PART V - SOUTH PART LAKE NYASA
[mid October - early November 1879]
CHAPTER 15
We returned to Pimbi the day after with the ivory we had obtained, and about four miles from the stockade we shot two "koodoo" and also four and a half brace of guinea fowl, and the men who had been complaining of the heat and the heaviness of their loads forgot their previous grumbling and staggered along the rest of the journey with all the meat they could possibly carry. The more we came in contact with these men the more lazy and greedy they appeared, and except in a few instances they did not appear to understand what gratitude meant.
Just after we got in a lad arrived from Blantyre with a letter from Fenwick telling us of his safe arrival, and that he was starting off to Mt. Zomba, to visit a chief there in accordance with instructions from the Rev. Mr. McDonald, who was desirous of having a branch mission station at the mount. It is about fifty to sixty miles from Blantyre and rears its crest some nine thousand feet high above the hills forming the Milanje Range. According to Dr. Livingstone it is twenty miles in length and Lake Shirwa close by is eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. Livingstone describes the lake as a “considerable body of bitter water containing leeches, fish, crocodiles and hippopotami.... It appears to be deep with islands like hills rising out of it. The shore is covered with reeds and papyrus. The country round is very beautiful and clothed with rich vegetation and the waves breaking and foaming over the rocks on the southeast side added to the beauty of the picture.”
The Milanje Range of course was in sight of Pimbi and not far off, so we sent a note to Fenwick asking him if he could not join us for a few days and if he could give us any information respecting Rhodes from whom we had been expecting to hear. It is worthy of notice the peculiar way the natives in these parts carry a letter, unless they belong to a mission station and have become civilized so to speak. As soon as the letter is received by the carrier he inserts in a cleft stick about a foot long, and never touches it with his hand again on any pretense. The reason is because to their simple minds it seemed "fetish" for a white man to communicate to another a quantity of information through a piece of paper, and from the pace they travel at when carrying the letter they seem to be glad to get rid of it as soon as possible. Our messenger came back with the report that Fenwick had gone back to Blantyre and would write us from there. A day or two after we got a letter which was rather interesting and is given here:
"Yours of 27th September found me at the Mt. Zomba station. I have visited Lake Shirwa, but it only appears to be a large stream. Livingstone said it has no outlet, but the natives told me of a good-sized river, which flows out of it towards the east on which the slaves are taken by the slave-dealers. They also told me that in the rainy season Lake Pamalombi (Upper Shire) and Lake Shirwa are joined by a stream navigable with canoes. I shot four buck but they are very wild and not plentiful, and they have plenty of scope to escape one as the dry bed of the lake extends for miles. It is rough walking in the dry mud, full of holes made by the spoor of elephants, buffalo and buck. I saw no elephants however. I was on a message to the big chief at Mt. Zomba: he is called Milemia, a Manganja, and he has plenty of people, is very powerful, and a slaver so I doubt very much if he will care much for his English "friends". We got on very well however and had a good few hours talk. I returned to the station and took fever by getting a chill sitting in the cold watching a leopard who had designs on the camp. I gave my gun to a native at last and when I was enjoying a good sweat to get rid of the fever, I heard a shot and then another, and the native came running to me saying "He's dead." and next morning I found a full-grown male with a beautiful shot between the eyes. He just fell in his tracks close to the campfire. The distance from Blantyre to the Mt. Zomba station is about sixty miles and I did nearly forty miles in one day, but the touch of fever had taken the grit out of me, and I was forced dump down on the hard burnt ground without tent or water and wait till morning. When daylight came I felt fresh again, and got all right back to Blantyre; but I am feeling very sore now, and think the fever is going to give me fits. I was speaking to Mr. Henderson, who has just arrived from Quilimane and he tells me that Mr. Rhodes has got all his ivory shipped and he and Dr Macklin are enjoying ourselves in Quilimane until the down steamer to Delagoa Bay arrives. They do not expect to see Mr. Rhodes return, which I am sorry for, as he would have been company for you. Geo. R. Fenwick"
With reference to Fenwick's remarks about Lake Shirwa, Livingstone saw it in April at the end of the rainy season when full of water and Fenwick visited the place in the dry season. Whether a stream flows out of it towards the east is a matter not yet settled, no white man has ever trodden that side of Lake Shirwa, and it remains for some future explorer to tell us what the country in that direction is like. One theory in favor of a river flowing from it in some direction is the rapid way the lake gets shallow after the rains are over. The slaving all around was very active while we were there and not far from Mt. Zomba we heard of a large encampment of slaves numbering some hundreds, which, when the Arabs had captured enough, were going to march off to the coast. This Milemia not only captured slaves in the manner described in a former chapter, but having a very large number of subjects used to sell his own people into slavery. Fenwick's remark that he would not care much for his English friends was pretty well illustrated some months after, by the murderous attacks this chief instigated upon mission parties travelling between Blantyre and Mt. Zomba.
The latter part of his letter was a great disappointment to us, as we had looked forward to Rhodes' return with great expectations. As it turned out he went over the Quilimane bar and failed to catch the Union Company's steamer which only, as was their custom, hove-to for an hour and a half off the bar. Dr. Macklin waited for the next steamer, and Rhodes, getting the things we wanted, started up the Lower Shire to join us, and met with his death. This we did not know however until sometime after, when we had left Pimbi for the lake supposing that our unfortunate friend had gone on to Natal.
We both had severe attacks of the fever and suffered much from dysentery the first week in October, so much so that we became very weak and unable to stand the tramping after game, but as we had had pretty fair luck it did not matter so much. One day we were surprised to see the llala come alongside the riverbank and we had a few white guests for an hour or two. They told us all the news from the Lake Mission. Mr. Stewart and Mr. John Moir had gone as far north as Bandawe, a branch station on the lake and had taken fifty natives with them. The steam launch had come down to get the guns and powder lying at Blantyre which had come up the Lower Shire with us, and then with some more natives added to the force the party were to be transported in detachments to the extreme north end of Lake Nyassa, from whence they intended to travel across the unknown country lying between there and Lake Tanganyika. They took on board a quantity of white limestone which had been collected for them here by the stockade people by Rhodes' orders and which they used to make mortar at Livingstonia, none being within reach of that place.
She had scarcely left when a native arrived with a mail for us from Blantyre to which place Senor Nunez had forwarded it from Quilimane. It was very pleasing getting news from home although nothing was of a later date than June and it was now October. The perusal of the newspapers took us the rest of the day until we went for our usual bathe.
The following day a chief of one of the villages not far off from Pimbi paid us an official visit and presented us with a goat and in return we gave him some breakfast, a pipe, tobacco, two looking glasses, a snuff box, tinder and flint-box, and other trifles, with all of which he was greatly delighted. We probably should want carriers from him soon, and therefore did our best to propitiate him. After he had gone we had a row with Kwa-wa, Johnny and Tommy, who all three refused some rice and half the goat we gave them instead of calico which we usually gave them to buy rations with from the capitoe. The avaricious rascals lived sumptuously upon the remains of our meals and never dreamt of using the calico for the purpose we gave it to them for. The end of it was that we gave them no more calico to buy rations with, but bought it for them.
One morning the capitoe came down and informed us that about half a mile down the river, in a bend, a number of hippo were disporting themselves and if we had nothing else to do we might go in the boat and kill some meat for the stockade. Within a few minutes we were on our way and came upon something like twelve hippopotami consisting of young and old. They were in no hurry to get away and seemed very angry at our intrusion, and one in particular, evidently the head of the family, as soon as a shot was fired at one of the young ones became very savage and we soon found the difference between hunting and being hunted. We found he could travel upstream much faster than we could, and we were therefore compelled to go with the current. The bellowing of the females seemed only to increase his rage, and after receiving one or two rounds the rushes he made at our boat kept us pretty active. At times he came along on the surface of the river and in one of these charges he got his quietus at last from C.'s elephant gun. All around us crocodiles were swarming attracted by the blood and the young one we had first wounded was already being attacked by them. It was lucky for our men that this wounded hippo went into a shallow spot, for after a final struggle he sank and we had some work to get him up, after which he was dragged into more shallow water and cut up. On the return of our boat to Pimbi the stockade people were glad to find we had been successful and we tried at our evening meal what hippo steaks were like, and the conclusion we arrived at was that the meat might do in an emergency, but was not even so palatable as elephant.
And so a few more weeks passed on. We hunted all round and on leaving Pimbi for the lake had elephant tails and tusks, every kind of buck, hartebeeste, koodoo, water buck and eland, besides a large number of other deer all slightly differing and all endowed with different names. We had zebra skins, hippopotami teeth and tusks, buffalo horns, leopard skins, hyena, jackal and a sort of fox we frequently shot. It was not however, until the fever began to attack us both with severity that we came to the conclusion that the sooner we got away to the lake the better it would be for ourselves. Sometimes both of us were knocked down by the fever at the same time, which made it far more wearisome for we then had to depend on the natives. During the early part of October C. was attacked by dysentery and was terribly pulled down by it.
