diff options
Diffstat (limited to '42749-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42749-0.txt | 11429 |
1 files changed, 11429 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42749-0.txt b/42749-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a11974d --- /dev/null +++ b/42749-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11429 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Some Heroes of Travel, by W. H. Davenport +Adams + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Some Heroes of Travel + or, Chapters from the History of Geographical Discovery and Enterprise + + +Author: W. H. Davenport Adams + + + +Release Date: May 20, 2013 [eBook #42749] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME HEROES OF TRAVEL*** + + +This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler. + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: Map of North Africa] + + [Picture: Map of Mexico] + + + + + + SOME HEROES OF TRAVEL + + + _OR_, _CHAPTERS FROM THE_ + _HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY_ + _AND ENTERPRISE_. + + WITH MAPS. + + COMPILED AND REWRITTEN BY THE LATE + + W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. + + “Have you been a traveller?” + + SHAKESPEARE. + + * * * * * + + PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE + OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE + SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + + SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, + NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.; + 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. + 1893. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +THE present age is sometimes described as an Age of Commonplace; but it +has its romance if we care to look for it. Assuredly, the adventures of +its travellers and explorers do not lose in importance or interest, even +when compared with those of their predecessors in days when a great part +of the world was still “virgin ground.” In the following pages, this +thesis is illustrated by a summary of the narratives of certain “Heroes +of Travel” belonging to our own time; and I believe it will be found that +for “stirring scenes” and “hair-breadth escapes” they vie with any which +the industrious Hakluyt, the quaint Purchas, or, coming down to a later +date, the multifarious Pinkerton has collected. However, on this point +the reader has an opportunity of satisfying himself, as, by way of +contrast, I have prefixed to these Episodes of Recent Travel a succinct +account of the enterprise of Messer Marco Polo, the Pioneer of Mediæval +Travellers. + +There is no pleasanter mode of learning geography than by studying the +works of distinguished travellers; and therefore this little book may +claim to possess some slight educational value, while primarily intended +to supply the young with attractive but not unwholesome reading. The +narratives which it contains have been selected with a view to variety or +interest. They range over Mexico, Western Australia, Central Africa, and +Central Asia. They include the experiences of the hunter, the war +correspondent, and the geographical explorer; and, in recognition of the +graceful influence of women, of a lady traveller, who showed herself as +resolute and courageous as any of the so-called hardier sex. And, +finally, they have the merit, it is believed, of not having appeared in +previous compilations. + +As a companion for the fireside corner, this little book will, I hope, be +welcome to all English-speaking lads and lasses, who will learn from its +pages how much may be accomplished by patience, perseverance, and energy. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE +SIR MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN, AND HIS TRAVELS IN ASIA 1 +MR. GEORGE F. RUXTON, AND HIS ADVENTURES IN MEXICO AND THE 49 +ROCKY MOUNTAINS +DOCTOR BARTH, AND CENTRAL AFRICA 90 +MR. THOMAS WITLAM ATKINSON, AND HIS ADVENTURES IN SIBERIA 157 +AND CENTRAL ASIA +ALEXINA TINNÉ, AND HER WANDERINGS IN THE SUDAN 229 +MR. J. A. MACGAHAN, AND CAMPAIGNING ON THE OXUS 260 +COLONEL EGERTON WARBURTON, AND EXPLORATION IN WEST AUSTRALIA 293 +MAJOR BURNABY, AND A RIDE TO KHIVA 325 +SIR SAMUEL BAKER, AND THE SOURCES OF THE NILE 335 + + [Picture: Map of Marco Polo’s Travels] + + + + +SIR MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN, +AND HIS TRAVELS IN ASIA. + + +WE should be inclined to consider Sir Marco Polo as one of the greatest +travellers the world has ever seen. It is true he was not a man of +genius; that he was not, like Columbus, inspired by a lofty enthusiasm; +that he displayed no commanding superiority of character. But when we +remember the vast compass of his journeys, and the circumstances under +which they were carried out; when we remember, too, how close an observer +he was, and how rigidly accurate, and his plenitude of energy and +perseverance—we feel that he is, beyond all cavil or question, entitled +to be recognized as the king of mediæval travellers. Let us take Colonel +Yule’s summary of his extraordinary achievements:— + +“He was the first Traveller to trace a route across the whole longitude +of Asia, naming and describing kingdom after kingdom which he had seen +with his own eyes; the Deserts of Persia, the flowering plateaux and wild +gorges of Badakshan, the jade-bearing rivers of Khotan; the Mongolian +steppes, cradle of the power that had so lately threatened to swallow up +Christendom; the new and brilliant Court that had been established at +Cambaluc: the first Traveller to reveal China in all its wealth and +vastness, its mighty rivers, its huge cities, its rich manufactures, its +swarming population, the inconceivably vast fleets that quickened its +seas and its inland waters; to tell us of the nations on its borders, +with all their eccentricities of manners and worship; of Tibet, with its +sordid devotees; of Burma, with its golden pagodas and their tinkling +crowns; of Laos, of Siam, of Cochin China; of Japan, the Eastern Thule, +with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed palaces: the first to speak of +that Museum of Beauty and Wonder, still so imperfectly ransacked, the +Indian Archipelago, source of those aromatics then so highly prized and +whose origin was so dark; of Java, the Pearl of Islands; of Sumatra, with +its many kings, its strange costly products, and its cannibal races; of +the dusky savages of Nicobar and Andaman; of Ceylon, the Isle of Gems, +with its sacred Mountain and its tomb of Adam; of India the Great, not as +a dreamland of Alexandrian fables, but as a country seen and partially +explored, with its virtuous Brahmans, its obscene ascetics, its diamonds +and the strange tales of their acquisition, its sea-beds of pearl, and +its powerful sun: the first in mediæval times to give any distinct +account of the secluded Christian Empire of Abyssinia and the +semi-Christian island of Socotra; to speak, though indeed dimly, of +Zanzibar, with its negroes and its ivory, and of the vast and distant +Madagascar, bordering on the Dark Ocean of the South, with its Roc {3} +and other monstrosities; and, in a remotely opposite region, of Siberia +and the Arctic Ocean, of dog-sledges, white bears, and reindeer-riding +Tunguses.” + +Who can dispute the fame of a man whose name and memory are associated +with so marvellous a catalogue of discoveries, who anticipated the +travellers of a later generation in many of their most remarkable +enterprises? At one time, the authenticity of his statements was +frequently and openly impugned; he was accused of exaggeration and +inexactitude; but the labours of Marsden, Pauthier, and especially of +Colonel Yule, have shown that his statements, so far as they are founded +on personal observation, may be implicitly accepted. + + * * * * * + +In the early part of the fourteenth century there lived at Venice a +patrician of good family, named Andrea Polo, to whom were born three +sons, Marco, Nicolo, and Maffeo. Nicolo, the second of these sons, was +the father of our traveller, Marco Polo, who was born in 1254. Engaged +in extensive commercial operations, Nicolo, soon after his son’s birth, +journeyed to Constantinople, and thence proceeded on a trading venture to +the Crimea, which led to his ascending the Volga for a considerable +distance, and crossing the steppes to visit Bokhara and the Court of the +great Kublai Khan, on or within the borders of Cathay. Kublai, the hero +of so many legends, had never before seen a European. He tendered to +Nicolo and his brother Maffeo (who travelled with him) a right royal +welcome; was deeply interested in all they told him of the kingdoms and +states of Europe; and finally resolved on sending them back, with one of +his own nobles, as ambassadors to the Pope. In this capacity they +arrived at Acre in 1269; but as Pope Clement IV. had died in the previous +year, and no successor had as yet been elected, the two brothers thought +they might reasonably indulge themselves in a visit to their Venetian +homes, from which they had been absent for fifteen years. + +Nicolo remained at Venice until 1271, when, no Pope having been elected, +he deemed it well that he should return to the Great Khan to explain the +delay which had taken place in the fulfilment of his mission. +Accompanied by his brother Maffeo, and his son Marco, a lad of seventeen, +he sailed to Acre, and thence to the port of Ayas on the gulf of +Scanderoon, where he was overtaken by the news that a Pope had at last +been elected in the person of an old friend of his, Tedoldo Visconti, or +Pope Gregory X., at that time legate in Syria. The new Pope immediately +sent for the two brothers to Acre, and charged them with a cordial +message for the Khan. He also sent him two Dominican monks to teach the +truths of science and Christianity; but they took fright at an early +stage of the journey, and hurried back to Acre; while the two brothers, +with young Polo, started overland for the Court of the Great Khan. + +Reaching Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, they seem to have +taken a northern route; traversing successively the regions of Kerman and +Khorasan, Balkh and Badakshan, and ascending the Upper Oxus to the great +plateau of Pamir—a route followed by no European traveller, except +Benedict Goro, until it was undertaken by Captain John Wood, of the +Indian navy, in his special expedition to the sources of the Oxus in +1838. Leaving the bleak wastes of the Pamir, the Polos descended into +Kashgar, visited Yarkand and Khotand, passed near Lake Lob, and +eventually traversed the great Desert of the Gobi, since explored by +several European travellers, to Tangut, the name then applied by Mongols +and Persians to territory at the extreme north-west of China, both within +and without the famous Wall. Skirting the Chinese frontier, they came +upon the Great Khan at his summer palace of Kaiping-fu, near the foot of +the Khin-gan Mountains, and about fifty miles north of the Great Wall. +This must have been in May, 1275, or thereabouts, when Marco Polo was +close upon one and twenty. + +“The king of kings” received the three bold Venetians with much favour. +“He showed great pleasure at their coming, and asked many questions as to +their welfare, and how they had sped. They replied that they had in +verity sped well, seeing that they found the Khan well and safe. Then +they presented the credentials and letters which they had received from +the Pope, and those pleased him right well; and after that they produced +some sacred oil from the Holy Sepulchre, whereat he was very glad, +valuing it greatly. And next, spying Marco, who was then a young gallant +(_jeune bacheler_), he asked who was that in their company. ‘Sire,’ said +his father, Messer Nicolo, ‘he is my son and your liegeman.’ ‘Welcome is +he too,’ quoth the Emperor. But why should I make a long story? There +was great rejoicing at the Court because of their arrival; and they met +with attention and honour from everybody. So there they abode at the +Court with the other barons.” + +Among young Marco Polo’s gifts appears to have been a facility for +acquiring languages. He speedily mastered that of the Tartars, so as +both to write and speak it; and in a brief space he came to know several +other languages and four written characters. He studied also the customs +of the Tartars and their mode of carrying on war. His ability and +prudence greatly recommended him to Kublai, and he began to employ him in +the public service. His first embassy was to a country lying a six +months journey distant; apparently the province of Yun-nan, which he +reached by way of Shansi, Shensi and Szechuen. He had been shrewd enough +to observe that the Khan was disgusted with the rigid officialism of his +ambassadors, who, on returning from their various missions, would speak +only of the business they had transacted, whereas he would fain have +heard of the strange things, peoples, and countries they had seen. And +so he took full notes of all he saw, and returned to the Khan’s Court +brimful of surprising information, to which the prince listened with +evident pleasure. “If this young man live,” he said, “he will assuredly +come to be a person of great work and capacity.” + +For seventeen years Marco Polo remained in the Khan’s service, being sent +on several important embassies, and engaged also in the domestic +administration. For three years he held the government of the important +city of Yangchau. On another occasion, with his uncle Maffeo, he spent a +twelvemonth at Kangchau in Tangut. He also visited Karakorum, the old +Mongolian capital of the Khans, and penetrated into Champa, or Southern +Cochin China. Finally, he seems to have been sent on a mission to the +Indian Seas, and to have explored several of the southern states of +India. And thus it came about that Messer Marco Polo had knowledge of, +or actually visited, a greater number of the different countries of the +world than any other man; the more that he was always eager to gain +information, and to examine and inquire into everything. + +Meantime, the Venetians were growing wealthy, and Marco’s father and +uncle were growing old; and increasing wealth and increasing years raised +in them an apprehension of what might befall them in case of the aged +Khan’s death, and a desire to return to their native land. Several times +they applied to Kublai for permission to depart; but he was loth to say +farewell to the men whom he had known and trusted so long, and, but for +an opportune event, they might never have succeeded in carrying +themselves and their jewels and gold back to Europe. In 1286 Arghún +Khan, of Persia, Kublai’s great-nephew, lost his favourite wife, the +Khatun Bulaghán. On her death-bed she charged him to supply her place +with a daughter of her own tribe, the Mongols of Bayaut; and, desirous of +fulfilling her dying wish, the bereaved prince despatched three +ambassadors to Kublai’s Court to seek for him a fitting bride. The Great +Khan received them with all honour and hospitality, and then sent for the +lady Kukachiu, a maiden of seventeen, and a very beautiful and gracious +person. On her arrival at Court she was presented to the three +ambassadors, who declared that the lady pleased them well. + +The overland route from Peking to Tabriz was long and dangerous, and the +envoys decided, therefore, on returning, with their fair charge, by sea. +While sojourning at the Khan’s Court they had made the acquaintance of +the three Venetians, and being greatly impressed by their marvellous good +sense and experience, and by Marco Polo’s extensive knowledge of the +Indian seas and territories, they entreated the Khan to allow them the +advantage and protection of their company. It was with profound +reluctance that Kublai gave his consent; but when once he had done so, he +behaved with his wonted splendour of generosity. Summoning the three +Venetians to his presence, he placed in their hands two golden “tablets +of authority,” which secured them a free passage through all his +dominions, and unlimited supplies of all necessaries for themselves and +for their company. He entrusted them also with messages to the King of +France, the King of England, the King of Spain, and other sovereigns of +Christendom. Then he caused thirteen ships to be equipped, each with +four masts and nine to twelve sails; and when all was ready, the +ambassadors and the lady, with the three Venetians, took leave of the +Great Khan, and went on board their ships, with a large retinue, and with +two years’ supplies provided by the Emperor (A.D. 1292). + +The port from which they set out seems to have been that of Zaytou, in +Fo-kien. The voyage was long and wearisome, and chequered by much ill +fortune; and in the course of it two of the ambassadors died, and as many +as six hundred of the mariners and attendants. They were detained for +months on the coast of Sumatra, and in the south of India; nor did they +arrive at Hormuz until the end of 1293. There they learned that Arghún +Khan had been dead a couple of years, and that he had been succeeded by +his brother Kaikhatu. The lady, according to the custom of the country, +became the wife of Arghún’s son, Prince Ghazan, who is spoken of as +endowed with some of the highest qualities of a king, a soldier, and a +legislator; but she wept much in bidding farewell to her noble Venetian +friends. + +As for Marco Polo, his father, and uncle, having discharged the trust +placed in their hands by Kublai Khan, they proceeded to Tabriz, on a +visit to Kaikhatu; and having sojourned there for some months, journeyed +homeward by way of Trebizond, Constantinople, and Negropont, arriving in +Venice in 1295, after an absence of four and twenty years. + +The traditional story of their arrival is related by Ramusio:— + +“Years of anxiety and travel, and the hardships of many journeys, had so +changed the appearance of the three Venetians, who, indeed, had almost +forgotten their native tongue, that no one in Venice recognized them. +Their clothes, too, were coarse and shabby, and after the Tartar fashion. +Proceeding to their house in Venice, a lofty and handsome palazzo, and +known by the name of the Corte del Millioni, they found it occupied by +some of their relatives, whom they had no small difficulty in convincing +of their identity. To secure the desired recognition, and the honourable +notice of the whole city, they adopted a quaint device. + +“Inviting a number of their friends and kindred to an entertainment, they +were careful that it should be prepared with great state and splendour; +and when the hour came for sitting down to table, they came forth from +their chamber, all clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in long robes +reaching to the ground, such as in those days people wore within doors. +And when water for ablutions had been served, and the guests were sat, +they doffed these robes, and put on others of crimson damask, while the +first suits were, by their orders, cut up and divided among the servants. +After partaking of some of the dishes, they again retired, to come back +resplendent in robes of crimson velvet, and when they had again taken +their seats, the cast-off robes were divided as before. When dinner was +over, they did the like with the robes of velvet, after they had attired +themselves in dresses of the same fashion as those worn by the rest of +the company. Much wonder and astonishment did the guests exhibit at +these proceedings. + +“Now, when the cloth had been removed, and all the servants had quitted +the dining-hall, Messer Marco, as the youngest of the three, rose from +table, and, going into another chamber, brought forth the three shabby +dresses of coarse stuff which they had worn, on their arrival in the +city. Straightway, with sharp knives they began to rip some of the seams +and welts, and to draw forth vast quantities of jewels of the highest +value—rubies and sapphires, carbuncles, diamonds, and emeralds—which had +all been stitched up in those dresses so artfully that nobody could have +suspected their presence. For when they took leave of the Great Khan, +they had converted all the wealth he had bestowed upon them into this +mass of precious stones, being well aware of the impossibility of +carrying with them so great an amount in gold, over a journey of such +extreme length and difficulty. The exhibition of this immense treasure +of jewels and precious stones, all poured out upon the table, threw the +guests into fresh amazement, so that they appeared bewildered and +dumfounded. And straightway they recognized, what they had formerly +doubted, that the three strangers were indeed those worthy and honoured +gentlemen of the Polo family whom they had claimed to be; and paid them +the greatest reverence. And the story being bruited abroad in Venice, +the whole city, gentle and simple, hastened to the house to embrace them, +and make much of them, with every demonstration of affection and respect. +On Messer Maffeo, the eldest, they conferred an office that in those days +was of high dignity; while the young men came daily to visit and converse +with the ever polite and gracious Messer Marco, and to ask him questions +about Cathay and the Great Khan, all of which he answered with such +courtesy and kindliness, that every man felt himself in a manner in his +debt. And as it chanced that in the narrative which he was constantly +called on to repeat of the magnificence of the Great Khan, he would speak +of his revenues as amounting to ten or fifteen ‘millions’ of gold, and, +in like manner, when recounting other instances of great wealth in those +remote lands, would always employ the term ‘millions,’ people nicknamed +him Messer Marco _Millioni_—a circumstance which I have noted also in the +public books of this Republic where he is mentioned. The court of his +house, too, at S. Giovanni Crisostomo has always from that time been +popularly known as the Court of the Millioni.” {12} + +We pass on to 1298, a year which witnessed a fresh outburst of the bitter +enmity between Genoa and Venice. The Genoese, intent upon crushing their +formidable rival, despatched a great fleet into the Adriatic, under the +command of Lamba Doria. Off the island of Curzola they were met by a +more powerful armada, of which Andrea Dandolo was admiral, and one of the +galleys of which was commanded by Marco Polo. The battle began early on +the 7th of September, the Venetians entering into it with the glad +confidence of victory. Their impetuous attack was rewarded by the +capture of the Genoese galleys; but, dashing on too eagerly, many of +their ships ran aground. One of these was captured, cleared of its crew, +and filled with Genoese. Closing up into a column, the Genoese pushed +the encounter hotly, and broke through the Venetian line, which the +misadventure we have spoken of had thrown into disorder. Throughout the +long September day the fight was bravely supported; but, towards sunset, +a squadron of cruising ships arriving to reinforce Doria, the Venetians +were taken in flank, and finally overpowered. The victory of the Genoese +was complete; they captured nearly all the Venetian vessels, including +the admiral’s, and seven thousand men, among whom were Dandolo and Marco +Polo. The former disappointed the triumph of his victors by dashing out +his brains against the side of his galley; the latter was removed to +Genoa. + +During his captivity Polo made the acquaintance of a Pisan man of +letters, named Rusticiano, or Rustichello, who was a prisoner like +himself. When he learned the nature of Polo’s remarkable experiences, +this Pisan gentleman, not unnaturally, urged him to record them in +writing; and it would seem that the great traveller complied with the +request, and dictated to his new friend the narrative that has since +excited so much curious interest. Through the intervention of Matteo +Visconti, Captain-General of Milan, peace was concluded in May, 1299, +between Genoa and Venice, and as one of the conditions was the release of +prisoners on both sides, Messer Marco Polo soon afterwards obtained his +freedom, and returned to his family mansion in the Corte del Sabbrin. He +took with him the manuscript story of his world wanderings, and in 1306 +presented a copy of it to a noble French knight, Thibault de Cipoy, who +had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Venice by Charles of Valois. + +The closing years of a life which, in its spring and summer, had been +crowded with incident and adventures, were undisturbed by any notable +event, and in his old age Marco Polo enjoyed the sweetness of domestic +peace and the respect of his fellow-countrymen. On the 9th of January, +1324, “finding himself growing feebler every day through bodily ailment, +but being by the grace of God of a meek mind, and of senses and judgment +unimpaired, he made his will, in which he constituted as his trustees +Donata, his beloved wife, and his dear daughters, Fantina, Bellola, and +Monta,” bequeathing to them the bulk of his property. How soon +afterwards he died, there is no evidence to show; but it is at least +certain that it was before June, 1325. We may conclude, therefore, that +his varied life fulfilled the Psalmist’s space of seventy years. + +Marco Polo, says Martin Bucer, was the creator of the modern geography of +Asia. He was the Humboldt of the thirteenth century; and the record of +his travels must prove an imperishable monument of his force of +character, wide intelligence and sympathy, and unshaken intrepidity. We +have thus briefly summarized his remarkable career, and indicated the +general extent of his travels. To follow him in detail throughout his +extensive journeys would be impossible within the limits prescribed to +us; and we shall content ourselves, therefore, with such extracts from +his narrative as will best illustrate their more interesting and striking +features, and indirectly assist us in forming some conception of the man +himself. + +And first, we take his description of the great river of Badakshan and +the table-land of Pamir—which the wandering Kirghiz call “The Roof of the +World”—substituting modern names of places for those in the original. + + * * * * * + +“In leaving Badakshan, you ride twelve days between east and north-east, +ascending a river [the Upper Oxus] that runs through land belonging to a +brother of the Prince of Badakshan, and containing a good many towns and +villages and scattered habitations. The people are Mohammedans, and +valiant in war. At the end of those twelve days you come to a province +of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days’ journey in +any direction, and this is called Wakhan. The people worship Mohammed, +and have a peculiar language. They are gallant soldiers, and have a +chief whom they call _None_ [No-no?], which is as much as to say Count, +and they are liegemen to the Prince of Badakshan. + +“There are numbers of wild beasts of all kinds in this region. And when +you leave this little country, and ride three days north-east, always +among mountains, you get to such a height that it is spoken of as the +highest place in the world. And when you reach this height, you find a +great lake between two mountains [Lake Sir-i-kol], and out of it a pure +river [the Oxus] flows through a plain clothed with the most beautiful +pasture in the world, so that a lean beast would fatten there to your +heart’s content in ten days. There are great numbers of all kinds of +wild beasts; among others, wild sheep of large size, with horns six palms +in length [the Rass, or _Ovis Poli_]. From these horns the shepherds +make great bowls out of which to eat their food; and they use the horns +also to enclose folds for their cattle at night. Messer Marco was told +also that the wolves were numerous, and killed many of those wild sheep. +Hence quantities of their horns and bones were found, and these were made +into great heaps by the wayside, in order to direct travellers when snow +lay on the earth. + +“The plain is called Pamir, and you ride across it for twelve days +together, finding nothing but a desert without habitation or any green +thing, so that travellers are compelled to carry with them whatever they +have need of. The region is so lofty and so cold, that not a bird is to +be seen. And I must also observe that, owing to this extreme cold, fire +does not burn so brightly, nor give out so much heat as usual, nor does +it cook food so thoroughly. + +“Now, if we continue our journey towards the east-north-east, we travel +fully forty days, continually passing over mountains and hills, or +through valleys, and crossing many rivers and wildernesses. And in all +this extent you find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, and +must carry with you whatever you require. The country is called Bolor +[the Tibetan kingdom of Balti]. The people dwell high up in the +mountains, and are savage idolaters, living only by the chase, and +clothing themselves in the skins of beasts. They are, in truth, an evil +race.” + + * * * * * + +[In February, 1838, Captain John Wood crossed the Pamir, and his +description of it may be compared with the Venetian traveller’s. “We +stood, to use a native expression,” he says, “upon the _Báni-i-Duniah_, +or ‘Roof of the World,’ while before us lay stretched a noble, but frozen +sheet of water, from whose western end issued the infant river of the +Oxus. This fine lake (Sir-i-kol) lies in the form of a crescent, about +fourteen miles long from east to west, by an average breadth of one mile. +On three sides it is bordered by swelling hills about 500 feet high, +while along its southern bank they rise into mountains 3500 feet above +the lake, or 19,000 feet above the sea, and covered with perpetual snow, +from which never-failing source the lake is supplied. Its elevation is +15,600 feet. . . . The appearance of the country presented the image of +a winter of extreme severity. Wherever one’s gaze rested, a dazzling bed +of snow covered the soil like a carpet, while the sky above our heads was +of a sombre and melancholy hue. A few clouds would have refreshed the +eye, but none could be anywhere seen. Not a breath rippled the surface +of the lake; not a living animal, not even a bird, presented itself to +the view. The sound of a human voice had been harmonious music to the +ear, but, at this inhospitable season of the year, no one ventured into +these icy realms. Silence reigned everywhere around us; a silence so +profound that it oppressed the heart.” {17} + + * * * * * + +Of the city of Lop (or Lob) and the great Desert of Gobi, Marco Polo +writes:— + +“Lop is a large town on the border of the desert which is called the +Desert of Lop, and is situated between east and north-east. It belongs +to the Great Khan, and the people worship Mohammed. Now, such persons as +propose to cross the desert take a week’s rest in this town to refresh +themselves and their cattle; and then they make ready for the journey, +taking with them a month’s supply for man and beast. On quitting this +city they enter the desert. + +“The extent of this desert is so great, that it is said it would take a +year and more to ride from one end of it to the other. And here, where +its breadth is least, it takes a month to cross it. It is all composed +of hills and valleys of sand, and contains not a thing to eat. But after +riding for a day and a night you find fresh water, enough mayhap for some +fifty or one hundred persons with their beasts, but not for more. And +all across the desert you will find water in like manner, that is to say, +in some twenty-eight places altogether you will find good water, but in +no great quantity; and in four places also you find brackish water. + +“Beasts there are none; for there is no food for them. But there is a +marvellous thing related of this desert, which is that when travellers +are on the march by night, and one of them chances to drop behind, or to +fall asleep or the like, when he tries to regain his company, he will +hear spirits talking, and suppose them to be his comrades. Sometimes the +spirits will call him by name; and thus shall a traveller frequently be +led astray so that he never finds his party. And in this way many have +perished. Sometimes the travellers will hear as it were the tramp and +murmur of a great cavalcade of people away from the real line of road, +and taking this to be their own company, will follow the sound; and when +day breaks they discover the deception, and perceive that they are in an +evil plight. Even in the day time the spirits may be heard talking. And +sometimes you shall hear the sound of various musical instruments, and +still more commonly the rattle of drums. Hence, in performing this +journey, it is customary for travellers to keep close together. All the +animals, too, have bells at their necks, so that they cannot easily get +astray. And at sleeping time a signal is hoisted to show the direction +of the next march. + +“And in this way it is that the desert is crossed.” + + * * * * * + +As the sea has its mermaids, and the river its water-sprites, Undines, or +Loreleys, which entice their victims to death, so the deserts and waste +places of the earth have their goblins and malignant demons. The awe +inspired by the vastness and dreary solitude of the wilderness suggests +to the imagination only gloomy ideas, and it is conceived of as a place +where no influences or beings favourable to man can exist. Its sounds +are sounds of terror; its appearances all foster a sentiment of mystery. +Pliny tells us of the phantoms that start up before the traveller in the +African deserts; Mas’udi, of the Ghûls, which in night and solitude seek +to lead him astray. An Arab writer relates a tradition of the Western +Sahara:—“If the wayfarer be alone the demons make sport of him, and +fascinate him, so that he wanders from his course and perishes.” Colonel +Yule remarks that the Afghan and Persian wildernesses also have their +_Ghûl-i-Beában_, or Goblin of the Waste, a gigantic and fearful spectre +which devours travellers; and even the Gaels of the West Highlands have +the desert creature of Glen Eiti, which, one-handed, one-eyed, +one-legged, seems exactly to answer to the Arabian Nesúas or _Empusa_. +And it may be added that the wind-swept wastes of Dartmoor, limited as is +their expanse, are, in the eyes of the peasantry, haunted by mysterious +and malevolent spirits. + +The effect of the Desert on a cultivated mind is well described by Madame +Hommaire de Hell:—“The profound stillness,” she says, “which reigns in +the air produces an indescribable impression on our senses. We scarcely +dare to interrupt it, it seems so solemn, so fully in harmony with the +infinite grandeur of the desert. In vain will you seek a calm so +absolute in even the remotest solitudes of civilized countries. +Everywhere some spring murmurs, everywhere some trees rustle, everywhere +in the silence of the nights some voices are heard which arrest the +thought; but here nature is, so to speak, petrified, and we have before +us the image of that eternal repose which the mind is hardly able to +conceive.” + + * * * * * + +Concerning the customs of the Tartars, Marco Polo writes:— + +“The Tartar custom is to spend the winter in warm plains where they find +good fodder for their cattle, while in summer they betake themselves to a +cool climate among the mountains and valleys, where water is to be found, +as well as woods and pastures. + +“Their houses are circular, and are made of wands covered with felt. +These are carried along with them whithersoever they go; for the wands +are so strongly interwoven, and so well combined, that the framework can +be made very light. Whenever these huts are erected, the door is always +placed to the south. They also have waggons covered with black felt so +efficaciously that no rain can enter. These are drawn by oxen and +camels, and the women and children travel in them. The women do the +buying and selling, and whatever is necessary to provide for the husband +and household; for the men all lead the life of gentlemen, troubling +themselves about nothing but hawking and hunting, and looking after their +goshawks and falcons, unless it be the practice of warlike exercises. + +“They live on the meat and milk which their birds supply, and on the +produce of the chase; and they eat all kinds of flesh, including that of +horses and dogs, and Pharaoh’s rats, of which there are great numbers in +burrows on these plains. Their drink is mare’s milk. . . . + +“This is the fashion of their religion: They say there is a most high God +of Heaven, whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they +pray to him only for health of mind and body. But they have also a +certain other god of theirs called Natigay, and they say he is the God of +the Earth, who watches over their children, cattle, and crops. They show +him great worship and honour, and every man hath a figure of him in his +house, made of felt and cloth; and they also make in the same manner +images of his wife and children. The wife they put on the left hand, and +the children in front. And when they eat, they take the fat of the meat +and grease the god’s mouth withal, as well as the mouths of his wife and +children. Then they take of the broth and sprinkle it before the door of +the house; and that done, they deem that their god and his family have +had their share of the dinner. + +“Their drink is mare’s milk, prepared in such a way that you would take +it for white wine, and a good right drink it is, called by them komiz. + +“The clothes of the wealthy Tartars are for the most part of gold and +silk stuffs, lined with costly furs, such as sable and ermine, vair and +fox skin, in the richest fashion.” + + * * * * * + +As in succeeding chapters of this volume we shall have something to say +about the manners and customs of the Mongolian nomads, we may here be +content with observing that Marco Polo’s “Natigay” seems identical with +the “Nongait” or “Ongotiu” of the Buriats, who, according to Pallas, is +honoured by them as the tutelary god of sheep and other cattle. Properly +the divinity consists of _two_ figures, hanging side by side, one of whom +represents the god’s wife. These two figures are merely a pair of lanky +flat bolsters with the upper part shaped into a round disc, and the body +hung with a long woolly fleece; eyes, nose, breasts, and navel being +indicated by leather knobs stitched upon the surface. The male figure +commonly has at his girdle the foot-rope with which horses at pasture are +fettered, whilst the female, which is sometimes accompanied by smaller +figures representing her children, is adorned with all sorts of little +nick-nacks and sewing implements. + + * * * * * + +The Tartar customs of war are thus described:— + +“All their harness of war is excellent and costly. Their arms are bows +and arrows, sword and mace; but, above all, the bow, for they are capital +archers, indeed the best that are known. On their backs they wear armour +of cuirbouly, {22} prepared from buffalo and other hides, which is very +strong. They are excellent soldiers, and passing valiant in battle. +They are also more capable of hardship than other nations; for many a +time, if need be, they will go for a month without any supply of food, +living only on the milk of their mares and on such game as their bows may +win them. Their horses also will subsist entirely on the grass of the +plains, so that there is no need to carry store of barley, or straw, or +oats; and they are very docile to their riders. These, in case of need, +will abide on horseback the livelong night, armed at all points, while +the horse will be continually grazing. + +“Of all troops in the world these are they which endure the greatest +hardship and fatigue, and cost the least; and they are the best of all +for making wide conquests of country. And there can be no manner of +doubt that now they are the masters of the larger half of the world. +Their armies are admirably ordered in the following manner:— + +“You see, when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he takes with him, say, +a hundred thousand horse. Well, he appoints an officer to every ten men, +one to every hundred, one to every thousand, and one to every ten +thousand, so that his own orders have to be given to ten persons only, +and each of these persons has to pass the orders only to other ten, and +so on; none having to give orders to more than ten. And every one in +turn is responsible only to the officer immediately over him; and the +discipline and order that comes of this method is marvellous, for they +are a people very obedient to their chiefs. . . . And when the army is +on the march they have always two hundred horsemen, very well mounted, +who are sent a distance of two marches in advance to reconnoitre, and +these always keep ahead. They have a similar party detached in the rear +and on either flank, so that there is a good look-out kept on all sides +against surprise. When they are going on a distant expedition, they take +no gear with them except two leather bottles for milk, and a little +earthenware pot to cook their meat in, and a little tent to shelter them +from rain. And in case of great urgency, they will ride ten days on end +without lighting a fire or taking a meal. On such an occasion they will +sustain themselves on the blood of their horses, opening a vein and +letting the blood jet into their mouths, drinking till they have had +enough, and then staunching it. + +“They also have milk dried into a kind of paste to carry with them; and +when they need food, they put this in water, and beat it up till it +dissolves, and then drink it. It is prepared in this way: They boil the +milk, and when the rich part floats on the top they skim it into another +vessel, and of that they make butter; for the milk will not become solid +till this is removed. Then they put the milk in the sun to dry. And +when they go on an expedition, every man takes some ten pounds of this +dried milk with him. And of a morning he will take a half-pound of it +and put it in his leather bottle, with as much water as he pleases. So, +as he rides along, the milk-paste and the water in the bottle get well +churned together into a kind of pap, and that makes his dinner. + +“When they come to an engagement with the enemy, they will gain the +victory in this fashion: They never let themselves get into a regular +medley, but keep perpetually riding round and shooting into the enemy. +And as they do not count it any shame to run away in battle, they will +sometimes pretend to do so, and in running away they turn in the saddle +and shoot hard and strong at the foe, and in this way make great havoc. +Their horses are trained so perfectly that they will double hither and +thither, just like a dog, in a way that is quite astonishing. Thus they +fight to as good purpose in running away as if they stood and faced the +enemy, because of the vast volleys of arrows that they shoot in this way, +turning round upon their pursuers, who are fancying that they have won +the battle. But when the Tartars see that they have killed and wounded a +good many horses and men, they wheel round bodily, and return to the +charge in perfect order, and with loud cries; and in a very short time +the enemy are routed. In truth, they are stout and valiant soldiers, and +inured to war. And you perceive that it is just when the enemy sees them +run, and imagines that he has gained the battle, that he has in reality +lost it; for the Tartars wheel round in a moment when they judge the +right time has come. And after this fashion they have won many a fight. + +“All this that I have been telling you is true of the manners and customs +of the genuine Tartars.” + + * * * * * + +We come next to the magnificent city of Chandu—that is, Shangtu, or +“Upper Towa,” the Chinese title of Kublai Khan’s summer palace at +Kaiping-fu. The ruins, both of the city and palace, were extant as late +as the end of the seventeenth century. + +“When you have ridden three days from the city of Chagan Nor [Chagan +Balghassan], between north-east and north, you come to a city called +Chandu, which was built by the Khan now reigning. There is at this place +a very fine marble palace, the rooms of which are all gilt and painted +with figures of men and beasts and birds, and with a variety of trees and +flowers, all wrought with such exquisite art that you regard them with +delight and astonishment. + +“Round this palace is built a wall, enclosing a compass of sixteen miles, +and inside the park are fountains and rivers and brooks and beautiful +meadows, with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of +ferocious nature), which the Emperor has produced and placed there to +supply food for the gerfalcons and hawks which he keeps in mew. Of these +the gerfalcons alone number more than two hundred, without reckoning the +other hawks. The Khan himself goes every week to see his birds sitting +in mew, and sometimes he rides through the park with a leopard behind him +on his horse’s croup; and then, if he sees any animal that takes his +fancy, he lets loose his leopard at it, and the game when taken is used +to feed the hawks in mew. This he does for diversion. + +“Further, at a point in the park where blooms a delightful wood, he has +another palace built of bamboo, of which I must give you a description. +It is gilt all over, and most elaborately finished inside. It is +supported on gilt and lackered columns, on each of which stands a dragon +all gilt, the tail being attached to the column, while the head uplifts +the architrave, and the claws likewise being extended right and left as +props to the architrave. The roof also is formed of bamboo, covered with +a varnish so good and strong that no amount of rain will rot it. These +canes are fully three palms in girth, and from ten to fifteen paces in +length. They are cut across at each knot, and the pieces are then split +so as to form from each two hollow tiles, and with them the house is +roofed; only every such tile has to be nailed down to prevent the wind +from lifting it. In short, the whole palace is built of these bamboos, +which, I may mention, are employed for a great variety of other useful +purposes. The construction of the palace is such that it can be taken +down and put up again with great rapidity; and it can be removed to any +place which he may desire. When erected, it is held up by more than two +hundred (200) ropes of silk. + +“The Emperor resides in this park of his, sometimes in the palace of +marble, and sometimes in that of bamboo, for three mouths of the year, +namely, June, July, and August; preferring this abode because it is by no +means hot; in fact, it is very cool. When the 28th day of August arrives +he takes his departure, and the bamboo palace is pulled to pieces. But I +must tell you what happens when he takes his departure every year on the +28th of August. + +“You must know that the Khan keeps an immense stud of white horses and +mares; in truth, upwards of two hundred of them, and all pure white +without a blemish. The milk of these mares is drunk by himself and +family, and by no one else, except by the people of one great tribe who +have also the privilege of drinking it—a privilege granted to them by +Chingis Khan, on account of a certain victory which, long ago, they +helped him to win. The name of the tribe is Horiad [the Uirad or Oirad]. + +“Now, when these mares are passing across the country, and any one falls +in with them, be he the greatest lord in the land, he must not presume to +pass until the mares have gone by; he must either tarry where he is, or +go a half-day’s round if so need be, so as not to come nigh them; for +they are to be treated with the greatest respect. Well, when the Emperor +sets out from the park on the 28th of August, as I have told you, the +milk of all those mares is taken and sprinkled on the ground. And this +is done at the bidding of the idolaters and idol-priests, who say that it +is an excellent thing to sprinkle that milk on the ground every 28th of +August, so that the earth and the air and the false gods shall have their +share of it, and the spirits likewise that inhabit the air and the earth. +And thus those beings will protect and bless the Khan, and his children, +and his wives, and his folk, and his gear, his cattle and his horses, his +corn, and all that is his. After this is done, the Emperor is off and +away. + +“But I must now tell you a strange thing that hitherto I have omitted to +mention. During the three months of every year that the Khan resides at +that place, if it should chance to be bad weather, there are certain +crafty enchanters and astrologers in his train who are such adepts in +necromancy and the diabolic arts, that they are able to prevent any cloud +or storm from traversing the spot whereon the imperial palace stands. +The sorcerers who do this are called Icbit and Kesomin, which are the +names of two nations of idolaters. Whatever they do in this way is by +the help of the devil, but they make these people believe that it is +compassed by their own sanctity and the help of God. They always go in a +state of dirt and uncleanness, devoid of respect for themselves, or for +those who see them, unwashed, unkempt, and sordidly attired. + +“These people have another custom which I must describe to you. If a man +is condemned to death, and executed by the lawful authority, they take +his body, and cook and eat it. But if any one die a natural death, then +they will not eat his body. + +“There is another marvel performed by these Bacsi [_Bakhshi_, or +_Bhikshu_], of whom I have spoken as skilled in so many enchantments. +For when the Great Khan is at his capital and in his great palace, seated +at his table, which stands on a platform some eight cubits above the +ground, his cups are set before him on a great buffet in the middle of +the hall pavement, at a distance of some ten paces from his table, and +filled with wine, or other good spiced liquor such as they use. Now, +when the lord desires to drink, these necromancers, by the power of their +enchantments, cause the cups to move from their place without being +touched by anybody, and to present themselves to the Emperor! This every +one present may witness, and ofttimes there are more than two thousand +persons present. ’Tis a truth, and no lie; and so will the sages of your +own country who understand necromancy, tell you, for they also can +perform this marvel. + +“And when the idol festivals come round, these Bacsi go to the prince and +say, ‘Sire, the feast of such a god is come’ (naming him). ‘My lord, you +know,’ the enchanter will say, ‘that this god, when he gets no offerings, +always sends bad weather and spoils our seasons. So we pray you to give +us such and such a number of black-faced sheep’ (naming whatever number +they please). ‘And we also beg, good my lord, that we may have such a +quantity of incense, and such a quantity of lign-aloes, and’—so much of +this, so much of that, and so much of t’other, according to their +fancy—‘that we may perform a solemn service and a great sacrifice to our +idols, and that so they may be induced to protect us and all that is +ours.’ + +“The Bacsi say these things to the nobles entrusted with the stewardship, +who stand round the Great Khan, and then repeat them to the Khan, and he +then orders the nobles to give to the Bacsi anything they have demanded. +And when they have received the articles, they go and make a great feast +in honour of their god, and hold grand ceremonies of worship, with grand +illuminations and quantities of incense of a variety of odours, which +they make up from different aromatic spices. And then they cook the +meat, and set it before the idols, and sprinkle their broth hither and +thither, saying that in this way the idols obtain their bellyful. In +this way it is that they keep their festivals. You must know that each +idol has a name of his own, and a feast-day, just as our saints have +their anniversaries. + +“They have also immense minsters and monasteries, some as big as a small +town, with upwards of two thousand monks, so to speak, in a single +monastery. These monks dress more decently than the rest of the people, +and shave the head and beard. Some among these Bacsi are allowed by +their rule to take wives, and they have plenty of children. + +“Another kind of devotees is the Sunni, who are more remarkable for their +abstemiousness, and lead a life of such austerity as I will describe. +All their life long they eat only bran, which they take mixed with hot +water. That is their food; bran, and nothing but bran; with water for +their drink. Their life is one long fast; so I may well speak of its +asceticism as extraordinary. They have great idols, and very many; but +they sometimes also worship fire. The other idolaters who are not also +of this sect call these people heretics—_Palamis_, as we should +say—because they do not worship the idols after their fashion. Those of +whom I am now speaking would not take a wife on any consideration. They +wear dresses of hempen stuff, black and blue, and sleep upon mats; in +fact, their asceticism is something astonishing. Their idols are all +feminine; that is, they bear women’s names.” + + * * * * * + +[It was after reading Marco Polo’s account of the Great Khan’s palace, as +it is given in Purchas’s “Pilgrims,” that the poet Coleridge, falling +asleep, dreamed his melodious dream of Kublai’s Paradise. When he awoke +he was able to recall a portion of it, beginning thus:— + + “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan + A stately pleasure-dome decree: + Where Alph, the sacred river, ran, + By caverns measureless to man, + Down to a sunless sea. + So twice five inches of fertile ground + With walls and towers were girdled round; + And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, + Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; + And here were forests, ancient as the hills, + Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.”] + + * * * * * + +The principal palace of the Great Khan was situated, however, at Cambaluc +(the modern Peking), and is thus described by our Venetian:— + +“It is enclosed all round by a great wall, forming a square, each side of +which is a mile in length; that is to say, the whole compass thereof is +four miles. This you may depend on; it is also very thick, and a good +ten paces in height, whitewashed and loop-holed all round. At each angle +of the wall is situated a very fine and rich palace, in which the war +harness of the Emperor is kept, such as bows and quivers, saddles and +bridles, and bowstrings, and everything needful for an army. Also, +midway between every two of these corner palaces is another of the like; +so that, taking the whole circuit of the enclosed, you will find eight +vast palaces stored with the great lord’s harness of war. And you must +understand that each palace is reserved for only one kind of article; one +being stored with bows, a second with saddles, a third with bridles, and +so on, in succession, right round. + +“The great wall has five gates on its southern face, the central being +the great gate, which is opened only for the egress or admission of the +Great Khan himself. Close on either side is a smaller one, through which +all other people pass; and then, towards each angle, is another great +gate, also open to people in general; so that on that side are five gates +in all. + +“Inside of this wall is a second, enclosing a space that is somewhat +longer than it is broad. This enclosure has its eight palaces also, +corresponding to those of the outer wall, and stored like them with the +Emperor’s harness of war. There are likewise five gates on the southern +face, answering to those in the outer wall; and one gate on each of the +other faces. In the centre of the second enclosure stands the Emperor’s +Great Palace, and I will tell you what it is like. + +“You must know that it is the greatest palace ever erected. Towards the +north it is in contact with the outer wall, while towards the south lies +a vacant space which the nobles and the soldiers are constantly +traversing. The palace itself hath no upper story, but is all on the +ground floor; only the basement is raised some ten palms above the +surrounding soil. And this elevation is retained by a wall of marble +raised to the level of the pavement, two paces in width, and projecting +beyond the base of the palace so as to form a kind of terrace-walk, by +which people can pass round the building, and this is exposed to view; +while along the outer edge of the wall runs a very fine pillared +balustrade, up to which the people are allowed to come. The roof is very +lofty, and the walls are covered with gold and silver. They are also +adorned with representations of dragons, sculptured and gilt, beasts and +birds, knights and idols, and divers other subjects. And on the ceiling, +too, can nothing be seen but gold and silver and painting. On each of +the four sides is a great marble staircase, leading to the top of the +marble wall, and forming the approach to the palace. + +“The hall of the palace is so large that it could easily dine six +thousand people; and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there are +besides. The building is altogether so vast, so rich, and so beautiful, +that no man on earth could design anything superior to it. The outside +of the roof also is all coloured with vermilion and yellow and green and +blue and other hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine and +exquisite, that they shine like crystal, and lend a resplendent lustre to +the palace, visible far around. This roof is so solidly and strongly +constructed that it is fit to last for ever. + +“On the inner side of the palace are large buildings with halls and +chambers, where the Emperor’s private property is placed, such as his +treasures of gold, silver, gems, pearls, and gold plate, and in which the +ladies and concubines reside. He occupies himself there at his own +convenience, and no one else has access to it. + +“Between the two walls of the enclosure which I have described are two +fine parks, and beautiful trees bearing a variety of fruits. There are +beasts also of sundry kinds, such as white stags and fallow deer, +gazelles and roebucks, and fine squirrels of various kinds, with numbers +also of the animal that gives the musk, and all manner of other beautiful +creatures, insomuch that the whole place is full of them, and no spot +remains void except where there is traffic of people going to and fro. +The parks are covered with abundant grass; and the roads through them +being all paved and raised two cubits above the surface, they never +become muddy, nor does the rain lodge on them, but flows off into the +meadows, quickening the soil and producing that fertility of herbage. + +“From the north-western corner of the enclosure extends a fine lake, +containing abundance of fish of different kinds, which the Emperor hath +caused to be put in there, so that, whenever he desires any, he can have +them at his pleasure. A river enters this lake and issues from it; but a +grating of iron or brass is put up to prevent the escape of the fish. + +“Moreover, about a bowshot from the north side of the palace is an +artificial hill, made with the earth out of the lake; it is a good +hundred paces in height, and a mile in compass, and is entirely covered +with evergreen trees which never lose their leaves. And I assure you +that wherever a beautiful tree exists, and the Emperor hears of it, he +sends for it and has it transported bodily, with all its roots and the +earth attached to them, and planted upon his hill. No matter how huge +the tree may be, he has it carried by his elephants, and in this way he +has formed the finest collection of trees in all the world. And he has +also caused the whole hill to be covered with ore of azure, {35} which is +very green. And thus not only are the trees all green, but the hill +itself is all green likewise; and there is nothing to be seen on it that +is not green; and hence it is called the Green Mount; and, in good sooth, +it is well named. + +“On the top of the hill, too, stands a fair large palace, which is all +green outside and in, so that the hill, and the trees, and the palace +form together a charming spectacle; and it is wonderful to see their +uniformity of colour. Everybody who sees it is delighted. And the Great +Khan has ordered this beautiful prospect for the comfort, solace, and +delectation of his heart. + +“You must know that besides the palace I have been describing, _i.e._ the +Great Palace, the Emperor has caused another to be built, resembling his +own in every respect; and this he has done for his son, when he shall +reign and be Emperor after him. Hence it is made just in the same +fashion, and of the same size, so that everything can be carried on in +the same manner after his death. It stands on the other side of the lake +from the Great Khan’s palace, and a bridge is thrown across from one to +the other. The prince I speak of holds now a seal of empire, but not +with such complete authority as the Great Khan, who remains supreme as +long as he lives.” + + * * * * * + +Let us now accompany the Emperor on a hunting expedition:— + +“After he has sojourned in his capital city for three months, December, +January, and February, the Great Khan starts on the first day of March, +and travels southward towards the Ocean Sea, a two days’ journey. He +takes with him fully ten thousand falconers and some five hundred +falcons, besides peregrines, sakers, and other hawks in great number; and +goshawks also, for flying at the water-fowl. But do not suppose that he +keeps all these together by him; they are distributed hither and thither, +one hundred together, or two hundred at the utmost, as he thinks proper. +But they are always fowling as they advance, and the greater part of the +quarry taken is carried to the Emperor. And let me tell you, when he +goes thus a-fowling with his gerfalcons and other hawks, he is attended +by fully ten thousand men, who are placed in couples; and these are +called _Toscach_, which is as much as to say, ‘Watchers.’ The name +describes their business. They are posted from spot to spot, always in +couples, so that they cover a good deal of ground. Each of them is +provided with whistle and hood, so as to be able to call in a hawk, and +hold it in hand. And when the Emperor makes a cast, there in no need +that he should follow it up, for the men I speak of keep so close a watch +that they never lose sight of the birds, if the hawks require help, they +are ready to render it. + +“The Emperor’s hawks, as well as those of the nobles, have a little label +attached to the leg to mark them, whereon are written the names of the +owner and the keeper of the bird. So that the hawk, when caught, is at +once identified, and handed over to its owner. But if not, the bird is +carried to a certain noble, styled the _Bulargachi_, that is, ‘the Keeper +of Lost Property.’ And I tell you that anything found without a proper +owner, whether horse, sword, or hawk, or what not, is taken immediately +to that official, and he holds it in charge. Should the finder neglect +to carry his trover to the Bulargachi, the latter punishes him. +Likewise, the loser of any article goes to him, and should it be in his +hands, he immediately gives it up to its owner. Moreover, the said noble +always pitches on the highest point of the camp, with his banner +displayed, in order that those who have lost or found should have no +difficulty in making their way to him. Thus, nothing can be lost without +being quickly found and restored. . . . + +“The Emperor, on his journey, is borne upon four elephants in a fine +pavilion made of timber, lined inside with plates of beaten gold, and +outside with lion’s skins. He always travels in this fashion on his +hunting expeditions, because he is troubled with gout. He invariably +keeps beside him a dozen of his choicest gerfalcons, and is attended by +several of his nobles, who ride on horseback by his side. And sometimes, +as they go along, and the Emperor from his chamber is discoursing with +his nobles, one of the latter will exclaim, ‘Sire, look out for cranes!’ +Then the Emperor has the top of his chamber instantly thrown open, and, +having marked the cranes, he casts one of his gerfalcons, whichever he +pleases; and often the quarry is struck in his sight, so that he has the +most exquisite sport and diversion, as he sits in his chamber or lies on +his bed; and all the nobles in attendance share the enjoyment with him! +So it is not without reason I tell you that I do not believe there ever +existed in the world, or will exist, a man with such sport and enjoyment +as he has, or with such rare opportunities. + +“And when he has travelled until he reaches a place called Cachar Modem, +there he finds his tents pitched, with the tents of his sons, and his +nobles, and those of his ladies, and their attendants, so that there +shall be fully ten thousand in all, and all costly and handsome. And I +will tell you how his own quarters are disposed. The tent in which he +held his courts is large enough to accommodate a thousand persons. It is +pitched with its door to the south, and the nobles and knights remain in +attendance in it, while the Emperor abides in another close to it on the +west side. When he wishes to speak with any person, he causes him to be +summoned to the great tent. Immediately behind the latter is a spacious +chamber, where he sleeps. . . . The two audience-tents and the +sleeping-chamber are thus constructed:—Each of the audience-tents has +three poles, which are of spice-wood, and most artfully covered with +lion’s skins, striped with black and white and red, so that they do not +suffer from any weather. All three apartments are also covered outside +with similar skins of striped lions, a substance that lasts for ever. +Inside they are lined with sable and ermine, which are the finest and +costliest furs in existence. . . . All the tent-ropes are of silk. In +short, I may say that these tents, namely, the two halls of audience and +the sleeping-chamber, are so costly, that it is not every king could +afford to pay for them. + +“Round about these tents are others, also fine ones and beautifully +pitched, in which abide the imperial ladies, and the ladies of the +different princes and officers. Tents are there also for the hawks and +their keepers, so that altogether the number of tents on the plain is +something wonderful. To see the many people who are thronging to and fro +on every side and every day there, you would take the camp for a good +large city. For you must include the physicians and astrologers and +falconers, and all the other attendants on so numerous a company; and add +that everybody has his own household with him, for such is their custom. + +“There until the spring the Emperor remains encamped, and all that time +he does nothing but go hawking among the cane brakes that fringe the +abundant lakes and rivers in that region, and across broad plains +plentifully frequented by cranes and swans, and all other kinds of fowl. +Nor are the rest of the nobles of the camp ever weary of hunting and +hawking, and daily they bring home great store of venison and feathered +game of every kind. Indeed, unless you witnessed it, you would never +believe what quantities of game are taken, and what marvellous sport and +diversion they have while residing there in camp. + +“Another thing I must mention, namely, that for twenty days’ journey +round the spot nobody is allowed, whoever he may be, to keep hawks or +hounds, though anywhere else whoever chooses may keep them. And +furthermore, throughout all the Emperor’s territories, nobody, however +audacious, dares to hunt any of these four animals, namely, hare, stag, +buck, and roe, from the month of March to the month of October. Whoever +should do so would rue it bitterly. But these people are so obedient to +their Emperor’s commands, that even if a man were to find one of those +animals asleep by the roadside, he would not touch it for the world. And +thus the game multiplies at such a rate, that the whole country swarms +with it, and obtains as much as he could desire. Beyond the time I have +mentioned, however, to wit, that from March to October, everybody may +take these animals as he chooses. + +“After the Emperor has tarried there, enjoying his sport, as I have +related, from March to the middle of May, he moves with all his people, +and returns straight to his capital city of Cambaluc (which is also the +capital city of Cathay, as you have been told), but all the while +continuing to take his diversion in hunting and hawking as he travels.” + + * * * * * + +We pass on to Marco Polo’s description of Tibet, which at one time was +considered a part of the empire of the Mongol Khans. Its civil +administration is ascribed to Kublai Khan:— + +“In this region you find quantities of bamboos, full three palms in +girth, and fifteen paces in length, with an interval of about three palms +between the joints. And let me tell you that merchants and other +travellers through that country are wont at nightfall to gather these +canes and make fires of them; for as they burn they make such loud +reports, that the lions and bears and other wild beasts are greatly +frightened, and make off as fast as possible; in fact, nothing will +induce them to come near a fire of that kind. {41} So, you see, the +travellers make these fires to protect themselves and their cattle from +the wild beasts, which have so greatly multiplied since the devastation +of the country. And it is this multiplication of the wild beasts that +prevents the country from being reoccupied. In fact, but for the help of +these bamboos, which make such a noise in burning that the beasts are +terrified and kept at a distance, no one would be able even to travel +through the land. + +“I will tell you how it is that the canes make such a noise. The people +cut the green canes, of which there are vast numbers, and set fire to a +heap of them at once. After they have been burning awhile they burst +asunder, and this makes such a loud report, that you might hear it ten +miles off. In fact, a person unused to this noise, hearing it +unexpectedly, might easily go into a swoon or die of fright. But those +accustomed to it care nothing about it. Hence those who are not used +stuff their ears well with cotton, and wrap up their heads and faces with +all the clothes they can muster; and so they get along until they have +become used to the sound. It is just the same with horses. Those unused +to these noises are so terrified that they break away from their halters +and heel-ropes, and many a man has lost his beasts in this way. So all +who do not wish to lose their horses are careful to tie all four legs, +and peg the ropes down strongly, and wrap the heads and eyes and ears of +the animals closely, and so they save them. But horses also, when they +have heard the noise several times, cease to mind it. I tell you the +truth, however, when I say that the first time you hear it nothing can be +more alarming. And yet, in spite of all, the lions, bears, and other +wild beasts will sometimes come and do great mischief; for in those parts +they are very numerous. + +“You ride for twenty days without finding any inhabited spot, so that +travellers are obliged to carry all their provisions with them, and are +constantly falling in with those wild beasts which are so numerous and so +dangerous. After that you come at length to a tract where there are very +many towns and villages. . . . + +“The people are idolaters and an evil generation, holding it no sin to +rob and maltreat; in fact, they are the greatest brigands on earth. They +live by the chase, as well as on their cattle and the fruits of the +earth. + +“I should tell you also that in this country are many of the animals that +produce musk, which are called in the Tartar language _Gudderi_. These +robbers have great numbers of large and fierce dogs, which are of much +service in catching the musk-beasts, and so they procure an abundance of +musk. They have none of the Great Khan’s paper money, but use salt +instead of money. They are very poorly clad, for their clothes are only +of the skins of beasts, and canvas, and buckram. They have a language of +their own, and are called _Tebit_.” + + * * * * * + +Speaking of the people who dwell in the provinces to the north-west of +China, Marco Polo relates the following curious custom:— + +“When any one is ill, they send for the devil-conjurors, who are the +keepers of their idols. When these are come, the sick man tells what +ails him, and then the conjurors incontinently begin playing on their +instruments, and singing, and dancing; and the conjurors dance to such a +pitch, that at last one of them will fall to the ground lifeless, like a +dead man. And then the devil entereth into his body. And when his +comrades see him in this plight, they begin to put questions to him about +the sick man’s ailment. And he will reply, ‘Such or such a spirit hath +been meddling with the man, for that he hath angered it and done it some +despite.’ Then they say, ‘We pray thee to pardon him, and to take of his +blood or of his goods what thou wilt in consideration of thus restoring +him to health.’ And when they have so prayed, the malignant spirit that +is in the body of the prostrate man will, perhaps, answer, ‘The sick man +hath also done great despite unto such another spirit, and that one is so +ill-disposed that it will not pardon him on any account.’ This, at +least, is the answer they get if the patient be like to die. But if he +is to get better, the answer will be that they are to bring two sheep, or +maybe three; and to brew ten or twelve jars of drink, very costly and +abundantly spiced. Moreover, it will be announced that the sheep must be +all black-faced, or of some other particular colour, as it may happen; +and then all these things are to be offered in sacrifice to such and such +a spirit whose name is given. And they are to bring so many conjurors, +and so many ladies, and the business is to be done with a great singing +of lauds, and with many lights and store of good perfumes. That is the +sort of answer they get if the patient is to get well. And then the +kinsfolk of the sick man go and procure all that has been commanded, and +do as has been bidden, and the conjuror springs to his feet again. + +“So they fetch the sheep of the prescribed colour, and slaughter them, +and sprinkle the blood over such places as have been enjoined, in honour +and propitiation. And the conjurors come, and the ladies, in the number +that was ordered, and when all are assembled and everything is ready, +they begin to dance and play and sing in honour of the spirit. And they +take flesh-broth, and drink, and lign-aloes, and a great number of +lights, and go about hither and thither, scattering the broth and the +drink, and the meat also. And when they have done this for a while, one +of the conjurors will again fall flat, and wallow there foaming at the +mouth, and then the others will ask if he have yet pardoned the sick man. +And sometimes he will answer ‘Yes,’ and sometimes he will answer ‘No.’ +And if the answer be ‘No,’ they are told that something or other has to +be done all over again, and then he will be pardoned; so this they do. +And when all that the spirit has commanded has been done with great +ceremony, then it will be announced that the man is pardoned, and will be +speedily cured. So when they at length receive this reply, they announce +that it is all made up with the spirit, and that he is propitiated, and +they fall to eating and drinking with great joy and mirth, and he who had +been lying lifeless on the ground gets up and takes his share. So when +they have all eaten and drunken, every man departs home. And presently +the sick man gets sound and well.” + + * * * * * + +[Sir A. Phayre testifies that this account of the exorcism of evil +spirits in cases of obstinate illness tallies exactly with what he +himself has seen in similar cases among the Burmese; and, in truth, the +practice extends widely among the non-Aryan races. Bishop Caldwell +furnishes the following description of “devil-dancing” as it still exists +among the Shanars of Tinnevelly:— + +“When the preparations are completed and the devil-dance is about to +commence, the music is at first comparatively slow; the dancer seems +impassive and sullen, and he either stands still or moves about in gloomy +silence. Gradually, as the music becomes quicker and louder, his +excitement begins to rise. Sometimes, to help him to work himself up +into a frenzy, he uses medicated draughts, cuts and lacerates himself +till the blood flows, lashes himself with a huge whip, presses a burning +torch to his breast, drinks the blood which flows from his own wounds, or +drains the blood of the sacrifice, putting the throat of the decapitated +goat to his mouth. Then, as if he had acquired new life, he begins to +brandish his staff of bells, and to dance with a quick, but wild, +unsteady step. Suddenly the afflatus descends; there is no mistaking +that glare, or those frantic leaps. He snorts, he stares, he gyrates. +The demon has now taken bodily possession of him; and though he retains +the power of utterance and motion, both are under the demon’s control, +and his separate consciousness is in abeyance. The bystanders signalize +the event by raising a long shout, attended with a peculiar vibratory +noise, caused by the motion of the hand and tongue, or the tongue alone. +The devil-dancer is now worshipped as a present deity, and every +bystander consults him respecting his diseases, his wants, the welfare of +his absent relatives, the offerings to be made for the accomplishment of +his wishes, and, in short, everything for which superhuman knowledge is +supposed to be available.”] + + * * * * * + +“And now,” says Marco Polo, in concluding his wonderful narrative,—“and +now ye have heard all that we can tell you about the Tartars and the +Saracens and their customs, and likewise about the other countries of the +world, so far as our researches and information extend. Only we have +said nothing whatever about the Greater Sea [the Mediterranean], and the +provinces that lie round it, although we know it thoroughly. But it +seems to me a needless and endless task to speak about places which are +visited by people every day. For there are so many who sail all about +that sea constantly, Venetians, and Genoese, and Pisans, and many others, +that everybody knows all about it, and that is the reason that I pass it +over and say nothing of it. + +“Of the manner in which we took our departure from the Court of the Great +Khan you have already heard, and we have related the fortunate chance +that led to it. And you may be sure that, but for that fortunate chance, +we should never have got away, in spite of all our trouble, and never +have returned to our country again. But I believe it was God’s pleasure +we should return, in order that people might learn about the things the +world contains. For according to what has been said in the introduction +at the beginning of the book, there never was man, be he Christian or +Saracen or Tartar or heathen, who ever travelled over so much of the +world as did that noble and illustrious citizen of the city of Venice, +Messer Marco, the son of Messer Nicolo Polo. + +“Thanks be to God! Amen! Amen!” + + * * * * * + +We incline to believe, out of consideration for the modesty of “Messer +Marco, the son of Messer Nicolo Polo,” that he finished his narrative at +the word “contains,” and that the last sentence was added by his +amanuensis. Yet the assertion it contains does not go beyond the truth. +Of all the mediæval travellers it may be repeated that Marco Polo is the +first and foremost; and the world is indebted to him for a vast amount of +valuable information, which, but for his industry, his perseverance, and +his intelligence, would have been wholly or partly lost. We owe to him a +graphic and, as it is now known to be, an accurate picture of the +condition of Asia in the thirteenth century; a picture full of lights and +shadows, but interesting and instructive in every detail. + + + + +MR. GEORGE F. RUXTON, +AND HIS ADVENTURES IN MEXICO AND THE +ROCKY MOUNTAINS. + + + A.D. 1847. + +MR. RUXTON’S sweeping condemnation of the Mexicans is, unfortunately, +confirmed by most reputable authorities, or we might hesitate to +reproduce it here. “From south to north,” he says, “I traversed the +whole of the Republic of Mexico, a distance of nearly ten thousand miles, +and was thrown amongst the people of every rank, class, and station; and +I regret to have to say that I cannot remember to have observed one +single commendable trait in the character of the Mexican; always +excepting from this sweeping clause the women of the country, who, for +kindness of heart and many sterling qualities, are an ornament to their +sex, and to any nation.” Whatever may be affirmed to the discredit of +the people, it cannot be doubted that they inhabit a country which was at +one time the seat of a remarkable civilization, which presents to the +traveller a succession of remarkable and frequently romantic scenery, and +a wonderful variety and luxuriance of vegetation. + +From the southern frontier of the United States it stretches down to the +isthmus which connects the northern and southern mainlands of the great +American continent. On the west its shores are washed by the waters of +the Pacific; on the east, by those of the Mexican Gulf and Caribbean Sea. +Roughly speaking, its area is about 850,000 square miles; its population +may number ten souls to a square mile. Its form of government is +pseudo-republican; and for administrative purposes it is divided into +twenty-five provinces. Its capital, Mexico, has 200,000 inhabitants: its +only other important towns are Puebla, 75,000 inhabitants; Guadalajara, +65,000; Guanajuata, 50,000; and San Luis and Merida, about 45,000 each. + +A glance at the map will show you that Mexico consists in the main of an +elevated table-land, which in the south rises up into the Cordilleras of +Central America, and on the east and west descends, by more or less +gradual terraces, to the sea-coast. Owing to its geographical position, +this table-land enjoys the profuseness and beauty of a tropical +vegetation; on the other hand, its climate is so tempered by its various +elevations, which lie between 5000 and 9000 feet, that it has been found +possible to naturalize the European fauna and flora. A remarkable +geological feature is the volcanic belt or chain that runs from ocean to +ocean between the parallels of 18° 15′ and 19° 30′ north latitude, and is +marked by several active as well as extinct volcanoes. Among them may be +named Orizaba, Cittalapetl (“The Mountain of the Star”), Popocatapetl +(“The Smoking Mountain”), 17,884 feet, Istaccihuatl (“The White Woman”), +and Toluca. Most of the mountain chains that break up the table-land are +of comparatively low altitude; the principal is the Sierra Madre, or Tepe +Serene. The two chief streams are the Rio Santiago and the Rio Grande +del Norte. + +In company with a young Spaniard who was travelling as far as Durango, +Mr. Ruxton quitted Mexico one fine day in September, 1847, bent on +crossing the country to the United States. He passed at first through a +mountainous district, covered with dwarf oak and ilex; afterwards he +entered upon a tract of open undulating downs, dotted with thickets. +Villages were few and far between, and when found, not very attractive, +consisting only of a dozen huts built of adobes, or sun-dried bricks. +Crossing a rocky sierra, he came to the town of San Juan del Rio; its +one-storied houses of stone, whitewashed, with barred windows, looking +out upon a fair expanse of vineyard and garden. Forty miles beyond lay +Queretaro; a large and well-built town of 40,000 inhabitants, surrounded +by gardens and orchards. Its chief trade is the manufacture of cigars. +These, as made at Queretaro, are of a peculiar shape, about three inches +long, square at both ends, and exceedingly pungent in flavour. Excellent +pulque is another of its products. Pulque, the national liquor of +Mexico, is made from the saccharine juice of the American aloe, which +attains maturity at the age of eight or fourteen years, and then flowers. +Only while it is flowering may the juice be collected. The central stem +which encloses the coming flower is cut off near the bottom, and a basin +or hollow exposed, over which the surrounding leaves are closely gathered +and fastened. The juice distils into the reservoir thus provided, and is +removed three or four times during the twenty-four hours, by means of a +syphon made of a species of gourd called acojote. One end is placed in +the liquor, the other in the mouth of the operator, who by suction draws +up the sweet fluid into the pipe, and forces it out into a bowl. +Afterwards it receives the addition of a little old pulque, and is +allowed to ferment for two or three days in earthen jars. When fresh, +pulque, according to Mr. Ruxton, is brisk and sparkling, and the most +cooling, refreshing, and delectable drink ever invented for mortals when +athirst. The Mexicans call it “vino divino;” but, admirable as may be +its qualities, it needs to be very temperately used. + +Between Queretaro and Celaya the traveller gradually descends from the +table-lands, and the air comes upon him with a warm tropical breath. +Nopalos, or prickly-pears, line the road; the Indians collect the +fruit—which is savoury and invigorating—with a forked stick. At Silao +striking evidence of the geniality of the climate is supplied by the +variety of fruit exposed for sale: oranges, lemons, grapes, chirimoyas, +batatas, platanos, plantains, cumotes, grenadillas, mamayos, tunas, +pears, and apples—a list which would have delighted Keats’s Porphyro when +he was preparing a refection for his lady-love Madeline. But if fruit be +abundant, so are beggars and thieves; and Silao is not a comfortable +place to live in! Mexico, according to its climatic conditions, is +divided into three great divisions—the _Tierras Frias_, or Cold lands; +the _Tierras Templadas_, or Temperate lands; and the _Tierras Calientes_, +or Hot lands. From Celaya our travellers stooped down rapidly into the +_Tierra Caliente_, and the increased temperature was every day more +perceptibly felt. Jalisco, the most important town on their route, is +situated on the western declivity of Anahuac, a Cordillera which unites +the Andes of South and Central America with the great North American +chain of the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Ruxton describes the table-land on the +western ridge of the Cordillera as blessed with a fertile soil and a +temperate climate. It is studded with the populous towns of Silao, Leon, +Lagos, and Aguas Calientes. The central portion, of a lower elevation +and consequently higher temperature, produces cotton, cochineal, vanilla, +as well as every variety of cereal produce. While the littoral, or coast +region, teems with fertility, and lies in the shadow of immense forests, +unfortunately it is cursed by the ever-prevalent vomito, or yellow fever, +and its climate is scarcely less fatal to its inhabitants than to +strangers. + +At La Villa de Leon, a town celebrated for robbers and murderers, Mr. +Ruxton met with an adventure. About nine o’clock in the evening he was +returning from the plaza, which with its great lighted fires, the stalls +of the market-people, the strange garb of the peasantry, and the +snow-white sarapos, or cloaks, of the idlers of the town, presented a +stirring aspect, when, striking into a dark and narrow street, a group of +vagabonds, at the door of a pulque shop, detected that he was a stranger, +and, mistaking his nationality, yelled at him: “Let’s kill him, the +Texan!” Having no weapon but a bowie-knife, and not desiring an +encounter with such overwhelming numbers, he turned off into another +street; but the rascals followed him, renewing their wild cries. +Happily, a dark doorway invited him to seek its shelter, and while +crouching in its obscurity, he could see them rush by, knives in hand. +When he thought they had all passed, he stepped forth, to find himself +confronted by three wretches who brought up the rear, and who, +brandishing their knives and rushing headlong at him, cried, “Here he is, +here he is; kill him!” As the foremost rushed at him with uplifted +blade, he swiftly stepped aside, and at the same moment thrust at him +with his bowie. The robber fell on his knees with a cry of “Me ha +matado!” (“He has killed me!”), and fell on his face. One of his +companions hastened to his assistance; the other dashed upon Mr. Ruxton, +but, confused by his calm attitude of preparation, fell back a few paces, +and finally slunk away. Mr. Ruxton returned at once to his quarters, +ordered out the horses, and in a few minutes was on his road. + +By way of Aguas Calientes, a very pretty town, and Zacatecas, a populous +mining town, he proceeded towards the Hacienda (or farm) of San Nicolas, +with the view of traversing that singular volcanic region, the _Mal +Pais_. Down to a comparatively recent period, it would seem to have been +the theatre of plutonic phenomena of an extraordinary character. The +convexity of the district enables the traveller to judge very readily of +the extent of the convulsion, which has spread to a distance of twelve or +fourteen miles from the central crater. The said crater measures about +fifteen hundred feet in circumference, and its sides are covered with +dwarf oaks, mezquito, and cocoa trees, which find a rich nourishment in +the chinks and crevices of the lava. At the bottom stagnate the green +and slimy waters of a small lake, which is fringed with rank shrubs and +cacti, growing among huge blocks of lava and scoriæ. Not a breath of air +disturbs its inky surface, save when a huge water-snake undulates across +it, or a duck and her progeny swim out from their covert among the +bushes. + +“I led my horse,” says Mr. Ruxton, “down to the edge of the water, but he +refused to drink the slimy liquid, in which frogs, efts, and reptiles of +every kind were darting and diving. Many new and curious water-plants +floated near the margin, and one, lotus-leaved, with small delicate +tendrils, formed a kind of network on the water, with a superb crimson +flower, which exhibited a beautiful contrast with the inky blackness of +the pool. His Mexicans, as they passed this spot, crossed themselves +reverently, and muttered an _Ave Maria_; for in the lonely regions of the +Mal Pais, the superstitious Indian believes that demons and gnomes and +spirits of evil persons have their dwelling-places, whence they not +unfrequently pounce upon the solitary traveller, to carry him into the +cavernous bowels of the earth. The arched roof of the supposed +prison-house resounding to the tread of their horses as they pass the +dreaded spot, they feel a sudden dread, and, with rapidly muttered +prayers, they handle their amulets and charms to drive away the +treacherous bogies who invisibly beset the path.” + +From the Mal Pais Mr. Ruxton travelled onward to the rancho of La Punta, +a famous cattle-breeding station. + +In the preceding autumn it had been harried by a party of Comanche +Indians, who, one day, without warning, rode across the sierra and +swooped down upon it, killing, as they passed, the peones, or labourers, +whom they found at work in the road. On their appearance the men made no +attempt to defend the rancho, but fled at full speed, abandoning the +women and children to their terrible fate. Some were carried away +captives; some pierced with arrows and lances, and left for dead; others +made the victims of unspeakable outrages. The ranchero’s wife, with her +two adult daughters and several younger children, fled from the rancho at +the first alarm, to conceal themselves under a wooden bridge, which +crossed a neighbouring stream. For several hours they escaped detection; +but at last some Indians drew near their hiding-place, and a young chief +took his station on the bridge to issue his commands. With keen eyes he +examined the spot, and discovered the terror-stricken fugitives; but he +pretended not to have seen them, playing with them as a cat might with a +mouse. He hoped, he was heard to say, that he should find out where the +women were concealed, for he wanted a Mexican wife and a handful of +scalps. Then he leaped from the bridge, and thrust his lance under it +with a yell of exultation; the point pierced the woman’s arm, and she +shrieked aloud. She and her children were forthwith drawn from their +retreat. + +“Alas, alas, what a moment was that!” said the poor woman, as she told +her painful story. The savages brandished their tomahawks around her +children, and she thought that the last farewell had been taken. They +behaved, however, with unusual clemency; the captives were released, and +allowed to return to their home—to find it a wreck, and the ground strewn +with the dead bodies of their kinsmen and friends. + +“Ay de mi!” (“Woe is me!”) + +While at La Punta, our traveller was witness of the Mexican sport of the +“Coléa de toros” (or “bull-tailing”), for the enjoyment of which two or +three hundred rancheros had assembled from the neighbouring plantations. + +A hundred bulls were shut up in a large corral, or enclosure, at one end +of which had been erected a building for the convenience of the lady +spectators. The horsemen, brave in their picturesque Mexican costume, +were grouped around the corral, examining the animals as they were driven +to and fro in order to increase their excitement, while the ranchero +himself, and his sons, brandishing long lances, were busily engaged in +forcing the wilder and more active bulls into a second enclosure. When +this had been effected, the entrance was thrown open, and out dashed, +with glaring eyes, tossing head, and lashing tail, a fine bull, to gallop +at his topmost speed over the grassy plain before him, followed by the +whole crowd of shouting, yelling horsemen, each of whom endeavoured to +outstrip the other, and overtake the flying animal. At first they all +kept close together, riding very equally, and preserving excellent order, +but very soon superior skill or strength or daring began to tell, and in +front of the main body shot forth a few of the cavaliers. Heading them +all, in swift pursuit of the rolling cloud of dust which indicated the +bull’s track, rode the son of the ranchero, a boy about twelve years old; +and as he swayed this way and that when the bull doubled, the women made +the air ring with their shrill vivas. “Viva, Pepito! viva!” cried his +mother; and, dashing his spurs into his horse’s streaming flanks, the +brave lad ran the race. But before long the others came up with stealthy +strides; soon they were abreast of him. The pace quickened; the horses +themselves seemed to share the excitement; the men shouted, the women +screamed; each urged on her favourite—“Alza!—Bernardo!—Por mi amor, Juan +Maria!—Viva, Pepitito!” A stalwart Mexican, mounted on a fine roan, +eventually took the lead, and every moment increased the distance between +himself and his competitors. But Pepito’s quick eyes detected a sudden +movement of the bull, and saw that, concealed by the dust, he had wheeled +off at a sharp angle from his former course. In an instant Pepe did the +same, and dashed in front of him, amid a fresh outburst of cheers and +vivas. Getting on the bull’s left quarter, he stooped down to seize his +tail, and secure it under his right leg, so as to bring him to the +ground. But for a manœuvre which requires great muscular power, Pepe’s +strength was not equal to his spirit, and, in attempting it, he was +dragged from his saddle, and thrown to the ground, senseless. Several +horsemen had by this time come up, and the bold rider of the roan +galloping ahead, threw his right leg over the bull’s tail, and turning +his horse sharply outwards, upset the brute in the midst of his fiery +charge, rolling him over and over in the dust. + +Another bull was then let loose, and the wild ride recommenced; nor, +until the corral was empty, and every horse and horseman completely +spent, did the game cease. It is a rude game, though full of excitement; +a rude game, and, perhaps, a cruel one; but we must not be harsh in our +judgment, remembering that our English sports and pastimes have not +always been exempt from a taint of ferocity. + +A less manly and much more cruel equestrian game is called “el Gallo” +(“the Cock)”. Poor chanticleer is tied by the leg to a post driven into +the ground, or to a tree, his head and neck being well greased. At a +given signal the horsemen start all together, and he who first reaches +the bird, and seizing it by its neck, releases it from the fastenings, +carries off the prize. The well-greased neck generally eludes the eager +fingers of him who first clutches it; but whoever gets hold of the prize +is immediately pursued by the rest, intent upon depriving him of it. In +the _mêlée_ the unfortunate rooster is literally torn to pieces, which +the successful horsemen present as _gages d’amour_ to their lady-loves. + +At Durango, the capital of Northern Mexico, popularly known as “the City +of Scorpions,” the traveller was shown a large mass of malleable iron, +which lies isolated in the centre of the plain. It is supposed to be an +aerolite, because identical in physical character and composition with +certain aerolites which fell in some part of Hungary in 1751. Durango is +650 miles from Mexico, and, according to Humboldt, 6845 feet above the +sea. At the time of Mr. Ruxton’s visit, it was expecting an attack from +the Comanche Indians, of whose sanguinary ferocity he tells the following +“owre true” story:— + +Half-way between Durango and Chihuahua, in the Rio Florido valley, lived +a family of hardy vaqueros, or cattle-herders, the head of whom, a +stalwart man of sixty, rejoiced in the sobriquet of El Coxo (“The +Cripple”). He had eight sons, bold, resolute, vigorous fellows, famous +for their prowess in horsemanship, their daring and skill at the “colea” +or “el Gallo.” Of this goodly company, reminding us of the Nortons in +Wordsworth’s “White Doe of Rylstone”— + + “None for beauty or for worth + Like those eight sons—who, in a ring + (Ripe men, or blooming in life’s spring), + Each with a lance, erect and tall, + A falchion and a buckler small, + Stood by their sire,”— + +the handsomest and most skilful was, perhaps, the third, by name +Escamilla, “a proper lad of twenty, five feet ten out of his zapatos, +straight as an organo, and lithesome as a reed.” Having been educated at +Queretaro, he was more refined than his brothers, and had acquired a +taste for dress, which enabled him to set off his comeliness to the best +advantage, and made him the cynosure of “the bright eyes” of all the +neighbouring rancheras. Next to him came Juan Maria, who was scarcely +less skilful, and certainly not less daring than his brother, and by good +judges was reputed to be even handsomer, that is, manlier and more +robust, though inferior in polish of manner and picturesqueness of +appearance. Until Escamilla’s return from Queretaro, he had always been +victor at “el Gallo” and the “colea,” and had laid his spoils at the feet +of the beauty of the valley, Isabel Mora, a charming black-eyed damsel of +sixteen, called from the hacienda where she resided, Isabel de la Cadena. +It was understood that she accepted them with pleasure, and rewarded the +suitor with her smiles. + +But the course of true love never does run smooth, and in this instance +it was fated to be interrupted by fraternal treachery. Escamilla +contrived to win the fickle beauty’s affections from his brother, who, +however, instead of resenting the deceit, magnanimously forgave it, and +withdrew all pretensions to her hand. Escamilla and Isabel were duly +affianced, and a day was fixed for their marriage, which was to take +place at the bride’s hacienda; and in honour of the occasion a grand +“funcion de toros” was proclaimed, to which all the neighbours (the +nearest of whom, by the way, was forty miles distant) were duly invited. + +Two days before the appointed wedding-day, El Coxo and his eight sons +made their appearance, extorting an admiring murmur from all beholders +as, mounted on superb steeds, they rode gaily into the hacienda. + +On the following day, leaving Escamilla at home El Coxo and the rest of +his sons accompanied the master of the hacienda into the plains, to +assist him in the arduous work of driving in the bulls required for the +morrow’s sport; while the other rancheros were busy in constructing the +large corral intended to secure them. + +Evening was drawing near; the sun dropped rapidly behind the rugged crest +of the sierra, investing each ridge and precipice with a luminous glory +of gold and purple; while the cold grey shadow of the coming night was +swiftly creeping over the plain beneath. The cry of the cranes was heard +in the silence, as, wedge-shaped, like the Macedonian phalanx of old, +they pursued their aerial flight; the shrill pipe of the mother quail +summoned together her foraging progeny; the brown hare stole from its +covert and prowled about in search of food; and the lowing cattle +assembled on the bank of the stream to quench their thirst before they +were driven to their stalls. The peones, or labourers of the farm, with +slow gait were returning from the scene of their day’s work; while at the +doors of the cottages the women, with naked arms, were pounding the +tortillas on stone slabs in preparation for the evening meal. Everything +indicated that the hours of labour had passed, and those of rest and +refreshment come. + +Escamilla and Isabel were wandering among the hushed pastures, where the +last rays of the sun still lingered with a soft subdued radiance, +building those airy castles in the construction of which happy youth is +always so eager and so dexterous. In the distance they saw a little +cloud of dust rising from the plain; in another direction they heard the +shouts of the returning cowherds, and the heavy hoofs of the bulls they +were driving towards the corral. In advance rode a single horseman, +swiftly making for the hacienda. + +Meanwhile, the cloud of dust rolled onwards rapidly, and out of it +emerged several cavaliers, who suddenly dashed towards the two happy +lovers. “Here come the bull-fighters,” exclaimed Isabel; and with +natural modesty she added, “Let us return.” + +“Perhaps they are my father and brothers,” answered Escamilla. “Yes, +look; there are eight of them. Do you not see?” + +Ay, she _did_ see, as her gaze rested on the group of horsemen, who, +thundering across the mead, were now within a few yards of them. She +_did_ see, and the blood ran cold in her veins, and her face turned white +with fear; for they were Comanche Indians, naked to the waist, horrible +in their war-paint, and fierce with brandished spears. Escamilla saw +them, too, and shrieking, “Los barbaros! los barbaros!” he fled with +rapid foot, and, like a coward, abandoned his affianced to her fate. + +A horseman met him: it was Juan Maria, who, having lassoed a little +antelope on the plains, was riding in advance of his company to present +it to the fickle Isabel. Glancing around, he saw her imminent danger; +flung down the animal he was carrying in his arms, dashed his spurs +desperately into his horse’s sides, and hastened to her rescue. “Salva +me, Juan Maria!” she cried, “salva me!” (“save me”). But the +bloodthirsty savages were before him. With a ferocious whoop, the +foremost plunged his spear into her heart, and in a moment her scalp was +hanging from his saddle-bow. He did not long enjoy his triumph. A +clatter of hoofs caused him to turn; and, behold, Juan Maria, with lasso +swinging round his head, and his heart beating with the desire of +vengeance, rode fiercely towards the murderer, heedless of the storm of +arrows that rained upon him. The savage shrank from the encounter; but +the open coil of the lasso, whirling through the air, fell over his head, +and dragged him to the ground with a fatal crash. + +The odds, however, were against Juan Maria, who, surrounded by Indians, +had no other weapon than a small machete, or rusty sword. Bating not one +jot of heart or hope, he rushed on the nearest Indian, and dealt a blow +at his head, which cleft it open; the savage fell dead. Daunted by the +Mexican’s surpassing courage, the others kept at a distance, discharging +their swift arrows, and piercing him with many wounds. Spurring his +horse towards them, he fought on bravely, cheered by the shouts of his +father and brothers, who were galloping full speed to his support. +Before they could reach him, an arrow, discharged at but a few paces’ +distance, penetrated his heart. He slipped heavily from his horse, and +one of the Comanches rode away in triumph, with the heroic Mexican’s +scalp as a trophy. + +At that moment the Indians were reinforced by some thirty or forty of +their tribe, and a desperate struggle ensued between them and El Coxo and +his sons. The latter, burning with rage at the death of their brother, +fought with such eager courage, that, outnumbered as they were, they slew +half a dozen of the Comanches. It is probable, however, they would have +been overpowered but for the arrival of the rancheros, who, coming up +from the hacienda, put the Indians to flight. As night had darkened in +the sky, they did not pursue; but returned to the hacienda with the dead +bodies of Juan Maria and Isabel, who were buried the next day, side by +side, at the very hour that had been fixed for the unfortunate Isabel’s +marriage. As for Escamilla, ashamed of his cowardice, he was seen no +more in the valley of the Rio Florido, but settled at Queretaro, where he +afterwards married. + +This tragedy occurred on the 11th of October, 1845. + + * * * * * + +From Durango Mr. Ruxton proceeded westward for Chihuahua and New Mexico. +On the second day of his journey an unpleasant incident very sternly +convinced him of the treachery and bloodthirstiness of the lower +Mexicans. He was riding slowly ahead of his native attendant, whom he +had hired at Durango, when the sudden report of fire-arms, and the whiz +of a bullet close to his head, caused him to turn sharply round, and he +beheld his amiable mozo [young man], pistol in hand, some fifteen yards +behind him, looking guilty as well as foolish. Drawing a pistol from his +holsters, Mr. Ruxton rode up to him immediately, and was about to blow +out his brains, when his terror-stricken and absurdly guilty-looking face +turned his employer’s wrath into “an immoderate fit of laughter.” + +“Amigo,” said Mr. Ruxton, “do you call this being skilled, as you +boasted, in the use of arms, to miss my head at fifteen yards?” + +“Ah, caballero, in the name of all the saints, I did not fire at you, but +at a duck which was flying over the road. Your worship cannot believe I +would do such a thing.” Now, the pistols which Mr. Ruxton had given him +to carry were secured in a pair of holsters tightly buckled and strapped +round his waist. To unbuckle them at any time was difficult; to unbuckle +them in time to get one out to fire at a flying duck, was impossible. +Mr. Ruxton knew that the duck was an invention, and a clumsy one, and to +prevent another treacherous attack, took from the fellow everything in +the shape of offensive weapon, including even his knife. Then, after +lecturing him severely, he administered a sound thrashing with the +buckle-end of his surcingle, and promised him that, if he were suspected +of even dreaming of another attempt at murder, he would be pistolled +without a moment’s hesitation. + +After narrowly escaping a collision with a party of Indians, Mr. Ruxton +reached a place called El Gallo, where he resided for a couple of days in +the house of a farmer. He tells us that in a rancho the time is occupied +as follows:—The females of the family rise at daybreak, and prepare the +chocolate, or alde, which is eaten the first thing in the morning. About +nine o’clock, breakfast is served, consisting of chile colorado, frijoles +(beans), and tortillas (omelettes). Dinner, which takes place at noon, +and supper at sunset, are both substantial meals. Meanwhile, the men +employ themselves in the fields or attending to the animals; the women +about the house, making clothes, cleaning, cooking, washing. In the +evening the family shell corn, and chat; or a guitar is brought, and +singing and dancing are continued until it is time to retire. + +Riding onward from El Gallo, Mr. Ruxton turned aside from the regular +route to kill an antelope and broil a collop for breakfast. He was +descending the sierra to quench his thirst at a stream which flowed +through a cañon, or deep ravine, when a herd of antelopes passed him, and +stopped to feed on a grassy plateau near at hand. He started in pursuit. +As soon as he got within rifle-shot, he crept between two rocks at the +edge of the hollow, and raised his head to reconnoitre, when he saw a +sight which startled him, as the footprint on the sand startled Robinson +Crusoe. About two hundred yards from the cañon, and scarcely twice that +distance from his place of concealment, eleven Comanches, duly equipped +for war, each with lance and bow and arrow, and the chief with a rifle +also, were riding along in Indian file. They were naked to the waist, +their buffalo robes being thrown off their shoulders, and lying on their +hips and across the saddle, which was a mere pad of buffalo-skin. Slowly +they drew towards the cañon, as if to cross it by a deer-path near the +spot where Mr. Ruxton lay concealed. The odds were great; but he was +advantageously posted, and he held in readiness his rifle, a +double-barrelled carbine, and a couple of pistols. If he were attacked, +he thought he could make a good defence; but, if unobserved, he had +nothing to gain by attacking them. On they came, laughing and talking, +and Mr. Ruxton, raising his rifle and supporting it in the fork of a bush +which served as a screen, covered the chief with deadly aim. On they +came, but suddenly diverged from the deer-path and struck across the +plain, thereby saving the chief’s life, and probably Mr. Ruxton’s. As +soon as they had disappeared, he recrossed the sierra, and returned for +the night to El Gallo. + +The next stage from El Gallo was Mapimi, situated at the foot of a range +of mountains which teems with the precious metals. There he got rid of +his mozo, or native attendant, and engaged in his place a little +Irishman, who had been eighteen years in Mexico, and had almost forgotten +his own language. He readily agreed to accompany him to Chihuahua, +having no fear of the Indians, though they infested the country through +which the travellers would have to pass. They reached Chihuahua, +however, without misadventure. Its territory is described as a paradise +for sportsmen. The common black or American bear, and the formidable +grizzly bear, inhabit the sierras and mountains; and in the latter is +found the carnero cimarron, or big-horn sheep. Elk, black-tailed deer, +cola-arieta (a large species of the fallow deer), the common American red +deer, and antelope, are everywhere abundant. Of smaller game the most +numerous are peccaries, hares, and rabbits; and in the streams the +beavers still construct their dams. There are two varieties of wolf—the +white, or mountain wolf, and the cayeute, or coyote, commonly called the +prairie-dog. Of birds the most common are the faisan (a species of +pheasant), snipe, plover, crane, and the quail, or rather a bird between +a partridge and a quail. + +The entomologist would find much to interest him in the plains of +Chihuahua, and especially an insect which seems almost peculiar to that +part of Mexico. From four to six inches in length, it has four long +slender legs. Its body, to the naked eye, seems nothing more than a +blade of grass, and has no apparent muscular action or vitality except in +the two antennæ, which are about half an inch long. It moves very slowly +upon its long legs, and altogether looks not unlike a blade of grass +carried by ants. The Mexicans assert that if horse or mule swallow these +zacateros (so called from _zacato_, grass), it invariably dies; but the +assertion may well be doubted. The variety of spiders, bugs, and beetles +is endless, including the tarantula and the cocuyo, or lantern-bug. Of +reptiles the most common are the rattlesnake and the copper-head: both +are poisonous; and the sting of the scorpion is fatal under some +conditions. The grotesque but harmless cameleon abounds in the plains. +On the American prairies it is known as the “horned frog.” + +Vegetation is very scanty in Chihuahua. The shrub that covers its +plains, the mezquit, is a species of acacia, growing to a height of ten +or twelve feet. The seeds, contained in a small pod, resemble those of +the laburnum, and are used by the Apache Indians to make a kind of bread, +or cake, which is not unpleasant to the taste. This constantly recurring +and ugly shrub, according to Mr. Ruxton, becomes quite an eyesore to the +traveller who crosses the mezquit-covered plains. It is the only thing +in the shape of a tree seen for hundreds of miles, except here and there +a solitary alamo or willow, overhanging a spring, and invariably +bestowing its name on the rancho or hacienda which may generally be found +in the vicinity of water. Thus day after day the traveller passed the +ranchos of El Sauz, Los Sauzes, Los Sauzilles—the willow, the willows, +the little willows,—or El Alamo, Los Alamitos—the poplar, the little +poplars. The last is the only timber found on the streams in northern +Mexico, and on the Del Norte and the Arkansas it grows to a great size. + + * * * * * + +Leaving Chihuahua, Mr. Ruxton set out for the capital of New Mexico, +escorted by three dragoons of the regiment of Vera Cruz, and carrying +despatches from the governor to the commander of the American troops then +posted on the frontier. At El Paso del Norte he entered a valley of +great fertility; but this delightful change of scenery lasted only as far +as San Diego, where begins the dreaded and dreadful wilderness +significantly known as the _Jornada del Muerto_, or “Dead Man’s Journey.” +Not only is it cursed by an absolute want of water and pasture, but it is +the favourite foraging-ground of the Apache Indians, who are always on +the alert to surprise the unwary traveller, to plunder and kill him. +There is no vegetation but artemisia (sago) and screw-wood (torscilla). +About half-way lies a hollow or depression called the _Laguna del +Muerto_, or “Dead Man’s Lake,” but this is hard and dry except in the +rainy season. Mr. Ruxton’s horses suffered considerably, but the “Dead +Man’s Journey” of ninety-five or one hundred miles was performed, +nevertheless, without accident in twenty-four hours. + +At Fray Cristoval Mr. Ruxton came upon the river Del Norte, and thence +pushed along its banks to the ruins of Valverde, where, encamped in the +shade of noble trees, he found a trading caravan and a United States +surveying party, under the command of a Lieutenant Abert. The traders’ +waggons were drawn up so as to form a corral, or square—a laager, as the +Boers of South Africa call it—constituting a truly formidable encampment, +which, lined with the fire of some hundred rifles, could defy the attacks +of Indians or Mexicans. “Scattered about,” says Mr. Ruxton, “were tents +and shanties of logs and branches of every conceivable form, round which +lounged wild-looking Missourians; some looking at the camp-fires, some +cleaning their rifles or firing at targets—‘blazes’ cut in the trees—with +a bull’s-eye made with wet powder on the white bark. From morning till +night the camp resounded with the popping of rifles, firing at marks for +prizes of tobacco, or at any living creature which presented itself. The +oxen, horses, and mules were sent out at daylight to pasture on the grass +of the prairie, and at sunset made their appearance, driven in by the +Mexican herders, and were secured for the night in the corrals. My own +animals roamed at will, but every evening came to the river to drink, and +made their way to my camp, where they would frequently stay round the +fire all night. They never required herding, for they made their +appearance as regularly as the day closed, and would come to my whistle +whenever I required my hunting mule.” + +Mr. Ruxton remained several days at Valverde in order to recruit his +animals. He amused himself by hunting. Deer and antelope were +plentiful; so were turkeys, hares, rabbits, and quail on the plain, geese +and ducks in the river; and he had even a shot—an unsuccessful one—at a +painter, or panther. In some men the love of sport amounts to a passion, +and in Mr. Ruxton it seems to have been equalled or surpassed only by his +love of adventure. But about the middle of December the camp broke up, +the traders departing for Fray Cristoval; while Mr. Ruxton resumed his +northward journey, in company with Lieutenant Abert’s party. Crossing +the Del Norte, he arrived at Socorro, the first settlement of New Mexico +upon this river. Here the houses are _not_ painted, but the women _are_; +they stain their faces, from forehead to chin, with the fire-red juice of +the alegria, to protect the skin from the effects of the sun. At +Galisteo he met with a typical Yankee, of the kind Sam Slick has made us +familiar with—a kind that is rapidly dying out,—sharp, active, +self-reliant; a cunning mixture of inquisitiveness, shrewdness, and good +nature. On reaching Mr. Ruxton’s encampment he unyoked his twelve oxen, +approached the camp-fire, and seated himself almost in the blaze, +stretching his long lean legs at the same time into the ashes. Then he +began: “Sich a poor old country, I say! Wall, strangers, an ugly camp +this, I swar; and what my cattle ull do I don’t know, for they have not +eat since we put out of Santa Fé, and are very near give out, that’s a +fact; and thar’s nothin’ here for ’em to eat, surely. Wall, they must +jist hold on till to-morrow, for I have only got a pint of corn apiece +for ’em tonight anyhow, so there’s no two ways about that. Strangers, I +guess now you’ll have a skillet among ye; if yev a mind to trade, I’ll +jist have it right off; anyhow, I’ll jist borrow it to-night to bake my +bread, and, if you wish to trade, name your price. . . . Sich a poor old +country, say I! Jist look at them oxen, wull ye!—they’ve nigh upon two +hundred miles to go; for I’m bound to catch up the sogers afore they +reach the Pass, and there’s not a go in ’em.” + +“Well,” remarked Mr. Ruxton, “would it not be as well for you to feed +them at once and let them rest?” + +“Wall, I guess if you’ll some of you lend me a hand, I’ll fix ’em right +off; tho’, I tell you! they’ve give me a pretty lot of trouble, they +have, I tell you! but the critturs will have to eat, I b’lieve!” + +The aid asked for was given, and some corn added to the scanty rations +which he put before his wearied and hungry oxen. When they had been +fixed, the Yankee returned to the fire and baked his cake, fried his +bacon, and made his coffee, while his tongue kept up an incessant +clatter. He was all alone, with a journey of two hundred miles before +him, and his waggon and twelve oxen to look after; his sole thought and +object, however, were dollars, dollars, dollars! He caught up every +article he saw lying about, wondered what it cost and what it was worth, +offered to trade for it, or for anything else which anybody might be +disposed to offer, never waiting for an answer, but rattling on, eating +and drinking and talking without pause; until at last, gathering himself +up, he said, “Wall, I guess I’ll turn into my waggon now, and some of you +will, maybe, give a look round at the cattle every now and then, and I’ll +thank you.” No sooner said than done. With a hop, step, and a jump, he +sprang into his waggon, and was snoring in a couple of minutes. + +Next morning, at daybreak, while he was still asleep, Mr. Ruxton resumed +his journey, and before evening entered Santa Fé, after a ride in all of +nearly two thousand miles. + +There was nothing in Santa Fé to repay him for all he had undergone in +getting there. The houses were built of sun-dried mud, and every other +one was a grocery, that is, a gin or whisky shop, where Mexicans and +Americans were drinking eagerly or playing monté. The streets were +filled with brawlers, among whom Pueblo Indians and priests endeavoured +to make their way. Donkey-loads of hoja, or corn-shucks, were hawked +about for sale. It was noise everywhere; noise and filth, dirt and +drink. The town contains about 3500 inhabitants, and lies at the foot of +a summit of the eastern chain of the Rocky Mountains, about fourteen +miles from the river Del Norte. As for the province, it covers an area +of 6000 square miles, with a population of 70,000, divided among the +Mexico-Spanish (descendants of the original settlers), the Mestizos (or +half-castes), and the Indian Manzos or Pueblos (the aboriginal +inhabitants). + +Mr. Ruxton was so disgusted with Santa Fé, that in a very few days he had +packed his mules, taken his leave of its profanity, drunkenness, and +squalidness, and, through the valley of Taos, continued his northward +route. The landscape was now ennobled by the majesty of the Rocky +Mountains, with cool green valleys and misty plains lying among them, +through which the river had hewn its way in deep rocky cañons. The +scenery had assumed a new character of grandeur, and Mr. Ruxton surveyed +it with admiration. At the Rio Colorado he crossed the United States +frontier, and plunged into the wild expanse of snow, with towering peaks +rising on every side, that lay before him; his object being to cross the +Rocky Mountains by the trail or track of the Ute Indians, and strike the +river Arkansas near its head-waters. The cold was intense, and when a +cutting wind swept over the bleak plains or roared through the wooded +valleys, the hardy traveller found scarcely endurable. + +Stricken almost to the heart, he suffered the antelope that bounded +past—hunter as he was!