139 
 
 GIACOMO DI BRAZZA 154 
 
 COUNT PIETRO ANTONELLI 158 
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI 169
 
 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE history of Italian explorations in Africa 
 during the past twenty years is an index of the 
 vigorous life which animates the nation now united 
 under a just and progressive government. 
 
 It was not enough to blend in one the seven 
 states into which il bel paese had been divided ; 
 to wrest from the Pope his temporal power ; to 
 restore the finances ; establish schools ; create an 
 army, and teach a common language to the 
 dialect-speaking inhabitants, from Venice to Sicily ; 
 but Italians have tracked the waves of the Eastern 
 and Western oceans, explored the icy regions of 
 the North, tried to solve the enigmas of the 
 Antarctic Continent, and laid down their noble 
 lives in the malarious forests and burning deserts 
 of Africa. 
 
 Exalted rivalry with England and America 
 the models of young Italy impelled them to 
 undertake these explorations. They knew that 
 Africa beguiled them to exile and death ; but the
 
 12 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 yet undiscovered lakes, the frowning mountains, 
 the unknown rivers, attracted them and inspired 
 them with ambition to plant the Italian banner 
 and leave their own names inscribed on some part 
 of the Dark Continent. 
 
 After the great explorations of Livingstone, 
 Stanley, Cameron, and Nachtigal, a new phase of 
 African exploration began ; and fresh impulse was 
 given to it by the foundation of the International 
 African Society by the King of Belgium, which 
 proposed to explore Equatorial, Central, and 
 Eastern Africa, Abyssinia, and the country of 
 the Somali. 
 
 This region between the White Nile and Cape 
 Guardafui, including the basin of the Blue Nile, 
 the peninsula of the Somali and Shoa, which is a 
 part of Abyssinia, has chiefly engaged the atten- 
 tion of Italian explorers since 1875. 
 
 Antinori, Cecchi, Chiarini, Piaggia, Gessi, 
 Matteucci, Bianchi, and Martini, not only aimed 
 to found a station in the Shoa and open routes of 
 commerce from there to the coast, but to penetrate 
 south-west to the equatorial lakes over a region 
 even yet unexplored. 
 
 But this was not the only sphere of action for 
 the Italian explorers. 
 
 Long before the expedition sent out by the 
 Roman Geographical Society, in 1875, Miani had 
 penetrated to the heart of Africa, and left his 
 wearied frame to repose in Mambettu. Romolo 
 Gessi, later, as an officer of the Egyptian Army, 
 under heroic Gordon, ascended the White Nile, 
 and fought a knightly battle for the extinction of
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 slavery. Piaggia lived alone among the savages 
 of Niam-Niam; and Matteucci and Massari crossed 
 the continent in a south-westerly direction from 
 the Red Sea to the mouth of the Niger. 
 
 Princes and peasants of Italy gave their sons to 
 solve the mighty secrets of a land so near that it 
 almost touches the southern coast of Sicily, and 
 yet so utterly unknown ; white-bearded old men 
 went out to end their days in the enchanting 
 wildernesses ; some were enslaved, some were 
 imprisoned and starved on the Nile by the long- 
 armed aquatic plants ; some bore the germs of 
 fatal diseases to the borders of home, and died on 
 the very threshold of glory.
 
 a 
 
 GIOVANNI MIANI IN ARAB COSTUME. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GIOVANNI MIANI. 
 
 BEFORE Speke discovered Lake Victoria, the 
 source of the Nile, Giovanni Miani the Venetian 
 had penetrated to within a few miles of it, and left 
 his name carved upon a giant tamarind-tree. 
 Under this tree he held counsel with the natives, 
 \vho, instead of telling him, as they afterwards told 
 Speke and Baker, that the Nile, or Meri, issued 
 from a great lake a few days' march beyond, gave 
 him false information and diverted him from his 
 purpose of pressing onward. 
 
 Speke saw the name of Miani carved on the 
 tamarind-tree in his celebrated journey from
 
 GIOVANNI MIANI. 15 
 
 Zanzibar to the central lakes, and from them to 
 the Nile. 
 
 The life of Miani was one of sadness and 
 disappointment from the cradle to the grave. Born 
 near Venice in 1810, he was first a wood-carver, 
 then artist, then musician ; and when the events 
 of 1848 drew him into the vortex of political life, 
 he was exiled from Italy. This was the beginning 
 of his travels in Africa, which continued without 
 intermission until his death in 1872. 
 
 After many journeys in Lower Egypt, Miani, 
 in 1859 while noble-hearted Livingstone was 
 exploring in Southern Africa undertook his first 
 expedition up the Nile. But all of his companions 
 died of fever at Khartoum, and he was obliged to 
 seek others in that city, with whom he continued 
 the journey to Gondokoro and some distance 
 beyond. 
 
 He encountered perils from the hostility of the 
 savages, from the malarious climate, from the 
 rocks and terrible aquatic plants on the rivers, and 
 was finally compelled to return because his escort 
 refused to follow him. 
 
 Miani made a second and a third journey up the 
 Nile to catch elephants, procuring money for future 
 expeditions by the sale of the ivory. The last of 
 these journeys, from Gondokoro to the country of 
 the Galuffi, is one of the boldest explorations in 
 the Nile region, as he was obliged to open the way 
 for his people by force, through the lands of the 
 natives, and found the streams difficult to cross 
 on account of the rains. He lived in a continual 
 bath ; and fought a battle with a tribe of natives,
 
 1 6 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 killing the king. The extreme point he reached 
 (sixty miles from Lake Albert, a small lake 
 connected with Victoria) is marked on many maps 
 of the interior of Africa by the tamarind-tree upon 
 which he carved his name. Undaunted by the 
 ill-success of this expedition, Miani, on his return 
 to Cairo, organised another, and left for the Upper 
 Nile, but, from unknown causes, soon returned and 
 went to Europe, where he was welcomed by several 
 monarchs and decorated by Victor Emanuel. At 
 the age of fifty-nine he was nominated by the 
 Khedive Director of the Zoological Garden of 
 Khartoum, and might have ended his days there 
 in peace and luxury. But the desire for exploration 
 urged him to again ascend the mysterious river, 
 the sources of which had, in the meantime, been 
 in part, but not wholly, discovered by Speke, 
 Grant, and Baker. 
 
 The journey to Bakangoi, ten days beyond 
 Mambettu, undertaken when he was sixty-one 
 years of age and in very ill-health, considering his 
 age, infirmities, the difficulties of the way through 
 an unexplored region, and his limited means, is 
 one of the boldest on record, and ranks him among 
 the bravest of the African explorers. He left 
 Khartoum in company with some Vekils, or agents 
 of a commercial house, who went in search of 
 ivory. 
 
 They ill-treated, and on one occasion even 
 abandoned him in the midst of a cannibal tribe, 
 and when, to their surprise, he succeeded in 
 overtaking them, they exclaimed, ' Any other man 
 would have died if left as you were.' The loss of
 
 GIOVANNI MIANI. 1 7 
 
 a part of the copious notes and maps of Miani in 
 a fire, and of the remainder from the carelessness 
 of the Vekils, was fatal to his fame as an African 
 traveller. The few disconnected pages which 
 were brought back to Rome by a faithful native 
 are evidently only a small part of his observations. 
 The region traversed by Miani had not at that 
 time been visited by any European, as his road in 
 going to Mambettu was more to the east than 
 that taken afterwards by the German traveller 
 Schweinfurth. 
 
 The lost notes of his journey of four months with 
 the Vekils to the south and west of Mambettu are 
 those most lamented, as in this journey he visited 
 territory afterwards described by Livingstone and 
 Schweinfurth. 
 
 Although -Miani, deceived by the natives, failed 
 to discover Lake Albert, to which he was so near, 
 he yet on his map placed the source of the Nile 
 only three degrees east of the great Lake Victoria, 
 discovered by Speke, and below it wrote, ' If after 
 my death some honest man shall discover the 
 source of the Nile, to which I was so near, let him 
 at least say that I pointed it out.' Other notes 
 reveal the travail of his soul on these lonesome 
 and difficult journeys. ' Without great sacrifices 
 we cannot honour our country. The journey is 
 long, weary, terrible, and requires courage, strength, 
 constancy, means, and knowledge.' 
 
 This was the last journey of the intrepid old 
 man. Worn by the annoyances of the Vekils, and 
 distressed by the cruelties to the slaves which he 
 saw, Miani preferred to be left alone with only his 
 
 B 
 
 ,0
 
 1 8 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 loquacious parrots and mute dogs for company. 
 As he lay, weak and abandoned, under the shade 
 of the giant trees, his eyes were always turned in 
 the direction from which he expected another 
 company of Vekils, with whom he travelled the 
 last few months of his life. 
 
 Miani was admired by all the travellers who 
 have ventured into that part of Africa. Speke 
 and Baker mention him with enthusiastic praise, 
 and Schweinfurth, who knew him well, even calls 
 him a second Marco Polo. He died in November, 
 1872, at the village Numa, near the country of the 
 Niam-Niam, and was buried by his escort in a 
 grave which he himself had caused to be dug. 
 
 His last written words are sorrowful : ' I am 
 prostrated by the cough and fever, by the grief of 
 an unsuccessful journey, and the loss of magnificent 
 collections which the Vekils would not give me 
 men to carry. I have no more writing-paper. 
 My servants kiss my hands and say, " May God 
 preserve your life ! " Farewell, bright hopes ! 
 Farewell, Italy, for whose liberty I fought ! Is 
 there a recompense for such suffering? ' 
 
 The marvellous journey of Stanley, by which he 
 discovered the sources of the Congo and identified 
 it with the Lualaba of Livingstone, proved the 
 truth of Miani's observations made in the same 
 region five years before. The Sultan of Bakangoi 
 informed Miani that at the west of his kingdom 
 was a very large river called Birma-Macongo, 
 which, farther south, became a lake, upon the 
 shores of which lived the tribe Gango. or Congo. 
 
 The map made by Miani places this river in the
 
 GIOVANNI MIANI. 19 
 
 identical locality indicated by Stanley, who found 
 it there ten miles wide, with every appearance of 
 being a lake. 
 
 One of the objects of Miani, Schweinfurth, and 
 Piaggia was the collection or study of rare animals 
 and unknown races of men. They write to each 
 other to seek the flying-dog and the gorilla, and to 
 bring away, if possible, pigmies from Mambettu a . 
 The Vekils told Miani one day that they were 
 going to the land of the pigmies in search of ivory. 
 ' These words,' he said, ' made me forget all my 
 troubles.' Probably the account of this journey was 
 destroyed, but the fact of his having given his 
 watch for two boys is recorded, and these Akkas 
 were sent to Italy with the relics of his papers and 
 collections. They were adopted by a nobleman of 
 Verona, who had them instructed in the Italian 
 language and the elementary studies, as well a's in 
 music. They retained the characteristics of the 
 savage thoughtless mirth, malicious pleasure in 
 mimicking or annoying others, hatred at slight 
 provocation, and lying. One of these Akkas died 
 recently, but the other bids fair to have a long 
 life, and to endure the cold climate of the north 
 of Italy. They learned easily, but as quickly 
 forgot, remembering almost nothing of their native 
 language and country. 
 
 The German traveller Schweinfurth visited them 
 at Palazzo Minescalchi, in Verona, and again 
 expressed his conviction that they were specimens 
 of a race of about the size of the Esquimaux. 
 
 1 The Akka, called by the cannibal Niam-Niam, the Tikki-tikki 
 are pigmies, said by Schweinfurth to consist of twelve tribes. 
 
 B 2
 
 20 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Many ancient writers hinted at the existence of 
 pigmy tribes in the torrid region of Africa, near 
 the source of the Nile ; but until these Akkas were 
 found by Miani, and others afterwards by Schwein- 
 furth, these tales were considered fabulous, and 
 men of small stature were believed to exist only 
 in the Arctic regions. It is now certain that 
 pigmy tribes exist in the equatorial region of 
 Africa in the midst of a luxuriant nature and 
 beside peoples of ordinary stature.
 
 CARLO PIAGGIA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CARLO PIAGGIA. 
 
 AFTER Miani, one of the most attractive charac- 
 ters among the Italian explorers in Africa is Carlo 
 Piaggia. His love for the natives, and fearlessness 
 of them, and his romantic visit of twenty-six 
 months among the cannibal Niam-Niam, rank him 
 nearer Livingstone than any other Italian. He was 
 a martyr of science and an apostle of civilisation, 
 who, without special studies, succeeded by the 
 mere force of will and love of exploration in 
 winning admiration. Piaggia was born near Lucca, 
 in 1827, in a humble condition of life, and at the 
 age of twenty-two went to Africa in consequence 
 of a severe domestic affliction which rendered 
 home wearisome to his active spirit. In Egypt
 
 22 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 he exercised various manual arts, his skill in all of 
 which was afterwards useful in his lonely life among 
 the savages. At home he had been a miller, 
 afterwards in Alexandria he was a bookbinder, a 
 gardener, a hatter, and a carpet-maker ; but the 
 chase was his delight, and he made money by 
 killing rare animals and afterwards preparing them 
 for sale. In this way during his twenty-five years 
 of travel he defrayed nearly all his expenses, which, 
 compared with those of other travellers, were small. 
 Piaggia was an explorer by instinct, urged 
 on to privations and fatigues by an insatiable 
 longing to discover the secrets of Africa. His 
 principal journeys were made alone, with little 
 money, and without other object than study and 
 the hope of doing good to the natives, whom he 
 loved with paternal affection. Wherever he went 
 he left a reputation for goodness and modesty, 
 and was as much beloved by the cannibals of 
 Central Africa as by the learned of Europe. 
 Although he never had the culture of schools, his 
 knowledge was superior to that of many scientific 
 men, and his life during the explorations was a 
 continual study and fatigue. He made his shoes 
 from the skins of the buffalo, the rhinoceros, or 
 the elephant ; he made his hats, coats, and shirts ; 
 sharpened his arms, made keys, repaired guns, 
 built huts, made traps for lions or hippopotami, 
 and collections of plants, animals, and insects to 
 take back with him to Europe. His thin, sad, yet 
 benevolent face, and slightly bent and weary form, 
 told of those labours, of the tropical heats he had 
 borne, of the agony of expected death from savages
 
 CARLO PIAGGIA. 23 
 
 or lions, of the sadness of lonely evenings without 
 a light. He never voluntarily looked at his 
 emaciated arms and legs, and often said that he 
 journeyed with less impediment than any other 
 traveller, and that his shadow was thinner on 
 African soil. 
 
 In the long sojourn among the Africans he had 
 almost forgotten his native Tuscan, and having 
 from want of company acquired the habit of 
 thinking much and talking little, his speech was 
 not fluent. The adventures of a year would often 
 be condensed into fifty words simple, modest, but 
 vivid and true. 
 
 All his illustrations were drawn from the wild 
 life of the forest. ' I have seen dark days, dear 
 lady, and shed so many tears, that if they were all 
 together it would make much mud.' 
 
 This odd idea was only a remembrance of a baby 
 elephant that, when its mother was killed by the 
 hunter, stood still for many hours, groaning and 
 weeping till the earth all round was wet and 
 muddy. 
 
 Kindness was the means by which Piaggia, like 
 David Livingstone, won the hearts of the savages, 
 and he could at any time have returned to the 
 places where he had lived. His voice was soft, 
 but the heart within his fragile form was heroic. 
 At one time the savages, thinking him a wizard, 
 had determined to kill him. Seated upon the 
 trunk of a tree, with a tortured heart but unmoved 
 countenance, he reasoned with them in a strange 
 language from early morning till evening, con- 
 vincing them at last that they would lose more
 
 24 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 than they would gain by his death. They finally 
 concluded that he was innocent, and went away 
 without saluting ; while the poor traveller crept, 
 famished and worn, to his cabin, and threw himself 
 on the ground in a paroxysm of tears. 
 
 The most remarkable of his journeys was made 
 in 1863 to the country of the Niam-Niam, where 
 he was escorted by eighty Egyptian soldiers. 
 Having advanced, and asked hospitality of the 
 chief, Piaggia sent away the soldiers, and estab- 
 lished himself among these children of the forest, 
 with whom he remained alone twenty-six months. 
 His cabin was for days surrounded by the people, 
 as he was the first white man whom they had seen. 
 Their gestures and shouts of surprise when he 
 took off his shoes and showed his white feet, 
 when he lit a match, or sat down to write, were at 
 the same time pitiful and ludicrous. The women 
 especially showed curiosity, and often seated them- 
 selves in a circle around to study him. 
 
 ' Where did you come from, white man ? You 
 do not belong to the earth, because you are not 
 black. You must have come from the air ! ' 
 
 The gift of a piece of coloured muslin to a young 
 girl brought all the women around him to beg for 
 some article of dress, or even a bit of his own 
 costume. The sleeves of his coat, the pantaloons 
 below the knees, the pockets, the brim of his hat, 
 they thought were useless to him, and might serve 
 to dignify them. The time at last came when, the 
 collections of Piaggia being complete, and the 
 longing for home overcoming his resolution, this 
 idyl ended.
 
 CARLO PIAGGIA. 25 
 
 The days of dry weather had been filled with 
 pleasant work, and the time then seemed brief; 
 but the sleepless nights, when the full moon lighted 
 the woods around his cabin, and the weary drop- 
 pings from the thatched roof in the rainy season, 
 made him feel his loneliness. One night he told 
 Tombo, the chief, that he must leave them at 
 dawn. 
 
 But Tombo cried, ' The stranger white man is 
 going away ! ' and all the court was soon awake, 
 the women jumping and waving their arms in sign 
 of grief; and they would not let him go until he 
 had promised soon to return. A great crowd was 
 about him in the morning. The women begged 
 for his long hair, which he had not cut for two 
 years, to divide among them and tie about their 
 waists. 
 
 From sickness and famine Piaggia on these 
 journeys often believed his last hour come. 
 
 ' I cannot tell you how often I have recom- 
 mended my soul to God,' he says. ' All is ended. 
 I shall die here. Good-bye to all ; good-bye to 
 everything.' 
 
 But the hardy soul conquered the fainting body, 
 and he lived when a less courageous man would 
 have despaired and died. 
 
 Eight journeys were made by Piaggia, chiefly on 
 the Upper Nile and the adjacent countries. The 
 important exploration made in 1876 under the 
 orders of Colonel Gordon, and with Romolo Gessi, 
 was his sixth voyage, and his orders were to explore 
 the river that connects Lake Albert with Lake 
 Victoria, while Gessi circumnavigated the former.
 
 26 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 They were provided with two iron sail-boats, thirty 
 feet long, that could be taken in pieces, and with 
 an escort of Egyptian soldiers. 
 
 The Italian explorers suffered great fatigue on 
 this journey, and at one time were several days 
 without food. Piaggia obtained it from the wonder- 
 ing savages gathered on the shores by landing 
 with only one servant and advancing unarmed. 
 The natives, at first disposed to be hostile, received 
 him kindly when they saw him caress and throw 
 beads to their children, and provisioned him for 
 several days. 
 
 After three months spent in exploring this river, 
 which diverges from Lake Albert near its exit into 
 the White Nile three months of immense fatigue ; 
 of daily efforts to pacify the rebellious soldiers 
 with him ; of experience of earthquakes, when the 
 papyrus on the banks of the river waved as if 
 moved by the wind ; of journeys through deadly 
 marshes ; of encounters with lions and pythons, 
 crocodiles and hippopotami Piaggia met Gessi, 
 and they returned together to Khartoum. 
 
 In 1879 we find him established at Famaca, in 
 Abyssinia, where he built a cabin and lived, much 
 beloved, among the natives, for nine months. From 
 thence as a base he went forward into Galla, hoping 
 to unite with Cecchi and Chiarini, then in prison 
 there, but tidings of the death of Chiarini and the 
 rescue of Cecchi by Bianchi caused him to return. 
 
 Piaggia died near Fadasi, at the beginning of 
 another journey to Central Africa, undertaken with 
 a young Hollander named Schumer.
 
 PASHA ROMOLO GESSI. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 
 
 WHILE Miani and Piaggia travelled modestly 
 alone in Africa, with small means and almost 
 unknown, Romolo Gessi, of Ravenna, traversed the 
 Egyptian possessions and fought battles to sup- 
 press slavery, with thousands of soldiers under his 
 command. Gessi was of medium stature and iron 
 frame, with chestnut hair and beard ; his eye was 
 bright ; his speech prompt and indicative of in- 
 domitable will and extraordinary energy ; and his 
 soul was animated by the noblest motives. He 
 was one of the heroes of Italy who, although acting 
 as a colonel for the Khedive of Egypt, was never 
 forgotten by his countrymen. At first a merchant, 
 and afterwards engaged in the mercantile marine,
 
 28 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Gessi finally threw himself with ardour into African 
 explorations, his first achievement being the cir- 
 cumnavigation of Lake Albert. 
 
 While Carlo Piaggia left him at the mouth of 
 this lake to explore the river, Gessi sailed with a 
 few soldiers and natives around the shores of the 
 lake discovered by Samuel Baker, but never before 
 circumnavigated. 
 
 The object which animated Gessi in all of the 
 difficult journeys, the perilous battles, the sufferings 
 and famine he endured, was the abolition of the 
 slave-trade. He entered the service of Ismail 
 Pasha with this end in view, the exploration being 
 a secondary object. He believed the day not far 
 distant when humanity would triumph in Central 
 Africa, and the unhappy tribes there would be 
 relieved from their sufferings. Added to this was 
 the desire, shared with so many explorers of all 
 nations, to fully solve the mystery of the sources 
 of the Nile. 
 
 The expedition sent out by the Khedive with 
 the double aim of exploring the Upper Nile and 
 of liberating that region from slavery, was com- 
 manded by Colonel Gordon. His staff consisted 
 of seven persons, of whom Gessi was one, but this 
 number was soon reduced to two, by the poisonous 
 air, by famine, and hardships. The river at times 
 in their excursions was so narrow that the boat- 
 wheels touched either shore, and then an immense 
 low plain would spread far away, covered with 
 reeds, papyrus and aquatic plants, and strewn 
 here and there with human bodies in a state of 
 putrefaction. This had evidently been a wide
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 29 
 
 lake in the rainy season, where the waters of the 
 river extended. Gessi and his companions, all 
 suffering from fever, retreated gladly from the 
 place. Like Livingstone and Gordon, he hated 
 the slave-trade, and suppressed it wherever he went. 
 By the orders of Gordon, Gessi took possession of 
 the trade in ivory for the Egyptian Government, 
 this being used as a cloak for their iniquities by 
 the slave-dealers. 
 
 In March, 1876, Gessi, accompanied by Piaggia, 
 left Colonel Gordon, to explore Lake Albert. 
 
 On his return from the circumnavigation of Lake 
 Albert, one of the most daring and successful 
 explorations ever made in Africa, Gessi, finding 
 that he received the lowest decoration in the gift 
 of the Egyptian Government, while all the other 
 Europeans in the service received the higher ones, 
 resigned his commission and did not re-enter the 
 army until two years later, when Gordon needed 
 his services to subdue Suleiman, on the Bar-Ghasal. 
 He went in the meantime to Italy, where he was 
 received with great honour by the Roman Geo- 
 graphical Society, and decorated for the exploration 
 of Lake Albert with the gold medal. It was 
 especially important for the economical and 
 political interests of Egypt to solve the problem 
 of this mysterious lake, as if the Nile was found to 
 issue from it, the Egyptian Soudan, by means of 
 the great river, might be extended to the Equator. 
 
 Gordon sent two distinguished officers of the 
 English army to explore the lake, but one only 
 reached Dufli, and the other Wadelay, returning to 
 Khartoum unsuccessful. The arduous enterprise
 
 30 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 was then confided to Gessi. Its very beginning 
 was difficult, requiring the services of one thousand 
 natives to transport a steamer and two iron boats, 
 left in pieces by Baker at Gondokoro, overland to 
 Dufli. The way lay over high mountains, across 
 streams and through thick, pathless woods. He 
 started from Dufli with the two boats, meeting 
 contrary winds and passing floating islands formed 
 by the aquatic plants. These islands are often 
 twelve or fifteen feet in depth and miles in length, 
 and are liable to change their places, going before 
 the wind at four or five miles an hour, so that no 
 map of the stream can be exact. They caused 
 Gessi to lose the way several times before finding 
 the mouth of the lake. On the banks of the Nile 
 and of the lake he encountered many tribes of 
 natives. Some of the inhabitants fled at the ap- 
 proach of the boats, leaving their villages deserted ; 
 others received him with friendliness, and others 
 warned him by fierce gestures and warlike demon- 
 strations not to land. More than four hundred of 
 the people at one place where they stopped came 
 forward to meet them without arms and offering 
 the hand. They allowed Gessi to fix a tent on 
 their land to get a night of real repose, and gave 
 him provisions of flour, sweet potatoes and chickens. 
 At another place several people gathered to meet 
 him with hostile intent, but a show of courage and 
 some threats reduced them to such friendliness 
 that the chief proposed the compact of blood with 
 Gessi. As the friendship of this chief might be 
 useful, he conquered his natural repugnance and 
 resigned his arm to the ceremony.
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 31 
 
 The explorer counted on the shore here twenty- 
 seven large and populous villages within two miles, 
 the inhabitants of which were rich in cattle, grain 
 and fruits. The river was here so wide that the 
 opposite shore could scarcely be seen, and he found 
 at last the canal leading to the lake. 
 
 Interminable equinoctial storms, when the rain 
 fell in torrents as if the heavens were opened, 
 delayed his progress. Cabrega, King of Unioro, 
 who had his royal residence upon an island, hearing 
 that their boats, which he called ' ships of war of 
 the enemy,' were on the lake, ordered all the tribes 
 on the shores to make war upon them. Therefore 
 the warriors at the approach of Gessi gathered on 
 the shore brandishing their lances, while all through 
 the night the horn was sounded and fires were 
 burning on the heights. They abandoned their 
 cabins and sent the women and children with the 
 cattle to the thick grass or the high mountains. 
 
 Nature was not less inhospitable than man, as 
 the mountains came down to the shore in high 
 precipices, and frequent hurricanes wetted them to 
 the skin and filled the boats with water. While on 
 this unfriendly shore Gessi was shipwrecked in a 
 storm, but so near land that he and his crew swam 
 to it, while the boat went under water. Their 
 provisions and instruments were saved, indeed, but 
 half ruined by the water, and when the storm 
 ceased they were able to raise the boat and empty 
 it of the sand in the bottom. It was almost im- 
 possible to find a place to anchor, as the shores 
 were either sandy or filled with papyrus, and the 
 harbours, where the natives landed easily with their
 
 32 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 light canoes, had too little water for the heavy iron 
 boats of the expedition. About midway down the 
 lake, however, he found an excellent port, which 
 he recommends to future explorers as a place of 
 refuge. The strong winds agitated the waters of 
 the lake so that they once took refuge near a float- 
 ing island containing thirty huts, from which the 
 inhabitants fled at their approach, but returned 
 after two hours. At another island, occupied by 
 the people of Cabrega, Gessi, to escape the tempest 
 on the lake, shot off a gun and landed in spite of 
 their hostility. He told the timid not to fear the 
 boats of the government, and recommended the 
 hostile to submit. 
 
 Gessi was obliged not only to struggle with the 
 elements and wild men and beasts, but with the 
 men under his command, who, unaccustomed to 
 navigating where the high waves often succeeded 
 each other so fast that the boat filled with water in 
 a moment, insisted on keeping close to the shore, 
 where they were in much greater danger of ship- 
 wreck. In vain Gessi tried to persuade them of 
 the greater security in deep water. They stood in 
 a group, waiting resignedly for death and invoking 
 the Prophet, until he, losing patience, beat one of 
 them over the shoulders with all his strength. 
 ' Why should we,' they said stolidly, ' oppose the 
 will of God ? If we are destined to be saved, we 
 shall be.' But during a high tempest while in the 
 middle of the lake they were persuaded that their 
 boats would have been lost if near the shore. He 
 passed three large cataracts and a river which 
 empty into the lake, and found a village the people
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 33 
 
 of which fled at first at their approach. But when 
 Gessi, having killed a hippopotamus, advanced 
 alone and unarmed, and with gestures offered them 
 the carcase of the immense beast, they became 
 friendly. 
 
 Slowly exploring thus the shores of the lake, and 
 trying to discover from the natives all that they 
 knew, the expedition arrived near the extremity. 
 But the return was made in one night, when a 
 hurricane drove them before the wind from one 
 end of the lake to the other, and twenty miles out 
 into the Nile. 
 
 ' Never in my life,' says Gessi, ' was I in such 
 danger on the water. The lake was furious, and 
 we expected every moment to be swallowed up by 
 the waves. It was impossible to land, as the 
 mountains came down in precipices to the shore, 
 and the waves beat there violently against the 
 rocks.' 
 
 In thirty-five hours their boat ran 205 miles : 
 135 the length of the lake, 50 tacking to and fro, 
 and 20 on the river. 
 
 Gessi had thus circumnavigated the lake, but had 
 not, as he wished, ascended the rivers, approached 
 the cataracts, or climbed the mountains on its 
 shores. With a small escort of twelve soldiers he 
 could not risk himself among those treacherous, 
 hostile tribes, leaving the boats undefended. He 
 discovered that the volume of water which Albert 
 Nyanza furnishes the Nile comes from the cataracts 
 seen by him, and from that of Murchison on the 
 Victoria Nile. ' Whoever visits Lake Albert after 
 me in the same season,' he says, 'and sees the 
 
 C
 
 34 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 floods of water which twenty times a day, and as 
 often in the night, fall in rain, will not wonder at 
 the volume of water that issues from it.' 
 
 After his return from this expedition Gessi 
 made another, in company with Matteucci, leaving 
 Khartoum, on the White Nile, and ascending the 
 Blue Nile to Fadasi, whence they hoped to penetrate 
 into Kaffa, and there meet Antinori, Cecchi, and 
 Chiarini. The soul of the hero was expressed in 
 few words as he set out from Khartoum : ' We shall 
 meet hardships and sacrifices with tranquillity. If 
 the journey were easy, it would not charm us. 5 
 But they were baffled by the hostility of the savages, 
 and by the precipitous mountain roads, where 
 camels and baggage could not pass. Within six 
 days' march of Kaffa they were obliged, by the 
 ferocity of the Amen-Niger, through whose land 
 they must pass, to return. There was but one 
 road to Kaffa, and these savages refused to let 
 them advance. Persuasion and bribes had no effect, 
 and finally, with the consciousness of having done 
 their duty, they acknowledged that the expedition 
 was impossible. Matteucci writes : ' You can 
 imagine the state of mind of Gessi, who has never 
 known fear, and always conquered with few and 
 brave soldiers ; here, near to the goal, and im- 
 prisoned by a swollen river, and with few fighting- 
 men, he is like a wounded lion.' 
 
 If Romolo Gessi proved himself in this explora- 
 tion a good sailor and brave explorer, he gave 
 evidence also two years later, in the war against 
 the slave-trade, of being a soldier and a leader. 
 The evening before his departure he received the
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 35 
 
 last instructions from Gordon, and next day, as he 
 passed the governor's palace, saw him waving 
 farewell from the balcony. Crowds of curious 
 people gathered on the shore to see those whom 
 they said Gordon was sending to certain death. 
 
 That same evening, as Gessi stood on deck, he 
 saw a slave vessel slipping quietly past the steamer 
 in the dark, and stopped it, liberating ninety-two 
 blacks, who were packed close together, some of 
 them chained, in the hold. 
 
 The vessel belonged to Ibrahim, the Governor- 
 General of Central Africa, and was commanded by 
 a relative of another high officer. This officer, 
 Jussuf Bey, came next morning to beg for the 
 release of the captain, but Gessi answered with 
 scorn : 'Is this the loyalty with which you serve 
 your sovereign and Gordon, who has given you 
 the title of Bey, and whom you betray in this 
 manner ? ' This man, his next in rank, would 
 evidently give no aid in the difficult enterprise 
 confided to him by Gordon. 
 
 The next day he met two slave ships, which 
 immediately turned about for fear of him, and at 
 the next landing sent all the slaves into the 
 interior. At Fascioda he found an officer of the 
 government, who, to increase his salary, engaged 
 in the slave trade. The corruption was so general 
 that none were found to betray the secrets of this 
 horrible commerce. Even the Sultan of the Scilluk. 
 the tribe from which the majority of the slaves 
 were taken, finding it was to his interest to aid 
 the stealers of human flesh, became a negriero 
 against his own subjects. The Arabs of Khartoum 
 C 2
 
 36 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 found their richest harvest in this region, and year 
 after year increased the trade, carrying away 
 thousands of unfortunate creatures into slavery. 
 