We enlisted nine men from the chief, the said nine men to accompany us to the Lake and be our servants as long as they remained with us. On their return, we had to promise faithfully to bring them home again, and not to sell them. Each man would receive a certain amount of calico according to the length of time they were in our service. The commencement of the pay dated from 8th October and we gave them plenty to do repairing the heavy leaky old Portuguese boat. One morning after we had both passed through an extra severe attack of fever we made up our minds to be off to the Lake forthwith and we had to two boats loaded the same afternoon. The old capitoe was very sorry to lose us and borrowed a lot of calico from us just as the moment of parting was drawing near. On Thursday morning before seven o'clock we got into our boats, C. taking the Portugal K.-H. the Bella and we bid farewell for a time to Pimbi. There was a light breeze behind us, and getting our sails set we pushed along bravely having some trouble as usual with the hippos. During the day C. happened to be some distance ahead of his companions and out of sight in a turn in the river. The Bella had been stopped and was lying motionless on the water while K.-H. kept sending shots at a large hippo that insisted on barring the passage. The brute would not show more than the tip of his ears and his nose above water and it was difficult to hit him. Presently C. came back, considerably out of temper, for the shots from K.-H.'s gun had been zipping about on the water and going off at right angles. One shot went zinging over the heads of the astonished negroes in the Portugal, a second made them unanimously of the opinion that something extraordinary was going on when one of the white men apparently kept potting at the other. But all's well that ends well and it taught a lesson that conical bullets go off in the most erratic manner if they strike the water first.
The river bank was now becoming more interesting and the general appearance was far more inviting than lower down. We travelled on day after day; sometimes it was very hot and we let the men rest during the time the sun was high. At other times fresh spoor noticed when camping generally offered an inducement to stroll inland from the river and we had some very good sport on our way up the Upper Shire. On looking back at our diaries now one finds the constant attacks of fever and the danger to safe navigation caused by the hippo were the most conspicuous entries at this time. Thus taking plenty of time for sport, we at length arrived at the village of Malombwe where we remained for the night, and then went on again until we stopped at Mtenga, where a rather inhospitable lot of Ajawa men were residing, they did not treat us very civilly but we had a more pleasant stop at a large place called Tela belonging to a very powerful chief named Mponda. We arrived in the evening and an immense crowd of natives assembled to see us eat, drink and go through our ablutions and the comments they made on our white skins when we stripped to bathe were amusing. But they were polite after a while for when told that "the white man never liken to see the black man wash" they immediately cleared away although through the reeds etc. we could see them peeping at us.
Another time we stopped for nearly the whole day at another large village where several of Mponda's ladies were living. We spread a large mat under one of the trees and invited the chiefs wife to have dinner with us. She was greatly pleased and entered into conversation about Dr. Livingstone. One of the junior wives, a pretty, neatly-formed girl of fifteen and who did not, for a wonder, wear the pelele ring took rather a fancy to our "cuisine" the dinner, by the way, was savory enough if nothing else. We called it Irish Stew! Pieces of buck, sweet potatoes cut up, some of Rhodes' garden onions, pepper and salt, and a boil-up of the mixture for an hour used to provide us with what we thought was a very nice meal. This girl seeing K.-H. very dull, the fever being on him, attempted, much to C.'s amusement to get up a mild flirtation but the charms of the poor little Mrs Mponda were lost upon the surly individual lying in the shade of a treeand C. had all the fun to himself.
The elder chieftess had an immense number of ivory rings upon her arm and legs and as they did not come off they must have been a heavy burden. This African lady took a fancy to a cup and saucer made of white china and intimated that she would greatly like to possess it. Of course it was presented to her, and in exchange she gave us fruit, eggs and some goat flesh, all of which was intended to express her ladyship's regard for her white visitors. It is needless to state that the merry little Mrs Mponda came in for her share of the trifling presents and a looking-glass which showed her for the first time in her life her own dusky charm in a clear manner, and caused her to clap her hands with joy at being the possessor of such a curiosity.
A large proportion of the natives we saw here are nothing but slaves, Mponda doing the business on a very large scale. On the occasion of this visit of ours, he was away some distance in the interior buying and capturing slaves, and the date of his return was unknown, so the chieftess told us. A curious circumstance is the fact that his right-hand man, who was once one of Dr. Livingstone's boys and who had been in the hands of the missionaries, after a life of comparative civilization and professions of Christianity had now abandoned all his old ideas respecting white men and although an extremely intellectual man, has returned to what we term barbarism, and much to the horror of his former ghostly advisors had taken not one more, but half a dozen more wives in addition to the one he possessed when they had him under their wings. Perhaps close contact with white men taught him that after all there was something in the native idea of what a happy life consists of.
After we left this place we pushed on for a couple more days, passing some very large and densely populated villages, owing allegiance to Mponda until we entered Lake Panolomba, which is really part of Lake Nyassa. We crossed it in a few hours, stopping on the western side to visit a small village of outcasts who lived among the papyrus reeds and the rushes solely for the sake of escaping slavery. We had great difficulty in finding their retreat and then the Bella had to push and pole through some most intricate passages until we came upon two or three canoes. The approach to the collection of huts was guarded by fallen logs of timber laced in such a way that every few yards a man had to either go down on all fours to get under the logs or set to work to climb over the obstacles. They did not like our coming upon them although assured of our friendly wishes, and all their women and children cleared out and hid. We left these miserable people who exist on the fish they catch in the lake, and upon the tiny patches of ground they cultivate, feeling very sorry for them. They all bore the harassed, scared look of the fugitives from the slave dealers. There are many of these curious little communes near the lake, but they do not poor wretches, always succeed in eluding their pursuers.
On leaving Lake Panalomba and getting into the river again we found numerous villages on the right bank all belonging to Mponda and at one of them we camped one night on the sand close to the water and the last village this side of Lake Nyassa. A fair wind helped us on our way next day and at last we were floating on the blue waters of Lake Nyassa with mixed feelings. We reached the place at last and a beautiful scene it was. But we had suffered badly from fever and were very pulled down in health to attain our object. Neither of us were very well and we looked forward to each succeeding attack with increasing dread. In the distance high table lands close at hand on the western side with the bays nestling beneath the wooded heights and the water even close to the shore where the depth is a hundred fathoms and even more as deep as the ocean. But the lake is called The Place of Storms" by the natives and it well deserves the name, for when one of the sudden and frequent gales come on the waves are very high and dangerous. To quote Dr. Livingstone "the Lake is visited by tremendous storms. We were caught one morning with the sea breaking all around us and unable to recede or advance, anchored a mile from the shore. The furious surf on the beach would have shivered our boat to atoms had we tried to land. The waves most dreaded come rolling on in threes with their crests driven into spray streaming behind them. A short lull followed each triple charge..... From this time we trusted implicitly to the opinion of our seaman John Neil, who having been a fisherman on the coast of Ireland understood boating on a stormy coat and by his advice remained on the land for days waiting for the surf to go down. He had never seen such waves before "
We sailed along the western shore making for a point of land and stopped at one village to have some dinner. Here the natives after making friends with us brought a child which they said was white like ourselves. It was the color of blotting paper and had no traces of black blood with the exception of its hair being very short and the fingernails having a blue tinge. It was about three years old and the woman who was carrying it, an ugly pelele-wearing negress declared that she was the mother. Through Kwa-wa we talked to the father who was unable to account for the freak of nature and the dud was no doubt an albino, unless the missionaries could give some other reason.
About two hours after leaving the place the sky became very overcast and the drizzling rain commenced to fall accompanied by flashes of lightning and this beginning to increase we landed in Malabwe Bay and camped. We hauled the Bella up just clear of the water near the Portugal was a very heavy boat about thirty yards out in the water which was just deep enough to come up to a man's neck. The rain increased and we had great difficulty in getting our campfires to burn, a precaution against wild animals it is always necessary to make. The forked lightning and the peals of thunder were tremendous and at last they ceased and a brisk wind sprang up which necessitated our putting guys up to steady the tent. Telling the men to keep a lookout on the boats we turned in, K.-H. being ill with fever, and we were just beginning to doze off when Kwa-wa came in with the amazing news that the Portugal appeared to be going outside in the darkness and the disastrous sight met us. The Bella was lying on her side half buried in the sand and with boiling surf around and the Portugal was lunging bows under so close in and every now and then again she hit heavily on the and. The curses hurled at the lazy negroes, who were troubled until too late to save themselves, were deep and the anger was justified. They huddled together twice held a consultation whether they should leave the camp site and haul the Bella up further, and decided to remain where they were wrapped in their jumbas. A few kicks soon made the loiterers bestir themselves and we had a very rough time in saving the Portugal. We cut the rope which did duty for her cable and then, all of us hanging on to her, and lifted high one moment on the tip of a wave, and then keeping her from turning over while she ground into the sand with the surf boiling over into her, got on the shore at last with the guns, stores, etc. still on board. She was too heavy to drag up the beach and all we could do was to get everything out of her. Nearly everything was washed out of the Bella and we lost an innumerable quantity of things.