—to go unscathed. His hands, rigid as those of +“the Commandant” in the statue-scene of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” dropped +the reins of his horse, and allowed him to travel as he pleased. The +half-breed who attended him, wrapped himself round in his blanket, and +heaved a sigh at the thought of the fine venison that was being lost. At +length, a troop of some three thousand swept almost over them, and Mr. +Ruxton’s instincts as a sportsman prevailed over the inertness and +deadness induced by the icy air; he sprang from his horse, knelt down, +and sent a bullet right into the midst. At the report two antelopes +leaped into the air, to fall prostrate in the dust; one of them shot in +the neck, through which the ball had passed into the body of the other. +While he was cutting up the prize, half a dozen wolves howled around, +drawn to the spot by the scent of blood. A couple of these creatures, +tamed by hunger, gradually drew nearer, occasionally crouching on their +haunches, and licking their eager lips as if already partaking of the +banquet. Mr. Ruxton flung at them a large piece of meat; whereupon the +whole pack threw themselves upon it, growling and fighting, and actually +tearing each other in the wild, fierce fray. “I am sure,” says our +traveller, “I might have approached near enough to have seized one by the +tail, so entirely regardless of my vicinity did they appear. They were +doubtless rendered more ravenous than usual by the uncommon severity of +the weather, and from the fact of the antelope congregating in large +bands, were unable to prey upon these animals, which are their favourite +food. Although rarely attacking a man, yet in such seasons as the +present I have no doubt that they would not hesitate to charge upon a +solitary traveller in the night, particularly as in winter they +congregate in troops of from ten to fifty. They are so abundant in the +mountains, that the hunter takes no notice of them, and seldom throws +away upon the skulking beasts a charge of powder and lead.” + +Mr. Ruxton pitched his camp at Rib Creek one night; at La Culebra, or +Snake Creek, the next; at La Trinchera, or Bowl Creek, on the third. The +cold continued excessive. The blast seemed to carry death upon its +wings; snow and sleet fell in heavy showers; the streams were covered +with a solid crust of ice. But the worst part of the journey was through +the Vallerito, or Little Valley—the “Wind-trap,” as the mountaineers +expressively call it—a small circular basin in the midst of rugged +mountains, which receives the winds through their deep gorges and down +their precipitous sides, and pens them up in its confined area to battle +with one another, and with the unfortunates who are forced to traverse +it. How they beat and rage and howl and roar! How they buffet the +traveller in the face, and clasp him round the body as if they would +strangle him! How they dash against the stumbling mules, and whirl the +thick snow about them, and plunge them into dense deep drifts, where they +lie half buried! This “Wind-trap” is only four miles long; and yet Mr. +Ruxton was more than half a day in getting through it. + +Once clear of it, he began the ascent of the mountain which forms the +watershed of the Del Norte and Arkansas rivers. The view from the summit +was as wild and drear as one of the circles in Dante’s “Inferno.” +Looking back, the traveller saw everywhere a dense white pall or shroud +of snow, which seemed to conceal but partially the rigid limbs of the +dead and frozen earth. In front of him stretched the main chain of the +Rocky Mountains, dominated by the lofty crest of James’s or Pike’s Peak; +to the south-east, large against the sky, loomed the grim bulk of the two +Cumbres Españolas. At his feet, a narrow valley, green with dwarf oak +and pine, was brightened by the glancing lights of a little stream. +Everywhere against the horizon rose rugged summits and ridges, snow-clad +and pine-clad, and partly separated by rocky gorges. To the eastward the +mountain mass fell off into detached spires and buttresses, and descended +in broken terraces to the vast prairies, which extended far beyond the +limit of vision, “a sea of seeming barrenness, vast and dismal.” As the +traveller gazed upon them, billows of dust swept over the monotonous +surface, impelled by a driving hurricane. Soon the mad wind reached the +mountain-top, and splintered the tall pines, and roared and raved in its +insatiable fury, and filled the air with great whirls of snow, and heaped +it up in dazzling drifts against the trees. Its stern voice made the +silence and the solitude all the more palpable. For not a sound of bird +or beast was to be heard; nor was there sign or token of human life. In +such a scene man is made to feel his own littleness. In the presence of +the giant forces of Nature he seems so mean and powerless that his heart +sinks within him, and his brain grows dizzy, until he remembers that +behind those forces is a Power, eternal and supreme—a Power that seeks +not to destroy, but to bless and comfort and save. + +With no little difficulty, Mr. Ruxton and his guide conveyed their mules +and horses down the steep eastern side of the mountain into the valley +beneath. Across Greenhorn Creek they pushed forward to the banks of the +San Carlos; and fourteen miles beyond, they struck the Arkansas, a few +hundred yards above the mouth of Boiling Spring River. There he was +hospitably entertained in the “lodge” of a certain mountaineer and +ex-trapper, John Hawkins. + +The home and haunt of the trapper is the vast region of forest and +prairie known as the Far West. He extends his operations from the +Mississippi to the mouth of the western Colorado, from the frozen wastes +of the north to the Gila in Mexico; making war against every animal whose +skin or fur is of any value, and exhibiting in its pursuit the highest +powers of endurance and tenacity, a reckless courage, and an +inexhaustible fertility of resource. On starting for a hunt, whether as +the “hired hand” of a fur company, or working on his own account, he +provides himself with two or three horses or mules—one for saddle, the +others for packs—and six traps, which are carried in a leather bag called +a “trap-sack.” In a wallet of dressed buffalo-skin, called a +“possible-sack,” he carries his ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, and +dressed deerskins for mocassins and other articles. When hunting, he +loads his saddle mule with the “possible” and “trap-sack;” the furs are +packed on the baggage mules. His costume is a hunting shirt of dressed +buckskin, ornamented with long fringes; and pantaloons of the same +material, but decorated with porcupine quills and long fringes down the +outside of the leg. His head bears a flexible felt hat; his feet are +protected by mocassins. Round his neck is slung his pipe-holder, +generally a love token, in the shape of a heart, garnished with beads and +porcupine quills. Over his left shoulder and under his right arm hang +his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, in which are stored his balls, flint +and steel, and all kinds of “odds and ends.” A large butcher-knife, in a +sheath of buffalo-hide, is carried in a belt, and fastened to it by a +chain or guard of steel. A tomahawk is also often added, and a long +heavy rifle is necessarily included in the equipment. + +Thus provided (we quote now from Mr. Ruxton), and having determined the +locality of his trapping-ground, he starts for the mountains, sometimes +with three or four companions, as soon as the worst of the winter has +passed. When he reaches his hunting-grounds, he follows up the creeks +and streams, vigilantly looking out for “sign.” If he observes a +cotton-wood tree lying prone, he examines it to discover if its fall be +the work of the beaver; and, if so, whether “thrown” for the purpose of +food, or to dam the stream, and raise the water to a level with its +burrow. The track of the beaver on the mud or sand under the bank is +also examined; and if the “sign” be fresh, he sets his trap in the run of +the animal, hiding it under water, and attaching it by a stout chain to a +picket driven in the bank, or to a bush or tree. A “float-stick” is +fastened to the trap by a cord a few feet long, which, if the animal +carry away the trap, floats on the water and indicates its position. The +trap is baited with the “medicine,” an oily substance obtained from a +gland in the scrotum of the beaver. Into this is dipped a stick, which +is planted over the trap; and the beaver, attracted by the smell, and +wishing a close inspection, very foolishly puts his leg into the trap, +and falls a victim to his curiosity. + +When “a lodge” is discovered, the trap is set at the edge of the dam, at +the point where the amphibious animals pass from deep to shoal water, but +always beneath the surface. In early morning the hunter mounts his mule, +and examines his traps. The captured animals are skinned, and the tails, +a great dainty, carefully packed into camp. The skin is then stretched +over a hoop or framework of osier twigs, and is allowed to dry, the flesh +and fatty substance being industriously scraped or “grained.” When dry, +it is folded into a square sheet, with the fur turned inwards, and the +bundle of ten to twenty skins, well pressed and carefully corded, is +ready for exportation. + +During the hunt, regardless of Indian vicinity, the fearless trapper +wanders far and near in search of “sign.” His nerves must always be in a +state of tension; his energies must always rally at his call. His eagle +eye sweeps round the country, and in an instant detects any unusual +appearance. A turned leaf, a blade of grass pressed down, the uneasiness +of the wild animals, the flight of birds, are all paragraphs to him, +written in Nature’s legible hand and plainest language. The subtle +savage summons his utmost craft and cunning to gain an advantage over the +wily white woodman; but, along with the natural instinct of primitive +man, the white hunter has the advantages of the civilized mind, and, thus +provided, seldom fails to baffle, under equal advantages, his Indian +adversary. + + * * * * * + +While hunting in the Arkansas valley, Mr. Ruxton met with many exciting +experiences; the most serious being that of a night in the snow. +Suspecting that some Indians had carried off his mules, he seized his +rifle, and went in search of them, and coming upon what he supposed to be +their track, followed it up with heroic patience for ten miles. He then +discovered that he had made a mistake; retraced his steps to the camp, +and, with his friend, struck in another direction. This time he hit on +the right trail, and was well pleased to find that the animals were not +in Indian hands, as their ropes evidently still dragged along the ground. +Carrying a lariat and saddle-blanket, so as to ride back on the mules if +they were caught, away went the two dauntless hunters, nor did they stop +to rest until midnight. Then, in the shelter of a thicket and on the +bank of a stream, they kindled a fire, and thankfully lay down within +reach of its genial influence. Alas! a gale of wind at that moment +arose, and scattering the blazing brands to right and left, soon ignited +the dry grass and bushes; so that, to prevent a general conflagration, +they were compelled to extinguish their fire. To prevent themselves from +being frozen to death, they started again in pursuit of the missing +animals, following the trail by moonlight across the bare cold prairies. +Next day their labours were rewarded by the recovery of the mules, and +Mr. Ruxton and his Irish companion began to think of returning. The +latter, by agreement, made at once for the trapper’s cabin; Ruxton, with +the animals, turned off in search of some provisions and packs that had +been left in their hunting encampment. Since morning the sky had +gradually clouded over, and towards sunset had blackened into a dense, +heavy, rolling darkness. The wind had gone down, and a dead, unnatural +calm, the sure precursor of a storm, reigned over the face of nature. +The coyote, mindful of the coming disturbance, was trotting back to his +burrow, and the raven, with swift wings, laboured towards the shelter of +the woods. + +Lower and lower sank the clouds, until the very bases of the mountains +were hidden, and the firmament and the earth seemed mingled together. +Though neither branch nor spray was stirred, the valley rang with a +hoarse murmur. Through the gloom the leafless branches of the huge +cotton-wood trees protruded like the gaunt arms of fleshless phantoms. +The whole scene was eery and weird, impressing the mind with an +indefinable sense of awe, with an apprehension of approaching disaster. +The traveller turned his animals towards the covert of the wood; and +they, quivering with terror, were not less eager than himself to gain it. +Two-thirds of the distance still lay before them, when the windows of +heaven opened, and the storm broke, and a tremendous roar filled the +valley, and thick showers of sleet descended, freezing as it fell. The +lonely traveller’s hunting-shirt was soaked through in a moment, and in +another moment frozen hard. The enormous hailstones, beating on his +exposed head and face—for the wind had carried away his cap—almost +stunned and blinded him. The mule he bestrode was suddenly caparisoned +with a sheet of ice. To ride was impossible. He sprang to the ground, +and wrapped himself in the saddle-cloth. As the storm beat in front of +them, the animals wheeled away from the wood, turned their backs upon it, +and made for the open prairies; still, through the intense darkness, +whirled and buffeted in clouds of driving snow, Mr. Ruxton steadfastly +followed them. His sufferings were indescribable; but he persevered. +The wind chilled his blood; the sleet wounded his eyes; with difficulty +his weary feet toiled through the gathering snow, which was soon two feet +in depth; but he persevered. This quality of tenaciousness, without +which no man can become a successful traveller, any more than he can +become a successful musician, painter, sculptor, engineer, Mr. Ruxton +possessed in an eminent degree. He pursued the frightened animals across +the darkening prairie, until, suddenly, on the leeward side of a tuft of +bushes, they stood still. Some vain attempts he made to turn them +towards the wood; they would not move; so that at length, completely +exhausted, and seeing before him nothing but inevitable death, he sank +down behind them in the deep snow, covering his head with his blanket—far +away from human habitation,—far away from all help, but that of God! + +Ah, what a night was that! How the wind roared over the frozen plain! +How the snow rolled before it in dense huge billows, that took in the +darkness a sombre greyish colour! What horrible sounds surged upon the +ear and brain of the benumbed watcher, as, with his head on his knees, +pressed down by the snow as by a leaden weight, with the chilled blood +scarcely flowing in his veins, and an icy torpor threatening to arrest +the very motion of his heart, he struggled against the temptation of a +slumber from which he knew that he should wake no more on earth! Once +yield to that fatal sleep, and farewell to life! Yet how he longed to +close his aching eyes, to rest his weary brain, to cease from the tumult +of thought and feeling that confused and exhausted him! Every now and +then the mules would groan heavily, and fall upon the snow, and again +struggle to their legs. Every now and then the yell of famished wolves +arose in the pauses of the storm. So passed the night, or, rather, to +the hunter it seemed as if it were prolonging itself into day; each +second was lengthened into a minute, each minute into an hour. At last, +by keeping his hands buried in the bosom of his hunting-shirt, he so far +restored their natural warmth, that he was able to strike a match and set +light to his pipe, a large one made of cotton-wood bark, that chanced, by +great good fortune, to be filled with tobacco to the brim. This he +smoked with intense delight, and no doubt the stimulus it afforded saved +his life. + +He was sinking, however, into a dreamy drowsiness, when he was roused by +a movement among the mules, which cheered him by proving that they were +still alive. With some difficulty he lifted his head to get a look at +the weather, but all was pitch dark. Was it still night? Suddenly he +remembered that he was buried deep in snow, and thrusting his arm above +him, he worked out a hole, through which he could see the sheen of stars +and the glimmer of blue sky. After one or two efforts, he contrived to +stand on his feet, and then he discovered that morning was dawning slowly +in the east, whore the horizon was clear of clouds. By dint of constant +exertion he regained the use of his limbs, and, springing on his horse, +drove the mules before him at full speed across the prairie, and through +the valley, until he reached the Arkansas, where he was welcomed as one +who had risen from the grave. It took him two days, however, to recover +from the effects of that fearful night among the snow. + +One of Mr. Ruxton’s most agreeable excursions was to the Boiling Spring +River and the Boiling Fountains, which he found to be situated in the +midst of picturesque combinations of wood and rock. These celebrated +springs issue from round holes in a large, flat white rock, at some +distance from each other; the gas escapes with a hissing sound, like that +of water in a state of ebullition; and the taste is peculiarly +refreshing, like that of, but seeming more pungent than, the very best +soda-water. The Indians call them the “medicine” springs, and regard +them with superstitious reverence as the haunts of a spirit, who, by +breathing through the transparent fluid, causes the perturbation of its +surface. As to this water-spirit the Arapahoes attribute the power of +preventing the success or bringing about the failure of their war +expeditions, they never pass the springs without leaving there some +propitiatory offerings, such as beads, wampum, knives, pieces of red +cloth, strips of deerskin, and mocassins. The country round about was +formerly in the hands of the Shoshone, or Snake Indians, of whom the +Comanches are a branch: the latter now dwell to the east of the Rocky +Mountains; the former to the west, or in the recesses of the mountains +themselves. + +The Snake Indians connect a curious legend with these two springs of +sweet and bitter water. + +They say that, hundreds of years ago, when the cotton-wood trees on the +Rio Colorado were no higher than arrows, and the red man hunted the +buffalo on the plains, all people spoke the same language, and two +parties of hunters never met without smoking together the pipe of peace. +In this happy age, it chanced on one occasion that a couple of hunters, +belonging to different tribes, met on the bank of a small rivulet, in +which they designed to quench their thirst. A bright clear thread of +water, trickling from a spring in a rock a few feet from the bank, it +wound its silvery way into the river. Now, while one of the hunters +threw himself at once on the ground, and plunged his face into the +running stream, the other first flung from his back a fine deer, and +then, turning towards the spring, poured some of the water out as a +libation to the Great Spirit, who had rewarded his prowess with bow and +arrow, and caused the fountain to flow, at which he was about to refresh +himself. + +And it came to pass that the other hunter, who had killed no fat buck, +and had forgotten to make the usual peace-offering, felt his heart swell +with rage and jealousy; and the Evil Spirit taking possession of him, he +sought for an excuse to quarrel with the stranger Indian. Rising to his +feet with a moody frown upon his brow, he exclaimed— + +“Why does a stranger drink at the spring-head, when one to whom the +spring belongs is content to drink of the water that runs from it?” + +“The Great Spirit,” replied the other, “places the cool water at the +spring, that his children may drink it pure and undefiled. The running +water is for the beasts that inhabit the plains. Au-sa-qua is a chief of +the Shoshone, and he drinks at the head of the waters.” + +“The Shoshone,” answered the first speaker, “is but a tribe of the +Comanche. Wa-co-mish is the chief of the great nation. Why does a +Shoshone dare to drink above him?” + +“He has said it. The Shoshone drinks at the spring-head; let other +nations be satisfied with the water of the stream that runs into the +fields. Au-sa-qua is chief of his nation. The Comanche are brothers; +let them both drink of the same water.” + +“The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche. Wa-co-mish leads that nation +to war. Wa-co-mish is chief of the Shoshone, as he is of his own +people.” + +“Wa-co-mish lies,” said Au-sa-qua coldly; “his tongue is forked like the +rattlesnake’s; his heart is as black as the Misho-tunga (evil spirit). +When the Manitou made his children, whether Shoshone or Comanche, +Arapaho, Shi-an, or Pá-ui, he gave them buffalo to eat, and the pure +water of the crystal fountain to quench their thirst. He said not to +one, ‘Drink here,’ or to the other, ‘Drink there,’ but gave to all the +bright clear fountain, that all might drink.” + +A tempest of fury swept over the soul of Wa-comish as he listened to +these words; but he was a coward at heart, and durst not openly encounter +the cooler and more courageous Shoshone. But when the latter, hot with +speaking, again stooped to drink of the refreshing waters, Wa-co-mish +suddenly threw himself upon him, pressed his head beneath the surface, +and held it there, until his victim, suffocated, ceased to struggle, and +fell forward into the spring, dead. + +The murderer had satisfied his passion; but was he happy? No; as he +gazed at the corpse of his victim, he was seized with a passionate sense +of remorse and regret. Loathing himself for the crime he had committed, +he proceeded to drag the body a few paces from the water, which, +thereupon, was suddenly disturbed. The wave trembled to and fro, and +bubbles, rising to the surface, escaped in hissing gas. And, as a +vaporous cloud gradually rose and sank, the figure of an aged Indian was +revealed to the murderer’s straining eyes, whom, by his noble +countenance, his long sinewy hand, and his silvery beard, he knew to be +the great Wau-kan-aga, the father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, +still remembered and revered for the good deeds and the heroic acts he +had done in life. + +Stretching out a war-club towards the shrinking, trembling Wa-co-mish, he +said: + +“Accursed of my tribe! this day hast thou snapt the link that bound +together the mightiest nations of the world, while the blood of the brave +Shoshone cries to the Manitou for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe +be rank and bitter in their throats!” And, swinging round his ponderous +war-club, he dashed out the brains of the treacherous Comanche, so that +he fell headlong into the spring, which, from that day, has ever been +nauseous to the taste, and an offence to thirsty lips. But at the same +time, to preserve the memory of the noble Au-sa-qua, he struck a hard +flint rock, higher up the rivulet, with his club, and called forth a +fountain of crystal water, which, even in our own times, is the joy and +the delight of men. + +“Never,” says Mr. Ruxton, “never was there such a paradise for hunters as +this lone and solitary spot. The shelving prairie, at the bottom of +which the springs are situated, is entirely surrounded by rugged +mountains, and, containing perhaps about two or three acres of excellent +grass, affords a safe pasture to their animals, which would hardly care +to wander from such feeding. Immediately overhead, Pike’s Peak, at an +elevation of 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, towers high into the +clouds; whilst from the fountain, like a granitic amphitheatre, ridge +after ridge, clothed with pine and cedar, rises and meets the stupendous +mass of mountains, well called ‘Rocky,’ which stretches far away north +and southward, their gigantic peaks being visible above the strata of +clouds which hide their rugged bases.” + + * * * * * + +But here our companionship with Mr. Ruxton ceases. His travels in the +United States do not present any uncommon or remarkable feature; do not +differ from those of the thousand and one sightseers who yearly cross the +Atlantic, and survey the broad territories of the great Western Republic. +With a small party he crossed the wide-rolling prairies to Fort +Leavenworth; thence, passing the Kansas or Caro river, and entering upon +a picturesque country of hill and dale, well wooded and watered, he +penetrated into the valley of the Missouri. Down that noble stream he +made his way to St. Louis, and afterwards traversed the prairies of +Illinois to Chicago; not then, as it is now, the capital of the West, and +the great corn depôt of the Mississippi States. From Chicago he crossed +Lake Michigan to Kalamazoo, where he took the rail to Detroit. A +Canadian steamer conveyed him to Buffalo. Thence, by rail, he travelled +to Albany, and descended the majestic Hudson to New York. His home +voyage was swift and prosperous, and he arrived at Liverpool in the +middle of August, 1847. {89} + + + + +DOCTOR BARTH, +AND CENTRAL AFRICA. + + + A.D. 1850. + + + +I. + + +DR. HEINRICH BARTH, a native of Hamburg, and lecturer at the University +of Berlin upon geography, had already had some experience of African +travel, when, in 1849, he learned that Mr. James Richardson had planned +an expedition from London to Central Africa, with the view of opening up +the Soudan to European commerce, and substituting for the cruel +slave-trade the legitimate enterprise of working the natural riches of +the country. Dr. Barth obtained permission to accompany it, and with +another volunteer, also a German, named Overweg, he repaired to +head-quarters. The expedition was authorized and supported by the +British Government. It met, therefore, with no preliminary difficulties; +and we may begin our summary of its adventures at Tripoli, whence it +started for the south on the 24th of March, 1850. Entering the Fezzan, +it crossed the rocky and elevated plateau known as the Hammada, and +through fertile wadys, or valley-basins, separated by precipitous ridges +and broad wastes of sand, made its way to Mourzouk, the capital, situated +in a sandy plain, where agricultural labour is possible only under the +shelter of the date-palms. The town has no rich merchants, and is not so +much a commercial depôt as a place of transit. For Dr. Barth and his +companions it was, however, the first stage of their journey, and, +indeed, their true point of departure. They made all haste, therefore, +to leave it, and on the 13th of June entered upon their great +undertaking. On the 25th, after an unavoidable delay, they quitted +Tasua, crossed a considerable mass of sand-hills, and descended into a +more agreeable district, where the heights were crowned by tamarisk +trees, each height standing alone and isolated, like sentinels along the +front of an army. This pleasant variety of scenery did not last long, +however; they came again upon a soil as rocky as that of the Hammada, and +met with an alternation of green valleys and sterile promontories, +similar to that which they had explored before they reached Mourzouk. + +They had reached the Wady Elaveu, a huge depression running north and +south, when, at a distance of two hundred yards from their camp, they +discovered a pond, forming a centre of life in that solitary region. +Everybody hastened to enjoy a bath; a crowd of pintados and gangas +hovered, with bright-coloured wings, above the laughing, frolicking +company, waiting until they could take their places. While in this +vicinity the travellers were disturbed by the conduct of some Towaregs, +who had been engaged to conduct them to Selompih. Eventually, some +slight change was made in the plans of the expedition, which, it was +determined, should go on to Ghat, and remain there for six days; while +the Towaregs, on their part, undertook to set out immediately afterwards +for the Asben. Striking into the valley of Tanesof, they saw before +them, revelling in the glow and gleam of the sunset, the Demons’ +Mountain, or Mount Iniden; its perpendicular summit, adorned with towers +and battlements, showed its white outlines vividly against a dark-blue +sky. Westward, the horizon was bounded by a range of sand-hills, which +the wind swept like a mighty besom, filling the air with sharp, gritty +sand, and covering the entire surface of the valley. + +On the following morning, their course carried them towards an enchanted +mountain, which the wild legends of the natives have invested with +picturesque interest. In spite of the warnings of the Towaregs, or +perhaps because they had cautioned Dr. Barth not to risk his life in +scaling that palace of the evil spirits, he resolved on attempting the +sacrilegious enterprise. Unable to obtain guides, neither threats nor +bribes prevailing over their superstitious terrors, he set out alone, in +the belief that it had been formerly a place of religious worship, and +that he should find there either sculptures or curious inscriptions. +Unfortunately, he took with him no provisions but some biscuits and +dates, and worse food cannot be imagined where there is a want of water. +Crossing the sand-hills, he entered upon a bare and sterile plain, strewn +with black pebbles, and studded with little mounds or hillocks of the +same colour. Then he followed the bed of a torrent, its banks dotted +with herbage, which offered an asylum to a couple of antelopes. Anxious +for the safety of their young, the timid animals did not move at his +approach. Affection inspired them with courage; they raised their heads +boldly, and waved their tails. The enchanted palace seemed to recede as +he advanced; finding himself in front of a dark deep ravine, he changed +his course, only to find the passage barred by a precipice. Under the +glare and glow of a burning sun he undauntedly pursued his way, and at +last, spent with fatigue and exertion, reached the summit, which was only +a few feet wide, and could boast neither of sculptures nor inscriptions. + +From so lofty a watch-tower the prospect was necessarily extensive; but +on surveying the plain below with anxious glance, Dr. Barth failed to +detect any sign of the caravan. He was hungry and athirst; but his dates +and biscuit were not eatable, and his supply of water was so limited that +he durst not indulge himself with more than a mouthful. Feeble and spent +as he was, to descend was imperative; he had no water left when he once +more stood upon the plain. He dragged his weary limbs onward for some +time, but at length was forced to own to himself that he did not know the +direction he ought to take. He fired his pistol; but it elicited no +reply. Wandering further and further from the route, he came upon a +small grassy oasis, where some huts had been constructed of the branches +of the tamarisk. With hopeful heart he hurried towards them; they were +empty. Then in the distance he saw a long train of loaded camels +ploughing their slow way through the sand; no, it was an illusion!—the +illusion of fever. When night fell, he descried a fire gleaming redly +against the darkened sky; it must be that of the caravan! Again he fired +his pistol, and again there was no answer. Still the flame rose steadily +towards heaven, and seemed to beckon him to a place where he should find +rest and safety; but he was unable to profit by the signal. He fired +again; no answering sound came forth from the silence of the mysterious +night, and Dr. Barth, on his knees, entrusted his life to the Divine +Mercy, and waited and watched for the dawn of day. The dawn came, as it +comes to all God’s creatures, whether rich or poor, happy or +wretched—comes with a blessing and a promise that are too often accepted +without thought or emotion of gratitude; the dawn came, and still the +calm of the desert remained unbroken. He loaded his pistol with a double +charge, and the report, travelling from echo to echo, seemed loud enough +to awaken the dead; it was heard by no human ear but his own. The sun, +for whose beams he had prayed in the night-watches, rose in all its +glory; the heat became intense; slowly the belated wayfarer crawled along +the hot sand to seek the scanty shelter afforded by the leafless branches +of the tamarisk. At noon there was scarcely shade enough to protect even +his head, and in an agony of thirst, he opened a vein, drank a little of +his own blood, and lost all consciousness. When he recovered his senses, +the sun had set behind the mountain. He dragged himself a few paces from +the tamarisk, and was examining the dreary level with sorrowful eyes, +when he suddenly heard the voice of a camel. Never had he listened to +music so delightful! For twenty-four hours had his sufferings been +prolonged, and he was completely exhausted when rescued by one of the +Towaregs of the caravan who had been sent in search of him. + +The caravan spent six days in the double oasis of Ghat and Barakat, where +crops of green millet, taking the place of barley and rye, indicated the +neighbourhood of Nigritiá. The gardens were neatly fenced and carefully +cultivated; turtle-doves and pigeons cooed among the branches; the clean, +well-built houses were each provided with a terraced roof. Dr. Barth +observed that the male inhabitants worked with industry and intelligence; +as for the women, almost every one had a babe on her shoulders, and +children swarmed by the wayside. As a whole, the population was far +superior, physically and morally, to the mixed, hybrid race of the +Fezzan. + +They left the gracious and grateful oasis to plunge into the desert, a +chaos of sandstone and granite rocks. On the 30th of July, they reached +the junction-point of two ravines which formed a sort of “four-ways” +among these confused masses. The wady which crossed their route was +about sixty feet broad, but, at a short distance, narrowed suddenly into +a defile between gigantic precipices upwards of a thousand feet in +height—a defile which in the rainy season must be converted into a +veritable cataract, to judge from an excavated basin at the mouth, which, +when Dr. Barth and his companions passed, was full of fresh and limpid +water. This “four-ways,” and these defiles, form the valley of Aguéri, +long known to European geographers by the name of Amaïs. + +The unpleasant intelligence now arrived that a powerful chief, named +Sidi-Jalef-Sakertaf, projected an expedition against their peaceful +caravan. Fortunately, it was only a question of the tribute which, by +right of might, the Towaregs levy from every caravan that crosses the +desert. Sidi-Jalef-Sakertaf was pacified; and the enthusiasts went on +their way through sterile valleys and frowning defiles that would have +daunted the courage of any but a votary of science and adventure. + +They next arrived at Mount Tiska, which is six hundred feet in height, +and surrounded by numerous lesser cones. It forms a kind of geological +landmark; for the soil, hitherto so broken and irregular, thenceforward +becomes smooth and uniform, while rising gradually, and the vast plain +stretches far beyond the limit of vision without anything to interrupt +its arid monotony. A two days’ journey brought our travellers to the +well of Afelesselez. It is utterly wanting in shade; only a few clumps +of stunted tamarisks grow on the sandy hillocks; but, desolate as it is +and uninviting, the caravans resort to it eagerly, on account of its +supply of fresh water. + +Sand; stones; little ridges of quartzose limestone; granite mixed with +red sandstone or white; a few mimosas, at intervals of one or two days’ +march; abrupt pinnacles breaking the dull level of the sandstones; dry +and bushless valleys—such were the features of the country through which +Dr. Barth and his companions wearily plodded. Herds of buffaloes, +however, are numerous; as is also, in the higher ground, the _Ovis +tragelaphis_. + +On the 16th of August the travellers, while descending a rocky crest +covered with gravel, came in sight of Mount Asben. The Asben or A’ir is +an immense oasis, which has some claim to be considered the Switzerland +of the Desert. The route pursued by Dr. Barth on his way to Agadez +traversed its most picturesque portion, where, almost every moment, the +great mountain revealed itself, with its winding gorges, its fertile +basins, and its lofty peaks. + +Agadez is built on a plain, where it seems to lament that the day of its +prosperity has passed. At one time it was the centre of a considerable +commerce; but, since the close of the last century, its population has +sunk from sixty thousand to seven or eight thousand souls. Most of its +houses lie in ruins; the score of habitations which compose the palace +are themselves in a deplorably dilapidated condition; of the seventy +mosques which it previously boasted only two remain. The richer +merchants shun the market of Agadez, which is now in the possession of +the Touats, and supported by small traders, who do a little business in +the purchase of millet when the price is low. + +The day after his arrival, Barth repaired to the palace, and found that +the buildings reserved for the sovereign were in tolerably good repair. +He was introduced into a hall, from twelve to fifteen yards square, with +a low daïs or platform, constructed of mats placed upon branches, which +supported four massive columns of clay. Between one of these columns and +the angle of the wall was seated Abd-el-Kadir, the Sultan, a vigorous and +robust man of about fifty years old, whose grey robe and white scarf +indicated that he did not belong to the race of the Towaregs. Though he +had never heard of England, he received Dr. Barth very kindly, expressed +his indignation at the treatment the caravans had undergone on the +frontier of A’ir, and, by-and-by, sent him letters of recommendation to +the governors of Kanó, Katséna, and Daoura. Dr. Barth remained for two +months at Agadez, and collected a number of interesting details +respecting its inhabitants and their mode of life. Thus, he describes a +visit which he paid to one of its more opulent female inhabitants. She +lived in a spacious and commodious house. When he called upon her, she +was attired in a robe of silk and cotton, and adorned with a great number +of silver jewels. Twenty persons composed her household; including six +children, entirely naked, their bracelets and collars of silver excepted, +and six or seven slaves. Her husband lived at Katséna, and from time to +time came to see her; but it appears that she scarcely awaited his visits +with the loving expectancy of a Penelope. No rigid seclusion of women is +insisted upon at Agadez. During the Sultan’s absence, five or six young +females presented themselves at Dr. Barth’s house. Two of them were +rather handsome, with black hair falling down their shoulders in thick +plaits, quick lively eyes, dark complexion, and a toilette not wanting in +elegance; but they were so importunate for presents, that Dr. Barth, to +escape their incessant petitions, shut himself up. + + * * * * * + +Barth rejoined his companions in the valley of Tin-Teggana. On the 12th +of December they resumed their march, crossing a mountainous region, +intersected by fertile valleys, in which the Egyptian balanite and indigo +flourished, and finally emerging on the plain which forms the transition +between the rocky soil of the desert and the fertile region of the +Soudan—a sandy plain, the home of the giraffe and the antelope leucoryx. +By degrees it became pleasantly green with brushwood; then the travellers +caught sight of bands of ostriches, of numerous burrows, especially in +the neighbourhood of the ant-hills, and those of the Ethiopian +orycteropus, which have a circumference of three yards to three yards and +a half, and are constructed with considerable regularity. + +The wood grew thicker, the ground more broken, the ant-hills more +numerous. As the travellers descended an abrupt decline of about one +hundred feet, they found the character of the vegetation entirely +changed. Melons were abundant; the dilon, a kind of laurel, dominated in +the woods; then appeared an euphorbia, a somewhat rare tree in this part +of Africa, in the poisonous juice of which the natives steep their +arrows; parasites were frequent, but as yet lacked strength and pith; in +a pool some cows were cooling themselves in the shades of the mimosas +that fringed its banks; the thick herbage flourishing along the track +impeded the progress of the camels, and against the horizon were visible +the fertile undulating meads of Damerghue. Continuing their journey, +they came upon a scattered village, where, for the first time, they saw +that kind of architecture which, with some unimportant modifications, +prevails throughout Central Africa. Entirely constructed of the stems of +the sorghum and the _Asclepias gigas_, the huts of Nigritiá have nothing +of the solidity of the houses of the A’ir, where the framework is formed +of the branches and trunks of trees; but they are incontestably superior +in prettiness and cleanliness. The traveller, in examining them, is +impressed by their resemblance to the cabins of the aborigines of Latium, +of which Vitruvius, amongst others, has furnished a description. More +remarkable still are the millstones scattered round the huts; they +consist of enormous panniers of reeds, placed on a scaffolding two feet +from the ground, to protect them from the mice and termites. + +On their arrival at Tagilet, the travellers separated. Mr. James +Richardson undertook the road to Zindu, Overweg that to Marádi, and Barth +to Kanó. Kúkáwa was named as the place, and about the 1st of April as +the date, of their reassembling. Our business here is with Dr. Barth. + +At Tasáwa he gained his first experience of a large town or village in +Negroland proper; and it made a cheerful impression upon him, as +manifesting everywhere the unmistakable marks of the comfortable, +pleasant sort of life led by the natives. The courtyard, fenced with a +hedge of tall reeds, excluded to a certain degree the gaze of the +passer-by, without securing to the interior absolute secrecy. Then, near +the entrance, were the cool and shady “runfá,” for the reception of +travellers and the conduct of ordinary business; and the “gída,” partly +consisting entirely of reed of the best wicker-work, partly built of clay +in the lower parts, while the roof is constructed only of reeds,—but +whatever the material employed, always warm and well adapted for domestic +privacy; while the entire dwelling is shaded with spreading trees, and +enlivened with groups of children, goats, fowls, pigeons, and, where a +little wealth has been accumulated, a horse or a pack-ox. + +Dr. Barth afterwards arrived at Katséna, a town of considerable size, +with a population of eight thousand souls. It was formerly the residence +of one of the richest and most celebrated princes in Nigritiá, though he +paid a tribute of a hundred slaves to the King of Bornu as a sign of +allegiance. + +For two centuries, from 1600 to 1800, Katséna appears to have been the +principal town in this part of the Soudan. Its social condition, +developed by contact with the Arabs, then reached its highest degree of +civilization; the language, rich in form and pure in pronunciation, and +the polished and refined manners of the inhabitants, distinguished it +from the other towns of the Háusa. But a complete and pitiful change +took place when, in 1807, the Fulbi, raised to the highest pitch of +fanaticism by the preaching of the reformer, Othmán dan Fódiye, succeeded +in gaining possession of the town. The principal foreign merchants then +emigrated to Kanó; the Asbenáwa also transferred their salt-market +thither; and Katséna, notwithstanding its excellent position and greater +salubrity, is now but of secondary importance as the seat of a governor. +Mohammed Bello, who held that post at the time of Barth’s visit, either +through capriciousness or suspicion, was very desirous of sending him on +to Sokoto, the residence of the Emir. At first he employed persuasion, +and when that failed, resorted to force, detaining Barth a prisoner for +five days. However, the energy and perseverance of the traveller +overcame every difficulty; and, having obtained his freedom, he directed +his steps towards the celebrated commercial entrepôt of the Central +Soudan. + +Kanó, as he says, was an important station for him, not only from a +scientific, but a financial point of view. After the extortions of the +Towaregs, and his long delay in A’ir, he was entirely dependent upon the +merchandise which had been forwarded thither in advance. On his arrival, +he had to liquidate a debt which had risen to the large amount of 113,200 +kurdi; and he was much disheartened by the low value set upon the wares +which were his sole resource. Lodged in dark and uncomfortable quarters, +destitute of money, beset by his numerous creditors, and treated with +insolence by his servant, his position in the far-famed African city, +which had so long occupied his thoughts and excited his imagination, was +the reverse of agreeable. Anxiety acted upon his physical health, and a +severe attack of fever reduced him to a state of great weakness. Yet the +gloomy colours in which he naturally paints his own condition do not +extend to his description of Kanó. _That_ is bright, vivid, and graphic. + +The whole scenery of the town—with its great variety of clay houses, +huts, and sheds; its patches of green pasture for oxen, horses, camels, +donkeys, and goats; its deep hollows containing ponds overgrown with +water-plants; its noble trees, the symmetric gónda or papaya, the slender +date-palm, the spreading alléluba, and the majestic bombyx, or +silk-cotton tree; the inhabitants, gay in diversified costumes, from the +half-naked slave to the most elaborately dressed Arab—forms an animated +picture of a world complete in itself; a strange contrast to European +towns in external form, and yet, after all, in social inequalities, in +the difference of happiness and comfort, activity and laziness, luxury +and poverty, exactly similar. + +Here a row of shops is filled with articles of native and foreign +produce, with noisy buyers and sellers in every variety of figure, +complexion, and dress, yet all intent upon gain, and endeavouring to get +the advantage of each other; there, a large shed, like a hurdle, full of +half-naked, half-starved slaves, torn from their quiet homes, from their +wives, husbands, parents, arranged in rows like cattle, and staring with +hopeless eyes upon the purchasers, wondering, perhaps, into whose hands +it would be their lot to fall. How dark to them the mystery of life! In +another part may be seen all that can minister to human ease and comfort, +and the wealthy buying dainties and delicacies for his table, while the +poor man eyes wistfully a handful of grain. Here a rich governor, +dressed in silk and gaudy clothes, mounted upon a spirited and richly +caparisoned horse, is followed by a troop of idle, insolent menials; +there, a blind pauper gropes his way through the restless, excited +multitude, and fears at every step to be trodden underfoot. Observe +yonder a yard neatly fenced with mats of reed, and provided with all the +comforts which the country affords; a clean, neat-looking cottage, with +nicely polished clay walls, a shutter of reeds placed against the low, +well-rounded door, to forbid abrupt intrusion on the privacy of domestic +life; a cool shed for the daily household work; a fine spreading alléluba +tree, affording a pleasant shade in the noontide hours, or a stately +gónda or papaya lifting its crown of feather-like leaves on a slender, +smooth, and undivided stem, or the tall and useful date-tree, adding its +charm to the fair scene of domestic peace and comfort,—the matron, in a +clean black cotton gown wound round her waist, and with her hair trimly +dressed, busily preparing the meal for her absent husband, or spinning +cotton, and at the same time urging the female slaves to pound the corn; +the children, naked and merry, playing about in the sand, or chasing a +straggling, stubborn goat; earthenware pots and wooden bowls, cleanly +washed, all standing in order. Our survey also includes a “máciná”—an +open terrace of clay, with a number of dyeing-pans, and people actively +employed in various processes of their handicraft: one man stirring the +juice, and mixing some colouring wood with the indigo in order to secure +the desired tint; another drawing a shirt from the dye-pot, or suspending +it to a rope fastened to the trees; and a couple of men busily beating a +well-dyed shirt, and singing the while in good time and tune. Further +on, a blacksmith with rude tools that an European would disdain, is +fashioning a dagger, the sharpness of which will surprise you, or a +formidable barbed spear, or some implement of husbandry; beyond, men and +women turn an unfrequented thoroughfare to account by hanging up, along +the fences, their cotton thread for weaving; and, lastly, close at hand, +a group of loiterers idle away the sunny hours. + +Ever and anon comes upon the scene a caravan from Gónja, with the +much-prized kola-nut, chewed by all who can spare as much or as little as +“ten kurdi;” or a caravan passes, laden with natron, bound for Núpa; or a +troop of Asbenáwa, going off with their salt for the neighbouring towns; +or some Arabs lead their camels, heavily charged with the luxuries of the +north and east, to the quarters of the opulent; or a troop of gaudy, +warlike-looking horsemen dash towards the palace of the governor with +news from some distant province. Everywhere you see human life in its +varied forms, the brightest and the most gloomy closely mixed together, +as in life itself happiness and sorrow are never divided; every variety +of national form and complexion—the olive-coloured Arab; the dark Kanuri, +with his wide nostrils; the small-featured, light, and slender +Ba-Fillanchi; the broad-faced Ba-Wángara; the stout, large-boned, and +masculine-looking Núpa female; the well-proportioned and comely Ba-Haúshe +woman. + +The regular population of Kanó numbers about 30,000 souls, but is raised +to 60,000, from January to April, by the influx of strangers. Its trade +principally consists of cotton stuffs sold under the form of tebi, a kind +of blouse; tenkédi, the long scarf or dark blue drapery worn by the +women; the zunie, a kind of plaid, very bright in colour; and the black +turban, worn by the Towaregs. At Kanó are concentrated also the products +of northern, eastern, and western Africa, flowing thither through the +channels of Mourzouk, Ghat, Tripoli, Timbúktu, and the whole of Bornú. + +Early in March the intrepid traveller resumed his journey, across an open +and pleasant country. At Zurrikulo he entered Bornú proper. The +beautiful fan-palm was here the prevailing tree; but as Barth advanced, +he met with the kuka, or _Adansonia digitata_, and the landscape +brightened with leafiness, and soon he entered upon a pleasant tract of +dense green underwood. “The sky was clear,” he says, “and I was leaning +carelessly upon my little nag, musing on the original homes of all the +plants which now adorn different countries, when I saw advancing towards +us a strange-looking person, of very fair complexion, richly dressed and +armed, and accompanied by three men on horseback, likewise armed with +musket and pistols. Seeing that he was a person of consequence, I rode +quickly up to him and saluted him, when he, measuring me with his eyes, +halted and asked me whether I was the Christian who was expected to +arrive from Kanó; and on my answering him in the affirmative, he told me +distinctly that my fellow-traveller, Yakúb (Mr. Richardson), had died +before reaching Kúkáwa, and that all his property had been seized. This +sad intelligence deeply affected me; and, in the first moment of +excitement, I resolved to leave my two young men behind with the camels, +and to hurry on alone on horseback. But as I could not reach Kúkáwa in +less than four days, and as part of the road was greatly infested by the +Tawárek (or Towaregs), such an attempt might have exposed me to a great +deal of inconvenience. Therefore, we determined to go on as fast as the +camels would allow us.” + +Four days later, and Dr. Barth saw before him the wall of white clay +which surrounds the capital of Bornú. He entered the gate, and of some +people assembled there inquired the way to the sheikh’s residence. +Passing the little market-place, and following the dendal, or promenade, +he rode straight up to the palace which flanks the palace on the east. +The sheikh received him cordially, and provided him with quarters closely +adjoining the vizier’s house; these consisted of two immense courtyards, +the more secluded of which enclosed, besides a half-finished clay +dwelling, a spacious and neatly built hut, which, he ascertained, had +been specially prepared for the reception and accommodation of the +English mission. It taxed all Dr. Barth’s energy and perseverance to +obtain the restoration of Mr. Richardson’s property; but he finally +succeeded. He also obtained a loan of money on the credit of the British +Government, which enabled him to satisfy his creditors, pay Mr. +Richardson’s servants, and provide for the prosecution of the labours +which had been so unhappily interrupted. + +The capital of Bornú consists of two towns, each surrounded by a wall: +one, inhabited by the rich, is well built, and contains some very large +residences; the other is a labyrinth of narrow streets of small and +squalid houses. Between the two towns spreads an area of about eight +hundred yards each way, which, throughout its length, is traversed by a +great highway, serving as a channel of intercommunication. This area is +largely peopled; and a picturesque aspect it presents, with its spacious +mansions and thatched huts, its solid walls of mud and its fences of +reeds, varying in colour, according to their age, from the brightest +yellow to the deepest black. + +In the surrounding district are numerous little villages, hamlets, and +isolated farms, all walled. Every Monday a fair is held between two of +these villages, lying beyond the western gate; to which the inhabitant of +the province brings, on the back of his camel or his ox, his store of +butter and corn, with his wife perched upon the top of the burden; and +the Yédiná, that pirate of Lake Tchad, who attracts our admiration by the +delicacy of his features and the suppleness of his figure, his dried +fish, flesh of hippopotamus, and whips made of the animal’s leathery +hide. Provisions are abundant; but to lay in at one time a week’s supply +is a wearisome and troublesome task, and a task all the more wearisome +and burdensome, because there is no standard money for buying and +selling. The ancient standard of the country, the pound of copper, has +fallen into disuse; and the currency partly consists of “gábagá,” or +cotton-strips, and “kungóna,” or cowries. A small farmer, who brings his +corn to the market, will refuse cowries, however, and will rarely accept +of a dollar. The would-be purchaser, therefore, must first exchange a +dollar for cowries; then, with the cowries, must buy a “kúlgu,” or shirt; +and in this way will be able at last to obtain the required quantity of +corn. + +Provisions are not only abundant, but cheap, and the variety is +considerable. For corn,—wheat, rice, and millet; for +fruits,—ground-nuts, the bito, or fruit of the _Balanites Ægyptiaca_, a +kind of _physalis_, the African plum, the _Rhamnus lotus_, and the +dúm-palm; for vegetables—beans and onions, and the young leaves of the +monkey-bread tree. + + * * * * * + +Dr. Barth had spent three weeks at Kúkáwa, when, on the evening of the +14th of April, the Sheikh Omar and his vizier departed on a short visit +to Ngornu, and at their invitation he followed next morning. The road +thither was marked with the monotony which distinguishes the +neighbourhood of the capital. At first, nothing is seen but the +_Asclepias gigas_; then some low bushes of cucifera; and gradually trees +begin to enliven the landscape. The path is broad and well trodden, but +generally consists of a deep sandy soil. There are no villages along the +road, but several at a little distance. Two miles and a half from Ngornu +the trees cease, giving way to an immense fertile plain where cereals are +cultivated as well as beans. + +At Ngornu, the town of “the blessing,” our traveller arrived about an +hour after noon. The heat being very great, the streets were almost +deserted; but the houses, or rather yards, were crowded, tents having +been pitched for the accommodation of the visitors. Except the sheikh’s +residence, scarcely a clay house was to be seen; yet the town gave a +general impression of comfort and prosperity, and every yard was fenced +with new “séggadé” mats, and well shaded by leafy koma-trees, while the +huts were large and spacious. + +Early next morning the indefatigable traveller started forth on horseback +to refresh himself with a view of Lake Tchad, which he supposed to be at +no great distance, and of which he indulged the brightest visions. But +no shining expanse of fair waters greeted his eye; wherever he directed +his gaze, he saw only an endless grassy, treeless plain, stretching to +the farthest horizon. At length, riding through grass of constantly +increasing freshness and luxuriance, he reached a shallow swamp, the +irregular and deeply indented margin of which greatly impeded his +progress. After struggling for some time to get clear of it, and vainly +straining his eyes to discover a shimmer of water in the distance, he +retraced his steps. Mentioning on his return the ill success he had met +with, the vizier undertook to send some horsemen to conduct him along the +shore as far as Káwa, whence he could cross the country to Kúkáwa. + +When the time came, however, the vizier’s promise was represented by two +horsemen only. With them Dr. Barth started on his excursion, taking a +north-east direction. The broad grassy plain seemed to roll away to an +immeasurable distance, unrelieved by tree or shrub; not a living creature +was visible, and the hot rays of the sun fell all around like burning +arrows. After about half an hour’s ride, he reached swampy ground, +through which he and his companions forced their horses, often up to the +saddle. Thus they arrived on the margin of a fine open sheet of water, +fringed thickly with papyrus and tall reed, from ten to fourteen feet +high, among which wound and interwound the garlands of a yellow-flowered +climbing plant, called “boibuje.” Turning to the north, and still +pushing onward through deep water and grass, he made a small creek called +Dímbebú, and caught sight of a couple of small flat boats, each about +twelve feet long, and manned by a couple of men, who, on descrying the +stranger, pulled off from the shore. They were Búdduma, or Yédiná, the +pirates of the Tchad, in search of human prey; and Dr. Barth hastened to +warn of their presence some villagers who had come to cut reeds for the +roofs of their huts, and evidently had not caught sight of their enemies. +He then continued his march. The sun’s heat was intense, but a fresh +cooling breeze blowing from the lagoon rendered it endurable. Large +herds of kelára, a peculiar kind of antelope, started up as he advanced, +bounding swiftly over the rushes, and sometimes swimming on the silent +waters. They are like the roe in shape and size, with their under parts +white as snow. At another creek, which the lake pirates sometimes use as +a harbour, river-horses abounded, and the air echoed with their snorting. +This was the easternmost period of Dr. Barth’s ride; turning then a +little west from north, he and his escort marched over drier +pasture-grounds, and, in about three miles, struck a deeply indented and +well-sheltered creek, called Ngómaíen. Here the curiosity of the +traveller was rewarded by the sight of eleven boats of the Yédiná. Each +was about twenty feet long, tolerably broad, with a low waist, and a high +pointed prow. They are made of the narrow