 Gordon and Gessi, united in the saintly cause, 
 made war upon this infamous commerce. Con- 
 tinuing up the Nile, Gessi met another steamer 
 belonging to Ibrahim, upon which he found 1 70 
 slaves, 150 more having been sent on shore when 
 he approached. He liberated these slaves, and 
 wished to send them immediately to their homes, 
 but the greater number were so weak and infirm 
 that he could not do so for two or three days until 
 they recovered strength. 
 
 All this so disgusted this brave, true man that he 
 repented having accepted the mission. He retired 
 to his cabin, giving orders not to be disturbed, and 
 when alone felt tortured by a thousand anxieties 
 for himself and for Gordon, involved in such a 
 labyrinth. The officials employed by Gordon, 
 many of whom he had advanced and loaded with 
 favours, were almost without exception betraying 
 him, and this camorra extended from the Upper 
 Nile to Khartoum, and even to Cairo. Flourishing 
 stations, founded by Gessi under Gordon's orders 
 in 1875, and also native villages once rich and 
 happy, had become desolate and ruined, and thorns 
 and high grass had grown up in place of grain and 
 fruits. The inhabitants were decimated, ill-treated 
 or sent into slavery, and only undisciplined soldiers 
 and hx^ gelabba^ or slave-dealers, were met with. 
 
 The first person who met Gessi at Lad 6, where 
 Emin Bey gave a festival for his arrival, was 
 Ibrahim, who had already received the order from
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 37 
 
 Gordon to resign, and meanly implored the inter- 
 vention of his accuser. Gordon, who had already 
 used mildness in suppressing the slave-trade, 
 empowered Gessi to be severe with the dealers 
 when he got them in his power. The cruelties he 
 saw there excited his pity for the blacks, and his 
 indignation against their wicked persecutors. From 
 Dem Ziber to Sciacca, twelve days' journey, there 
 is no need of a guide, as the way is marked by 
 skeletons of the blacks, most of whom are young 
 boys and girls. Only thirty-five per cent, of those 
 carried away from their homes reach Khartoum, 
 dying along the road from lack of food, from 
 fatigue, and exposure to heat and rain. Once, 
 when Gessi found on the road a beautiful young 
 girl whose throat had been cut to prevent her 
 telling where the dealers had passed, he brought 
 out thirty of these cruel gelabba, whom he held as 
 prisoners, and ordered them to be shot in presence 
 of one of the victims of their trade. 
 
 The question of the abolition of slavery is much 
 more difficult than is generally believed in Europe. 
 The right of possessing slaves being conceded by 
 the Koran, the Arab, when told that leading his 
 neighbour into slavery is the greatest crime a man 
 can commit, answers, ' Why is it such a horrible 
 thing? Has not God by means of Mahomet given 
 us permission to possess slaves ? Who can suppress 
 the law of the Prophet ? Who is superior to 
 him?' 
 
 None, except the soldiers of the regular army, 
 interested themselves in combatting Suleiman. 
 Their interests would have suffered by his fall,
 
 38 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 and even Emin Bey considered the expedition of 
 Gessi folly, with such a comparatively small force. 
 With four companies of the regular army and 
 1000 soldiers, Gessi went forward, crossing rivers 
 on flats made of cane, and struggling through 
 a marsh where the thick mud was waist deep. 
 After crossing this marsh forty-two persons were 
 missing, having lost strength while in the mud, and 
 preferring to die there rather than continue. The 
 Italian hero himself confesses that ' It needs a 
 character of iron to meet calmly all the obstacles 
 in this country, which undermine the health of the 
 strongest man.' 
 
 Gessi was reinforced by another thousand men, 
 making his total number of troops 2400. Among 
 the newly arrived was a white man from Niam- 
 Niam of the West, whose relatives, except one 
 brother, were all black. He was not an albino, but 
 was surprisingly white ; his face rosy, his hair red, 
 and his eyes blue. Miani also has reported having 
 seen among the Niam-Niam of the West white 
 men who were not albinos. 
 
 From fear of Suleiman or jealousy of Gessi's 
 success, the troops and ammunition he expected 
 were not always sent to him, even in his greatest 
 need, thus increasing his peril and strengthening 
 the enemy. 
 
 Gessi's compassion for the poor negroes was 
 constantly excited by the sight of their misery. 
 In one of his expeditions in search of Suleiman he 
 was met by three sheikhs who wished to speak to 
 him. He alighted from his horse, and under the 
 shade of a magnificent tamarind tree gave them the
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 39 
 
 audience they desired. The oldest said, 'We are 
 the sheikhs of the villages Bisellia, Bongo and 
 Gonfora. Suleiman has captured our wives and 
 daughters, and destroyed our substance, so that for 
 months we live like beasts in the high grass. We 
 have come to tell you that we and all our men are 
 ready to aid you as far as we can. Command, and 
 we will obey.' One of them, who had a sweet 
 expression of countenance, then took out from his 
 bag made of skin a little pot of honey, and offered 
 it weeping, saying, ' I thought I would bring you 
 this ; we possess nothing else.' The old sheikh 
 accompanied Gessi for a time, and one day pre- 
 sented his seven sons, saying, ' Here are all my 
 sons. They have no weapons, as Suleiman has 
 taken them, but you will arm them, and they will 
 die for this good cause.' Four of these sons in fact 
 were killed in the various battles. 
 
 At another place the natives ran to meet him, 
 gesticulating so as to show there had been some 
 misfortune. Fifteen armed Arabs had captured 
 150 of the tribe, and carried them away chained to 
 Suleiman. Gessi immediately sent TOO soldiers 
 after them, liberated the negroes and sent them 
 back to their families. 
 
 Suleiman, with 11,000 men, attacked the govern- 
 ment troops at Dem Idris, and was driven back 
 with the loss of 4000. This unexpected defeat 
 was soon known in all Bar-Ghasal, but the Arabs 
 believed that Suleiman would finally conquer. He 
 returned and bombarded the camp of Gessi at Wau, 
 killing many natives, 5000 of whom had taken 
 refuge there to avoid being captured as slaves.
 
 40 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Finally, after many battles and skirmishes, Gessi 
 with 250 soldiers surrounded Suleiman with 1600 
 by night, captured, and next day shot him and nine 
 of his generals. 
 
 Through all the seven years spent in Equatorial 
 Soudan, Gessi expressed the utmost reverence and 
 affection for General Gordon. His letters, pub- 
 lished from time to time in the Bulletin of the 
 Commercial Exploration Society of Milan, have 
 recently been collected by his only son, Felice 
 Gessi, and dedicated to the Santa Memoria di 
 C. E. Gordon- Fascia. 
 
 For his services here and victories over Suleiman, 
 the slave-dealer, and the Arab rebels, he was made 
 general, and Governor of Equatorial Africa. Sulei- 
 man had a force of 23,000 well-armed men, but 
 the superior military genius of Gessi conquered 
 with a small army of 3300 men. Gessi calculated 
 that Suleiman alone carried away from Bar-Ghasal 
 50,000 slaves annually, and that not less than 
 1 00,000 were captured in all yearly. 
 
 The Italian soldier and explorer exclaims, ' My 
 greatest reward is to have liberated Africa from 
 Suleiman, and saved the poor negroes. I have 
 armed them, so that they can defend themselves.' 
 But, recalled by the jealousy of the Arab merchants 
 of Khartoum, to whom this trade is profitable, he 
 left Bar-Ghasal on board the ship Safia, with five 
 hundred followers, and was over three months en- 
 tangled in the gigantic vegetation of the river, which 
 stops navigation as effectually as the ice in northern 
 regions. Rebellion and famine tortured him on 
 this tragic journey, the sufferings of which finally
 
 ROMOLO GESSI AND LAKE ALBERT. 41 
 
 cost his life. The sudd or mass of enwoven 
 plants, a tangled skein sometimes 12,000 feet in 
 length, was a formidable impediment. All the 
 efforts of Gessi to free the Safia, which was not 
 strong enough to force its way through, were un- 
 availing. The men worked with hatchets and 
 spades, but the vessel made no progress, and the 
 horrors of famine were soon added to fever and 
 distress. 
 
 The bodies of the women and children, the weak 
 and the old, who first died, lay putrefying for weeks 
 on the strong branches of the dreadful plants that 
 held the vessel in a giant embrace. Several of the 
 dead bodies were devoured by the survivors, the 
 moral effect of these horrors being greater upon 
 Gessi than his sufferings from want of food. The 
 people cut up the skins in which their effects were 
 wrapped, soaked the strips in water over night, 
 and then boiled them to eat. Many of the sufferers 
 walked the deck all night, tormented by mosquitos, 
 and sometimes treading on the sleepers, when 
 groans, screams, and fighting ensued. Help came 
 at last from Khartoum, Marno, the friend of Gessi, 
 having cut through the sudd and rescued him 
 when death seemed certain. Gessi, reduced to a 
 skeleton, was lifted like a child upon the other 
 vessel, but a fever ensued, which soon after ended 
 his life at Suez. 
 
 The journal he kept was sent to the Roman 
 Geographical Society. The night before the rescu- 
 ing vessel came he wrote : ' I felt myself dying. I 
 felt languor and heaviness, and my strength was 
 leaving me. I had escaped death in so many battles,
 
 42 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 and yet must die at last in the middle of a river. 
 We are constantly labouring at one plant 12,000 
 feet long. The people are half immersed in 
 water, and we are surrounded as if by a strong 
 wall. We can go neither backward nor forward, 
 nor even send messengers for relief, as both the 
 shores are populated by warlike and savage 
 enemies.' At the end of the second month he had 
 written : ' There is no hope of salvation. All begin 
 to abandon themselves to desperation, and, seated 
 on deck with their heads down, wait for death.' On 
 the last day of December he wrote : ' This is the 
 most terrible day. To-morrow is the new year 
 a sad day for me. I think of my home, of my 
 wife, my children, who in their play know nothing 
 of the terrible condition of their father. So ends 
 the year 1880, and I am reduced to this extremity 
 because I was too fortunate in my campaign against 
 slavery.' 
 
 But on the 5th of January they hear guns and 
 see the vapour from a steamer. ' It is the Ismailia! 
 Great God be thanked ! ' Tears fall from all their 
 eyes, and the lion-hearted Gessi himself weeps as 
 these suffering creatures go up one after another 
 to kiss his hands and feet. ' God be thanked ! We 
 are safe ! '
 
 t? 1 
 
 
 
 PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI. 
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI was the 
 companion of Gessi's unsuccessful journey up the 
 Blue Nile towards Kaffa. He made another ex- 
 pedition with Bianchi into Abyssinia, and finally 
 immortalised his name by the famous journey 
 across the continent from the Red Sea to the 
 mouth of the Niger. This was one of the boldest 
 and most important journeys yet accomplished in 
 Africa, but a violent malarial fever contracted there 
 terminated his brilliant career in London, while on 
 his way home to Italy. 
 
 The letters of Matteucci on his first expedition are 
 eloquent and copious records of the strange scenes
 
 44 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 and curious customs of African life, his vivid imagi- 
 nation revelling in the wild and romantic scenery 
 through which he passed. He describes the desert 
 from Cairo to Khartoum as ' space lost in the 
 distant horizon. Here there is not a square inch 
 of shade, not a blade of grass, not the possibility 
 of finding a drop of water. The yellow sand 
 makes a strange contrast with the whitened bones 
 of thousands and thousands of camels, which have 
 been the food of hyenas inhabiting the desert.' 
 
 Almost the only flower near the springs of the 
 oasis is the Nilotic acacia, which diffuses rich 
 fragrance in the air. The safety enjoyed in the 
 desert is phenomenal, as the Bedouins, instead of 
 being, as they are often described, robbers and 
 assassins, are as proud of their honesty as of their 
 independence. 
 
 Once, on the Nile, going up to the region whence 
 they intended to travel by land towards Kaffa, they 
 raised the Italian banner on the vessel to please the 
 Arab captain ; but the rattling of heavy chains 
 below called their attention to a young girl, an 
 Abyssinian slave, who was condemned to receive 
 two hundred blows. Matteucci and Gessi told the 
 captain that the Italian flag should never wave 
 over such cruelty, and thus obtained the release 
 of the girl, who returned to her duties with a 
 smiling face. 
 
 The defeat of the expedition to Kaffa was a 
 bitter disappointment, but Matteucci went the next 
 year to Abyssinia with Bianchi, both being sent 
 there by the African Commercial Society of Milan. 
 He observed everything, the patriotic thought for
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI. 4.5 
 
 Italy being supreme in his mind. ' I do not seek,' 
 he says, ' easily bought praise, but care only for the 
 interests and the future of my country, and to 
 increase the love for geographical studies in Italy, 
 most happy if this should be with the sacrifice of 
 my own life.' 
 
 He had already paid tribute to the malarious 
 climate of the White Nile with four fevers, but on 
 his return from Abyssinia plunged again into the 
 unknown darkness of the African continent. 
 
 The last journey of Matteucci, commenced with 
 Lieutenant Massari and Prince Giovanni Borghese, 
 was from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. The 
 youngest son of the Borghese family of Rome bore 
 the expenses of this expedition, and himself went 
 as far as Wadai, killing a lion on the way, and 
 bearing himself like a true explorer, but there 
 reluctantly yielded to the wishes of his family and 
 returned. Matteucci and Massari left the fantastic 
 minarets and shady palm groves of Khartoum and 
 El-Obeid behind, and travelling on camels at night, 
 when the siren of African scenery presented itself 
 with the most lovely aspect, over thirsty plains, 
 though sometimes attacked by savages, traversed 
 the kingdoms of Wadai, Bornu. Kano, and Nupe. 
 Their journey, which crossed Africa diagonally, 
 traversing thirty meridians and parallels, was 
 believed impossible at Cairo. 
 
 The tribes here fear the Turkish and Egyptian 
 power, and with reluctance permit the entrance into 
 their territory of any white man as to them all 
 men not black are Turks or Egyptians. Matteucci 
 and Massari went as pilgrims with no show of
 
 46 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 wealth, but they persuaded the Sultan of Wadai 
 that the King of Italy would avenge their death if 
 they were not protected, and would make presents 
 if they were. 
 
 They saved the lives of 400 prisoners of war 
 by telling the sultan that he could make no 
 more acceptable present to the King of Italy than 
 by sparing them. In Bornu they found an Italian 
 who had been a slave there for nineteen years, 
 having been left behind by Nachtigal. Valpreda 
 reluctantly let them depart, and fell weeping on 
 their necks, but was consoled by the promise that 
 they would send for him. When the travellers 
 reached the English settlements at the mouth of 
 the Niger they were received with kindness and 
 sent in a vessel to London. But Matteucci was 
 destined never again to see his 'dear ' Bologna, 
 and the inanimate body was brought home by 
 Massari, and buried with great honour. 
 
 The thought of Bologna pursued Matteucci in 
 that journey across the African continent. Every 
 anniversary, when he remembered that his family 
 and friends were meeting together, was torture to 
 him. Night and day he thought of them, and 
 seemed to have a sad presentiment that he should 
 never see them again. He died at thirty-one 
 years of age, too soon to gather up and make use 
 of the fruits of his last journey. 
 
 Matteucci was born in Ravenna in 1850, but 
 was carried by his parents to Bologna when two 
 years old. After taking the regular course at the 
 University of Rome, he studied medicine and the 
 Arabic language, in order to prepare himself for
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI. 47 
 
 life in Africa in the service of the Roman Catholic 
 missions. This had been his settled purpose from 
 boyhood, and this induced him to study medicine 
 instead of law, as his father desired. The occupation 
 of Rome by the Italian army in 1870 interrupted 
 his study of medicine, but he continued it in 
 Ravenna. When the Geographical Society of 
 Rome sent out its first company of explorers to 
 Africa in 1876, Matteucci was disappointed at 
 not being included. 
 
 But Romolo Gessi, just returned from the 
 circumnavigation of Lake Albert, invited him to 
 join another expedition, the object of which was to 
 reach Kaffa, not through Shoa, but up the Blue 
 Nile, by the way of Fazoglu and Fadasi. The 
 history of this journey was written by Matteucci 
 in a book called Soudan and Galla, published soon 
 after his return. The Society for Commercial 
 Explorations in Africa, founded at Milan, then 
 selected him as the head of an expedition to 
 Abyssinia, which he accomplished in less than one 
 year, and soon after published another book, 
 entitled In Abyssinia. 
 
 These two journeys were only preliminary to 
 another which he proposed making in Wadai, or 
 Central Soudan, and he soon found means to 
 accomplish his purpose. The offer was made to 
 him by the commercial house of Arbib, to accom- 
 pany as physician one of the caravans which they 
 sent annually from Tripoli to Wadai. He could 
 return either by the Egyptian provinces or by 
 Tripoli. 
 
 The grand idea of crossing the African continent
 
 48 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 from the Red Sea to the Atlantic had not yet 
 occurred to him. But while at Cairo making this 
 arrangement he met a young Roman noble, 
 Giovanni Borghese, who proposed paying all the 
 expenses of a hunting expedition to the African 
 provinces adjoining Wadai. The sum offered was 
 more than enough, Matteucci thought, to reach 
 Dar-Fur and Kordovan, and might be sufficient to 
 penetrate farther into the heart of Africa. He had 
 learned in his previous journeys that the surest 
 plan of travelling in those unknown regions, was 
 not to carry much baggage, which was often left 
 along the way, but to do without many things 
 usually considered necessary. 
 
 The Geographical Society of Rome, and also 
 the Ministry of Agriculture, gave money to aid 
 the expedition, while the Ministry of the Marine 
 sent with Matteucci and Borghese a brave young 
 naval officer, Lieutenant Alfonso Maria Massari. 
 They left Cairo for Suez, and at Suakin on the 
 Red Sea landed, to cross the desert to Khartoum. 
 After Borghese left them on the confines of Wadai, 
 Matteucci and Massari, conquering the reluctance 
 of the Sultan of Wadai to receive travellers from 
 the Egyptian provinces, remained there forty-nine 
 days. Here their plan of returning to Europe by 
 way of Tripoli was changed, as they would have 
 been obliged to wait eight months in Wadai for a 
 caravan, and the sultan absolutely refused them 
 permission to return by that way. It was fortunate 
 not only for their fame, but also for their safety, 
 as at that time all of Northern Sahara was disturbed 
 by religious wars, which would have made it
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRTNO MATTEUCCI. 49 
 
 dangerous for Christians to travel there. Central 
 Soudan was free from that agitation, and having 
 reached Bornu they were nearer the Gulf of Guinea 
 than the Mediterranean. 
 
 This brilliant exploration was made, therefore, 
 without a previous definite plan, and as Matteucci 
 was part of the time a prisoner on the way, and 
 suffered from inflammation of the eyes and the 
 African fever, he left few notes and letters. 
 
 Massari on his return gave several lectures before 
 the Royal Geographical Society, but the ready and 
 eloquent descriptions of Matteucci were silenced 
 by death. Only a short diary with a few notes 
 for each day remains, a pathetic proof of the 
 hardships of the journey. The absence of all 
 news from his friends in Europe was severely felt 
 by this enthusiastic traveller, whose motive for 
 exposing himself to those dangers was not gain, 
 or even scientific investigation, but fame and the 
 approbation of those he knew. From the confines 
 of Wadai to Bornu the travellers were isolated, and 
 the way before them was unknown and uncertain. 
 The brief notes in his diary at this time prove how 
 dark a cloud of fear and uncertainty had settled 
 upon them. The Sultan of Wadai was known to 
 be perfidious and cruel, having before murdered 
 another explorer named Vogel. He kept them 
 waiting as prisoners 113 days before permitting 
 them to enter his kingdom, and treated them as 
 suspicious characters. The European was always 
 to him a spy, and he could not understand what 
 motive induced him to undertake the long and 
 dangerous journey. 
 
 D
 
 50 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 The time occupied by Matteucci in going from 
 Cairo to Accasa, at the mouth of the Niger, was 
 sixteen months and a half, eight of which were 
 spent in involuntary halts, when they were waiting 
 the pleasure of the various petty sovereigns on the 
 way. They went from Khartoum to Accasa, a 
 distance of 3000 miles, at an average of fourteen 
 miles a day. This, in Africa, with all the material 
 difficulties of the way for living and defence, the 
 slowness of the drivers and servants, the few hours 
 left for travel by sun and rain, is a remarkable 
 instance of swift travelling. 
 
 Although the last diary of Matteucci is meagre, 
 and very different in its short notes from the 
 eloquent descriptions he gave of his former 
 journeys, there is enough to give an idea of the 
 beauty of the way and the sorrows they endured. 
 In Dar-Tama he says, ' We see that we have 
 left the dominions of Egypt. The villages are 
 numerous, and inhabited by a tall people who 
 dress neatly and show much respect to their chiefs. 
 The Sultan Idris being with us, they did not run 
 away, as they would have done if we had been 
 alone, but gave us beer and chickens. Before 
 entering the city of Gneri, the residence of Sultan 
 Ibrahim, we rested an hour to prepare for a 
 triumphant ingress. Fifty cavaliers with long 
 lances and many-coloured dresses came out to 
 meet us with trumpets, and amused themselves 
 by making a feigned attack and by races. The 
 " city " of Gneri consists of 300 huts made of straw, 
 except those of Ibrahim and his son, which are 
 made of earth.'
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI. 51 
 
 The sultan received them with great ceremony, 
 making an exception to his rule of never seeing or 
 speaking directly with strangers. He -questioned 
 them closely as to their plans, and gave them a 
 friendly letter to the Sultan of Wadai, which he 
 sent with theirs by one of his own servants. But 
 Sultan Jussuf of Wadai kept them waiting for 
 months at the confines of his kingdom, and sent 
 messengers to inquire of his old friend Ibrahim 
 ' who these Christians were, and what was their 
 real object in making the journey.' They came, 
 he said, from an enemy's country, Dar-Fur, and 
 his messengers must examine them and decide 
 whether they were really Europeans, or came only 
 from Cairo. The only place in Europe of which 
 they had heard was Malta, but that served to 
 convince them that Matteucci and Massari were 
 true men, and they were permitted at last to enter 
 the unexplored land of Wadai. 
 
 But although this was the object of their journey, 
 they did not leave Tama and Sultan Idris without 
 forebodings. Borghese left them at Gneri, and 
 Sultan Idris followed them five hours to the border 
 of Wadai, and took leave with an embrace and 
 tears. The heat was intense, Matteucci suffered 
 from inflammation of the eyes, and when they 
 reached Abescer, the capital, every living thing 
 seemed to have fled. A terrible uncertainty 
 weighed upon them. Even the sultan had aban- 
 doned the city, and although he provided them 
 with food, it was evident that they were prisoners. 
 Finally they were told that he would receive them, 
 and accept the gifts sent to him by the King of 
 D 2
 
 52 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Italy. On examining their valuables they realised 
 that they were truly in a land of robbers, and 
 longed to escape to Bornu. But they prepared 
 for the momentous visit and, dressed in white 
 and carrying the gifts, entered the palace, passing 
 through two lines of slaves, and reached at last the 
 place where the sultan was hidden behind a closed 
 curtain. The unseen individual, who they after- 
 wards learned was not the sultan, asked them 
 many questions, and promised to send them on to 
 Bornu, from whence they could return to their 
 own home. 
 
 They afterwards received the sultan's gifts 
 black and white ostrich feathers for the king, and 
 for them four servants and three camels -and 
 finally were permitted to leave Abescer, where, in 
 fact, a plot against their lives had been made, but 
 was not carried into effect. 
 
 These were the saddest days of the journey, and 
 the thoughts of Matteucci constantly returned to 
 his cara Bologna. They traversed an immense 
 desert plain, where there are no representatives of 
 the animal kingdom, and only two wells in twenty- 
 four miles, and after reaching a town in a more 
 fertile district, made a halt of several days against 
 their will. ' We have stopped, but I do not know 
 why,' is a frequent note in the sad diary. 
 
 The road is always over the desert, an infinite 
 reach of level plain, the earth tinted red, a bronze 
 sky above their heads, and an atmosphere of fire. 
 They pass small villages now and then, where 
 there are wells and a few palm trees, but at last 
 reach a better land with luxuriant vegetation. The
 
 DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI. 53 
 
 road here is wide and beautiful ; flocks and herds 
 abound ; there are ' many sycamores, beautiful 
 women, excellent men and populous villages.' 
 
 They visit the sultan of another small kingdom 
 called Midogo, who receives them kindly and 
 invites them to return. On their second visit this 
 simpatico sultano asks them secretly for poison, 
 which Matteucci promises, but gives him the next 
 day a package of quinine. Thus alternately be- 
 tween the silence and poverty of the desert and 
 the miracles of African vegetation, between rapid 
 marches and mysterious halts, sick with fever, 
 lame, robbed of their goods and even of their 
 camels, they are passed on from one jealous, cruel 
 and suspicious sultan to another. 
 
 Bornu is a populous region, with fine scenery, 
 its capital, Cuca, situated upon a lake ; Kano, the 
 capital of Socotto, is a large city well built with 
 two-storey houses, and having a bazaar, where all 
 the products of the country are sold. The Sultan 
 of Nupe received them dressed in magnificent 
 robes of velvet and satin, and gave them a beautiful 
 leopard skin. He was the last of the sultans who 
 had tormented them for months, and they left his 
 capital, Bidda, near the Niger, with joy. The hard- 
 ships of the journey were ended, and in a boat 
 they reached Acassa, at the mouth of the Niger, 
 there taking the steamer which conveyed them to 
 London, where, as already stated, Matteucci died.
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 
 
 BESIDES Miani, Piaggia, Gessi, and Matteucci, 
 there is a company of explorers, the chief of 
 whom was Marquis Antinori, the brave old man 
 who dedicated the last years of his life to founding 
 an Italian station in Shoa. He was sent by the 
 Roman Geographical Society in 1875, his com- 
 panions at various times being Chiarini, Cecchi, 
 Martini, Bianchi, and Antonelli. The grand idea 
 of the society was to form a depot of supplies and 
 relief in the Shoa, from which the hardy explorers 
 might push onward to the equatorial lakes and 
 discover the secrets of that vast unexplored region,
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 55 
 
 twice as large as Italy, between Abyssinia and 
 Lake Victoria. 
 
 The project was received enthusiastically, and 
 large sums of money were subscribed. Antinori, 
 then sixty-five years of age, was selected as the 
 chief of the expedition, and Chiarini and Martini 
 were his first companions, the others being added 
 afterwards. 
 
 The results of this effort have been inferior to 
 the anticipations, yet a flourishing station now 
 exists in Africa ; the region has been thoroughly 
 studied, and the Italian influence prevails there. 
 None of the explorers penetrated the inhospitable 
 region between the Italian station and the lakes, 
 and their ambitious hopes were disappointed. 
 
 Antinori died in 1882, at the station Let-Marefia ; 
 Chiarini died while a prisoner to the savage Queen 
 of Ghera, and Cecchi, after incredible sufferings, 
 escaped from that terrible prison-house. 
 
 The journey of Antinori and his companions 
 from Zeila on the Red Sea to Licce, the residence 
 of the half savage King Menilek, who gave them 
 land for a station, was dangerous and difficult. 
 They were often obliged to shoot animals for 
 sustenance ; sometimes there was no trace of 
 vegetation, and the savages they saw were half 
 nude and armed with lances, while their servants 
 robbed them when it was possible. Where the 
 rivers were swollen they crossed by swimming, 
 often losing their effects, and having their barometers 
 and watches ruined by the water. 
 
 But these discomforts were forgotten in the 
 splendour of the reception given them on their
 
 56 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 arrival by King Menilek. Four hundred horsemen 
 came out to meet them, preceded by fantastic 
 music, while two caparisoned mules were sent for 
 Antinori and Chiarini. An immense crowd of 
 negroes and Arabs had gathered to witness this 
 triumphal entry, and the booming of the sole 
 cannon owned by Menilek added warlike glory 
 to the occasion. Menilek, surrounded by his 
 princes, and by Monsignor Massaia, the bishop, 
 
 who lived in the Shoa thirty years, received them, 
 and asked with infantile greed and curiosity for 
 the gifts sent by the King of Italy. Menilek 
 ; King of kings and conqueror of the Lion of the 
 tribe of Judah ' is a fine-looking young man, 
 with black hair and beard, a frank expression ; is 
 a great friend of Europeans, and eager to possess 
 arms, the mechanism of which he understands. 
 The natural beauties of the Shoa, the delightful
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 57 
 
 climate and fertility of the soil, are dwelt upon 
 by Antinori with the enthusiasm of youth. 
 
 It is there a perpetual spring ; the roses and 
 jasmines, the acacias and mimosas, the bananas, 
 cotton plants, sugar-canes, and lemons, the grain, 
 lentils, beans and peas, the mint and sage, the 
 wild olives and monstrous sycamores ; the monkeys, 
 with silvery white tales and black coats ; the birds, 
 with green bodies and red wings, or yellow bodies 
 and black heads, charm him ; and he writes long 
 letters home with his left hand, the right having 
 been rendered useless by a wound received in the 
 chase. 
 
 Menilek granted Antinori thirty or forty acres 
 of land situated on the side of a hill in a kind of 
 delta formed by two torrents that met at its base. 
 The harvests on this fertile soil are gathered three 
 times a year, and Antinori found ample subsistence 
 for the explorers and forty Abyssinian servants, 
 whom he gradually gathered around him. Let- 
 Marefia is a bit of Italy in Africa, where the 
 Italian banner still waves. The explorers studied 
 the animals and flowers, the insects, the soil, the 
 people of the land, and soon collected specimens 
 that filled thirty cases. With these proofs of their 
 skill and industry, and also to procure supplies, 
 Martini returned to Italy. Not less than thirty- 
 four days were required to reach Zeila, there 
 being no road, and the tribes often hostile or 
 thieving. 
 
 The duty of Martini, aided later by Cecchi, 
 Bianchi, Antonelli, and Giulietti, to carry the 
 coveted gifts from Zeila to Licce. was not an easy
 
 58 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 one. The way lay through dense forests, over 
 desert plains, and unbridged rivers, or in the 
 pebbly beds of dry summer torrents ; while the 
 idle character of the natives, their lying, thieving, 
 and wars, as well as the dreadful epidemics to 
 which they are subject, added to the difficulties in 
 communicating with Italy. One or even two years 
 sometimes passed without news from Antinori's 
 isolated station, an Arab messenger often keeping 
 a letter by him without thinking that haste was 
 necessary. Caravans of 300 camels leave Licce 
 once a year, carrying ivory, coffee, wax, skins, 
 spices, and feathers. 
 
 We can imagine Antinori settled in the beautiful 
 home at Let-Marefia. The grounds are watered 
 by perennial streams, and adorned with lovely 
 vegetation, and a gigantic sycamore growing on 
 one side served for shade as well as to attract 
 birds for Antinori's collections. The old hero 
 confesses that after all his journeyings he longed 
 to return to Italy, but yet continued his inde- 
 fatigable labours, and was determined also to 
 accompany Chiarini and Cecchi towards Kaffa and 
 the lakes. In fact, he began the journey with 
 them, but the younger men persuaded him, on 
 account of his mutilated hand, to return. 
 
 Antinori says, ' Cecchi, with tears in his eyes, 
 threw his arms about my neck, and Chiarini did 
 the same, imploring me not to proceed, and I, 
 sadly kissing them on their foreheads, left them 
 almost without a word.' It was a final parting 
 with Chiarini, who never returned. 
 
 Left alone at Let-Marefia the Marquis Antinori
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 59 
 
 made excursions into the southern provinces near 
 Shoa. In the country of the Ada-Galla he dis- 
 covered two small lakes, in addition to the six 
 others already known, and continued also to make 
 his collections of birds and insects. Although 
 suffering from his constant labours, from solitude 
 and the gradual advance of old age, he could not 
 resist the temptation to accompany King Menilek 
 in a campaign against the tribes on Lake Zuai. 
 He hoped to explore the vicinity of that lake, as 
 yet unvisited by Italians, but a series of disasters, 
 bad weather and great fatigue injured his health so 
 much that he returned to Let-Marefia, anxious at 
 last to get back to Italy before he died. 
 
 But this consolation was denied him, since, 
 obliged to wait from March to August, until the 
 summer rains were over, he grew worse, and died on 
 August 22, 1882. He was buried at Let-Marefia 
 under the sycamore which he loved, and over his 
 grave was erected a little hut, which is kept in order 
 by the servants of the establishment, now under the 
 care of Dr. Ragazzi and Dr. Traversi. When the sad 
 news reached Italy, a memorial service was held in 
 his native city Perugia, and Cecchi was there. 
 
 Although not thirty years of age at this time, 
 Cecchi was already grey and wrinkled from the 
 terrible privations suffered during the five years 
 spent in weary marches over torrid plains ; in 
 climbing precipitous mountains or swimming wide 
 and turbid rivers ; in anxious days with robber 
 bands of savages ; in fevers, imprisonment, and 
 slavery. 
 