We made the men grope on the sand at once and received a few of the heavier articles but the shifting of the sand had covered most of them. It was very depressing the next day to see the damage the one hour had done. Our bags of biscuit were useless; the flour was right through the water causing a cake to form all over it inside. Our sugar, which was supposed to be in hermetically sealed tin cases was spoilt, fine sand an mud being mixed with what remained, all our cartridges which Alex Henry, the Edinburgh gunsmith, had put in wooden cases lined inside with tin and passing as airtight were destroyed and our stores of calico, colored handkerchiefs, etc. all damaged. The worst of it was that before eight o'clock we were both in a high state of fever and C. who had been very exposed during the night was in paroxysms of pain with severe ague fits. We directed the men to open everything and place them in the sun to dry, the calico being hung for some hundred yards on small sticks in the sand; and then we dosed ourselves heavily with quinine and laid down in the tent about as miserable as ever we could be. The only thing we could eat was some soup Kwa-wa made from some herbs he gathered in the bush around, and although only a short distance from Livingstonia we were unable to start the next two days on account of the surf, which prevented us getting our boats afloat.
The first of these days was a very anxious one for K.-H. for C. kept lying half-insensible hour after hour and there was nothing else to do but give him quinine and water, the latter he kept asking for whenever he roused himself. During this day another misadventure took place. None of the men would
go across to Livingstonia for assistance, saying they did not know the way and it was too dangerous. Certainly none of them except Johnny had ever been on the Lake before and there was some excuse for them. While C. was lying moaning inside the tent his companion was sitting outside on an inverted bucket in about as evil a temper as it was possible to be. Twice he told Kwa-wa to see that more wood was cut before darkness, and at last Kwa-wa said he couldn't make anyone go. About this time Kwa-wa was preparing our evening meal and two or three men were loafing close to him as they usually did hoping to pick up something for themselves, when K.-H. still sitting on the bucket ordered them to go and fetch wood at once, and this order they reluctantly obeyed, with the exception of one, a big, burly and very lazy fellow. He refused to stir and the tent mallet was thrown at him to make him move. Being weak, the thrower was unable to send the mallet half the distance and knowing he was unable to follow the negro commenced jeering. This was too much and a shot from a revolver made well above his head caused him to disappear with astounding alacrity. Immediately the shot was fired, although only to frighten the man, the act was deeply regretted. Certainly men like Captain Faulknor and Rhodes never stood what we did from our men and in Faulknor's case the man would have paid with his life for his disobedience. It was nonetheless reprehensible doing it and it is only mentioned because as we felt it a duty to bring the behavior of the Blantyre missionaries before the public later on, guarded ourselves from doing anything that could be used as a handle against us. This man afterwards made out that he was fired at and missed by a hair's breadth.
The fever left C. on the second day and the next one, a Saturday, we managed to get the boats through the smoother and fast-falling seas on the beach and make a start for Livingstonia. C. being laid at full length in the stern sheets of the Portugal, Just about mid-day we started off, our boats considerably lighter by reason of what we had lost. The swell remaining from the gale made the boats roll and some of the men not only got frightened, never having been fifty miles from the villages on the banks of the river before, but were also sea-sick. Following the coast we pushed on, those who were not using the oars working with paddles and in the afternoon we arrived at a narrow opening between Cape Maclear Island and the mainland, and few minutes after the Free Church Mission Station, Livingstonia, came into sight. We pulled steadily along the shore until we came opposite the residences of the whites and then we landed amongst a crowd of the station's natives, all of whom insisted upon shaking hands and wishing us "Good morning". We found that Dr. Laws was away with Mr. Stewart at the northern end of the Lake but we were most hospitably received by Mrs Laws and Mr. Gunn, the chief of staff. C. was at once put to bed in a clean comfortable house they gave us, and had every attention shown him, while his more fortunate companion had dinner with Mrs Laws. Mr. Gunn relieved us of all troubles about providing for our men, by giving orders for their accommodation. He was a good friend to us, a genial, kind-hearted man, looked up to and beloved by the natives. Since then he has died from the fever and now rests beneath the shadow of the high mountain at the rear of the station, side by side with poor Dr. Black and Mr. Mackay, both of
whom succumbed a short time before to the same thing.
Late in the evening the llala arrived from Bandawe having Dr Laws on board, and he gave us both a hearty welcome and gave C. what he greatly needed, some medical attendance.
CHAPTER 16
The day after our arrival at Livingstonia was a Sunday and all the natives of the place, looking clean and happy, attended the native service held in the schoolroom, the place being very closely packed. All the whites attended with the exception of C. who was worse and unable to get up.
The singing on the part of the blacks was vastly superior to those at Blantyre, owing no doubt to the pains bestowed upon this subject by Mr. Gunn. The sermon was delivered in native tongue by Dr. Laws, and from the eager eyes and half-parted lips he seemed to be able to enthral them with his oratory. The portions of scripture read were from a partial manuscript translation of the Bible, a laborious work which the Doctor has since then completed. About half an hour after they had been dismissed they were reassembled and cross-examined upon the sermon, and the ready answers they gave showed they had been listening attentively.
The following morning a visit was paid to the school and the number at work on this occasion was seventy-eight children of all ages. The senior class of boys were reading aloud from a simple ‘reader’ containing short stories with illustrations which seemed much better suited to them than the "Peep of Day" which was used at Blantyre. The Doctor was engaged hearing these boys read and it was a sensible idea to make each boy after he had read his portion translate it into his own tongue so that it was impossible for any of the lads not to understand the subject being read. The whole system of teaching was totally different to the method obtaining at Blantyre, and far superior in every way. These boys did some sums in multiplication as stiff as Dr. Laws could make the figures and their smartness in working them out spoke volumes for their intelligence and the pains bestowed upon them. The younger children were in various stages of progression, and one class Mr. Gunn was teaching to count on their fingers. Very little children were able to read the "reader", a book compiled expressly for the halting steps of childhood's learning and the greatest advantage it appeared to possess over the "Peep of Day” was that in the former the children can understand perfectly about a cat stealing milk, as represented in the woodcut belonging to the incident, or some other equally intelligible and simple story, and they talked about it with their playfellows. The other book is more suited for white children who really have some idea of what religion is, and do not look back upon it with the confused idea the black children do.
Among the children was a beautiful little half-caste boy, a son of Captain Faulknor, and his murdered father would have had no reason to be ashamed of his off-spring, which was a fine little fellow some twelve years of age. He was remarkably small for his age and we took a great interest in him, C. even offering to take him to Australia and to provide for him, and Dr. Laws would not part with the poor little waif to whom he was much attached. The child had splendid dark eyes and short curly silky hair of the same texture as a European's. It is not "woolly" in any degree whatever and the other children we often noticed, at church or school, were in the habit of running their fingers through the little fellow's hair very frequently, comparing it with their own, and deriving some amusement therefrom. His complexion was a very dark olive color, he might easily have passed for a Neapolitan child, and he was possessed of a fiery temper. His mother was a handsome daughter of Ham, whose attractions proved irresistible to Faulknor and who was also one of the many wives of the chief Ramkukan. The latter seemed rather proud of the boy and assured Dr. Laws that little Tom Faulknor was to be his heir, and succeed to the chieftainship, unless he preferred remaining with his English friends.
Of course Tom called himself an Englishman and one day, on asking him his name, without answering, he wrote it in large letters on the sand. He took rather a fancy to C. when the latter was able to walk about again and examined our guns and various things with great interest never uttering a word, but listening attentively to everything that was said, and watching closely with his large dark eyes. Mr. Gunn told us the child inherited Faulkner's temper, and when in a passion seemed to lose his senses. What will be the fate of this child! Born on the shores of the stormy lake and taken care of by his proud mother until Ramakukan, equally proud of the child, confided him to the charge of Dr. Laws, so that "the little Englishman" might have all the advantages offered by missionary education, he is growing up with a strange future before him. It is unlikely that he will ever quit central Africa, but much more likely that he will succeed Ramakukan as the chief of some thirty thousand people. Should he derive any benefit from Dr. Laws' teaching it may make great changes in central Africa on the East Coast. We expect to hear more of the Lancer soldier's son.