planks of the fógo-tree, +fastened together with ropes from the dúm-palm, the holes being stopped +with bast. + +Another ride, and Dr. Barth turned westward—a course which brought him to +Maduwári, a pleasant village, lying in the shade of trees, where he +resolved on halting for the night. From its inhabitants, who belong to +the tribe of the Sagárti, he obtained much information respecting the +numerous islands that stud the surface of the lake. They also told him +that the open water begun one day’s voyage from Káya, the small harbour +of Maduwári, and is from one to two fathoms deep. It stretches from the +mouth of the Sháry towards the western shore; all the rest of the lake +consisting of swampy meadow-lands, occasionally inundated. Next morning, +on resuming his journey, he was charmed by the bright and gracious +picture before him. Clear and unbroken were the lines of the horizon, +the swampy plain extending on the right towards the lake, and blending +with it, so as to allow the mind that delights in wandering over distant +regions a boundless expanse to rove in—an enjoyment not to be found in +mountainous regions, be the mountains ever so distant. Thus they +travelled slowly northwards, while the sun rose over the patches of water +which brightened the grassy plain; and on their left the village +displayed its snug yards and huts, neatly fenced and shaded by spreading +trees. At Dógoji he came upon a hamlet or station of cattle-breeders, +where a thousand head were collected; the herdsmen being stationed on +guard around them, armed with long spears and light shields. Equidistant +poles were fixed in the ground, on which the butter was hung up in skins +or in vessels made of grass. + +Turning to the eastward, Dr. Barth reached the creek “Kógorani,” +surrounded by a belt of dense reeds, and was there joined by a Kánemma +chief, named Zaitchua, with five horsemen. The party rode on towards +Bolè, passing through very deep water, and obtained a view of the widest +part of the lake they had yet seen. A fine open sheet of water, agitated +by a light easterly wind, rippled in sparkling waves upon the shore. A +reedy forest spread all around, while the surface was bright with aquatic +plants, chiefly the beautiful water-lily, or _Nymphoea lotus_. Flocks of +waterfowl of every description played about. At length they reached +Káwa, a large straggling village, lying among magnificent trees, where +Dr. Barth’s’ excursion terminated; thence he returned to Kúkáwa. + +On the 7th of May he was joined there by Mr. Overweg, and the two +travellers immediately made their preparations for resuming the work of +exploration with which they had been charged by the British Government. +These were completed by the 29th of May (1851), and the two travellers +then set out for the southward, accompanied by an officer of the sheikh, +and attended by a small company of servants and warriors. A singular +variety of country greeted them as they moved forward: at first it was +low and swampy; then came a bare and arid soil, planted with scattered +tamarisks; next, a dense forest, partly inundated in the rainy season, +and, afterwards, a broad and fertile plain, sprinkled with villages, and +white with thriving crops of cotton. This was the district of Uji, which +comprises several places of a considerable size. Thence they entered +upon a fine open country, a continuous corn-field, interrupted only by +pleasant villages, and shaded here and there by single monkey-bread +trees, or Adansonias, and various kinds of fig-trees, with their +succulent dark-green foliage, or large fleshy leaves of emerald green. A +fiumara, or water-course, which rises near Aláwó, traverses the plain +with numerous curves and bends, and passing Dekùa, falls into the Tchad. +The travellers crossed it twice before they reached Mabani, a large and +prosperous town, with a population of nine or ten thousand souls, which +covers the sides and summit of a hill of sand. From this point their +road lay through fertile fields, where they were greeted by the sight of +the first corn-crop of the season, its fresh and vivid green sparkling +daintily in the sunshine. Having crossed and recrossed the fiumara, they +ascended its steep left bank, which in some places exhibited regular +strata of sandstone. Here they passed a little dyeing-yard of two or +three pots, while several patches of indigo flourished at the foot of the +bank, and a bustling group of men and cattle were gathered round the +well. Villages were seen lying about in every direction; and single +cottages, scattered about here and there, gave evidence of a sense of +security. The corn-fields were most agreeably broken by tracts covered +with bushes of the wild gónda, which has a most delicious fruit, of a +fine creamy flavour, and of the size of a peach, but with a much larger +stone. + +Mount Délabida marked the border line of a mountainous region. After +entering upon the district of Shamo, Barth observed that millet became +rare, and that the sorghum was generally cultivated. Here he and his +party were joined by some native traders; for robbers haunted the +neighbourhood, and safety was to be found in numbers. At every step they +came upon evidences of the misfortunes which had swept and scathed the +country: traces of ancient cultivation and ruined huts; and thick +interwoven jungles, where the grass grew so high as to hide both horse +and rider. After three hours’ march through this land of desolation, +they arrived at what had once been a considerable village, but was then +inhabited only by a few natives, recently converted to the religion of +the Crescent. As but a single hut could be found for the accommodation +of the whole company, Dr. Barth preferred to encamp in the open air. But +he had scarcely laid down to rest, when a terrible storm arose, sweeping +his tent to the ground, and flooding his baggage with torrents of rain. +To such adventures is the daring traveller exposed! + +Though they had embraced Islam, the natives wore no other clothing than a +strip of leather passed between the legs, and even this seemed by some of +them to be considered a superfluity. The observer could not fail to +remark their harmonious proportions, their regular features, undisfigured +by tattooing, and, in not a few cases, presenting no resemblance to the +negro type. The difference of complexion noticeable in individuals +presumably of the same race, was remarkable. With some it was a +brilliant black; with others a rhubarb colour, and there was no example +of an intermediate tint; the black, however, predominated. A young woman +and her son, aged eight years, formed a group “quite antique,” and worthy +of the chisel of a great artist. The child, especially, in no respect +yielded to the ancient Discophorus; his hair was short and curled, but +not woolly; his complexion, like that of his mother and the whole family, +was of a pale or yellowish red. + +Re-entering the forest, Dr. Barth observed that the clearings bore the +imprints of the feet of elephants of all ages. A wealth of flowers +loaded the atmosphere with fragrant incense. But the soil soon +deteriorated; the trees were nearly all mimosas, and nearly all of +indifferent growth, with here and there a large leafless Adansonia +flinging abroad, as if in despair, its gaunt gigantic arms; while the +herbage consisted only of single tufts of coarse grass, four or five feet +high. When things are at their worst they begin to mend; and for the +traveller there is no motto more applicable than the old proverb, that it +is a long lane which has no turning. With intense delight Dr. Barth and +his companions saw the monotonously gloomy forest giving way to scattered +clusters of large and graceful trees, such as generally indicate the +neighbourhood of human labour. And they soon emerged upon bright green +meadow-lands extending to the base of the Wandala mountain-range, which +rose like a barrier of cloud upon the horizon, from north to south. The +highest elevation of this range is about 3000 feet; its average elevation +does not exceed 2500 feet. Behind it, to a point of 5000 feet above the +sea, rises the conical mass of Mount Mendefi, first seen by gallant Major +Denham. The country now gradually assumed a wilder aspect; rocks of +sandstone and granite projected on all sides, while, in front, a little +rocky ridge, densely crowded with bush and tree, seemed to form a _ne +plus ultra_. Suddenly, however, a deep recess opened in it, and a +village was seen, lying most picturesquely in the heart of the rocks and +woods. This was Laháula, where the travellers rested for the night. +Next day they reached Uba, on the border of A’damáwa; A’damáwa, described +by Dr. Barth as “a Mohammedan kingdom engrafted upon a mixed stock of +pagan tribes—the conquest of the valorous and fanatic Pállo chieftain, +A’dáma, over the great pagan kingdom of Fúmbiná.” + +Here the camels greatly excited the curiosity of the population; for they +are rarely seen in A’damáwa, the climate of which these animals are +unable to endure for any length of time. Still more vivid was the +curiosity of the governor and his courtiers, when they saw Dr. Barth’s +compass, chronometer, telescope, and the small print of his Prayer-Book. +The Fulbi, he says, are intelligent and civilized, but prone to malice; +they lack the good nature of the real blacks, from whom they differ more +in their character than their colour. + +At Bagma our travellers were struck by the size and shape of the huts, +some of them being from forty to sixty feet long, about fifteen broad, +and from ten to twelve feet high. They narrowed above to a ridge, and +were thatched all over, no distinction being made between roof and wall. +They are so spaciously constructed, in order to provide a shelter for the +cattle against the inclemency of the weather. The river separates the +village, which is inhabited entirely by Mohammedans, into two quarters. +“The news of a marvellous novelty soon stirred up the whole place, and +young and old, male and female, all gathered round our motley troop, and +thronged about us in innocent mirth, and as we proceeded the people came +running from the distant fields to see the wonder; but the wonder was not +myself, but the camel, an animal which many of them had never seen, +fifteen years having elapsed since one had passed along this road. The +chorus of shrill voices, ‘Gelóba, gelóba!’ was led by two young wanton +Púllo girls, slender as antelopes, and wearing nothing but a light apron +of striped cotton round their loins, who, jumping about and laughing at +the stupidity of these enormous animals, accompanied us for about two +miles along the fertile plain. We passed a herd of about three hundred +cattle. Gradually the country became covered with forest, with the +exception of patches of cultivated ground.” Through scenery of this +interesting character, the travellers pushed on to Mbtudi. + +Next day their route laid through well-wooded and well-watered pastures, +and immense fields of millet and ground-nuts, which here form as large a +proportion of the food of the people as potatoes do in Europe. Dr. Barth +liked them very much, especially if roasted, for nibbling after supper, +or even as a substitute for breakfast on the road. From Segero the +travellers proceeded to Sara’wu, and thence to Béhur. Forest and +cultivated land alternated with one another to the margin of a little +lake, lying in a belt of tall thick grass, where the unwieldy river-horse +snorted loud. The sky was dark with clouds, and a storm was gathering, +when the caravan entered the narrow streets of Salléri. That night it +obtained but scanty accommodation, and everybody was glad to find the +next morning bright and cheerful, so that the march could be resumed. +Their course was directed towards the river Bénuwé. The neighbourhood of +the water was first indicated by numerous high ant-hills, which, arranged +in almost parallel lines, presented a sufficiently curious spectacle. To +the north-west towered the insulated colossal mass of Mount Atlantika, +forming a conspicuous and majestic object in the landscape. The savannas +were now overgrown with tall rank grass, and broken by many considerable +pools, lying in deep hollows; every year, in the rainy season, they are +under water. Crossing these low levels with some difficulty, Dr. Barth +arrived on the banks of the Bénuwé. A broad and noble stream, it flowed +from east to west through an entirely open country. The banks were +twenty to thirty feet high; while, immediately opposite to the +traveller’s station, behind a pointed headland of sand, the river Fáro, +which has its source on the eastern side of Mount Atlantika, came in with +a bold sweep from the south-east, and poured its tributary waters into +the Bénuwé. The Bénuwé, below the point of junction, bends slightly to +the north, runs along the northern foot of Mount Bágelé, thence traverses +the mountainous region of the Báchama and Zina to Hamárruwa and the +industrious country of Korórofa, until it joins the great western river +of the Kwára, or Niger. + +The passage of the Bénuwé, which is here about eight hundred yards wide, +was safely accomplished in the native canoes, nor did any mishap occur in +the transit of the Fáro, which measures about six hundred yards. The +current of the Fáro has a velocity of about five miles an hour; that of +the Bénuwé does not exceed three miles and a half. By way of Mount +Bágelé, and through the rich low lands of Ribágo, the travellers repaired +to Yola, the capital of A’damáwa. + + + + +II. + + +Yola, the capital of A’damáwa, lies four degrees to the south of Kuka, on +the Fáro, in a marshy plain, which presents nothing attractive to the eye +of an artist. Dr. Barth describes it as a large open place, consisting +mainly of conical huts, surrounded by spacious court-yards, and even by +corn-fields; only the houses of the governor and his brothers being built +of clay. When he entered it, Lowel, the governor, was in his fields, and +could not be seen; but on his return the travellers proceeded to his +“palace” to pay their respects. They were not allowed an interview, +however, until the following day, and then it was anything but +satisfactory. The officer who had accompanied them from Kuka took the +opportunity of delivering certain despatches; and as they proved +displeasing to the governor, he immediately vented his wrath upon Dr. +Barth, accusing him of treacherous intentions. The audience terminated +in confusion, and next day but one, Dr. Barth was ordered to leave Yola, +on the pretence that his sojourn there could not be allowed unless he +obtained the authorization of the Sultan of Sokoto. He was suffering +from fever, and the heat of the day was excessive, but at once made +preparations for departure. Sitting firmly in his large Arab stirrups, +and clinging to the pommel of his saddle, he turned his horse’s head +towards Bornú, and, though he fainted twice, was soon invigorated by a +refreshing breeze, which opportunely rose with healing on its wings. + +But he was really ill when he arrived at Kúkáwa, and, unhappily, the +rainy season had begun. During the night of the 3rd of August, the storm +converted his sleeping apartment into a small lake, and his fever was +seriously aggravated. The pools which formed in every nook and corner of +the town were rendered pestiferous by the filth of all kinds which +stagnated in them. He ought to have withdrawn to some healthier country, +but, in order to pay the debts of the expedition and prepare for new +explorations, was compelled to remain and sell the merchandise which had +arrived in his absence. He made all haste, however, to discharge this +duty; and when, early in September, the Government despatched a body of +the Welád Shinán—Arab mercenaries whom they had enlisted—to reconquer the +eastern districts of the province of Kánem, he attached himself to the +expedition, accompanied by his fellow-traveller, Overweg. + +In the course of this new journey they obtained another view of Lake +Tchad, under peculiar circumstances. It was about seven o’clock in the +morning. Far to their right, a whole herd of elephants, arranged in +almost military array, like an army of rational beings, slowly proceeded +to the water. In front appeared the males, as was evident from their +size, in regular order; at a little distance followed the young ones; in +a third line were the females; and the whole were brought up by five +males of immense size. The latter, though the travellers were riding +along quietly, and at a considerable distance, took notice of them, and +some were seen throwing dust into the air; but no attempt was made to +disturb them. There were altogether about ninety-six. + +Barth and Overweg returned to Kúkáwa on the 14th of November, but ten +days afterwards they again sallied forth, accompanying another warlike +expedition, which had been ordered to march against Mánderá. It +presented, however, few features of interest or importance. The +indefatigable pioneers were back again in Kúkáwa on the 1st of February, +1852, and there they remained until the 1st of March. Though crippled by +want of means, enfeebled by fever, and beset by a thousand difficulties, +Dr. Barth resolved on continuing his work of exploration, and, on the +17th of March, entered into Bagirmi, a region never before visited by +Europeans. + +Bagirmi forms an extensive table-land, with an inclination towards the +north, and an elevation of 900 to 1000 feet above the sea-level. It +measures about 240 miles from north to south, and 150 from east to west. +In the north lie some scattered mountain ranges, which separate the two +basins of Lake Fittri and Lake Tchad. The chief products are sorghum, +millet, sesamum, poa, wild rice, haricot beans, water-melons, citron, and +indigo. Very little grain is cultivated. The population numbers about +1,500,000 souls. + +On reaching the broad stream of the Koloko, Dr. Barth found that he was +suspected of treacherous designs against the throne of Bagirmi, and the +boatmen refused to ferry him across, unless he obtained the Sultan’s +permission. Resolved not to be baffled on the threshold of his +enterprise, he retraced his steps for about two miles, then turned to the +north-east, and at Mili succeeded in effecting the passage of the river. +The country through which he advanced was fertile and well cultivated; +village succeeded village in an almost unbroken series; here and there +groups of natives issued from the thick foliage; numerous herds of cattle +were feeding in the rich green water-meadows, and among them birds of the +most beautiful plumage, and of all descriptions and sizes, sported upon +nimble wing. The gigantic pelican dashed down occasionally from some +neighbouring tree; the marabout stood silent, with head between its +shoulders, like a decrepit old man; the large-sized azure-feathered +“dédegami” strutted proudly along after its prey, the plotus, and +extended its long snake-like neck; and the white ibis searched eagerly +for food, with various species of ducks, and numerous other lesser birds, +in larger or smaller flights. + +But an unexpected obstacle arrested his progress; an official arrived +with an intimation that he could not be allowed to continue his advance +without the formal consent of the supreme authority. He therefore sent +forward a messenger with letters to the capital, and retraced his steps +to Mili, to await his return. He had not long to wait. The messenger +made his appearance on the following day, bearing a document with a large +black seal, which directed him to proceed to Búgomán, a place higher up +the river, until an answer could be obtained from the Sultan, who was +then absent on a campaign in Gógomi. But on his arrival at Búgomán, the +governor refused to receive him, and the unfortunate traveller was glad +to find a resting-place at Bákadá. There he had time and opportunity to +meditate on the vast numbers of destructive worms and ants which +afflicted the land of Bagirmi; especially a terrible large black worm, as +long as, but much bigger than, the largest of European grubs, which, in +its millions, consumes an immense proportion of the produce of the +natives. There is also an injurious beetle, yellow as to colour, and +half an inch as to length; but the people of Bagirmi take their revenge +upon this destroyer by eating him as soon as he has grown fat at their +expense. As for the ants, both black and white, they are always and +everywhere a scourge and a calamity. Of the termites, or so-called white +ants, which, by the way, are not really ants, Dr. Barth had unpleasant +experience. As early as the second day of his sojourn at Bákadá, he +observed that they were threatening his couch, which he had spread on a +mat of the thickest reeds, with total destruction. To circumvent their +devices, he elevated it upon three large poles; but in two days’ time +they had not only raised their entrenchments along the poles to the very +top, but had eaten through mat and carpet, and accomplished much general +depredation. + +No reply arriving from the Sultan, Barth not unnaturally lost patience, +and decided on quitting the inhospitable Bagirmi, and returning to +Kúkáwa. But he was closely watched; and on arriving at Mili, was +arrested by order of the governor, who took possession of his arms, his +baggage, his watch, his papers, his compass, and his horse, and placed +him in charge of a couple of sentinels. Happily, while at Bákadá he had +made a powerful friend, who, making his appearance at Mili, interfered on +his behalf, obtained the restoration of his property, and conducted him +in person to Másená, the capital. There he was lodged in a clay house +standing in an open courtyard, which was likewise fenced by a low clay +wall. The house contained an airy front room, which he found very +comfortable, and four small chambers at the back, useful for stowing away +luggage and provisions. + +Másená occupies a considerable area, the circumference of which measures +about seven miles; but only about half this space is inhabited, the +principal quarter being formed in the midst of the town on the north and +west of the Sultan’s palace, while a few detached quarters and isolated +yards lie straggling about as outposts. Its most distinctive feature is +a deep trough-like bottom, running from east to west, which in the rainy +season is filled with water, in the summer with verdure of the greatest +luxuriance. To the south of this hollow, or bedá, lies the principal +quarter, which, however, is by no means thickly inhabited. In the centre +stands the palace; which is simply an irregular cluster of clay buildings +and huts, surrounded by a wall of baked bricks. Generally speaking, the +appearance of the town was one of decay and dilapidation; yet, as all the +open grounds were enlivened with fresh green pasture, it was not +deficient in a certain charm. There are no signs of industrial activity. +The market-place is rather small, and without a single stall or shed. +The chief feature of interest is the bedá, which is bordered on the +south-west by picturesque groups of dúm-palms and other trees of fine +foliage; while at the western end, as well as on the south-east, spreads +a large tract of market-gardens. + +In general, the houses are well built, and the thatched roofs are formed +with care, and even with neatness; but the clay is not of a good kind for +building, and the clay houses afford so little security from the rains, +that most persons prefer to reside during that part of the year in huts +of straw and reed. + +While waiting the Sultan’s arrival, Dr. Barth’s time was chiefly occupied +in defending himself against the attacks of the large black ant (_Termes +mordax_). One day, in particular, he maintained a long and desperate +encounter with a host of these voracious little insects. In a thick +unbroken column, about an inch broad, they had marched over the wall of +the courtyard, and entering the hall where he abode both day and night, +advanced right upon the store-room. But his couch being in their way, +they immediately assailed his own person, and compelled him to decamp. +Assisted by his servants, he then fell upon the bandits, killing all the +stragglers and foragers, and burning the main body of the army as it +proceeded on its way. But fresh legions arrived on the scene of war, and +it took a struggle of two hours’ duration thoroughly to break up their +lines, and put them to flight. + +The insects seemed to have been attracted by the corn which Dr. Barth had +stored up. But it must be owned that, if inconvenient in one respect, +their attacks are beneficial in another; for they destroy all kinds of +vermin, mice included. And while they thus act as the “scavengers of the +houses,” in many parts of Negroland they also render service through +their very greediness in gathering what man would fain appropriate for +himself. They lay in such considerable stores of corn, that the poor +natives frequently dig out their holes in order to gain possession of +their supplies. + +It was on the 3rd of July that the Sultan appeared before the walls of +his capital, escorted by about eight hundred cavalry. At the head of the +_cortége_ rode the lieutenant-governor, surrounded by a troop of +cavaliers. Then came the Barma, followed by a man carrying a spear of +ancient and peculiar shape, designed to represent the “fetish,” or idol +of Kénga-Matáya, the original patrimony of the kings of Bagirmi. Next +rode the Fácha, or commander-in-chief, who is the second person in the +kingdom; and after him the Sultan himself, attired in a yellow burnous, +and mounted on a grey charger, the points of which could hardly be seen +owing to the amplitude of the war-trappings that hung about him. Nor was +the head of his rider much more plainly visible, not only on account of +the horsemen gathered round him, but more particularly owing to two +umbrellas—one of green, the other of red—borne on each side of him by a +couple of slaves. + +Six slaves, their right arms clad in iron, fanned the magnificent prince +with ostrich feathers attached to long poles, while round about him were +gathered a motley array of his captains and courtiers, gay in burnouses +of various colours, or in shirts of black or blue. Behind them followed +the war-camel, bestridden by the drummer, Kodgánga, who made the echoes +resound with the clang of a couple of kettle-drums, fastened on each side +of the animal; and the charivari was swelled by the exertions of three +musicians, two of whom played upon horns, and the third upon a bugle. +Mention must be made of the long train of the Sultan’s female slaves, or +favourites, forty-five in number, all mounted upon horseback, all dressed +from head to foot in black cloth, and all guarded by a slave on either +side. The procession was terminated by a train of eleven camels, +carrying the baggage. + +A day or two afterwards, an officer of the Sultan demanded Dr. Barth’s +attendance at the palace. He hastened thither; and being admitted into +an inner courtyard, found the courtiers sitting on either side of a door, +which was protected by screenwork made of very fine reeds. Being desired +to sit down, along with his companions, and ignorant whom he should +address, he asked in a loud voice if the Sultan ’Abdel-Kadir were +present. A clear voice, from behind the screen, answered that he was. +When fully satisfied that he was addressing the prince, he proceeded to +offer his respects, and present the compliments of the great and powerful +British Government, which desired to be on terms of unity with so +illustrious a prince. His speech, which he delivered in Arabic, was +translated by an interpreter, and received a favourable reply. His +presents also were accepted with satisfaction, and the audience ended. +Next day he had a second audience, at which he expressed his desire to +return to Kúkáwa. After some slight delay, he obtained the Sultan’s +leave to depart, and was supplied with a camel and two horsemen to assist +him on his journey. Well pleased with the result of his visit to Másená, +after the inauspicious circumstances which had attended its commencement, +he set out on his return to the capital of Bornú, and arrived there in +safety on the 21st of August. He was glad to find Mr. Overweg in +excellent spirits, for liberal supplies had been forwarded by the British +Government, though looking physically weak and exhausted. The sheikh +received him with great cordiality, and he enjoyed a degree of comfort +and repose to which he had long been a stranger. + +His business, however, was to explore unknown countries, and to open up +new paths to the enterprise of commerce. Considering it almost +impossible to penetrate southward, on account of the obstacles thrown in +his way by the native princes, he meditated a journey westward in the +hope of reaching the celebrated city of Timbúktu, at one time the centre +of so many extravagant legends. The fulfilment of his projects was +delayed by an unhappy calamity. During a short excursion in the +neighbourhood of Kúkáwa, Mr. Overweg got wet, caught a chill, and was +afterwards seized with a violent fever, which carried him off in a few +hours (September 27th). He died, a martyr to science, and one of the +many victims of African exploration, in his thirtieth year. + +A delay of some weeks was the necessary result of this melancholy event; +but Barth, though left alone, was not to be turned aside from the great +object of all his labours. His gaze was directed towards the +Niger—towards the _terra incognita_ which lay between the route pursued +by the French traveller, Caillé, and the region in which Lander and Major +Clapperton had achieved so many important discoveries. His preparations +completed, he took final leave of Kúkáwa on the 25th of November; and on +the 9th of December had crossed the frontier of Háusa. On the 12th he +directed his course towards the north-east, and the mountain region of +Múniyo. The road waved, serpent-like, through a succession of valleys, +the green sides of which were covered with groves and villages. Múniyo +takes the form of a wedge, or triangle, the apex projecting towards the +desert. The home of a peaceful and industrious population, who flourish +under a mild and orderly government, it presents an agreeable contrast to +the neighbouring territories, inhabited by nomads. Its rulers, men of +courage and energy, have not only been able to defend their country +against the attacks of the Babus, but to encroach upon the district of +Diggéra, which had submitted to the latter. The chief of this +independent province can bring into the field, it is said, an army of +1500 horse and 9000 or 10,000 archers; and his revenue amounts to +30,000,000 kurdi (about £6000) a year, without counting the tax which he +levies on the crops. + +Barth diverged somewhat to the westward in order to visit U’shek, the +largest corn-producing district in western Bornú; it is characterized by +a curious alternation of luxuriance and sterility. At the foot of a +mountain lies a barren, desolate tract, on the very threshold of which +lies an undulating country, bright with date-palms and tamarisks, with +crystal pools and rich grasses. Around the town of U’shek spreads a +glittering girdle of corn-fields, onion-beds, cotton-fields, in various +stages of development. Here the labourer is breaking up the clods and +irrigating the soil; there, his neighbour is weeding out his blooming +crops. The vegetation everywhere is abundant. The accumulation of +refuse prevents you, however, from gaining a general view of the village, +which lurks in the sheltering folds of the soil; but the main group of +houses surrounds the foot of an eminence, crowned by the habitation of +the chief. Observe that while the huts are made of reeds and the stems +of millet, the towers in which the grain is pounded are constructed of +clay, and ten feet in height. + +Beyond U’shek stretches a sandy table-land, waving with a dense growth of +reeds, and intersected by fertile valleys. Then comes a spur of the +mountain-range which rises in the south-west; an irregular and broken +plain, carpeted with grass and broom; a jungle of mimosas, dense thickets +of capparis, and at intervals small patches of cultivated land. The +climate is intensely hot; the very soil seems to burn; and our traveller, +feeling himself ill, was forced to rest. During the night, a cold +north-east wind covered him and his followers with the feathery awns of +the pennixtum; and they rose in the morning in a condition of +indescribable uneasiness. The next night was also cold; but there was no +wind. + +At Badámuni, the fertile fields are brightened with springs, which feed a +couple of lakes, connected by a canal. Notwithstanding this channel of +intercommunication, one of these lakes is of fresh water; the other +brackish, and strongly impregnated with natron. It is noticeable that in +this region all the valleys and all the mountain-chains run from +north-east to south-west, and the direction of the two lakes is the same. +Their margin is fringed with papyrus, except that at the point where the +water turns brackish the papyrus is succeeded by the kumba, the pith of +which is edible. Dr. Barth’s two attendants, born on the shores of the +Tchad, immediately recognized this species of reed as growing in a +similar manner at the point where that great inland sea touches the +basins of nature that surround it. It is a curious circumstance that +while the lake of fresh water is of a bright blue, and calm and smooth as +a mirror, the other is green as the sea, and heaves to and fro in +constant commotion, rolling its foamy waves to the beach, which they +strew with marine weeds. + +The town of Zindu is protected by a rampart and ditch. Its aspect is +remarkable: a mass of rock rises in the western quarter; and outside the +walls stony ridges run in all directions, throwing forth a myriad crystal +streams, which fertilize the tobacco-fields, and secure for the immediate +neighbourhood an exceptional fertility. The landscape is enlivened by +frequent clumps of date-palms and by the huts of the Touaregs, who +conduct a brisk trade in salt. To the south extends an immense piece of +ground, utilized, at the time of Dr. Barth’s visit, as a garden of +acclimatization. It is easy, let us say, to define the ground-plan of +Zindu, but not to depict the stir and movement of which it is the centre, +limited as that activity may be, compared with the feverish and +far-reaching life of the industrial centres of Europe. Zindu has no +other manufacture than that of indigo; nevertheless, its commercial +energy is so great that it may justly be termed “the port of the Soudan.” + +Here Dr. Barth received the welcome supply of a thousand dollars, which, +not to excite suspicion, had been carefully concealed in a couple of +sugar barrels. He was enabled, therefore, to purchase the articles +necessary for barter or gifts in his expedition to Timbúktu, such as red, +white, and yellow burnouses, turbans, cloves, cutlery, beads, and +looking-glasses; and on the 30th of January, 1853, he resumed his march. + +The country he had to traverse was the scene of incessant warfare between +the Fulbi and the independent tribes. At the outset he met with some +salt merchants from A’ir, whose picturesque encampments would have +delighted an artist’s eye, but did not add to the security of the roads. +He arrived in safety, however, on the 5th of February, at Kátséna, and +took up his quarters in a residence specially assigned to him. The house +was spacious; but so full of ants, that, having rested himself for an +hour on a bank of clay, he found that the freebooters had climbed the +wall, constructed covered galleries right up to his person, and delivered +a combined attack upon his shirt, in which they had eaten large holes. + +The governor of Kátséna gave our traveller a courteous reception, and +deigned to accept with evident satisfaction the burnouses, cafton, cup, +two loaves of sugar, and pistol, which Dr. Barth offered him. The pistol +gave him so much pleasure that he asked for a second; and, of course, a +refusal was impossible. Thenceforth he ate and drank and walked and +slept with his two pistols in his belt, and terrified everybody who +approached him by snapping caps in their face. It happened that, at this +time, the ghaladima of Sikoto, inspector of Kátséna, was in the town +collecting tribute. He was a frank and simple-natured man, neither very +generous nor very intelligent, but of benevolent disposition and sociable +character. Dr. Barth purchased some silk and cotton stuffs from the +looms of Mepè and Kanó, and being very anxious to pursue his journey, +waited for the ghaladima to set out, in order to enjoy the advantage of +his escort. It was on the 21st of March that this high official, +accompanied by our traveller, took his departure. The governor attended +them as far as the limits of his jurisdiction, and they had a numerous +guard; while, as a further protection against mishaps, they steered to +the south, instead of to the west, in which direction war was raging. + +It was the happy time of spring; a bloom was on the earth, and a light +and perfume in the air; nature put on her greenest attire; the alleluba, +the parkia, the cucifera, the bombyx rose in masses of foliage. The +country through which the travellers rode was fair and fertile, populous +and well cultivated; the pastures echoed with the low of cattle; the +fields rejoiced in profuse crops of yams and tobacco. In the district of +Maja, cotton, indigo, potatoes were grown on a very large scale. Beyond +Kuruyá, a town of 5000 to 6000 souls, the fertility of the land +increased, if such increase were possible; the many-rooted banyan, or +Indian fig-tree, displayed its colossal splendour:— + + “Irregularly spread, + Fifty straight columns propped its lofty head; + And many a long depending shoot, + Seeking to strike its root, + Straight, like a plummet, grew towards the ground; + Some on the lower boughs, which curved their way, + Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round, + With many a ring and wild contortion wound; + Some to the passing wind, at times, with sway + Of gentle motion moving; + Others of younger growth, unmoved, were hung + Like stone-drops from the cavern’s fretted height.” + +Bassiaparkia, sorghum, and millet were abundant. But at Kulfi the +travellers reached the limit which divides the Mohammedans from the +heathens—civilization (imperfect and undeveloped, if you will, but not +wholly without a respect for law and order) and barbarism. As Dr. Barth +advanced, he seemed to pass from spring to winter; cultivation +disappeared; villages ruined and silent bore witness to the desolating +work of war; and it was only by the cattle browsing in the scanty +pastures that he knew the land was not entirely deserted. At Zekka, a +town of some importance, with wall and ditch, he separated from the +ghaladima, and, through a dense forest, pushed forward to the ruins of +Moniya. He had intended to halt there, but an armed force had encamped +at Moniya on the preceding evening, and he retreated into the shelter of +the forest until the morning. A day’s march brought him to Zyrmi, a +considerable town, the governor of which was formerly chief of the whole +province of Zanfara. + +On the 31st of March, he stood on the border of the Gúndúmi Desert, of +the passage of which Major Clapperton has left so exciting a narrative. +It is passable only by a forced march. Dr. Barth began by striking too +far to the south, and lost valuable time in the midst of an impervious +jungle. Recovering the direct track, he marched all that day, all that +night, without seeing any sign of human life, and until the middle of the +following day, when he met some horsemen who had been sent forward to +meet him, with vessels of water. Two miles further, and he could see the +village where the Emir Aliyú had pitched his camp; he was then at war +with the people of Gober. For thirty hours he and his followers had +marched without a halt; they were completely spent, and the men, in their +absolute weariness, fell prostrate upon the ground. The intrepid Barth +rallied his energies; his excitement dispelled the sense of fatigue; and +he searched his baggage for some valuable gift to the Emir, who was to +depart on the following day, for upon him and his favour the success of +his enterprise wholly depended. The day glided by, and he had begun to +despair of being admitted to an audience; but in the evening the Emir +sent him an ox, four fat sheep, and four hundred parcels of rice, and a +message to the effect that he awaited his visit. It must be owned that +some of these barbaric potentates do things right royally! + +Dr. Barth entered the august presence. The Emir immediately seized him +by the hand, made him sit down, and interrupted him when he began to +excuse himself for not having visited Sokotó before he went to Kúkáwa. +His two requests, for the Emir’s safe-conduct as far as Timbúktu, and a +royal letter guaranteeing the lives and property of Englishmen visiting +his territories, he received very favourably; affirming that his sole +thought was for the welfare of humanity, and, consequently, he desired to +promote the friendly intercourse of all nations. Next day Barth had +another interview, and offered a second supply of presents. He describes +the Emir as a strongly built man, of average stature, with a round, full, +but not unpleasant face. + +On the 4th of April, with the royal letter, of which he had dictated the +terms, and a hundred thousand kurdis which the prince had generously sent +to him to defray his expenses during his absence, he took up his +residence at Vurno, the Emir’s usual abode. The unsavoury condition of +the town, which was traversed by a _cloaca_ more disgusting even than +those of Italy, surprised and shocked him. Outside the walls, the +Gulbi-n-rima formed several basins of stagnant water in the middle of a +plain, where the traveller’s camels sadly pined for pasture. The +frontiers of three provinces—Kebbi, Adar, and Gober—meet in this arid +plain, which, however, after the rainy season, wears a completely +different aspect. + +The town became more and more deserted; daily its notables departed to +join the Emir; though, as a rule, these warriors cared only for their own +pleasure, and would sell their weapons for a dram of kola-nut wine. In +no part of Negroland did Dr. Barth see less military ardour or more +physical depression. Meanwhile, he amused himself by collecting +topographical details, studying the history of the country, and making +excursions in the neighbourhood; among others to Sokotó, on the river +Bugga. It was not until the 23rd of April that the Emir returned to his +capital, after an expedition which, if not glorious, had been at least +successful. Always generous towards Dr. Barth, he had invited him to +meet him, and king and traveller went together to the palace. On the +same day, Barth made him a present of a musical box, which appears to be +the prize most eagerly coveted by African potentates. The Emir, in his +rapture, summoned his grand vizier to see and hear the marvel; but the +mysterious box, affected by the climate and the length of the journey it +had undergone, refused to pour forth its melodious treasures. However, +after a day or two’s labour, Dr. Barth succeeded in repairing it, and +releasing its imprisoned streams of music. Who shall describe the Emir’s +excess of joy? He proved the sincerity of his gratitude by immediately +giving Dr. Barth a commendatory letter to his nephew, the chief of Gando, +and the long-expected permission to depart. + +Leaving Vurno on the 8th of May, Dr. Barth reached Gando on the 17th. It +was the capital of another Fulbi chief, scarcely less powerful than the +Emir, whose protection was of the greatest importance to the traveller, +because both banks of the Niger were within his territory. It was not +obtained without persevering effort—and many gifts, besides frequent +bribes to an Arab consul, who had contrived to make himself indispensable +to the feeble prince. + +On the 4th of June our indefatigable explorer entered the deep valleys of +Kebbi, which, in the rainy season, are converted into extensive +rice-fields. At Kombara, the governor hospitably sent him all the +constituents of a first-class Soudanian repast, from the sheep to the +grains of salt and the Dodua cake. Gaumaché, formerly a thriving town, +is now a village of slaves. A similarly fatal change has passed over +Yara; formerly rich and industrious, rank weeds now grow in its silent +streets. But life and death lie cheek by jowl in these fertile regions; +and to the ruined towns and deserted villages immediately succeed +prolific rice-fields, shaded by clumps of trees. + +The whole country was overshadowed by the thunder-clouds of war; yet the +traveller passed continuously through plantations of yams, and cotton, +and papyrus, whose fresh green foliage waved above the walls. He halted +at Kola, where the governor could dispose of seventy matchlocks and the +men who handled them; an important personage in the disturbed condition +of the country, whom it was politic to visit. The sister of this lord of +warriors presented Dr. Barth with a fine fat goose—an addition to his +dietary which rejoiced him greatly. As he approached Jogirma, the three +sons of its chief came forth to salute him in their father’s name. It +proved to be a much more considerable town than the traveller had +expected, and the palace was a spacious and even imposing building, in +its architecture recalling the characters of the Gothic style. The +population numbered seven to eight thousand souls, whom civil discord had +reduced to a pitiful extremity. It was with no little difficulty that +Dr. Barth obtained even a supply of millet. + +On the 10th he entered a beautiful forest, where the air was heavy with +the sweet odours of flowering trees; but the place is noted for its +insalubrity. Dr. Barth was compelled to remain there for twenty-four +hours, one of his camels having gone astray; and this circumstance +appeared so extraordinary, that the neighbouring peasants were in the +habit of referring to him as “the man who passed a whole day in the +deadly desert.” + +On a quadrangular eminence, about thirty feet high, in the valley of +Fogha—an eminence built up of refuse—stands a village with some +resemblance to the ancient town of Assyria. The inhabitants extract salt +from the black mud out of which their little hillock rises. There are +other villages of a similar character. The condition of the population +is most wretched; they suffer continually from the forays of the robbers +of Dendina. + +After a march of two or three miles over a rocky soil, sprinkled with +bushes and brushwood, Dr. Barth, with intense satisfaction, caught the +glimmer of water, as if the sun were lighting up a broad mirror, and +rapidly pushing forward, came, in an hour’s time, to Say, a ferry on the +great river of the Soudan—the river which has divided with the Nile the +curiosity of geographers, and attracted the enterprise of the +adventurous; the river which, perhaps, surpasses the Nile in its promise +of future commercial industry; the river which we associate with the +names of so many heroic travellers, from Mungo Park to Cameron,—the +Niger. + + + +III. + + +The Niger—all the various names of which (Joliba, Mayo, Eghirrau, Isa, +Kuara, Baki-a-rua) signify one and the same thing, _the River_—is about +seven hundred yards broad at the Say ferry, and flows from +north-north-east to south-south-west with a velocity of three miles an +hour. The left bank has an elevation of about thirty feet; the right +bank is low, and crowned with a town of considerable size. The traffic +is incessant; Fulbis and Sourays, with their asses and oxen, continually +pass to and fro. The boats in use are constructed of two hollow trunks +of trees, fastened together, and measure a length of forty feet and a +breadth of four feet and a half. With feelings of a mingled character +Dr. Barth crossed this stately river, the exploration of which has +necessitated the sacrifice of so many noble lives, and entered the busy +town of Say. Its walls form a quadrilateral of fourteen hundred yards; +the houses of the inhabitants, all built of reeds except the governor’s, +are scattered in groups over the area they enclose. In the rainy season, +a hollow or valley, which cuts across it from north to south, is filled +with water, which impedes communication, and renders the place +insalubrious. When the river is flooded, the town is entirely inundated, +and all its inhabitants are compelled to migrate. The market of Say is +not well provided: the supply of grain is small, of onions _nil_, of rice +_nil_, though the soil is well adapted to their cultivation; of cotton, +however, there is always a large quantity; and Say will prove an +important position for Europeans as soon as the great river route of +Western Africa begins to be utilized. + +Dr. Barth was told by the governor—who had the manners of a Jew, but was +evidently born of a slave-mother—that he should welcome with joy a +European vessel bringing to the town the many articles its inhabitants +needed. He was astonished to find that the traveller was not a trader; +and believing that only some very powerful motive could induce any man to +undertake such an expedition, he grew alarmed at the possibility of +treacherous and insidious designs, and requested him to leave the place. +Dr. Barth was by no means unwilling, and on the following day left behind +him the Niger, which separates the explored regions of Negroland from the +unexplored, and eagerly directed his course towards the mysterious zone +which stretched before him. + +He had crossed the low swampy island occupied by the town of Say, and the +western branch of the river, at that season entirely dry, when a great +storm of thunder and rain broke upon him, and his progress was arrested +by the rolling clouds of sand which the wind accumulated in his path. +After a halt of three hours his march was resumed, though the soil was +flooded with water to a depth of several inches. The country through +which he passed had been colonized by the Sourays; it is a dependency of +the province of Guinea, and the natives were at war both with the +colonists and the Fulbi. Thence he entered a well-cultivated district, +where the Fulbi, who regard the cow as the most useful member of the +animal world, breed large herds of cattle. The scenery was varied by +thickets of mimosas, with here and there a baobab or a tamarisk. More +attractive to the traveller, because more novel, were the numerous +furnaces, six or seven feet high, used for casting iron. + +The ground broke up into great irregularities; ridges of rock ran in all +directions; formations of gneiss and mica schist predominated, with rare +and beautiful varieties of granite. There, through banks of twenty feet +in height, picturesque and rocky, flowed the deep waters of the Sirba. +To effect the passage, Dr. Barth’s followers could obtain only some +bundles of reeds; the chief and all the inhabitants of the village +sitting calmly on the bank, and watching their operations with lively +interest. The men had expressive countenances, with effeminate features; +long plaited hair, which fell upon the shoulders; a pipe in their mouths; +and, for attire, a blue shirt and wide blue trousers. The women were +dumpy and ill proportioned; they wore numerous collars, and pearls in +their ears; their bosom and legs were naked. + +Another storm overtook the travellers, and converted the jungles through +which they wound their way into a wide expanse of water. The +solitariness of the land was broken at one point by a village, charmingly +enclosed within a quickset hedge; fields of maize were succeeded by a +tract of forest; then they entered a populous district, where the loaded +camels laboured heavily through the clayey soil. At Sibba, where the +governor, standing at the gate, was explaining to his people certain +verses of the Koran, Dr. Barth was handsomely lodged in a hut newly +built, with walls excellently polished, and quite an attractive and +refreshing appearance. But, in life, there is always a flavour of +wormwood in the cup of joy; appearances are proverbially deceitful; and +Dr. Barth’s beautiful abode proved to be a nest of ants, which committed +wholesale depredations on his baggage. + +The day after his arrival chanced to be the last of the great Mohammedan +feast of the Ramadan. That it was to be a day of festival was announced +at earliest dawn by the sound of merry music; the Fulbi streamed forth +from their houses, clad in white chemises, as a sign of the white purity +of their faith; and the governor paraded through the town at the head of +a _cortége_ of forty horsemen. As the cadi showed an inclination to +represent Dr. Barth in the unwelcome capacity of a sorcerer, he deemed it +prudent to distribute a largess among the people of the procession. + +He arrived at Doré, the chief town of Libtako, on the 12th of July. The +soil is dry, and troops of gazelles frolic about the arid plain which +borders on the market-place. The market, on the occasion of Dr. Barth’s +visit, was frequented by four or five hundred persons, who were buying or +selling salt, and cotton stuffs, and copper vessels, and corn, and +kola-nuts, and asses. The inhabitants of Doré are partial to ornaments +made of copper; and Dr. Barth noticed two young girls wearing in their +hair a copper device of a horseman, sword in hand and pipe in mouth. The +pipe, be it observed, is in great request among the Sourays, who seem to +be of the opinion of Lord Lytton, that “he who doth not smoke hath either +known no great griefs, or refused himself the softest consolation, next +to that which comes from heaven.” + +Beyond Doré the country was a network of rivers and morasses. Buffaloes +were exceedingly numerous. A venomous fly, very rare to the east of the +Soudan, seriously annoyed Dr. Barth’s cattle. It was the wet season; +rain descended perpetually, as if the floodgates of heaven had been +opened, and water was everywhere—in front, in rear, on either side; +water, water, water! For quiet English gentlemen, living at home at +ease, or occasionally indulging in a railway journey of a few hundred +miles, in a comfortable carriage, through fields well cultivated and well +drained, where rivers seldom break their bounds, or if they do, never +accomplish greater injury than the overflowing of a green meadow or two, +it is almost impossible to conceive the difficulty, and even danger, of +traversing the African plains in the rainy season, of conveying heavy +baggage through leagues upon leagues of swamps, which the unloaded camel +finds it laborious to cross. More than once Dr. Barth was afraid that +his horse, in spite of its robust vigour, would fail to extricate its +limbs from the deep mud, and sink with its rider in the slough. So +tremendous are the rains, that in a single night they have been known to +sweep away the fourth part of a large village, and in one house eleven +goats have perished. + +Hitherto Dr. Barth had maintained his quality as a Christian; but on +entering Dalla, a province belonging to the fanatical chief of Masina, +who would never have permitted “an infidel” to traverse his territories, +Dr. Barth thought it advisable to assume the character of an Arab. But a +dispute which he had with his host, respecting a pack of dogs that showed +a decided unwillingness to give place to a stranger, indicated no great +religious fervour on the part of the population. Good Mohammedans have +no liking for the canine race. The Fulbi will not employ them even as +guides for their cattle, which they direct by the voice. All the dogs +were black; the poultry were black and white. Dr. Barth observed that +the crops suffered greatly from the ravages of a large black worm, which +he had not met with since his expedition into Bagirmi. + +On the 5th of August he entered into a region of swamp and morass, and he +was glad when, to relieve the monotony of the landscape, he caught sight +of the picturesque Souray villages and the fantastic outline of the chain +of the Hombori mountains. The various forms of this singular range, none +of the peaks of which rise more than eight hundred feet above the level +of the plain, can hardly be imagined; they irresistibly attract the +traveller’s eye. On a gentle slope, composed of masses of rock, is built +a perpendicular wall, the terraced summit of which is inhabited by a +native race who have ever maintained their independence. That these +heroic hillmen sometimes descend from their fastnesses is shown by their +flocks of sheep and crops of millet. Starting from this point, a twofold +range of remarkable crests extends along the plain, with a curious +similitude to the ruins of mediæval castles. + +Refused admission at Boná, and afraid to enter Nuggera, well known to be +a hot-bed of fanaticism, Dr. Barth solicited the hospitality of some +Towaregs, who were encamped in the neighbourhood. Their chief, a man of +agreeable physiognomy, with fine features and a fair complexion, placed +one of his huts at the traveller’s disposal, and sent him some milk and a +sheep ready cooked. Next day, his tents of canvas figured in the midst +of those of his host, and he was besieged by a number of very stout +ladies, all importunate for gifts. At Bambara, a considerable +agricultural centre, surrounded by the canals and affluents of the Niger, +he resided for several days. It is situated upon a backwater (mariyet) +of the river, which, at the time of Barth’s visit, was almost dry. In +the ordinary course of things, it ought, in three weeks, to be crowded +with boats, going to Timbuktú by Oálázo and Saráyamó, and to Dirá by +Kanima. The prosperity of the town depends, therefore, on the rains; and +as these had not begun, the whole population, with the Emir at their +head, implored the pretended Arab doctor, whom they chose to regard as a +great magician, to exercise his powers to obtain from the skies a copious +benediction. Dr. Barth eluded the request for a formal ceremony, but +expressed a hope that Heaven would listen to wishes so very reasonable. +As it happened, there was a slight fall of rain next day, which drew from +the inhabitants the sincerest gratitude; but, for all that, Dr. Barth was +very glad to put some distance between himself and Bambara. + +On the 1st of September, at Saráyamó, Dr. Barth embarked on one of the +branches of the Niger, and sailed towards Timbuktú. The stream was about +a hundred yards wide, and so thick with aquatic plants that the voyagers +seemed to be gliding over a prairie. Moreover, in its bed the asses and +horses obtained the chief part of their sustenance. In about two miles +and a half they entered open water, and the boatmen, whose songs had rung +the praises of the Julius Cæsar of Negroland, the Sultan Mohammed ben +Abubakr, carried them, from winding to winding, between banks clothed +with cucifers, tamarinds, and rich grasses, on which sometimes cattle +were feeding, and sometimes the gazelle. The presence of alligators was +a sign that they approached a broader water, and the channel suddenly +widened to two hundred yards; its banks alive with pelicans and other +water-birds, while men and horses went to and fro. The curves and bends +of the stream increased, and the banks assumed a more defined and regular +formation; wider and wider became the water-way, until it reached three +hundred and forty yards. Some fires shone out against the evening +shadows. At the bottom of a little creek clustered a little village. In +no part of the course could any current be discerned; it was a kind of +lagoon which the voyagers were crossing, and sometimes the wave flowed in +one direction, sometimes in another. After two centuries of war, its +shores, once so animated, have sunk into silence; and Gakovia, Sanyara, +and many other villages have ceased to be. There, on the edge of the +bank, towered aloft a clump of graceful trees, the haunt of numerous +bees; here, a patch of greensward brightened with the colours of many +blossoms. The river now flowed from south-west to north-east, with a +noble expanse of six hundred yards; its majestic flood rolling like a +volume of silver in the moonlight, with the reflection of stars sparkling +thickly on the crests of its waves. + +After a pilgrimage of eight months’ duration, Dr. Barth arrived at +Kabara, the river-port of Timbuktú; and was lodged in a house on the +highest ground, which contained two large and several small rooms, and a +first floor. The inner court was occupied by a numerous and varied +assortment of sheep, ducks, pigeons, and poultry. At early dawn, on the +day after his arrival, our traveller, almost suffocated, left his room; +but he had scarcely begun his walk