 The story this bold mariner of the Adriatic told
 
 60 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 to the Geographical Society of Rome on his return 
 brought tears to all eyes. The account of his first 
 journey in 1877 from Zeila to Let-Marefia to carry 
 supplies to Antinori. proves what marvellous courage 
 and patience were needed by these travellers in the 
 midst of a ferocious and suspicious people. 
 
 A presentiment of future subjugation makes 
 these Africans hostile to strangers. ' I know the 
 art of these people,' said the Negus Theodore of 
 Ethiopia. ' They send first merchants and mission- 
 aries, then ambassadors, and at last cannon. It is 
 better for us to begin with the cannon.' 
 
 The dangers and privations of the way over the 
 desert to Shoa are greatly diminished, as the 
 inhabitants are now convinced that commerce with 
 Europeans is to their interest. But in 1877, when 
 Cecchi and Martini made the second expedition 
 there, the journey was difficult. Being ready to 
 start at the middle of May, they began to load 
 1 20 camels with their baggage, which consisted of 
 164 strong boxes well lined within and varnished 
 on the outside. Besides these they had baskets 
 full of charcoal, to light the fires for their cooking 
 along the way : a quantity of curtains and poles 
 for tents ; sixty bales of white and coloured muslin, 
 and many other bundles containing rice, tobacco, 
 ropes, Venetian beads, and lead. Sixty men to 
 load the camels, the drivers, and the keepers of 
 the mules and camels formed an undisciplined, 
 noisy, riotous little army, which was long in re- 
 ducing itself to a caravan. The scene to Cecchi, 
 who was ignorant of the customs of the country, 
 seemed a riot, and he expected to see his baggage
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 6l 
 
 used as projectiles by the noisy mob. The young 
 camels which had never been loaded before added 
 to the general confusion. They refused to kneel, 
 tore the rope fi;om the driver's hand, and with the 
 load ill-balanced and all on one side trotted off 
 among the others, frightening them all. It was 
 laughable to see one which had run away brought 
 back, forced to kneel and receive the load, and 
 then with one of its fore-feet tied up, jump about 
 in every grotesque attitude. 
 
 Padre Alexis, a priest who was going to Abys- 
 sinia, joined them with twelve camels ; and some 
 merchants with another addition made the caravan 
 consist of 200 camels, which, marching in single 
 file at equal distances from each other, covered a 
 space one mile and a half long. At the earliest 
 dawn of day the caravan begins its slow march 
 over the desert, following the leader, who sings a 
 low monotonous song. The camels measure their 
 walk by this song, hastening or going slower 
 according to its melody, and when it ceases 
 bending the knee and waiting patiently in the 
 sand to be relieved of their load. The caravan 
 seems a village in motion, every worldly possession 
 on the backs of the camels, and the scenes of family 
 life that are usually shut up within walls enacted 
 under the open sky. This is the free life of the 
 desert which has charmed more than one Italian 
 traveller. The trammels of our civilization seem 
 to weigh heavily on those who have imbibed this 
 love for the immense majestic solitude, where man 
 feels at once his own insignificance and his own 
 importance as the lord of Nature.
 
 62 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 The heat grew insupportable and the tents were 
 like furnaces ; so that they were obliged to travel 
 at night, when there was a fresh soft breeze. They 
 reached a station called Ugas-Robli, after the name 
 of the chief, according to the fashion in this part 
 of Africa. This inconvenient custom of calling 
 not only the village but the inhabitants after 
 the chief, makes confusion for the traveller, who, 
 when he returns, finds another chief and another 
 name. 
 
 Water began to be scarce, and Cecchi and 
 Martini suffered from thirst, but on the sixth day 
 they reached Danan, where the inhabitants of the 
 Somali race surrounded them, curious to view such 
 rare animals as these. The Somali of the coast 
 are believed to be of Arabic origin, their ancestors 
 having at different periods crossed the Gulf of 
 Aden and landed at Cape Guardafui. In course 
 of time they have become a mixed race, and now 
 have many features in common with the Galla, the 
 Afar, and the other tribes inhabiting that region. 
 Like the Galla, they are good horsemen, and can 
 throw a lance and catch it again while in motion. 
 They chase the elephant, the lion, the leopard, 
 antelope, zebra, and ostrich. If they promise 
 friendship to a stranger, he is considered a member 
 of the family, and the Abba, or Father, is his 
 protector. All of the family of the Abba must 
 perish before the stranger is abandoned. The 
 Somali of the coast being generally merchants, 
 camel drivers, and porters, have fixed dwelling- 
 places, but those of the interior are wanderers, 
 owing to the scarcity of water and vegetation.
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 63 
 
 They move about from place to place seeking 
 pasture for their flocks. 
 
 Cecchi and Martini watched by turns during the 
 night, often shooting off a gun to drive away the 
 Isa-Somali, and let them know that some one was 
 awake. These brigands of the desert came around 
 them in the morning armed with clubs and knives, 
 demanding rice, tobacco, and dates. But they fled 
 precipitately when Cecchi, Martini, and four of the 
 servants presented their guns and bayonets, be- 
 lieving that if six persons would dare to confront 
 200 they must have some miraculous weapons 
 of defence. Padre Alexis defended himself with 
 a crucifix, having faith that it would defend him 
 even better than guns. 
 
 They travelled for days in the narrow dry bed 
 of a torrent between two long chains of volcanic 
 mountains where the vegetation was scarce. The 
 Isa-Somali again surrounded them, begging for 
 their goods, and were driven away by another 
 warlike demonstration. Four times along this 
 route the travellers were obliged to leave behind 
 part of their baggage, on account of the weakness 
 or illness of the camels, and the Isa-Somali fixed 
 covetous eyes on the remainder the muslin and 
 beads which they were using every effort to pre- 
 serve, as these took the place of money. After 
 eleven days of dusty and thirsty travel they found 
 for the first time running water and trees. 
 
 Martini went out with his gun and returned in a 
 few moments with a gazelle and an otter, the meat 
 of which, with fresh water and a cool night, 
 strengthened them for the long journey over the
 
 64 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 hot plain before them. Here the camel, the ship 
 of the desert, hastened its step, seeing here and 
 there along the way so many skeletons of its race. 
 
 Cecchi, who had stopped a few moments to take 
 observations, was surprised here by an optical 
 phenomenon, which caused him to bestride his 
 mule in hot haste to overtake the caravan. The 
 fata morgana showed him the caravan, as he 
 thought, two or three miles away, part of it reduced 
 to microscopical proportions, and part grown to 
 colossal size, moving slowly in the air over a 
 stratum of shining silver. Almost despairing of 
 reaching it, Cecchi found himself in a moment 
 breathless and alarmed, galloping beside his com- 
 panions. 
 
 The water at the next station was so bitter that, 
 thirsty as they were, it was hard to drink it ; and 
 yet before reaching the Oasis of Arr6 this bitter 
 water, which in addition had grown rancid and 
 nauseating from the butter spread on the inside of 
 the goat-skin that held it, saved them from great 
 suffering. Water was abundant at Arro, and they 
 were tempted to encamp in a forest watered all 
 the year round by a torrent. But the leader of 
 the caravan advised them to occupy an elevated 
 position at some distance, where they were less 
 liable to be surrounded and annoyed by the 
 Somali, who live here, and possess numerous herds 
 of camels, cows, and goats. The precaution did 
 not preserve them from annoyance, as in half an 
 hour 500 Somali came out of the forest around 
 their tents to watch them. Seated on the handles 
 of their lances, which they fixed in the earth, these
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 65 
 
 savages followed every movement of Cecchi and 
 Martini. Now and then one more courageous than 
 the rest entered their tents, and covering nose and 
 mouth with a cloth to avoid the smell which, 
 according to them, emanates from white men, 
 examined every article. They saw no use in the 
 greater part of the possessions of the strangers, 
 and considered their mode of walking and sitting, 
 the colour of their skin, their language as surprising 
 and ridiculous. They frightened the women who 
 ventured to touch the white men's clothes, or 
 anything in the tents, by saying that they were 
 dangerous animals, even capable of eating women 
 alive. 
 
 Dangers and difficulties of all kinds increased on 
 the way. A hurricane one night carried their 
 tents three miles away, hyenas assailed them ; and 
 they received the compliments of the robber chief 
 Ugas-Robli, which meant either tribute or war. 
 Martini used every art of persuasion he possessed, 
 apostrophising the camel drivers with fierce and 
 eloquent words and gestures, and urging them to 
 move on to the next station secretly by night. As 
 they were nearly all subjects of the Sultan Ugas- 
 Robli, and had left their families and flocks in his 
 power, they refused. Martini only succeeded with 
 his passionate gestures in amusing 500 Somali, who, 
 seated on their lances in a circle, enjoyed this to 
 them interesting and original representation. 
 
 The caravan waited while Martini and Cecchi, 
 to calm their wrath, went into the beautiful forest 
 with their guns, killing to the wonder of their 
 Somali guides a boar, several hares, and some 
 
 E
 
 66 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 guinea hens in a few minutes. They found 
 their tents on their return surrounded by 2000 
 Somali armed to the teeth, to whom were added 
 the day after several hundred more accompanying 
 the sultan. The forest seemed filled by magic 
 with thousands of black heads moving in and out 
 among the thick foliage and the vapours arising 
 from the river. The sultan exacted a heavy 
 tribute, and after receiving it tried to assail them 
 treacherously by night with his 2000 Somali, but 
 was repulsed. 
 
 At Tull-Harre, where there is a forest and a 
 stream of clear water, they sent back the Somali 
 guides and drivers, and fell into the hands of 
 Mohammed-Bali, of the Afar race, who, expert and 
 malignant, made the rest of their journey even 
 more unhappy and unfortunate than the first part. 
 The Somali were gone, and the Afar men refused 
 to help them ; mosquitos by night, and the heat 
 by day were unbearable ; and reptiles and hyenas 
 disturbed their sleep. 
 
 Cecchi, who one night had taken his bed outside 
 the tent and covered it with a hide well tucked in 
 around, to preserve him from the unwelcome 
 company of reptiles, was awakened by a chorus of 
 howls, and found himself and his bed being 
 dragged away. A troop of hyenas, attracted by 
 the odour of rancid butter with which the hide had 
 been dressed, entered the camp while all were 
 asleep, and gathering around Cecchi's bed con- 
 tested for the prize. They were easily frightened 
 n\vay by the explosion of his pistol, as they are 
 generally afraid of living beings, preferring dead
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 67 
 
 bodies. They were bold enough for this feat, 
 however, and afterwards took a leather pillow from 
 under the head of a camel-driver, and gathered 
 round the camp at night to possess themselves of 
 the carcases of the dead camels. 
 
 Soon after this the explorers had an experience 
 of savage warfare, in which they were compelled to 
 take part to defend the traitorous and thieving 
 Afars who had them in charge. For days they 
 had been waiting, using up their small stock of 
 provisions in the meanwhile, for the Afars to 
 reduce their demands of payment, and had gone 
 out in the woods to hunt, when they were alarmed 
 by desperate cries of ' the Assaimara ! the Assai- 
 mara.' Herds of cattle came running towards 
 them as if for protection, and women passed, 
 weeping as they went, laden with their domestic 
 goods and their children. The Afars implored 
 them to take part in the battle, which, considering 
 they were in the power of these robbers, they 
 finally did, routing the enemy by the mere sight of 
 their guns. Even after this victory the Afars 
 refused to guide them towards Shoa, and they 
 were in danger of losing all when near their 
 destination. Martini prepared to go alone to Shoa 
 to ask help from King Menilek, but letters reached 
 them informing him of the death of his mother, 
 which so afflicted him that he was unable to exert 
 himself. 
 
 Padre Alexis, who, from having prayed often 
 
 bareheaded in the sun, had been ill, resolved, sick 
 
 as he was, to try to reach Shoa, and left them. 
 
 Finally, after forty days spent in that place, the 
 
 E 2
 
 68 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Afar leader, Mohammed-Bali, consented to move 
 on ; and it was full time, for the rainy season was 
 near, their provisions were exhausted, and the 
 small-pox, which decimated the inhabitants of the 
 country, attacked some of their servants. At the 
 first station they found Padre Alexis sick and 
 starving, whom they took back to their caravan 
 and nursed with every attention until his death 
 some time later. 
 
 Padre Alexis, like Cecchi and Martini, had no 
 more camels to advance with, and no money to 
 hire others, so that he was obliged to burn part of 
 his baggage. This order he gave to two negroes, 
 ex-slaves, who had been educated at a missionary 
 college in France, but who, instead of becoming 
 honest men, were, according to Cecchi, ' ungrateful, 
 liars, thieves, dissolute, cowards, and traitors.' In- 
 stead of destroying the useless baggage, they 
 opened several boxes containing rich vestments of 
 the Roman Church which Padre Alexis was carry- 
 ing to Abyssinia. In a moment the Afars gathered 
 howling around, decking themselves in all that 
 finery. The women, who when young are beautiful 
 and have forms like Greek statues, put on the rich 
 sacerdotal cloaks, and with the greasy goat-skin 
 pitcher on their shoulder went down to the river to 
 draw water. Some tied altar cloths around their 
 waists, some put stoles around their necks, or 
 surplices trimmed with lace over their own greasy 
 shirts, and all without exception ornamented their 
 necks and breasts with medals, rosaries, and crosses. 
 When Cecchi, moved by the desperate prayers of 
 Padre Alexis,, tried to catch them they bounded
 
 ORAZIO ANTINORI AND HIS COMPANIONS. 69 
 
 away like gazelles, making the sacred vestments 
 fly about in a ridiculous manner. 
 
 Difficulties increased, their camels were reduced 
 in number from 160 to 24; the way was monotonous 
 and squalid ; the people among whom they passed 
 generally hostile ; water scarce and very bad, until 
 they reached a small lake. Then the road began 
 to ascend to the high plains of Abyssinia, which 
 rises in three terraces like a rock between Soudan 
 and the desert on the Red Sea. The river Huash, 
 130 feet wide, with a rapid current and filled with 
 crocodiles, seemed an insurmountable obstacle, as 
 the Afars refused to help them cross it. Cecchi at 
 length swam across, fastened a rope to a tree, 
 returned hand over hand on the rope, made a flat 
 boat of wooden boxes, on which they placed their 
 valuable goods, and without help from the natives, 
 to their great wonder succeeded in crossing the 
 formidable river. 
 
 A few more days of fatiguing travel, new en- 
 counters with elephants and leopards, hyenas, and 
 crocodiles, and annoyances of all kinds from the 
 thieving Afars, brought them almost to despair. 
 An immense python, near whose den Cecchi's 
 servant Lorenzo had established the kitchen, de- 
 parted one day in a very bad humour, upsetting 
 the plates, pots, and kettles. Padre Alexis died 
 here in great agony, and was buried by Cecchi, 
 Martini having left to seek the road to Shoa, and 
 to find help. But before his return a numerous 
 party of Abyssinians sent by Menilek, who had 
 heard that a white man was wandering alone in the 
 dangerous Afar country, reached Cecchi. Cecchi's
 
 70 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 joy was so great at seeing these messengers that 
 he says ' he could have kissed them if they had not 
 been so dirty.' Martini also was found, and the 
 travellers, after more than four months, reached 
 Fare, where they met King Menilek and their 
 friends, Antinori and Chiarini.
 
 QUEEN OF SHOA. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI AMONG THE EQUATORIAL 
 LAKES. 
 
 BUT for Cecchi and Chiarini, Let-Marefia was 
 only a stopping-place and a base of supplies, as 
 their aim was to explore the unknown region 
 between Shoa and the equatorial lakes. This 
 region, occupied by many different tribes, all 
 either enemies or unknown to Menilek, their pro- 
 tector, is a land of tropical vegetation, where the 
 roads are often impassable, mountainous, and 
 intersected with rivers that in the rainy season 
 are swollen and difficult to cross. They left the 
 delightful climate of Shoa and the comparative 
 comfort of Let-Marefia with a small armed escort
 
 72 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 of hunters and servants. The country before them 
 was new, and charmed them onward with the hope 
 of making some discoveries. Even in the delirium 
 of the fevers which they contracted they cried, 
 ' We must go to the Equator to die. The national 
 honour requires it.' 
 
 Hardships began immediately, and on the first 
 day they were persuaded that Antinori ought 
 not to accompany them. The inhabitants were 
 treacherous and ferocious ; lions and leopards 
 sprang out from the tall grass, and serpents coiled 
 near their tents. The sun scorched, insects an- 
 noyed them, and the rivers were broad and deep. 
 They were obliged to burn part of their stores ; 
 the guides refused to lead them ; they swam rivers 
 filled with crocodiles, and transported their boxes 
 on rafts guided by a rope across the streams. 
 Scarcely had they left the dominions of Menilek 
 when the native chiefs refused to let them advance, 
 considering them spies of that formidable enemy. 
 
 Menilek, his cousin Prince Masciascia. and every 
 chief along the way, advised them to desist from 
 this perilous undertaking, in which both man and 
 Nature opposed their progress. There was war 
 between Shoa and Galla ; the Shoan general, 
 Uorco, with 5000 soldiers, accompanying them 
 to the borders of the Galla country. The drums 
 at the head of the army beat slow or fast according 
 to the marching of the men. Some celebrated the 
 deeds of their generals in song, others laughed 
 long and loud at the jokes of the buffoons. The 
 variety of tints in the faces of the men, their 
 strange head-dresses, their white mantles listed
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 73 
 
 with red and flying in the wind, the rich gear 
 of the horses, the shields decorated with gilt 
 filigree work, the shining of the lances, of the 
 swords, and of the bracelets, offered a fantastic 
 and picturesque scene. Right and left on the 
 road were the houses left by the frightened Galla, 
 who were seen in the distance spying every move- 
 ment of Uorco. He planted his tent on a hill, 
 before the battle, to treat with the Galla chiefs 
 for the advance of Cecchi and Chiarini, but his 
 people became lawless, and the battle took place 
 before the treaty was made. 
 
 Their departure after the Shoans were victorious 
 excited the wonder of the army, and the soldiers 
 all sought to dissuade them from advancing. But 
 contrary to their fears the first Galla chief, Odollie 
 Batassie, received them kindly. He was a fine 
 type of the Galla race, tall, and proud-looking. 
 His arms were entirely covered with brass rings, 
 each of which represented an enemy whom he had 
 killed. Although he had lost part of his wealth 
 in the war, the chief gave them an ox to eat in 
 his honour, and invited them to his own hut in 
 the evening, where they were presented to his 
 family. He considered them brave, strong men, 
 and asked what ' medicine ' or safeguard they 
 possessed that they were able to pass safely in 
 the midst of so many wicked people. If they 
 would tell him the secret, he said he would be 
 their friend for the rest of his life. They told 
 him they had no ' medicine,' and that the only 
 reason they could travel thus safely was the power 
 of Italy, which protected them even in Africa.
 
 74 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 The chief listened open-mouthed to this explana- 
 tion, and at every phrase they uttered embraced 
 them, taking good care, however, never to touch 
 their feet, which being covered with shoes had 
 for him a very equivocal appearance. His two 
 daughters, really beautiful girls of seventeen and 
 eighteen years, with black eyes, dressed in short 
 skirts made of skins, examined the travellers 
 thoroughly, and when their hands were pushed 
 against the dreaded boots by a mischievous bro- 
 ther, ran away with startled cries. The friends 
 of Odollie, who examined the guns with great 
 curiosity, concluded that the devil was inside to 
 make them go off. Before leaving this chief they 
 presented him with a magnificent sciamma, or 
 white silk mantle, which he received almost weep- 
 ing with joy. 
 
 At the Huash river, which marked their entrance 
 into the unexplored region, they were assisted in 
 crossing by fifty nude Gallas, who splashed in and 
 out of the water to show its depth, up to their 
 waists, and led the loaded mules across. On the 
 opposite shore fifteen or twenty chiefs, straight as 
 bronze statues, in martial attitudes, awaited them. 
 Their fierce aspect, the numerous bracelets on 
 their right arms, and the long lances on which 
 they leaned, inspired little confidence in the hearts 
 of the explorers. 
 
 Abba Gare, the next chief, was rough, unkind, 
 avaricious, and proud, giving them nothing without 
 an equivalent, and demanding, before letting them 
 enter his house, a magic remedy to cure his son of 
 insanity. To satisfy him, they were obliged to kill
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 75 
 
 a crow, in which he believed resided the spirit of 
 the person who had injured his son. 
 
 Glad to escape from this inhospitable black 
 man, although suffering from fever taken on the 
 miasmatic banks of the Huash, they mounted 
 their mules and rode on over a country filled with 
 gigantic sycamores, acacias, and mimosas, to the 
 territory of Dullo Manissa, chief of Tuca, who 
 annoyed and taxed them more even than Abba 
 Gare had done. 
 
 The people here were tall, straight, and well- 
 proportioned, dignified in manners, and of a lighter 
 colour than the Ethiopians. The thick crisp hair 
 of the women is arranged in fine curls around the 
 head and over the eyes, while the men have it 
 cut in such a way as to give them a ferocious 
 appearance. 
 
 At every village or hut along the way they were 
 stopped by hundreds of Gallas, who appeared as 
 if by magic, demanding gifts and trying to prevent 
 their advance, because they were the friends of 
 King Menilek whom they hated. The Gallas 
 laughed when Cecchi and Chiarini reeled from 
 the weakness of fever, and refused to give them 
 even a drop of water. They would let the white 
 men neither go forward nor backward, nor set up 
 their tents. Five or six hundred individuals held 
 long assemblies, hours in duration, while the sick 
 men and their worn-out mules waited in misery. 
 Even their servants threatened to leave them, and 
 it was only by the eloquence of the guide and 
 numerous presents to the Gallas, that they were 
 enabled to proceed.
 
 76 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 They had just started to leave Tuca, after 
 sending other presents to the chief Dullo Manissa, 
 when it began to rain as it only can rain in such 
 a climate. The narrow road through which the 
 caravan passed became a stream, the fields near 
 were so many lakes, and they sank knee-deep in 
 mud. Not a single Galla was on the road, and 
 no human voice reached their ears. The only 
 sound was the noise of the waters rushing down 
 the mountain and breaking trees as it came. The 
 cabins of the Gallas, isolated on the summits of 
 the surrounding heights, seen through the rain, 
 seemed the refuges of people escaped from a flood. 
 When this ceased, and the sun came out, new 
 troubles assailed them. A group of seven or eight 
 horsemen, headed by three chiefs, galloped forward 
 and ordered them to stop. This was the spot 
 where Prince Masciascia, the cousin of Menilek, 
 had once massacred many of the inhabitants, and 
 these fierce avengers seemed disposed to make the 
 Italian explorers pay for his evil deed. The guide 
 Guddetta gave the savages the most beautiful 
 objects remaining in the baggage, and on his 
 knees conjured them to desist from vengeance. 
 ' These are not Amharas, they are not the friends 
 of King Menilek. They come from far, they are 
 another race, as you see by their skin, as white as 
 that of babies ; by their leather feet ; by their 
 pantaloons, all of one piece ; and by the shield 
 which they wear on their heads.' 
 
 But these arguments of the good Guddetta were 
 not strong enough to induce the Gallas to let the 
 party go on. They tried to irritate the travellers
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 77 
 
 by rushing forward, brandishing their lances, two, 
 five, or seven together ; throwing themselves back 
 in the saddle, as if to strike ; jostling with the 
 shield and the horse, until Cecchi and Chiarini 
 brought them to reason by a show of revolvers 
 and a resolute defence. 
 
 ANTONIO CECCHI. 
 
 The Gallas adore all the great manifestations 
 of Nature, like the mountains, the streams, the 
 forests, and especially certain trees, such as the 
 sycamores. They have sacred woods, upon the 
 trees of which they hang votive offerings, con- 
 sisting of rags, locks of hair, strips of leather, 
 pieces of gourds, and other things, which give 
 the trees a strange appearance. They have a 
 dim notion of a Superior Being, and believe in 
 a future life of pleasure or of pain. On certain 
 days they pray to God and to many other spiritual 
 powers, whom they adore over a glass of beer or
 
 78 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 hydromel, and sacrifice a domestic animal. They 
 have also a number of priestesses, whose male- 
 diction they greatly fear. There are two religious 
 sects in Galla, one of which recognises as its head 
 Abba Muda (father of the nation). This wizard 
 lives familiarly with several large serpents in a 
 grotto, and is chief of a tribe of shepherds. He 
 as well as his followers dress in skins, let the hair 
 grow very long, and anoint it with butter, and 
 instead of a lance carry a stick, upon the top of 
 which is fixed the horn of an antelope. 
 
 The Gallas of this faith undertake at certain 
 periods long journeys to visit Abba Muda, and 
 give him presents of oxen and cows. Those 
 only who have never killed any one, or robbed, 
 or driven into slavery can take part in this pil- 
 grimage. They are armed only with a stick, and 
 to indicate their humility cut off their hair near 
 the ears and dress like women. As a sign of 
 peace they make a sheep go before them on 
 entering the villages, and receive presents from 
 the women of food and drink, but not lodging, as 
 they are vowed to rest during their journey under 
 the trees. They are met on their arrival by Abba 
 Muda, who conducts them to his grotto, introduces 
 only the chiefs, and permits them to adore and to 
 feed a serpent which keeps guard there. In the 
 grotto he keeps several young men as slaves, who 
 lead a miserable life with him and the serpents. 
 The visitors, after feeding and adoring the serpents, 
 say prayers invoking benedictions on the Galla 
 land, and are then consecrated, or receive the oil 
 which makes them priests. The Gallas who have
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 79 
 
 made this pilgrimage exaggerate the perils they 
 have encountered, and the miracles of which they 
 were witnesses. Lions, they say, kept them com- 
 pany on the way ; rivers divided to give them 
 passage ; and near the grotto of Abba Muda oxen 
 were killed by invisible hands. 
 
 One of these wizards was the means of giving 
 Cecchi and Chiarini liberty when even the affec- 
 tionate guide Guddetta, with tears, had left them to 
 their fate. Surrounded by 400 of the tribe Soddo, 
 and weak from want of food, which they had not 
 touched for twenty hours, they were even them- 
 selves discouraged. But the chief Turi-Galatie 
 consulted the priest, who, after lifting his hands 
 to heaven and making a strange prayer, ordered 
 them to be set at liberty. He consulted also the 
 entrails of a sheep, and the augury agreeing, they 
 were free, but only after being despoiled of many 
 articles. 
 
 While in this kingdom they had a singular 
 experience on a market day, when thousands of 
 the people were gathered on a plain with products 
 for sale. Armed with their guns, and followed by 
 four or five servants, Cecchi and Chiarini went to 
 the market, their appearance causing a general cry 
 of wonder and alarm. In a moment they were 
 surrounded by a compact mass of people, whose 
 lances held up high formed serried ranks of steel. 
 Every act of theirs, and the sound of their voices 
 in the strange Italian tongue excited the savage 
 blacks, who followed them about through the 
 market as they went with their guns levelled to 
 make way.
 
 8o ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Their last host, Turi-Galatie, at first kind and 
 friendly, now asked them for a gun, and would not 
 be satisfied until they had promised to give him 
 an order on Shoa for one. He conducted them 
 to the next chief, Imam, making a regular con- 
 signment of their persons to his neighbour. ' They 
 are going to Kaffa,' he said ; ' see that they pass 
 through the kingdom of Gimma, or if the king 
 will not consent, send them by another road.' 
 ' Very well, they are welcome,' said Imam. 'To- 
 morrow I will send a courier to Gimma.' But 
 notwithstanding these fair promises, when they 
 arrived at his capital, after crossing a river, with 
 the fever upon Cecchi, and being drenched by 
 a heavy rain, he forbade their entrance, and left 
 them to pitch their tents outside the town. He 
 proved a robber, and wanted guns. He invited 
 them one evening to his cabin, and with melli- 
 fluous words began : ' Listen ! you, like me, are 
 great personages. Menilek has recommended you 
 to me, and I will do much for you. But you must 
 do something also for me. I am not a man like 
 the Gallas, to ask you for blue muslin, beads, 
 mirrors, and such things. I do not ask much, 
 I have many enemies, and one of your guns would 
 be useful to me.' 
 
 He wanted to disarm them by getting possession 
 of their guns and those of their servants, and was 
 ill-pleased when they only gave him an order for 
 one on their chief Antinori at Shoa. At the 
 residence of this wicked Imam of Cabiena they 
 visited the market on a rainy day, and found 
 four or five hundred people crouching down close
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. Hi 
 
 together, under umbrellas made of the large leaves 
 of a tree. After going round the market several 
 times, exciting general admiration and wonder, 
 Chiarini innocently disturbed the peace by rubbing 
 a match upon his pantaloons. Terror took pos- 
 session of them all, as they believed the fire came 
 by magic out of his skin. Calm was not restored 
 until he made one of their servants light a whole 
 box of matches in the same way. 
 
 Before Cecchi and Chiarini returned to the 
 miserable hut which Imam had assigned them, 
 they received, to their surprise, a demonstration 
 of affection from all the people in the market. 
 The kindness which they had shown to one of 
 their Guraghe servants, in redeeming him from 
 slavery in Shoa, was related by him to a friend 
 of that tribe whom he met at the market. The 
 story was rapidly passed from one to the other, 
 and all the people surrounded the Italians, dancing 
 and singing songs in their honour. Several days 
 later the relatives of these redeemed slaves arrived 
 from the Guraghe country, and entered with joy 
 into their camp, accompanied by a great number 
 of other people, who had come expressly to see 
 these two strange beings capable of working such 
 miracles. The meeting of these slaves with their 
 parents, brothers, and friends was one of the most 
 touching scenes ever witnessed. This friendship 
 with the Guraghe, who are a people of Semitic 
 origin, and possibly descendants of a Hebrew 
 colony in Abyssinia, resulted in a visit to them 
 made by Chiarini, leaving Cecchi in Cabiena to 
 guard their possessions. 
 
 F
 
 82 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Imam continued to treat them unkindly, and 
 made no effort to send them on to Gimma ; their 
 position became every day more difficult and 
 perilous, and this temporary separation was ne- 
 cessary. 
 
 Chiarini met in the Guraghe country new 
 adventures not less strange than those already 
 encountered. All the Guraghe complained of the 
 
 CHIAKI.M. 
 
 cruelty of Imam. Half- naked they crowded 
 around Chiarini, when he stopped at their villages, 
 asking from what country he came, what religion 
 he professed, and humbly asking him to show 
 some of the wonderful things he carried with him. 
 The Negus or king, who bore the euphonious 
 name of Uociecadelebet, ate salt with him, and 
 gave him a brass ring in token of friendship. 
 Another king, with his guards, came out to meet
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 83 
 
 him, saluted gravely, asked to see some of his 
 objects, and was greatly surprised in looking 
 through the field-glass, and hearing the ticking 
 of a watch. 
 
 When he looked through a coloured lens, which 
 showed everything red, he said to Chiarini, * You 
 will burn up all the world. But spare my country. 
 You are a priest, and I love you ; you are a man 
 of God, and can do good to these poor people 
 whom Menilek has robbed.' 
 
 The guard of the king also took Chiarini for a 
 priest and a saint, imagining that the costume of 
 a general of the Italian army (brought as one of 
 the presents to the chiefs along the way, but which 
 he wore because he had no other clothes) was a 
 sacerdotal dress. They prostrated themselves on 
 the earth and kissed his feet, asking advice for 
 their maladies and troubles, prophecies, and his 
 intercession with God to preserve the country from 
 every misfortune. ' Stay with us,' said the king, 
 ' pray to God for us, we are poor, but for God's 
 people we would give all we have.' 
 
 These poor people call themselves Christians, in 
 opposition to Mussulmans, but have no idea of 
 Christianity. The king is a robust, fine-looking 
 man, with an aquiline nose, gentle eyes, and long, 
 straight hair. Finding that Chiarini must return 
 as soon as possible to his friend left alone in the 
 power of Imam, he desisted from asking him to 
 remain, but begged him to return another time. 
 Chiarini's fame as a saint and a prophet preceded 
 him on the way, and he was everywhere met by 
 an admiring people. They came to know their 
 F a
 
 84 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 future and the fate of their children, brothers and 
 sisters in slavery in Abyssinia and Shoa, constrain- 
 ing Chiarini to let them prostrate themselves before 
 him. The least suspicion that he was not what 
 they took him for, would have cost his life ; and 
 all he could do was to give evasive answers, and 
 say at last, ' I have no books here. Come to 
 Cabiena if you want to know all.' 
 