The Wednesday after our arrival was a holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of Dr. Laws' party at Livingstonia. Sports were got up; the schools closed, building operations suspended, and general jollity the order of the day. The natives were all willing to be spectators but were by no means eager to enter any exertions. It was very hard work to keep the fun going. A sack race was got up and never having seen one before the ridiculous actions of the competitors convulsed the native spectators. The greasy pole, none of them would attempt in spite of the temptation afforded by a scarlet handkerchief of large proportions which flaunted in the air from the top of the pole. The handkerchief was enticing but the exertion too great, and the longing of some handsome sweetheart standing close by could not be gratified by her lover, partly because of the fear of failure and party from the idea of it looking "infra-dig” on his part. After a great deal of talking some of them were induced to enter for the jumping match. When they did warm to it some very good jumps were made, but one man excelled the others by a long way, and to him was awarded a prize, a nice pipe and some tobacco. Besides these events there were numberless races for the boys, races for the girls, and other amusements. It was impossible not to admire the energy of Mrs. Laws dancing round in a ring with tiny little children beneath a blazing sun, as cheerily as if at a Sunday School picnic in her native town of Aberdeen. Her endurance was wonderful and how she kept it up surprised both of us visitors. Indeed the whole of the whites exerted themselves to the very utmost to make things as pleasant as they could for the blacks. In the evening K.-H. was knocked over with fever and went to bed very ill, and was in consequence unable to join the little gathering at Dr. Laws' house. Mr. Benzie, who had charge of the llala, was also taken ill and suffered badly (since then he has died on the Lake from fever). The next day, 23rd October, K.-H. was worse and the Doctor was blistering him, shooting pains at one times in the kidneys, then the heart causing two very bad nights. At this time we were both very weak from the continual attacks. Our cheeks were sunk and hollow eyes with a dry yellow skin showed that the fever was always "on" us. To Doctor Laws we had every reason to feel grateful for he was most attentive and unwearying in treating us, both medically; and the good advice we received founded on his experiences of the African fever was very valuable to us
Livingstonia is situated on the promontory of land which, on the map, will be seen jutting out into the Lake at the southern end and was selected by Mr. Young as the first Mission Station on Lake Nyassa for the Free Church of Scotland, he having been sent out in charge of the expedition. This was in 1875 and, at the time, he expressed his conviction that the best possible place had not been taken. But it was getting on towards the rainy season when he arrived and he was compelled to do the best he could under the circumstances, and to provide shelter for the men and stores. Thus it was that Livingstonia, as it was named, grew; the natives who came there in curiosity remained when they found work was to be had and calico galore, and in the course of time a large native settlement grew.
The settlement when we were there numbered some three hundred and fifty whites and blacks and the former consisted of Dr. and Mrs Laws - the latter having the honor of being the first European lady in this part of Africa - Mr. Gunn (since dead), Mr. Kenzie (dead), Mr. Ross (invalided), Reed, the carpenter (invalided); Reid, the seaman for the llala (invalided); and lastly, Mr. Stewart, the brother of Dr. James Stewards; and Miss Waterton. Mr. Stewart was a civil engineer in one of the Indian Governments, and obtaining twelve months furlough went to Central Africa instead of going to England for his holiday. He was soon working heart and soul with the Livingstonian Mission and eventually resigned his position in the Indian Civil Service, and was appointed a member of the Lake mission by the Free Church of Scotland. Miss Waterton arrived a week or two after our first visit and taking charge of the little girls, proved herself invaluable to the mission.
A sight which is picturesque in the extreme is presented in the eariy morning at Livingstonia. To see the sun in the east, and just showing over the tops of the densely-wooded islands on the eastern side of the little bay, is to see something worth remembering. Far away in front of us, as we stand on the sandy shores, are the blue waters of the Lake and in the distance sky and water meet and it is not difficult to fancy that the glittering wavelets, tinted by the rosy rays of the sunlight, are murmuring the same sad song of the ocean. Sitting on the beach before having a morning swim, the sound of the waves breaking on the yellow beach is inexpressibly melancholy. The horrors of this Lake are something almost impossible to conceive. Away there, so far off so that we can hardly see it above the horizon is a saddle-shaped peak of land overlooking what only a few years ago was a fertile plain inhabited by a numerous and happy population. Ten years ago they were living out their contented dreamy lives and then the black cloud of slavery gathered over them. When it had passed and gone, nothing was left of their innumerable villages. The ruins are there now. You see little gardens over-run with rank weeds. Here you see the fragments of an earthen-ware bowl and there lies a well-worn stone on which many a basket of mapira had been ground into flour by some light-hearted Manganja girl singing all the while one of the Lake songs. Those who are now alive are toiling wearily in the clove plantations and dropping off one by one as their release by death comes. The few survivors see strange and equally unhappy victims occupying their places. The duration of a slave's life is not very long on the eastern coast of Central Africa, and while he lives the owner gets as much work as possible out of his drudge. It is the fatal homesickness that kills them.
To anyone of an imaginative temperament the thoughts that crowd upon the mind, sitting with the bloodstained waters lapping one's feet, are inexpressibly strange. Behind where we sit the mountain rears its head pushing through the varied tips of green foliage until the top is bare and rugged, one part looking as if heaven's artillery had torn a large slice away, so sharp-set and clean does the topmost crag stand out against the sky. What must have been Livingstone's thoughts as he rounded Cape Maclear, and the sight of a new and unknown inland sea burst upon his expectant view? And in after years wandering on the western side of the Lake alone by himself, searching for still further surprises for civilization, until the day came when his simple true-hearted spirit was called, what a lifetime must have been contained in every day of his life. The confidence that Dr. Livingstone inspired in the dwellers of the Lake, in the word and honor of the white man. survives to this day as strong as ever and if it were not for this belief in a white man's good faith some of the blood-thirsty and war-like tribes around here would long ago have massacred this little settlement of the Free Church. Under Dr. Law and Mr. Stewart there is little fear of the white man's good name deteriorating in any way.
While pondering on these things a small soft hand is laid on our arm, and on turning round we see our little "Englishman" Tom Faulknor with a friend, a small native child of about seven. Their bare feet on the yielding sand have enabled them to approach noiselessly and unnoticed and with a beseeching look little Tom asks for the loan of the small steel measuring tape, which on being drawn out springs back again on a small knob being touched. Tom has already seen it many times as it is in constant use, and as he shows his little friend, who is half frightened by the wonderful brass thing there is a look of pride on Tom's countenance. We felt an interest in this little child which is as fresh today as it was then. Perhaps when the future troubles come, and come they must when by acts of base treachery the cruelty of the native will find that all white men are not like the good Doctor and the missionaries who follow him, perhaps in those days this little lad will remember the kindness shown him and prove a protection to the wanderers from the land beyond the sea, which all natives have heard of, and seen in their dreams. As all slaves go to the Great Sea, and the name conveys anything but a pleasurable sensation to the Lake dwellers' thoughts.
The houses of the white residents are all built close together and brick making has been so successful that buildings of brick were going up all around. One large house contains but one room, and in this room all the residents had their meals with the exception of Dr. Laws who lived with Mrs Laws in a house on the extreme left looking towards the Lake. They lived together, did the members of the Livingstonia Mission in harmony and contentment. Here at least it was possible for a few Englishmen to show brotherly feeling when separated from the land of their birth by many a long mile. They were a very happy community, setting examples themselves to the natives and each man imbued with a strong spirit of religion did his best for the simple and ignorant native. In 1880 this little community was doing this good work, but the fatal fever at last rendered Livingstonia a place of extreme danger. Two deaths and the prostrate condition of some of the others lead to its abandonment last year as far as a white settlement, and the survivors of the Livingstonia Mission are now located at a place something like one hundred miles further north on the western side of the Lake. The new place retains its native name, Bandawe, and although an entirely native new language has to be learnt, new translations of the hymns and verses of scripture made, in no wise discouraged Dr. Laws, still at the head of affairs with his noble wife, who are fighting manfully in the cause of light and truth. He has received fresh assistance from Scotland and new members have in some cases had to return broken down in health and prematurely aged. Nor should the name of Mr. Stewart be omitted, for he has done hard and genuine work to advance civilization. He had traversed from the north end of Lake Nyassa to Lake Tanganyika and was by the last account busy constructing a road between the two lakes. Parties of his men have been waylaid and massacred by hostile chiefs yet there is no room to doubt that in the end Dr. Laws and Mr. Stewart will establish a friendly feeling with these tribes.
CHAPTER 17
We found the much-needed rest, with good living and medical advice, so beneficial that before the week was up we were feeling stronger and better in every way, and one sunny forenoon we started for the western shore of the Lake. Bidding good-bye to our kind entertainers we embarked in our boats taking a native attached to the Mission with us to show us a good landing place. As we rounded the point, the water, which was a little rough and broken, gave us some hard work but keeping steadily at it we at last got past the sunken rocks and pulled out into the Lake on our fifteen mile journey across. The day was very hot and the men became lazy so that frequent admonitions had to be made. As our men grew warmer they would strip off even the rag of calico which they wore, and sitting perfectly naked on the thwarts, pull and paddle away, and every now and then leaning over the side of the boat to lap up some water with their hands.