before a Towareg chief interrupted +him, and demanded a present. Receiving a prompt refusal, he coolly +announced that, in his quality as a bandit, he could do him a good deal +of harm. Dr. Barth, in fact, was _hors la loi_, and the first wretch who +suspected him of being a Christian might slay him with impunity. He +succeeded, however, in getting rid of the Towareg. Meanwhile, the house +was crowded with visitors from Timbuktú, some on foot, some on horseback, +but all wearing blue robes, drawn close to the figure by a drapery, with +short breeches and peaked straw hats. All carried lances, while some had +swords and guns; they seated themselves in the courtyard, overflowed the +chambers, staring at one another, and asking each other who this stranger +might be. In the course of the day, Dr. Barth was “interviewed” by fully +two hundred persons. In the evening, a messenger whom he had despatched +to Timbuktú returned, accompanied by Sidi Alawat, one of the Sultan’s +brothers. Dr. Barth confided to him the secret of his Christian +profession, but added that he was under the special protection of the +sovereign of Stamboul. Unfortunately, he had no other proof of his +assertion than an old firman dating from his former residence in Egypt; +the interview, however, passed off very agreeably. + +On the following day, they crossed the sand-hills in the rear of Kabara; +the yellow barrenness of the country contrasting vividly with the +fertility of the verdurous borders of the river. It is, indeed, a +desert, infested by roving bands of murderous Towaregs. Such is the +well-known insecurity of the route, that a thicket, situated midway, +bears the significant name of “It does not hear”—that is, it is deaf to +the cries of a victim. To the left stands the tree of Wely-Salah, a +mimosa which the natives have covered with rags in the hope that the +saint will replace them by new clothes. As they drew near Timbuktú, the +sky clouded over, the atmosphere was full of sand, and the city could +scarcely be seen through the rubbish surrounding it. A deputation of the +inhabitants met Dr. Barth, and bade him welcome. One of them addressed +him in Turkish. He had almost forgotten the language, which, of course, +in his character of a Syrian, he ought to have known; but he recalled a +few words with which to frame a reply, and then avoided awkward questions +by spurring his horse and entering the city. The streets were so narrow, +that not more than two horsemen could ride abreast; Dr. Barth was +astonished, however, by the two-storied houses, with their ornamented +façades. Turning to the west, and passing in front of the Sultan’s +palace, he arrived at the house which had been allotted for his +accommodation. + +He had attained the goal of his wishes; he had reached Timbuktú; but the +anxieties and fatigue of his journey had exhausted him, and he was seized +with an attack of fever. Yet never had he had greater need of his energy +and coolness. A rumour had already got abroad that a Christian had +obtained admission into the city. The Sultan was absent; and his +brother, who had promised his support, was sulking because he had not +received presents enough. On the following day, however, the fever +having left him, Barth received the visits of some courteous people, and +took the air on the terrace of his lodging, which commanded a view of the +city. To the north could be seen the massive outlines of the great +mosque of Sankora; to the east, the tawny surface of the desert; to the +south, the habitations of the Ghadami merchants; while the picture gained +variety from the presence of straw-roofed huts among houses built of +clay, long rows of narrow winding streets, and a busy market-place on the +slope of the sand-hills. + +A day or two later, there were rumours of a meditated attack upon his +residence, but his calm and intrepid aspect baffled hostile designs. The +sheikh’s brother made an attempt to convert him, and defied him to +demonstrate the superiority of his religious principles. With the help +of his pupils, he carried on an animated discussion; but Dr. Barth +confuted him, and by his candour and good sense secured the esteem of the +more intelligent inhabitants. A fresh attack of fever supervened on the +17th; his weakness increased daily; when, at three o’clock in the morning +of the 26th, a blare of instruments and a din of voices announced the +arrival of the sheikh, El Bakay, and his warm welcome to the stranger +dispelled his pains and filled him with a new vigour. He strongly +censured his brother’s ungracious conduct; sent provisions to Barth, with +a recommendation to partake of nothing that did not come from his palace; +and offered him his choice between the various routes that led to the +sea-coast. Could he have foreseen that he was fated to languish eight +months at Timbuktú, Dr. Barth thinks that he could not have supported the +idea; but, happily, man never knows the intensity or duration of the +struggle in which he engages, and marches courageously through the +shadows which hide from him the future. + +Ahmed El Bakay was tall of stature and well proportioned, with an open +countenance, an intelligent air, and the bearing and physiognomy of a +European. His complexion was almost black. His costume consisted of a +short black tunic, black pantaloons, and a shawl bound negligently round +his head. Between him and Dr. Barth a cordial understanding was quickly +formed and loyally maintained. He spoke frequently of Major Laing, the +only Christian whom he had ever seen; for, thanks to the disguise assumed +by the French traveller, Caillé, no one at Timbuktú was aware that he had +at one time resided in their city. + +Timbuktú is situated about six miles from the Niger, in lat. 18° N. Its +shape is that of a triangle, the apex of which is turned towards the +desert. Its circuit at the present time is about three miles and a half; +but of old it extended over a much larger area. It is by no means the +wealthy, powerful, and splendid city which was dreamed of in the fond +imaginations of the early travellers. Its streets are unpaved, and most +of them narrow. There are a thousand houses clay-built, and, in the +northern and north-western suburbs, some two hundred huts of reeds. No +traces exist of the ancient palace, nor of the Kasba; but the town has +three large and three small mosques, and a chapel. It is divided into +seven quarters, inhabited by a permanent population of thirty thousand +souls, which is increased to thirty-five or forty thousand from November +to January, the epoch of the caravans. Founded early in the twelfth +century by the Towaregs, on one of their old pasture-grounds, Timbuktú +belonged to the Souray in the first half of the fourteenth. Recovered, a +century later, by its founders, it was snatched from them by Sami Ali, +who sacked it, then rebuilt it, and drew thither the merchants of +Ghadami. As early as 1373 it is marked upon the Spanish charts, not only +as the entrepôt of the trade in salt and gold, but as the scientific and +religious centre of the Western Soudan; and exciting the cupidity of +Mulay Ahmed, it fell, in 1592, with the empire of the Askias, under the +sway of Marocco. Down to 1826 it remained in the hands of the Ramas, or +Maroccan soldiers settled in the country. Next came the Fulbi; then the +Towaregs, who drove out the Fulbi in 1844. But this victory, by +isolating Timbuktú on the border of the river, led to a famine. Through +the intervention of El Bakay, however, a compromise was effected in 1848; +the Towaregs recognized the nominal supremacy of the Fulbi, on condition +that they should keep no garrison in the city; the taxes were to be +collected by two cadis, a Souray and a Fulbi; and the administration, or +rather the police, was entrusted to two Souray magistrates, controlled +simultaneously by the Fulbi and the Towaregs, between whom was divided +the religious authority, represented by the sheikh, a Rama by origin. + +Dr. Barth’s residence in Timbuktú was a source of intense dissatisfaction +to some of the ruling spirits. Even in the sheikh’s own family it led to +grave dissensions; and many demanded that he should be expelled. El +Bakay remained firm in his support, and, to protect the life of his +visitor, moved him to Kabara. Dr. Barth speaks in high terms of this +liberal and enlightened man, and of the happiness of his domestic circle. +Europe itself could not produce a more affectionate father or husband; +indeed, Dr. Barth hints that he yielded too much to the wishes of his +august partner. + +Week after week, the storms of war and civil discord raged more and more +furious; the traveller’s position became increasingly painful. His +bitterest enemies were the Fulbi. They endeavoured to drag him from the +sheikh’s protection by force, and when this failed, had recourse to an +artifice to get him into their power. The Welád Shinan, who assassinated +Major Laing, swore they would kill him. On the 27th of February, 1854, +the chief of the Fulbi again intimated to the sheikh his request that +Barth should be driven from the country. The sheikh peremptorily +refused. Then came a fresh demand, and a fresh refusal; a prolonged and +angry struggle; a situation more and more intolerable; while commerce +suffered and the people were disquieted by the quarrels of their rulers. +So it came to pass that, on the night of the 17th of March, Sidi +Mohammed, eldest brother of El Bakay, beat the drum, mounted his horse, +and bade Dr. Barth follow him with two of his servants, while the +Towaregs, who supported them, clashed their bucklers together, and +shouted their shrill war-cry. He found the sheikh at the head of a +numerous body of Arabs and Sourays, with some Fulbi, who were devoted to +him. As might be expected, Dr. Barth begged that he might not be the +cause of any bloodshed; and the sheikh promised the malcontents that he +would conduct the obnoxious Christian beyond the town. He encamped on +the frontier of the Oberay, where everybody suffered terribly from bad +food and insects. + +At length, after a residence of thirty-three days on the creek of +Bosábango, it was decided that the march should be begun on the 19th of +April. On the 25th, after having passed through various encampments of +Towaregs, they followed the windings of the Niger, having on their left a +well-wooded country, intersected by marshes, and enlivened by numerous +pintados. Then they fell in with the valiant Wughduga, a sincere friend +of El Bakay, and a magnificent Towareg warrior, nearly seven feet high, +of prodigious strength, and the hero of deeds of prowess worthy of the +most famous knight of the Table Round. Under his escort Dr. Barth +reached Gogo—in the fifteenth century the flourishing and famous capital +of the Souray empire, now a small and straggling town with a few hundred +huts. Here he took leave of his kind and generous protector; and, with +an escort of about twenty persons, recrossed to the right bank of the +river, and descended it as far as Say, where he had passed it the year +before. In this journey of one hundred and fifty leagues, he had seen +everywhere the evidence of great fertility, and a peaceable population, +in whose midst a European might travel in security; speaking to the +people, as he did, of the sources and termination of their great +fostering river—questions which interest those good negroes as much, +perhaps, as they have perplexed the scientific societies of Europe, but +of which they do not possess the most rudimentary knowledge. + +Arriving at Sokotó and Vurno in the midst of the rainy season, Dr. Barth +was warmly welcomed by the Emir; but, with strength exhausted and health +broken, he could not profit by his kindness. + +On the 17th of October he arrived at Kanó, where he had been long +expected; but neither money nor despatches had been forwarded for him—no +news from Europe had been received. Yet at Kanó he had arranged to pay +his servants, discharge his debts, and renew his credits, long since +exhausted. He pledged the little property remaining to him, including +his revolver, until he could obtain the cutlery and four hundred dollars +left at Zindu; but, alas! these had disappeared during recent intestine +commotions. Kanó must always be unhealthy for Europeans; and Dr. Barth, +in his enfeebled condition, acutely felt the ill effects of its climatic +conditions. His horses and camels fell ill, and he lost, among others, +the noble animal which for three years had shared all his fatigues. + +Over every difficulty, every obstacle, that splendid energy which had +carried the great explorer to the Niger and Timbuktú ultimately +prevailed; and on the 24th of November he set out for Kúkáwa. In his +absence it had been the theatre of a revolution. A new ruler held the +reins of government, and Dr. Barth was doomed to encounter fresh +embarrassments. It was not until after a delay of four months that he +was able to resume the journey through the Fezzan. He followed this time +the direct route, by Bilma—the route formerly taken by the travellers, +Denham and Clapperton. + +At the end of August he entered Tripoli, where he spent only four days. +By way of Malta he proceeded to Marseilles; and thence to Paris; arriving +in London on the 6th of September, 1855. + +It may be doubted whether the English public have fully appreciated the +labours of this persevering explorer. To us it seems that he occupies a +high place in the very front rank of African travellers, in virtue not +only of the work he did, but of the courage, perseverance, skill, and +energy which he displayed. He failed in nothing that he undertook, +though his resources were very limited, and the difficulties in his path +of the gravest character. He explored Bornú, A’damáwa, and Bagirmi, +where no European had ever before penetrated. He surveyed, over an area +of six hundred miles, the region which lies between Katséna and Timbuktú, +though even to the Arabs it is the least known portion of the Soudan. He +formed friendly relations with the powerful princes on the banks of the +Niger, from Sokotó to the famous city which shuts its gates upon the +Christian. Five of his best years he dedicated to this astonishing +enterprise, enduring the gravest privations, and braving the most +pestilential climates, as well as the most implacable fanaticism. All +this he did, without friends, without companions, without money. Of the +five brave men who undertook this adventurous expedition, he alone +returned; and returned loaded with treasure, with precious materials of +all kinds for the use of the man of science or the merchant—with maps, +drawings, chronologies, vocabularies, historical and ethnological notes, +itineraries, botanical and geological data, and meteorological tables. +Nothing escaped his attention; he was not only a traveller and an +observer, but a scientific pioneer. Let us give due honour to a +Livingstone, but let us not forget the debt we owe to a Barth. {156} + + + + +MR. THOMAS WITLAM ATKINSON, +AND HIS ADVENTURES IN SIBERIA +AND CENTRAL ASIA. + + + A.D. 1849–55. + + + +I. + + +MR. THOMAS WITLAM ATKINSON among recent travellers is not one of the +least distinguished. He ventured into what may be called “virgin +country”—a region scarcely known to Europeans; carrying his life in his +hand; animated by the desire of knowledge rather than the hope of fame; +quick to observe, accurate in his observations, and intelligent in +combining them into a distinct and satisfactory whole. For some years he +lived among the wild races who inhabit Siberia and Mongolia, the Kirghiz +steppes, Chinese Tartary, and the wilder districts of Central Asia; and +he collected a vast amount of curious information in reference not only +to their manners and customs and mode of life, but to the lands which +they call their own. The broad and irresistible wave of Western +civilization has reached the confines of their vast territories, before +long will pour in upon them, and already is slowly, but surely, +undermining many an ancient landmark. In the course of another fifty +years its advance will have largely modified their characteristics, and +swept away much that is now the most clearly and picturesquely defined. +We need, therefore, to be grateful to Mr. Atkinson for the record he has +supplied of their present condition; a record which to us is one of +romantic interest, as to the future historian it will be one of authentic +value. + +In introducing that record to the reader, he says:—“Mine has been a +tolerably wide field, extending from Kokhand on the west to the eastern +end of the Baikal, and as far south as the Chinese town of Tchin-si; +including that immense chain Syan-shan, never before seen by any +European; as well as a large portion of the western part of the Gobi, +over which Gonghiz Khan marched his wild hordes; comprising a distance +traversed of about 32,000 versts in carriages, 7100 in boats, and 20,300 +on horseback—in all, 59,400 versts (about 39,500 miles), in the course of +seven years.” Neither the old Venetian, Marco Polo, nor the Jesuit +priests, could have visited these regions, their travels having been far +to the south; even the recent travellers, Hue and Gobet, who visited “the +land of grass” (the plains to the south of the great Desert of Gobi), did +not penetrate into the country of the Kalkas. It is unnecessary to +premise that in such a journey, prolonged over so many years, extended +into so many countries, he suffered much both from hunger and thirst, was +exposed to numerous tests of his courage and fortitude, and on several +occasions placed in most critical situations with the tribes of Central +Asia; that he more than once was called upon to confront an apparently +inevitable death. Within the limits to which we are confined, it will be +impossible for us to attempt a detailed narrative of his labours, but we +shall hope to select those passages and incidents which will afford a +fair idea of their value and enterprise. + + * * * * * + +Armed with a passport from the Czar of All the Russias, which in many a +difficult conjuncture proved to its bearer as all-powerful as Ali Baba’s +“Open Sesame,” Mr. Atkinson left Moscow on the 6th of March, intent upon +the exploration of the wild regions of Siberia. A ten days’ journey +brought him to Ekaterineburg, the first Russian town in this direction, +across the Asiatic boundary. Here he took boat on the river +Tchoussowaia, which he descended as far as the pristan, or port, of +Chaitanskoï. Thence he made an excursion to the house of an hospitable +Russian, the director of the Outskinkoï iron-works, traversing a forest +of pines, which deeply impressed him by its aspect of gloomy grandeur. +Resuming his river-voyage, {159} he observed that the valley widened +considerably as he advanced. On the west bank spread a large extent of +meadow-land; on the eastern, the soil was partly cultivated, and bloomed +with young crops of rye. The pastures shone with fresh strong verdure, +were already starred with flowers, while the birch trees were hourly +bursting into leaf. In this region the change from winter to summer is +magically sudden, like that of a transformation scene. At night, you see +the grass browned by frost, and the trees bare of buds; in twenty-four +hours, the meadows are covered with fresh greenness, and the woods spread +over you a thick canopy of vigorous foliage. But if you come from a +temperate clime, you miss that sweet and gradual development of bud and +bloom, of leaf and flower, which is the charm and privilege of spring. +You miss the rare pleasure of watching the opening violet, the first +primrose, the early tinge of green upon the hedgerow and in the coppice, +which you recognize as the heralds and pledges of happy days to come. + +At Oslanskoï Mr. Atkinson took his leave of the Tchoussowaia, and +prepared to cross the Ural Mountains. But while staying at Nijne-Toura, +he resolved upon ascending the great peak of the Katchkanar. The road +led through a tract of deep forest, which spread over high hills, and +down into deep valleys, filled with white vapour, through which the +branches of lightning-stricken pines loomed ghastly like the shivered +masts of a wreck through the ocean mist. Towards noon a thunder-storm +came on, accompanied by heavy rain. Portions of the forest were so thick +as completely to exclude the daylight; and Mr. Atkinson and his +companions frequently found it necessary to cut their way through the +intertangled growth. + +Though bears and other beasts of prey frequent these wilds, Mr. Atkinson +met with none; the chief danger was a fall in the midst of rocks and +prostrate trees, which might have been attended with painful +consequences. At last they emerged from the forest gloom, at the foot of +a steep ascent overlaid with huge blocks of stones. As their horses +slowly clambered up the rugged acclivity, the sound was heard of the roar +of water, indicating a cataract close at hand. It proved to be the +outcome of a small stream, which tumbled down a steep and rocky bed in a +succession of shining falls. Crossing this stream, the riders pursued +their upward course until at eight o’clock they reached the Katchkanar, +after a tedious journey of eleven hours. The guide, a veteran hunter, +proposed to halt for the night at the foot of some high rocks—a +proposition readily accepted. All hands set to work, and soon a great +fire was blazing, not only for the purpose of warmth, but as a protection +against the clouds of mosquitoes which swarmed around, and threatened to +murder sleep. + +At three o’clock, Mr. Atkinson was up and about. The dawn was swiftly +advancing over the interminable Siberian forest. Above the vast horizon +stretched long lines of pale yellow clouds, which every minute became +more luminous, until they seemed like so many waves of golden light +rolling and breaking on the far celestial shore. As the sun gradually +rose into the heavens, every mountain-top blazed with fire, like gigantic +altars, and the pines were transformed into columns of gold. The +adventurers were soon afoot, and, crossing a little grassy valley, began +the real ascent. + +It was a chaotic mass of loose huge rocks, with snow filling up many of +the cavities; in other places they passed under colossal blocks, over +which it would have been no easy task to climb. Further up they +stretched across large patches of frozen snow, and reached the foot of +the high crags of the Katchkanar; many of which stand out like huge +crystals, not less than one hundred feet in height, and are composed of +regular courses, with pure magnetic iron ore between their beds, varying +from one inch to four inches thick. In some places cubes or crystals of +iron project from the solid rock, three and four inches square; and in +others the whole mass seems to be of iron, or some other mineral +substance. Climbing one of the highest pinnacles, Mr. Atkinson enjoyed a +glorious prospect, such as it is difficult for the dweller in plains, +with their always limited horizons, to form even an idea of. For +hundreds of miles the view to the east extended into Siberia, until all +disappeared in fine blue vapour. “There is something truly grand,” says +Mr. Atkinson, “in looking over these black and apparently interminable +forests, in which no trace of a human habitation, not even a wreath of +smoke, can be seen to assure us that man is there. Turning to the north, +and about one hundred versts distant, Pardinsky Kanem rises out of the +dark forest (this is one of the highest points in the Ural chain); it is +partly covered with snow, and shines like frosted silver in the bright +sun. All the mountains near are blue, purple, and misty, with a rugged +foreground of rocks of great height, broken into all shapes and forms. +In fact, the summit of the Katchkanar is evidently a mountain in ruins, +the softer parts having been removed or torn away by the hand of time, +leaving the barren portion, or vertebræ of the mountain, standing like a +huge skeleton, which, seen at a distance, often assumed the most +fantastic and picturesque shapes.” + +After a brief rest, Mr. Atkinson and his friends began the descent of the +mountain, taking, however, a circuitous route which secured them a +variety of scenes, and about seven o’clock in the evening they reached +the site of their encampment on the preceding night. There they slept +until dawn, when they made the best of their way back to Nijne-Toura—a +long day’s journey. + +While at Nijne Mr. Atkinson had an opportunity of seeing something of the +pastimes popular among the iron-workers of the district. It was the +occasion of a popular festival, and the workmen and their families were +all holiday-making. Females and children were riding merrily in the +boxes of the large swings that had been temporarily constructed. The men +were wrestling, just as they might do in Devonshire or Cornwall. +Stripping off his coat, each man tied his long sash firmly round his +waist; this his antagonist gripped with the right hand, while the left +was placed on his shoulder; then the struggle began. One of the athletes +was so conspicuously superior to the rest in skill and prowess, that at +length no one would respond to his repeated challenges to try a fall. +Assuming the honours of championship, he was on the point of quitting the +arena when a slim-built, but well-proportioned, young man suddenly +stepped forward as a competitor. He was evidently a stranger, and his +appearance was greeted with a good deal of laughter, in which the +champion readily joined. The latter acted as if assured of an easy +victory, but, to the general surprise, a sharp and prolonged contention +ensued. The wrestler, angry at the prospect of losing his laurels, +exerted all his dexterity to throw his daring opponent, and when that +failed, endeavoured to overcome him by superior strength. In vain: he +was flung prostrate on the ground. Red with shame, he sprang to his feet +and repeated his challenge. A second combat followed, and the would-be +champion, by a second defeat and a heavy fall, was taught a lesson in +modesty, which it is to be hoped he long remembered. + +Meanwhile, the young girls, in their best and brightest costumes, shone +like a bed of many-coloured tulips. Some, with hands clasped together, +walked to and fro, singing simple songs to those plaintive Russian +melodies which, in their sweet minor keys, are often so beautiful. +Others joined in a game which resembles our English see-saw. A plank, +about seven feet long, was placed on a centre block, six inches high. At +each end stood a player, who, by springing up and alighting again on the +board, caused her companion at the other end to rise higher every time. +The players in this way would sometimes bound as high as three feet or +three feet and a half. + +From Nijne Mr. Atkinson made several excursions into the mining districts +of the Ural, and afterwards returned to Ekaterineburg, to complete the +preparations for his Siberian expedition. He took with him a young man, +about twenty-four years old, who spoke German fluently, and bidding adieu +to his friends, started on his journey. In spite of every effort, he +says, a feeling of deep sadness overtook him when his gaze rested for the +last time on the lofty mountain crest which forms the boundary of Europe. +But the die was cast; he gave the word “Forward!” and away dashed the +horses into Asia. Kamenskoï was the first stage; beyond which he entered +the valley of the Issetz, and rapidly approached the great monastery of +St. Tolometz. It stands on the left bank of the Issetz, near its +junction with the river Teleta, and in external appearance resembles the +Kremlin of Moscow. The walls are strengthened by towers at the angles, +and close to the east end stands the church, an elegant and a spacious +edifice. The road from this point still lay along the high bank of the +Issetz, which here flows through a well-wooded country and teeming fields +of wheat and rye. There are no fences in the fields; but every village +has its ring-fence of posts and rails, enclosing an area of from two to +three miles in diameter, with gates on the high-road, and a watchman to +open and shut them. Passing station after station, Atkinson crossed the +Issetz and the Tobol, and struck into the steppes of Ischim—a flat, +uninteresting tract of country between the rivers Tobol and Ischim. It +is watered by several lakes, and the small sandy ridges—they can scarcely +be called hills—are often covered with pine-woods. + +Here he fell in with a large party of convicts, marching, under a strong +guard, into Eastern Siberia. There were ninety-seven in the gang, the +van of which was led by seventeen men and three women, in chains, +destined for Nertchinsk, more than four thousand versts further. The +journey would occupy them eight months. The others followed in pairs, on +their way to the government of Irkutsk; they had three thousand versts to +travel, or a march of six months. Behind them came telagas {166} with +baggage, and eleven women riding; some of whom were accompanying their +husbands into their miserable exile. In front and on each side rode +mounted Cossacks, who strictly guarded the prisoners; but what were they +to do if they escaped? There was no prospect before them but death by +starvation. + +At the various posting-stations barracks are built, the front buildings +of which are occupied by the officers, guards, and attendants. From each +end, to the distance of about forty or fifty feet, stretches a high +stockade, which returns at right angles, and runs about sixty feet. It +is then carried along the back so as to enclose in all an area of two +hundred feet by sixty; in the middle are the buildings for the prisoners. +The stockade is formed of trunks of trees, twelve inches in diameter, +standing fifteen feet above the ground, and cut to a sharp point at the +top; placed close together, they form a very strong barrier. The +prisoners, moreover, are placed under continual supervision. They march +two days, at a rate of twenty to twenty-five versts daily, and rest one. +A gang leaves Ekaterineburg every Monday morning. + +After leaving Kiansk, which Mr. Atkinson anathematizes as “the worst town +in all Siberia,” he travelled directly south, with the view of visiting +Lakes Sartian and Tchany, the remains of a great inland sea. From Lake +Tchany a chain of lakes, some of which are fifty or sixty versts broad, +extends south-west for nearly two hundred and fifty versts. The country +was low and swampy, but rose occasionally in slight undulations, clothed +with long coarse grass, and frequently relieved by extensive clumps of +birch and aspen, or a thick underwood of bushes. The lakes proved to be +surrounded by so dense a growth of reeds that the water was visible only +at a few points. Beyond, the country was thickly wooded, with large +pieces of cultivated land, on which were fine crops of wheat and rye +growing. The villages were well-built and clean; the inmates looked +comfortable and cleanly; and large herds of cattle grazed in the village +pastures. Speeding onward in his tarantass, as fast as six horses could +carry him, our traveller crossed the Barabinsky steppe—a region curiously +unlike that dreariness of monotony, or monotony of dreariness, which is +generally associated with the name. The traveller might have been +excused for thinking himself in some fair district of England, when he +looked around on hills of gentle slope, covered with noble trees, which +formed the boundaries of considerable plains, and saw the deer nimbly +bounding through the fresh green glades. The view was brightened here +and there with plantations of large timber; at other points rose +sheltered belts of young trees; the effect being in each case so +picturesque as to induce the fancy that art had thus arranged them. The +ground teemed with flowers, as if Proserpine’s fertile feet had +consecrated it—with the bright geranium, pale blue and deep blue +delphinium, white and dark rich crimson dianthus, peony, and purple +crocus. The lakes that studded the expanse, like silver gems in an +emerald setting, bore expanded on their tremulous wave the blooms of the +white and yellow _Nymphoea_. The whole scene was exquisitely sweet and +tranquil. + +But in Siberia changes are frequent and sudden, and to this Eden bit +quickly succeeded a Slough of Despond. Crossing a morass in a heavy +vehicle, drawn by six or seven horses, is not a pleasant sensation; +happily, the traject was accomplished without accident. Another and +another followed; and through each, with hard struggling on the part of +the horses, and much yelling on the part of the yemtschick, or driver, +the traveller was carried successfully. He was thankful, however, when +the country again improved, and his road once more lay among the hills +and pastures. At Krontikha, he was greeted with a noble view of the +valley of the Ob, one of the great rivers of Siberia. From one high +ridge to the other, twelve or fifteen versts is the width of the valley; +in the middle, with constant undulations, first to one side and then to +the other, like a coquette between two suitors, the shining stream +pursues its capricious way, sometimes breaking off into several channels, +divided by green little patches of island. Looking to the north-east, +the traveller discerns, at a distance of one hundred and fifty versts, +Kolyvan, formerly the chief town of the government—a rank now assigned to +Tomsk, which lies one hundred and fifty versts further in the same +direction. To the north and east the eye rests on a vast level, dark +with the heavy shadows of forests of pine. + +At Barnaoul, the chief town in the mining district of the Altai, Mr. +Atkinson found himself 4527 versts from St. Petersburg. After a night’s +rest he resumed his forward course, and the character of the country soon +warned him that he was approaching the steppes which extend westward to +the banks of the Irtisch. These dreary wildernesses were the home and +haunt of the Kirghiz, before the Russians drove them across the river, +and built a line of forts along its bank from Omsk to the mouth of the +Bouchtarma. The frontier to the Kirghiz steppe is guarded by a line of +barracks; the whole length of the line (about 2500 versts) stretching far +up into the Altai mountain range, and along the boundary of China. Dull +beyond description is the landscape here. The chief product is wormwood; +and around the fords and watercourses grow only a few bushes and stunted +willows. + +Kolyvan Lake lies at the foot of some offshoots of the Altai chain. The +masses of rocks which strew its shores, broken and fantastic of outline, +present all the appearance of a ruined city. The granite seems to have +been forced up in a soft or liquid state; then to have flowed over and +cooled; after which it has been forced up again and again, with the +result that it has assumed, in hardening, the most extraordinary forms. +The rocks on the heights of the Altai are not less remarkable: some mock +you with the aspect of ruined battlements and feudal keeps; others might +be mistaken for human heads of a size so colossal that even the magic +helmet in “The Castle of Otranto” would have been a world too small for +them. + +It is at Oubinskoï, a small town or village on the broad, deep, +willow-fringed Ouba, that the ascent of the Altai really begins. Thence +you cross the Oulba, and ascend a valley full of charming bits for the +artist, to the silver mines of Riddersk. About fifteen versts beyond +rises the snow-crowned height of Ivanoffsky-Belock, the source of the +Gromotooka, or stream of thunder (“grom”), one of the wildest rivers in +the Altai. With a roar like that of thunder it hurls its foaming waters +down the rugged steep, frequently tearing off and whirling along with it +huge fragments of rock, and filling the startled air with a din and clang +which are audible for miles. At Riddersk Mr. Atkinson was compelled to +abandon his tarantass; he engaged twenty horses to accompany him, and an +escort of fifteen men, five of whom carried rifles, while the rest were +equipped with axes. A ride of twenty versts, and he reached +Poperetchwaia, the last village in this part of the Altai. It is +occupied by only eighteen families, who live there in the solitude of the +mountain valley, with the great white peaks around them, ignorant of all +the events that daily help to make up the history of the age into which +they have been born—ignorant of the intellectual movements that are +agitating the minds and filling the thoughts of men. A strange, +apparently a useless, life! A life without action, without hope, without +purpose! Surely ten years of our free, busy, progressive English life +are preferable to a hundred years in this lonely Siberian wild. Each +family, we are told, have their horses and cows, and around the village +is pasture sufficient for large herds. The stags on the mountains are +also theirs, and the deer on the hills, and the fish that teem in the +rivers. Wild fruit is plentiful; and the bees in their hives produce +abundance of honey. It is a Siberian Arcady; but an Arcady without its +poetic romance. + +The patriarch of the village is described by Mr. Atkinson as a fine old +man, with a head and countenance which would have furnished an artist +with a model for one of the Evangelists. Health and happiness shone in +his face, the ruddy glow of which was set off by his silver-white beard. +He wore a plain white shirt, hanging over trousers of thin linen, and +fastened round his waist with a red sash; the trousers were tucked into a +pair of boots which reached almost to the knee. In winter, a wolf or +sheep skin coat is added to this picturesque costume. + +In ascending the Altai our traveller plunged into a glorious forest of +cedars, which, with their gnarled and twisted branches, formed an arched +roof almost impervious to the sun. The scene afterwards changed to a +silvery lake, the Keksa, which slept peacefully in the deep shadows of +the mountains. Then came woods of larch, and pine, and birch, all +freshly green, and breathing a pungent aromatic odour; and grassy glades, +fit haunts for the Oreads of the Greek, or the fairies of the Teutonic +mythology, with high cedar-crowned mountains rising on either hand. +There were no birds; but on the crags stood numerous graceful stags, +watching suspiciously the passage of the strangers, and from bough to +bough the black squirrel leaped in his mirth. Less pleasant inhabitants +were the flies and mosquitoes, which infested the valley depths and lower +levels. Still continuing to ascend, Mr. Atkinson entered a rocky gorge +that crossed the shoulder of the mountain ridge. Here the crags +presented their most savage grandeur. Time had hewn them into various +imposing forms: some like turreted battlements and massive towers; others +like enormous buttresses thrown up to support the huge sides of the +mountain. While threading the defile, the travellers were overtaken by a +terrible storm; the wind raged over the heights and through the ravines +with a cruel and sudden fury; the lightning like blood-streaks wound +across the darkened sky; the thunder broke in peal after peal, which the +echoes caught up and repeated until the air rang as with the din of +battle. They sheltered themselves behind a crag until the tempest was +past, and then began the descent of the other side of the mountain. + +Glad were they to find themselves in the more genial lowlands; and +leaving behind them the Chelsoun chain of the Altai, which they had just +crossed, they rode at a rapid rate towards Zirianovsky, a mining station +at the foot of the Eagle Mountains. The silver mines here are the most +valuable in the Altai. Some of the ores, which are exceedingly rich, lie +at a depth of two hundred and eighty feet; others have been followed to a +depth of four hundred and ninety feet. In working them the great +difficulty to be confronted by the miners is the vast quantity of water +that almost inundates the mines; but this might be obviated by the +employment of a steam-engine. To carry the ore to the smelting-works +upwards of two hundred horses are employed. First, it is conveyed in +small carts, drawn by one horse, to Werchnayan pristan, on the Irtisch, a +distance of more than one hundred versts; thence it is sent down the +river in boats to Oust-Kamenogorsk pristan; and from the last place it is +removed again in carts to Barnaoul, Pavlovsky, and other zavods; making a +traject of nine hundred versts in all from the mines to the +smelting-works. + +Skirting the base of the Kourt-Choum mountains, which form the boundary +between the Russian and Chinese empires, Mr. Atkinson turned his face +southward, and before long arrived at Little Narym—a small outpost of +Cossacks, stationed on a plain within a few versts of the Russian +frontier. He was then on the military road, which extends only about +twenty versts further, to the last outpost from Western Siberia. Having +obtained horses, two telagas, and Cossack drivers, he started down the +valley of the Narym, which opens into that of the Irtisch, and at +nightfall entered Great Narym. To the officer in command he explained +his project of crossing the Chinese frontier; but was warned that, as +winter had already set in, and the snow lay deep in the Kourt-Chume +chain, he would probably be lost or frozen to death if he attempted that +route. He was advised to go through the Kirghiz steppe; and the officer +courteously offered to forward him from one Cossack post to another, +until he reached the fortress at Kochbouchta. Mr. Atkinson gladly +accepted the offer, and arranged to meet his new friend in +Ust-Kamenogorsk, on the Irtisch, hiring a boat and men to convey him +thither. The boat consisted of two small canoes lashed together, five +feet apart, with beams placed across, and the whole boarded over so as to +provide a platform, or deck, about fifteen feet by ten. In the head and +stern of each canoe sat a strong, sturdy fellow, with a small paddle, not +much larger than a child’s garden spade; this was used only to guide the +bark, its progress being sufficiently provided for by the rapidity of the +current. Paddling out into the middle of the river, which was more than +a thousand yards broad, the boatmen soon got into the swing of the +current, and the voyage began. “I was watching the changes in the +scene,” says Mr. Atkinson, “as one mountain peak after another came in +view; when suddenly, and without any previous intimation, two of the men +called out that their canoe was filling fast, and that they must make for +the shore without a minute’s delay! Before we got halfway to the bank +she was nearly full of water, and when within about a hundred yards, the +men cried out that she was sinking; this brought our broad deck down to +the water on one side, and helped to float her. The men paddled with all +their might, and at last we reached a thick bed of reeds, which assisted +in keeping us afloat, till we succeeded in getting near enough to the +bank to throw our luggage ashore; and then we landed.” + +After some trouble, Mr. Atkinson was able to hire a good boat, used for +transporting the ore; and the luggage was transferred to it. Then a new +difficulty arose; one of the men deserted. But with great promptitude +Mr. Atkinson seized a bystander, and kept him prisoner until the deserter +was given up. At last, a fresh start was effected. The sun was setting; +a keen cutting wind blew up the river; and there was no shelter to be +obtained, nor wood for a fire, for many versts. Fast over the valley +crept the cold shades of night, and swiftly did they steal up the +mountain sides. No signs of any resting-place could be discovered, and +the scenery grew more and more gloomy. Turning a rocky headland, they +beheld at a great distance the glimmer of a fire, though whether it was +in a dwelling, or on the river bank, they could not determine. Bending +vigorously to their oars, the boatmen shot forward rapidly; and after a +long pull arrived at a small Cossack station, where Mr. Atkinson readily +obtained shelter. + +Asia, he remarks, is the land for tea; there it is that a man learns to +appreciate the herb at its full and proper value. After refreshing +himself with the popular beverage, he took a long walk alone on the bank +of the Irtisch. The fine, picturesque scenery was seen with impressive +effect under the influence of a splendid moonlight, which cast the lower +mountains into deep shade, while a silver lustre rested on the +snow-crowned peaks, contrasting vividly with the gloom of the valleys. +“How infinitely small,” says Mr. Atkinson, “the sight of these mighty +masses made me feel, as I wandered on in my solitary ramble! Excepting +myself, I could not see one living thing—all was silent as the grave. I +had passed some high rocks that shut out the Cossack post from my view, +and had entered a valley, running up into the mountains, which lay +shrouded in dusky shadow. Two white peaks rose far into the cold, grey +sky; the full light of the moon shining upon one of them, and aiding much +in giving a most solemn grandeur to the gloomy scene. Fancy began to +people this place with phantoms, ghosts, and goblins of horrible aspect. +It required but the howling of the wolves to give a seeming reality to +the creations of the imagination.” + +Passing the mouth of the Bouchtarma, Mr. Atkinson descended the river to +Mount Kamenogorsk. There he found his friend, the Cossack colonel, who +provided him with an escort of two stalwart Cossacks, armed with sabre, +gun, pistol, and long lance. His party also included an unarmed Cossack +driver, and his own attendant. He set out in a light telaga, drawn by +three horses, and plunged into the solitude of the Kirghiz steppe, which +extends eastward to Nor-Zaisan and southward to the Tarbogatni Mountains. +There are many undulations on this vast plain, which in summer affords +pasturage for immense herds of horses. While halting on the bank of a +dried-up stream to dine, Mr. Atkinson observed in the distance a small +column of white smoke, which he supposed to proceed from a Kirghiz aul, +or village; but a guide whom he had hired assured him there were no +encampments in that direction, and that the smoke issued from burning +reeds on the shores of Lake Nor-Zaisan. Thitherward the traveller +immediately proceeded; sometimes over rich pastures, at others over a +rough tract of ground and stones almost bare of vegetation. After riding +a couple of hours, they were able to make out that the steppe was on +fire, and that all the reeds were feeding the flame; and in due time they +came upon a miserable Kirghiz yourt, or dwelling, inhabited by a dirty +Kirghiz woman and four children, three of whom were very ill. She +received the stranger, however, with simple hospitality, kindled the +fire, and set his kettle on it. In return he made tea for himself and +the children, who were lying on a voilock, covered up with skins. He +then walked to the summit of a neighbouring hill to gain a view of the +burning steppe. The fire was still about ten versts to the east, but was +travelling west, and across Mr. Atkinson’s track, extending in breadth +some miles across the plain—a great wave of flame, which, accompanied by +rolling clouds of smoke, ran swiftly along the ground, consuming the long +grass, and reddening the horizon with a lurid glow. + +Next morning Mr. Atkinson resumed his journey, passed a Kirghiz aul, and +reached the margin of the Nor-Zaisan, but was unable to obtain a glimpse +of its waters, owing to the dense masses of tall reeds which completely +encircled it. He rode across to the Irtisch, but there too the view was +similarly blocked up. There was nothing to be done but to return as +quickly as possible to Kochbouchta, and prepare for the expedition into +Chinese Tartary, which he had long had in contemplation. A man of +irrepressible energy and singularly firm resolution, Mr. Atkinson, when +his plans were once formed, lost no time in carrying them into execution. +But while the necessary arrangements were being made, he found time to +accomplish some short but interesting excursions in the neighbourhood of +Kochbouchta, visiting the gold mines, and sketching the romantic scenery +of the valley of the Isilksou. At length he was ready for his departure, +and with an escort of three Cossacks, his servant, and his own Cossack +attendant, he once more crossed the Irtisch, and began his journey across +the Kirghiz steppe. All the party were well armed and well mounted, and +Mr. Atkinson felt competent to encounter, if need be, half a hundred of +the nomadic bandits, if they should attempt to plunder him. His servant, +however, manifested so lively a dread of the robbers of the steppes, and +so strong a disinclination to a close acquaintance with the Kirghiz, that +Mr. Atkinson ordered him back to Ust-Kamenogorsk to await his return, +rightly judging that his fears would render him an incumbrance and an +impediment rather than a useful auxiliary. + + + +II. + + +The tribes of the Kirghiz nation spread over the Asiatic steppes from the +Aral river to the Ala-Tau Mountains. From time immemorial they have been +divided into the Great, the Middle, and the Little Hordes. The Great +Horde occupies the territory north of the Ala-Tau, extending into China +and Tartary. The Middle Horde inhabits the countries lying between the +Ischim, the Irtisch, Lake Balkash, and Khokand. The Little, which is by +far the most numerous Horde, wanders over the undulating plains bounded +by the Yamba and the Ural, over Turkistan (now under Russian rule), and +into Siberia. As a whole, the Kirghiz population may be assumed to +number about 1,250,000 souls. They are of Turco-Tartaric origin; and, +according to Max Müller, Southern Siberia was their mother country. +Nominally, they own the supremacy of the Great White Czar on the one +side, and of the Chinese Emperor on the other; but their nomadic habits +secure their virtual independence. Each tribe is governed by its sultan +or chief. Quarrels and blood feuds between the different tribes are of +constant occurrence. Many live wholly by brigandage; swooping down +suddenly, under cover of night, on the richer auls, or villages, they +carry off horses, cattle, and other objects of value, besides men, women, +and children, whom they sell into slavery. These nocturnal raids are +called barantas. + +The yourt, or tent, of the Kirghiz bears a close resemblance to the +kibitka of the Kalmucks. One of the better class is thus described: It +was formed of willow trellis-work, put together with untanned strips of +skin, made into compartments which fold up. It represented a circle of +thirty-four feet in diameter, five feet high to the springing of the +dome, and twelve feet in the centre. This dome is formed of bent rods of +willow, an inch and a quarter in diameter, put into the mortice-holes of +a ring about four feet across, which secures the top of the dome, admits +light, and lets out the smoke. The lower ends of the willow rods are +tied with leathern thongs to the top of the trellis-work at the sides, +which renders it quite strong and secure. The whole is then covered with +large sheets of voilock, made of wool and camel’s hair, fitting close, so +that it is both warm and water-tight. The doorway is formed of a small +aperture in the trellis-work, over which hangs a piece of voilock, and +closes it. In the daytime this is rolled up and fastened on the roof of +the yourt. + +The reader will not be surprised to learn that the furniture and fittings +of the yourt are remarkable for their simplicity; the Kirghiz having none +of the ingenuity of a Robinson Crusoe or the inventiveness of an American +backwoodsman. The fire is kindled on the ground in the centre of the +yourt. Directly opposite to the door, voilocks are spread; on these +stand sundry boxes containing the clothing of the family, pieces of +Chinese silk, tea, dried fruits, and ambas of silver (small squares, +about two inches and a half long, an inch and a half wide, and +three-tenths of an inch thick). Some of the Kirghiz possess large +quantities of these ambas, which are carefully hoarded up. Above the +boxes are bales of Bokharian and Persian carpets, often of great beauty +and value. In another part of the yourt lies the large sack of koumis, +or mare’s milk, completely covered up with voilock to keep it warm and +promote the fermentation. And near this bag stands a large leathern +bottle, sometimes holding four gallons, and frequently enriched with much +ornament; as are the small bottles which the horseman carries on his +saddle. In another place may be seen the large iron caldron, and the +trivet on which it rests when used for cooking in the yourt. There are +usually half a dozen Chinese wooden bowls, often beautifully painted and +japanned, from which the koumis is drunk; some of them hold three pints, +others are still larger. On entering a Kirghiz yourt in summer, each +guest is presented with one of these Chinese bowls full of koumis. To +return the vessel with any koumis in it is considered impolite, and the +rudeness is one of which a good Kirghiz is assuredly never guilty. + +The saddles are deposited on the bales of carpets. As the wealthy +Kirghiz greatly esteem rich horse trappings, many of these are beautiful +and costly. If of Kirghiz workmanship, they are decorated with silver +inlaid on iron, in chaste ornamental designs, and are padded with velvet +cushions; the bridles, and other parts of the equipment, are covered with +small iron plates, similarly inlaid. + +Leathern thongs, ropes made of camel’s hair, common saddles, +saddle-cloths, and leathern tchimbar hang suspended from the +trellis-work. The tchimbar, or trousers, however, are not infrequently +made of black velvet, richly embroidered with silk, more especially the +back elevation; and they are so large and loose that a Kirghiz, when he +rides, can tuck into them the laps of his three or four khalats. As he +ties them round his waist with a leathern strap, he presents a most +grotesque appearance with the centre part of his person bulging like a +great globe, out of which the very diminutive head and legs protrude. + +The national dress of the Kirghiz is the khalat, a kind of pelisse, very +long and very full, with large sleeves, made of cashmere or silk, and in +the most dazzling colours; but the poorer nomad substitutes for this +state dress a horse-skin jacket. Breeches fastened below the hips by a +girdle of wool or cashmere, high-heeled madder-coloured boots, and a +fox-skin cap, rising into a cone on the top, and lined inside with +crimson cloth, complete his costume. His weapons are the spear, gun, and +axe. The last is a long formidable weapon; the iron head is moderately +heavy and sharp; the handle, about four and a half feet long, is secured +by a leathern thong round the wrist. It is often richly inlaid with +silver. The women wear a high calico head-dress, a part of which falls +over the shoulders and covers up the neck; boots of the same make and +colour as the men’s, and a long and ample khalat, with, sometimes, a +shawl tied round the waist. + +The Kirghiz begin to make koumis in April. The mares are milked at five +o’clock in the morning and about the same time in the evening, into large +leathern pails, which are immediately taken to the yourt, and emptied +into the koumis bag. The latter is five to six feet long, with a +leathern tube, about four inches in diameter, at one corner, through +which the milk is poured into the bag, and the koumis drawn out of it. A +wooden instrument, not unlike a churning-staff, is introduced into the +bag, for the purpose of frequently agitating the koumis, which is not +considered in good condition until after the lapse of twelve to fourteen +days. It is drunk in large quantities by such of the Kirghiz as are +wealthy enough to keep up a considerable stud of brood mares; and every +Kirghiz, rich or poor, slings his koumis bottle to his saddle in summer, +and loses no opportunity of replenishing it at the different auls he +visits. + +In crossing the steppe, Mr. Atkinson fell in with the aul of Mahomed, a +Kirghiz chief, who was reputed to be very wealthy. Mahomed was a fine +robust man, about sixty years old, stout and square-built, with broad +features, a fine flowing grey beard, a pair of small piercing eyes, and a +fairly pleasant countenance. He wore on his head a closely fitting silk +cap, handsomely embroidered in silver; his dress consisting of a large +robe, or khalat, of pink and yellow striped silk, tied round the waist +with a white shawl. His boots were of reddish-brown leather, small, with +very high heels, causing a real or apparent difficulty in walking. His +wife, much younger than himself, and probably not more than thirty or +thirty-five years of age, had a broad face, high cheek-bones, twinkling +black bead-like eyes, a small nose, a wide mouth; she was neither pretty +nor prepossessing; but decidedly in want of a hot bath. Attired in a +black kaufa (Chinese satin) khalat, with a red shawl round the waist; +reddish-brown high-heeled boots, like her husband’s; she also wore a +rather pointed white muslin cap, the lappets of which, finely wrought on +the edge with red silk, hung down nearly to her hips. This couple were +rich in the world’s goods from a Kirghiz point of view. Not only was +their yourt well stocked with voilocks and carpets, and richly ornamented +weapons, and costly caparisonings, but they owned an amount of live stock +which would astonish the most opulent English farmer. The noise in and +around the aul was deafening. It was a babel of sounds: the sharp cry of +the camels, the neighing of the horses, the bellowing of the bulls, the +bleating of the sheep and goats, and the barking of the dogs, all +combining in one hideous, ear-shattering chorus. Mr. Atkinson counted no +fewer than 106 camels, including their young; besides more than 2000 +horses, 1000 oxen and cows, and 6000 sheep and goats. Yet even these +large totals did not represent all the wealth of the Kirghiz chief; for +he had two other auls, and at each were 1000 horses and numerous cattle. +It was a picturesque and interesting sight to see the women busily +milking the cows, and the men conducting the vast herds to their +pastures. The horses and camels are driven to the greatest distance, as +far as ten and fifteen versts; the oxen come next; the sheep remain +nearest the aul, but still at a distance of five or six versts. + +While Mr. Atkinson was sojourning in Mahomed’s aul, a night attack was +made upon it. He was aroused, about two hours after midnight, by a +tremendous noise, which to him, sleeping on the ground, seemed as if it +issued from some subterranean hollow. At first he thought it was the +rumbling of an earthquake, and immediately sat upright. But the sound +rolled on, drew nearer and nearer; presently it passed, so that the whole +earth shook. Then he knew that the herd of horses was dashing onward at +full gallop; and when he caught the shrieks of women and the shouts of +men, he understood that an assault had been made upon the aul by robbers. +In a moment he seized his rifle, and sallied forth from the yourt, to +behold the Kirghiz, battle-axe in hand, leap on their horses, and gallop +towards the point of attack. The herds were rushing wildly round the +aul; the Cossacks, with their muskets loaded, were ready for the fray; +all was confusion and disorder. Presently the sound of horses swiftly +approaching could be heard; they came nearer and nearer; in less than two +minutes a dark troop swept past like a whirlwind at twenty paces distant, +making the air ring with loud, defiant shouts. Five bullets whistled +after them; there was a scream from a horse, but on they dashed. The +Kirghiz followed quickly in pursuit, accompanied by two of the Cossacks, +who had rapidly mounted. After riding about a verst they came up with +the robbers, to find they were three times their number, and prepared to +fight for their booty. Against such odds no success could be hoped for, +and accordingly the Kirghiz retired to the aul. When day dawned it was +ascertained that this daring razzia had cost Mahomed a hundred horses. + + * * * * * + +This was not the only adventure that befell Mr. Atkinson while he made +Mahomed’s aul his headquarters. One day, he was returning from an +excursion to some finely coloured porphyry rocks, when the wind begun to +blow across the steppe in strong and frequent gusts, and his Kirghiz +guides announced that a storm was at hand. Their prediction was +confirmed by the clouds that gathered about the lower peaks of the Altai, +and soon a dense mass of blackness, extending for a long distance from +north to south, rolled rapidly in the direction of the travellers. Not a +tree or a rock offered the slightest shelter. Spurring their horses +briskly, they galloped over the plain, pursued by the storm, as, in +Goethe’s ballad, the father and his doomed child are pursued by the Erl +King. The gusts of wind ceased, and for a short time a deadly calm +prevailed. Meanwhile, the clouds were painfully agitated, as if by some +internal force, and streams of vapour issuing from their blackness +whirled rapidly round. A low murmur stole through the air; gradually it +deepened and strengthened, until, as the storm broke upon the steppe, it +swelled into a roar like that of a thousand cannon. The grasses and low +bushes were rooted up, and sent flying into the air with fearful +velocity. The terrified horses stopped suddenly; nor could they be +induced to move until the whirlwind had passed by. Fortunately the +travellers had not been caught in its vortex, and no serious accident +occurred. + +Leaving the hospitable Mahomed, Mr. Atkinson continued his explorations +of the steppe, and rode onward to the next aul, which lay to the +northward, and was reached in two days’ journey. Here, after the usual +entertainment, he found himself free to write up his journal—much to the +astonishment of his companions, the three R’s being unknown in the steppe +to any but the mullahs, or priests, of the various tribes. The +manuscript was a wonder to the children of the wilderness, and they +regarded its owner as a very wealthy mullah, possessed of the priceless +treasure of a book full of amulets. For the mullah sells his amulets, or +charms, at the rate of a sheep for each scrap of paper, which he has +covered with unmeaning characters. Mr. Atkinson’s ring was examined; +also his knife; also a piece of red sealing-wax. On a piece of thick +paper from his sketch-book he took impressions of his seal, and presented +them to the women of the yourt, who doubtlessly long wore them in their +caps as talismans or ornaments of special value and importance. His +watch was likewise an object of curiosity. He held it to the ear of a +woman sitting near him. Evidently she thought it was alive and talking, +for she communicated the fact to her companions, and they all expressed a +wish to hear it speak. + +By way of Mount Kamenogorsk, his old quarters, Mr. Atkinson proceeded to +Barnaoul, which he reached on the 1st of November. This town is built at +the junction of the small river Barnaulka with the Ob. The streets are +wide, laid out in parallel lines, and intersected by others at right +angles. There are three ugly brick churches, and one large hospital. +Its silver smelting works are on an extensive scale, producing annually +about nine thousand pounds. Almost all the gold found in Siberia is also +smelted here, and cast into bars; and every year six caravans leave with +the precious metals for St. Petersburg—four in winter by the sledge +roads, and two in summer. Barnaoul is the centre for the administration +of the mines of the Altai, and the residence of the Natchalink, or +director, as well as of the heads of the principal departments. + +The public museum at Barnaoul contains a very good collection of +minerals, some Siberian antiquities, a few Siberian animals and birds, +and four tiger-skins. The wearers of these skins were killed in +different parts of Siberia; in two instances their capture proving fatal +to some of the peasants engaged in it, for pea-rifles and hay-forks are +scarcely fit weapons with which to encounter the fiercest of the beasts +of prey. They are seldom found in Siberia; only when driven by hunger do +they cross the Irtisch, and many peasants do not know them even by name. +The last of the Barnaoul company, now reposing peacefully in a glass +case, was discovered, early one morning, prone on the top of a small +hay-rick, near the village. The peasant, who had come for some hay for +his horses, beheld with surprise and terror the strange and formidable +creature, and shrank from his glaring eyeballs, which seemed to sparkle +with fire. At the same moment the peasant’s dog caught sight of him, +and, with a loud bark, bravely dashed towards the rick. Growling +terribly, the tiger sprung to the ground. The dog met him intrepidly,—to +be crushed in a moment beneath his heavy paw. Hastening towards the +village, the man gave the alarm, and quickly returned with a valiant +company; some armed with pea-rifles, others with hay-forks and axes. +Several dogs followed them. On approaching the rick, they were apprised +of the enemy’s position by a furious growl. The dogs made a brilliant +charge; but the tiger crouched sullenly, and did not spring. A small +shot through his hide roused him, and at a bound he was in among the +dogs, killing a couple of them instantly with his terrible paws, and +scattering the rest in ignominious flight. He received two more balls, +but they served only to inflame his fury, and leaping in among his +assailants, he felled one of them to the ground, dead. Again the dogs +charged him, while the peasants with their hay-forks stabbed him in the +back and sides. At last he withdrew slowly towards a bank covered with +brushwood, followed by the dogs and their masters; but on reaching the +bank he halted, faced round, growled angrily, and prepared for another +spring. His enemies halted, and poured in shot upon him; the dogs barked +furiously; but he held his ground, and could not be induced to move. +After a while, encouraged by his inaction, the dogs began to close in +upon him, and finally it was discovered that a ball had pierced him in a +vital part, and the beast was dead. + +The river Ob, which flows past Barnaoul, is described as a magnificent +stream, running in a valley twelve versts broad; its numerous small +branches divide this valley into islands, on which large trees are +growing. In May the melting of the snow swells the stream into a great +flood, which inundates much of the valley, and gradually widens from one +bank to the other, with the tops of the trees rising above the swirl of +waters like islands. At this time many of the scenes along the Ob are +very grand, especially if seen at sunrise or sunset, when the various +colouring of the luminous sky is mirrored in the mighty stream, which, +flashing with golden and crimson lights, rolls through the deep purple +masses of the forest, to terminate its course in the Arctic Ocean. + +The neighbourhood seems to be an attractive one for the sportsman; snipe +abound in June and July, blackcock in August, and rebchicks, or tree +partridges, in September. Wild hen are also plentiful, and in winter, +hares. Or if the hunter care for more venturous sport, he may sally out +against the wolves and bears. + +The bears are dangerous antagonists. A very large one was seen by some +woodcutters about fifteen versts from the gold mine; and two men, one of +whom was known as a bold, skilful, and veteran hunter, started in +pursuit. They found the beast’s track quite fresh in the long dewy +grass, and cautiously followed it up, until a low growl warned them of +his presence. He sprang out of a thicket, about thirty-five paces +distant, and confronted his pursuers. The hunter fired, and his shot +told, but not in a vital part. The wounded animal charged immediately, +the other man reserving his shot until he was within twenty paces. Then, +unfortunately, his rifle missed fire. The bear at once stood on his hind +legs, and sprang forward against his first assailant, striking him to the +earth with a blow that stripped his scalp and turned it over his face; +then, seizing his arm, he began to gnaw and crush it to the bone, +gradually ascending to the shoulder. The sufferer called to his +companion to load and fire; but, losing heart when he saw his friend so +terribly mangled, the craven took to flight. + +Returning to the gold mine, he related what had happened; but it was then +too late to despatch a party in search of the unfortunate hunter. At +daylight next morning, however, they set out, with the craven as guide. +On arriving at the scene of the affray, no remains of the victim could be +found but some torn clothing and his rifle; and the trampled grass showed +that he had been carried off into the thick covert. The trail was +pursued with the utmost diligence, and at length, under a heap of +branches, in a dense thicket of trees and bushes, the hunter’s body was +discovered, and, strange to say, though grievously mutilated, it still +throbbed with life. With tender care the miserable victim was conveyed +to the gold mine and taken to the hospital, where he was treated with the +utmost kindness, and all was done that medical skill could do. For a +long time he remained unconscious; but at the end of two months a slight +improvement was noticeable, and he recovered his reason. His first +question was about the bear; his next, about his own defeat. In truth, +his conversation turned only upon these subjects: he seemed possessed by +a monomania; was continually asking for his rifle, that he might go and +kill “Michael Ivanitch” (the bear). As his strength returned, it was +thought necessary to place him under restraint, lest his desire to +contend with his fierce and powerful enemy should lead him into some +dangerous enterprise. + +But when autumn arrived, and laid its magical finger on the forest, the +monomaniac seemed to have forgotten his hate, so that he was watched with +less rigour. He took advantage of his comparative freedom to steal from +the hospital, gain his own cottage, and, in the absence of his family, +arm himself with his rifle and axe, and stow away in his wallet a loaf of +black bread. Then, as the shades of evening began to fall, he started +for the forest, and soon disappeared in the gathering gloom. + +As soon as his absence from the hospital was known, a close search for +him was instituted; but in vain. A week passed by, and it was supposed +that he had perished, when one day he strode into the hospital, carrying +on his shoulders the skin of a huge black bear. Throwing it down, he +exclaimed, “I told you I would have him.” Thenceforward he rapidly +recovered; both his physical and mental health were re-established, and +he lived to bring down many another “Michael Ivanitch” with his deadly +rifle. + + * * * * * + +A curious incident befell a Cossack officer in the woods of Barnaoul. + +Alone and unarmed, he was sauntering through the forest glades, gathering +specimen plants, when, at a distance of about eight versts from the gold +mine, he emerged into an open space, where stood a few isolated trees; +and the same moment he descried, not more than two hundred yards off, a +she-bear and her two cubs gambolling together. She, too, recognized his +presence; and, with a fierce growl, drove her young ones into a tree as +an asylum, and, resolute to defend them, mounted guard at its foot. + +To carry off the cubs as trophies was the Cossack’s resolve, but he +wanted a weapon. Retiring into the wood a few steps, he came to a place +where the woodmen had felled several young birch trees, and from one of +these he selected four feet of a stout, strong, but manageable stem, with +which he returned to the scene of action. At his approach the old bear +resumed her growling, and moved uneasily to and fro in front of the tree, +but carefully keeping within a few feet of it. He continued his advance. +She growled more savagely, and plainly suspected his hostile intentions. +Still he moved forward, with his eyes steadfastly fixed upon her. When +he was within about fifty paces, she made a fierce rush that would have +put most men to flight. He held his ground, and as the cubs began to +whine, she trotted back towards the tree, in a mood of uncontrolled rage. +The Cossack followed; she turned; the two antagonists stood face to face +at a distance of twenty yards. + +Retreat was now impossible; and there they stood, gazing keenly on each +other, and each waiting for an opportunity to attack. The bear, with +fiery eyeballs, made a second rush, and at a few paces from her daring +enemy, rose on her hind legs, either to fell him with her heavy paws or +crush him in her cruel embrace; but, with wonderful coolness, he brought +down his club and toppled her over. In a second she sprang to her feet, +and prepared to renew the charge; another tremendous stroke laid her on +the ground. The combat assumed a desperate and deadly character, and +several “rounds” were determinedly fought. Eventually, the Cossack’s +well-directed blows subdued her courage, and when she could neither +charge him in front nor get in his rear, she fell back towards the tree, +still fighting desperately. Under the tree a fresh spirit was infused +into the affray, and every time she heard her cubs whine, she returned +with increased fury to the assault. She was received, however, with such +a shower of blows, that, at last dispirited and exhausted, she retreated +hastily towards the forest, and entered its shades; contriving, +nevertheless, whenever the gallant Cossack moved towards the refuge of +her cubs, to make a rush in that direction. + +All this time the cubs remained perched among the branches, and the +officer, considering himself victorious, longed to take possession of his +prize. But he could devise no plan of getting at them, and it was +evident they would not come down at his call. Luckily, a woodman, on his +way to the gold mine, rode into the arena. The Cossack hailed him; +ordered him to dismount, to take from his saddle the zumka, or leather +saddle-bags, and, climbing the tree, to thrust the cubs into them, while +he himself kept watch over the mother bear. This was done, though not +without several sharp encounters between the she-bear and the officer; +and, finally, the peasant threw his heavy bags across his horse, and led +the way to the ravine, the Cossack covering the rear. In this fashion +they marched into Barnaoul; first, the woodman and his horse, next the +Cossack officer, and behind him the bear. The march occupied two hours, +and the unfortunate mother persevered to the very last, not abandoning +her young ones until their captor had reached the cottages. Then she +hastily returned into the forest, and was seen no more. + + + +III. + + +There is much to attract and impress in the scenery of the lakes of the +Altai. Lake scenery in a mountainous country is always picturesque, +always striking, from the variety of forms which it presents, and its +endless contrasts of light and shade, and its magical combinations of +colours. Moreover, it passes so rapidly from the calmly beautiful to the +sublime! for at one moment the silver waters sleep as profoundly as a +babe on its mother’s breast; at another, the storm-wind issues from the +savage glen, and lashes them into a white wrath. In the genial days of +summer it shines and sparkles with a peculiar radiance; a golden glory +seems to hang upon the mountain sides, and a purple light rests on the +bosom of the lake. In the dreary winter, nothing can be grander in its +gloom; the hollows and the glens are heavy with an eery darkness, through +which the white peaks show like sheeted phantoms. In truth, it appeals +to us by its twofold features of the mountain and the water. The former +awakens our awe, lifts us out of our commonplace lives, and fills us with +a sense of the wonder and mystery of God’s work; it is an embodiment of +majesty and power, a noble and sublime architecture, the study of which +awakens the higher and purer impulses of the soul. Beauty of colour, +perfection of form, an endless change in the midst of what seems to us an +everlasting permanency—all those are the mountain’s; all these belong to +that great cathedral of the earth, with its “gates of rock,” its +“pavements of cloud,” its snow-white altars, and its airy roof, traversed +by the stars. Then as to water; has it not a wonder and a beauty of its +own? “If we think of it,” says Ruskin, “as the source of all the +changefulness and beauty which we have seen in clouds; then as the +instrument by which the earth we have contemplated was modelled into +symmetry, and its crags chiselled into grace; then as, in the form of +snow, it robes the mountains it has made, with that transcendent light +which we could not have conceived if we had not seen; then as it exists +in the foam of the torrent, in the iris which spans it, in the morning +mist which rises from it, in the deep crystalline peaks which mirror its +hanging shore, in the broad lake and glowing river; finally, in that +which is to all human minds the best emblem of unwearied, unconquerable +power, the wild, various, fantastic, tameless unity of the sea; what +shall we compare to this mighty, this universal element, for glory and +for beauty? or how shall we follow its eternal changefulness of feeling?” +Bring the two together, the water and the mountain, and the landscape +attains its highest character; the picture is then as consummate in its +mingled beauty and grandeur as Nature can make it; and hence it is, I +think, that lake scenery has always such a power over the imagination. + +The Altin-Kool, or Golden Lake, measuring about one hundred versts in +length, and from three to twelve in breadth, lies in an enormous chasm, +with peaks and precipices all around it, some of them two thousand feet +in height, and so perpendicular as to afford no footing even for a +chamois. On the west side of the lake, the mountain pinnacles rise to +10,500 feet, and on the south several are even loftier. On the east side +their elevation is less, but still they reach far above the line of +vegetation into the region of perpetual snow. Having engaged some +Kalmucks, or boatmen, Mr. Atkinson and his companions set out in canoes +to explore the lake, beginning on the east. For the first ten versts the +mountains do not rise very abruptly; they slope to the north, and green +cedar forests cover them to the very summit, while the banks on the +opposite side are almost treeless. Winding round a small headland, the +lake expands into a splendid basin, with picturesque mountains grouped on +either shore. Early in the evening the voyagers stopped near a torrent, +which poured its foam and din down a narrow gorge, and the Kalmucks +recommended it as a favourable site for an encampment. A bed of clean +white sand, about fifteen feet wide, sloped gradually to the water-side. +Between the upper rim of the sand and the rocks, large cedars were +growing, and under these a bulayan, or wigwam, was constructed. Though +consisting only of a few bare poles, covered with birch bark, open in +front, and the ends filled up with branches, it was warm, and it kept out +the mosquitoes; and within its welcome covert Mr. Atkinson and his party +contentedly passed the night. + +At daybreak, a fresh wind was blowing, and until this subsided the +Kalmucks could not be induced to move. Satisfied at last with the +promise both of sky and mountains, they pushed off, and doubling round a +rocky point, entered a broad and beautiful bay, curving gracefully in the +shadow of snow-capped mountains. At Tasck-tash, a bold headland, the +lake turns directly south. Climbing to its summit, Mr. Atkinson enjoyed +a noble view of the expanse of shining waters—one of those views which +rests in the memory for ever, and is at all times a beauty and a joy. +The general character of the landscape is boldness. Along the west shore +the rocks dip to the east, at a very sharp angle, while upon their +foundations the crags rise perpendicularly, and, above all, a +snow-crowned summit shines like silver against the sapphire sky. On the +east, as already stated, the mountains are less abrupt; but one, a +conspicuous peak, rears a lofty and rounded crest far into the clouds, +with white vaporous billows clinging to its rugged sides, and the eternal +snow whitening its remote crest. + +As the voyage progressed, the voyagers came upon such mysteries of colour +as filled them with delight. Out of the chinks and clefts in the deep +red granite bloomed bright plants and flowers with tropical luxuriance. +Some slate rocks, grey, purple, and orange, intervened; the bright yellow +of the birches lighted up the distant rocks; and the background was +filled in with the deep purple mountains. The whole was a wonder of rich +harmonious colouring, like a symphony of Beethoven’s. At another point a +gleaming waterfall leaped boldly over a succession of picturesque rocky +terraces, the colours of which were bright as those of the rainbow, +green, yellow, purple, and glowing red. There was also a white marble, +spotted with purple; another, white, with veins of bluish purple; and a +mass of exquisite, deep plum-coloured jasper. On the third day of their +exploration, the voyagers entered one of the wildest parts of the lake—a +deep circular recess in the Karakorum Mountains, into which three streams +fling their heedless waters, uniting near the brink of a mighty +precipice, and then tumbling down from ledge to ledge, to pass through a +natural arch and fall into the lake. Prom the summit of the cliff, where +the water takes its first leap, to the level of the lake, is not less +than two thousand feet. “Avalanches must sometimes sweep over this +place, and large trees are bent down and stripped of their branches. +Huge rocks are torn up and hurled along, crushing and grinding everything +in their course, as they rush on into the lake. No man can conceive the +chaotic confusion into which the mass of ice and rocks has been heaped. +One enormous stone, weighing not less than a hundred and fifty tons, had +been placed on its end, on the edge of the rock, in an overhanging +position towards the lake.” + +Various rivers flow into the Altin-Kool, such as the Tchoulishman, the +Kamga, and the Karbou. They are navigated by the Kalmucks in light +canoes, each constructed from the trunk of a single tree. The poplar is +much used for this purpose; but, notwithstanding the softness of its +wood, the labour of canoe-building is very great, owing to the rude +character of the tools employed. The sides are cut down to a thickness +of about three-quarters of an inch; but the bottom, which is usually made +flat and without a keel, is nearly double the thickness. + + * * * * * + +Having completed his circumnavigation of the Altin-Kool, Mr. Atkinson, +with his thirst for new scenes unquenched, started on a visit to the +source of the river Katounaia. His route lay past Kolyvan, a town where +the population is principally employed in cutting and polishing jasper +and porphyry, and across the river Tchenish. He then crossed into the +valley of the Koksa, and descended upon the Yabagan steppe, where he met +with some Kalmuck auls, and was present at a curious pseudo-religious +ceremony, the offering up of an annual sacrifice to the Kalmuck deity. A +ram was presented by its owner, who desired a large increase to his herds +and flocks. It was handed to an assistant of the priest, who duly killed +it. Meanwhile, the priest, looking eastward, chanted a prayer, and beat +on a large tambourine to attract the attention of his god, while he +petitioned for multitudes of sheep and cattle. When the ram had been +flayed, the skin was hoisted on a pole above the framework of the +bulayan, and placed with its head to the east. The tambourine was loudly +beaten, and the wild chant continued. Then the flesh was cooked in the +large caldron, and all the tribe partook of the dainty—“there was a sound +of revelry by night.” + +The Kalmuck priest wears a leather coat, over the laps of which impend +hundreds of strips, with leather tassels on the breast. He fastens a +girdle round his waist; and an assortment of brass balls on his back, and +scraps of iron in front, produces a continuous jingle. His crimson +velvet cap is ornamented over the forehead with brass beads and glass +drops, and at the back with feathers from the tail of the crane. + +The Kalmucks who inhabit these steppes own large herds of horses and +oxen, and flocks of sheep. Some of the men are sturdy fellows and +perfect Nimrods; they live by the chase, and spend months alone in the +mountain wilds. Mr. Atkinson speaks of them as brave, honest, and +faithful. “I have slept at their bulayan, and partaken of their venison. +A City alderman would be horrified to see the haunch of a fine buck cut +into small pieces an inch square and half an inch thick, through twenty +of which a sharp-pointed stick is run, and the thick end stuck into the +ground in a leaning position near the fire. Every man here is his own +cook, and attends to the roast. The upper piece is first done, when it +is slipped off, dipped in salt, and eaten quite hot—without currant +jelly.” + +At Ouemonia Lake, the last village in the Altai, Mr. Atkinson halted in +order to obtain a sufficient number of men and horses for his ascent to +the source of the Katounaia, and the Bielouka, the highest point in the +Altai chain. He was provided by the chief official, or magistrate, with +an escort of six Kalmucks and two Russians (one of them a veteran +hunter), and at seven o’clock on Wednesday morning sprang into his saddle +and rode away. Including himself and his attendant, the party consisted +of ten men, with sixteen horses and one dog. Crossing a little steppe, +about six versts long, they entered the forest belt which surrounds the +lower declivities of the forest-range, and through groves of pine, cedar, +birch, and poplar, began their ascent of the first chain. Emerging from +the thick leafy covert, they came upon the bare mountain-side, with a +storm of rain and sleet beating in their faces, and pursued their way to +the foot of a lofty acclivity, across which lay their track. Here they +rested, in a “cedarn shade,” until the gale had subsided: then _en +avant_! Through masses of fallen granite and jasper, interspersed with a +few giant cedars, they slowly made their way, until they began in earnest +to climb the great steep; a slow operation and a dangerous, for great +crags, hurled from the upper heights, hung here and there so insecurely +as, apparently, to need but a breath to send them crashing downwards in +an avalanche, and at other places the ledges along which they rode were +so narrow, that the slightest stumble on the part of their patient horses +must have precipitated them into destruction! A painful ride of two +hours brought them to the summit, which commanded a noble view of the +Katounaia valley and the mountains to the north. + +Their ride was continued over a high plateau, on which huge rocks, rugged +and curiously wrought, the remains of shattered peaks, stood in their +awful grandeur; carrying back the imagination through the dim shadows of +the past to a period long before the present forms of life existed, and +speaking eloquently of the vast changes which earth has undergone. Their +aspect was often that of colossal castles, grim with tower and +battlement, which fancy peopled with the demons of the mountain and the +wilderness. But the travellers could not stay to study them; signs of a +terrible tempest were visible, and they dashed forward at a hard gallop +to seek shelter in the valley of the Tschugash. A group of cedars, with +a patch of smooth turf, was found on the river bank, and there they +bivouacked. The night passed without accident or adventure; and early +next morning they were again on horseback, and across ridge and valley, +through scenes of the strangest picturesqueness, pursued their track. +Across ridge and valley, but in a lofty region always—just below the line +of perpetual snow, but above the region of vegetation; the eye unrelieved +by branch of moss or blade of grass; until, towards evening, they +descended into the valley of the Arriga. Then they wound over a low +wooded ridge, and struck into a rugged pass, at the head of which they +encamped for the night. The tents were pitched; a huge fire blazed; and +the hunter having shot a very fine deer, a savour of venison speedily +perfumed the cool night air. What with venison and wodky, the travellers +feasted gloriously, and the echoes rang with the wild songs of the +Kalmucks. + +The morning came, and with it the signal “Forward!” They ascended the +bank of the Arriga to its source—a small circular basin of about thirty +feet diameter, at the foot of a precipice seven or eight hundred feet in +height. The basin was deep, with a bed of white pebbles; the water, +clear as crystal, issuing forth in a copious stream, rolled downward in a +series of small and shining cascades. The path, from this point, lay +across a high mountain, the upper part of which was deep shrouded in +snow, and it toiled up to the summit in about a hundred bends and curves; +a summit like a razor-back, not more than twenty-five feet wide. The +ascent was arduous and perilous, but still worse the descent on the other +side, owing to the exceeding steepness. Accomplishing it in safety, Mr. +Atkinson found himself in the valley of the Mein. The river rises at the +foot of a precipice which reaches far above the snow line, and winds its +course through a morass which, in the old time, has been a lake, shut in +by a barrier of rocks, except at one narrow gap, where the little stream +finds an exit in a fall of about fifty feet deep. At the head of the +lake is another cataract, which throws its “sheeted silver’s +perpendicular” down the precipice in one grand leap of full five hundred +feet. + +Crossing another chain, and still ascending, the explorers reached +another little lake, the Kara-goll, or “Black Lake,” with its waters +shining a deep emerald green. This effect, however, is not produced by +any surrounding verdure, for the lake is almost encompassed by high +mountains, and crags of red and yellowish granite, that rise up into the +region of eternal snow. At the upper end a huge mass of basaltic rocks, +of a deep grey colour, forms a fine contrast to the yellow castellated +forms at their base. On the opposite side of the lake high precipices of +granite are backed by grand mountain summits, white with the snows of +uncounted ages. + +Fording the Kara-sou, or “black water”—a stream issuing from the lake—and +crossing a beautiful valley, the riders entered a thickly wooded region +which stretches over the lower mountain range down to the Katounaia, and +arrived on the bank of the river Bitchuatoo. Thrice had they changed +from summer to winter in the course of a day’s ride. Turning to the +south, they ascended a steep and lofty summit, from which it was supposed +the Bielouka would be visible. It proved to be a rocky height that +towered above all the mountains to the west of the Katounaia, even above +the loftiest crests of the Chelsoun; and vast and magnificent was the +panorama which it commanded. In the foreground, a ridge of huge granite +crags, tinted with mosses of almost every hue. In all directions rolled +chains of snowy peaks, like the storm-tossed waves of a suddenly frozen +sea; and as they rolled, they gradually ebbed, so to speak, down to the +far steppes of Chinese Tartary, and were lost in a vapour-shrouded +horizon. + +But the Bielouka was not to be seen, and Mr. Atkinson resumed his ride, +keeping along the crest of the mountain for about two versts, and then +striking into a little valley, watered by several lakelets. A dreary +place! There were neither shrubs nor trees; and the barrenness of +desolation was relieved only by a few patches of short mossy grass. +Sharp edges of slate, projecting above the surface, showed that the +upheaval of the strata had been effected perpendicularly. To the south +rose “half a mountain” in a precipice of not less than 2500 feet above +the lakes; while a similarly strange combination of cliffs faced it on +the north. Between these precipices, at the head of the valley, towered +what might be taken for a colossal dome; beyond which a forest of white +peaks were sharply defined against the blue serene. + +The travellers reached the head of the valley, and examined from a near +point the enormous dome. From a distance the curve on its sides had +appeared as regular as if wrought by human skill; but they now found that +it was piled up with huge blocks of slate and granite, over which it +would be impossible to take the horses. A steep ascent to the north +brought them, however, to its summit. There the scene was sufficiently +remarkable: you might have thought that the Titans had been at play, with +great fragments of slate, granite, jasper, and porphyry for their +counters. The horses and most of the men were sent round by the base of +the cliffs, while Mr. Atkinson, with his servant and the village-hunter, +scrambled through the chaos to the edge of a vast circular hollow, which +proved to be a vast volcanic crater, not less than nine to twelve hundred +feet in diameter, and fully fifty feet in depth. It was heaped up with +blocks and boulders and fragments of all sizes, from a cube of twelve +inches to a mass weighing half a hundred tons. It is a belief of the +Kalmucks that this gloomy spot is inhabited by Shaitan, and they regard +it with superstitious dread. Certainly, it is eery enough to be haunted +by many a ghostly legend. + + * * * * * + +Next day, taking a different track, Mr. Atkinson descended the valley of +the Tourgau, listening to the music of the stream as it raced over its +rocky bed with the speed of a “swift Camilla.” At a point where it +suddenly swept round the base of some cliffs of slate, the Kalmuck guide +said that it might be forded, though the passage was very difficult. “We +stood on the high bank a few minutes,” says Mr. Atkinson, “and surveyed +the boiling and rushing water beneath, while immediately above were a +succession of small falls, varying from six to ten feet in height. At +the bottom of the last there was a rapid, extending about twenty paces +down the river; then came another fall of greater depth; after which the +torrent rushes onward over large stones until it joins the Katounaia. +Across this rapid, between the falls, we had to make our passage—not one +at a time, but five abreast, otherwise we should be swept away. As we +could only descend the rocky bank in single file, and scarcely find room +at the bottom for our horses to stand upon, it was no easy matter to form +our party before plunging into the foaming water. Zepta was the first to +descend; I followed; then came three others, with two led horses. To go +straight across was impossible; we could only land on some shelving rocks +a few paces above the lower fall. The brave Zepta gave the word, and we +rode into the rushing waters, knee to knee. Our horses walked slowly and +steadily on, as the water dashed up their sides; instinct making them +aware of the danger, they kept their heads straight across the stream. +The distance we forded was not more than twenty paces, but we were at +least five minutes doing it; and it was with no small satisfaction that +we found ourselves standing on the rocks, some twenty feet above the +water, wishing as safe a passage to our friends. When I saw them drawn +up on the little bank, and then dash into the stream, I felt the danger +of their position more than when crossing myself. Their horses breasted +the torrent bravely, and all were safely landed; the dog was placed on +one of the pack-horses, where he lay between the bags in perfect +security. I am certain that every man felt a relief when the enterprise +was accomplished, which would have been impossible had the water been +three inches deeper.” + +Continuing their ride down the valley, in about ten hours the party +reached the river Katounaia and the grassy valley through which it foams +and flows. Their route lay up its banks, and speedily brought them to +the broad swift stream of the Tourgau, which reflects in its water groups +of cedars and birches, with rows of tall poplars decked in foliage of the +richest colours. Fording the Tourgau, they soon afterwards came again +upon the Katounaia, and crossing it, reached a bend in the valley, which +presented to them the monarch of the Altai chain, the magnificent +Bielouka. Its stupendous mass uplifts two enormous peaks, buttressed by +huge rocks, which enclose a number of valleys or ravines filled with +glaciers; these roll their frozen floods to the brink of the imposing +precipices which overhang the valley of the Katounaia. + +Mr. Atkinson determined on attempting the ascent of this regal height. +It was a bright morning when he started, and the two white peaks shone +grandly in the early sunshine, which gradually dipped down into the +valley, and with its fringes of gold touched the sombre cedars. An +hour’s ride carried him and his followers to the bifurcation of the +Katounaia, and then they ascended the north-eastern arm, which rises +among the glaciers of the Bielouka. When they had got beyond the last +tree that struggled up the mountain’s side, they dismounted; and Mr. +Atkinson, with the hunter, Zepta, and three Kalmucks, pressed forward on +foot, leaving the others in charge of the horses. At first they +clambered over the ruins of a mighty avalanche, which in the preceding +summer had cloven its way down the precipices, until they reached the +glacier, stretching far up the mountain, whence wells the Katounaia in +two little ice-cold, transparent streams. There they halted for their +mid-day meal. Turning to the west, they toiled up a terrific gorge, +filled with fallen rocks and ice, and then climbed a rugged acclivity +that, like an inclined plane, reached to the very base of one of the +peaks of the Bielouka. Step after step they wearily but persistently +ascended, until they reached the frozen snow, scaling which for about +three hundred paces they reached the base of the peak, already at such a +height as to overlook every summit of the Altai. Far away to the west +the vast steppes of the Kirghiz were lost in the blue distance. To the +west many a mountain-ridge descended towards the steppes on the east of +Nor-Zaisan, and to the Desert of Gobi. The shimmer of a lake was visible +at several points; while innumerable rivers, like threads of silver, +traced their fantastic broidery through the dark green valleys. + +About a hundred paces further, the adventurers found themselves at the +head of another glacier, which stretched westward through a deep ravine. +Beyond it lay the great hollow between the two peaks. This, in Mr. +Atkinson’s opinion, it was possible for them to reach, though they could +not hope to ascend either peak. They are cones, he says, from eight +hundred to a thousand feet high, covered with hard frozen snow, with a +few points of the green slate jutting through. We imagine, however, that +to a member of the Alpine Club, to any one who has conquered the +Matterhorn or the Jungfrau, they would offer no insuperable difficulties. + +Mr. Atkinson retraced his steps in safety, gained the spot where the +Kalmucks were waiting with the horses, and rode rapidly towards the place +which he had selected for a camp. Next morning he proceeded to cross the +mountains by a new route to the mouth of the river Koksa; it proved to be +the most arduous of his many enterprises. Hour after hour, his Kalmuck +guide led him through a wilderness of rocks and sand, and he rejoiced +greatly when at last they descended towards the wooded region, and caught +sight of the dark Katounaia winding in a deep valley three thousand feet +below. They followed downwards a track made by animals, but, though easy +for stags and deer, it was difficult for horses. In many places the only +traject was a narrow ledge, with deep precipices beneath, and often +steep, rugged acclivities above. In one place they had to ride over what +the Kalmucks call a “Bomb”—a narrow ridge of rocks, passable only by one +horse at a time. Should two persons meet on any part of these “Bombs,” +one of the horses must be thrown over, as it is as impossible to turn +round as to pass. On reaching the track by which the Kalmuck hunters +ascend the mountains, Zepta called a halt, and sent one of his companions +on foot to the other end of the fearful ridge, hidden from view by some +high crags, round which the party had to ride. In less than half an hour +he returned, but without his cap, which had been left as a signal to any +hunters who might follow, that travellers were crossing the “Bomb.” + +And now we shall allow Mr. Atkinson to speak himself:— + +“Zepta and the hunter told me to drop the reins on my horse’s neck, and +he would go over with perfect safety. The former led the van; I +followed, as desired, at three or four paces behind him. For the first +twenty yards the sensation was not agreeable. After that I felt perfect +confidence in the animal, and was sure, if left to himself, he would +carry me safely over. The whole distance was about five hundred paces, +and occupied about a quarter of an hour in crossing. In some places it +was fearful to look down—on one side the rocks were nearly perpendicular +for five or six hundred feet; and on the other, so steep, that no man +could stand upon them. When over, I turned round and watched the others +thread their way across; it was truly terrific to look at them on the +narrow and stony path—one false step, and both horse and rider must be +hurled into the valley a thousand feet below! These are the perils over +which the daring sable-hunters often ride. With them it is a necessity; +they risk it to obtain food, and not for bravado, or from foolhardy +recklessness—like that of some men who ride their horses up and down a +staircase. Kalmuck and Kirghiz would laugh at such feats. I have seen +men who would ride their horses along the roof of the highest cathedral +in Europe, if a plank, eighteen inches wide, were secured along the +ridge. Nor would they require a great wager to induce them to do it; +theirs is a continual life of danger and hardships; and they never seek +it unnecessarily.” + +This ridge carried them across the valley, and they descended through a +dense cedar forest to the bank of the river, where they supped splendidly +on a fine fat buck that had fallen to the guns of Zepta and Mr. Atkinson. +Next morning, they were again in the saddle _en route_ for Ouemonia, +where their safe return excited much popular enthusiasm. Bidding adieu +to his faithful companions, he crossed the Katounaia, and with a new +escort rode on towards the Koksa. Leaving it to the south, he struck the +river Tschugash, encamped for the night in a clump of pines on its bank, +and in a day or two arrived at his old quarters on the Tchenish. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Atkinson’s next expedition was to the great Desert of Gobi, sometimes +called _Scha-ho_, or the Sandy River. Beginning upon the confines of +Chinese Tartary, its vast expanse of sterile wilderness stretches over +some twelve hundred and fifty miles towards the coasts of the Pacific. +It consists in the main of bare rock, shingle, and loose sand, +alternating with fine sand, and sparsely clothed with vegetation. But a +very considerable area, though for a great part of the year not less +monotonously barren, assumes in the spring the appearance of an immense +sea of verdure, and supplies abundant pasturage to the flocks and herds +of the Mongolian nomads; who wander at will over the wide +“prairie-grounds,” encamping wherever they find a sheltering crag or a +stream of water. The general elevation of the Gobi above the sea is +about 3500 feet. + +It must be owned that the Gobi is not as black as it is painted. There +are fertile nooks and oases, where the sedentary Mongols, and especially +the Artous, sow and reap their annual crops of hemp, millet, and +buckwheat. The largest is that of Kami. The gloomy picture of “a barren +plain of shifting sand, blown into high ridges when the summer sun is +scorching, no rain falls, and when thick fog occurs it is only the +precursor of fierce winds,” {211} is true only of the eastern districts, +such as the Han-hai, or “Dry Sea,” or the Sarkha Desert, where, for +instance, you meet with scarcely any other vegetation than the +_Salsoloe_, or salt-worts, which flourish round the small saline pools. +“In spring and summer,” says Malte Brun, “when there is no rain, the +vegetation withers, and the sun-burnt soil inspires the traveller with +sentiments of horror and melancholy; the heat is of short duration, the +winter long and cold. The wild animals met with are the camel, the +horse, the ass, the djiggetai, and troops of antelopes.” + +It has been observed, and not without reason, that the great Asiatic +desert has exercised a fatal influence on the destinies of the human +race; that it has arrested the extension of the Semitic civilization. +The primitive peoples of India and Tibet were early civilized; but the +immense wilderness which lay to the westward interposed an impassable +barrier between them and the barbarous tribes of Northern Asia. More +surely even than the Himalaya, more than the snow-crowned summits of +Srinagur and Gorkha, these desert steppes have prevented all +communication, all fusion between the inhabitants of the north and those +of the south of Asia; and thus it is that Tibet and India have remained +the only regions of this part of the world which have enjoyed the +benefits of civilization, of the refinement of manners, and the genius of +the Aryan race. + +The barbarians who, when the darkness of ruin hung over the Roman Empire, +invaded and convulsed Europe, issued from the steppes and table-lands of +Mongolia. As Humboldt says {212}:—“If intellectual culture has directed +its course from the east to the west, like the vivifying light of the +sun, barbarism at a later period followed the same route, when it +threatened to plunge Europe again in darkness. A tawny race of +shepherds—of Thon-Khiu, that is to say, Turkish origin—the Hiounguou, +inhabited under sheep-skin tents the elevated table-land of Gobi. Long +formidable to the Chinese power, a portion of the Hiounguou were driven +south in Central Asia. The impulse thus given uninterruptedly propagated +itself to the primitive country of the Fins, lying on the banks of the +Ural, and thence a torrent of Huns, Avars, Chasars, and divers mixtures +of Asiatic races, poured towards the west and south. The armies of the +Huns first appeared on the banks of the Volga, then in Pannonia, finally +on the borders of the Marne and the Po, ravaging the beautiful plains +where, from the time of Antenor, the genius of man had accumulated +monuments upon monuments. Thus blew from the Mongolian deserts a +pestilential wind which blighted even in the Cisalpine plains the +delicate flower of art, the object of cares so tender and so constant.” + + + +IV. + + +With three Cossacks, seven Kalmucks, eight rifles, and a store of powder +and lead, Mr. Atkinson passed into the Gobi. His Kalmucks had their hair +cut close, except a tuft growing on the top of the head, which was +plaited into a long tail, and hung far down their back. The chief was +named Tchuck-a-bir, a stalwart, powerful fellow, with a fine manly +countenance, large black eyes, and massive forehead. He wore a +horse-skin cloak, fastened round his waist with a blood-red scarf. In +warm weather he drew his arms from the sleeves, which were then tucked +into his girdle, and the cloak draped around him in graceful folds, +adding to the dignity of his tall and robust form. + +Across the Kourt-Choum mountains the travellers took their way, directing +their course towards the Tanguor chain, many of the peaks of which soar +above the line of eternal snow. Ascending one of these summits, they +enjoyed a noble prospect: immediately beneath them lay the Oubsa-Noor; to +the south-west were visible the Oulan-Koum Desert and the Aral-Noor; to +the south lay Tchagan Tala, and the ridges descending down to the Gobi; +to the south-east the white crests of the Khangai Mountains. This was +such a view of Central Asia as never before had European enjoyed. + +Keeping far away to the east, they approached the sources of the Selenga +and Djabakan, in the neighbourhood of which he hoped to meet with the +Kalka tribes. In a rich green valley they came upon one of their auls, +and were hospitably received by Arabdan, the chief, who, according to the +custom of the desert, at once handed to Mr. Atkinson a bowl of tea. Not, +indeed, tea as we English understand it, the clear thin fluid, sweetened +with sugar and tempered with cream; but a thick “slab” mixture of tea, +milk, butter, salt, and flour—tea-soup it might appropriately be called. +Arabdan was tall and thin, between fifty and sixty years of age, +dark-complexioned, with high cheek-bones, small black eyes, a prominent +nose, and a scanty beard. His meagre figure was wrapped in a long +dark-blue silk khalat, buttoned across his chest; in a leather girdle, +adorned with a silver buckle, he carried his knife, flint, and steel. +His helmet-shaped black silk cap was trimmed with black velvet, and +looked very gay with its two broad red ribbons hanging down behind. This +brave costume was completed by a pair of high-heeled, madder-coloured +boots. As for the women, one wore a robe of black velvet, the other a +khalat of red and green silk; the waist of each was defined by a broad +red sash. Their hair was fantastically coiffured, falling upon their +shoulders in a hundred small plaits, some of which glittered with coral +beads, the principal toilette ornament of the Mongolian women. Their red +leather boots were very short and high at the heels, so that they walked +as badly and awkwardly as English ladies. The children wore little more +than nature had provided them with; except that, by rolling in the mud, +they contrived to coat their bodies with reddish ochre, in striking +contrast to their elfin locks of jet black. + +Externally the yourts of the Kalkas resemble those of the Kalmucks, but +they differ in the arrangements of the interior. A small low table is +placed opposite the doorway, and upon it the upper idols, or household +gods, and several small metal vases, are set out. In some are kept +grains of millet; in others, butter, milk, and koumis—offerings to the +aforesaid deities. On the left side of this altar stand the boxes which +contain the family property, and near them various domestic utensils and +the indispensable koumis bag. Opposite lie several piles of voilock, on +which the family take their rest. + +Immediately on Mr. Atkinson’s arrival a sheep was slain to do him honour, +and it was soon steaming in the iron caldron, with the exception of a +portion broiled for his special delectation. Supper, however, was not +served in the chief’s yourt, but in another; to which everybody repaired +with appetites which suggested that they had fasted for weeks. When the +completest possible justice had been done to the mutton, men, women, and +children retired to their rude couches. + +Next morning our indefatigable traveller was once more in the saddle. We +cannot follow him in all the details of his daily journeyings, which +necessarily bore a close resemblance to one another; but we may accompany +him on a visit to the great Kalkas chief, Darma Tsyren. On entering his +yourt, Mr. Atkinson was entertained with tea-soup as usual. Then, he +says— + +“The chief sat down in front of me, and the two young men who had +conducted me sat near him—they were his sons. Beyond these sat ten or +twelve other Kalkas, watching my movements with intense interest. I was +undoubtedly the first European they had ever seen. My large felt hat, +shooting jacket, and long boots, will be remembered for years to come—not +that I think they admired the costume; theirs is far more picturesque. +Presently a number of women came into the yourt, and at their head the +wife of the chief. She sat down near him, and was joined by her +daughter; the others got places where they could; but the gaze of all was +upon me. No doubt it would have been highly amusing could I have +understood their remarks, as they kept up an incessant talking. + +“At this moment a Cossack brought my samovar into the yourt; and these +people were much astonished to see the steam puffing out, with no fire +under it. One man placed his hand on the top, and got his fingers burnt, +to the great amusement of his friends. My dinner of broiled venison was +brought in on a bright tin plate; this and the knife and fork excited +their curiosity—such articles being quite new to them. They watched me +eat my dinner, and nothing could induce them to move till the plates were +taken away. Darma Tsyren had ordered a sheep to be killed, which had now +been some time in the caldron. When the announcement was made that it +was ready, I was soon left to myself; the whole aul, men, women, and +children, were shortly enjoying the feast.” + +From Darma Tsyren Mr. Atkinson obtained the loan of four Kalkas and +twelve horses, and taking also two of his Kalmucks and two Cossacks, he +started on a journey to the river Toss. In the evening he and his party +encamped in a pretty valley, watered by a small lake, which supplied them +with some snipes and ducks for supper. During the night a pack of wolves +visited the encampment. On receiving warning of their approach by a +distant howl, Mr. Atkinson loaded his double-barrelled gun and +distributed ammunition among his people, in order to give the unwelcome +visitors a warm reception. The horses were collected, and picketed in a +spot between the camp and the lake. Nearer and nearer came the enemy; +the tramp of their feet could be heard as they galloped forward. They +reached the camp, and through the night air rang their ferocious howl. +Some dry bushes flung on the fire kindled a sudden flame, which revealed +their gaunt figures, with eyes flashing and ears and tails erect; and +immediately a deadly volley crashed into their midst. With a yell of +pain and terror they turned tail; and Mr. Atkinson and his party hastened +to reload their guns, feeling certain they would return. + +The fire flickered down among its embers, and for a time all was silent. +Then arose a stir and an alarm among the horses; and it was discovered +that the pack had divided, one division stealing upon the animals from +the water side, the other interposing between them and the camp. A rush +and a shout of the Kalmucks and Kalkas drove them back; and a Cossack and +a Kalmuck wore posted on each flank, to guard the approaches and give the +alarm. Moreover, the fire was replenished, and its glare lighted up the +scene for miles around. A hush, and a moment of expectation! Then might +you see the hungry pack advancing once more to the assault, with eyeballs +glaring like red-hot iron. A crack of rifles on the right was followed +by Mr. Atkinson’s two barrels, one of which brought down its victim, +while the other, discharged into the midst of the pack, wounded two or +three. Gradually the growling ceased; the wolves again retired; but both +Kalkas and Kalmucks advised that a close watch should be kept, as they +would certainly make a third effort. + +There was little fuel left, and it was necessary, therefore, to be doubly +vigilant. The night was one of deep darkness, without moon or stars, and +nothing could be seen, even at a short distance, except towards the lake, +where a shimmer of dubious light rested on the waters. Keen ears and +eyes were on the alert, but no sight or sound of wolf rewarded their +watchfulness. The Kalkas said the wolves were simply waiting until all +was silent in the camp to make another dash at the horses. For a long +time, however, no movement was made, when two of the horses grew uneasy, +tugging at the thongs and snorting loudly. At the same time, the clouds +cleared from the sky, and the stars peering forth threw more light upon +the lake. Howling was heard in the distance, and Tchuck-a-bir declared +that another pack of wolves was approaching. As they drew near, the +former pack, still lurking in the shades, began to growl, and it seemed +possible that a combined attack would be delivered. In order to renew +the fire, four of the men, two being armed, crept along the margin of the +lake, returning in about ten minutes, each with an armful of fuel. The +embers were stirred into life, and the brushwood placed ready to be blown +into a flame when wanted. Suddenly a great tumult arose; the other +wolves had come on the scene, and the echoes rang with a medley of +discordant sounds. Again the watchers waited; and after their patience +had been tested for half an hour, the horses began to pull and plunge in +frenzied terror. The bushes were lighted, and by their blaze Mr. +Atkinson saw a group of eight to ten wolves within fifteen paces. He +fired both barrels at them; his men also fired; and the herd, with a +frightful howl, ignominiously fled. At daylight Mr. Atkinson examined +the scene of action, and found the carcases of eight wolves. With their +skins as trophies, he returned to Darma Tsyren’s aul. + + * * * * * + +A day or two later, Mr. Atkinson had an adventure with boars. Leaving +four men to guard the camp, he had ridden out, with five followers, in +search of sport. Plunging into a thick copse of long grass and low +bushes, they started more than one boar from his lair, and tracing them +by their motion in the herbage, galloped in hot pursuit. As they emerged +into the open, they could see two large dark grizzly boars about a couple +of hundred yards ahead, and spurred after them with might and main. +Rapidly they gained upon the panting brutes, and when within about fifty +yards, Mr. Atkinson and a Cossack sprang from their horses, fired, and +wounded one of the boars. While they reloaded, the rest of the party +galloped on, and presently other shots wore fired. The boars had +separated: one, dashing across the valley, was followed up by two of the +men; the other was pursued by Mr. Atkinson and his Cossack. After a +splendid chase, they drew near enough to see the foam on his mouth, and +his large tusks gnashing with rage. The Cossack fired; the ball hit him, +but did not check his wild, impetuous course. Swiftly Mr. Atkinson urged +on his horse, got abreast of the animal at about twenty paces distant, +and lodged a bullet in his shoulder. This stopped him, but it took two +more shots to kill him. He proved to be a noble fellow, weighing nine +poods, or about 324 lbs., with long, sharp tusks, which would have been +formidable weapons in a close encounter. + +Leaving the Cossack and a Kalmuck to dress the prize and convey it to the +camp, Mr. Atkinson, after reloading his arms, hastened to join the rest +of his party, who were in full chase on the other side of the river, at a +distance of about three versts. He rode briskly forward, but the hunt +was at an end before he reached the river. His followers, on joining +him, announced that they had killed a large boar, though not the one +first started. He had escaped, and while they were searching for his +trail amid some reeds and bushes, a large boar sprang in among them, and +charged at a Cossack’s horse. When within three or four paces of his +intended victim he was stopped by a bullet from Tchuck-a-bir’s rifle; but +he got away before a second shot could be fired, and an animated chase +began. He received several balls, but they seemed to have no effect on +his impenetrable hide. Rushing into the river, he swam across, at a +point where it expanded into a deep broad pool; the men followed him, and +a ball from one of the Kalmucks inflicted a severe wound. Furious with +rage and pain, he dashed full at the man who had wounded him; the Kalmuck +dexterously wheeled his horse aside, and a ball from Tchuck-a-bir laid +the monster dead. With two large boars as the spoils of their prowess, +Mr. Atkinson and his “merry men” returned to camp triumphant. + +Mr. Atkinson next travelled in a southerly direction for two days; after +which he turned to the west, and struck upon the river Ouremjour; his +object being to enter the Gobi to the north of the great chain of the +Thian-Chan, or, as he calls them, Syan-Shan Mountains. These are the +highest in Central Asia, and amongst them rises that stupendous mass, +Bogda Oöla, with the volcanoes Pe-shan and Hothaou, to see which was his +leading purpose and aim. He gives an animated description of his +approach to the Syan-Shan. A bright sun was rising behind the wayfarer, +but its rays had not yet gilded the snowy peaks in his front. As he rode +onward he watched for the first bright gleam that lighted up the ice and +snow on Bogda Oöla; presently the great crest reddened with a magical +glow, which gradually spread over the rugged sides, and as it descended, +changed into yellow and then into silvery white. For many minutes Bogda +Oöla was bathed in sunshine before the rays touched any of the lower +peaks. But in due time summit after summit shot rapidly into the brave +red light, and at last the whole chain shone in huge waves of molten +silver, though a hazy gloom still clothed the inferior ranges. In these +atmospheric effects we cannot but recognize a marvellous grandeur and +impressiveness; there is something sublimely weird in the sudden changes +they work among the stupendous mountain masses. Onward fared the +traveller, obtaining a still finer view of Bogda Oöla, and of some of the +other