 At one place he passed with the chief in the 
 midst of 1000 people, all of whom admired 
 him and kissed the footprints of his mule. At 
 another, a group of natives dressed in skins came 
 to meet them, but Chiarini could not talk with 
 them, as he did not know their language. But 
 from the crowd a woman named Kensi, a slave 
 whom he had liberated in Shoa, came out and 
 acted as interpreter. She was very glad to see 
 him, kissed his feet, and offered him food and 
 lodging. Farther on he met Biezut, another 
 woman slave he had liberated, whom he kept for 
 an interpreter, and who served him well when he 
 reached the village of Queen Berore. 
 
 Arrived at a fence of bamboo, within which were 
 nine well-constructed cabins, Chiarini alighted from 
 his mule and waited. He saw only a few dirty 
 faces peering between the sticks, until a beautiful 
 woman, with skin between red and brown, small 
 aquiline nose, a little and smiling mouth, small 
 hands and long, straight hair, came out to meet 
 him. ' Hubie membum ?' said the queen, examin- 
 ing him from head to foot ; which the ex-slave 
 Biezut interpreted, ' Will you enter ? ' He followed 
 her among her people, who kissed the earth as she
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 85 
 
 passed. ' If this savage queen,' says Chiarini, ' did 
 not laugh at my appearance, it must have been 
 from compassion. I was barefoot, because in 
 crossing a torrent my shoes had become wet and 
 heavy ; I was muddy from head to foot, my panta- 
 loons were drawn up to the knees ; my hat was 
 on one side, and I wore the old, faded and dirty 
 uniform of a general.' 
 
 The queen led him into a garden, where, seated 
 upon a leaf of musa, with a lady-in-waiting beside 
 her and a large circle of people around, she looked 
 at him attentively without uttering a word. Then 
 she ordered a woman to wash his feet with hot 
 water, and finally asked to see his wonderful things 
 the watch, the compass, the field-glass, the 
 magnet and the whistle. She had the air and 
 manner of a queen. She wore a skirt of ox-skin, 
 and another skin over her shoulders like a mantle; 
 a ring of brass upon her fore-finger ; six brass 
 rings on each arm, and two on each ankle. She 
 gave Chiarini gentle and generous hospitality, and 
 in a serious conversation, interpreted by Biezut, 
 invited him to remain and go to the wars with her. 
 ' I cannot,' said Chiarini, ' for I am not a man of 
 war, but I will pray God to protect you and destroy 
 your enemies.' In his character of prophet and 
 priest this answer was so satisfactory to Berore 
 and her people that they sang a song in his 
 honour, torturing his ears by the discord and the 
 monotonous wail. 
 
 When Chiarini sat down to take notes of his 
 journey the crowd drew around to see what he was 
 doing, but he easily drove them back by shooting
 
 86 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 off his gun in the air. Five hundred persons fell 
 backwards at the explosion, knocking each other 
 down in their fright. When he arrived at another 
 place the people wished to see him alight from his 
 mule, knelt before him and then left, singing as 
 they went. Having explored the country of the 
 Guraghe, and arrived, always ascending, at the 
 uplands 8000 feet above the level of the sea, which 
 are the confines of the Arussi-Galla idolatrous 
 tribes, Chiarini returned to Cecchi in Cabiena, 
 visiting on the way his royal friend, who desired so 
 much to see him again. 
 
 United again, the travellers were able at last to 
 escape from the power of Imam, taking the way of 
 Limmu; as the King of Gimma would not receive 
 them, and the guides would not go by the way 
 of Guraghe. Their sufferings increased as their 
 journey continued, and they were left at last in a 
 strange and hostile country, having passed from 
 one robber chief to another despoiled, deceived, 
 and ill-treated by all. When they reached the 
 end of their doleful pilgrimage, there was nothing 
 left for the Ghenne-fa, the rapacious Queen of 
 Ghera in Galla. 
 
 Their mules were drowned or starved, their 
 people were dead with fever or had deserted them, 
 and every robber-chief along the way had chosen 
 for himself the most valuable articles out of their 
 boxes. Ghenne-fa saw that they had no guns, no 
 rich carpets, no jewels or silks for her. She could 
 not understand why they had undertaken so perilous 
 and difficult a journey, or why they desired to pass 
 through her kingdom. But they told her that
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 87 
 
 their king wished to know all the wonders of the 
 world, in order to write them down in his great 
 book ; and, as he had heard that beyond Kaffa 
 there were mountains that threw out fire, and are 
 always covered with snow, and little men, and the 
 wild unicorn horse, he had sent them to travel 
 through those countries. 
 
 But the queen, believing they knew the secrets 
 of many arts, resolved to keep them as slaves, 
 and exacted of Cecchi carpets, stuffs, and arms, 
 and of Chiarini mirrors and ornaments. Chiarini 
 succeeded in making a mirror that pleased her 
 by using the glass of an old Arab lantern and 
 the mercury from a scientific instrument But 
 at last, worn out with grief and disease, Chiarini 
 died, leaving Cecchi desolate. This slavery was 
 harder to bear than ever alone. He fled, but was 
 retaken, and kept in a dirty hut, where he was 
 watched night and day, and allowed only a little 
 bread and water. Once he was condemned to 
 be eaten by the crocodiles, but at the last mo- 
 ment was saved from this fate by the cupidity of 
 his tyrant. 
 
 ' Tell me your secrets, or I will have you drowned 
 in the Gogeb.' ' But I have no secrets ; I came here 
 to learn. What can I make you ? I cannot weave 
 a carpet, but will paint flowers on linen cloth.' The 
 queen was pleased with this, and gave him double 
 rations of food. 
 
 But the hour of relief from this torture at last 
 came, Antinori having persuaded the King of 
 Abyssinia to reclaim the prisoner and threaten the 
 queen with invasion. She then tried to make
 
 88 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Cecchi forget her ill-treatment and persuade him 
 to call her ' his kind mother.' 
 
 The meeting of Cecchi, as he went in triumph, 
 accompanied by an almost regal escort along the 
 shore of the Blue Nile, with his liberator, Gustavus 
 Bianchi, is dramatic. In the distance Cecchi sees 
 a European mounted and a number of savages. He 
 rises on his horse and calls out over the river, 'Who 
 are you. generous man?' 'Bianchi.' And Cecchi, 
 weeping with joy, answers, ' How are my family?' 
 ' All well.' ' Is it true that Victor Emanuel is dead ?' 
 ' Yes, he is dead.' 
 
 The inundation of the Nile kept Cecchi waiting 
 not less than four months upon its banks, but his 
 sufferings were over. He received great honours 
 on his return to Rome, and after a short repose 
 returned to Africa. 
 
 His work, in three volumes, entitled From Zeila 
 to Caffa, has been published at the expense of the 
 Roman Geographical Society, and he is now Italian 
 consul at Aden. 
 
 The region then traversed by Cecchi and Chiarini 
 has since been conquered by Menilek, King of Shoa, 
 and any of his friends could now travel there in 
 safety. The petty chiefs, who were then suspicious 
 and rapacious persecutors, would now receive with 
 hospitality any travellers arriving from Shoa. They 
 argue that when a traveller has been allowed to 
 pass through the dominions of a neighbouring 
 king he must certainly be either his friend or his 
 messenger, and, conquered in battle soon after the 
 liberation of Cecchi by a general of Menilek, they 
 are now careful not to irritate him.
 
 CECCHI AND CHIARINI. 89 
 
 Menilek is strengthening and increasing his 
 kingdom by dethroning the native chiefs, and 
 establishing his own generals in their places. 
 Gimma, Guma, Ghera, Gomma, Limmu, Harar, 
 and other places have fallen into his power, and he 
 aspires to make the capital of this vast new king- 
 dom to the south of Abyssinia in a city of Kaffa. 
 The political and geographical importance of these 
 conquests is evident. 
 
 The bones of Chiarini were wrested from the 
 wicked Queen of Ghera by another intrepid ex- 
 plorer, Augusto Franzoi, who brought them back 
 to Italy and gave them to the city of Chieti, where 
 Chiarini was born. He asked for himself as the 
 only reward for such peril a lock of hair, which he 
 divided with Cecchi. 
 
 Previous to this Franzoi had made several 
 journeys in Africa, visiting Soudan, Abyssinia, and 
 Shoa. None of the explorers have shown greater 
 courage and ability in extricating themselves from 
 difficult situations. While travelling alone in Abys- 
 sinia without a servant, and with small means, he 
 was robbed by a chief of his mule and baggage, 
 and forced to walk for days half-dressed, and with 
 old shoes, to the capital of King John. Finding 
 himself thus reduced to misery, he at first lost 
 courage and went into a forest, where he wept for 
 a long time, but recovered, and with incredible skill 
 extricated himself at last from those difficulties 
 and reached the hospitable land of Shoa. There 
 Menilek received him kindly, ' because he was an 
 Italian,' gave him presents, invited him to eat at 
 his own table, and took him, together with an
 
 90 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Italian doctor living at Shoa, named Alfieri. to a 
 war against the Gallas. 
 
 Tempted by curiosity, Franzoi willingly accom- 
 panied the king, but saw so much barbarity, 
 sacking and burning of villages, carrying of youth 
 into slavery, and murdering of women, children, 
 old men, and the wounded, that his very soul 
 sickened, although Menilek tried to mitigate these 
 horrors. Two hundred and fifty thousand people 
 followed the king to the war, but only about 
 100,000 were soldiers, and 15,000 of these had guns. 
 The rest were women, children, and slaves. 
 
 In crossing a river he saw an immense number 
 of these people, which he estimated at from five 
 to fifteen thousand, drown, and for a time was 
 separated from his friend Alfieri. Each sought the 
 other in agony amid that wild and barbarous throng, 
 and meeting at length fell into each other's arms 
 weeping and rejoicing as if they 'had not met for 
 forty years.' 
 
 With legitimate pride in his journeys, Franzoi, in 
 the Dark Continent, published on his return, says, 
 ' Let those who journey in less dangerous parts of 
 Africa, well provided for by Governments and 
 Societies, or using their own wealth, try to pass 
 where I went, walking as much as I did, always 
 alone, without arms ; poor, sometimes even without 
 a servant ; often without food ; always without 
 protection, or guide, or compass ; and they will 
 understand that if I have not accomplished more it 
 is not my fault.'
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DR. TRAVERSI. 
 
 DR. TRAVERSI accompanied the King of Shoa 
 in one of his wars with Galla, where Cecchi and 
 Chiarini suffered such hardships a few years before. 
 This mountainous country has a high plain, like 
 that through which runs the River Huash, about 
 twenty miles square, where not a stone could be 
 found, and where the fertile, alluvial ground is ten 
 or twelve feet deep. 
 
 The people of Galla, to save the lives of their 
 flocks during the rainy season, when the plain is 
 inundated, have ingeniously constructed numerous 
 mounds of earth near to each other, where their 
 sheep and cows can find safety from the water and 
 the mud brought down from the mountains, and 
 also abundant pasturage. 
 
 The explorers followed Menilek and his victo- 
 rious army over fertile plains and woody banks of 
 rivers into the mountainous country of the enemy. 
 In four days of fatiguing march they went around 
 the mysterious Lake Zuai, which rests in the crater 
 of an extinct volcano. The aspect of this lake is 
 melancholy, high grass and wild tropical plants
 
 92 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 growing along the water and hiding it from view. 
 It is a great mass of water, generally in motion 
 with waves three feet high, and covered near the 
 shore with a thick network of woody aquatic plants. 
 Our explorers one day, in trying to walk over these, 
 went down to the neck, dressed in white as they 
 were, in the mud. There elephants roam at their 
 ease, and hippopotami inhabit the muddy shores. 
 The only path around the lake through the grass 
 and shrubs was made for the army and travellers 
 by the elephants that fled before them, and their 
 feet slipped in the ashy, volcanic ground. The 
 king was first in the woods after the prey, and first 
 with his lance in battle. 
 
 Near Lake Zuai are two large volcanic rocks 
 near each other, to which the natives attach a 
 curious superstition. They believe that only the 
 good those who are beloved of God can pass 
 between them, while those who cannot are beloved 
 of the devil. Thin men pass without difficulty, 
 but those who are more fleshy twist and strain to 
 procure this patent of sanctity, often without suc- 
 cess. Once a year the blind, the deaf, the lame, 
 and all afflicted with any disease, together with the 
 curious and fanatics, meet at the lake by night to 
 drink the water, which it is believed will effect 
 miraculous cures. The Lake Zuai has five islands, 
 one of which is inhabited by fugitives from a mas- 
 sacre that anciently took place in the surrounding 
 country. It is said that they carried with them, 
 and still possess, precious manuscripts relating to 
 the history and religion of this district, and some 
 believe they are Jews.
 
 DR. TRAVERSI. 93 
 
 King Menilek twice endeavoured to take posses- 
 sion of this island, called Tullu-guddu, but, owing 
 to the lack of boats for his army, was unsuccessful. 
 But as the inhabitants, owing to the aridity of the 
 volcanic soil, raise nothing for their subsistence, 
 and make their purchases at two towns on the lake 
 shore, the wily king will yet take possession of 
 those towns and reduce the island by starvation. 
 
 The Gallas who live on the shore make light and 
 elegant little boats from the wood of an aquatic 
 plant that grows there. 
 
 The army of the Shoan king and our explorers 
 then ascended to the high mountains by narrow, 
 precipitous roads horses neighing, men swearing, 
 some under foot trampled into nothingness, and the 
 others only reaching the end by feats of climbing 
 and leaping that recalled to the Italian his early 
 days on Mount Amiata. 
 
 They mounted to the high plain of Albasso, 
 where the inhabitants subsist on meat, honey, and 
 milk, and saw the springs of the River Uabi. The 
 Guraghe, a tranquil, industrious people, conquered 
 by Menilek, have long been so esteemed as slaves 
 that their number has been decimated. 
 
 The slave catchers steal the women and children 
 when they go to the springs or rivers for water, or 
 dig long, subterranean galleries that open into the 
 huts, and at night enter, kill the husband, and carry 
 away the wife and children. 
 
 During this war, Dr. Traversi saw the parting 
 between a woman and her two little boys, who had 
 just been captured by soldiers of Menilek. The 
 eldest boy wept and prayed to remain with his
 
 94 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 mother, and, when he could no longer cling to her, 
 stretched out his arms towards her while they 
 carried him away. In general, these poor people, 
 once made slaves, accept the position quietly, only 
 showing, by a fixed expression upon their faces, 
 scorn for their captors. Menilek, persuaded by 
 Count Antonelli, frowns upon slave-stealing, and 
 is not responsible for all that is done by his 
 soldiers. 
 
 The Guraghe women braid straw mats with 
 which to cover the roofs and the floors of their 
 huts, cultivate little gardens, make straw baskets 
 almost as pretty as those of Florence, and are 
 clean and gentle in manner. 
 
 The women of an adjoining tribe, on the contrary, 
 are careless and dirty, talkative and gay. Dr. 
 Ragazzi met a number of these returning from 
 market, who made him endless compliments 
 asking after his health and that of his relatives, 
 friends, and flocks all with a gay and frank air; 
 and one, with a smile, said, ' Don't stop at our 
 house. We are poor poor, and have nothing to 
 give you.' 
 
 Tribes near each other are as different in lan- 
 guage, dress, manners, and customs as their lands, 
 the high, endless mountain plains, contrast with the 
 low, volcanic lake regions. 
 
 Fatima, the wife of a chief of one of these tribes, 
 presented Dr. Ragazzi with coffee, butter, and 
 cakes, and waited patiently for his gifts in return. 
 She was delighted with the earrings, beads, hand- 
 kerchiefs, and mirror that he gave her, but yet 
 asked for other things, saying, ' Not for myself, but
 
 DR. TRAVERSI. 95 
 
 for you ; for if I can say that you gave me much, 
 your name will be great, and I can then present 
 you to all my relatives ; ' and she was as good as 
 her word. 
 
 The pewter cups, the coffee machine, the carpet 
 of the Italian explorer were all objects of wonder 
 to this African Mussulman queen, but most of all 
 his watch. She cried out, when she saw it and 
 heard its ticking, ' Ohe, Arabb6 ! Ohe, Arabb ! 
 Who is inside of your watch ? ' All travellers, to 
 them, are Arabs. 
 
 These Ethiopian mountains are chiefly volcanic, 
 and lakes in the deep, funnel-shaped, extinct craters 
 are frequent. The tranquil waters of Lake Arra 
 Scietan are so far down the steep sides of the rocky 
 walls that the head swims in looking over, and the 
 negroes say, ' If we look too long the waters will call 
 us.' The fancy of the inhabitants peoples this lake 
 with spirits, and attributes miraculous virtues to its 
 waters. They say the lake is full of gold ; that at 
 night a red- red flame walks upon the water, and the 
 cocks which live down there crow as the flame goes 
 forward. 
 
 Another excursion made by the Italian explorers 
 was to Rogghie, five and a half hours from Entotto, 
 which is a centre of the trade in ' black ivory ' for 
 that region. The day before their arrival noo 
 slaves passed through the town, only one of whom 
 a boy succeeded in escaping. The traders are 
 Mussulmans, all of whom are irritated against 
 Menilek on account of his prohibition of the 
 slave-trade in his new dominions. Rogghie is 
 reached from Entotto by a zigzag mountain road,
 
 96 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 and the town itself lies at the foot of Mount Jerer, 
 the ascent of which is fatiguing. The mountain is 
 destitute of trees, but covered with high grass. 
 There are few birds, but swarms of grasshoppers 
 and many deer. Once on the summit a splendid 
 enchanting panorama is spread out before the eye ; 
 an immense plain, slightly undulated, covered with 
 crops of grain some dry, some just out of the 
 ground, and others ready to be harvested stretch- 
 ing to the foot of a long straight chain of small 
 spent volcanoes, strange in shape and treeless, and 
 the crater of every one reflecting the sun, like a 
 mirror, from the quiet waters of a lake. Wherever 
 the Italian doctors went they were surrounded by 
 throngs of the sick ; their potions were swallowed 
 with blind faith, and every prophecy of renewed 
 health or certain death was received unhesitatingly. 
 The crowds in the market-places separated before 
 them as if by magic, and they passed through two 
 lines of people, who reviewed them from head to 
 foot their hats, their shoes, their coats, and every- 
 thing they wore were thoroughly examined. The 
 old women looked sideways out of their cat-like 
 eyes, and children cried desperately at sight of 
 them, or, if they could, ran away. 
 
 Farther on in this mountainous region is the 
 country of the Arussi Galla, where the power of 
 Menilek is not yet established. His uncle, Ras 
 Darghie, whom he had appointed governor of that 
 vast, unconquered province, entrenched himself in a 
 strong natural fortress upon a mountain surrounded 
 by deep, inaccessible precipices. His communica- 
 tions with Menilek were cut off by the rainy season,
 
 DR. TRAVERSI. 97 
 
 and he was in danger of surrendering to the fierce 
 Gallas. But he went out and almost destroyed 
 them in a bloody battle, obliging the remnant to 
 abandon the country. Menilek then relieved the 
 army, which was suffering from famine, and, crossing 
 the other districts of Galla,took Harar, a large and 
 fortified city, in January, 1887. Harar, the ancient 
 metropolis of all the fertile Galla country, is 5400 
 feet above the level of the Gulf of Aden. 
 
 This important conquest of Menilek, friendly to 
 the Italians, is an improvement on the government 
 of the emir whom he has overthrown. This emir 
 was responsible for at least one of the three mas- 
 sacres of Italians which have taken place in Afar 
 and near Harar in the last few years. The other 
 two are attributed to the cruelty of Mohammed 
 Anfari, of Aussa, a chief of the Danakili. 
 
 The exploring and commercial expeditions of 
 Giulietti, of Bianchi, and of Porr6 were massacred 
 in that terrible desert which lies along the Red Sea 
 and the Gulf of Aden, and which must be crossed 
 by the caravans that would reach the fertile moun- 
 tain lands of Abyssinia, the Shoa, or Harar. The 
 two Italian possessions on the Red Sea Massowah 
 and Assab are at the extremities of this region. 
 It is a frightful, sandy desert, undulated by low, 
 spent volcanoes, and looks as if it had been passed 
 over by a gigantic conflagration. 
 
 The horrors of Sodom and Gomorrah after their 
 destruction may be supposed scarcely less than those 
 of Afar, inhabited by the savage race of the Danakili. 
 The valleys, burned dry during the summer, are rank 
 with decaying vegetation after the rains. 
 
 G
 
 98 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 The palm, the acacia, and high grasses alone 
 grow here ; and the River Huash and its tributary, 
 that come down from the mountains, instead of 
 pouring into the sea, become wide pestilential 
 marshes in the sandy soil. There is no agriculture. 
 The cattle of the Danakili browse upon the scarce 
 vegetation growing among the rocks, and are 
 watered from wells dug here and there. The 
 climate is tropical, tempered only by the monsoon, 
 and varied by frightful tempests accompanied by 
 storms of sand. This is Afar, inhabited by 150 
 tribes of Danakili, who love their land, such as it 
 is, pine away or die if absent long from it, and hate 
 the people of other countries. 
 
 They need the tropical heat of their climate, and 
 shrivel up in the cold like serpents in winter. 
 Picture these fierce children of the desert, tall and 
 dignified like the Arab ; of chocolate colour ; little 
 more than skin and bone, from their diet of sour 
 milk ; the legs slightly curved outward ; the hair, 
 black as a raven's wing, combed up in a bunch on 
 the top of the head, curled on the sides, bathed in 
 rancid grease, and shaved off like a wig behind ; 
 the face, arms, and legs tattooed ; the nose and lips 
 thin and regular, and the eyes bright and black. 
 They generally go barefooted, but carry sandals to 
 put on in rocky places. They wear around the waist 
 a red-and-white striped apron, and over that a rect- 
 angular white wrap reaching to the knees. Neck- 
 laces and bracelets of beads or pieces of brass, and 
 numerous little leather bags tied around or on 
 the arms, containing verses of the Koran, as pre- 
 servatives against the evil eye, disease, or danger,
 
 DR. TRAVERSI. 99 
 
 complete the picture except, indeed, the lance, 
 which is their constant companion. The women 
 wear the outer white garment longer than the 
 men, and reaching to the ankles ; a blue cloth 
 over the breast, and another on the head. Long, 
 crisp curls cover their heads ; the ears are bored 
 in two places for heavy rings ; and their ankles 
 are encircled by rings so heavy that they walk 
 like chained prisoners, and often cannot walk at 
 all because the skin is broken. The women also 
 are tattooed, and wear the charms which are 
 supposed by every Mussulman to be a protection 
 against evil. They are shepherdesses, and when 
 they are out with the flocks, braid straw mats 
 from palm-leaves, instead of knitting or spinning, 
 as in Europe. 
 
 This is the sole art of the country, the mats 
 serving to cover their tents and the huts of the 
 camels for beds, for carpets, and for salt-bags. 
 The women do all the work at home and out of 
 doors, while the men when at home live in absolute 
 idleness, gossiping, and chewing tobacco. The tic- 
 tac of the cream in bags of skin, which they beat 
 patiently up and down to make butter, is heard by 
 the traveller betimes in the morning. 
 
 Although ferocious and inhospitable to strangers, 
 the Danakili are extremely courteous and affec- 
 tionate to each other. The young kiss the hands 
 of the old ; they ask a thousand questions about 
 the health of each member of the family, about the 
 house, the flocks, and the fields. In their councils 
 of war, when all are seated on the ground, with legs 
 drawn up, and the lance erect between them, no one 
 G a
 
 100 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 is interrupted when speaking, and all are treated 
 with respect. 
 
 The sovereign of one half of these tribes, without 
 whose consent nothing is done in the land, is 
 Mohammed Anfari of Aussa. He is fierce, cruel, 
 superstitious, and afraid of white men, but covetous 
 of the advantages which their commerce may bring 
 him. His capital is Aussa, and there he received 
 Dr. Traversi under the shade of an acacia, seated 
 upon a stone, and surrounded by thirty of his 
 warriors, all with the lance between their legs. 
 
 His neck, breast, and arms are covered with 
 amulets to protect him from the white man's eye, 
 as it was once foretold him that the first time he 
 looked a European full in the face he would die. 
 On this account he was hostile to the expeditions 
 which crossed the desert going to Shoa, Abyssinia, 
 and Harar, but was finally persuaded by Antonelli 
 that the peril might be averted by charms, and his 
 purse filled without danger. Unlike the other 
 Danakili, he is fat and large, with a round face, full 
 beard, and short, curly, iron-grey hair, with deep 
 wrinkles furrowing his wide forehead. He has 
 sixteen or eighteen wives, and all the children 
 about the place are his.
 
 GUSTAVUS BIANCHI. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS IN NORTH- 
 EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 IN Afar three Italian expeditions have been 
 massacred, with the consent of Mohammed Anfari 
 and the Emir of Harar. The first was that of 
 Captain Giulietti and Lieutenant Biglieri, who, with 
 thirteen Italian sailors from a war ship anchored in 
 the Bay of Assab, left that place in 1882 to explore 
 the country and find roads leading towards Abys- 
 sinia. 
 
 Assab, which has cost the Italian Government 
 great expense, is useless unless roads are opened to 
 the interior, by which the riches of Africa can find 
 their way to Italy. 
 
 The brave young Lombard Giulietti with his
 
 102 
 
 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 party were massacred in the night while sleeping, 
 by the Danakili, at a short distance from Assab. 
 A rough granite monument now marks the spot. 
 
 Not long after this, in 1883, an expedition, of 
 which Gustavus Bianchi was a member, visited the 
 Negus of Abyssinia to carry him presents from 
 King Humbert, and arrange a treaty of commerce. 
 Bianchi, having completed this mission, continued 
 
 CAPTAIN GIULIETTI. 
 
 his journey with three companions, Salimbeni, 
 Diana, and Monari, to the highlands of Ethiopia, 
 bearing gifts to the King of Goggiam, who had 
 aided in the liberation of Cecchi. There, on his 
 return, he left Salimbeni, the King of Goggiam 
 insisting on having a bridge built over one of his 
 rivers, and caring nothing for the pretty baubles 
 sent by King Humbert. Bianchi, with Diana and 
 Monari, returned to the capital of Abyssinia, and
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. 103 
 
 prepared to cross the desert in the direction of 
 Assab, to search for the bones of Giulietti. 
 
 This was against the warnings of the King of 
 Abyssinia, who assured them that, although anxious 
 to protect them, he could not do so, as they would 
 be in danger from the Danakili, and that water on 
 that route was scarce. After wandering about for 
 eight days, lost in the sands and finding no wells, 
 deserted by their servants, guides, and interpreters, 
 they returned to the confines of Abyssinia. When 
 they again started out, they left behind nearly all 
 their baggage, but determined to reach Assab by 
 the route they had chosen. The Danakili, from the 
 tops of the hills near, held long conversations in the 
 night with a treacherous servant, whom Bianchi had 
 bound with ropes, and the next day the number of 
 their attendants was reduced by desertion to six. 
 
 But Bianchi, urged by the desire to find the 
 bones of Giulietti in this unexplored region, pressed 
 forward, and even, persuaded of the good faith of 
 seven Danakili who presented themselves to him 
 as friends, admitted them under his tent, and ate 
 and drank with them. ' If you are really friends, 
 show me,' he said, 'where are the bones of Giulietti.' 
 On the very night of the massacre the savages led 
 him to the spot at the foot of a mountain, and near 
 a small lake. Towards evening they ascended the 
 mountain, from which they could see Assab in the 
 distance. ' There is Assab ; we are near,' they 
 said ; but they never reached it, for they were 
 surprised in their sleep, pinioned, and murdered 
 before Bianchi could do more than give one cry for 
 his faithful servant.
 
 104 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 These savages will not bury a white man or 
 touch his bones, for fear of contamination, and 
 thus it was possible several years afterwards to 
 gather the piteous relics together that had been 
 exposed to the wild beasts, whitened in the sun, 
 and almost covered with sand, and bring them 
 back to Italy. 
 
 In April, 1886, another party, consisting of Count 
 
 CARLO COCASTELLI DI MONTIGLIO. 
 
 Porro, President of the African Commercial Society 
 of Milan ; Count Cocastelli of Mantua, a Secretary 
 of the Geographical Society of Rome ; Professor 
 Licati of Naples, and others, were massacred while 
 on their way from the sea-port of Zeila across Afar 
 towards the south to Harar. The object of Porro 
 was to open a commercial route with Harar; Coca- 
 stelli and Licati being added to pursue scientific 
 studies along the way. A band of Mussulmans 
 sent by the fanatical Emir of Harar met the
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. 105 
 
 Italian expedition near Gialdessa, a native town 
 under the English protectorate, of which they first 
 killed all the garrison. They bound thirteen of the 
 escort and took possession of all baggage, but left 
 the Italians their horses and arms, assuring them 
 that their lives were safe. But as they advanced 
 towards Gialdessa and Harar they held a short 
 discussion among themselves, and then fired upon 
 the Italians, killing them immediately. At Gial- 
 dessa the native escort were freed from the ropes 
 that bound them and permitted to return ; but, 
 overcome by terror and fatigue, only four reached 
 Zeila, and of these four, only one crossed the Gulf 
 of Aden to carry the dreadful tidings. 
 
 The expedition had crossed the level desert plain 
 covered with low bushes, and was approaching 
 the highlands of Harar. The roads were narrow, 
 through rocky walls, on the summits of which 
 they occasionally saw the natives seated as usual 
 with their lances between their legs, and looking 
 grimly down upon them. Flocks of white sheep 
 browsed on the hill-sides and the chase was 
 abundant. 
 
 Count Cocastelli, wearing a coffee-coloured suit, 
 dark spectacles, and a broad-brimmed straw hat, 
 made collections of butterflies, minerals, and plants. 
 The letters of Porro, Cocastelli, and Licati, received 
 after the news of their death, were full of hope and 
 interest in their work. But their imprudent con- 
 fidence in their own courage and peaceful intentions 
 led them to disregard the warnings of the friendly 
 natives, and cost the lives of these explorers, as it 
 had done those of Bianchi and Giulietti.
 
 106 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 The bones of these brave men also lay where 
 they fell for months, until they were gathered and 
 transported to Milan, where they were buried with 
 honour. 
 
 These repeated outrages induced the Italian 
 Government, soon after the murder of Bianchi, to 
 take possession of Massowah, an island on the Red 
 Sea coast, which, without belonging to Abyssinia, 
 was useful to her as a port for her products. 
 
 Through the influence of England, Italy was 
 able to take quiet possession of the island, which 
 was at that time occupied by the Egyptians. 
 England was then engaged in the Soudan War. 
 After Khartoum fell, the Italians remained at 
 Massowah, with the temporary consent of the 
 European Powers, though against the wishes of 
 Abyssinia, and thus though dangerous complica- 
 tions have since arisen became masters of the 
 eastern Red Sea coast from Massowah to Assab. 
 
 The city of Massowah, with 6000 inhabitants, is 
 situated upon the island of the same name, which 
 is one of several coral islands, so near the shore 
 that one of them is connected with it by the 
 accumulation of sand. 
 
 The climate of the island is tropical, but it is 
 destitute of vegetation, except a few resinous plants. 
 Its chief importance is due to its fine harbour, 
 deep enough for the largest ships that pass the 
 Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Remains of ruined 
 cisterns made in the Persian style prove the 
 antiquity of this town. 
 
 There are now, in the most prominent positions, 
 a few modern buildings, and farther on is the
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. 107 
 
 Arab city, with its mosque and bazaar glowing 
 in Eastern picturesqueness of colour beneath a 
 burning tropical sun. 
 
 Those of the inhabitants who can do so go to 
 the mountains of Bogus in summer to escape 
 the heat, or, without going so far, build on some 
 low hills, about two miles distant, small huts made 
 of boughs laid over poles stuck in the ground, 
 with skins over all. Dry leaves laid on the ground 
 inside, with skins thrown over them, serve as beds 
 or sofas for the family, and an outer fence, built 
 like the hut, serves to hide the women from view. 
 There is no grass in the dry season, but the deep 
 wells furnish water in more or less abundance. 
 
 Caravans descend from the mountains of Abys- 
 sinia in June or July, bringing in goat skins on 
 the backs of mules, coffee, ivory, wax, gold dust, 
 and spices. 
 
 Here the Italian troops, under General Gene, 
 established themselves, taking possession also of 
 Moncullu, or the ' Mother of All,' and Saati, towns 
 twenty-five or thirty miles distant on the mainland. 
 Saati, the most advanced of these stations, was one 
 day out of food and ammunition, and in danger of 
 being taken by the Abyssinians, who, commanded 
 by Ras Alula, were in the vicinity. 
 