It was getting dark long before we reached the other side but a glorious golden moon was rising which bathed everything in its soft rays and we witnessed, what we have never forgotten, one of the loveliest of all our moonlight scenes on the Lake. C. got some distance ahead of his companion and at last as K.-H. drew close to the shore a warning cry came across the water to look out for the hippopotami. Just along this part of the lake the shore is lined with papyrus reeds so dense and impenetrable that it took us some hours before we could find any places to land at. We paddled on in the shallow water, followed by any number of hippos, the majority of whom came rushing after us, every now and then making a vicious leap out of the white waves which they churned up as they rolled along after. One fellow in particular worried us beyond patience, chasing us until our men were tired of making continual spurts to avoid him, and at length we pulled up and waited for him. He came bravely on without stopping, and when within a few yards of the boats he increased his pace to a regular charge. The heavy report of the two elephant guns rang out on the still night air, echoing away across the water, and the dead brute with the two steel tipped bullets in its brain, came surging up against the side of the boat we were now both in. A rope was made fast to him and he was towed in the shallow water and we resumed our search for an opening. Once we came to a likely place and two of the natives, one of then Johnny, jumped out up to their middles in mud and tried to work their way through the papyrus to the dry ground but they failed. At another place one of us remarking in English, that there were probably crocodiles about, Johnny who overheard understood the word, gave the alarm and shouting out that crocodiles were coming, the half-dozen men who were wading about tumbled into the boats and positively declined to search about any longer in the water. By some Palmyra palms a clump of which were growing close together by the side of the lake, fully a mile from any other tree, we at last discovered a landing place and we hauled the boats up on the grass and pitched our tent among the trees. Fires were quickly lighted and we then unpacked a hamper which kind Mrs Laws had made up for us. Plenty of bread and butter, cakes and some meat pies were in the basket, and we felt very much obliged to the lady as we sat on our beds and enjoyed our evening meal. It was not long before a hyena found us out and saluting us with his hideous laugh; the brute remained making a noise until it was nearly daylight.
Where we were camped was a large plain, very level and of the richest soil. It stretched away to the ranges of mountains that we could see in the distance when looking westward from Livingstonia, and extends southward for a great distance. This is where we found the traces of so many Manganja villages already alluded to, and a more beautiful country could scarce be found. It was mostly timbered with varieties of palms and none of the trees were of any size. Frequently the trees were in thick clumps, and then a solitary baobab or a single tree something like a blue gum would be all we would meet until the next grove.
The first night at this place was not very successful as far as good sleeping was concerned. Forwards in the middle of the night we were both dancing about in the moonlight endeavoring to get rid of a species of ant which bites severely and number of them were causing us to perform a pas seul one in the front of the tent and the other behind, to the music of our own cursing and swearing. These ants are horribly intelligent! They creep all over you without biting until the signal is given and then they commence the attack en masse. A solitary ant would meet a painful death by being crushed between the finger and thumb but with a number, nothing remains but to strip to the buff and brush them off as fast as possible with the first thing to hand. The red ant here is still more wonderful for with its companions it puts even the mighty elephant to death. The way they do it is by crawling up his trunk and biting so severely that, irritated by the pain the elephant thrashes the end of his trunk against trees etc. to obtain relief and the consequence is that what with the bites of the ants and the tree flogging, the unfortunate elephant injures his trunk so badly that inflammation and mortification sets in and he loses it.
What is an elephant without his trunk? Of course he dies, and then the ants hold a monster picnic, the birds of the air and the beasts of the field assisting. This is, at least, the tale related to us by the natives, and we were assured often that it was a plain statement of fact. What a useful moral might be deduced from a fable of the mighty but insolent and haughty elephant, and an insignificant and lowly red ant. The latter is grossly insulted and injured by the insolent and haughty one and therefore ties him to his brethren for assistance. When the insolent and haughty elephants leans himself against a stumpy baobab tree, and on the shady side enjoys a siesta, his trunk affectionately resting on the reclining form of his wife, the insignificant and lowly ant climbs over the recumbent body of the innocent wife and quietly leads his force of fellow-ants into the innermost recesses of the elephant's trunk. We can imagine the terror and anger of the insolent and haughty one when he finds that even such a contemptible enemy as the feeble red ant has found a way to bring him low in the dust.
We had to burn a piece of ground and sweep hot ashes from the camp fire over it before we got a safe spot to pitch our tent again and then the mosquitoes kept us pretty lively. Altogether we were not very sorry when the morning came for the bite of the ants had given a hot acrid sort of feeling and were painful. It seemed to relieve us to bathe them in water. In the future we always made a careful inspection before pitching the tent and of we discovered red ants, black bulldog ants, or white ants that place was immediately tabooed. Little "skimpy-looking" black ants were harmless. It was amusing to see us peering about with old Kwa-wa, with our backs bent looking if any ants were around. Once the traveller had had a night of it with these ants he generally takes care to avoid their company, and if he meets them he will leave them severely alone.
The whole of the following day we were busy building a little shanty in which we intended to stow most of our things, making it, in fact, a depot, while we hunted the surrounding country. We covered the boats with leafy boughs and bushes to protect them from the sun and turned them bottom up. In the hut we stored the cases we had left of provisions and ammunition, the latter sadly reduced in number by our accident just before reaching Livingstonia, and we made our men's loads as light as possible. We decided to leave old Kwa-wa with one of the men in charge and not being particularly fond of tramping about it was an occupation suited to Kwa-wa's taste. We gave him plenty of tobacco and a bag of ava and decided to shoot some buck for him before starting on our fresh adventures. The only drawback was that Kwa-wa found that there were plenty of lions in the vicinity and no native feels cheerful when living in the company of lions.
After everything had been carefully stowed away we turned our attention to providing meat and found no difficulty in doing so for there was plenty of game in sight on the plain. While stalking a herd of pallahs C. noticed an enormous boar of a light color which was about half a mile on his right and he determined to bring it down if possible. It was hard work creeping slowly through the dry grass which was long and scanty, the ground being as hard as iron, but at length after the exercise of great patience a well aimed shot rolled the beast over. He was a very large specimen and had only one tusk which now adorns the library at Werribee Park in the form of a candlestick. We gave the whole of the carcass to Kwa-wa and in the afternoon of the day previous to leaving the lake shore went in search of the carcass of the hippo, we had killed inshore, but failed to find it. Just as we were about to leave the camp the following morning on our long march to the hills a few water buck came near the camp, and as our men had nothing whatever to eat except what our guns might supply them with, we shot a couple and cutting them up, apportioned each man a load of meat. But they refused to carry any and as we firmly insisted upon leaving all the ava with Kwa-wa, as we could not tell how long we should be away. At ten o'clock we started and as it was the men's loss not ours, allowed them to pitch their loads of meat on one side but not without a word of warning as to the likelihood of our not meeting game for some days, as soon as we got into the hills. The fact was that they had been gorging themselves with meat ever since they had been with us and every day were growing more lazy as a result of their good living and easy times of it.
Our little band marched along, as usual in Indian file, straight for the hills which form the edge of the high tableland and surrounding the Lake. The particular range of hills whither we were bound is named the Umputa Mountains and they are from four thousand to five thousand feet high and well wooded. Before reaching them the plain had to be crossed and from what we saw of it, it is, as already hinted, a wonderfully fertile spot. All day long we kept passing through the remains of native villages, occasionally meeting the skeleton of some human being scattered about by the wild beasts, and we picked up a goree which seemed to have been recently used, before we had gone five miles. In some places the tall, high grass was very stiff and unpleasant to pass through where the fire had only singed the top off. We looked about as black as our men before we camped through the burnt grass coming in contact with our faces. About four o'clock we were wending our way through much larger timber, the trees towering above our heads to some height. Everywhere we could see where elephants had been at work. Euphorbias and tamarind trees are the prevailing ones hereabout, with cacti, acacias and palm trees interspersed. We were trudging along steadily when a sudden halt announced something important and one of our men in the van in a whisper declared that he heard an elephant on in front. Goods were deposited on the ground and accompanied by two of our men - men who called themselves hunters, in contradiction to the others, who were only carriers, etc. - and who were armed with the muzzle-loading elephant gun we had brought from the Cape, we reconnoitred positions and proceeded to stalk a splendid bull who was standing half asleep beneath the shade of a gigantic spreading tree.
We crept along noiselessly and began to wonder what the weight of his tusks might be when, without the slightest warning, one of our two hunters leapt to his feet and fired when we were all quite thirty five yards from the animal. As we rose we had only time to get some snap shots, our anger at the behaviour of the man not being calmed by the sound of bullets from behind whizzing just past our ears from every one of the carriers who could get a flintlock loaded in time. C.'s shot struck the big brute in the hind leg and the manner in which he went off showed he was wounded. A second shot was out of the question for our attention was drawn from the first elephant to the one which had been lying down and which sprang up close by our left. We had no time to notice this second brute before another came rushing from behind us. Fortunately its path lay a few yards on one side and it went by at such a pace, and with such terrible force, that we all dropped to the ground dumbfounded, not knowing how many more would charge out of the bushes and surrounding thickets. The whole thing did not occupy one minute and recovering at once we immediately set off on the trail of the big bull, the blood helping us to follow him. In a short time the blood was not so frequent and the spoor as the ground grew harder was more difficult to track. After travelling some miles and finding the elephant was still moving rapidly we gave up and retraced our way back to the spot where the carriers were waiting. It was bad luck losing such a fine animal, his tusks being good-sized ones, and we could not refrain from expressing our annoyance at the man firing without permission. In future, we announced, no man was to dream of firing until C. pulled his trigger and if anyone broke the rule - well! he would get his head well punched.