peaks to the west; but, as the day advanced, the clouds began to +fold around its head, and the huge peak was soon clothed with thick +surging wreaths of vapour. The lower range of the Syan-Shan is +picturesque in the extreme; jagged peaks stand out in bold relief against +the snow-shrouded masses, which tower up some eight to ten thousand feet +above them, while the latter are clothed with a luminous purple mist that +seems not to belong to this world. Mr. Atkinson continued his route in a +north-westerly direction, towards one of the lower chains which run +nearly parallel with the Syan-Shan. Thence he could see the Bogda Oöla +in all its grand sublimity, and the volcanic peak Pe-shan, with black +crags outlined against the snow, still further to the west; while beyond +these a long line of snow-capped summits melted into the vaporous +distance. + +In the course of his wanderings in Chinese Tartary, our traveller saw +much of the Kirghiz chiefs, the Sultans of the steppes. On one occasion, +while riding in the sterile desert, he fell in with the aul of Sultan +Ishonac Khan—a stoutly built man, with strong-marked Kalmuck features, +who, in right of his descent from the famous Genghiz Khan, wore an owl’s +feather suspended from the top of his cap. His costume was gallant and +gay; Chinese silk, richly embroidered. + +About fifty versts to the south of Sultan Ishonac’s aul, lie the Barluck +Mountains, situated between the Tarbagatai and the Alatou Mountains, and +eastward of the small rocky chain of the Ala-Kool, which extends some +sixty versts from east to west, and measures about twenty-five in +breadth. The highest summit is not more than three thousand feet above +the plain. Vegetation thrives on the lower slopes, but the upper parts +are gloomily bare. From Sultan Ishonac Khan Mr. Atkinson obtained a loan +of fresh horses, and of eight of his Kirghiz to escort him to the +Tarbagatai. A dreary ride it was,—over sandy hills, through sandy +valleys, where not even a blade of grass was green. In many places the +ground was thickly covered with a saline incrustation, which the horses’ +feet churned up into a pungent dust, that filled every mouth and caused +intolerable thirst. Welcome was the glimmer of a lake that relieved by +its sparkle the dulness of the landscape; but when horse and man rushed +forward to drink of its waters, to their intense disappointment they +found them bitter as those of Marah. Not till the evening of the fifth +day, when they reached the river Eremil, did they enjoy the luxury of +fresh water. + +Next day they reached the Tarbagatai, in the neighbourhood of the Chinese +town of Tchoubuchack, and encamped for the night at the foot of a great +tumulus or barrow, about one hundred and fifty feet high, which is +surrounded by many smaller barrows. They are the last resting-places of +a Kirghiz chief and his people, who belonged to a remote generation, and +to a race of which these tumuli are the only memorials. Another day’s +ride, and they arrived at the aul of Sultan Iamantuck, of whom and his +family Mr. Atkinson speaks as by far the most intelligent people he met +with in this part of Asia. The aul was pitched among high conical tombs +of sun-burnt bricks, the cemetery of the Sultan’s ancestors; and it +appears that once a year it was regularly visited by their pious +descendant and representative. With another relay of horses and a fresh +Kirghiz escort, Mr. Atkinson dashed onward, undeterred by the dreariness +of the sandy level, where neither water nor grass was to be found, and +the only living things were tarantulas and scorpions. His course lay +direct for the Alatou (“Variegated Mountains”), and he could see the +shining peaks of the Actou (“White Mountain”), which forms its highest +crest, and raises its summits fourteen to fifteen thousand feet above the +sea. After fording the broad deep stream of the Yeljen-sa-gash, he +arrived on the shore of Lake Ala-kool, measuring about sixty-five versts +in length by twenty in width, with a rocky island near the north shore, +erroneously described by Humboldt as the site of a volcano. It has no +outlet, yet it receives the tribute of eight rivers; the water is carried +off by evaporation. + +Here Mr. Atkinson struck westward to find the aul of Sultan Bak, the +Rothschild of the steppes; a man who owns ten thousand horses, and a +proportionate number of camels, sheep, and oxen. Wealthy men are not +always well disposed towards stranger guests, and Sultan Bak evinced his +dislike of intrusion by sending Mr. Atkinson a diseased sheep! This was +immediately returned, with an intimation that Mr. Atkinson wanted neither +his company nor his gifts; he was the first Sultan who had shown himself +so discourteous, and though he had a large body, it was clear his heart +was that of a mouse. It is not surprising that a message of this kind +provoked him to wrath. He ordered the intruders to quit his aul; if they +did not, his men should drive them into the lake. But when he found that +they were well armed, that discretion which is the better part of valour +enabled him to subdue his temper; he sent one of his finest sheep as a +peace-offering, with an assurance that they might stay as long as they +liked, and should have men and horses when they left. Evidently the +Kirghiz patriarch knew how to make the best of a bad situation. + +Accompanied by his poet, he paid a visit to Mr. Atkinson’s camp, supped +heartily off his own mutton, and exchanged the warmest professions of +friendship. The minstrel, at his master’s bidding, sang wild songs to +wilder tunes in glorification of the prowess and freebooting expeditions +of the Sultan and his ancestors, to the great edification of the +listening Kirghiz. So the evening passed peacefully, and the Sultan and +the white man parted on cordial terms. Next day, Mr. Atkinson was riding +towards the Karatou, a mountainous chain of dark purple slate; and six +days later he visited Sultan Boubania, on the river Lepson. In the +neighbourhood were many large tumuli, the largest being the most ancient. +One of these was built up of stone, and formed a circle of 364 feet in +diameter, with a dome-like mound thirty-three feet in height. Tradition +has not preserved the name of the dead honoured with so extraordinary a +memorial; the Kirghiz attribute it to demons working under the direction +of Shaitan. Another kind of tumulus, of more recent construction, was +circular in plan, but carried up to the height of fifty-four feet, in the +shape of “a blast furnace,” with an aperture at the top, and lateral +opening two feet square and four feet from the ground. In the interior +were two graves covered with large blocks of stone. According to the +Kirghiz, these tombs were built by the people who inhabited the country +before the Kalmucks. A third kind, of sunburnt bricks, and Mohammedan in +design, are ascribed to Timour Khan and his race. + +Through the rocky gorge of the Balïïtz, Mr. Atkinson commenced his ascent +of the Alatou. His eye rested with pleasure on the richly coloured rocks +that composed the cliffs on either side—deep red porphyry, flecked with +veins of white; slate, jasper, and basalt. He explored several of the +valleys that break up the lower mass of the mountain chain, and rode +along many of its elevated ridges. Sometimes the roar of torrents filled +his ears; sometimes bright streams and sources sparkled in the sunshine; +sometimes he saw before him a fair mosaic of wild flowers; sometimes the +landscape was ennobled by the conspicuous figures of white mountain +peaks, relieved by a background of deep blue sky; sometimes the distant +vapours hovered wraith-like above the calm surface of Lake Tengiz. From +a plateau not far beneath the line of perpetual snow he obtained a noble +view of the Actou, and, to the south, of the lofty and picturesque peaks +of the Alatou; while, nearer at hand, the river Ara poured its thunderous +waters into a gorge some thousand feet in depth. The plateau was covered +with tumuli; one of which, measuring two hundred feet in diameter and +forty feet in height, was enclosed within a trench, twelve feet wide and +six feet deep. On the west side stood four masses of large stones in +circles; the altars, perhaps, on which, long ago, victims were sacrificed +to appease some sanguinary deity. It is a tradition of the Kirghiz that +these antiquities belonged to a native who, for some unknown cause, +determined on a great act of murder and self-destruction, and that they +were constructed before the terrible work was begun. They say that the +father killed his wife and all his children, excepting the eldest son, on +whom devolved the duty of killing, first his father, and then himself. + +Mr. Atkinson visited, near the river Kopal, the Arasan, or warm spring, +which wells up in the centre Of a ravine formed of yellow and purple +marbles. Its temperature, all round the year, is 29′ R. or 97° F. Here, +in a remote past, the Kalmucks built a bath, which is still frequented by +Tartars, Kirghiz, and Chinese. The waters, it is said, are wonderfully +beneficial for scurvy and other cutaneous disorders. + +Another route carried him to the Tamchi-Boulac, or “Dropping Spring,” at +the foot of the Alatou. The water oozes out of columnar cliffs in +myriads of tiny streams that glitter like showers of diamonds; while in +some parts they seem changed to drops of liquid fire by the reflected +colouring of the rocks, which vary in colour from a bright yellow to a +deep red. + +For one hundred and three days Mr. Atkinson wandered among the Alatou +Mountains, exploring peak, precipice, valley, and ravine; surveying +torrent and river and waterfall; now ascending far above the line of +perpetual snow, now descending into warm and sheltered woods, where the +greensward was enamelled with blossoms. From the eastern end of the +Alatou, a seventeen days’ ride over hill and steppe brought him to the +Russian frontier and the comforts of civilization at Semipalatinsk. But, +almost as strongly possessed with the spirit of continuous motion as the +Wandering Jew in the grim old legend, he next set forth on a journey +across Siberia, from its western boundary on the Irtisch, to its Oriental +capital, Irkutsk. In the course of his long journey he visited the Saian +Mountains; ascended the valley of the Oka; explored a bed of lava and a +volcanic crater in the valley of the Ojem-a-louk; rode across the rugged +shoulder of Nouk-a-Daban; and descended the little river Koultouk to Lake +Baikal, or, as the natives call it, the Holy Sea. Hiring a small boat, +with a crew of seven men, he crossed the lake to the mouth of the river +Angara. Baikal is the third largest lake in Asia—about four hundred +miles in length, and varying in breadth from nineteen miles to seventy. +Though fed by numerous streams, it has only one outlet, the Angara, a +tributary of the Yenisei. Lying deep among the Baikal Mountains, an +off-shoot of the Altai, it presents some vividly coloured and striking +scenery. Its fisheries are valuable. In the great chain of +communication between Russia and China it holds an important place, and +of late years its navigation has been conducted by steamboats. The +native peoples inhabiting its borders are the Buriats and Tungusians. + +Mr. Atkinson spent eight and twenty days in exploring this Alpine sea, +and afterwards proceeded to Irkutsk. {228} + + + + +ALEXINA TINNÉ +AND HER WANDERINGS IN THE SOUDAN. + + +ABOUT 1862, letters from Khartûm, the capital of Nubia, stimulated the +curiosity of European geographers by announcing that three courageous +ladies had undertaken a journey into Central Africa, with the view of +reaching those mysterious Sources of the Nile which, for generations, had +been the object of Western research. At first the news was received with +suspicion; many persons did not hesitate to speak of it as a hoax; but +incredulity vanished as the information grew more copious and more +precise, and it became known that the guiding spirit of the adventure was +a certain Miss Alexandrina or Alexina Tinné, a lady of great personal +charms and very wealthy. It was then unanimously agreed that she was one +of those brave daughters of England who, in the Continental belief, will +go anywhere and do anything that is hazardous or eccentric. And though +of Dutch extraction she really did owe something to English influences. +Her father was a Dutch merchant who, after acquiring an ample fortune in +Demerara, was naturalised in England, and finally settled at Liverpool. +He died while Alexina (born in October, 1835) was still a child, but the +wealthy heiress was brought up by her mother as befitted her social +position. What impelled her, in her young maidenhood, to plunge into the +dangers of African exploration—whether her action was due to a love of +adventure, a thirst after knowledge, a spirit rebelling against the +conventionalisms of society, or to baffled hope and slighted +affection—does not seem to be known. But it is certain that about 1859 +she set out from the Hague, accompanied by her mother and aunt, and +visited various parts of Egypt and Syria. For some months she resided at +Beirut and Tripoli; next she repaired to Damascus; afterwards, to the +ruins of Palmyra, haunted by the memory of Zenobia; and, finally, she +dreamed of imitating the romantic career of Lady Hester Stanhope, and +installing herself as Queen of the Lebanon. Her mood, however, changed +suddenly; she returned to Europe, not to resume the monotonous habits of +social life, but to make preparations for an expedition in search of the +Sources of the Nile. + +In this daring project she appears to have been encouraged partly by her +own fearlessness of nature; partly by the example of Mrs. Petherick, wife +of the English consul at Khartûm, whose fame had spread far and wide; and +partly by the flattering thought that it might be reserved for her, a +woman, to succeed where so many brave men had failed, and to be the first +to solve the great enigma of the Nilotic sphynx. What immortality would +be hers if she triumphed over every danger and difficulty, and stood, +where no European as yet had stood, on the margin of the remote +well-head, the long secret spring, whence issued the waters of Egypt’s +historic river! It must be owned that in this ambitious hope there was +nothing mean or unworthy, and that it could have been possible only to a +high and courageous nature. + +She set out in the month of July, 1861, still accompanied by her mother +and her aunt, two ladies of mediocre character, who readily yielded to +the influence of a stronger mind. A part of the winter was spent in a +pleasant country house in one of the suburbs of Cairo—a kind of palace of +white marble, situated in the midst of odorous gardens, and looking out +upon the ample Nile and the giant forms of the Pyramids. There they made +extensive preparations for the contemplated journey; while Alexina spent +many thoughtful hours in studying the map of Africa, in tracing the +sinuosities of the White Nile above its point of junction with the Blue, +in laying down the route which should carry her and her companions into +the regions of the great lakes. + +It was on the 9th of January, 1862, that she and her companions directed +their course towards Upper Egypt, voyaging in three boats, attended by a +numerous train of guides, guards, and servants. In the largest and most +commodious “dahabeeyah” were installed the three ladies, with four +European servants and a Syrian cook. Alexina’s journal, it is said, +preserves many curious details in unconscious illustration of the mixed +character of the expedition, which might almost have been that of a new +Cleopatra going to meet a new Mark Antony; we see the Beauty there as +well as the Heroine—the handsome woman who is mindful of her toilette +appliances, as well as the courageous explorer, who does not forget her +rifle and cartridges. + +Passing in safety the first cataract, Miss Tinné’s expedition duly +arrived at Kousko; where she and her companions took a temporary leave of +the Nile, tourists, and civilization, and struck across the sandy desert +of Kousko to Abu-Hammed, in order to avoid the wide curve which the river +there makes to the westward. The caravan, besides Miss Tinné’s +domestics, included six guides and twenty-five armed men. Of camels +loaded with baggage and provisions, and dromedaries which carried the +members of her suite, there were a hundred and ten. The desert did not +prove so dreary as it had been painted; sand and rock were often relieved +by patches of blooming vegetation; the monotony of the plains was often +broken by ridges of swelling hills. The camels every evening browsed +contentedly on the herbage, and quenched their thirst in the basins of +water that sparkled in the rocky hollows. + +The time usually required for crossing the desert is eight to nine days; +but as Alexina advanced very leisurely, by daily stages not exceeding +seven or eight hours, she occupied nearly three weeks. In spite of this +easy mode of travelling, her mother was so fatigued that, on arriving at +Abu-Hammed, on the banks of the Nile, she insisted they should again take +to the river. A dahabeeyah was accordingly hired, along with six +stalwart boatmen, who swore on the Koran to keep pace with the swiftest +dromedaries. So while the caravan tramped onwards through the burning, +shifting sand, Alexina and her companions voyaged up the Nile; but the +rowers soon proved false to their promises, slackened their oars, and +allowed the caravan to outstrip them. When reproached with their +lethargy, they excused themselves on the score of the arduousness of +their work and the great heat of the sun. + +Meanwhile, the caravan had made considerable progress, and at nightfall +tents were pitched and fires lighted. As no dahabeeyah could be seen, +men were sent in search of it; but in vain. No news of it was obtained +until the following day, when it was ascertained that the Egyptian +boatmen had at last laid down their oars in sullen indolence, and that +Miss Tinné and her companions had been compelled to spend the night in a +Nubian village. The misadventure taught them the lesson that in Eastern +countries it is generally wiser to trust to brutes than to men; the +boatmen were dismissed, and the travellers once more joined the caravan. + +But the heat proved insupportable, driving them to make a second +experiment of the river traject. A boat was again hired; again they +embarked on the glittering Nile; and again an evil fortune attended them. +Instead of reaching Berber, as they should have done, in four days, the +voyage was extended to over a week; but it was some compensation for +their fatigue when, at two hours’ march from the city, they were received +by some thirty chiefs, mounted upon camels, and attended by janizaries in +splendid attire, who, with much pomp and circumstance, escorted them to +the gates of Berber. There they were received by the governor with every +detail of Oriental etiquette, installed in pavilions in his gardens, and +waited upon in a spirit of the most courteous hospitality. No longer in +need of a complete caravan, Miss Tinné dismissed her camel-drivers; but, +desirous of leaving upon their minds an enduring impression, she rewarded +them with almost prodigal liberality. Her gold coins were so lavishly +distributed, that the Arabs, in surprise and delight, broke out into +unaccustomed salutations; and to this very day, remembering her +largesses, they sing of her glory, as if she had revived the splendour of +Palmyra. + +There was a policy in this apparently thoughtless profusion. As a +natural result, her reputation everywhere preceded her; hospitality was +pressed upon her with an eagerness which may have been dictated by +selfish motives, but was not the less acceptable to her and her +companions. Women, gathering round her, prostrated themselves at her +feet. The young girls danced merrily at her approach; they took her for +a princess, or, at least, they saluted her as such. + +After a residence of some weeks at Berber, the adventurous ladies hired +three boats, and ascended the Nile to Khartûm, the capital of the +Egyptian Soudan. Situated at the confluence of the White and Blue Nile, +it is the centre of an important commerce, and the rendezvous of almost +all the caravans of Nubia and the Upper Nile. Unfortunately, it is one +of the world’s _cloacinæ_, a kind of moral cesspool, into which the filth +and uncleanness of many nations pours—Italians, Germans, Frenchmen, +Englishmen, whom their own countries have repudiated; political gamblers, +who have played their best card and failed; fraudulent bankrupts, +unscrupulous speculators, men who have nothing to hope, nothing to lose, +and are too callous to fear. The great scourge of the place, down to a +very recent date, was the cruel slave-traffic, at that time carried on +with the connivance of the Egyptian Government. Recently the energetic +measures of Colonel Gordon have done much towards the extirpation of this +cancerous growth, and even the moral atmosphere of the town has been +greatly purified. To Alexina Tinné the place was sufficiently loathsome; +but a residence of some weeks’ duration, while preparations were made for +the advance into Central Africa, was imperative. She did what she could +to avoid coming into contact with the “society” of Khartûm, and exerted +all her energies to stimulate the labours of her subordinates, so that +she might depart at the earliest possible moment. At length, provisions +were collected, and a supply of trinkets to be used as gifts or in +barter; an escort of thirty-eight men, including ten soldiers fully +armed, and all bearing a good character for trustworthiness, was engaged; +and, finally, she hired for the heavy sum of ten thousand francs, a small +steamboat, belonging to Prince Halim. With a glad heart she quitted +Khartûm, and resumed the ascent of the White Nile, passing through a +succession of landscapes fair and fertile. As for the river, its quiet +beauty charmed her; and she compared it to Virginia Lake, the pretty +basin of water that sparkles in the leafy shades of Windsor Forest. Its +banks are richly clothed with trees, chiefly gumtrees, which frequently +attain the dimensions of the oak. But the graceful tamarisk is also +abundant, and myriads of shrubs furnish the blue ape with a refuge and a +home. The air glitters with the many-coloured wings of swarms of birds. +On the bright surface of the stream spread the broad leaves and white +petals of colossal lilies, among which the hippopotamus and the crocodile +pursue their unwieldy gambols. + +How marvellous the effects of colour when this magical scene is bathed in +the hot rays of the sunshine! Through the transparent air every object +is seen with a distinct outline, and the sense of distance is overcome. +Where a shadow falls it is defined as sharply as on canvas; there is no +softening or confusing mist; you see everything as in a mirror. In the +noontide heats all nature is as silent here as in a virgin forest; but +when the cool breath of evening begins to be felt, and that luminous +darkness, which is the glory of a summer night in Central Africa, spreads +softly over the picture, the multiform life of earth swiftly re-awakens; +birds and butterflies hover in the air, the monkeys chatter merrily, and +leap from bough to bough. The sounds which then break forth—song and hum +and murmur, the roll of the river, the din of insects, the cries of the +wild beasts—seem all to mingle in one grand vesper hymn, proclaiming the +might and majesty of the Creator. These are generally hushed as the +night wears on; and then myriads of fireflies and glow-worms light their +tiny torches and illuminate the dark with a magical display; while the +air is charged with sweet and subtle odours exhaled from the corollas of +the plants which open only during the cool and tranquil hours. + +While slowly making her way up the river, Alexina encountered an Egyptian +pasha, who was returning with a booty of slaves from a recent razzia. +She eagerly implored him to set the unhappy captives free, and when her +solicitations failed, purchased eight of the poor creatures, to whom she +immediately gave their liberty, supplying them also with provisions. +This has been termed an act of Quixotism; it was rather one of generous +womanly enthusiasm, and to our thinking redeems the failings of Alexina +Tinné’s character—compensates for the follies and frivolities which +encumbered her enterprise. Her heart was true to every gentle impulse, +and she ceased not to suffer keenly at the sight of the wretched +condition of the poor negroes who fell victims to an unholy traffic. + +This traffic had aroused such feelings of hatred and revenge in the +breasts of the riverine tribes of the Nile, that the passage of the river +had become very dangerous, and the journey by land almost impossible. +The natives looked upon every white man as a Turk and a slave-dealer; and +when a boat appeared on the horizon, mothers cried with terror to their +children, “The Tourké, the Tourké are coming!” The scarlet tarbouch, or +fez, added to the repulsion. “It is the colour of blood just spilled,” +said a negro to his family. “It never fades,” they said; “the Turk +renews it constantly in the blood of the poor black men.” + +Fortunately, they were able to distinguish between the boats of the +slave-dealers and Alexina Tinné’s steamer. Twice or thrice they +approached the latter; at first not without fear, but afterwards with +good courage. “Is the young lady who commands,” they asked, “the +Sultan’s sister? Does she come to assist or to persecute us?” When +fully informed of the object of her pacific expedition, they rapidly grew +familiar and ventured on board her boat. “Since you mean no evil against +us,” they cried, “we will do _you_ no harm; we will love you!” They +accepted from her hands a cup of tea, and courteously drank it without +manifesting their repugnance; and they explained to her their usages and +manners, and supplied her with interesting information respecting the +surrounding country. Her reception was so much to her mind, that she +would have remained for some time among this kindly people, had she not +felt bound to prosecute her journey to the south. + +Once more the sails were unfurled, the fires lighted, and the steamer +ploughed its steady course towards the land of the Derikas. Two or three +villages were seen on the river banks, but the landscape was bare and +bland, and the adventurous Alexina pursued her voyage until she reached +Mount Hunaya. There she landed and pitched her tents. When it was known +to be her design to remain in this encampment during the rainy season, +her followers raised a vehement opposition, protesting that they would be +devoured by lions or trampled to death by elephants. Their mistress, +however, remained firm in her intention; but as the steamer was in need +of repair, she sent it back to Khartûm in charge of her aunt. + +It was during this lady’s enforced residence at Khartûm that she made the +acquaintance of an Englishman and his wife, whose names have become +household words in every civilized nation—Sir Samuel and Lady Baker. Sir +Samuel, who belongs to the illustrious company of African explorers, +began his career of adventure by founding an agricultural colony at +Nuvera Ellia—that is, six thousand feet above the sea, among the breezy +mountain peaks of Ceylon. In 1855 he visited the Crimea, and afterwards +he was engaged in superintending in Turkey the organization of its first +railway. In 1861 he started with his wife on a journey of discovery in +Central Africa, with the design of meeting the Government expedition, +which, under Captain Speke, had been despatched in search of the Nile +sources. In nearly a year he and his wife explored the Abyssinian +highlands, which form the cradle of the Blue Nile, arriving at Khartûm in +June, 1862. There he collected a large company to ascend the Upper Nile, +and setting out in December, 1862, he reached Gondokoro in February, +1863, in time to meet Captain Speke and Grant returning victoriously from +their discovery of the Victoria Nyanza. Baker furnished them with the +means of transport to Khartûm, and then pushed forward across a district +infested by slave-hunters, until he fell in with a great fresh-water +basin, the Luta N’zize, which he christened the Albert Lake, or Nyanza, +and ascertained to be one of the chief reservoirs or feeders of the Nile. +He returned to England in 1866. Three years later, he accepted from the +Khedive of Egypt the command of a military force, with unlimited powers, +for the purpose of annexing savage Africa to the civilized world, and +opening up its fertile lake-regions to the enterprise of legitimate +commerce. The work, which was well done, occupied him until 1873, and +was afterwards carried on by Colonel Gordon. + +In all his adventures, which, as we shall see, were often of a most +critical character, Sir Samuel was accompanied by his wife, whose +sympathy consoled, while her example inspired him. This brave and +chivalrous lady gave abundant proof of her heroic courage, her devoted +affection, and her indomitable resolution. + +When the repairs of her vessel were completed, Alexina Tinné returned to +Gebel Hunaya. She was received with shouts of joy, and with a salute of +several pieces of artillery, which awakened the greatest trepidation +among the natives. Some few incidents had occurred during her absence, +but none of a very notable character. One morning, Alexina was reading +at a short distance from the camp. Feeling thirsty, she turned towards a +rivulet which sparkled among the herbage close at hand; but as she +approached it, the dog which accompanied her barked loudly with affright, +and showed a manifest unwillingness to draw nearer to the rocks impending +over the stream. Accepting this intimation of danger, Alexina stepped +forward very cautiously, and soon discovered a young panther lurking +behind the rugged boulders. She had the presence of mind to stand +perfectly still, while she summoned her soldiers and servants to her +assistance. They speedily came up, and, drawing a cordon round the +animal, succeeded in capturing it alive. On another occasion, her men +killed, before her eyes, a huge crocodile, which was duly stuffed as a +trophy. They also caught a great ape, whose head was covered with long +hair, mixed black and white. The animal would have been a valuable +specimen of the African fauna, but, unfortunately, it died within a few +months of its capture. + +On the 7th of July, the steamer, which was heavily loaded and towed two +boats, left Hunaya, to continue its course up the river. Between Hunaya +and the confluence of the Bahr-el-Ghazal (the Gazelle river) the scenery +is far from being attractive; the river banks are arid, and sunburnt. +Here and there, however, grow clumps of whispering reeds and aquatic +plants; while, at other points, the river overflows its limits for two or +three thousand yards, creating, on each side, an inaccessible swamp. + +The voyagers did not pause until they reached the settlement of an Arab +chief, named Mohammed-Cher, who by his audacity had subjected the +neighbouring tribes, and ruled supreme over this part of the Soudan. +When, as frequently happened, he was in want of money, he exercised the +right of the strong hand, and, at the head of his freebooters, sallied +forth; destroying villages, slaying the male inhabitants, seizing upon +the women and children, and carrying off the cattle. He loved to +surround himself with barbaric pomp, and paraded upon a magnificent +horse, the saddle of which was embroidered with gold and silver, and +sparkled with precious stones. But when our voyagers arrived at his +village, this great warrior showed signs of recreancy; he was terrified +by the Turkish soldiers who occupied the steamer’s deck. It was supposed +to be owing to this spasm of alarm that he received the ladies with royal +honours, sending them sheep, oxen, fruit, vegetables, dancers, +archæological curiosities; in short, he seemed anxious to offer them all +he possessed. Afterwards, however, the secret of his ready liberality +came out; the swarthy chieftain thought he was doing honour to the +favourite daughter of the Grand Turk—in his zeal, he was anxious to +proclaim her Queen of the Soudan. + +When his visitors were taking leave, he strongly advised them not to +advance further to the south. “Take care,” said he, “you do not come +into collision with the Shillooks, who are our sworn enemies, and the +enemies of all who cross their frontiers. Take care that they do not set +fire to your boats, as they have already done to all vessels coming from +Khartûm.” + +In spite of these warnings, Alexina Tinné resolutely continued her +voyage, and, a few days later, anchored off a Shillook village. The +sailors, frightened by Mohammed’s story, would not approach it; she +therefore landed with only an interpreter, an officer, and an escort of +ten soldiers. But the news of the arrival of a daughter of the Sultan +had preceded her, and instead of being received as an enemy, she was +welcomed with every demonstration of respect. The Shillooks, as is the +case with savage tribes in all parts of the world, endeavour to engage +every stranger in their personal enmities; and they now hoped to secure +the assistance of the expedition against that terrible Mohammed-Cher, +who, only a few days before, had shown so much anxiety to proclaim the +European lady Queen of the Soudan. When she refused to join in their +campaign, their disappointment was extreme. All travellers speak warmly +of this unfortunate tribe, who suffer scarcely less from Europeans than +from Arabs. The conditions under which they live are very pitiful; +wherever they turn, they are met by enemies. Constantly falling victims +to the cruelty of the slave-hunters, it is no wonder that they regard +with suspicion, and too often treat with ferocity, the strangers who come +among them; naturally implicating them in the traffic by which they +suffer so severely. The slave-hunting abomination is, we must repeat, +the mortal wound of Central Africa; it impedes commercial enterprise, and +paralyzes the efforts of the pioneers of Christian civilization. Let us +hope that, in the lake regions, the vigorous action of Colonel Gordon has +greatly diminished, if it has not absolutely rooted out, the evil. + +Pressing southward with unshaken resolution, Alexina Tinné reached at +length the junction of the Sobat with the Nile. She resolved to ascend +that tributary as far as it was navigable, calculating that the +_excursus_, going and returning, would occupy seven or eight days. The +valley of the Sobat is more interesting in character than much of the +course of the White Nile. Its broad pastures, stretching away to the +distant horizon, teem with flocks of ostriches and herds of giraffes. +The river banks are thickly indented by the heavy hoofs of elephants, and +the colossal animals themselves wander freely over the uplands. For some +weeks the voyagers lingered in the Sobat, well pleased with its +succession of striking scenes; and then they steamed up the Nile again, +until they reached the mouth of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the majestic stream +which, with slow current, traverses Lake Nû. + +Here the Nile strikes sharply towards the south, forming a complete right +angle; and broadens into an imposing expanse of shining waters. + +The flora of the surrounding country is very picturesque: tamarinds, +mimosas, climbing plants, the papyruses, and the euphorbias thrive in +unchecked luxuriance, as they have thriven for countless centuries, and +blend together their thick growth of various foliage. The colouring of +the flowers is often so intense that the eye aches in contemplating it. +It should be added that the euphorbia, which is very common in this +region, yields a poisonous milky juice, in which the natives dip their +arrows. A scratch from one of these envenomed weapons will rapidly prove +mortal. + +Beyond Lake Nû, the White Nile breaks into an intricate series of curves +and meanders, pouring its waters downwards with violent swiftness. Such, +indeed, was the strength of the flood, that the steamer was compelled to +throw off the towing-rope of the two dahabiehs, and the sailors and +servants landed in order to haul them against the stream. But in the +greatest stress of the current the rope broke, and the boats, drifting +away, were threatened with destruction. Osman Aga, a resolute and +courageous soldier, who was on the deck of the steamer, seized another +rope and leaped instantly into the river. With vigorous strokes he made +for the shore. He had almost gained it, and had flung the rope to his +expectant comrades, when he suddenly disappeared. After a while his dead +body was found, and immediate preparations were made to give it an +honourable burial. Wrapped round, according to the custom of the +country, with twenty yards of calico, it was interred, in the presence of +the whole crew, at the foot of a patriarchal tree, on the trunk of which +was cut a commemorative inscription. + +Some days after this melancholy event, the expedition ascended the river +to Heiligenkreuz, where some Austrian Catholic missionaries have founded +a settlement. Remaining there until the 15th of September, Alexina Tinné +made a short excursion into the interior, crossing rivers, traversing +forests, and meeting with numerous villages, half hidden in leafiness. + +As the voyagers approached Gondokoro, they observed that the panoramas +assumed a grander character; that the landscapes were on a loftier scale. +Tropical forests extended their deep shades along the river banks; and +sometimes in their recesses it was possible to catch sight of the remains +of ancient buildings, at one time, perhaps, inhabited by a busy race. +Gondokoro, long regarded as the _Ultima Thule_ of the Nile Valley, was +reached on the 30th of September. It proved to be the extreme southward +limit of Alexina Tinné’s explorations. She ardently longed to advance—to +share some of the glory resting upon the names of Speke and Grant, Baker +and Petherick—to see with her own eyes the immense basin of the Victorian +Sea—to trace to its well-head the course of the Nile; but the obstacles +thrown in her way proved insurmountable. Moreover, most of her followers +were seized with malarious fever, and she herself had an attack, which +for some days held her life in danger. When she recovered, she began to +study the habits and manners of the native tribes residing in the +neighbourhood of Gondokoro. They are all Baris, and very ignorant and +superstitious, but not naturally cruel. No trade flourishes among them +like that of the sorcerer, who is also the medicine-man. When a Bari +falls ill, he hastens to consult the Punok, who gives him some absurd but +infallible recipe, and the cure is effected! One of these magicians +succeeded in persuading the negroes that he was invulnerable. Oxen, +sheep, and presents of all kinds were poured into his willing hands; but +unluckily he declaimed against the expeditions of the Egyptians, who, not +having any sense of humour, put him to death. His dupes, gathering round +his dead body, waited patiently for his resurrection; and only began to +doubt when the corpse putrefied. + +Among the Bari sorcerers a high rank is held by the “rain-maker”—a +personage of great repute, to whom the villagers bring oxen, fruits, and +trinkets, in days of drought, to bribe him to invoke the clouds and their +treasures of fertilizing rain. But his position is not without its +inconveniences; if, after the performance of his rites, the drought +continues, the people assemble at his house, drag him forth, and without +more ado, cut open the stomach of the unfortunate Kodjour, on the plea +that the storms must be shut up in it, as they make no external +manifestation. Few are the years in which one of these rain-makers does +not perish, unless he has the wit to escape out of danger before his +deception is discovered. + +From Gondokoro Alexina Tinné returned without delay to Khartûm, where she +received the congratulations of the European community; but her rest was +not of long duration. She had nothing of the lotos-eater in her +temperament, and could find contentment only in action. Hers was the +true traveller’s character—energetic, active, daring, tenacious, with an +insatiable thirst for new scenes. Thwarted in her first design, she +immediately took up another. She would ascend the great western +tributary of the Nile, the Bahr-el-Ghazal, explore the streams which feed +it, and penetrate into the land of the Nyam-nyam, of whom Doctor Heughlin +has furnished so interesting an account. Her preparations were soon +completed. This time she and her mother—her aunt remained at Khartûm—did +not travel alone; their expedition was reinforced by three experienced +travellers, Doctor Heughlin, the naturalist, Doctor Steudner, and Baron +d’Ablaing. The first two started in advance, so as to open up the route +for the adventurous Alexina, who, with her mother and Baron d’Ablaing, +quitted Khartûm at the end of February, 1863, in command of a flotilla +composed of a steamer, a sailing-vessel, and several small boats. + +Heughlin, who had set out some days before, passed, on the 31st of +January, the Gebel Tefafan, a lofty mountain which rises at no great +distance from the river. He reached Lake Nû—a point from which the +voyager has more than two hundred miles to accomplish across the +Bahr-el-Ghazal. At that time of the year the river in many places is as +narrow as a canal, though on both sides bordered by a swampy plain, which +stretches further than the eye can see, and bears a thick growth of +gigantic reeds. At other places it deepens into considerable lakes. + +The natives navigate it in light canoes, which they manage with much +dexterity. They sit astride the stem, with their legs hanging down in +the water; and if they fall in with no branches capable of being +converted into oars, they row with their hands. The Nouers, who inhabit +this land of marsh and morass, furnish an apparent exemplification of the +Darwinian theory: by a process of natural selection they have become +thoroughly adapted to the conditions of a soil and climate which would +rapidly kill off an unaccustomed population. Their muscular strength is +remarkable; and they are a race of Anaks, averaging from six to seven +feet in height. Alexina Tinné records that, in spite of the heat of a +tropical sun, and the attacks of swarms of insects, they would stand +erect, with lance in hand, on the summit of the mounds thrown up by +termites, anxiously watching the steamer and the boats in tow as they +passed by swiftly and steadily, against wave and current—a type, shall we +say? of the irresistible progress of civilization. + +While Doctor Heughlin, in the true scientific spirit, industriously +explored the banks of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, Alexina Tinné was making a +persistent effort to rejoin him. Innumerable difficulties assailed her. +When only a few miles from Khartûm, her captain came to tell her, with +signs of the utmost terror, that the steamer was leaking, and would +shortly sink. Her alarm may easily be imagined; but fortunately she was +never wanting in presence of mind. She gave orders that the cargo should +be immediately unloaded; the leak was repaired, and the voyage resumed. +A few hours later, and the vessel was again in danger, the water rushing +in with greater violence than before. A close investigation was made, +and then it was discovered that the pilot and captain had each agreed to +bore a hole in the ship’s hull, with the view of putting a stop to a +voyage which they, as well as the crew, dreaded. But our heroine was not +to be conquered. She at once dismissed a part of the crew, and sent away +both the captain and the pilot; then, with men pledged to be true to her, +she sailed away resolutely for the Bahr-el-Ghazal. + +At first, she made but slow progress, on account of the mass of tall +dense grasses and aquatic plants that choked up the stream. In many +places it was necessary to clear a way for the steamer with knife and +axe. In the sun-baked mud grisly crocodiles swarmed; the snort of the +hippopotamus rose from amid the reedy tangle; the elephant with calm eyes +watched the movements of the strangers. The swamps of the Bahr-el-Ghazal +are a paradise of wild beasts, and Mademoiselle Tinné saw thousands of +them wandering to and fro. But though game is so abundant, to hunt it is +very difficult. The sportsman cannot penetrate into the midst of the dry +and withered vegetation without a crackling of leaves and a snapping of +stems, which give instant alarm to vigilant and suspicious ears. No +sooner does he set foot in the jungle, than, as if warned by some secret +telegraphic agency, all its denizens take to flight. But while +Mademoiselle Tinné’s followers were vainly attempting to pursue the trail +of the great pachyderms, a huge elephant, which had probably entered too +far into the river in the keenness of his thirst, was caught up in the +current, and driven against one of the boats. The opportunity was not +neglected; the boatmen immediately assailed the unfortunate animal, +killed it, and cut it in pieces. + +Lake Reg is the highest navigable point of the Ghazal. {249} Our heroine +found here a fleet of five and twenty craft, some with cargoes of ivory, +others with cargoes of dourra or millet. She was received with +enthusiasm, which specially manifested itself in the discharge of three +volleys of musketry—a compliment to which Alexina Tinné replied by +hoisting the Dutch flag. + +As soon as her little flotilla was safely moored among the trading craft, +the enterprising lady prepared to undertake a journey into the interior. +But as it was found impossible to collect a sufficient number of porters +to carry the baggage, she arranged that Doctors Heughlin and Steudner +should start in search of suitable winter-quarters. The two travellers +set out, but the malarious climate broke down their health, and both were +seized with a dangerous marsh fever. They suffered greatly; but, +sustained by their strong will, they pushed forward, crossing, on the 2nd +of April, the river Djur, and arriving, the same evening, at the village +of Wau. Here Doctor Steudner rapidly grew worse. Before long he was +unable to walk; he fell into a profound stupor, and passed away, almost +without pain, on the 10th of April. Doctor Heughlin describes, with much +pathos, the feelings of grief and melancholy which overpowered him when +he buried his friend. The body was wrapped in Abyssinian cloth and +covered with leaves; then interred in a deep trench dug at the foot of a +clump of trees. + +On the 17th of April, Doctor Heughlin quitted the lonely shades of Wau, +and, having lured a large number of porters, returned to Lake Reg. Then, +to complete the necessary arrangements for the projected expedition to +the country of the Nyam-nyam, Baron d’Ablaing went on a trip to Khartûm, +whence he brought back an abundant supply of provisions. During his +absence, Alexina Tinné was visited by Mrs. Petherick, the wife of the +English consul—a woman not less courageous than herself, who had +accompanied her husband in most of his explorations. She claims the +honour of having added numerous places to the map of Africa, and of +having been the first European lady who had penetrated into those remote +regions. + +While Alexina Tinné represents Holland, and Mrs. Petherick England, +Germany is represented by the wife of Sir Samuel Baker, to whom allusion +has already been made. A woman of delicate and even feeble appearance, +with a countenance of remarkable amiability of expression; she possesses, +as Queen Elizabeth said of herself, “the heart of a man,” and of a brave +and chivalrous man. Deeds worthy of the most famous knights have been +accomplished by this lady, who, it might have been thought, would have +sunk before the first breath of the Simoom. One may here be recorded. +While out hunting, Sir Samuel Baker was attacked by a buffalo, which had +sprung upon him unperceived through the high thick grasses, and was on +the point of impaling him on its horns, when Lady Baker, with cool and +steady aim, raised her rifle, and lodging a bullet between the animal’s +eyes, stretched it dead on the ground. A moment’s hesitation, the +slightest wavering or nervousness, and Sir Samuel would have been lost. + +Alexina Tinné, with Mr. and Mrs. Petherick, made numerous excursions in +the neighbourhood of Lake Reg, in one of which they were surprised by a +terrible storm. In the memory of living man no such hurricane had been +known; and it seemed to spend its worst fury upon the traveller’s +caravan, which it threatened every moment to sweep from the earth. When +it had somewhat subsided, other difficulties arose. The soldiers who +formed the escort were not only inveterately idle, but irrepressibly +dishonest; while as for the negroes, they were contumacious, and refused +to follow the route indicated by their employer. A serious disturbance +was on the point of breaking out, when the gale returned with fresh +violence, tore down at least half of the encampment, and almost +suffocated Alexina Tinné amidst the wreckage of her hut. While it +lasted, terror prevented her followers from resorting to acts of open +insubordination; but they regained their audacity as the tempest passed +away, and, declaring that their supply of food was insufficient, demanded +larger rations. A general mutiny seemed imminent; but the fair leader of +the expedition was equal to the occasion. Though suffering from bodily +pain and weakness, she boldly confronted the insurgents; with flashing +eye, and in a fierce voice, addressed to them a severe reprimand, and +ordered them to lay down their arms. Her intrepid demeanour awed them +into submission, and the encounter ended in their humbly supplicating her +forgiveness. + +The crisis over, her overwrought system gave way. So serious was her +illness that at one time recovery seemed impossible, and the deepest +sorrow was manifested by the whole camp. Quinine, however, which is the +sheet-anchor (so to speak) of African travellers, saved her. A gradual +improvement took place, and by the 30th of May all danger had +disappeared. + +As soon as she was able to move, she gave orders for the expedition to +advance. It travelled by short stages; and when, towards night, Miss +Tinné came upon a village which promised convenient quarters, she sent +for the sheikh, and the gift of a few beads was sufficient to make him +expel from their huts the native families. Without striking a blow, the +travellers got possession of the place, and in a few hours had settled +themselves comfortably, while taking due care of their camels and cattle. +As for the dispossessed inhabitants, they were left to find what shelter +or accommodation they could, consoling themselves with the promise of +ample compensation on the morrow. + +The African villages are sometimes of considerable size. They are nearly +always surrounded by a belt of cultivated ground, where dourra, sesamum, +and culinary vegetables grow in profusion. The flocks scattered over the +pastures often include some thousands of sheep, though they are never +killed by the natives for purposes of food. Miss Tinné purchased +several; but as soon as it was known that she slaughtered them for +provision, their owners refused to sell. The natives apparently make the +sheep the object of a superstitious _cultus_, as the Lapps do the hare. +It is true, however, that their scruples vanished at the sight of Alexina +Tinné’s trinkets; their religion proved unable to withstand the +temptation of a bright ring or glittering bracelet. Yet who shall blame +them when Christians have been known to forswear their faith for equally +small bribes? It is a curious fact that each tribe has its favourite +colour—that while one swears by blue beads, another has eyes only for +green; so that a tribe which will violate its conscience for a handful of +blue beads or yellow, will preserve it intact if tested by beads of any +other colour. But no bribe is so powerful, will prevail over so many +vows, will appease so many scruples, as a piece of blue or red cotton. +This, however, was reserved as a gratification for the chiefs alone; and +it was a sight to make you laugh or weep, according as your philosophy is +that of Democritus or Heraclitus, to see them strutting through their +villages, proud as peacocks in their gaudy attire, haughtier than a mayor +with his official chain round his portly chest, happier than a Frenchman +with the ribbon of the Legion of Honour in his button-hole. + + * * * * * + +The countries of Djur and Dör, traversed by our caravan, offered a +succession of the most varied panoramas. For several days it passed +through marshy lowlands, covered with a coarse hard grass: the herbage +was besprinkled with rare flowers, many of which belonged to species +unknown to European botanists. As they advanced trees became more +numerous; groves developed into woods, and woods expanded into a +luxurious forest, where the eye surveyed with delight a rich network of +climbing plants and wild vines, spreading from tree to tree, while the +dense cloud of verdure was lighted up profusely with starry blossoms. In +this happy land the mosquito was never found; nor were there any +injurious insects, except the termites or white ants. + +The picture suddenly changed as the travellers penetrated further into +the interior; immense plains stretched away to a remote horizon, where +earth and heaven seemed to mingle. Occasionally, however, the monotonous +level was broken pleasantly by clumps of graceful trees, forming so many +isles of greenery, in which the calm bland air was perfumed by the sweet +odours that rose, like a breath, from magnificent cactuses, orchids, and +irises. Thousands of birds, surprised among the tall grasses by the +passing caravan, sprang aloft and filled the air with the whir of +winnowing wings. + +Enraptured by the beauty of this fortunate and favoured region, Alexina +forgot the sufferings she had endured, and, giving a free rein to her +womanly enthusiasm, exclaimed—“This is a delightful country, a marvellous +land, which compensates us for all our fatigue; yes, and for all our +outlay!” These last words may be considered as a striking example of +bathos, or “the art of sinking,” considering the circumstances under +which they were pronounced; but it would appear that the enormous +expenses of the expedition had by this time made a serious inroad even on +Miss Tinné’s large fortune. + + * * * * * + +As for some years a marked diminution had taken place in the number of +elephants inhabiting the valley of the White Nile, the ivory dealers +pushed forward into the countries watered by the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the +Djur. There they found themselves in a virgin region, which hitherto had +not been contaminated by the influences of a corrupt civilization. It +was a mine to be worked with the happiest results, and accordingly they +established a series of stations, each in charge of a vakil or manager. +In the month of November these were visited in person by the traders, who +loaded their boats with ivory, too frequently adding to their cargoes of +elephants’ tusks the unfortunate negroes who had served them as guides +and hunters. As time went on, they extended their relations, and gave +free course to their ambition. They armed the tribes one against +another, promoted internecine contests, and in this way consolidated +their cruel and unscrupulous despotism. + +Our travellers nearly fell victims to one of these infamous speculators +in the blood of the feeble and defenceless. Yielding to his repeated +pressure, Alexina and her followers advanced to Bongo, where he exercised +authority. They were received with a splendid welcome. On their arrival +volleys of musketry woke all the surrounding echoes. Biselli (such was +the name of their self-appointed host) met them at the entrance to the +village, and conducted them into a spacious and convenient habitation, +where, with the most courteous attention, they were served with sherbet, +coffee, and other refreshing drinks. No one was forgotten in his profuse +hospitality; masters and servants were entertained with equal liberality. +The abrek, the delicious beer of the country, was freely circulated among +the people, and generously distributed to the very porters. + +As Biselli was absolute master in the village and its neighbourhood, and +owned almost everything, Alexina Tinné requested him to sell some corn +and oxen. He answered, like a true gentleman, that for twenty-four hours +he was her host; that he had abdicated his position as a trader, and had +no thought but her comfort, and to give her an honourable reception. His +profuseness, far from diminishing, largely increased; and his European +guests were almost ashamed to be the recipients of an hospitality so +cordial, so unlimited, and so unexpected. + +But unfortunately a change came over the spirit of the dream. Next day, +clouds gathered on the horizon which had previously been so fair. The +travellers wished to hire a small zoriba, or plantation, comprising two +tents. Biselli named thirty thalers as the price. No objection was +offered, and Miss Tinné’s people began to store the baggage, when he +suddenly made a demand for two hundred thalers. This exorbitant sum was +promptly and firmly refused; he then reduced it to forty thalers, which +was paid. Soon afterwards the caravan was in need of dourra, and there +was no help for it but to apply to Biselli. Well aware of their +necessity, the scoundrel charged forty times more than they would have +had to pay at Khartûm, and on every other article he put in like manner a +tax of forty or fifty per cent. The ex-gentleman had resumed his old +character as an unprincipled speculator. + +Our travellers, however, felt that they could no longer endure his +impositions, and abandoning Bongo and Biselli, returned to Lake Reg. +Here Alexina’s mother was seized with an illness which carried her off in +a few days (July 23rd). Two European servants were also attacked by +fever, and succumbed to its fatal influence. Overwhelmed with grief, +Miss Tinné abandoned her schemes of African exploration, and slowly and +with difficulty made her way back to Khartûm, to find that her aunt, the +Baroness van Capellan, had died during her absence (in May, 1864). As +soon as she had recruited her strength, she removed to Cairo, where she +took up her residence, and for four years made a conspicuous figure in +its brilliant European circle. + +The love of new scenes, however, had not been quenched by her adventures, +and in her yacht she made frequent visits to Naples and Rome, Smyrna and +Jaffa, Algiers and Tripoli. While at the latter port, a caravan arrived +from the Sahara, with the products of the rich lands that lie beyond that +famous desert. The incident suggested to her bold imagination the idea +of an expedition which in romance and interest should eclipse her +previous enterprise, and she traced the plan of a journey across Tripoli +to the capital of Fezzan, thence to Kuka, and westward, by way of Wadai, +Darfur, and Kordofan, to the Nile. As this route would carry her into +the territory of the brave but treacherous Towaregs, a race to whom +plunder and rapine seem the breath of life, she took care to provide +herself with a sufficient escort, and on the 29th of January, 1869, set +out from Tripoli at the head of a troop of fifty armed men. At Sokna, in +Fezzan, which she reached on the 1st of March, she engaged the services +of a Towareg chief, one Ik-nu-ken; but at the last moment he failed her, +and she accepted as guides two chiefs of the same tribe, who professed to +have been sent by Ik-nu-ken. These men, in conjunction with her +attendant, Mohammed, a Tunisian, resolved upon murdering her in order to +gain possession of her money and valuables. Soon after her departure +from Sokna (it was on the 1st of August) they excited a quarrel among the +camel-drivers, and when Alexina quitted her tent to ascertain the cause, +one of the Towaregs shot her with a rifle-bullet, mortally wounding her. +For four and twenty hours she lay dying at the door of her tent, no one +venturing to offer assistance or consolation. + +Such was the melancholy fate of Alexina Tinné! It is satisfactory to +know that the murderers who, with their plunder, had escaped into the +interior, were eventually captured, tried, and sentenced to imprisonment +for life. {259} + + + + +MR. J. A. MACGAHAN, +AND CAMPAIGNING ON THE OXUS. + + +I. + + +MR. J. A. MACGAHAN, as special correspondent for the _New York Herald_, a +journal well known by the liberality and