 Early in the morning 500 soldiers, under Colonel 
 de Cristoforis, marched out from Moncullu with 
 the provisions, anticipating nothing more than a 
 little excursion from one town to the other. They 
 went gaily over the slightly hilly country, and, at 
 a place called Dogali, met a multitude of Abys- 
 sinians some said 10,000, others 20,000. They
 
 I08 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 were surrounded on the low hill, where they drew 
 up to sell their lives as dearly as possible, and, 
 when they had expended all their ammunition, 
 were murdered with lances. When, at last, only 
 the colonel and twelve soldiers were alive, they 
 saluted, with their guns, their dead and dying 
 companions, and a few moments after fell them- 
 selves. They were found a few hours later, by the 
 company which left Moncullu in search of them, 
 stretched out in line as if on parade all dead or 
 wounded. Only one reached Moncullu several 
 days after, covered with wounds and in a pitiable 
 condition. The wounded of Dogali were carried 
 away in the arms of their companions, who expected 
 to be attacked by the Abyssinians at any moment, 
 and the dead lay there a prey to vultures and 
 hyenas. The garrison of Saati made their escape 
 in safety to Moncullu. 
 
 During the battle of Dogali, Count Salimbeni, 
 who had been left by Bianchi three years and a 
 half before with the King of Goggiam to build 
 a bridge, was, with Ras Alula, on a hill near, a 
 prisoner, and in chains. He saw the Italian 
 soldiers advance with their bayonets glinting in 
 the sun and the banner waving ; he saw their 
 brave defence against a horde of negroes, ' like 
 a cloud that no man could number ' ; saw the 
 remnant pierced with lances and stretched on the 
 ground beside their fellows ; and was then carried 
 back by his captors to Abyssinia. 
 
 The story of Count Engineer Salimbeni is one 
 of the most dramatic in the series of Italian 
 explorations in Africa. His cruel imprisonment,
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. 109 
 
 together with Count Savoiroux, and with Major 
 Piano and his little son Emanuel, eleven years 
 old, by the Abyssinians, centred public attention 
 upon them for months, and joy was universal when 
 all were finally restored to their relatives. 
 
 The building of the bridge was the sequel to the 
 liberation of Captain Cecchi from his imprisonment 
 in Ghera-Galla. 
 
 The King of Goggiam, persuaded by Bianchi, 
 
 COUNT SALIMBENI. 
 
 used his influence with the gentle Queen of Ghera 
 in favour of Cecchi, and for reward demanded 
 neither jewels, silks, nor guns, but a bridge. A 
 bridge to cross the Temcia in the season of 
 inundation to the rich Galla country was necessary 
 for him, and King Humbert could give him no 
 other acceptable gift. He would have that, and 
 nothing else, and Bianchi and Cecchi, who had 
 waited four months for the subsiding of the waters, 
 calling to each other across the river, knew that a 
 bridge was needed.
 
 110 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Bianchi promised to bring a person who could 
 make a bridge, but he knew well that the Italian 
 Government, although willing to propitiate savages 
 with gifts of chains, bracelets, brocades, and beads, 
 would not build a bridge. All that he could do 
 was to add the courageous and able engineer 
 Salimbeni to his third expedition to Abyssinia 
 and Goggiam. But Salimbeni was without money, 
 instruments, or material, except what he could find 
 in Goggiam, and had only one volunteer assistant, 
 a bricklayer named Andreoni. Perseverance and 
 courage must take the place of means, but his 
 heart was not so stout that he could see his dear 
 friends Bianchi, Diana, and Monari leave him 
 almost alone in a strange land without sadness. 
 He received their farewells and watched them 
 depart, not dreaming that a few days would bring 
 him the news of their cruel deaths. Then he turned 
 to the task of making a bridge 150 feet long, 60 
 feet high in the centre, and with three arches, 
 without bricks, without trowels, not knowing at 
 first where to find sand or stone, or wood or ropes, 
 with only one efficient helper, and in face of the 
 doubts of the king and the scorn of the jealous 
 people. 
 
 Their history said that the ancient Lusitani, 
 before building the wonderful bridge over the Abai, 
 slacked the lime with the blood of a thousand 
 cows, and called down fire from heaven to dry the 
 bed of the river ; and when Salimbeni asked only 
 for stones, sand, wood, and water, neither king nor 
 people believed he could do what he had promised. 
 ' He knows nothing,' they said ; ' he has not asked
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. Ill 
 
 for the blood of the thousand cows.' But the 
 magnitude of his demands shook the eager desire 
 of the king for a means of communication with the 
 conquered land of Galla. He asked for men to 
 make sixty thousand bricks, and instead were sent 
 to him a few weak, half-starved women, each carry- 
 ing her baby in a skin upon her back. Finding 
 that King Tacle-Aimanot refused to furnish men 
 and means, Salimbeni worked with his own hands 
 until they were torn and bleeding. His appeal to 
 the Negus of Abyssinia, of whom the King of 
 Goggiam is a vassal, procured at last ample means 
 and such help as the savages could lend. 
 
 He found stratified sandstone at ten hours' 
 distance, of which he took 34,000 loads such as 
 a man could carry, and sand and limestone in 
 proportion. 
 
 The king and people were aghast, and said, 
 ' These Europeans have come only to eat and 
 drink. They ask for so much because they wish 
 to do nothing. They cannot do what is a work 
 only for God.' Even the Negus said, ' Let them 
 try first a bridge over a little brook.' 
 
 But Salimbeni was not discouraged, although 
 even food was scarce and bad, and he had very 
 little money to buy it. Three old knife-blades, 
 worn away before their duty was done, served to 
 bore the rocks for the first planting the bridge ; 
 mor trowels were made out of frying-pans, and 
 hammers out of the native ploughs. 
 
 Finally the bridge is completed and the supports 
 are taken away, the king aiding in the work. The 
 great day of the inauguration arrives, and King
 
 112 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Tacle is to pass over it to pay his tribute to King 
 John. The procession is formed. Salimbeni, on 
 horseback, passes over, but finds that the king has 
 turned pale and alighted from his horse. 
 
 Salimbeni returns to urge him to remount. 
 When all have passed over safely, remembering 
 the doubts, the insults, the thousand difficulties 
 he has met and conquered, he calls out with a 
 loud voice, 
 
 ' Now tell me, O king, do you still believe that 
 the Italians are liars and bad people ? ' 
 
 4 No, no,' answers the king, with a tone of 
 conviction. 
 
 ' No, no,' repeat in chorus all who stand around. 
 ' Great is the soul of King Humbert ! The soul of 
 Salimbeni is great ! ' 
 
 This demonstration was followed by a letter of 
 thanks from 'King Tacle-Aimanot, true Christian 
 son of Mark the Evangelist, tributary of John, 
 king of the kings of Ethiopia Greeting to Count 
 Salimbeni, engineer. How have you passed these 
 days ? I, thanks to God, am well. I have seen 
 the bridge, and it is much finer than the old one 
 made by King Fasil over the Abai. I am well 
 pleased, thanks to God. I liberated Captain Cecchi 
 from Ghera Galla, and have gained this in return. 
 Now, if you will remain in my kingdom, look at 
 my lands, and take what you like ; I will give you 
 servants, cows, oxen, sheep, and goats, and will 
 accompany you to Galla, where I reign.' 
 
 After this success the king wanted another and 
 larger bridge built over the Abai or Blue Nile, and, 
 with excuses that his gifts for King Humbert were
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. 113 
 
 not ready, detained Salimbeni. But, finally per- 
 suaded by promises of return with other engineers, 
 and perhaps an iron bridge, he took his lance, gold 
 necklace, and other ornaments from his person one 
 day at dinner, saying, ' Take these things to your 
 king from me.' 
 
 Tacle-Aimanot has some idea of civilisation, and 
 the character of his people would be good if they 
 were not debased by a bad system of government. 
 
 MAJOR PIANO. 
 
 Some of them displayed generous and delicate 
 sentiments, one bringing a fine elephant's tooth to 
 Salimbeni as a present to defray the expenses of 
 his return. 
 
 In Italy Salimbeni was received with honour 
 by the Geographical Society, and provided with 
 means for a new expedition. 
 
 In this he was accompanied by Count Savoiroux 
 of Turin, Major Piano, and Emanuel Piano. 
 
 H
 
 114 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 They had confidence in the natives, and went to 
 Goggiam by way of Abyssinia to fulfil the promises 
 already made. 
 
 But in the meantime the relations of the Italians 
 at Massowah with the Abyssinians had become 
 unfriendly, and the expedition had no sooner 
 entered Abyssinia than they were made prisoners 
 and subjected to cruel treatment. While trying to 
 pass on to Goggiam they were invited one day, 
 with smiles and courtesy, to the tent of the chief, 
 and at a signal were seized by soldiers and chained. 
 An iron bracelet on the right arm was attached to 
 a chain half a yard long, the other end of which 
 was around the left wrist of a soldier. 
 
 In this way they were sent on mules from one 
 place to another, the guard walking, and their 
 wrists swelling with the inevitable pulling. Salim- 
 beni had an overcoat and thick shoes, but Savoiroux 
 and Piano were exposed to cold, drizzling rain at 
 night in thin clothing, and their light shoes were 
 soon worn out. They were often called to the 
 tent of Ras Alula to be questioned and threatened. 
 A naked sword lay on a cushion before them, and 
 the drums beat without, while Ras Alula cried 
 ferociously, ' I will take off your heads ! You, 
 Salimbeni, are a liar ; you came to spy out the 
 land ; and Piano is a great man the brother of 
 your general.' They all looked the savage calmly 
 in the face, resolved to show him that Italians knew 
 how to die with courage. Little Emanuel said 
 to his father when the chief threatened them the 
 second time, ' He is only trying to frighten us ; he 
 would have killed us yesterday if he meant to do it.'
 
 RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS. 115 
 
 In vain they protested that they were men of 
 peace, and had returned to Africa to keep a 
 promise, and to build bridges, houses, churches, 
 and palaces. They were treated as spies with 
 increasing severity, and became accustomed to 
 threats of instant death. 
 
 COUNT TANCREDI SAVOIROUX. 
 
 Salimbeni and Savoiroux were carried chained 
 to the battle of Dogali, and were exposed to the 
 fire of the Italians. They were afterwards em- 
 ployed as surgeons, and threatened with death if 
 they failed to cure the wounded. During the 
 following month they were sent by turns to Mas- 
 sowah with letters from Ras Alula, giving their 
 word of honour to come back, under penalty of the 
 death of their companions, including the heroic 
 child. Ras Alula hoped that the sight of their 
 pale faces and torn clothes, swollen wrists and 
 H 3
 
 Il6 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 lacerated feet, would induce the Italians to retire 
 from the positions they held. On their way to 
 Massowah they crossed the desolate field of 
 Dogali, saluting the bones of their countrymen, 
 whitening in the sun, with the vultures 'flying 
 above them. 'What matter/ said they, 'if we 
 should die ? So many of our countrymen have 
 shown the courage of Italians/ 
 
 After four visits of the prisoners and their 
 return to captivity, some concessions were made 
 which procured their release. But Ras Alula pre- 
 tended that one must remain ; they might them- 
 selves choose which it should be. 
 
 Then arose a noble struggle between these ' dear 
 brothers,' Salimbeni being very ill with rheumatism, 
 which ended in Savoiroux's remaining four months 
 longer alone, until he was exchanged for an Abys- 
 sinian bishop. 
 
 He became a tailor and saddle-maker, his feet 
 being chained, but he kept his cheerfulness and 
 courage through all. In a noble letter to his 
 mother he writes : ' I am happy to have done my 
 duty in liberating my dear friends from their 
 chains, and I have done it with the greatest 
 pleasure, knowing that you would prefer me dead 
 and an honest man, to alive and dishonoured. 
 True courage consists in meeting ill-fortune with 
 resignation and religion. I think of you and of 
 God.' 
 
 A few months later Italy sent 30,0x30 troops, 
 the flower of her army, to avenge the massacre of 
 Dogali, and made successful war with Abyssinia.
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA. 
 
 ONE of the most remarkable characters of the 
 modern Roman Catholic Church was the Capuchin 
 monk, Cardinal Massaja,who died near Naples in 
 August, 1888. 
 
 I have myself seen him of a summer day a 
 venerable man with a thick grey beard, dressed 
 in the brown cloth gown of the Capuchin friars. 
 He was seated in the garden of the Villa Rufrmella 
 at Frascati, and surrounded by a number of the 
 young priests residing in the college. 
 
 When near his eightieth year the order came 
 to him from his superiors and such commands
 
 Il8 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 neither age nor infirmity can resist to write a 
 history of his years spent in Africa. 
 
 The task was difficult, not only on account of 
 his advanced years, but for want of notes, all his 
 writings having been lost in the various exiles 
 that he suffered from the seat of his mission. 
 Yet Massaja has written from memory, and such 
 other aids as he could procure in Rome, a work of 
 seven volumes, which is illustrated by numerous 
 engravings. 
 
 A large part of these reminiscences relates ex- 
 clusively to his monastic character. Vigils, fasts, 
 the celebration of masses, the recitation of the 
 rosary, the improvising of chapels in upper rooms 
 by covering wooden boxes with red cloth, and all 
 the many forms and ceremonies of the ascetic 
 life occupy much of the work. He gave slight 
 attention to the natural sciences, except in the 
 first years of his missionary life in Africa, when 
 he had little communication with the natives from 
 ignorance of their languages, and no time remained 
 for these studies. He considered them extraneous 
 to his mission, and time devoted to them as a 
 betrayal of ' God, the Church, and souls.' 
 
 Monsignore Massaja, however, made use of a 
 scant acquaintance with medicine and surgery 
 which he had acquired when chaplain of a hospital 
 at Turin. This, especially his skill in vaccination, 
 procured him the good-will of the natives, and 
 aided his missionary efforts. 
 
 Guglielmo Massaja was in the year 1845 teacher 
 of theology in the Capuchin convent near Turin. 
 At least ten years before he had expressed a desire
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA. Up 
 
 to become a missionary in pagan lands, but, ab- 
 sorbed in his regular duties and verging on mature 
 life, he had almost forgotten this aspiration of his 
 youth, when he was one day informed by his 
 superiors that he had been selected for a difficult 
 mission to Africa. 
 
 At Rome, before sailing for Alexandria, he 
 visited Gregory XVI, then on his death-bed. He 
 was a great admirer of this Pontiff, of whom, on 
 the contrary, the Liberal Italians retain most bitter 
 memories. 
 
 For one reason or another all his movements 
 were made in secret. He slipped away secretly 
 from his scholars at Turin ; he sailed from Europe 
 in secret, and in secret travelled over Abyssinia 
 to reach Galla. Dressed as an Arab merchant, 
 under the name of Antonio Bartorelli, he passed 
 through the diocese of Abba Salama, the native 
 Bishop of Abyssinia. 
 
 In this journey through Abyssinia to Tigre, 
 which lies beyond, the Roman Catholic bishop 
 often traded or even slept with those who were in 
 search of him ; and Abuna Messias the name 
 given him by Abba Salama was unrecognised in 
 the coarse dress and uncut beard of the wandering 
 merchant. Once he was drawn up by a rope over 
 a precipice to pass the night in safety in a hidden 
 grotto. He crossed the rivers on square rafts, 
 pushed forward at each corner by a negro in the 
 water, or tied to a double rope, which a band of 
 natives moved slowly around from hand to hand. 
 Arrived at last within sight, from the top of a 
 mountain, of the Galla land to which he was ap-
 
 120 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 pointed missionary, Massaja declared he felt the 
 joy of the Israelites when near the promised land. 
 When, by crossing the last river, he actually stood 
 upon it, he dropped the merchant's dress, arrayed 
 himself in the brown Capuchin robe, and, with his 
 companions, fell on his knees to chant a Te 
 Deum. 
 
 He was not without adventures with wild beasts. 
 One morning before daylight, as he walked alone 
 in advance of his companions to recite his prayers, 
 through a bamboo thicket on the crest of a hill 
 he heard the soft step of a leopard as it trod over 
 the fallen leaves. He wrapped himself from head 
 to foot in a large piece of linen that he had with 
 him, leaving only room to look out, while he 
 clasped his crucifix the closer, and began to pray 
 very earnestly to God. While his heart beat like 
 a hammer, he saw the leopard turn when it came 
 near, look fixedly towards him, and then pass on. 
 
 He once ran out of a burning prairie followed 
 by a train of wild animals leopards, antelopes, 
 and serpents that sought, like him and his com- 
 panions and their faithful asinello^ to escape. The 
 donkey had his legs and tail burnt, and a large 
 serpent, although it made prodigious leaps for- 
 ward and upward over the burning reeds and 
 plants, fell at last into that furnace, and was con- 
 sumed. The natives are accustomed, in order to 
 clear the prairies of serpents and animals, and also 
 to prevent the vegetable matter from decaying 
 after the rains and producing miasmas, to set the 
 dry grass and shrubs on fire, keeping themselves 
 out of its track. But that day the wind blew
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA. 12 1 
 
 towards Massaja, who escaped from the fire with 
 great difficulty. 
 
 He was nearly drowned in the night, at another 
 time, by one of those terrific river floods that come 
 sweeping down from above, and in a moment 
 carry away man and beast and tree. He had 
 chosen for the night's rest an island in the river, 
 upon which was a large tree. This served as a 
 refuge when the flood came. After eating his 
 frugal supper, ' having still many prayers to recite,' 
 he let his companions stretch themselves on the 
 sandbank to sleep while he watched and prayed. 
 His prayers ended, he stretched himself on the 
 sandbank to sleep, but was soon awakened by 
 thunder and lightning and the rush of waters, 
 which compelled them all to mount the sycamore- 
 tree. The island was soon covered, and the patient 
 ass, tied to the tree, floated for hours with only his 
 head above water. 
 
 At another time, when he had taken refuge under 
 a fruit-tree during a storm, the fruit came beating 
 down like stones upon him. 
 
 After his first journey to Abyssinia Massaja 
 returned to Europe, visited France and England, 
 made visits to Lord Palmerston in London, and 
 to Mahommed Ali in Cairo on his return. And 
 ascending the Blue Nile to Khartoum, he hoped 
 to reach the Galla land from that side without 
 passing through Abyssinia. But the mountains 
 and the people both opposed him, and rendered 
 it necessary to return by the Nile to a point where 
 he could enter Abyssinia. 
 
 A visit he made on this journey to Galla, while
 
 122 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 in disguise, to a shepherd people called Zellan, in 
 the mountains, is an idyl. He there reassumed 
 his missionary character, and taught those simple- 
 minded country people religion as he understood 
 it ; and they became so attached to him that they 
 all wept when, after three weeks, he prepared to 
 depart. 
 
 Massaja founded during his long sojourn in 
 Africa numerous missionary stations in Galla, and 
 also in Shoa, where he became the friend and 
 adviser of King Menilek. His heroism was proved 
 by the part he took in the war of 1879 between 
 Menilek and King John of Abyssinia. 
 
 Menilek, then a tributary of King John, had 
 taken advantage of the moment when the latter 
 was engaged in war with the Egyptians to rebel, 
 and persuaded several of the generals of the absent 
 Negus to join him. Swift vengeance must be dealt 
 out to the rebel, and the Negus, after returning 
 victorious from the war with Egypt, turned his 
 army towards Shoa, devastating the country and 
 driving the miserable people before him to the 
 capital of Menilek. 
 
 To the messengers sent to implore mercy, he 
 answered, ' I am a Christian king, and must con- 
 sider Menilek a heretic, as at the head of his 
 clergy he has placed a Bishop of Rome, who has 
 even converted to that religion Tecla-Sion, one of 
 our best theologians. As the first condition of 
 peace, he must send me both of these men. He 
 must feed my army while it is in Shoa. He must 
 pay me a tribute every year of 500 slaves, men 
 and women ; of 50,000 dollars ; 500 mules ; 1000
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA. 123 
 
 horses ; 50,000 oxen ; and several thousand mea- 
 sures of grain, of honey, and of butter.' 
 
 Menilek preferred war to such hard terms of 
 peace, and ordered all his people to prepare for 
 the defence of their country. It was at this junc- 
 ture that Cecchi and Chiarini, who were preparing 
 for their tragic journey to Kaffa, found Menilek 
 sad, preoccupied, and little disposed to aid them. 
 Perhaps at another time, when the country was 
 less agitated, and Menilek not so much occupied, 
 their journey might have been more fortunate. 
 The women and children and old people, with the 
 cattle, retired to a place of safety ; while groups of 
 warriors armed with guns and lances were seen 
 along the roads. Even the quiet valley of Let- 
 Marefia echoed with the cries of war. 
 
 The rumour that Monsignore Massaja was the 
 cause of this devastation by the Negus gained 
 strength every day. As soon as Massaja heard 
 this, he determined to go secretly to the camp of 
 King John, and implore him to stop the war on 
 Shoa, even if it must be at the sacrifice of his own 
 life. But before setting out he wrote a letter to 
 King John, which, unfortunately for his plan, fell 
 into the hands of Menilek, and he was not allowed 
 to depart, but was shut up as a prisoner in a 
 fortress. 
 
 The Roman Catholic clergy of Licce went out in 
 procession to meet the Negus and ask for mercy, 
 carrying with them some sacred stones, which they 
 thought might have miraculous power to move 
 him to pity. But the Negus became very angry, 
 bound them with chains, and sent them back in
 
 124 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 that condition. The advance of the Abyssinian 
 army alarmed the generals and the people of Shoa 
 so much that Menilek was forced to ask for peace. 
 He then swore fealty to the Negus, and as the first 
 tribute sent him 1000 mules, 1000 horses, 10,000 
 oxen, and a number of slaves. 
 
 His dress on that occasion was a long shirt and 
 pantaloons of silk brocade, the flowers woven in 
 gold ; a scarf at the waist of fine linen, the ends of 
 which were embroidered with blue, yellow, and 
 green silk, and a short sword ornamented with 
 gold filigree work. The white sciamma covered 
 all, and over that was the skin of a black leopard. 
 His head was covered with a folded turban of fine 
 silk, so that the butter with which his hair was 
 dressed should not run down upon the bright silk 
 shirt, and in the hair was a long gold pin, the token 
 of royalty. Mounted on a richly caparisoned mule, 
 Menilek, accompanied by 25,000 soldiers, went out 
 sadly that morning to pay homage to the con- 
 queror. His servant accompanied him, carrying 
 in one hand the lance and in the other the shield 
 covered with crimson velvet and decorated with 
 gold filigree work, a horse's tail hanging from the 
 centre. On his left stood an officer holding over 
 him a large red silk umbrella to protect him from 
 the sun. 
 
 But Menilek was sad and thoughtful, and looked 
 like a victim ready for the sacrifice, while his digni- 
 taries followed as if it were a funeral train. Having 
 reached the imperial tent, within which sat John, 
 with two enormous lions at his feet, tied only by 
 a small rope to poles, and Persian carpets under
 
 CARDINAL MASSAJA. 125 
 
 him, Menilek descended from the mule, and tying 
 up his sciamma in sign of homage, bent his fore- 
 head to the earth. The cannon of King John 
 boomed twelve times as Menilek did this, announc- 
 ing the fall of Shoan independence. The army of 
 the Negus consisted of 70,000 infantry, 4000 cavalry, 
 an immense number of slaves, and he had 6000 
 men and women servants. 
 
 The appearance of the camp was like that of 
 a large city, where, instead of houses, were many- 
 coloured tents of every size and form. When 
 Menilek issued from the royal tent he found a 
 mule with saddle and trappings ornamented with 
 gold awaiting him, and 12,000 guns announced his 
 departure. While all this was going on Monsignore 
 Massaja was in the fortress where Menilek had shut 
 him up in order to prevent his going to King John. 
 He knew nothing of the peace concluded, or of the 
 submission of Menilek, but saw himself pointed at 
 as the cause of a terrible war. One night, with a 
 servant and a young priest, he escaped down the 
 steep side of the mountain, and presented himself 
 in the tent of the Negus. ' You are ruining Shoa 
 and its king on my account,' he said. ' Here am I 
 in your hands/ ' What are you doing in Shoa ? ' 
 said the Negus. ' I preach the religion of Christ.' 
 ' But we,' answered King John, ' are already 
 Christians. Go and preach your faith to the 
 Gallas.'
 
 G. P. WEITZECKER. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER AND ITALIAN 
 MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 
 
 ANOTHER missionary pastor. G. P. Weitzecker, a 
 descendant of the Waldenses who kept the faith of 
 old so pure in Italy, and whose bones lie scattered 
 over ' the Alpine mountains cold,' laboured seven 
 years in South Africa. 
 
 The Synod of the Waldensian Church, which 
 meets annually at Torre Pellice, in the valleys of 
 the Cottian Alps, was surprised in 1883 by the 
 request of one of the pastors for a leave of absence 
 of ten years. Pastor Weitzecker proposed to take 
 the place in Basutoland, in South Africa, of the 
 French missionary Coillard, who has since gone
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER. 127 
 
 forward to the Zambesi river. The Synod, although 
 reluctant to spare one of the few Waldensian 
 pastors who evangelise Italy, consented, not a little 
 proud at the same time of sending out its first 
 missionary to pagan lands. 
 
 Early in the following year Weitzecker and his 
 wife went to Africa as missionaries of the French 
 society ; first, however, making a tour through 
 Italy to salute their friends and make collections 
 in favour of their future work. The collections 
 were small, as the congregations of Italy are poor, 
 but the people listened with fervent interest to his 
 accounts of the country to which he was going. 
 
 The long journey by sea safely accomplished, 
 the two missionaries travelled overland in heavy 
 carts to Leribe, the station in Basutoland. Along 
 the way they were met by the Christians at the 
 various missionary stations, who gave them a 
 friendly welcome. One of these was Seta, the 
 Christian chief of the village of Morija, who, with 
 an escort of five or six men and change of horses, 
 was going to visit his son, a student in the Scotch 
 Missionary College at CafTraria. 
 
 Farther on their cart was surrounded by a 
 company of twenty people on horseback, on foot, 
 and in carriages, carrying three flags, and hurrahing 
 at the top of their voices. These were white and 
 black Christians, some missionaries and some 
 converts, adults and children, who cried out, ' We 
 are glad to see you, to greet you as brother and 
 sister, and companions in our work.' ' And these 
 were people,' said Mrs. Weitzecker, ' whom we did 
 not know, and whose very names were strange to
 
 128 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 us, people of other nations and of another race. 
 Oh ! the sweetness and reality of Christian brother- 
 hood ! ' 
 
 In the carriage was seated the venerable wife of 
 a missionary, who invited Mrs. Weitzecker to leave 
 the cart and sit with her. It was touching when 
 they met to hear this veteran of missionary life 
 give her benediction to the novice. Followed by 
 a band of twelve young negroes playing musical 
 instruments, the travellers and their friends went to 
 their first church service in Basutoland, where the 
 sweet voices of the children in singing, and the 
 sight of the Italian banner among others moved 
 them to tears. This was their welcome to Basuto- 
 land, but the journey in the long heavy carts, drawn 
 by from six to nine pairs of oxen under the broiling 
 sun, against which the linen covers were little pro- 
 tection, continued. 
 
 After sticking fast at times in the streams, in the 
 sand, and between rocks, so that the carts were 
 more than once unloaded, they descried at last the 
 mountains of Leribe and met Mr. Coillard. The 
 next day they were presented to the tribe, and re- 
 cognised by the chiefs as successors of Mr. Coillard 
 This courageous missionary, ten days after, accom- 
 panied by his not less heroic consort, by a niece 
 and by a young Swiss, left Leribe, the station 
 which he had founded twenty-ibur years previously, 
 and with a caravan of four waggons began the 
 long journey to the Zambesi. There among the 
 Barotsi he has founded a new work of peace and 
 civilisation. 
 
 At Leribe the Waldensian pastor had 10,000
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER. 
 
 blacks to evangelise, scattered over a large terri- 
 tory. Thirty miles to the north, in a land of pure 
 paganism, he founded another station, the chief, 
 Gioel, being the rival brother of the chief of Leribe. 
 
 The church at Leribe, which seats five or six 
 hundred persons, is often completely filled with a 
 motley crowd, half Christian, half pagan. The bell, 
 hung between two poles outside, rings twice, and 
 then the congregation, followed by the minister, 
 having deposited hats, turbans, canes, and clubs 
 along the wall outside, enter all together. The 
 men are on one side with uncovered heads, some 
 dressed in European style, others with pantaloons 
 and a blanket, or, if pagan, with only an ox-skin on 
 the shoulders and a piece around the loins. The 
 women on the other side of the church present a 
 variety of coloured turbans and blankets, if Christian, 
 and are bareheaded and almost nude, if pagan. The 
 aisle is often filled with women sitting on the floor, 
 who prefer this to the benches. The benches on 
 the right are reserved for the chiefs and their 
 families, and for the missionaries. 
 
 The province of Leribe is subject to constant 
 wars, which disturb the missions, and the evangelist 
 is often left without hearers because the people 
 have fled. Prayer meetings to implore the special 
 grace of God give excellent results. A young son 
 of a pagan family who had fallen into vice, after 
 being educated by the Christians, repented, called 
 himself the chief of sinners, and cast himself wholly 
 upon the atoning merit of Jesus Christ, the Re- 
 deemer, and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit 
 afterwards became a useful preacher. A woman, a 
 
 I
 
 130 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 real type of the savage, six feet high, with a fero- 
 cious countenance and half nude, wearing only an 
 ox-skin around her, began to soften and asked to 
 be prayed for. The chief, Selabolo, although yet a 
 pagan, knelt at a meeting in the open air with 
 others who declared their wish to be converted. 
 
 These results encouraged the Waldensian mis- 
 sionaries and repaid them for the hardships and 
 trials they had endured. Sometimes the tears 
 would come at the memory of their Church, their 
 country, their relatives and friends so far away, but 
 the thought that they were there by the will of 
 God and the consent of their Church revived them. 
 Mr. Weitzecker amused himself at intervals in 
 collecting specimens of the musical and agricul- 
 tural implements and of the weapons of war, orna- 
 ments, and clothes of the Basuto people, which he 
 presented to the Ethnological Museum of Rome. 
 This collection is highly prized by the Italian 
 Government, which has conferred on him the title 
 of Cavalier. He wrote frequently for the Bulletin 
 of the Roman Geographical Society, of which he 
 is a corresponding member, and was sent at the 
 expense of the Society to visit the Italians living 
 at the diamond mines at Kimberley. The first 
 attempt to reach Kimberley was abandoned on 
 account of the dry season, and they were obliged 
 to return after having made a part of the journey. 
 Several months later he set out again with his 
 wife and one servant, travelling in a waggon, as 
 usual. The journey this time was not without 
 danger and difficulties of another sort. In No- 
 vember it was the want of food for the cattle, but
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER. 131 
 
 in February it was the great rains, which had made 
 the roads almost impassable, and the streams and 
 rivers difficult to cross. But they passed from one 
 farmhouse to another, courteously received every- 
 where, and losing only three days from the rain. 
 
 Although on a geographical excursion Mr. Weit- 
 zecker never forgot his missionary character, and 
 relates how one negro youth wandered about four 
 months in search of a school, and another wearied 
 and worn presented himself at the school, saying, 
 ' I am hungry and thirsty.' ' Very well,' was the 
 answer of the teacher, 'we will give you something 
 to eat and drink.' But he shook his head, saying, 
 ' I am hungry for instruction I am thirsty to 
 learn.' 
 
 It is the custom in this part of Africa among the 
 Boers, not only to give hospitality for the night to 
 travellers, but to provide them with food for the 
 journey. At one farmhouse, when the ostriches 
 threatened to attack our travellers, the good woman 
 of the house advised them to sit down on the 
 ground, bury their heads in their arms, and let the 
 ostrich flap its wings over them and shake them a 
 little. ' It would not hurt them, 3 she said. Among 
 the Boers they found people who although speaking 
 only the Dutch language, bore the ancient Pied- 
 montese name Malan, like Mrs. Weitzecker. 
 
 The city of diamonds and the region worthy of 
 the stories of the Arabian thousand and one nights 
 was reached at last, their waggon passing through 
 the woods and garden-like fields, and over the red 
 sand till their eyes were astonished by the electric 
 lights and their ears by the busy hum of a modern 
 I 2
 
 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 city. In Kimberley and Beaconsfield, two sister 
 cities, which in twelve years grew up over a tract of 
 land three miles and a half in diameter, over four 
 rich diamond mines, Mr. Weitzecker found 160 
 Italians. These waifs from Italy greeted him 
 warmly, and were grateful for the interest shown in 
 their fate by a society of the motherland. He 
 exhorted them to be laborious, honest, economical; 
 temperate, and friendly with each other, adding 
 that if his mission had been religious he would have 
 said, ' Live so as to honour the name of Christ,' but 
 as it was merely civil he said, 'Live so as to render 
 the name of Italy loved and honoured.' 
 
 The journey home to Leribe was not without 
 emotions. Once they encountered another waggon, 
 travelling in the dark at night, and both he and 
 Mrs. Weitzecker were thrown out. At another 
 time they were fast in the bed of a stream three 
 hours, with rain threatening, and the flood from the 
 upper stream expected at every moment. He took 
 the most precious object, his wife, to the shore, and 
 then by degrees all the goods in the waggon, which 
 thus lightened was at length extricated by the 
 oxen from the sand. 
 