We were now anxious to find a place suitable to camp at and pushing on came to some water, which proved to be a river. We had difficulty in getting across owing to the density of the tall reeds on both sides but at last we found a place used by wild animals, and the men walked across up to their middles carrying us high and dry on their shoulders. On the opposite side was a swamp with grass much higher than our heads and through this we made our way stumbling in holes made by elephants and hippopotami until we reached the other side, and then we came upon the river again. Crossing it we found rising ground which swelled away in the background rising and dipping to the tableland. A large tree was lying on its side and we pitched the tent in front of it, our men rejoicing at the quantity of firewood provided by the branches. It was not long before the fires were lit and Tommy was cooking the liver of one of the water buck for us. The men sat round their fires, supperless and we felt no commiseration for them and told them so, but they did not seem to mind. Presently Tommy informed us that he could not find any tea, and on a search being made, we found that the stupid Kwa-wa had removed everything out of the large basket through some misunderstanding and substituted a bag of oatmeal. This was aggravating, and we felt very cross when Tommy told us he had cooked the liver without cleaning it. Turning the meat to the light of the fire we found we were certainly eating a little more than we were aware of so we abandoned it, not without a slight suspicion that Tommy had done it on purpose and made some porridge which we had to eat without salt or sugar.
We slept soundly and when we woke up in the morning a very pretty scene, which we had hardly notices the evening before met our eyes. Close at hand the little river was flowing through shelving banks of remarkably fine sand and a little higher up was a miniature waterfall, the rocks being large and covered with moss. On the other side of this waterfall was a delightful pool of water, deep and clear looking like a mirror, and the water flowed noiselessly into this lovely tiny lakelet, from beneath two large boulders which hid the brawling stream beyond. Diana herself would have fallen in love with this place, and we never before nor since had met such an exquisite place for bathing. The sand glittered to such a degree that we believed that we were really on the banks of a golden stream and our fancies were not so very wrong, after all, for we picked up a few days after, a piece of genuine quartz with specks of gold showing in it. There is no doubt that where we stood is a large amount of precious metal and it confirmed what Rhodes had told us of the existence of gold in the vicinity of Lake Nyassa. The missionaries however, for obvious reasons, discouraged the idea of gold seeking in the Lake countries. To venture on a prophecy we may safely declare that before many years pass, some of this hidden wealth will be brought to light. Right behind us, the high tableland hung over us, receding until the top was closed with trees which looked like small shrubs. Getting on rising ground, we could see with our glasses away beyond the wide green marsh at our feet, and far off over the tree tops, the blue waters of the Lake which glittered in the morning sun like the steel blade of a sword. What a pity it is that the curse of slavery rests on this fair land!
We made our breakfast off porridge again and our men sat sulkily watching us at our meal until we had finished and then Tommy, who was in disgrace for his carelessness the night before, and therefore out of temper, scraped up all that was left and made his own breakfast, giving them none in spite of one or two petitioning him for a mouthful. We went off early with the intention of following up the wounded elephant, and round by the marsh and over the river at length we got to the tree beneath which he had been standing. Nearly the whole of the day we kept on the "spoor" until the men lost, or pretended to lose, all traces of the brute. We wandered back towards camp looking for game, but came upon none, and as dusk drew on the men looked anxious, declared that they were unable to tell where they were as they had lost the direction of the camp. Fortunately C.'s bush experience in Australia rescued us from the prospect of a cold night up some tree, and just as it was getting dark we reached the swamp at another point and by the light of the moon found our way through it after three quarters of an hour work, and reached the tent very tired and hungry. A supper of porridge, which was becoming monotonous followed, and then the everlasting comfort of man, whoever he may be, a pipe of tobacco.
We commenced wondering how long our men could stand fasting for they had now been two days without food, and those who had been walking all day with us were as tired and hungry as we were. Shortly before turning in some of them came running towards us and said there were some animals in the reeds by the river, and would we get them some meat. We went with alacrity to the place and after a long search could find nothing at all. During the night some lions kept roaring and we found we were close to a favorite waterhole of the animals. However we were getting accustomed to them and soon fell asleep, while our men sat hungry around the campfire, too much afraid of the lions to slumber. At this place, for the first time since we had left Quilimane, we were able to dispense with mosquito curtains and the absence of these nuisances was very nice.
CHAPTER 18
While camped at this pretty place we enjoyed very good sport, but it was some days before we shot anything and our men were precious sorry they had not carried the meat. The day after our unsuccessful search for the elephant we sent Tommy and another man back to the boat site to bring up the provisions that should have been in the basket and on a piece of paper sketched for Kwa-wa's edification the various articles, sending him in fact a picture-letter. Breakfasting again on oatmeal. After Tommy and his companion had left us we spent the whole day rambling about the wooded hills looking for game, but met with bad luck. Some kind of palm with brown nuts furnished the men who were with us with a meal. The nut was the size of a small orange and the outside shell or bark which was slightly thicker than an orange skin was the only part edible. It tasted something like "locusts" and the men said it was very nourishing.
On our return about four o'clock to the camp we found that everyone was feasting on fish and it turned out that hunger had made the lazy rascals set to work at last to obtain food which they did with great ease, the stream and especially the little lake, being full small carp-like fish. They displayed ingenuity in catching the fish - making their lines of palm frees, threads of which they split with the thumb-nail, and when a sufficient supply of the thread was obtained they worked a line of some feet in length. A fly at the end of the line, a rod furnished from the nearest canes, and then perched on a rock the darkie fisherman waited for a bite. Directly they felt the tug they jerked the fish on to the sand and clapped their hands on it. Frequently the fish would come off the end of the line, but it was surprising the number they caught and one out of a number we had for our supper must have weighed nearly one pound. As long as we remained at this spot we always for the future had fresh fish for our meals, two of the lads being told off for the work.
The first Sunday night we spent here was one to be remembered by both of us, but more especially by C. who had retired early to rest intending to start before day-break for a long day's work. It was a cloudy night and the wind blowing fresh made the heavy boughs of the trees around sway and creak. Now and then the moon came out from behind the dark cloud and the bright beams so clear was the atmosphere lit up everything in the dark background with startling distinctness. C. had turned in some little while, and his companion who was sitting by the camp fire smoking was reading by the firelight a book he had borrowed at Livingstonia. As usual the occasional roar of a lion or the cry of some species of night owl would arrest one's attention and at length, after seeing the fires piled with fresh wood, K.-H. also entered the tent and rolling himself in his blanket fell asleep.
It was close upon midnight when one of the men came softly to the tent and quietly aroused C. telling him that an enormous elephant quite alone, had passed within thirty yards of the campfire to the stream, and was now drinking and throwing the water over its back. Not wishing at night to disturb K.-H. whose sight and hearing were not of the keenest, C. crept noiselessly out of the tent and from behind the nearest free watched the solitary animal. The tusks he could see when the moon came out were of a large size. The place where the elephant was drinking was clear all round, and to approach it would be to discover himself, so C. patiently waited. Presently, after satisfying his thirst the mighty denizen of the forest came slowly out of the stream and going in the direction from whence it came it sauntered back into the gloom of the surrounding frees. C. followed it with the two "hunters" and close to its heels entered through the undergrowth a narrow beaten track made by the wild animals. They had only gone a few yards when most providentially the moon shone out and they had just time to see the brute had turned right round having scented them and was coming straight at them. The two "hunters" with a wild yell that made every man in the camp leap to his feet, ran back to the top of their speed. C. thinking himself a dead man, had only time to fire a shot at terribly close quarters and the loud "trumpet" of the enraged animal mingled with the report of his gun. The flash and the report checked it for a moment - whether it was wounded or not we never knew - and that moment gave C. time to run for his life. He had not gone thirty yards at the best pace he ever made when he tripped and shot sideways into a dense bush on his right hand. The fall saved him, as the elephant with its trunk in the air and its huge ears distended rushed right past him and gave him time to crawl away.