 Other excursions, reports of which were sent to 
 the Geographical Society of Rome, followed this. 
 He visited the beautiful waterfall Maletsuniane, in 
 the centre of Basutoland, which is 630 feet high, 
 vertical, and so surrounded by precipitous rocks, 
 like an immense well, that it is possible to ascend 
 only in one part, and very difficult to descend. To 
 look down from the top into that dark abyss, called 
 by the natives ' Inferno,' it is necessary to lie flat
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER. 133 
 
 on the ground and be held by the feet by two other 
 persons. Even this protection is not enough to 
 prevent dizziness and almost an insane desire to 
 follow the mass of water that throws itself over 
 that precipice. 
 
 In one of the journeys necessary for the care of 
 the mission stations, he discovered a cavern, upon 
 the walls of which were painted in red some curious 
 pictures, made by the Boscimani. These represent 
 cows, oxen, elephants, monkeys, and men and 
 women. The largest picture has eighteen figures, 
 and represents the flight of Boscimani women 
 before some Caffir warriors. It is full of life, and 
 not without artistic skill. The women are repre- 
 sented as pigmies and in a lighter red colour, while 
 the warriors are giants with long legs. 
 
 But the health of Mr. Weitzecker gave way in 
 1889, and after a long illness he was forced to 
 return to Italy before the ten years were ended. 
 
 The bridal journey of two other missionary 
 Waldenses, Luigi and Maria Jalla, from the valleys 
 of Piedmont to the Zambesi river was a long one. 
 Sent out by the Society of French Missions to 
 assist Mr. Coillard, they left Italy immediately 
 after their marriage and were ten months in reach- 
 ing their destination. They spent one month at 
 Leribe, and then, as it was on their way to the Zam- 
 besi, accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Weitzecker in their 
 excursion to Kimberley. Here they bought one 
 of those enormous waggons drawn by sixteen horses 
 used in that region, and hired two others for their 
 journey to the equatorial region.
 
 134 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 To these brave young hearts every strange thing 
 around them was a pleasure. They enjoyed the 
 cool temperature of April the tropical winter 
 time. The mimosa woods were filled with birds 
 of many- coloured plumage, singing as sweetly as 
 nightingales, and known to the natives by their 
 song, some of which were as small as a little finger 
 and others as large as blackbirds. Here too they 
 saw the antelopes, grey on the back and white 
 below, which always go in troops, with a sentinel at 
 the side, who whistles at the slightest cause of 
 alarm. At night they heard the howling of the 
 wolves, and by day saw the damage done to roofs 
 and furniture by the white ant. When the waggon 
 was in motion they sat together in front talking or 
 reading, and at night often sang the familiar and 
 beloved hymns of home. ' This is the time,' they 
 write, ' when thought flies most easily to our dear 
 ones.' 
 
 They halted now and then at English or French 
 missionary stations, where they were kindly wel- 
 comed. At Malopolele they found the chief Sechele, 
 mentioned by Livingstone, living in a beautiful 
 house upon a hill. Like all travellers in Africa, 
 who sooner or later suffer thirst, they found no 
 water as they went on, and could not eat. They 
 dreamed of the waters of the Lake of Geneva and 
 of drinking at a torrent, but at last found a stream 
 into which the thirsty oxen plunged and drank 
 before they could do so themselves. At another 
 missionary station, among a population of 40,000, 
 the church was densely crowded with hearers. 
 The aisles were full of people seated on the floor,
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER. 135 
 
 crowding the windows and standing in four rows 
 outside, Khama, the good chief, taking his place 
 with his family near the pulpit. 
 
 The first Sunday that Pastor Jalla and his wife 
 spent by the broad waters and green banks of the 
 Zambesi was for them a festival. ' I would not 
 exchange this day,' he writes, ' for the treasures of 
 the world. Our grateful hearts are bursting with 
 joy. We have thought of it so long, and now it is 
 no more a dream, but a reality. The goodness of 
 God has abounded for us. He tried us on the way 
 only to make us happier at the end of our long 
 journey. Oh! how I wish I could fly like my 
 thought, my dear ones, to give you this news, so 
 that you might with us bless God.' 
 
 The station of Mr. Coillard was fifteen days 
 farther up the river, but the old hero had taken 
 that long journey to meet them. They had only 
 to cross the river to be at home for the time with 
 their eighty oxen, three horses, five negroes, and 
 some sheep and goats, and were obliged to hire 
 from the chief of an island in the river sixty-eight 
 men, paying to each ten metres of linen for the 
 help. 
 
 When all at last were over, the beasts swimming 
 and they in canoes, the friends planted their tents 
 side by side and rested in the moonlight, talking of 
 home and friends and their work until midnight. 
 
 Mr. Coillard left next day, and they were alone 
 with four servants, their only guardians in that 
 wilderness, except that ' One who never sleeps. 
 The last night of their journey to their ultimate 
 destination Sheshek& was disturbed by the visit of
 
 136 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 a lion, which came within a few feet of their 
 encampment, and was shot. 
 
 Thousands of leagues from their native land, 
 their hearts thrilled with patriotic emotion as they 
 read the Cuore of De Amicis in the evening, when 
 all the men were asleep around the fire, and nothing 
 was heard but the crickets in the grass, the frogs 
 in the water near, or the growl of a hippopotamus. 
 ' But do not pity us,' they say ; ' we do not need it.' 
 
 The people of the Zambesi are accomplished 
 beggars, and cannot say two words without asking 
 for something. A crowd of black creatures sur- 
 rounded them at every halt, and they took their 
 meals in the presence of fifty or sixty, who watched 
 every mouthful they swallowed. 
 
 They built a small wooden house at Shesheke 
 with a stable for the horse and a chicken house, 
 which the large serpents soon learned to frequent. 
 
 Pastor Jalla and his wife, as well as his brother, 
 Adolfo Jalla, who had joined them, paid tribute to 
 the African climate with fevers and other maladies. 
 
 The description of the return of the chief Morant- 
 siane and his men from a war upon another tribe is 
 picturesque. The day before, a messenger was sent 
 to announce the'ir arrival, and next morning several 
 gunshots showed they were near. 
 
 Soon afterwards a long single file of blacks ap- 
 proached and formed a square, into which warriors 
 with lances and shields entered jumping, and went 
 out to the songs and cries of the others. Forty 
 women formed a circle in the broiling sun, beating 
 hard with their hands, singing by turns, screaming, 
 and hitting their mouths with their hands as they
 
 PASTOR G. P. WEITZECKER. 137 
 
 made bows on all sides. In the middle of the circle 
 several wives of the chiefs, the high aristocracy, 
 danced alone for several hours. 
 
 Morantsiane wore a handkerchief on his head 
 and a long shirt of many colours. Some of his 
 men had nothing on but a tiger-skin or the skin of 
 a monkey, a shirt, or a piece of stuff. Others had 
 a long feather stuck in the hair or a wisp of herb 
 around the head, a cap ornamented with shells, a 
 crown of teeth or a rag tied in some ridiculous 
 shape. Some blackened the forehead or the eyes, 
 and others, to show that they had killed a man, 
 had a white mark painted round the eyes. Mo- 
 rantsiane was delighted to see the missionaries 
 again, and sat talking with them while some of his 
 people built a hut for him to pass the first night in, 
 after returning from battle, as he was not then per- 
 mitted to sleep in a house, and while his wives 
 came dancing in to greet him. This ceremony 
 was curious. Each woman bent low to the ground 
 before him, touching the earth first with the right 
 side of her head and then with the left ; then rising 
 to sing and dance and at last kneeling and kissing 
 his hands. The king sent the missionaries ten 
 cows, part of the spoil taken from his neighbours 
 the Mashikolumbos, but as they had disapproved 
 of the war they felt obliged to return the gift with 
 many thanks. This refusal excited great wonder, 
 and some of the chiefs began at once to sing songs 
 in their honour. 
 
 All the time they were away three months 
 these savages did honour to the instruction of the 
 missionaries by never travelling or fighting on
 
 138 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Sunday. They had with them two men of Zambesi 
 who had spent two or three years at Morija in Les- 
 suto, and could teach them on these Sunday halts. 
 
 One of the chiefs on his return said, ' Know, 
 O Moruti (missionary), that I have not killed any 
 man, and I ordered my son to let a woman go free 
 whom he had captured.' 
 
 Signora Maria Jalla had visits continually from 
 the women, fifteen or twenty of whom came at a 
 time, and waited at her door for hours together. 
 She tried to teach them, but as every day the 
 scholars changed she made little progress. The 
 people in a circuit of thirty miles, whom the pastor 
 could visit on horseback, were glad to see him, and 
 one named his first child Moruti or Missionary 
 Jalla. 
 
 ' More and more,' he says, ' I love this missionary 
 life, and understand now why returned missionaries 
 are often homesick for Africa.' 
 
 A woman came one day to Signora Jalla, saying, 
 ' Mississi, do give me some medicine to cure my 
 boy of stealing.' 
 
 They made many sincere friends among these 
 savages, who were grieved when the time came to 
 change their residence to Kazungula. They are 
 now at a short distance from the Victoria Falls and 
 the tribes of the Ma-Kololos, who still remember 
 Livingstone with such love that some of them never 
 pronounce his name without lowering their eyes in 
 sign of the utmost respect. 
 
 May these Italian missionaries, like David Living- 
 stone, honour Christianity in Africa, and be loved 
 as that great man was !
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 
 
 COUNT PIETRO SAVORGNAN DI BRAZZA, al- 
 though in the service of France, was born in Italy, 
 which he left at thirteen years of age. He now 
 calls himself a Frenchman, but his father, mother, 
 and several brothers are Italians, and live in Rome. 
 
 While attached to the naval station established 
 by the French Government on the deserted coast 
 of the Gaboon, to prevent the slave-trade, Pietro 
 Brazza in 1874 made an expedition up the river 
 Ogowe. Before him Paul Du Chaillu had sug- 
 gested that the numerous small rivers by which 
 the Ogowe pours its waters into the Atlantic came
 
 140 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 from a large stream above, perhaps connected with 
 the central lakes of Africa, and in 1862 had followed 
 on foot one of the tributaries of the left bank. 
 
 Two officers of the French marine afterwards 
 ascended beyond the delta, and proved the existence 
 of this great river. It remained for Brazza, in several 
 bold explorations through the lands of cannibals, 
 often the only white man of his party, and without 
 shoes, to ascend the river to its sources, and cross on 
 foot over the few miles that separated them from the 
 sources of another river (the Alima), which after- 
 wards empties into the Congo. All this territory, 
 a splendid acquisition, he has placed under the 
 dominion of France. He proved that the Ogowe 
 was not the same river as the Lualaba, about that 
 time discovered near the lakes, the outlet of which 
 was then unknown, but which was afterwards seen 
 to be identical with the Congo. 
 
 Chiefly at his own expense, but with some aid 
 from the French Government and scientific so- 
 cieties, Brazza, after a year of preparation, set out 
 up the river, with ample supplies of salt, guns, 
 beads, knives, and razors objects which take the 
 place of money with the savage tribes. He had 
 with him three Europeans, thirteen black Ma- 
 hommedans from Senegal, four interpreters from 
 the Gaboon, and a cook, whose talent, however, 
 served little, as Brazza carried with him only 
 biscuits, rice, coffee, sugar, sardines, chocolate, and 
 other prepared food. 
 
 He was conveyed by a French steamer to Point 
 Fe'tiche. beyond the delta, and there kindly re- 
 ceived by old Renoque, the most powerful chief
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 141 
 
 on the river, who was eager to have commercial 
 relations with the mouth of the Ogowe. 
 
 Brazza there embarked with his company on 
 four long boats adapted to passing the rapids. 
 The banks of the Ogowe are peopled by various 
 tribes, often at war with each other, who exact 
 heavy tribute from white travellers. 
 
 The Osseyebas are cannibals, who fortunately, 
 however, care little for the flesh of white men, but 
 highly appreciate their merchandise. The Apingis 
 acted as wreckers on the shore when several of the 
 long boats were upset, and they robbed Brazza of 
 a bale of tobacco and a large part of the heavy 
 goods which he carried. The Okandas above the 
 rapids received him kindly and let him establish 
 head-quarters on their land, while he negotiated 
 with the Osseyebas and the Adumas for permission 
 to advance into their territory. 
 
 Brazza made acquaintance with Mamiaka, an 
 Osseyeba chief, and leaving the Okandas, in com- 
 pany with only three men he went forward into 
 this unknown country, inhabited by cannibals. But 
 overcome by the fatigue and hardships of the way, 
 and excited by the lies, duplicity, and cunning of 
 the savages, his health gave way, and he returned 
 in a boat to his head-quarters. 
 
 This second journey up the Ogowe was even 
 more dangerous and fatiguing, but resulted in dis- 
 covering the sources of the river. The courageous 
 traveller was detained by the treacherous Adumas, 
 who coveted the contents of his boxes. He only 
 escaped from them by bribing with gold the grand 
 Fetish man, or witch doctor, whose power over
 
 142 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 these superstitious savages is unlimited. He next 
 went up as far as the Falls of Poubara, sixty feet 
 high, where the river divides, and is no longer 
 navigable owing to the frequent rapids and falls. 
 On the banks of the stream he found the tribes of 
 the Okota, the Sciache, the Auangi, the Sebe, the 
 Obamba, and the Odimbo, the latter of whom use 
 the short bow and barbed poisoned arrows. 
 
 It was clear at last from these explorations that 
 the Ogowe was not a direct route to the centre 
 of the African continent ; and there was yet an 
 immense tract of unknown country between its 
 sources and the Upper Nile. 
 
 How was it possible for him to go forward in 
 this maze of unknown rivers, mountains, forests, and 
 savage tribes, constantly subject to the miasmatic 
 fevers of the country, with heavy baggage, and with 
 bearers who dreaded to leave the river, which was 
 their road home, and often on the way threw down 
 their loads, refusing to go farther? Up to this 
 point Brazza had travelled through a fertile but 
 unhealthy country, where provisions were abundant 
 and the people friendly. But he had reached 
 the bare rocky mountains and half desert land of 
 the Batekes, a warlike tribe given to pillage, and 
 almost destitute of food. 
 
 To replace the bearers he had brought from 
 down the river, he employed slaves, giving them 
 liberty from the first, which they used to desert 
 him as soon as they reached their own tribes, thus 
 rejoining their friends and relatives who had already 
 sold them once as slaves, and would sell them 
 again. To protect himself and his goods from the
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 143 
 
 Batekes, Brazza, when left with only three faithful 
 men, early one morning buried a box of gunpowder, 
 so that he could blow it up when necessary. This 
 mysterious proceeding so alarmed the superstitious 
 marauders that they called him a Fetish, and left 
 him in peace. On this part of his journey famine 
 was his constant companion, and he learned to eat, 
 like the natives, white ants and grasshoppers cooked 
 in palm-oil, which he soon found very good. Here 
 he discovered the Alima, a river with several tri- 
 butaries, and his route lay towards the centre of 
 the African continent. 
 
 His progress through their land was opposed 
 by the Apfourus, and he was attacked by the 
 inhabitants of every village, often marching with 
 his few companions through long lines of savages 
 armed 'with clubs, when a moment of weakness 
 would have been fatal. In the night he heard 
 the beating of drums and sounds from the river 
 shores and the tops of the hills like the neighing 
 of horses, and saw watch-fires kindled all along 
 the shores. He heard the enemy sing war-songs, 
 the refrain of which was that his flesh would soon 
 be eaten at their festival of victory. He took 
 refuge in his boats on the river, and next day was 
 attacked by thirty boat-loads of blacks, who were 
 soon routed by the well-directed fire of his fifteen 
 guns. But the following night Brazza escaped from 
 this dangerous locality, and crossing, by the light 
 of bamboo torches, a marshy forest, he reached at 
 last some hills, and soon was out of the power of 
 the Apfourus. 
 
 He returned to the country of the Bate*kes, which
 
 144 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 he found desolated by famine, and even almost 
 without water. He and his two white companions 
 won the good-will of their followers by dividing 
 food and water with them. The Batekes were won, 
 but, sick and without means, Brazza resolved to 
 leave this inhospitable and enigmatical land. Not 
 until his return to Europe did he comprehend that 
 the Alima was a tributary of the Congo, the great 
 river of Livingstone and Stanley, and that he had 
 crossed the hilly region of about fifty miles between 
 the sources of the Ogowe and the waters of the 
 Alima, there narrow but deep, clear, and navigable 
 for large boats. 
 
 The swift and happy return down the Ogowe to 
 the friendly Okandas, where he found new supplies, 
 was almost saddened by a singular accident. The 
 long boat in which was Dr. Ballay, the companion 
 of Brazza in all these perils, was upset by a huge 
 hippopotamus, throwing out the occupants and 
 giving them a cold bath and a fright, but nothing 
 worse. 
 
 At another time when a boat containing forty- 
 four boxes full of the merchandise and the stores 
 that were to serve for the journey slipped its moor- 
 ings at night, and went down the stream, Brazza 
 ran down the shore barefooted, cutting his feet on 
 the rocks, and leaving his men at certain distances 
 to watch the river. When he had outstripped them 
 all, and walked for three hours, he prepared to 
 spend the rest of the night on the rocks. He built 
 a large fire to protect himself from the cold and 
 the wind, and thought sadly of all the precious 
 things lost ; among them his instruments and
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 145 
 
 documents. As day dawned, however, he saw his 
 boat caught among the rocks at the foot of a large 
 tree that grew in a narrow part of the river. He 
 saved it from some thieving Apingis by firing a 
 revolver over their heads, and then persuaded them 
 to aid him in bringing it to land. 
 
 After three years of this adventurous life Brazza 
 went to France ; but soon wearying of an easy life, 
 returned to the rivers and forests of Africa. 
 
 With the Osseyebas he crossed dense forests, 
 where the sun was never visible, passing under 
 green domes of leaves and branches, and wading 
 over the brooks and streams when he did not cross 
 them on the shaking trunks of huge trees. 
 
 In these long marshes, where even the men of 
 the forest sometimes lost their way, he hung his 
 hammock at evening, when the darkening of the 
 forest showed that the sun had set, and the Os- 
 seyebas gathered sticks, leaves, and bark, with 
 which they made huts, beds, and fires. 
 
 He gained the admiration and respect of the 
 savages by killing elephants and wild bulls in the 
 forest, which served them all for food, and awed 
 them by his guns and revolvers, his fireworks and 
 magnesium lights. The Adumas discovered by 
 Brazza are a debased and brutish race. They are 
 destitute of history or traditions, or poetic ideas, 
 even the coarsest. They are cowardly and per- 
 verse, and sell their own children, fathers, and 
 brothers into slavery. When they sing together 
 in time while rowing, in order to row together, 
 their songs have no sense or meaning whatever. 
 They considered Brazza their prey ; and, cunning 
 
 K
 
 146 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA, 
 
 and rapacious, despoiled him whenever they could, 
 although professing to be friendly. They believed 
 that he brought with him in his boxes the small- 
 pox, which then afflicted the tribes along his route, 
 and said, ' The white chief is wicked, and carries 
 with him a box full of maladies. When he passes 
 through a village he opens this box, and all the 
 diseases fly out, which make our men die.' 
 
 But, by the care he took of the sick, and the 
 medicines given by his companion Dr. Ballay, he 
 persuaded them of his kind intentions. His rule 
 when among these savages was always to be more 
 severe on himself than on them, and to practise 
 humanity and justice. His aim, he says, rather 
 than to discover new lands or new tribes, was to 
 carry civilisation to these unknown and distant 
 countries. But he often failed in these humane 
 efforts. At one time he found a savage whom he 
 knew in slavery, and liberated him, but was sur- 
 prised that instead of enjoying his liberty and 
 continuing with him the savage returned to the 
 same treacherous friend who had before ill-treated 
 him and reduced him to slavery. 
 
 The second journey of Brazza, from 1879 to 1882, 
 was made at the expense of the French Govern- 
 ment, which he had persuaded of the value of this 
 territory. He started for the Congo and the mouth 
 of the river Alima, the upper part of which he had 
 already discovered, at nearly the same time that 
 Stanley travelled on the other shore of the Congo, 
 at the expense chiefly of the King of the Belgians. 
 
 The contrast was great between the mountainous, 
 precipitous country where Stanley travelled and
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 147 
 
 the comparatively easy district traversed by Brazza 
 to the north of the great African waterway. 
 
 At the confluence of the Ogowe with the River 
 Passa, Brazza., in 1880, founded the first French 
 station, and called it Franceville. It was in com- 
 munication by the Ogowe with the Atlantic, and 
 by an easy overland journey also with the Alima 
 and the Congo. 
 
 An embassy came to him from Makoko, the 
 chief of forty tribes. ' To the great white chief of 
 Ogowe, whose terrible guns have never served to 
 attack, and whose feet are accompanied by peace 
 and abundance, Makoko sends the word of peace, 
 and hopes to see his friend.' 
 
 Makoko understood the benefits of an alliance 
 with the white man, and soon placed all his territory 
 under the protection of the French flag. When 
 the white chief expressed a wish thousands of black 
 men were ready to obey it. 
 
 Makoko received Brazza one day in state. 
 Stretched on a lion's skin spread over the red 
 throne, his wives and children and courtiers, as 
 well as the witch doctor, around him, he awaited 
 the entrance of the explorer. The new ally, on his 
 part, wore his naval costume, with gold buttons 
 and bands, and was accompanied by his brother 
 Giacomo, Attilio Pecile, and other Europeans. 
 Thus, a friendly alliance was concluded with the 
 chief whose power reached to the mouth of the 
 Alima on the Congo. 
 
 The forty tributary chiefs of Makoko came 
 some from the Equator to meet Brazza a few 
 days later. It was a strange and imposing spec- 
 ie 2
 
 148 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 tacle. He was their friend, not their conqueror, 
 and they believed in the protection of the French 
 flag, which was accepted and raised by every one 
 of them. Yet more than once he was obliged to 
 meet real battles with people of these tribes before 
 he could persuade them of his superior force and 
 skill. Brazza founded two stations, one on the 
 Ogowe and one on the Congo, Franceville and 
 Brazzaville, which are said to be self-sustaining. 
 By these access is obtained to the Upper Congo, 
 which leads to the heart of Africa. Navigation 
 up the Ogowe to Franceville is easy, and the dis- 
 tance across the country to the point where the 
 Alima is navigable is forty-five miles. The distance 
 from Franceville to Brazzaville on the Congo is 
 1 80 miles. This is a fertile country and thickly 
 settled. Brazza recounts that he once stopped 
 with 700 men at a village near evening, and was 
 not only fed, but he started next morning, by 
 paying ninety pounds of salt, with provisions for 
 two or three days. 
 
 After the second journey he was welcomed in 
 France with enthusiasm, and received from the 
 government large subsidies to make roads, im- 
 prove the stations, and launch a small steam vessel 
 on the Congo at Brazzaville. About 7000 natives 
 in the basin of the Ogow& are at the service of 
 France to carry weights and row on the rivers. 
 Slavery and human sacrifices are diminished, and 
 this population of 5,000,000 are losing their vices 
 and cruelty by contact with civilised men. In ten 
 years 450,000 dollars were expended by the ex- 
 plorer, and his judgment, patience, and endurance
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 149 
 
 were beyond all praise. He is still there, although 
 at one time recalled by the French Government. 
 Italians naturally regret that a man of such energy 
 should disown his country, and lay his life and 
 achievements at the feet of another nation. 
 
 Count Giacomo di Brazza, a brother of the 
 more famous Pietro di Brazza, was proud to call 
 himself a Roman and an Italian. As a boy he 
 admired the exploits of Pietro in Africa, and pre- 
 pared to follow in his footsteps. He devoted 
 himself to those scientific studies which had been 
 neglected in Pietro's journeyings. He was a 
 naturalist by nature and profession, and often, 
 in the African wilds, when food was scarce, trans- 
 ferred a rare fish to alcohol for preservation rather 
 than to the table. 
 
 The ardent desire of nine years of his boyhood 
 was satisfied when he was appointed naturalist to 
 the expedition in Equatorial Africa of Pietro di 
 Brazza in 1883. He was to study the zoology, 
 botany, geology, and ethnography of the country, 
 and make collections to be sent back to France. 
 Accepting this position without compensation, he 
 only stipulated for the right to make another col- 
 lection at the same time, and to add to the party 
 his friend Attilio Pecile, son of a senator of Italy. 
 The journey of three years and a half was made 
 together, and their adventures were nearly the 
 same, so that the account of one serves also for 
 the other. Giacomo di Brazza says that he had 
 learned to appreciate the learning, energy, courage, 
 and abnegation of Pecile in various excursions 
 made together in the Alps.
 
 150 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Giacomo di Brazza looked at Nature with a 
 poet's eye, and saw beauty in the trunk of a dead 
 tree, in the broad expanse of the river losing it- 
 self in mist, in a floating island formed of various 
 trunks of trees covered with growing papyrus. He 
 noted an elephant standing quietly in the midst of 
 the aquatic plants on the shore, to let three large 
 white birds search for parasites on his back, and 
 the hippopotami sleeping on the sandbanks, the 
 crocodiles yawning in the sun. Yet in all the 
 splendour of Nature on the Ogowe, the Alima, and 
 the Congo, the young traveller remembered with 
 undefmable yearning his own distant Italy. 
 
 Boating was full of perils and excitement, as the 
 long, light, narrow boats, hollowed out of the 
 trunk of a resinous tree, were sent forward by the 
 strong Adumas. Before starting, everything in the 
 boat was bound tightly to it, so that in the fre- 
 quent upsets nothing might be lost. Such boats 
 are manned by seventeen Adumas, who row stand- 
 ing, and by long practice have become skilful in 
 passing the cascades, the rough currents, and the 
 whirlpools. Sometimes they draw the boat with 
 ropes, wading over the rocks in the bottom of the 
 river ; sometimes they drag it along the rocky 
 shore, or push it before them, and half the time 
 these skilful boatmen are in the water. They 
 start off on their journey singing, and row near 
 the shore under arches of the fragrant tropical 
 trees that lean over into the water and shade them. 
 These mariners of the Ogowe transport 100 tons 
 of merchandise each year in their frail barks, re- 
 turning up the stream to their homes with merry
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 151 
 
 songs. But often they do not reach their homes. 
 The cold rain chills them at night after a day's 
 hard rowing in the boat or pushing it over the 
 rocks. They die of pneumonia or fever far from 
 their own land, or are thrown out upon the rocks 
 and killed. 
 
 The brother of the ' Great Commander ' was 
 received by the Okandas a tall, handsome, and 
 intelligent people with friendly respect. ' We 
 know you are his brother,' they said, ' because 
 you have the same feet' meaning his shoes and 
 his white feet when bare ' and because you wear 
 the same charm ' meaning a gold medallion worn 
 around his neck, and containing locks of his 
 mother's and his sister's hair. They thronged 
 around him curiously a wall of black human 
 flesh first the children, then the women, and 
 behind the men. He did not delay with these, 
 but pressed on up the river with his Adumas, 
 through walls of giant trees bound together by 
 trailing vines, until he reached a more open 
 country, where green plains stretched away to 
 the foot of low quartz hills. After three days' 
 navigation Giacomo and Pecile found themselves 
 in the land of the Pauens. These men are can- 
 nibals, but eat only their victims in war. They 
 have a gun loaded with stone, and a knife. They 
 wear many copper and ivory bracelets on the arms 
 and legs ; their bodies are greased from head to 
 foot, and painted red ; and they wear greased 
 antelopes' skins. They have a hole pierced in the 
 nose, into which they insert either an elephant's 
 hair, to which beads are attached, a bit of wood,
 
 153 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 or a needle not to lose it. Further on Brazza 
 reached the country of the sailor Adumas, the 
 richest and most populated of any along the 
 Ogowe. The people are pleasant and quiet, and 
 love the white man, from whom they learn some 
 of the arts of civilised life ; they have abolished 
 slavery, which they once practised. The visit to 
 this land was like an enchanting dream to Giacomo, 
 who found more good in the natives than his 
 brother Pietro had done. Here are the palms 
 that yield oil, the banana, and the manioc. Cheer- 
 ful villages surrounded by circles of green trees 
 are near each other along the banks of the river, 
 and in the distance are mountains covered with 
 forest. It seemed a park in an Oriental garden, 
 the view changing at every point the tints now 
 misty, now clear in the vivid light of a tropical 
 sun shining on a warm and humid atmosphere. 
 
 But Giacomo, who had left Pecile at a station 
 behind, could not remain among the Adumas. 
 ' I must say farewell to this enchanted land, the 
 air of which is filled with the sweet perfumes of 
 the orchids and tree mimosa, and where it seems 
 that one might live for ever.' He arrived at 
 Franceville, the French station on the Ogowe, 
 and there began to make collections of insects, 
 fish, birds, reptiles, and mammalia ; to study 
 geology and botany ; and, as a recreation, to 
 take photographs. 
 
 He also made ethnographic collections, and 
 studied the natives in their daily life. He observed 
 the texture of their stuffs, their cooking, their work 
 in clay and in iron, their tattooing, and their
 
 COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA. 153 
 
 modes of burial. Geology was the most difficult 
 of these studies, as vegetation in Central Africa 
 covers the ground with a thick mantle, as if it 
 would hide the earth from which it draws its 
 beauty. It is rare to find an exposure of the 
 rocks, and often the only way to study them is by 
 examining the stones in the beds of the streams.
 
 GIACOMO DI BRAZZA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GIACOMO DI BRAZZA, ATTILIO PECILE, AND 
 PIETRO ANTONELLI. 
 
 GIACOMO DI BRAZZA and Pecile, like Pietro di 
 Brazza, crossed from the sources of the Ogowe to 
 those of the Alima on foot through the land of the 
 Batekes. Here the land looks sterile and desolate, 
 contrasting sadly with the wealth of vegetation 
 and the lovely scenery of the Lower Ogowe, and 
 of the Alima or the Congo. All is changed the 
 earth, the vegetation, the form of the houses, the 
 inhabitants, the customs, and the climate. 
 
 Gentle undulations of the ground rise one after 
 the other, covered with quartz sand, upon which 
 grows low and stunted grass. But the patient
 
 DI BRAZZA, PECILE, AND ANTONELLI. 155 
 
 labour of the people especially of the women 
 has its reward. Their villages on the summits 
 of the low hills are hidden in clumps of planted 
 trees, under which grow all things necessary for 
 subsistence. The Batekes are an industrious 
 people, and easily become burden-bearers to the 
 Congo, by way of the Alima, or to the Ogowe. 
 Our explorers, following mainly in the steps of 
 Pietro di Brazza, but diverging to one side or the 
 other up the tributary streams, where white men 
 had never been, at last, after eight days of sailing 
 in the long boats on the Alima, through dense dark 
 walls of palm-trees, united by festoons of thick 
 vines, came out upon the c immense, imposing, 
 majestic Congo.' ' A cry of surprise and admira- 
 tion came from my men, the first sign to me that 
 the black man feels the power of Nature's scenic 
 grandeur. I let fall my compass and papers ; the 
 rowers stopped rowing and gazed in silence. We 
 were all fascinated by this grand and unexpected 
 scene. It was not a river before us, but a sea full 
 of islands, covered with thick vegetation islands 
 ranged in long lines, bluish or dark, or white as 
 snow from the sand. The sun in the zenith, veiled 
 by the transparent vapours of noonday, without 
 the smallest cloud, filled the sky with a white, 
 uniform, dazzling light. It was as if the vapoury 
 atmosphere had the light in itself, absorbing and 
 multiplying that of the hidden sun.' 
 
 Too long would be the account of this remark- 
 able journey of three years and a half, or the 
 descriptions of natural scenery and of the customs 
 of the natives. Giacomo went down the Congo to
 
 156 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Brazzaville, took part in the splendid reception 
 given by the chief Makoko to Pietro, and then re- 
 turned by the same route up the Congo and the 
 Alima, and across land to the sources of the 
 Ogowe, then down the Ogowe to Franceville and 
 Madiville, another French station. 
 
 Having spent two years in these wilds, Giacomo 
 and Pecile prepared to return to Italy, when un- 
 expected events induced them to make another 
 expedition by land to the tribes of the interior. 
 
 They went north-east, following the line of 
 division between the waters of the Congo and the 
 Ogowe, and discovering many new tributaries, as 
 this part of Africa had never been explored. 
 
 After this they returned by the Alima and the 
 Congo to the West African shore, and thence to 
 Italy, where they were received by the Roman 
 Geographical Society with honour. But the 
 African fever had taken hold of Giacomo di 
 Brazza, and in less than a year from his return 
 he died in Rome at the early age of twenty-six, 
 having already accomplished more than many 
 older men. 
 