The elephant came right into the camp and stood within fifteen yards of the tent inside of which K.-H. had been peacefully sleeping up to the moment the shot was fired. This woke him and he turned with an exclamation to see C. who he imagined was sleeping by his side. Receiving no reply and a horrible idea that the Ma Vita had made a night attack taking possession of him, he jumped up, revolver in hand and made for the tent door. The sight of some dark forms disappearing through the trees did not tend to reassure him, but the sight of the elephant put anew aspect upon the state of affairs. Before he had time to make himself scarce also, the elephant was walking back slowly into the forest once more, emitting every now and then an angry grunt. It is needless to say that he was not interrupted this time! For a few minutes K.-H. stood alone in the camp and as first one and then another of the men came back without C. he became terribly alarmed as to the fate of his companion. Presently the latter came in to camp to the relief of everyone, and sat down by the fire quite unnerved by the fright he had had. It was indeed a narrow escape, for when it was daylight we went to the spot and found C.'s gun broken at the stock where the elephant had trodden it. When we followed the prints of the feet we could see that it must have lost sight of C. when he fell and gone on in pursuit of one of the "hunters" who had a piece of white calico around his loins which would naturally attract its attention. C. thought at first that the elephant had passed right over him until we examined the spot and to this day it seems extraordinary to us both how the animal managed to miss him. We sat up for some time smoking and talking over what might have been a gruesome tragedy, and at length turned in with the resolution that nothing would induce either of us into timber in the dark after big game after this warning.
C. went out with some of the men, the morning after the episode, leaving K.-H. in the camp, to hunt, and promised to bring something eatable back. K.-H. was suffering badly from a neglected wound in his foot and walked with some difficulty when wearing his boot; but while C. was absent the camp was shifted to higher ground and overlooking the lakelet after some trouble in finding a place free from the ants. Indications of rain gave the men who stayed behind some work to do making a trench around the tent and during the day Kwa-wa turned up from the boat with the boys who had accompanied Tommy. The latter, it appeared, thought it better to enjoy plenty of sleeping and eating at our depot to wandering about the country after big game. As Kwa-wa was a good cook in his way, and moreover took some trouble in small things to make us comfortable, we were glad to see him back with us. About mid-day in the big swamp about five mile off, four elephants on the march were visible but they did not remain in sight long, and shortly after they disappeared C. arrived, his men loaded with meat. He had come upon half a dozen pallah close to the camp and managed after a good stalk to shoot a couple of them. There was much rejoicing this evening at the abundance of meat and our men held a feast far into the night. We were by no means sorry to get tea and flour again instead of the oatmeal, for we were terribly afraid we should begin to look like missionaries if we ate much more of it. The vast majority in these regions being men of Highland birth and bearing the distinctive features of that gallant race.
Kwa-wa on his way here had met a band of the Ma Vita who treated him civilly enough when they learnt that he was with a party of white men, who, Kwa-wa was careful to inform them, was very close at hand. They told him they were on their way to get tribute from some wretched village not far off, and from Kwa-wa’s description of them they meant by tribute everything the poor villagers possessed. The latter would indeed starve if it were not for the diminutive grain called maere which they grow. It is a work of some labor to gather it, and the Manganja around here find that the Ma Vita never think it necessary to rob them of it.
CHAPTER 19
While our breakfast was being prepared one morning, just as the daylight was breaking, we discerned elephants passing through the swamp below us, their broad backs alone visible. Catching up our guns we made off down the sloping ground and round the river until we came to a place where we waded across, two or three crocodiles being disturbed by our hurried movements. On the other side of the river we entered the swamp and pushed through it as fast as we could, expecting every moment that the herd would catch up to us before we gained a favorable place. One of our "hunters" led us to a place right in front of them, which was open and on one side had a dense thicket of thorn bush. Before we had time to find fault with him for leading us to this spot which he proposed attacking them from, they were entering the clearing and we hid in the thickets. Two paths ran right across, and one path within three yards of us. We hoped the leader would choose this path which would have given us a grand chance, but on looking behind us we discovered that the river was within a few feet of us, with a formidable array of spiked plants between it and ourselves. This made it very unpleasant should one of the animals turn on us, as escape was impossible. Not a breath of air stirred the leaves of the trees and peeping from our hiding place with our heavy guns ready we waited anxiously. Presently the leader turned the corner, a big cow with moderate sized tusks, and immediately behind her marched a little baby elephant not as tall as a Shetland pony, whose size made its trunk and fat little legs look like a caricature of its mother.
As the leader passed along it gently waved its trunk from side to side and occasionally gave a flap with one of its large ears, the movements being imitated by the absurd looking calf at its heels. Behind the calf came another large cow, then two young ones half-grown, then three cows, a young bull calf, some five feet high, and last of all bringing up the rear came the biggest animal of the lot. The leader took the turning going away from us instead of following the path we had hoped it would, and we therefore had no chance of getting a shot at them. A suggestion to run out and risk firing was overruled as being foolhardy, which it undoubtedly would have been, for the female elephants, like most mothers, take summary vengeance on anybody who interferes with their young. When they were all in view going in Indian file the last one suddenly made a peculiar sound and every animal stopped dead in its tracks. All the trunks were uplifted, and the big brute that had given the warning sound turned her stern towards us and with her head on one side and one ear cocked forward, strained every nerve to ascertain in which direction the danger was.
We never met such an example of their extraordinary powers of scenting us out for she suddenly slewed right round and faced us as if she had half a mind to rush at us; then changing her mind again she gave a shrill cry and went off back to the swamp with her trunk high in the air and her tail stuck out at right angles to her body. We could not help laughing at the terror of the little baby elephant on hearing the signal for a rapid retreat. It turned round and ran into the next animal which was also racing off, all of them as before following each other, and it lifted its fat forelegs as high as a stepping horse in its anxiety to keep up. We noticed that its mother touched it on the back as if to remind it that she was there to protect it from any harm. They disappeared too rapidly for us to overtake them, and on getting back to our tent we saw them miles away crossing the swamp at the same pace. Disgusted at our luck we sat down to breakfast and made up our mind to find something before the sun set.
Two men were sent off to the boats for flour Kwa-wa not having brought any, and then we made a party up to accompany us in our search. The sun came out very hot, and climbing up and down the hills became warm work; some of the slopes were so steep that we had to lay hold of the branches of small trees to steady ourselves going down them. In some of the gullies we picked up pieces of quartz which looked for all the world like a specimen piece from one of the Ballarat mines and C. found two curiously marked bird's eggs on the ground which we carried nearly all day before they were smashed. Coming down at last out of the hills, on to some level ground, we came upon ten elephants in two groups, all in very long grass. We could only see them by shinning up trees and for a little while we were undecided which lot to attack. Our men didn't like the idea of interfering with them at all, and said so; and the "hunter" we had with us - the other one shamming to be ill - assured us it was no good going at them in the tall grass. However we did not care much for our opinion, and C. led up. Crawling on our hands and knees until we were within twelve yards of the biggest of the herd, which turned out to be a cow with two big calves and two other cows. We rose and fired together at her and as the smoke cleared away she turned and came at us. Of course we dived off right and left out of her way but she fell on her knees and made a great noise in her rage. She was very close to us but we could not see her, and imagined from the trumpeting" that she was only wounded. She was soon dead and then we could not get at her for a little time on account of the calves which refused to leave her, and we thought it a pity to kill them as they had hardly any tusks although one was nearly full-grown. A few blank charges persuaded them to go away and the men lit a fire which in half an hour set the whole place for a great distance in flames. The tusks were beautifully long and slender but only weighed about forty-five pounds each. While we were watching the men cutting the tusks out we kept a bright lookout for the return of the youngsters who are by no means pleasant customers.
Mr. James Moir of the Livingstonia Trading Company was very anxious to capture a calf and one day a female was shot by some of his friends, the missionaries, who, in spite of their having been
“ ..... braced in Faith, To turn and tell the native African, Of Sin and Retribution”... are not averse to a day's sport now and again. Mr. Moir, with a rope in his hand, ran at what he considered his puny foe, and being a very tall man, found no difficulty in throwing a rope over its head. But the little beast not only displayed extraordinary strength but the greatest contempt for it two-legged assailant. He caught hold of Mr. Moir with its trunk, twisted him up in the air, and then placing the unfortunate trader upon his belly it put its foot in the small of his back and nearly pulled Mr. Moir's head off. With his glasses smashed and his neck elongated to a terrible length under the strain, Mr. Moir gave himself up for lost when a friendly bullet delivered at very close quarters saved him from his perilous position. It took weeks before it was possible for him to turn his head so wrenched was his neck and in addition to his bruises the vicious little animal had dug its tiny sprouting tusks nearly half an inch into his back. Mr. Moir we found did not believe after his experience in meddling with elephants however large or small they might be, and this one with which he had had so narrow and escape was barely four feet high.