 The adventures of Attilio Pecile during this 
 journey were almost identical with those of his 
 friend, but he treated on his return chiefly of the 
 character and origin of the tribes they had visited. 
 On their second journey they penetrated to a 
 populous region, which is the cradle of the can- 
 nibal tribe Baccali. But the two white men, 
 although strangers, were generally treated not so 
 much as equals and friends as superior beings. 
 To this contributed their own peaceable manners
 
 DI BRAZZA, PECILE, AND ANTONELLI. 1 57 
 
 and their humanity to their servants, to the old, 
 the suffering, or those in peril. Once in passing 
 through a deserted village they found a sick old 
 woman without food who had been left behind 
 alone. They could not remain with her, but they 
 gave her a chicken, their only food for that day. 
 
 Once in the waters of the Alima, when a hippo- 
 potamus upset their boat and threw them into the 
 water, Pecile caught hold of a sinking black and, 
 swimming through the herd of hippopotami, 
 brought him safe to land. Once, dressed in a 
 loose cretonne costume of his own make, Pecile 
 caught a large bird, and sitting down on a mat, 
 with a circle of natives around him, took off the 
 feathers. By giving the greater part of it to them 
 he gained the reputation of being a most disin- 
 terested man. He wandered about from village 
 to village in his flowered cretonne dress without 
 weapons of any kind. If he sat down to write, 
 with his ink held in a knot of wood, the children 
 came about him and curiously touched his paper. 
 
 On the other side of Africa, where Assab, on 
 the Bay of Assab, and the port of Zeila, on the 
 Red Sea, and Massowah have attracted many 
 Italians, Count Pietro Antonelli a nephew of the 
 cardinal so long Secretary of the Papacy has 
 spent many years. 
 
 Antonelli made his first visit to King Menilek in 
 1879, arriving in Shoa with an arm wounded by 
 the accidental discharge of a pistol. The native 
 doctors sent to him by Menilek tortured him to 
 find the ball, until Antonelli lost faith and patience 
 in them, and undertook himself the care of his
 
 158 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 wounds. When he went afterwards with Antinori 
 to be presented to Menilek, he found the king 
 seated on the threshold of a large cabin surrounded 
 by his attendants. Menilek called for the boxes 
 of Antonelli, and examined them one by one, 
 turning out all the articles, and selecting for him- 
 self those which pleased him a ' useful and agree- 
 able occupation.' 
 
 COUNT PIETRO ANTONELLI. 
 
 To these articles Antonelli added as presents 
 to the king some guns and pistols, and he found, 
 in return, on leaving the royal premises, a magni- 
 ficent mule in red harness. He also received from 
 the king food on a princely scale during his visit. 
 He describes the Shoa as an earthly paradise, 
 with a fine climate, abundant food, and peaceable 
 inhabitants. The fertility of the soil is prodigious, 
 as there are two or even three harvests in the year. 
 The people cultivate little, but gather in much.
 
 DI BRAZZA, PECILE, AND ANTONELLI. 159 
 
 The rural implements are imperfect ; the plough is 
 only an iron point dragged lightly over the ground 
 by the oxen, and there is no spade. 
 
 The Abyssinian farmer can work only 1 1 7 days 
 of the year, as the other 248 are festivals, which, if 
 he did not observe, his land would be confiscated 
 by the priest. 
 
 Antonelli spent much time at Let-Marifia, and 
 made several journeys over the desert between 
 Shoa and the Red Sea. He often visited Menilek, 
 and became a favourite at court, and his influence 
 in discouraging the slave-trade was important. 
 
 The enmity of Mohammed Anfari, chief of the 
 savage Danakili, who killed Bianchi and Giulietti, 
 is said to have been caused by the delay of a 
 caravan of slaves which had been detained by 
 Menilek at the suggestion of Antonelli. 
 
 He, together with Dr. Traversi, followed Menilek 
 to his wars with the Gallas. They encamped on 
 the Lake Zuai, and afterwards on the highland of 
 Albasso, all territory lately conquered by Menilek. 
 
 During the war between Italy and Abyssinia 
 Antonelli acted as diplomatic counsellor to Menilek, 
 with whom he was in high favour ; and it may be 
 to his counsels that Menilek is indebted for the 
 enlargement to the south of his kingdom, and for 
 the possession of Abyssinia after the death of 
 Negus John. Menilek is now King of Ethiopia, 
 and calls himself the king of kings, the lion of 
 the tribe of Judah, the descendant of the Queen 
 of Sheba. With 2000 guns procured for him 
 by Antonelli from the Italian Government, he 
 conquered the negroes and the savage tribes of
 
 160 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 Galla, Ghera, Goggiam, and Tigre. Far from 
 opposing the colonial policy of Italy in Africa, 
 and the occupation of Massowah, Saati, Keren, and 
 Asmara, he has formed an alliance with, and asked 
 for the protection and friendship of, Italy. The 
 embassy which he sent in August to Italy under 
 the escort of Count Antonelli consisted of eight 
 persons of rank and thirty soldiers and servants. 
 
 The gifts of Menilek to the king and the 
 government were a young elephant, mules and 
 gazelles, sixty ivory tusks, each a yard in length ; 
 a gold head-dress, wrought as exquisitely as the 
 old Etruscan jewellery, of which there are so many 
 specimens in the museums of Italy, and his own 
 royal robe, diadem, and sceptre. 
 
 Prince Makonnen, the ambassador, who is a 
 relative of Menilek, was received on board the 
 ship at Naples by Count Salimbeni, who was at 
 the time of the battle of Dogali a prisoner of King 
 John at Asmara. 
 
 When the embassy arrived in Rome, hearing 
 that the father of Antonelli had just died, they 
 went to the cemetery Campo Verano, to pray at 
 the grave, and showed the greatest sympathy and 
 affection to their friend. Makonnen is thirty-five 
 years old, tall and straight and thin ; the head 
 long, the features fine, like those of a European. 
 He was received by King Humbert in the hall of 
 the throne at the Quirinal Palace at Rome, with 
 the usual ceremony for the reception of ambas- 
 sadors. Troops were stationed along the streets 
 near the Quirinal and in front of the palace. The 
 crowd along the streets applauded and cried, ' Long
 
 DI BRAZZA, PECILE, AND ANTONELLI. l6l 
 
 life to our allies!' The dresses worn by the am- 
 bassador and his suite were all of brilliant-coloured 
 silk, embroidered with gold and silver thread. They 
 wore turbans and large white mantles, beneath 
 which could be seen their shining scimitars and 
 shields. Makonnen bowed three times to the 
 earth before King Humbert, who was seated 
 gravely on the throne, under the red velvet canopy, 
 and wore the brass helmet with white plumes of 
 a general. But when the king left the throne, and 
 the state which he rarely assumes, and descended 
 with his natural, easy manner to shake hands with 
 all of the embassy, they were enchanted. ' Oh ! 
 your king,' said Makonnen afterwards, ' your king 
 is wonderful ! ' 
 
 The chief merit of this alliance with the powerful 
 sovereign of Ethiopia is due to Antonelli. He has 
 been replaced at the court of Menilek by Count 
 Salimbeni, but has been sent on a special mission 
 to Ethiopia by the Italian Government.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GIUSEPPE HAIMANN AND GIACOMO BOVE. 
 
 GIUSEPPE HAIMANN made a journey in 1882 to 
 Cyrene, sent out by the Milan Commercial Ex- 
 ploration Society in Africa. 
 
 He was accompanied by his courageous and 
 accomplished wife, Angela Bettoni Haimann. They 
 were prepared also several years later to accompany 
 the expedition of Gustavus Bianchi to Abyssinia, 
 but owing to the danger, especially for a woman, of 
 travelling in that region they were dissuaded from 
 going by the Italian Geographical Society. 
 
 Mr. Haimann took part in the famous five days' 
 patriotic resistance made in 1848 by the Milanese 
 against the tyranny of the Austrians. He filled 
 with honour various public legal offices, during 
 many years, and passed five years of his life at 
 Cairo in the Ministry of Justice. His journey 
 through Cyrene was made at this time, and the 
 account of it, republished in book form after his 
 death in 1883 by his widow, is extremely interesting. 
 
 Although Cyrene is not an unexplored country, 
 and is near to Italy, it is rarely visited by Italians, and 
 is almost as unknown to them as Australia or New
 
 GIUSEPPE HAIMANN AND GIACOMO BOVE. 163 
 
 Zealand. Yet in ancient times that region, as well 
 as all the African coast of the Mediterranean, was 
 subject to Rome and in active commercial relations 
 with her. The horses of Cyrene ran in the circuses 
 of the Eternal City, and the men were celebrated 
 for their skill as charioteers in the races. Its 
 perfumes were sought by the Roman matrons, and 
 one of its plants was counted a remedy against 
 every ill. Now it is depopulated and reduced to 
 misery ; forgotten by the modern civilised nations, 
 and the ruins of ancient palaces and fortresses alone 
 prove how flourishing and populous it was. 
 
 In ancient times Cyrene was celebrated for its 
 fertility and wealth. It produced grain, oil, honey, 
 horses, and sheep. Herodotus says, ' The territory 
 of Cyrene, the highest of Libya, has three seasons. 
 The abundant harvest along the coast is scarcely 
 gathered when that of the hills is mature, and after 
 that comes the harvest of the highest region, so 
 that the people are occupied eight months of the 
 year in gathering the fruit and grain.' 
 
 From the exaggerated perils of travelling in the 
 interior, Cyrene, although so near to Egypt, has 
 been little visited of late years. 
 
 Before going with his wife on the two months' 
 excursion to Cyrene, Mr. Haimann visited George 
 Schweinfurth at Cairo. ' Why,' said that distin- 
 guished traveller, ' do you Italians not think more 
 of Cyrene? You could found agricultural and 
 manufacturing establishments there. The ground 
 is rich ; the rains in winter compensate for the 
 droughts in summer ; there are forests of olives, 
 cypress and every sort of wood ; there are natural 
 L 2
 
 164 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 ports, in one of which the entire French fleet once 
 took refuge. From thence is the easiest and most 
 direct access to Central Africa. The interior of the 
 country, once the seat of flourishing Greek civilisa- 
 tion, now almost deserted except by wandering 
 Bedouins, yields little to the Ottoman Government, 
 which would readily permit colonisation. The 
 Italians might construct a railroad to Egypt, and 
 thus make sure of the shortest route to India, 
 which they are in danger of losing when Austria 
 extends her roads to the ^Egean Sea.' 
 
 This advice struck Haimann as a revelation, and 
 from that time the journey to Cyrene was to him 
 a patriotic labour. Moved by Schweinfurth's 
 counsel, President Camperio, of the African Ex- 
 ploration Society at Milan, also visited Cyrene at the 
 same time, but travelling in another direction from 
 Mr. and Mrs. Haimann. Before reaching Bengasi 
 the travellers were shipwrecked on the coast, and 
 entered the principal city of Cyrene in a forlorn 
 plight. 
 
 But in a few days they organised a small caravan 
 of seven camels, with mules for themselves, and 
 guides, drivers, and servants. 
 
 Sidi Muftah, the leader of the caravan, said in 
 Bedouin fashion in taking charge of them, ' My life 
 and that of my family and of all my tribe are 
 dedicated to you. Woe to them who touch a hair 
 of your heads.' 
 
 He was a tall, athletic, and finely- proportioned 
 man. He rode a beautiful dark Arab horse, and 
 employed his intervals of leisure in sewing garments 
 for his wife and black slave.
 
 GIUSEPPE HAIMANN AND GIACOMO BOVE. 165 
 
 Not far from Bengasi they passed a cavern with 
 a lake, believed to be the ancient Lethe, into which 
 the Greeks imagined that the souls of the departed 
 were immersed, to make them forget all their past 
 sins before entering the Elysian Fields. 
 
 They were threatened by a band of Bedouins, 
 who, however, only feigned an assault, and left them 
 frightened, but not hurt. They passed several ruins 
 of fortresses and palaces, and reached at length the 
 site of the ancient city of Cyrene, but could not 
 remain there long enough to explore its interesting 
 ruins. 
 
 Mrs. Haimann visited a harem, spending a whole 
 afternoon with the women, to whom she presented 
 some Roman pearls. 
 
 After two months of this life sleeping in tents, 
 meeting caravans of Bedouins, gathering botanical 
 and zoological treasures, and making the tour of 
 the peninsula they returned, not without regret, 
 to the habits and comforts of civilised Europe. 
 
 Giacomo Bove died tragically by his own hand 
 in 1887 at Verona, having taken the African fever 
 on the Congo the year before. He returned sick 
 from a journey made in Equatorial Africa, where 
 he had been sent by the Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs, to examine the Congo river and report 
 what prospect there would be for Italian commerce. 
 The fever contracted there continued in Italy, 
 depressing his spirit as well as weakening his body. 
 He saw everything dark and melancholy, and 
 finally took his own life in a moment of mental 
 aberration at the age of thirty-five. He was a 
 distinguished naval officer, in 1873 making a
 
 1 66 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 voyage to China and Japan, and in 1878 going with 
 Baron Nordenskjold on board the Vega to the 
 North Sea. On his return he gave an interesting 
 lecture before the Roman Geographical Society, 
 which showed thorough acquaintance with Arctic 
 explorations. He then projected an expedition to 
 explore the Antarctic Ocean, and succeeded in 
 making a preparatory voyage to Tierra del Fuego. 
 But the large sum of money necessary for such an 
 important undertaking was not collected, and Bove 
 was obliged to abandon that idea. 
 
 He who had dreamed of struggling with the 
 icebergs and discovering the unknown lands of the 
 Antarctic region accepted the mission to Congo, 
 where the heat, the miasms, the long journeys on 
 foot through pathless forests, overcame him. 
 
 Travelling and seeing the wonders of the world 
 was a necessity to the bold nature of this explorer. 
 With another Italian, Captain Fabrello, he set out 
 eagerly for the Congo, and before arriving at its 
 mouth enjoyed the view of all the ports on the 
 western coast of Africa. 
 
 He landed at the Canaries, Sierra Leone, Liberia, 
 Accra, Quitta, Lagos, Fernando Po, Gaboon, and 
 many settlements between the mouths of the 
 Ogowe, the Niger, and the Congo. He notes the 
 progress of Mahommedanism in that part of Africa, 
 and the predominant influence there of England, 
 France, and Germany, leaving little room for that 
 of Italy. The Niger, he says, is the principal 
 artery of Africa, and the railroad built by France 
 between the Niger and the Senegal will injure the 
 commerce of the Mediterranean.
 
 GIUSEPPE HAIMANN AND GIACOMO BOVE. 167 
 
 Bove and Fabrello visited the King of Old 
 Calabar in the city of Duke, at the delta of the 
 Niger. King Orok received them stretched upon 
 an old sofa in an unkingly position. He is hated 
 by the other chiefs, and his palace was burned 
 down the year before, notwithstanding the human 
 skull hung at the door to save him from misfortune. 
 He now rarely immolates human victims at the 
 funerals of great persons, or on solemn occasions, 
 having been persuaded by the Protestant mission- 
 aries not to do so, but his tender mercies even are 
 cruel, and the city of Duke abounds with persons 
 destitute of nose, eyes, or ears. At the Bay of 
 Banana their ship cast anchor in the waters of the 
 Congo, which push out sixty miles into the ocean. 
 They visited all the farms and establishments on 
 the Lower Congo, but were detained by the rains 
 from continuing their journey to the upper part of 
 the river. The caravan of the expedition consisted 
 of ninety- five natives, who were encamped on the 
 banks of a confluent of the great river, waiting 
 until the waters subsided to proceed by short 
 journeys on foot from Matadi to Stanley Pool, 
 where Bove and Fabrello took the steamer up the 
 river. Bove was disappointed in the size of the 
 Congo river, which he considered less magnificent 
 than the rivers of Siberia and South America. 
 
 : Lower Congo,' he says, ' is not a beautiful 
 country. The vegetation is not rich ; the shores 
 are not thickly populated ; the flora and the fauna 
 are poor.' 
 
 The road from Matadi to Lucungu he found 
 monotonous and scarce of animal life. Limited
 
 1 68 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 views, yellow hills, deep and dark valleys, rivers and 
 torrents hidden between high, inaccessible rocks, 
 roads that climb nude, rocky mountains, few 
 groups of trees, and sun all day long were all that 
 he saw in that much vaunted region. 
 
 The grass grew so high in the plains that they 
 walked sometimes in a sort of tunnel, and in the 
 valleys, instead of grass, grew reeds fifteen feet 
 high, where it was no rare thing to meet unex- 
 pectedly an elephant or a buffalo. The villages 
 are at two or three hours' distance from each other, 
 and generally consist of four or five huts with small 
 gardens. Water is always found at a distance, and 
 is carried in large gourds by the women, who do 
 that and all the other hard work, while the men sit 
 idle all day, and only climb the date trees at evening 
 to get the delicious sap which makes wine. After 
 many days of long and tiresome marching the 
 Italian mission reached Leopoldville, the central 
 station between Upper and Lower Congo. It is 
 situated at the opening of the lake or pool formed 
 by the Congo river, and is surrounded by a fertile 
 plain covered with luxuriant vegetation. Bove's 
 journey was continued in the steamers up the river, 
 but the fever which attacked him about this time 
 rendered him incapable of further service, and in 
 the following year caused his death in Italy.
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTl'S JOURNEY ACROSS 
 LIBYA. 
 
 THE Engineer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti is one 
 of the most energetic and daring of the Italian 
 explorers in Africa. His journey over the Libyan 
 desert to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, although 
 not made in an undiscovered region, exposed him 
 to great dangers, privations, and sufferings. Few 
 travellers would have had courage to start as he 
 did in 1885, from Alexandria in Egypt, with four 
 camels, the driver, and two servants ; adapting 
 himself to the habits, food, and dress of the Be- 
 douins among whom he journeyed. But the charm
 
 170 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 of the desert repaid him for all. The wild life of 
 the Bedouins seemed to him at times more desir- 
 able than the habits of civilised countries, yet the 
 dazzling splendour of Africa, the mist of the desert, 
 the golden sunsets and friendly bivouacs with the 
 Bedouins are obscured on his return by the com- 
 forts of his friend's house and a dish of warm strong 
 broth. Even he, infatuated as he was, confesses 
 that the land of pyramids, sphinxes, obelisks, and 
 ophthalmia possesses none of the comforts of Euro- 
 pean life. The beauty of the sky, the purity of the 
 air, and the serenity of lovely nights, are not suffi- 
 cient to make one forget the burning sun, the in- 
 supportable heat and storms that . raise whirlwinds 
 of sand. 
 
 Even before reaching the desert he was im- 
 pressed by the frightful monotony of the Egyptian 
 country, so different from the variety of Italy. It 
 is a vast plain, sometimes covered with water, 
 sometimes a marsh, or carpeted with verdure, or a 
 sandy desert. Palms rise here and there, alone or 
 in groups, and miserable villages with houses con- 
 structed of mud and straw give an aspect of per- 
 manent ruin. The manners of the Arab people 
 contrast strangely with those of Europeans. They 
 wear their clothes long and ample ; they cut their 
 hair and let the beard grow, they cover their heads 
 in token of respect, and salute standing upright, 
 and pass their lives seated. Their grave and 
 austere aspect as they sit on the ground all day 
 long meditating, is a great contrast to the active, 
 joyous, energetic manner of Christian people. 
 
 The principal object of Robecchi's journey was
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. 1 71 
 
 to explore the coast, and seek new roads for com- 
 merce with Italy in that region. But he was 
 obliged to undertake it not only at his own ex- 
 pense, but at his own risk, as the Egyptians op- 
 posed it, and refused to sanction his expedition. 
 The camel-driver and the two servants formed a 
 trio worthy, he says, of ' being hung/ and the 
 miserable camels not only upset his baggage, but 
 hurt him with their hard trotting. But the driver 
 sang their praises. There was, he said, a difference 
 between camels, and these were light as gazelles, 
 strong as lions, mild as lambs, and like the Arab 
 horses their genealogy could be traced to the most 
 noble and ancient sources. Not dismayed, how- 
 ever, Robecchi continued the march, sleeping at 
 night on the sand, covered by a tent improvised 
 from his drab mantle that he wore by day. Water 
 is scarce, and when found at the wells along the 
 way is often so dark, murky, and oily that he com- 
 pares it to castor oil. The black servant from 
 Siuwah at the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon who offered 
 Robecchi this delectable fluid to drink could not 
 understand the description of ice, when Robecchi 
 with home-sick longing told him of this wonderful 
 solid water hard as a rock, which melts in 
 warmer water and cools it. The wells along the 
 way give water of every mineral quality, which only 
 thirst could induce the weary traveller to drink. 
 The water is often also spoiled by the ablutions of 
 the Bedouins, who after drinking wash themselves 
 at the wells, without regard to those who come 
 after them. Robecchi often visited the tents of 
 these wandering Bedouins, who received him kindly,
 
 172 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 and would have offered hospitality if their extreme 
 poverty had not prevented it. Their tents, or 
 rather cabins, made of old worn straw mats drawn 
 over four poles, were so small that they seemed 
 intended rather for one person than for a family, 
 and were incredibly filthy. They led him occa- 
 sionally to wells constructed by the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans, remarkable for size and perfection, 
 which afforded delicious pure, cold water. One of 
 these, three feet wide and ninety deep, was lined 
 with stone, and the water was drawn up in a bucket 
 or bag of sheep-skin attached to a rope pulled by a 
 donkey running constantly backward and forward. 
 The tribe of the Senegrah, although nude and 
 miserable, prefer their liberty to the comforts of a 
 fixed habitation. Although dressed in rags, they 
 are proud, and would not give their daughters to a 
 rich farmer, to a merchant, or a Turkish soldier. 
 Their way of life is simple. At early dawn they 
 rise, milk the sheep, the goats, the camels, and the 
 cows, make the butter and drink the thin milk 
 that remains. The women not only care for their 
 large families, but do nearly all the outdoor work. 
 They raise the tents, grind the corn, gather the dry 
 weeds and resinous plants for a fire, and weave 
 stuff made of wool and camels' hair. Until they 
 are twenty years old these women have an ideal 
 perfection of form, but after that, hard labour 
 makes them quickly grow old and ugly. They 
 wear a long white cotton dress, drawn in at the 
 waist, tattoo the chin, the arms, and the hands, 
 and tinge the nails red. They are tall and well- 
 proportioned, with fine regular features, a noble,
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. 173 
 
 grave, majestic air, and bright dark eyes veiled by 
 long lashes. But their fate is hard. Robecchi 
 saw one of them walking over the stones of the 
 desert with a bundle on her head, a child on her 
 right shoulder, another hidden in the folds of her 
 dress and tugging at her breast, another in her left 
 arm, while the husband rode placidly ahead on his 
 mule. 
 
 Women were always considered inferior beings 
 by these people, who yet preserve the habits, 
 superstitions, and ideas of their ancestors. They 
 believe in magic and metempsychosis, and consider 
 robbery almost a domestic occupation. Yet many 
 of the tribes have noble and generous traits of 
 character, and preserve the ancient beautiful sim- 
 plicity of patriarchal life. They love the desert, 
 and rarely consent to live in cities. They need 
 little, and the desert heat does not injure them. 
 They are strong, and can endure fatigue; a small 
 cake of flour, a few olives or dates, are sufficient to 
 revive them after a day's march. At night they 
 need no roof or tent, and stretch themselves on the 
 sand with their sack for a pillow, reviving like 
 summer flowers with the night dew that is fatal to 
 Europeans. The true Bedouin is free, and bows 
 servilely to no man. He enters without ceremony 
 into the palace of a great man, and speaks to him 
 as he would to an equal. They have a passion for 
 story-telling, and often at evening seated in a 
 circle near their tents listen to one who begins a 
 story about genii and fairies, with the traditional 
 words, ' Once upon a time there was .' 
 
 The road to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon after
 
 174 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 following the coast turns off to traverse the desert. 
 Robecchi saw before him an interminable plain 
 ruffled by the sand, like waves of the sea ; where 
 there was no trace of the footsteps of man or 
 beast, no trees, no streams, no harvests, no 
 lowing of herds or song of birds ; nothing but 
 sterility, silence, and death. 
 
 Life in these burning deserts becomes a burden ; 
 the mind cannot act ; conversation is an effort, and 
 time is precious. ' Every one for himself, and God 
 for all,' is the theory of the desert. If one falls 
 sick, he is left behind ; if two caravans meet, they 
 waste no time together, but murmur, as the camels 
 pass with their regular gait, the usual benediction, 
 ' May Mahomet guide and protect you. and con- 
 duct you to your homes with the mercy and bene- 
 diction of God ! ' But although the road was long 
 and difficult, the sun burning like red-hot iron, the 
 refraction of light from the sand dazzling his eyes, 
 and water far away, Robecchi enjoyed the desert 
 life. ' I shall never forget those days,' he says. 
 ' They were the best of all my life. Seated on my 
 camel, whistling and singing my old songs, I went 
 on at the head of my little caravan, happy under 
 the hot sun and enjoying the solitude of the desert. 
 Although destitute of luxuries, I did not complain, 
 but felt new life in my veins. I learned to love 
 the land without verdure, those paths improvised 
 among the rocks. Sleeping on the bare sand, 
 under the shadow of a rock, with the stars above, 
 waking by night when scorpions or ants ran over 
 me, and always on my feet at dawn of day, this life 
 had its own charm of independence and liberty.'
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. 175 
 
 But it was not so delightful when they lost 
 their way, and came near dying of thirst and 
 despair. Then, like a lovely mirage, he saw his 
 own dear distant country, and the friends who 
 would long expect in vain his return from that 
 burning land. When after being lost four hours 
 they at last found the road, they went on all day, 
 eating almost nothing, in order not to arouse the 
 terrible thirst which they had so little water to 
 assuage. They could not even sleep when night 
 came on, for fear of dying in the sand, but kept 
 marching on, worn and weak as they were. Sad 
 and mute, with the tongue stuck to the palate, and 
 a burning in the throat and stomach, they passed 
 through the volcanic mountains, where the rays of 
 the sun seemed to fall like floods of light. They 
 had no more water, and the heat and weariness 
 made them almost wild. Finally they descried 
 two trees, and farther on the Oasis of Gharah, 
 which meant salvation for them and life. The 
 inhabitants, at first hostile to Robecchi, gradually 
 became friendly, accepted his gifts of sugar to the 
 children and medicines to the adults, for which 
 they exchanged baskets of exquisite dates, and at 
 evening danced and sang for his amusement. 
 
 One month after leaving Alexandria he reached 
 the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, or Siuwah, one of 
 those green spots in the vast expanse of sand and 
 rock called by the ancients the ' Isles of the For- 
 tunate,' as if it were a special favour of the gods to 
 live there. But the songs of the poets who ad- 
 mired the palm and olive trees, the gardens, and 
 wells, and streams could not hide the real loneli-
 
 176 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 ness of the oases, where Pharaohs and emperors 
 sent their enemies to die of grief and home-sickness. 
 
 Few strangers in modern times have entered 
 the city of Siuwah, and Robecchi risked his life 
 in doing so without recommendations of any kind 
 to the governor. Dressed as a Bedouin, brown 
 and travel-worn, he was mistaken at first for one 
 of the inhabitants, and went to the house of his 
 servant, where he threw himself down to sleep on 
 a mat in the court. At midnight he was aroused 
 by a noisy crowd that surrounded him, throwing 
 the light of their torches on his face and disputing 
 with his servant. While he slept an earthquake 
 had alarmed them, the whole blame of which they 
 attributed to the presence of the Christian in their 
 city. He readily took the advice of his servant, 
 and went out of the city limits, presenting himself 
 next day to the governor, and winning his sym- 
 pathy and protection. 
 
 The population of the Oasis of Siuwah is about 
 6000. It consists of two races differing in character 
 and also in religion, part of them being Senussians 
 and part Mahdists. On this oasis existed in an- 
 cient times the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which 
 had a world-wide fame. Those persons were ac- 
 counted purified who at least once in their lives 
 went to visit the celebrated oracle. Robecchi saw 
 the ruins of this once splendid temple, which was 
 visited until the last days of the Roman empire. 
 Now there are only stones fallen one over the 
 other, a few broken white marble columns buried 
 under the sand, and the ruins of the principal en- 
 trance. By stealth and at night Robecchi visited
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. 177 
 
 the ancient necropolis near the temple, which holds 
 about 80,000 mummies, laid so close together as to 
 occupy small space, and now thickly encrusted 
 with saline material. He succeeded in bringing 
 away in a sack and at great risk to his life, thirty 
 skulls, which are now in the National Museum at 
 Florence ; a valuable addition to our knowledge 
 of these ancient races. 
 
 The town of Siuwah is a network of fantastic 
 zigzag streets, the houses without visible windows ; 
 the upper rooms built across the streets, so that 
 even in the day-time Robecchi saw people groping 
 about in the dark and dirty lanes below with 
 lanterns. The air within and without these habita- 
 tions is pestilential from the exhalations of every 
 kind of refuse. A stream of dirty water often 
 runs over into the streets, saturating the soil and 
 leaving a black scum upon the surface. 
 
 In contrast with this vileness of man are the 
 lovely gardens and woods, where vigorous Nature 
 practises all her enchantments. The Arab, used 
 to desert lands beaten by the sun, regards a luxu- 
 riant vegetation the shade of the palm and olive 
 trees, the running of water, the thick twining of 
 rose bushes as the greatest wonder of Nature. 
 
 The gardens which are so numerous in the Oasis 
 of Siuwah do not in the least resemble those of 
 Europe, with their symmetrical walks and studied 
 rows of flowers. 
 
 Fruit trees irregularly planted grow low near the 
 ground, and mix their branches together. The 
 date, the olive, the lemon, the fig, the pomegranate, 
 mingle the odour of their blossoms with the fra- 
 
 M
 
 178 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 grance of roses and other flowers. This wild charm 
 of Nature renders these gardens of the oasis poetical 
 and delicious. 
 
 Notwithstanding the superstition, the filthiness, 
 and idleness of the people of Siuwah, Robecchi 
 lingered, studying their language, character, and 
 ideas, until the governor for a slight offence told 
 him to leave. 
 
 ' I left with pain that happy island, where I had 
 experienced such sad and joyful emotions ; where 
 I had felt infinite beatitude and agonies of fear. 
 There I had felt the tie which unites man to 
 earth ; there I had contracted friendships and 
 awakened hatred. I had grown accustomed to 
 those strange people, and left in that legendary 
 oasis a part of my heart, when I remembered that 
 I should never return there.' Sufferings from fever, 
 thirst, and famine, and the loss of several camels 
 almost reduced him to despair on the return over 
 the desert, but he reached Alexandria at last, glad 
 to lay aside his Bedouin costume, and sleep in a 
 bed instead of on the sand with the stars above 
 him. 
 
 Three years later, in 1888, Robecchi visited the 
 city of Harar, already known to travellers, and on 
 the road to which Count Porro and his companions 
 were killed by the Somali. Starting from the 
 coast at Zeila, but taking a more southerly direc- 
 tion than the road which leads over the Isa-Somali 
 country to Shoa, with five camels, a driver, and 
 three servants, he reached Harar, but not without 
 some danger. He was stopped at Artu, the place 
 where Porro and Cocastelli were murdered, by a
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. 179 
 
 number of Somali, who, knowing that he was an 
 Italian, insisted that he should give them news of 
 the natives arrested at that time. He showed 
 them his arms, and hastened on to Gialdessa, three 
 hours' journey, where he learned next day that 
 about fifty of the Somali had sworn to take his 
 life that night, if he had remained at Artu. The 
 Governor or Degiac Makonmen, cousin of King 
 Menilek, received Robecchi courteously, and gave 
 him a commission to build an Abyssinian church 
 in Harar according to his own design, and to 
 direct the labours of about 200 very dirty soldiers 
 who were erecting another smaller church. When 
 this was completed he persuaded the Degiac to 
 lay the corner-stone with ceremony. 
 
 He prepared the stone with several mottoes in 
 Arabic scratched on the surface, and in the 
 presence of the priest and about 1000 other per- 
 sons went through with some ceremonies calcu- 
 lated to impress them. 
 
 While in Harar Robecchi occupied his time also 
 in long and patient study of the Somali language, 
 making a vocabulary, which, now that Italy through 
 her friend Menilek has acquired more influence in 
 that region, will be useful to travellers. No trans- 
 lation, he says, has yet been made of the Bible 
 into the Somali language, although Cardinal Mas- 
 saja prepared a grammar and vocabulary of the 
 Galla. The Harar language is of Semitic origin ; the 
 Somali, and the Galla are spoken in the Somali 
 peninsula ; and the meaning of the same word in 
 all three languages was gathered by Robecchi 
 from the mouths of the people. 
 M 2,
 
 l8o ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 The race of the Somali have no resemblance to 
 the negro races. Although savages they are in- 
 telligent, and their faces and forms are beautiful. 
 They are shepherds and merchants, but idle, and 
 are born and grow old in rags. The Somali never 
 forgets that he is a free son of the desert. He is 
 proud of the number of enemies he has killed, and 
 the death of a native gives him the right to wear 
 in his hair for one year a large black feather, or a 
 white one when he has killed a lion or a European. 
 