Our men, as usual, made an incision and got inside the elephant to get fat, and almost the first thing they handed out was an unborn male, perfect in every respect, the size of a pig, and looking very much like one. Leaving the men to cut off meat we returned to the camp and towards sundown Kwa-wa returned with some fowls and eggs which he had obtained at a Manganja village not very far off, and it was very nice supper with some elephant steaks. It was amusing to hear the men on their return glorifying their own bravery and Johnny and one of the hunters had a serious quarrel, the former being accused of cowardice. It got to such a pitch that Johnny drew his knife upon the other, and we had to take the knife away from him in addition to which he got a thrashing for daring to draw a knife in our august presence. This man is undoubtedly, if he be still alive, one of the biggest scoundrels out, and yet he was brought up by the missionaries. Before C. had left the elephant a number of natives had come with presents of pombe, ava and bananas, in exchange for permission to have the elephant meat, which of course was freely given. They recognized the right of those who kill game to dispose of it except in the case where a chief is concerned and then that individual of course has to be considered. The amount of meat brought into the camp by our men was very large and they at once cut it into strips and soon the place was surrounded with festoons of meat hanging about everywhere. In the course of a few days the smell was anything but pleasant and unfortunately we had to put up with it. If it was hung at night any distance from the camp fires, the lions, hyenas, jackals and other beats which generally made the night noisy would have carried it off, and we didn't want the men to pretend they were ill for want of food.
We created havoc among the hyenas and were always playing them tricks. One of the easiest was to place a gun on the ground on full cock with a bit of meat tied to a piece of string at the muzzle. The string led from the trigger round a short stick and as soon as the hyena touched the meat the gun went off. The jackals fell easy victims in this manner also, and other prowlers of the night.
The morning after killing the elephant C. had the good luck to roll a magnificent leopard over which was disturbed from a shady retreat not far from the camp. It was a fine animal and we skinned it with great care, and pegged the skin out in the sun, leaving the natives the work of preserving it property for us. On reaching the spot where we had killed the elephant we found about two hundred negroes assembled and the singing and the noise was continuous. They were all hard at work and although the elephant's skeleton look as if it were hardly possible to scrape any more neat off the bones they were rubbing way with their knives looked like polished wood. The way the meat had been taken off gave us a good chance to study the anatomy of the elephant and the immense thickness of the frontal bones of the head struck us particularly.
Some of the men were the Ma Viti, they being distinguished by the Zulu ring round the head and most of these gentry were looking on. The Manganja who were living about here were all subject to the Ma Viti and were a miserable lot so far as physique goes and in the eyes of the natives with us. They were terribly poor because they wore no calico whatever; but although there was not one of the Manganja present who was not as naked as the day he was born still poverty was not the sole reason for it. Several of the tribes are "go nakeds" from choice and think no more about the matter than we are led to believe Adam and Eve did before the latter caused such a commotion by eating very foolishly an unripe apple. Some of the Ma Viti were armed with the most awful looking assegais, and carried the Zulu shield of bullock hide.
We left them after a short time and arrived at a village, being led there by a guide lent to us by the Ma Viti, who were grateful to us for the meat we had provided. We rested under a large tree, and presently a number of villagers came down from the rising ground on which the village was built to have a good stare at us. Before us stretched a swamp with the usual canebrake growing luxuriantly and on the other side was the forest. Within a short time of our sitting down we heard an elephant breaking down the branches of the trees on the other side of the swamp and after a short consultation decided to have a shot at him. Accordingly we entered the swamp and worked continuously and with great difficulty straight to the place where the sound came from, K. -H. being unable from his wounded foot to wear a boot, had a slipper on and the mud which was nearly up to our knees the whole time made it rather painful. On getting out of the swamp we found ourselves confronted by the densest undergrowth we had yet met with. The trees grew very thick and the monkey rope made a perfect network through which we had to crawl on our hands and knees, the thorn bushes and undergrowth making our position most unpleasant.
At length we came upon the elephant, one of the largest we had met with, and as we sighted him he turned at the same moment and gazed at us with a look in which astonishment was plainly depicted. It is scarcely necessary to state that no man in his senses would stand within ten yards of a wild elephant for any length of time and accordingly before the brute recovered from his surprise we fired at him giving him both barrels of our guns. Behind us about four yards was a large free, and we got behind it in time, the elephant charging with a mad rush at the smoke from our guns. At this moment it is laughable to look back at the intense excitement we felt behind that tree. K.-H. couldn't get one of the spent cartridges out of his gun and C. tore his fingernails nearly out frying to pull it out, and then swore in dumb fashion while the elephant was raging around. To hear the savage cries of the brute and to know he was looking for us made us long to be out of it, and at last we went straight for the swamp again and came upon three of our men, none of whom had fired, and all of whom were hiding. Presently one of the men who had remained with the villagers, from the branches of a tall tree, hailed us to come out of the swamp as the elephant had entered it. A rapid retreat was made and K.-H. fell into a hole and lost his companions who, outside of the swamp became very anxious at his disappearance. When the laggard came out he was considerably out of temper with the niggers for not remaining with him, as for some time he could not find his way out, and as it is impossible to move about in those swamps except upon the tracks the elephants have trodden down, it was not nice expecting to meet a wounded elephant at every turning. The man in the tree declared the elephant was coming out and we waited for the brute, but he changed his mind and went in again. C. determined to go in as it appeared the elephant was badly wounded and several of the men accompanied him.
K.-H. whose foot was bleeding profusely sat down under a low-spreading tree and taking his stocking off endeavored to dress his foot. Presently the sound of continuous firing made the men who were with him excited and one of them obtained permission to take the heavy gun K.-H. had and to join C. The latter had his work cut out on entering the swamp for he found the elephant up to its belly in a mud hole and thinking it was wounded more severely than it turned out to be he attacked it boldly and was very nearly collared by a sudden rush.
K.-H. climbed up into the tree to see some of the doings in the swamp but the firing ceased and he could see neither the elephant nor any of his companions. While calmly filling his pipe and swinging his legs on the branch on which he was seated he heard a sudden shout of alarm from C. who now made his appearance on the edge of the swamp. Looking around to ascertain the cause of the C.'s cries K.-H. nearly fell out of the tree with fright when he saw the wounded animal coming slowly towards him, "Get higher," shouted C. but a moments reflection was sufficient to make the tree-ed one perfectly motionless, a movement would have attracted the elephant who came slowly and heavily along, covered with its own blood and looking very "wicked". It was a tremendous strain on one's nerves sitting on that branch, on a level with the elephants shoulder and the brute drawing nearer and nearer. Presently he stopped and lifted his trunk up, his big ears were thrown forward and a deep angry grunt was heard. He had discovered the close presence of one of his enemies! His little flashing eyes roved from side to side, and at last, looking up from the ground, and so close that another step or two and his trunk would touch the tree, the eyes of man and beast met. K.-H. gave himself up for lost and ripped his revolver out hoping that the sudden flash and report might save him; to injure the elephant, to throw a pea would have been as equally effective as a bullet from a revolver. With a hand that quivered ever so slightly he aimed at the brute and the mere movement seemed to increase its rage, and it commenced lashing its tail and straddle its legs as if about to rush at its victim. But help came C. running as hard as he could stopped when he saw that the elephant was about to pull K.-H. off the branch and fired a shot at close quarters into its stern. The second shot was an explosive bullet and the crash as the shot struck was a grateful sound to the poor devil in the tree.
The pain made it slew round and trumpeting very loudly, to our surprise, it rushed into the swamp again with great speed. We thought it was almost dead from its numerous wounds. For one moment after C. fired the position of K.-H. in the tree was far from enviable for all our men fired at the brute and their wildly aimed bullets whizzed too close to be pleasant. It was fortunate that C. fired just at the right moment for it undoubtedly saved his companion from suffering a most horrible death. Our men thought it was all over and thought it strange that the escape came off.
C. went on gamely into the swamp again and followed the brute right through and worked on after it steadily all afternoon until, when getting late, he came up to it and put it out of its pain. It was wounded all over. the explosive bullets having made immense holes but they were not so effective as the solid lead balls tipped with steel. This was the only elephant that took much killing; as a rule half a dozen well planted bullets generally did the work. The elephant had worked round circling to the right, and C. had finished not far from the next village, about five miles from the swamp, and proceeding there he found his companion. The latter, after getting out of the free, went to the baolo free and sat down amidst 3 crowd of natives. There was great excitement when some dried grass was lit with a burning glass and none of them would take the glass in their hands. They feared some "fetish". A hunting knife in a sheath was much admired and their admiration doubled when they found the blade was twice the size when fully opened. The steel spring tape was also a "wonder", and "the little gun that speaks five times", the name they gave the revolver, was an object of great interest.
A curious instance of the kindness latent in the heart of all human beings, however savage they may be, was shown by the act of a native who had never set eyes on a white man before. K.-H.'s leg was very painful and he had a severe attack of fever accompanied with vomiting. Prostrated in this manner he was unable to stand, and seeing his anxiety to reach the next village, the native in question asked if he might carry the sick white man and the kind-hearted fellow carried K.-H. the whole of the way, wading through brooks and patches of swamp with his heavy burden. As the sun was very hot and the way rough it was genuine kindness and he could scarcely be prevailed upon to accept a "present”.
We were a long time finding a hut and our reception was not very cordial. We were unable to account for it at first but eventually it turned that the fact of our having given all the elephant meat to the neighboring village had caused a good deal of ill-feeling. This we found out afterwards when we had demanded to see the chief man.
Part VI continued at PAGE 6946