 The road from Zeila to Harar, once so perilous 
 to Italians, is now safe, if made in company and 
 under the protection of a caravan leader. The 
 distance is 250 miles, which is accomplished in 
 fifteen or twenty days, although the couriers do it 
 sometimes in five or six days. These couriers of 
 the Isa-Somali are tall, black, and thin. They 
 carry nothing with them but the lance and shield, 
 a goat-skin bottle of water, a bag filled with dry 
 bread, and the letters wrapped in linen. Bare- 
 headed and barefooted, they run all day under 
 the torrid sun over the sand or the volcanic rocks. 
 The road from Gialdessa to Harar is mountainous, 
 with beautiful views here and there, when it is not 
 through narrow defiles. The traveller at last sees 
 the city of Harar built upon a hill, with a wall 
 twelve or fifteen feet high. The brownish-red tint 
 of the houses and wall, the plantations of coffee, 
 and gardens of bananas, the three white minarets, 
 and the sycamores give it a fantastic and almost 
 magical appearance. It is the largest city of 
 Eastern Africa, and the purity of the air and 
 mildness of the climate make it a delightful place.
 
 LUIGI ROBECCHI BRICCHETTI. l8l 
 
 It has 40,000 inhabitants, and now pays tribute to 
 Menilek. Much capital now lying idle in Italy 
 might be used there in commerce to advantage. 
 Robecchi succeeded in obtaining here, as he did 
 in Siuwah, thirty skulls of the natives, but with even 
 more difficulty and danger than there. 
 
 The women wear more jewellery than clothes, 
 and delight in moving about to make their bells 
 and bracelets heard. On the arms they wear half- 
 a-dozen iron bracelets that weigh several pounds, 
 besides armlets of brass, bone, and tin. They wear 
 also rings on their fingers, in their noses, and on 
 the upper part of the ear, besides necklaces of 
 beads, shells, and bits of brass. 
 
 In 1890 Robecchi made an exploration from 
 Obbia to Allula, on the Somali coast, which elicited 
 the warm praise of the traveller Schweinfurth, who 
 writes to him : ' You can now cover with a hundred 
 names a part still blank on the map of Africa ; a 
 new proof that to make discoveries and find dangers 
 it is not always necessary to go to the centre of 
 the continent.' 
 
 The Italian protectorate over Obbia is now 
 acknowledged, and the Sultan Jusuf AH being 
 friendly to Robecchi, sought to dissuade him 
 from making the journey in the interior, which 
 even he considered dangerous. But Robecchi set 
 out with six men and five camels, finding after six 
 days' march a tribe friendly to the Italians. On 
 the eighth night he was attacked by a horde of 
 savages, who soon retired on hearing the guns. 
 They robbed him, however, of his horse and of 
 the only extra pair of shoes, so that the rest of the
 
 1 82 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 journey was made on foot. ' It was not easy/ he 
 writes, ' but I am used to it.' 
 
 On horseback and on foot he traversed 600 
 miles in this journey, opening new roads to 
 commerce, and proving himself one of the most 
 courageous and useful travellers of Italy.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 
 
 MAJOR GAETANO CASATI was born in 1838 at 
 Lesmo, a beautiful town in the hilly region of 
 Brianza, near Milan. He took part in the war of 
 independence against Austria in 1859, and then 
 as a Captain of Bersaglieri fought the brigands in 
 Southern Italy for eleven years. In 1866 he took 
 part in the fourth and last campaign for Italian 
 independence, and then was occupied in the In- 
 stitute at Leghorn for the construction of the 
 Military Map of Italy. He was promoted to the 
 rank of major, and might have continued a bril- 
 liant military career if another ideal had not 
 induced him in 1879 to offer his resignation from 
 the army. Africa beckoned him away from Italy. 
 He would know the secrets of the Upper Nile ; he 
 would see the strange inhabitants of those unex- 
 plored regions, and find the Akka, the chimpanzee 
 and the silver-grey parrot. Under a calm exterior 
 Casati hid an enthusiastic and adventurous nature, 
 rare energy and courage, and an iron force of will. 
 He was therefore the person adapted to aid Romolo 
 Gessi in constructing maps of the Bar-Ghasal, where
 
 184 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 that marvellous soldier had just subdued Suleiman 
 Bey. He was ready to start on the morrow, with 
 just money enough to take him from Genoa to 
 Suakim, and across the desert to Khartoum. After 
 a month's journey in the Egyptian steamer up the 
 Nile, he reached Gessi Pasha, who received him 
 more as a dear relative than a subordinate officer, 
 and nursed him through a violent fever which 
 followed immediately. 
 
 Gessi left for Khartoum after one month and 
 a half spent thus together, on that fatal journey 
 when his ship, the Safia, was locked for months in 
 the arms of aquatic plants in the River of the 
 Gazelles, and 500 of his people died from famine, 
 as he himself also did on arriving at Suez. Casati 
 then for years explored Central Africa alone, 
 without means, without an escort, and living like 
 the natives, until he was called by Emin, Egyptian 
 Governor of Southern Soudan, to aid him against 
 the troops of the Mahdi. A great part of the notes 
 of Emin to European journals on the flora and 
 fauna of Central Africa, and the customs and his- 
 tory of the tribes there, were communicated to him 
 by Casati. Extraordinarily modest, this Italian 
 explorer speaks so little of himself in the Ten 
 Years in Equatorial Africa, written on his return, 
 that the story in many parts suffers for want of the 
 central figure. 
 
 The notes of several years were destroyed by the 
 cruel King Ciua or Cabrega, when he condemned 
 Casati to death. Five months were lost at Zan- 
 zibar and Cairo on his return, in assisting his friend 
 Emin, and trying to obtain for him back pay from
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 185 
 
 the Egyptian Government. Yet, with all these 
 disadvantages, Casati's descriptions of those ten 
 years in Equatoria are thrilling. He had no need 
 of written notes to remember hunger that lasted 
 days and months, marches through bogs and 
 virgin forests, imprisonment, escape from a hor- 
 rible death, flight, and daily contact with races of 
 black cannibals. 
 
 How strange the high ideals of the white man 
 must have seemed to these, his only companions, 
 with whom, as he knew several of their languages. 
 he could converse freely ! Casati was a ' strange 
 man ' to Emin, and even Stanley was surprised at 
 an instance of his self-sacrifice, when sick with 
 fever he refused to ask the liberated slaves to build 
 him a hut of leaves and bark, because 'he would 
 not have them think they had gone back to slavery.' 
 Casati was the counsellor of Emin at Lad6 and 
 Wadelay on the Nile, in the long resistance made 
 with a few Egyptian soldiers to the rebellious 
 Soudanese troops of the Mahdi, who drove them 
 continually further south. His name is now con- 
 nected with those of Stanley and of Emin. 
 
 For one year after Casati separated from Gessi 
 on the Bar-Ghasal nothing was heard from him. 
 Then came a letter. Then another year of silence 
 and another letter; and from 1883 to 1886, three 
 years, not a word was heard from him nor from 
 Emin, whom he had joined at Lad6. 
 
 He made long and difficult explorations in 
 Niam-Niam, in Mambettu, in Unioro, in Bamba, 
 and found the grave of Miani at Tangasi, under the 
 famous tamarind tree ; studied the course of the
 
 1 86 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 River Uelle ; visited the Sultan Mambanga ; was 
 taken prisoner and condemned to death by the 
 Sultan Ciua ; escaped to Bakangoi, crossed Mam- 
 bettu, and found refuge with Emin Pasha at Lado. 
 
 This long silence, and the fact that they were 
 in between the Soudanese and cruel, ferocious 
 tribes of savages, excited the compassion of the 
 world. A relief expedition under the command 
 of Stanley was organised. The relief funds col- 
 lected for Emin were also for the liberation of 
 Casati, and Stanley on leaving Italy for his adven- 
 turous journey said, ' I go as much for Casati as for 
 Emin.' The Italians naturally thought chiefly of 
 him. The African Exploration Society of Milan 
 received subscriptions for him, and Giacomo Brazza 
 and Attilio Pecile, on their return from the Ogowe 
 and the Congo, offered their rare collections to the 
 government for a sum of money destined to the 
 relief of Casati. 
 
 The long silence which followed Stanley's en- 
 trance into the wilds of the Dark Continent, no 
 word coming from him, or from Emin, or Casati, 
 seemed ominous of disaster. They were all 
 mourned as lost or dead, and tidings of their 
 dreadful end were daily expected. But the cloud 
 lifted, and their return to the civilized world was 
 expected with joy. Such an ovation was offered 
 to Casati and to Emin by emperors, kings, 
 queens, and governments as was never before 
 received by any travellers. They, with the gar- 
 rison of Lado, including women and children, 
 passed on foot through dark forests, and over high 
 mountains, crossed new rivers, found new lakes,
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 187 
 
 and saw at last the cross on the steeple, and en- 
 joyed all the delights and comforts of civilised life. 
 
 Casati, worn out with the fatigues of the journey 
 and a severe illness .on the way, received at Zan- 
 zibar the congratulations of the Roman Geogra- 
 phical Society, which offered to pay the expenses 
 of his return to Italy. He was greeted as a brother 
 returned from the dead, one lost and found. He 
 was met at Naples by a deputation from Rome, 
 who boarded the ship when it landed. A banquet 
 was given him at Naples, and another at Rome, 
 and at Rome also a reception by the Geographical 
 Society, to which 1000 persons were invited. But 
 Casati modestly disclaimed these honours, and as 
 soon as possible retired to the little Villa Giovio 
 at Monza, to write down without notes what his 
 memory retained of his adventures. 
 
 One of the first pictures of the Nile he gives is 
 the scene at Cava, the great slave emporium above 
 Khartoum. The river here is wide and tortuous, 
 the water thick with earth, which forms islands in 
 the stream, and arms and indentures on the shores. 
 Here, some time after, the Mahdi barred the Nile 
 with trees and stones to prevent navigation, but 
 when Casati passed he was figuring as a great 
 saint on the island Aba, almost in front of Cava. 
 The wonderful fertility of the tropics is displayed 
 upon this island and on the shores of the Nile. 
 Palms and tamarind-trees, the mimosa, the acacia, 
 and the papyrus grow there. There are wide fields 
 and orchards; and in the forests antelopes, lions, 
 and leopards, and pythons that wind their long 
 bodies around the trees with the head looking out
 
 1 88 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 above. The whistle of the engine and slowing of 
 the steamer at Aba gave the captain, the men, and 
 most of the passengers an opportunity to pray with 
 their faces turned to the island. 
 
 They were saluting with great veneration the 
 future Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed who soon after 
 caused such mourning in the Soudan. They be- 
 lieved him immortal, and said that once, 700 years 
 ago, he had been translated to heaven, and had re- 
 turned. Even the government paid him respect, 
 and forbade wood for the vessels to be cut on that 
 island. One of the officers gave an account to 
 Casati of a visit he and others made to Mohammed 
 Ahmed, who performed a miracle in their presence. 
 Two jars full of milk and sugared water were 
 passed round to forty persons, all of whom drank, 
 and yet the liquid in the jars was not in the least 
 diminished. 
 
 Two hours farther up the Nile the vessel entered 
 the River of the Gazelles, Bar-Ghasal, a narrow 
 river filled with long aquatic plants. The shores 
 are marshy, and it is a desolate-looking country, 
 without trees, and little inhabited. By day wasps 
 torment the traveller, and by night innumerable 
 mosquitos. In the river are groups of hippo- 
 potami, who with their heads out of the water watch 
 the vessel with curiosity. Here Casati experienced 
 the difficulty of navigating in the midst of the 
 aquatic plants, which, tied from shore to shore, 
 often stopped the vessel until cut with hatchets. 
 He warned Romolo Gessi of this danger, and ad- 
 vised him to return to Khartoum by way of Lado, 
 farther up the Nile ; but Gessi persisted in taking
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 1X9 
 
 this route to Khartoum, and lost his life. Sixty-six 
 times in seventeen days, says Casati, their vessel 
 was stopped by these plants. 
 
 The patience and activity of the negroes who 
 perform this labour are remarkable. The numerous 
 tribes of the Dinca, all of one origin, but dis- 
 tinguished by a variety of customs and manners, 
 are courageous in chasing wild beasts, but gentle 
 and timid with strangers. Their limbs are agile 
 and vigorous, they walk rapidly, and handle the 
 lance and the bow with wonderful skill. Their 
 habitations are huts made of straw with conic 
 roofs. They wear goat-skins tied at the waist 
 when they are not completely nude. They are a 
 clean people, but sleep at night in beds of ashes, 
 as a protection from the mosquitos and the 
 changes of temperature, and in the morning look 
 like walking spectres. They worship serpents, and 
 keep one of these creatures, generally a python, 
 in almost every house, feeding it with milk, allow- 
 ing it to remain curled up in the house, and 
 teaching it to answer when called. The Dincas 
 loved Gessi because he liberated the slaves and 
 punished the Arabs who carried on that infamous 
 commerce. 
 
 Casati met Gessi at Wau, on the River Guir, 
 crossing the stream filled with crocodiles in a 
 canoe dug out of the trunk of a tree. The severe 
 illness which followed detained Gessi until the 
 crisis was past, and two days afterwards, at the 
 door of the house, they gave each other the fare- 
 well kiss which was the last. 
 
 As soon as able, Casati left the station, now
 
 190 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 commanded by another, with a few servants going 
 towards the River Rohl, thus beginning that long 
 exile in Africa which ended only in the tragic 
 march with Stanley and Emin, from Unioro to 
 Zanzibar. Fever accompanied him, so that he could 
 not for some time make long journeys on foot. 
 When near the borders of Macraca the chief sent 
 him word not to enter that kingdom; and this 
 caused him to begin a correspondence with Emin 
 Bey, then at Lado, on the Upper Nile. The tribe 
 of the Abaca, on the contrary, received him kindly. 
 They are a race of aborigines not fond either of 
 labour or of war. The women add to their natural 
 ugliness by inserting a large piece of ivory in the 
 upper lip, and a smaller piece in the lower one, 
 and sprinkling their bodies, first well greased, with 
 a red powder procured by grinding the bark of a 
 certain tree. They smoke in a long iron pipe, 
 filling the cup when tobacco is scarce with hot 
 coals alone, and smoking the tobacco only at 
 intervals. They eat human flesh, but ' are neither 
 inhuman nor ferocious.' 
 
 Crossing the River Dungu, Casati found himself 
 in the province of Mambettu, where Schweinfurth, 
 Miani, and Piaggia had preceded him. The won- 
 derful things he had heard of that region, the 
 splendid natural scenery, the mysterious River 
 Uelle or Maqua, the streams so arched with trees 
 that they seemed avenues, the banquets of human 
 flesh, the pigmy population of the Akka, or Tikki- 
 Tikki, the lake seen by Piaggia excited his curi- 
 osity. Here also at Tangasi he would visit the 
 grave of Miani, the Italian explorer who died
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 191 
 
 there. The river is famous for the number of 
 crocodiles and hippopotami on the shores. 
 
 Casati was met by the chief Sunga, who offered 
 him the use of some canoes, dug by the natives 
 with fire and iron out of the trunk of an immense 
 tree which is sometimes six feet in diameter. The 
 King of Mambettu at his solemn banquets had 
 the feast served in great tubs which required four 
 men to move them, excavated in pieces of this 
 wood. 
 
 He was invited by a chief to a meal consisting 
 of crocodile meat cooked with leaves of manioca 
 and bananas in palm oil, but the crocodile meat 
 had so strong a smell of musk that he confined 
 himself to the bananas. 
 
 The Monfu, a pigmy race in Mambettu, are 
 blacker than the other races there. They are con- 
 sidered inferior, and are chased for slaves and the 
 banquets of the chiefs. They are excellent agri- 
 culturists, strong, patient, and diligent, and the 
 men assist the women in the labours of the field. 
 They are not warlike, and use their weapons only for 
 defence, cutting down trees along the roads when 
 pursued. Casati saw twenty women of a tribe to 
 the south brought in tied together by a rope, but 
 to his great satisfaction they all escaped during the 
 night. 
 
 At this time he heard that the Russian traveller, 
 Dr. Junker, awaited him at the residence of Mam- 
 banga, the chief of the next tribe, and he was con- 
 ducted to the dividing line of the kingdoms at 
 war with each other by the chief Mabu. As he 
 crossed alone he found Mambanga tall, straight,
 
 192 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 agile, and bold with a circle of his guards waiting 
 to conduct him to Dr. Junker. The meeting of 
 these two explorers, strangers to each other and of 
 different nations, was like that of dear brothers 
 who see each other after long absence. But they 
 soon parted, taking different ways, Casati pushing 
 on across the River Bomocandi, where the Sultan 
 Azanga, after long consultation of the oracles, at 
 last received him. 
 
 This African potentate is a cannibal, and abso- 
 lute lord of the lives and limbs of his subjects. 
 They swear by his foot, by his neck, by his shield ; 
 they crawl into his presence, they shout his praises, 
 and salute when he sneezes. If, however, one of 
 them should sneeze or cough before him, death 
 might be the punishment. At his death the chief 
 of this tribe is honoured by the immolation of 
 human victims, selected from the principal men of 
 the kingdom, and by the burying alive of his wives 
 with his dead body. 
 
 Azanga, who is a tall and well-formed man, 
 gave his hand to Casati, said he was glad to see 
 him and retired, followed by blowing of trumpets 
 and cries of admiration of the people. Whenever 
 he goes out or re-enters, the trumpet blows, and 
 the great horn at night announces that he has re- 
 tired. ' Does the sun shine at Khartoum ? ' said 
 Azanga one day to Casati. ' Certainly.' ' No, it 
 cannot be, because this is the sun of my country, 
 which is so large, and there are other kingdoms 
 beyond mine. You inhabit another world.' 'As 
 you will,' said Casati, ' but the sun is immense, and 
 is placed in such a way that it can light your
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 193 
 
 country and mine. I advise you not to discuss 
 the power of the sun, as it might become offended 
 and punish you.' The chief looked at him in 
 silence with wide-open eyes, and laughed when 
 Casati did, but rather convulsively. ' The flesh of 
 the chimpanzee,' said Azanga, ' has no rival in 
 delicacy ; ' and when Casati asked him what it re- 
 sembled he answered, ' It is as good as human flesh.' 
 
 This benevolence of the sultan was changed to 
 suspicion and cruelty by the re-inforcement of the 
 garrison at the Egyptian station in the adjoining 
 kingdom of his enemy, the chief Mambanga. 
 Azanga demanded Casati's weapons, robbed him 
 of his goods, and abandoned him to the vexations 
 of the people. But the good offices of a brother of 
 Azanga, to whom Casati fled, brought him to reason, 
 and the traveller returned to Tangasi-Olopo, the 
 residence of Azanga being the limit of his pil- 
 grimage in that direction. 
 
 In the valley of the Bomocandi, among the 
 Niam-Niam, Casati found King Canna, a chief not 
 so cruel as some of the others with whom he had 
 made acquaintance. Canna made the compact of 
 friendship with Casati, which is done by making a 
 little wound in the arm of each with a knife and 
 mixing the blood. 
 
 'Will you do me a favour?' he said one evening, 
 when their conversation had been longer than 
 usual. ' I wish to make the compact of friendship 
 with you.' ' Yes, I will deny you nothing.' ' I 
 thank you,' said Canna ; ' I believed you would not, 
 because you are always saying that you must 
 leave me.' At dawn next day the courtiers, the 
 
 N
 
 194 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 women, the warriors, and the people gathered in 
 the large court, and the exchange of blood took 
 place to the beating of drums, and the frantic ap- 
 plause of the beholders, for Canna had obtained a 
 great triumph in becoming the ally and the friend 
 of the white men. 
 
 The king and his people remembered with affec- 
 tion Miani, and spoke with enthusiasm of his long 
 beard and hair, and of the beautiful beads he gave 
 them. 
 
 In 1883 Casati received an invitation from Dr. 
 Edward Schnitzer, Emin Bey, to join him at Lado 
 on the Nile. After their meeting Emin accom- 
 panied Casati to Mambettu, visiting the stations 
 and taking some soldiers with him. This aroused 
 the opposition of many of the chiefs who had been 
 friendly to Casati when he was alone, and Emin 
 returned to Lado, leaving his friend to continue 
 explorations of the country. The progress of the 
 Mahdi up the Nile and into Bar-Ghasal, and the 
 cutting off the supplies of Lado from Khartoum, 
 soon recalled him to be the counsellor and aid of 
 Emin. 
 
 He counselled Emin to defend himself at Gondo- 
 koro, and when his advice was not taken he wished 
 to leave Soudan, returning alone by the difficult 
 and dangerous way of Abyssinia. But the rebel- 
 lion of the Egyptian garrison caused by the weak 
 government of Emin and their fear of being aban- 
 doned to the cruelties of the savages, induced 
 Casati to forget all irritations and sacrifice his own 
 ideas to the safety and honour of his friend. He 
 accepted the hard office of representing Emin with
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 195 
 
 the King of Unioro, on Lake Albert, through 
 whose kingdom Emin hoped to pass on the return 
 to Europe from Wadelay, a station on the Upper 
 Nile to which he had retired, leaving most of the 
 troops at Lado or Dufli. 
 
 Cabrega or Ciua, King of Unioro, a despotic, 
 cruel, degraded tyrant, the enemy of all travellers 
 and strangers, was then at war with his neighbour 
 Muanga, King of Uganda. He desired the friend- 
 ship of Emin, who had once visited him, in order 
 to get possession of the ivory stored up at Wadelay, 
 and have the benefit of the guns and ammunition of 
 the Egyptian soldiers, to whom every other way of 
 escape was closed. 
 
 Cabrega, a black man, ' timid, suspicious, tardy, 
 irresolute, prejudiced, a liar, malicious, and cowardly,' 
 was also superstitious and afraid of the evil eye. 
 At the dawn of every day in a traditional attire, 
 barefooted, he receives the compliments and con- 
 gratulations of his relatives and of the people, who, 
 to the sound of trumpets and drums, bow down to 
 him and proclaim him ' absolute and powerful 
 sovereign, beneficent father, dispenser of every 
 good, and jealous custodian of the rights of 
 the state.' His royal residence has seven doors, 
 each of which is reserved for a special class of 
 persons. One of these, leading to the most sump- 
 tuous and largest part of the palace, is for the 
 members of the royal family, where they live, and 
 where also the human sacrifices are made. 
 
 Cabrega formally received Casati in June, 1886. 
 He was seated in a large chair, with his august feet 
 resting upon a beautiful leopard skin. He wore 
 
 N 2
 
 1<)6 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 a dress of fine cloth elegantly ornamented, and a 
 red turban wound in Arab fashion around his head. 
 Tall, and of colossal proportions, with a full ex- 
 pressive face and sarcastic smile, and a ready 
 tongue, with graceful gesture Cabrega produces at 
 first a not unfavourable impression. He listened 
 quietly to the demands of the Governor of Soudan 
 that correspondence might pass freely ; that peace 
 should be made with Uganda, and that the Egyptian 
 officers and soldiers should be allowed to retire 
 that way to Egypt. But fears and suspicions 
 afterwards assailed him, and he ended by making 
 Casati a prisoner. 
 
 The savage king, being convinced that he had 
 made a grave error in accepting the friendship of 
 Emin, laid aside the mask, and in March, 1887, 
 showed all his hatred of the white man. Casati 
 was not allowed to leave his habitation, and was so 
 guarded night and day that he could only with the 
 greatest difficulty, by means of a friendly Arab 
 merchant, communicate with Mr. Mackay, the mis- 
 sionary in Uganda. He employed a courageous 
 Dinca boy, who came to his hut under pretence of 
 selling goods, in helping him to receive nocturnal 
 visits from his friends. After having made the 
 guard destined to watch drunk, ' God pardon me,' 
 says Casati, ' I received visits at night, and in this 
 way knew all that was necessary for me, also all 
 the scandals and quarrels of the royal house.' 
 
 Eight times in the course of the next few months 
 Casati was disturbed at night by attacks upon his 
 hut, made with the permission of the king, who 
 hoped thus to get rid of an inconvenient witness or
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 197 
 
 a supposed conspirator and enemy. He opposed 
 to this treachery an appearance of indifference and 
 a smiling face, as if nothing was the matter, but 
 kept up a constant watch at night, taking his turn 
 with the soldiers and servants in his company. 
 One rainy night, when a boy kept watch, Casati, 
 who slept badly from anxiety, got up and found 
 the sentinel asleep. Shaking him vigorously, he 
 heard the movement of a creature in flight only a 
 few steps away, and next morning discovered that 
 the boy's life had been saved by his vigilance, as 
 the footsteps of a whole family of lions were found 
 there. Cabrega, whose residence was three hours 
 distant over a deserted road through marshes and 
 reedy wilds, sent for Casati, to reproach him for 
 the appearance of steamers sent by Emin to the 
 Victoria Nile, and if possible get rid of him on the 
 way home in the evening. He kept Casati waiting 
 several hours, while the people passed in a long 
 procession to gain a place of refuge, war having 
 begun with Uganda. Armed men preceded the 
 women and children, the slaves, the dogs, the 
 goats, and the royal consorts, borne aloft on palan- 
 quins covered with ox-skins, and dressed in mantles 
 of bright colours with strange designs. The crowd 
 made way with cries of wonder and admiration as 
 four strong men appeared carrying one of the 
 fattened wives of Cabrega, an immense mass of 
 flesh, with the eyes buried in their orbits. It is 
 a custom at the courts of Unioro and Uganda, to 
 fatten these women gradually by a special process 
 until they can no longer walk, and are scarcely 
 able even to crawl. Finally the king, seated on his
 
 igS ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 large chair, with an angry countenance and twitch- 
 ing hands and feet, received Casati, and after a 
 silence accused him of conspiring against Unioro, 
 and of helping Emin to encroach upon its territory. 
 The peril of Casati was extreme, but with extra- 
 ordinary tact and courage he persuaded Cabrega 
 that their only motive was to return to Zanzibar, 
 and of his own peaceful intention. He even ne- 
 gotiated a peace for his inhospitable host with the 
 invading chiefs of Uganda, when a word or motion 
 of his hand would have rid him of the tormentor. 
 His own life was in danger at this time from 
 Muanga of Uganda, who had given orders to kill 
 him as well as Cabrega. He was only saved by 
 the Christians of Uganda, whom the missionaries 
 had told to protect him. Cabrega continued his 
 policy of intrigue and treachery, anxious to prevent 
 the passage of Emin and the troops through Unioro, 
 and yet not bold enough to prevent it, or to kill 
 Casati. Six boys of his tribe, who were at school 
 at Wadelay, and would have been precious hostages 
 for the life of Casati, were imprudently sent home by 
 Emin. ' The remembrance of those days,' says 
 Casati, ' even now, when I write, thrills me with fear.' 
 Violence had taken the place of intrigue, and the 
 wicked king and his wicked counsellors, not re- 
 pressed by Emin, who seemed to have forgotten 
 the perilous situation of his friend and ambassador, 
 prepared to end the horrible drama. Emin was 
 then powerless, having fled in the night from his 
 soldiers, who threatened to make him prisoner. 
 King Ciua-Cabrega was determined to be troubled 
 no longer with the presence of the white man in
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 199 
 
 his kingdom, and ordered the chief in whose charge 
 he had given Casati to make away with him. 
 
 Gnacamatera, having failed in persuading Casati 
 to go alone by night to him in order to seal the 
 compact of friendship with blood, invited him with 
 the Arab ivory merchant, Biri, kept also in a kind 
 of imprisonment, to a meeting by day, 
 
 They started for the residence of the chief at six 
 in the morning, and having crossed a torrent, found 
 the ground filled with many armed men, who 
 gathered around them as they passed. Not far 
 off, at the foot of a large tree, was seated the high 
 priest with a circle of the lesser magicians around. 
 His head was covered by a rich turban of red stuff 
 ornamented with beads and shells, and with two 
 ox-horns on either side. In his left hand was a 
 horn filled with magic powder, and he held in the 
 right the conjuring stick. He wore a large mantle 
 of ox-skin, and was seated in accordance with the 
 dignity of his high office. The chief, a tall man, 
 then came out, his coming being announced by the 
 blowing of a trumpet, and the warriors, armed with 
 guns, lances, shields, and bows and arrows, gathered 
 around. Something important was evidently pre- 
 paring, and Casati whispered to his companion 
 ' God help us, all hope is vain, let us show 
 courage ! ' 
 
 Ten minutes after the appearance of the chief, 
 at a signal from him, the crowd of savages with 
 horrible cries rushed upon Casati and his com- 
 panions, tying them with ropes to the trees. Casati 
 was barbarously tied by the throat, the arms, the 
 wrists, the knees, and the ankles, and afterwards,
 
 200 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 to increase the torture, a rope was added around the 
 waist. He was kept thus for hours, in the burning 
 sun, subject to the scorn and derision of a blood- 
 thirsty throng of 300 savages, while Gnacamatera 
 went to search his house, believing he should find 
 armed men there sent from Wadelay to conquer 
 the kingdom of Cabrega. ' If I find them,' said 
 the chief, 'you will be immediately killed.' He 
 found nothing of the kind, of course, but destroyed 
 the notes of Casati's journey an irreparable loss. 
 Casati in the meantime, tortured by the ropes and 
 the heat and thirst, encouraged his companions, 
 and even in that condition frightened the drunken 
 fanatical mob. 
 
 When one of the boldest drew near and began 
 to unloose the string of his shoe, probably to steal 
 it, the prisoner gave such a cry of anger and dis- 
 dain that the whole mass, taken with sudden fear, 
 retreated from him like a wave of the sea falling 
 over each other. They kept a respectful distance 
 until one of the chiefs, in whom duty triumphed 
 over fear, advanced cautiously, searched the pockets 
 of their victim and reassured them that the bit of 
 paper which they considered a charm was not 
 there. Casati could not refrain from laughing at 
 this, and his laugh was returned by a noisy 
 hilarious chorus from the crowd yet thirsting for 
 his blood. Not until five o'clock in the afternoon 
 was Casati released from those bonds and led 
 away to prison, from whence, after a few days, 
 he escaped, and reached with great difficulty the 
 border of Lake Albert. There he was met by a 
 troop of 1000 savages armed with guns and lances,
 
 GAETANO CASATI. 2Ot 
 
 who would certainly have taken his life, had he not 
 been protected by a friendly chief. 
 
 The wrath of Cabrega pursued him even there, 
 and the inhabitants received orders to give this 
 enemy of the nation and his companions no food, 
 and not to let them pass. 
 
 They were expelled from every village they 
 entered, and beaten. Hungry and thirsty, they 
 marched through muddy places, going down to 
 their knees in the holes made by the feet of the 
 hippopotami ; forcing their way through woven 
 masses of vines, and walking through wastes of 
 high reeds, now going out of the way or crouching 
 down to avoid some large amphibious animal. No 
 food had been given them except some beans pre- 
 pared secretly by a young Dinca woman married 
 to the chief, who pitied them. The situation be- 
 came more serious every day, and they would have 
 perished if they had not been at last relieved from 
 fatigue, hunger, thirst, and anxious fear, by the 
 steamer sent up the lake to rescue them by Emin. 
 But the joy of meeting was soon obscured by re- 
 proaches which Casati felt to be unjust. 
 
 He had accomplished his mission with zeal, pru- 
 dence, dignity, and wisdom, without intrigue and 
 without cowardice, and felt wounded to be treated 
 like a child on his return by the friend who should 
 have been grateful. Almost the first words of 
 Casati to Emin, when aboard the steamer Khedive 
 on Lake Albert, were,' Stanley has arrived.' Fifteen 
 days before, while still a prisoner in Unioro, Casati 
 had heard the natives speak of the apparition, 
 in the country of Valegga, of Europeans with
 
 202 ITALIAN EXPLORERS IN AFRICA. 
 
 many armed men dressed like the people of 
 Zanzibar. 
 
 Emin, after attacking many of the tribes on the 
 lake, moved on in search of Stanley, who was in 
 need himself of aid. Casati advised Emin after 
 attending to this duty, and thanking Stanley for 
 the heroic effort, to retire by way of the River 
 Obangi-Maqua-Uelle, through Mambettu, a friendly 
 country. But his counsel was not accepted, and a 
 more disastrous route was selected for the return. 
 
 THE END.
 
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