boldness of its management, +accompanied the Russian army, under General Kauffmann, in its campaigns +in Central Asia in 1873 and 1874. + +Bound for the seat of war, he made his way, in company with Mr. Eugene +Schuyler, the American _chargé d’affaires_ at St. Petersburg, who desired +to see something of Central Asia, to Kasala, a Russian town on the +Syr-Daria (the ancient _Jaxartes_), where he arrived in April, 1873. He +describes this town, or fort, as the entering wedge of the Russians into +Central Asia. Its population, exclusive of Russian soldiers and +civilians, consists of Sarts, or Tadjiks, Bokhariots, Kirghiz, and +Kara-Kalpaks; all being Tartar tribes, in whom an infusion of Aryan blood +has more or less modified the old Mongolian type. As for the town, it is +picturesque enough to a European eye—its low mud houses, with flat roofs, +windowless, and almost doorless; its bazár, where long-bearded men, in +bright-coloured robes, gravely drink tea among the wares that crowd their +little shops; and the strings of laden camels that stalk through its +streets, presenting a novel combination. As soon as he had obtained all +the information he could with respect to the movements of the Russian +force, Mr. MacGahan resolved on making a dash for the Oxus, hoping to +reach that river before General Kauffmann’s army had crossed it. But +when the Russian authorities learned his design, they at once interfered, +declaring that the journey was dangerous, if not impracticable, and must +not be undertaken without leave from the Governor-General. Mr. MacGahan +then resolved on pushing forward to Fort Perovsky, as if going only to +Tashkent; trusting to find there an officer in command who would not be +troubled by such conscientious scruples about his personal safety. No +objection was made to a journey to Tashkent; Mr. MacGahan and Mr. +Schuyler therefore hurried their preparations, stowed their baggage in a +waggon, and themselves in a tarantass, and shaking the dust off their +feet at inhospitable and suspicious Kasala, took their course along the +banks of the Syr-Daria. + +This, the ancient Jaxartes, is one of the most eccentric of rivers. It +is continually changing its bed, like a restless traveller; “here to-day, +and gone to-morrow,” and gone a distance of some eight to ten miles. To +adapt it to the purposes of navigation seems almost impossible, or, at +all events, would be unprofitable; and the best use that could be made of +its waters would be to irrigate with them the thirsty sands of the desert +of Kyzil-Kum. + +On Mr. MacGahan’s arrival at Fort Perovsky, he proceeded to engage a +guide and horses, having fully resolved to carry out his bold enterprise. +From the commandant he was fortunate enough to obtain a passport, and on +the 30th of April he bade farewell to Mr. Schuyler, and set out. His +_cortége_ consisted of Ak-Mamatoff, his Tartar servant, Mushuf, the +guide, and a young Kirghiz attendant, all mounted, with ten horses to +carry the baggage and forage. As a man of peace, he says, he went but +lightly armed. Yet a heavy double-barrelled hunting rifle, a +double-barrelled shot gun (both being breech-loaders), an +eighteen-shooter Winchester rifle, three heavy revolvers, and one +ordinary muzzle-loading shot gun throwing slugs, together with a few +knives and sabres, would seem to make up a tolerable arsenal! Mr. +MacGahan, however, assures us that he did not contemplate fighting, and +that he encumbered himself with these “lethal weapons” only that he might +be able to discuss with becoming dignity questions concerning the rights +of way and of property, on which his opinions might differ from those of +the nomads of the desert, who hold to Rob Roy’s good old rule, that + + “They should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can.” + +That night our traveller accepted the hospitality of a Kirghiz. Next +morning he and his men were in the saddle by sunrise, riding merrily away +to the south-west, across a country innocent of road or path. Sometimes +their course lay through tangled brushwood, sometimes through tall reeds +which completely concealed each rider from his companions, sometimes over +low sandy dunes, and sometimes across a bare and most desolate plain. +Occasionally they heard the loud sharp cry of the golden pheasant of +Turkistan; then they would pass large flocks and herds of sheep, cattle, +and horses, quietly grazing; and again they would meet and salute a +Kirghiz shepherd on horseback. To eyes that have been trained to _see_ +no desert can be utterly barren of interest; the vigilant observer will +discover, in the most sterile waste, something of fresh and novel +character, something suggestive of thick-coming fancies. For example, +Mr. MacGahan noted the remarkable difference between the wide stretches +of the sandy plain and the occasional streaks of ground that had been +under recent cultivation; and he perceived that the desert had the +advantage. Parched and sun-scorched, and without a trace of vegetation, +was the land that had been irrigated only the year before; while the +desert assumed a delicate tint of green, with its budding brushwood and +thin grass, which always springs into life as soon as the snow melts, to +flourish until stricken sore by the heats of summer. + +At nightfall the travellers, weary with eleven hours’ ride, drew up at a +Kara-Kalpak aul, or encampment, consisting of a dozen kibitkas, pitched +near a little pond in the centre of a delightful oasis. The owner of one +of the kibitkas proved to be the guide’s brother, and gave the party a +cordial welcome. The Kara-Kalpaks are nomads like the Kirghiz, but +though they live side by side with them, and frequently intermarry, they +seem to belong to a different race of men. They are taller than the +Kirghiz, and well-made; their skin is almost as white as that of a +European; and instead of the small eyes, high cheek-bones, flat noses, +thick lips, and round beardless faces of the Kirghiz, they have long +faces, high noses, large open eyes, and are bearded “like the pard.” + +“After supper,” says Mr. MacGahan, “I stepped outside the tent to take a +look on the surrounding scene, and enjoy the cool air of the evening. +The new moon was just setting; lights were gleaming in every direction +over the plain, showing that ours was not the only aul in the vicinity. +The bleating of sheep and the lowing of cattle could be heard, mingled +with the playful bark of dogs and the laughing voices of children, which +came to us on the still evening air like music. In places the weeds and +grass of last year had been fired to clear the ground for the new growth, +and broad sheets of fire crawled slowly forward over the plain, while +huge volumes of dense smoke, that caught the light of the flames below, +rolled along the sky in grotesque fantastic shapes like clouds of fire.” + +The kibitka, according to our traveller, is made up of numerous thin +strips of wood, six feet long, which are fastened loosely together like a +vine trellis, and can be opened out or folded up compactly, as necessity +requires. As the strips are slightly curved in the middle, the +framework, when expanded, naturally takes the form of a segment of a +circle. Four of these frames constitute the skeleton sides of the tent; +and on their tops are placed some twenty or thirty rafters, properly +curved, with their upper ends inserted in the hoop, three or four feet in +diameter, that serves as a roof-tree. The method of pitching a kibitka +may be thus described:—As soon as the camel with the felt and framework +reaches the chosen site, he is made to kneel down, and a couple of women +seize the framework, which they straightway set up on end, and extend in +the form of a circle. Next the doorposts are planted, and the whole +bound firmly together with a camel’s-hair rope. Then one of the women +takes the afore-mentioned wooden hoop, and raising it above her head on a +pole, the other proceeds to insert in their proper holes the twenty or +thirty rafters, fastening their basis to the lower framework by means of +hoops. When a thick fold of felt has been let down over the framework, +the kibitka, which measures about fifteen feet in diameter, and eight +feet in length, is complete. In appearance it is not unlike a magnified +beehive of the old pattern. + +The Kirghiz nomads are fierce, crafty, often cruel, but they hold the +life of a guest sacred. For his property, however, they have no such +high consideration, and they are not above the temptation of plundering +him of any article that attracts their fancy. Their chief amusements are +horse exercises and falconry. They love the chase with a true +sportsman’s passion; loving it for itself, rather than for the game it +procures, as they can conceive of nothing daintier than a dish of +mutton—a dish which they prepare with touching simplicity. For, a sheep +having been skinned, they cut it into quarters, which they plunge into a +large caldron of water, and boil for a couple of hours. Generally, on a +principle of severe economy, they cook the intestines with the meat, not +taking the trouble even to separate them. The guests arrange themselves +in a circle on carpets of felt; the men, as recognized lords of the +creation, occupying the foremost places, the women and children sitting +in the rear. The smoking quarters of mutton are removed from the pot; +each man draws his knife, slashes off a cantle, eats until satisfied, and +passes what is left to his wife and children, who speedily effect a +clearance. The dogs come in for the bones. Afterwards, bowls of the +liquor in which the meat has been boiled are handed round, and not a +Kirghiz but swallows the greasy potion with as much zest as an epicure +takes his glass of dry champagne. This broth, koumis (fermented mare’s +milk), and tea, are his customary liquors; but the tea, instead of being +prepared in the European fashion, is made into a kind of soup with milk, +flour, butter, and salt. In every respectable Kirghiz kibitka the women +keep constantly upon the fire a vessel of this beverage, which they offer +to visitors, just as a Turk serves up coffee, and a Spaniard chocolate. + +In their mode of life the Kirghiz display a certain originality. They +spend the three winter months in mud huts on the bank of a river or a +small stream, and resume their annual migrations as soon as the snow +begins to melt. During these migrations they live in tents, and never +halt in one spot for longer than three days. Their march is often +continued until they have travelled three or four hundred miles; then +they turn round, and retrace the same route, so as to reach their place +of hibernation before the snow falls. In their selection of quarters +they seem guided by some traditions handed down in the different auls; +and not unfrequently a body of Kirghiz will pass over much excellent +grazing ground, and travel many a league to inferior pasturage. The +hardships they undergo are so many, their pleasures so few and mean, +their objects so commonplace, that one is tempted to wonder what kind of +answer an intelligent Kirghiz would return to the question not long ago +put with some emphasis before the reading public, “Is life worth living?” +Those higher motives, those purer aspirations which the cultivated +European mind delights to recognize, are unknown to the wild nomad, and +he spends day after day, and month after month, in what would seem to be +a drearily monotonous struggle for existence, under conditions which +might be supposed to render existence an intolerable burden. But then he +can love and suffer as we know civilized men and women love and suffer; +and love and suffering will invest the harshest, coarsest life with a +certain grace and consecration. + +There was once a young Kirghiz, named Polat, who was affianced to Muna +Aim, the comeliest maiden in the aul, or community, of Tugluk. Her +father, Ish Djan, had received the customary kalym, or wedding present, +and the marriage day had been appointed. But before it arrived, “the +blind fury with the abhorred shears” had “slit” Polat’s “thin-spun life;” +and Muna Aim was set free from her promise. Suluk, Polat’s brother, came +forward, however, and, in his anxiety to recover his brother’s property, +which she had received as her dower, claimed her as his wife. The claim +was supported by her father; but Muna Aim, who had sufficient means to +live on, considered herself a widow, and refused to marry. She was +driven from her father’s kibitka; and taking her camel, with her sheep +and goats, her clothes and carpets, she bought a little kibitka for +herself, and lived alone, but not unhappy. For her heart was really with +Azim, a young Kirghiz belonging to another aul, and she had consented to +marry Polat only in obedience to her father. A second sacrifice she was +determined not to make. But the old women grew very angry with Muna Aim, +as she continued to enjoy her independence. “What is the matter with +her?” they cried. “She will not go to her husband, but lives alone like +an outlaw.” She was an innovator, boldly breaking through a traditional +custom, and they resolved to “reason” with her. Their arguments were +those which the strong too often employ against the feeble; they hurled +at her bad names, and they scratched her face and pulled her hair. Still +she would not yield; and in contentment she milked her sheep and goats, +drove them to the pasture, and drew water for them from the well, waiting +for some happy turn of fortune which might unite her with her Azim. + +At last Suluk also resolved to try the effect of “reason.” With three or +four friends he repaired one night to her kibitka, and broke it open, +resolved to carry her off to his tent, and compel her to be his wife. +Love and despair, however, lent her so wonderful an energy, that she +resisted all their efforts. They dragged her to the door; but she +clutched at the door-posts with her hands, and held so firmly, that to +make her let go they were forced to draw their knives and slash her +fingers. When they succeeded in hauling her into the open air, her +clothes were torn from her body, and she was covered with blood from head +to foot. She continued her brave struggle; and Suluk, leaping on his +horse and catching her by her beautiful long hair, dragged her at his +horse’s heels, until it came out by the roots, and he was compelled to +leave her on the ground, naked, bleeding, half dead. + +Information of this outrage, however, reached the Yarim-Padshah (or “half +emperor”), as the tribes of Central Asia call the redoubtable General +Kauffmann; and he despatched a party of Cossacks to seize its author. +Suluk was speedily captured, and sent, a prisoner, to Siberia; while the +faithful and courageous Muna Aim recovered her health and her braids of +long dark hair, and in the winter met the lover for whom she had endured +so much, and was happily married. + +Thus the reader will perceive that romance flourishes even in the +wildernesses of the Kyzil-Kum; and that a Kirghiz woman can be elevated +by a true love like an English maiden. + + * * * * * + +Continuing his ride after the Russians, Mr. MacGahan, when near Irkibai, +came upon the ruins of an ancient city. It had once been about three +miles in circumference, walled, and on three sides surrounded by a wide +and deep canal, on the fourth by the Yani-Daria. The wall had been +strengthened by watch-towers, and on the summit of a hill in the centre +stood two towers thirty to forty feet in height. The whole was built of +sun-dried brick, and was fast crumbling into shapeless mounds. At +Irkibai Mr. MacGahan met with every courtesy from the commandant, but +nothing was known of the whereabouts of General Kauffmann. There were +but two courses before the traveller—to return, or go forward. Mr. +MacGahan was not the man to retrace his steps until his work was done, if +it were possible to do it; and he resolved on continuing his progress to +the Oxus. On the 7th of May he rode forward. At first he followed the +regular caravan route, which, as many traces showed, had also been that +of the Russian division, under the Grand-Duke Nicholas. It crosses the +thirsty desert—twenty leagues without a well. Fair enough is it to the +eye, with its rolling lines of verdant hills; but the hills are only +sand, and the verdure consists of a coarse soft weed that, when it +flowers, exhales a most offensive odour. Beneath the broad leaves lurk +scorpions and tarantulas, great lizards, beetles, and serpents. The +traveller, if he lose his way in this deadly waste of delusion, may +wander to and fro for days, until he and his horse sink exhausted, to +perish of thirst, with no other covering for their bones than the rank +and noxious herbage. + +Across the gleaming burning sands, while the sun smote them pitilessly +with his burning arrows, rode our brave traveller and his companions. +Their lips cracked with thirst, and their eyes smarted with the noontide +glare, and their weary horses stumbled in the loose shifting soil; but +rest they durst not until they reached the well of Kyzil-Kak. How glad +they were to throw themselves down beside it, while some kindly Kirghiz, +who had already refreshed their camels and horses, drew for them the +welcome water! MacGahan made a short halt here, feeding his horses, and +sharing with his attendants a light meal of biscuits and fresh milk, +supplied by the Kirghiz, and then—the saddle again! Meeting with a +caravan, he learned from its Bashi, or leader, that the Russian army was +at Tamdy—that is, instead of being, as he had hoped, within a day’s +march, it must be upwards of two hundred miles distant; and as it was +just on the point of starting for Aristan-Bel-Kudluk, which was still +further south, it was impossible to say when he might overtake it. His +disappointment was great; but his cry was still “Onwards!” By nine +o’clock next morning the indefatigable traveller reached the foot of the +grey, bare, treeless heights of the Bukan-Tau. Though but a thousand +feet in elevation, they presented, with their glancing peaks, their +conical summits, their deep valleys, and awful precipices, all the +characteristics of an Alpine range of mountains. Resting there for some +hours, he took up, on the morrow, a line of march around their northern +slope, and gradually descended into the plain. From some Kirghiz he +ascertained that the Grand-Duke Nicholas had joined General Kauffmann two +days before, and that the united Russian army had then marched for +Karak-Aty. The problem of overtaking it seemed more incapable than ever +of a satisfactory solution. But, on studying his map, he found that from +the point which he had reached it was no further to Karak-Aty than to +Tamdy, and he instantly resolved to follow up a caravan route to the +south, which promised to lead to the former. + +At noon he rode into the little valley of Yuz-Kudak, or the “Hundred +Wells.” It was completely bare of vegetation, except a little thin +grass, but was brightened by a small, narrow runlet, which led, in less +than a quarter of a mile, to the water. There, along the valley, bubbled +about twenty-five or thirty wells or springs; in some the water trickling +over the surface, in others standing at a depth of from five to ten feet. +Thence, to the next well, was a distance of twenty-five miles. The +country was sandy, but high and broken up, with a low range of mountains +on the left, extending north-east and south-west. Next day Mr. MacGahan +fell in with a Kirghiz aul, where he was hospitably entertained by a +chief named Bii Tabuk. From him he learned that Kauffmann had left +Karak-Aty and arrived at Khala-Ata, one hundred miles further to the +south, and that the shortest way to Khala-Ata lay right across the desert +in the direction of the Oxus, a little west of south. As there was no +road, nor even a sheep path, Mr. MacGahan sought for a guide, and +eventually engaged a young Kirghiz at the exorbitant fee of twenty-five +roubles. Then, having enjoyed a couple of days’ rest, he started before +sunrise on that interminable hunt after General Kauffmann, which seemed +to promise as romantic a legend as the voyage of Jason in search of the +Golden Fleece, or Sir Galahad’s famous quest of the Sangreal. + +He had not ridden far, when, as the issue of a little intrigue between +his Tartar, his old guide, Mushuf, and his new guide, the last named +suddenly refused to proceed unless, in addition to the twenty-five +roubles, he received a horse or the money to buy one. With prompt +decision MacGahan dismissed the guide, and when Ak-Mamatoff showed a +disposition to be recalcitrant, threatened him with his revolver. This +display of firmness and courage immediately produced a satisfactory +effect. Ak-Mamatoff humbled himself, and to prove the sincerity of his +penitence, rode to a neighbouring aul, and procured another and more +trustworthy guide. Afterwards they all breakfasted, and once more rode +across the sandy wastes in the direction of Khala-Ata. Sand, sand, sand, +everywhere sand. The horses struggled with difficulty through the huge +drifts, and on the second night one of them gave up, and had to be left +behind. Sand, sand, sand, everywhere sand; by day as by night, and all +so lonely and silent! For fifteen days MacGahan had bravely plodded +through the dreary, inhospitable desert—when and how would his journey +end? Still he persevered: stumbling through the low coarse brushwood, +sliding down into deep sandy hollows; again, clambering painfully up +steep ascents, where the horses panted and laboured, and strove with the +heavy inexorable sand; over the hard-bound earth, where their hoof’s rang +as on a stone pavement; late in the night, he was glad to fling himself +on the sand to snatch a brief repose. + +“We have scarcely shut our eyes,” says this intrepid, indefatigable +traveller, “when we are called by the guide to renew the march. It is +still night, but the desert is visible, dim and ghostly under the cold +pale light of the rising moon. Vegetation has entirely disappeared; +there is scarcely a twig even of the hardy saxaul. Side by side with us +move our own shadows, projected long and black over the moonlit sand, +like fearful spectres pursuing us to our doom. + +“Thin streaks of light begin to shoot up the eastern sky. The moon grows +pale, the shadows fade out, and at last the sun, red and angry, rises +above the horizon. After the sharp cold of the night its rays strike us +agreeably, suffusing a pleasant sensation of warmth over our benumbed +limbs. Then it grows uncomfortably warm, then hot, and soon we are again +suffering the pangs of heat and thirst; our eyes are again blinded by the +fiery glare, and our lungs scorched by the stifling noonday atmosphere.” + +Throughout that day the ride was continued, and even far into the night. +Early next morning the traveller reached the summit of the mountain range +behind which lies Khala-Ata. With feelings of eager expectancy and hope, +he spurred forward his horse, and with his field-glass looked down upon +the bleak bare plain which stretched far away in the direction of +Bokhara; there, at the distance of eight miles, he saw a dome-like mound, +encircled by small tents, which shone in the morning sunlight, and at +various points were grouped masses of soldiers in white uniform, and the +sheen of steel. At last, then, he had overtaken Kauffmann! + +Though weary and spent, and covered with the dust of the desert, it was +with a cheerful heart that, at about six o’clock on the morning of the +16th of May, he rode into the camp and fortress of Khala-Ata, after a +ride of five hundred miles and a chase of seventeen days. All the more +bitter was his disappointment when, on asking the young officer on duty +to direct him to the quarters of General Kauffmann, he was informed that +the general had left Khala-Ata, five days before, and by that time must +certainly have reached the Amu-Darya. The chase, then, had been +fruitless; the rider, daring and indefatigable as he had showed himself, +had missed his mark. The commandant at Khala-Ata proved to be a Colonel +Weimam, who received the special correspondent with marked discourtesy, +and refused to allow him to continue his search for General Kauffmann, +unless he first obtained that general’s permission. The sole concession +he would make was, that he would send on Mr. MacGahan’s letters of +introduction, and then, if the Russian commander-in-chief expressed a +wish to see him, he would be at liberty to go. This arrangement, +however, would evidently involve a delay of ten or twelve days. In the +mean time the army would cross the Oxus, would capture Khiva, and the +special correspondent’s “occupation” would be “gone.” Anxiously did Mr. +MacGahan meditate on the course it would be best for him to adopt. To +break through the Russian lines and effect his escape seemed +impracticable. In all probability, the swift-footed and ferocious +Turcoman cavalry were hanging in General Kauffmann’s rear; and how, +without an escort, was he to make his way through their ranks? Yet the +more he reflected, the more he became convinced that this was his only +chance of reaching the Russian army in time to witness the capture of +Khiva. The difficulties in the way, apart from the danger, were +enormous. His horses were exhausted; he had neither provisions nor +forage, nor any means of procuring them; and he might reckon on Colonel +Weimam’s despatching a squadron of Cossacks to pursue and arrest him. +Ascertaining, however, that the colonel was about to move forward with a +couple of companies of infantry, one hundred Cossacks, and two +field-pieces, he resolved on the bold plan of quitting the camp with the +cavalry, trusting to the darkness to escape detection, and afterwards +making a wide circuit to pass the detachment. Several days passed by in +wretched inaction. The heat was oppressive; clouds of dust filled the +atmosphere, and almost choked the unfortunate victims exposed to its +irritating influence; provisions were painfully scarce, and Colonel +Weimam absolutely refused to sell or give a grain of barley to the +traveller’s starving horses. At last, about one a.m. on the 14th of May, +the Russian detachment marched out of camp, and struck to the westward, +in the direction of Adam-Kurulgan and the Amu-Daria. Mr. MacGahan and +his men were on the alert. “I dropped silently,” he says, “in the rear +of the Cossacks, who led the column, followed by my people, and when we +had gained the summit of the low sand-hill, a mile from the camp, over +which the road led, I as silently dropped out again, turned my horses’ +heads to the west, and plunged into the darkness.” + +Once more he was in the open desert, once more he was free, and he could +not repress a feeling of exultation, though he was suffering from hunger, +his horses were spent with starvation, and at any moment he might fall +into the hands of the murderous Turcomans. A more daring enterprise, or +one conceived in a more resolute and intrepid spirit, is hardly recorded, +I think, in the annals of adventure. When he supposed himself at a +sufficient distance from the Russian column, he turned sharp round to the +west, and made as straight as he could for the Amu-Darya, expecting to +reach it before Colonel Weimam. But after a hard day’s ride, he found, +as he approached Adam-Kurulgan, that the Russian soldiers were before +him! There seemed no alternative but to return to Khala-ata or surrender +himself to the obnoxious and despotic Weimam. Yes; if he could get water +for his exhausted beasts he might avoid Adam-Kurulgan altogether, and +still pursue his wild ride to the Oxus! Some Kirghiz guides, on their +way to Khala-Ata, informed him that twenty miles further on was +Alty-Kuduk, or the “Six Wells;” it was not on the road to the Amu, but +some four miles to the north, and Kauffmann had left some troops there. +This news revived his drooping spirits. “Forward!” he cried, and away +through the deep sand-drifts the little company toiled and struggled. He +lost another of his horses, and the survivors were almost mad with +thirst; but his cry was still “Forward!” He himself longed for water, +with a longing unknown to those who have not travelled in the arid desert +and under the burning sun, for hours and hours, without moistening the +parched lips; but his only thought was “Forward!” On the following day +the brave man’s persistency was rewarded. He reached the camp of +Alty-Kuduk, met with a most friendly reception from all its inmates, and +obtained meat and drink for himself and his men, and barley and water for +his horses. + +A day’s rest, and he was again in the saddle (May 27th). It was soon +apparent by the dead camels that lined the road that he had got into the +trail of the Russian army, and from time to time he could recognize the +tracks of cannon. Then he came upon the bodies of Turcoman horses, +which, as he afterwards learned, had been slain in a skirmish two days +before. Towards sunset the character of the country changed: the rolling +sand dunes disappeared, and the traveller entered upon a level plain, +which sank away into a lower kind of terrace. The day drew rapidly to a +close: lower and lower down the western sky sunk the blood-red sun; at +last it dropped below the horizon, and as the sky flashed momently with +broad streaks of red and purple and golden light, the shimmer of water +became visible in the distance. It was the Oxus! + +It was long after dark when MacGahan reached the river. He refreshed his +horses with its waters, and then encamped for the night. At daylight he +ascended a hill, and looked out upon the scene. The broad, calm river, +winding north and south, sparkled before him, like a belt of silver on a +golden mantle. But where was the Russian army? Where was General +Kauffmann? + +Nowhere could he discover a trace of human habitation, of tent or +kibitka. Nowhere could he see a single picket, not even a solitary +Cossack. + +Again was MacGahan disappointed. I have read of an old superstition +which represents a cup of gold as the prize of the fortunate mortal who +shall find the exact spot where a rainbow touches the earth. And I have +read that men, believing it, have pursued the radiant iris with eager +footsteps, only to find her eluding them when most they think themselves +sure of grasping her. So was it with our special correspondent. He had +hoped to overtake the Russians at Myn-Bulak, but they had vanished; at +Khala-Ata, but he was too late; and again on the Oxus, but they had +disappeared. He was almost tempted to look upon himself as the victim of +a portentous delusion. Would there really be a Kauffmann? Was the +expedition to Khiva other than a myth? + +The tracks of cannon and the ashes of extinct campfires reassured him on +these points; and, rallying his energies, he set out once more on his +strange quest, following the course of the Oxus. That day he rode five +and forty miles. At night he encamped, but as Khivans might be prowling +in the vicinity, he resolved to keep watch. For hours he paced up and +down in the darkness, a darkness that would have been death stillness but +for the murmur of the flowing river; and at length he caught a flash of +light. To him, like the light which Columbus saw on the eve of the +discovery of the New World, it portended the end of his adventure; for it +proceeded, as he knew, from either a Khivan or a Russian bivouac. In the +morning he started early, and had ridden but a short distance, when loud +upon his ears broke the rolling thunder of artillery! Then he knew that +the army was close at hand, and engaged in desperate combat with its +Khivan enemies. + +A few miles more, and Mr. MacGahan reached a sand-hill which afforded him +an extensive view of the valley of the river. The opposite bank was +crowded with horsemen, who were galloping to and fro, while a couple of +cannon placed in front of a small pit were busily discharging missiles. +On his own side the Russians were posted in loose order, and looking +quietly on; their artillery replying to the Khivan fire with whizzing +shells. “It was a curious scene,” says our traveller; “and I suppose the +old Oxus, since the time it first broke from the ice-bound springs of +Pamir, had never heard such music as this. Five times before had the +Russians attempted to reach this very spot, and five times had they +failed. Five times had they been driven back, beaten, and demoralized, +either by the difficulties of the way, the inclemency of the season, or +the treachery of the Khivans. The one detachment which had succeeded in +capturing Khiva had afterwards been slaughtered to the last man; and now +the Russians stood at last, this bright morning, on the banks of that +historic river, with their old enemy once more before them.” The Khivans +soon retired, leaving the opposite bank entirely free. Mr. MacGahan then +started down the river to join the Russian army, and in a short time +found himself in their midst, overwhelmed with friendly attentions. News +of his gallant ride across the Kyzil-Kum had preceded him, so that he was +received as a man who had quietly done a truly heroic thing. His first +duty was to pay his respects to the object of his prolonged quest, +General Kauffmann. The general, wrapped up in a Bokharan khalat or gown, +was seated in an open tent, drinking tea and smoking a cigarette; a man +of middle age, bald, rather short of stature, beardless, but wearing a +thick moustache, prominent nose, blue eyes, and a pleasant kindly +countenance. He shook hands with MacGahan, asked him to sit down, and +remarked, with a smile, that he appeared to be something of a +“molodyeltz” (a brave fellow). After questioning him respecting his +adventures, he briefly told the story of his campaign up to that time, +and gave him full and free permission to accompany the army the rest of +the way to Khiva. By the Grand-Duke Nicholas Mr. MacGahan was received +with equal courtesy. + +The traveller now develops into the special correspondent, and his record +of travel changes into a chronicle of military events. It would be +inconsistent with our purpose to follow minutely his narrative of the +Khivan war; but we shall endeavour to select such passages as throw some +light on the nature of the country and the character of its inhabitants. + + + +II. + + +The Khivans, according to Mr. MacGahan, are generally medium-sized, lean, +muscular fellows, with long black beards, and no very agreeable +physiognomy. They dress in a white cotton shirt, and loose trousers of +the same material, over which is worn a khalat, or long tunic, cut +straight, and reaching to the heels. The Khivan khalat, with its narrow +stripes of dirty brown and yellow, differs very much indeed from the +beautiful and brilliant khalat of the Bokhariots. Most of the Khivans go +barefoot, and they cover their head with a tall, heavy, black sheepskin +cap, which is heavier, uglier, and more inconvenient than even the +bearskin of our household troops. In the neighbourhood of Khiva they +chiefly cultivate the soil, and their prowess as horticulturists deserves +to be renowned. For miles around their capital the country blooms with +well-kept gardens, where fruit trees of all kinds flourish, and little +fields of waving corn. The houses and farmyards are enclosed by stout +walls, from fifteen to twenty feet high, solidly buttressed, and flanked +by corner towers. The entrance is through an arched and covered gateway, +closing with a massive timber gate. The farmhouse, a rectangular +building, from twenty-five to seventy-five yards square, is built of +dried mud, worked into large blocks like granite, and measuring three or +four feet square and as many thick. There is always a little pond of +clear water close at hand, and this is shaded by three or four large +elms, while the enclosures are planted with elms and poplars. + +Khiva surrendered to the Russians on the 9th. Mr. MacGahan entered it in +company with the victorious troops, but confesses to experiencing a +feeling of disappointment. The grand or magnificent he had not expected; +but his dreams of this Oriental city, secluded far away in the heart of +the desert, had pictured it as impressive and picturesque, and they +proved entirely false. Through narrow, dirty, and crooked streets, he +advanced to the citadel. Entering by a heavy arched brick gateway, he +came in sight of a great porcelain tower, shining brilliantly with green, +and brown, and blue, and purple. This tower, about one hundred and +twenty-five feet high, measured about thirty feet in diameter at the +base, and tapered gradually towards the top, where its diameter was about +fifteen feet. It was covered all over with burnt tiles, arranged in a +variety of broad stripes and figures, as well as with numerous verses of +the Koran. With the Khan’s palace, it forms one side of a great square, +enclosed by the walls of the citadel; the opposite side being occupied by +a new médressé, and the other two sides by sheds and private houses. + +In the palace nothing is worthy of notice except the Khan’s audience +chamber, or great hall of state. Of this you can form a good idea if you +will tax your imagination to conceive a kind of porch, opening on an +inner court, measuring about thirty feet high, twenty feet wide, and ten +feet deep, and flanked on either side by towers ornamented with blue and +green tiles. The floor was raised six feet, and the roof supported by +two curved, slender wooden pillars. The other rooms were mostly dark and +ill ventilated. At the back of the hall of state was the Khan’s +treasury, a low vaulted chamber, the walls and ceilings of which were +covered with frescoes of vines and flowers, executed on the most +fantastic principles of colouring. The gold, silver, and precious stones +had been removed, but not so the weapons, of which there was a most +various assortment: swords, guns, daggers, pistols, revolvers, of almost +every shape and description. Two or three sabres were of English +manufacture. There were also many of the beautiful broad, slightly +curved blades of Khorassan, inlaid with gold; slender Persian scimitars, +their scabbards blazing with turquoises and emeralds; and short, thick, +curved poniards and knives from Afghanistan, all richly enamelled, and +their sheaths set in precious stones. In the hurry of the Khan’s +departure, beautiful carpets had also been left behind, silk coverlets, +cushions, pillows, khalats, and rich and rare Kashmir shawls. + +In another apartment were found about three hundred volumes of books, +some old telescopes, bows and arrows, and several fine suits of armour, +which doubtlessly belonged to the era of the Crusades, when the chivalry +of Europe encountered the Saracens on the plains of Syria and Palestine. + +In the course of his wanderings Mr. MacGahan lighted upon the Khan’s +harem, where his favourite Sultana and some other women still remained. +As he was an American—or, rather, because they supposed him to be an +Englishman—the ladies gave him a cordial reception, and entertained him +to tea. They were eight in number: three were old and exceedingly ugly; +three middle-aged or young, and moderately good looking; one was +decidedly pretty; and the other whom Mr. MacGahan speaks of as the +Sultana, was specially distinguished by her superior intelligence, her +exquisite grace of movement, and her air of distinction. She wore a +short jacket of green silk, embroidered with gold thread; a long chemise +of red silk, fastened on the throat with an emerald, slightly open at the +bosom, and reaching below the knees; wide trousers, fastened at the +ankles; and embroidered boots. She had no turban, and her hair was +curled around her well-shaped head in thick and glossy braids. Curious +earrings, composed of many little pendants of pearls and turquoises, +glanced from her ears, and round her wrists gleamed bracelets of solid +silver, traced with gold. + +The chamber in which these ladies sat was ten feet wide, twenty long, and +twelve high. Parts of the ceiling were embellished with coloured +designs, rude in conception and execution. Against one side of the room +were placed elegant shelves, supporting a choice assortment of the finest +Chinese porcelain. The floor was strewn with carpets, cushions, +coverlets, shawls, robes, and khalats, all in admired disorder, together +with household utensils, arms, an English double-barrelled hunting rifle, +empty cartridges, percussion caps, and—strange contrast!—two or three +guitars. It was evident that preparations for flight had been begun, and +the principal valuables already removed. + +The Khan soon found that nothing was to be gained by flight, and as the +Russians were disposed to treat him leniently, he decided on returning to +Khiva, and surrendering to the great Yarim-Padshah, the victorious +Kauffmann. Mr. MacGahan, who was present at the interview, describes the +Asiatic potentate, Muhamed Rahim Bogadur Khan, as at that time a man of +about thirty years of age, with a not unpleasing expression of +countenance; large fine eyes, slightly oblique, aquiline nose, heavy +sensual mouth, and thin black beard and moustache. He was about six feet +three inches high, with broad shoulders and a robust figure. “Humbly he +sat before Kauffmann, scarcely daring to look him in the face. Finding +himself at the feet of the Governor of Turkistan, his feelings must not +have been of the most reassuring nature. The two men formed a curious +contrast; Kauffmann was not more than half as large as the Khan, and a +smile, in which there was apparent a great deal of satisfaction, played +on his features, as he beheld Russia’s historic enemy at his feet. I +thought there never was a more striking example of the superiority of +mind over brute force, of modern over ancient modes of warfare, than was +presented in the two men. In the days of chivalry, this Khan, with his +giant form and stalwart arms, might have been almost a demi-god; he could +have put to flight a regiment single-handed, he would probably have been +a very Cœur de Lion; and now the meanest soldier in Kauffmann’s army was +more than a match for him.” + +The capital of this Asiatic potentate is, as I have hinted, deficient in +remarkable characteristics. With three or four exceptions, the buildings +are all of clay, and present a miserable appearance. There are two +walls—an outer and an inner; the interior enclosing the citadel, which +measures a mile in length by a quarter of a mile in breadth, and in its +turn encloses the Khan’s palace and the great porcelain tower. The outer +wall is on an average twenty-five feet high, and it is strengthened by a +broad ditch or moat. There are seven gates. The area between the walls +is at one point converted into a kind of cemetery; at another it is +planted out in gardens, which are shaded by elms and fruit trees, and +watered by little canals. Of the houses it is to be said that the +interior is far more comfortable than the wretched exterior would lead +the traveller to anticipate. Most of them are constructed on the same +plan. You pass from the street into a large open court, all around which +are arranged the different apartments, each opening into the court, and +seldom having any direct communication with each other. Facing the north +stands a high porch, with its roof some seven or eight feet above the +surrounding walls; this serves to catch the wind, and bring it down into +the court below on the principle of a wind-sail aboard ship. The free +circulation of air thus maintained is, undoubtedly, very pleasant in the +summer heat, but in a Khivan winter it must have its disadvantages. + +With twenty-two médressés, or monasteries, and seventeen mosques, is +Khiva endowed. Of the latter, the most beautiful and the most highly +esteemed is the mosque Palvan-Ata, which raises its tall dome to a height +of sixty feet, shining with tiles of glaring green. The interior of the +dome is very striking: it is covered, like the exterior, with tiles, but +these are adorned with a beautiful blue tracery, interwoven with verses +from the Koran. In a niche in the wall, protected by a copper +lattice-work, are the tombs of the Khans; and Palvan, the patron-saint of +the Khivans, is also buried there. + +From the mosques we pass to the bazár, which is simply a street covered +in, like the arcades so popular in some English towns. The roof consists +of beams laid from wall to wall across the narrow thoroughfare, +supporting planks laid close together, and covered with earth. On +entering, you are greeted by a pleasant compound scent of spices, by all +kinds of agreeable odours, and by the confused sounds of men and animals. +As soon as your eyes grow accustomed to the shade, they rest with delight +on the rich ripe fruit spread everywhere around you in tempting masses. +Khiva would seem to be the paradise of fruit epicures. There are +apricots, and grapes, and plums, and peaches, and melons of the finest +quality and indescribable lusciousness. But if you want more solid fare, +you can enjoy a pilaoff with hot wheaten cakes, and wash down the repast +with stimulating green tea. After which, refreshed and thankful, you may +sally forth to make your purchases of boots or tobacco or khalats, cotton +stuffs or silk stuffs, calico from Manchester, muslin from Glasgow, robes +from Bokhara, or Russian sugar. This done, you are at leisure to survey +for a while the motley crowd that surges to and fro. The Uzbeg, with his +high black sheepskin hat and long khalat, tall, well-formed, swarthy, +with straight nose and regular features; the Kirghiz, in coarse +dirty-brown khalat, with broad, flat, stolid countenance; the Bokhariot +merchant, with turban of white and robe of many colours; the Persian, +with quick, ferret-like eyes, and nimble, cat-like motions; and the Yomud +Turcoman, with almost black complexion, heavy brows, fierce black eyes, +short upturned nose, and thick lips. These pass before you like figures +in a phantasmagoria. + +Weary with the noise and shifting sights, you gladly accept an invitation +to dine with a wealthy Uzbeg, and accompany him to his residence. The +day is very warm; in a cloudless sky reigns supreme the sun; and you +rejoice when you find that your host has ordered the banquet to be spread +in the pleasant garden, amid the shade of green elms and the sparkle of +running waters. Your first duty is to remove your heavy riding-boots, +and put on the slippers which an attendant hands to you; your second is +to make a Russian cigarette, and drink a glass of nalivka, or Russian +gooseberry wine, as a preparation for the serious work that awaits you. +Then a cloth is spread, and the dinner served. Fruits, of +course—apricots, melons, and the most delicious white mulberries; next, +three or four kinds of dainty sweetmeats, which seem to consist of the +kernels of different nuts embedded in a kind of many-coloured toffee. +Into a frothy compound, not unlike ice-cream with the ice left out, you +dip your thin wheaten cakes, instead of spoons. Various kinds of nuts, +and another glass of nalivka, precede the principal dish, which is an +appetizing pilaoff, made of large quantities of rice and succulent pieces +of mutton, roasted together. + +The dinner at an end, large pipes are brought in. Each consists of a +gourd, about a foot high, filled with water; on the top, communicating +with the water through a tube, rests a bowl, containing the fire and +tobacco. Near the top, on either side, and just above the water, is a +hole; but there is no stem. The mode of using it is this: you take up +the whole vessel in your hand, and then blow through one of the holes to +expel the smoke. Next, stopping up one hole with your finger, you put +your mouth to the other, and inhale the smoke into your lungs. You will +probably be satisfied with three or four whiffs on this gigantic scale. + +Mr. MacGahan had an opportunity of seeing the interior of an Uzbeg house, +and he thus describes it:— + +“There is little attempt at luxury or taste in the house of even the +richest; and in this respect the poorest seems almost on an equality with +the most opulent. A few carpets on the floor; a few rugs and cushions +round the wall, with shelves for earthenware and China porcelain; three +or four heavy, gloomy books, bound in leather or parchment; and some pots +of jam and preserved fruit, generally make up the contents of the room. +There are usually two or three apartments in the house different from the +others, in having arrangements for obtaining plenty of light. In these +rooms you find the upper half of one of the walls completely wanting, +with the overhanging branches of an elm projecting through the opening. +The effect is peculiar and striking, as well as pleasant. From the midst +of this room—with mud walls and uneven floor, with the humblest household +utensils, and perhaps a smoking fire—you get glimpses of the blue sky +through the green leaves of the elm tree. A slightly projecting roof +protects the room from rain; in cold weather, of course, it is abandoned. +Two or three other rooms are devoted to the silkworms, the feeding and +care of which form the special occupation of the women. The worms +naturally receive a great deal of attention, for their cocoons pay a +great part of the household expenses.” + +But let us suppose that an Uzbeg host closes up the entertainment he has +provided for us with a dance. + +The dancers are two young boys—one about eight, the other about ten years +of age—with bare feet, a little conical skull-cap on their shaven heads, +and a long loose khalat drooping to their ankles. The orchestra is +represented by a ragged-looking musician, who sings a monotonous tune to +the accompaniment of a three-stringed guitar. The boys begin to dance; +at first with slow and leisurely movements, swaying their bodies +gracefully, and clapping their hands over their heads to keep time to the +music. But as this grows livelier, the boys gradually become more +excited; striking their hands wildly, uttering short occasional shouts, +turning somersaults, wrestling with each other, and rolling upon the +ground. + +Towards nightfall, torches will be brought on the scene; some being +thrust into the ground, and others fastened to the trunks and branches of +trees. The comelier of the juvenile dancers now attired himself as a +girl, with tinkling bells to his wrists and feet, and a prettily +elaborate cap, also decked with bells, as well as with silver ornaments, +and a long pendent veil behind. He proceeds to execute a quiet and +restrained dance by himself, lasting, perchance, for about a quarter of +an hour; and the other boy coming forward, the two dance together, and +enact a love-scene in a really eloquent pantomime. The girl pretends to +be angered, turns her back, and makes a pretence of jealousy, while the +lover dances lightly around her, and endeavours to restore her to +amiability by caresses and all kinds of devices. When all his efforts +fail, he sulks in his turn, and shows himself offended. Thereupon the +lady begins to relent, and to practise every conciliatory art. After a +brief affectation of persistent ill humour, the lover yields, and both +accomplish a merry and animated measure with every sign of happiness. + +When the Russians left Khiva in the month of August, Mr. MacGahan’s +mission was ended. He had been present with them at the fall of Khiva, +and in the campaign which they afterwards undertook—it would seem, with +little or no justification—against the Yomud Turcomans. On the return +march he accompanied the detachment in charge of the sick and wounded, +descending the Oxus to its mouth, and then proceeding up the Aral Sea to +the mouth of the Syr-Daria. The voyage on the Aral occupied two days and +a night. Having entered the Syr-Daria, thirty-six hours’ sailing brought +the flotilla to Kasala—the point from which, as we have seen, Mr. +MacGahan had started, some months before, on his daring ride through the +desert. After a sojourn of three days, he started in a tarantass for +Orenburg. + +It will be owned, I think, that Mr. MacGahan’s enterprise was boldly +conceived and boldly executed; that he displayed, not only a firm and +manly courage, but a persistent resolution which may almost be called +heroic. He showed himself possessed, however, of even higher qualities; +of a keen insight into character, a quick faculty of observation, and a +humane and generous spirit. + + + + + + COLONEL EGERTON WARBURTON, + AND EXPLORATION IN WEST AUSTRALIA. + + +THE north-west of the “island-continent” of Australia seems to have been +discovered almost simultaneously by the Dutch and Spaniards about 1606. +Twenty years later, its west coast was sighted; and in 1622 the long line +of shore to the south-west. Tasmania, or, as it was first called, Van +Diemen’s Land, was visited by the Dutch navigator Tasman in 1642. Half a +century passed, and Swan River was discovered by Vlaming. The real work +of exploration did not begin, however, until 1770, when Captain Cook +patiently surveyed the east coast, to which he gave the name of New South +Wales. In 1798, in a small boat about eight feet long, Mr. Bass, a +surgeon in the navy, discovered the strait that separates Tasmania from +Australia, and now perpetuates his memory. He and Lieutenant Flinders +afterwards circumnavigated Tasmania; and Flinders, in 1802 and 1803, +closely examined the south coast, substituting, as a general designation +of this “fifth quarter of the world,” Australia for the old boastful +Dutch name of New Holland. He also explored the great basin of Port +Philip, and discovered the noble inlets of St. Vincent and Spencer Gulfs. +In 1788 the British Government selected Botany Bay, on the east coast, as +a place of transportation for criminals; and from this inauspicious +beginning sprang the great system of colonization, which, developed by +large and continual emigration from the mother country, has covered +Australia with flourishing States. Tasmania became a separate colony in +1825; West Australia, originally called Swan River, in 1829; South +Australia in 1834; Victoria in 1851; Queensland in 1859. Meanwhile, the +exploration of the interior was undertaken by a succession of bold and +adventurous spirits, starting at first from New South Wales. The barrier +of the Blue Mountains was broken through, and rivers Macquarie, Darling, +and Lachlan were in time discovered. In 1823 Mr. Oxley surveyed the +Moreton Bay district, now Queensland, and traced the course of the +Brisbane. In 1830 Captain Sturt explored the Murray, the principal +Australian river, to its confluence with Lake Victoria. In 1840 Mr. +Eyre, starting from Adelaide, succeeded, after enduring severe +privations, in making his way overland to King George’s Sound. In the +following year he plunged into the interior, which he believed to be +occupied by a great central sea; he found only the swamp and saline bays +of Lake Torrens. Captain Sturt, in 1845, penetrated almost to the +southern tropic in longitude 130° E., traversing a barren region as +waterless and as inhospitable as the Sahara. About the same time Dr. +Ludwig Leichhardt, with some companions, successfully passed from Moreton +Bay to Port Errington; but, in 1848, attempting to cross from east to +west, from New South Wales to the Swan River, he and his party perished, +either from want of provisions or in a skirmish with the natives. In the +same year Mr. Kennedy, who had undertaken to survey the north-east +extremity of Australia, was murdered by the natives. Thus Australian +exploration has had its martyrs, like African. In 1860 Mr. M’Douall +Stuart crossed the continent from ocean to ocean, or, more strictly +speaking, from South Australia to a point in lat. 18° 40′ S., about two +hundred and fifty miles from the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The +hostility of the natives prevented him from actually reaching the coast. +In August, 1860, a similar expedition was projected by some gentlemen +belonging to the colony of Victoria; and, under the command of Robert +O’Hara Burke, it started from Melbourne for Cooper’s Creek, whence it was +to proceed to the northern coast. Some of the members, namely, Burke, +Mr. Wills, the scientific assistant, and King and Gray, two subordinates, +succeeded in reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria; but on their return route +they suffered from want of provisions, and all perished except King. In +1862 Mr. M’Douall Stuart renewed his bold project of crossing the +continent, and starting from Adelaide, arrived in Van Diemen’s Bay, on +the shore of the Indian Ocean, July 25th. Numerous other names might be +added to this list; but we shall here concern ourselves only with that of +Colonel Egerton Warburton, as one of the most eminent and successful of +Australian explorers. + + * * * * * + +Peter Egerton Warburton was born in August, 1813. After passing through +the usual examination in the East India Company’s college at Addiscombe, +he entered the Bombay army in 1834, and served in India until 1853, +passing the greater part of the time in the Adjutant-General’s +Department, and rising through each grade until he attained his majority, +and was appointed Deputy Adjutant-General at head-quarters. But, +attracted by the prospects opened up to colonists in New Zealand, he +resigned the service, intending to proceed thither with his wife and +family. Eventually, circumstances led to his preferring South Australia +as a field for his energies; and soon after his arrival at Adelaide he +was selected to command the police force of the whole colony—an onerous +post, which he held with distinction for thirteen years. He was +afterwards made commandant of the volunteer forces of the colony of South +Australia. In August, 1872, the South Australian Government resolved on +despatching an expedition to explore the interior between Central Mount +Stuart and the town of Perth, in West Australia, and chose Colonel +Warburton as its leader. Afterwards, the Government drew back, and the +cost of the expedition was eventually undertaken by two leading +colonists, Messrs. Elder and Hughes, who authorized Colonel Warburton to +organize such a party and prepare such an outfit as he considered +necessary, and provided him with camels and horses. It was arranged that +the party should muster at Beltana Station, the head-quarters of the +camels; thence proceed to the Peake, lat. 28° S., one of the +head-quarters of the inland telegraph; and, after a détour westward, make +for Central Mount Stuart, where they would receive a reinforcement of +camels, and, thus strengthened, would be able to cross the country +unknown to Perth, the capital of Western Australia. + + * * * * * + +With his son Richard as second in command, Colonel Warburton left +Adelaide on the 21st of September, 1872; reached Beltana Station on the +26th; and on the 21st of December arrived at Alice Springs (1120 miles +from Adelaide), the starting-point of his journey westward. The party +consisted of himself, his son, T. W. Lewis, two Afghan camel-drivers, +Sahleh and Halleem, Denis White (cook and assistant camel-man), and +Charley, a native lad. There were four riding and twelve baggage camels, +besides one spare camel; the horses being left at Alice Springs. All +needful preparations having been completed, the explorers quitted the +station on the 15th of April, 1873, and turned their faces westward. + +For the first five days not a drop of water was seen, and on the fifth, +of the supply carried with them only one quart was left, which it was +necessary to reserve for emergencies. When they encamped for the night, +no fire was lighted, as without water they could not cook. Next day, the +20th, Lewis and the two Afghans were sent, with four camels, to refill +the casks and water-bags at Hamilton Springs, about twenty-five miles +distant. Meanwhile, a shower of rain descended; all the tarpaulins were +quickly spread, and two or three buckets of water collected. What a +change! All was now activity, cheerfulness, heartfelt thanksgiving. A +cake and a pot of tea were soon in everybody’s hands, and in due time +Lewis returned with a full supply of water, to increase and partake in +the general satisfaction. + +Keeping still in a general westerly direction, they crossed extensive +grassy plains, relieved occasionally by “scrub” or bushes, and coming +here and there upon a spring or well. “The country to-day,” writes +Warburton, on one occasion, “has been beautiful, with parklike scenery +and splendid grass.” In the “creeks,” as the water-courses are termed in +Australia, they sometimes found a little water; more often, they were +quite dry. “This is certainly,” he writes, “a beautiful creek to look +at. It must at times carry down an immense body of water, but there is +none now on its surface, nor did its bed show spots favourable for +retaining pools when the floods subsided.” On the 9th of January they +struck some glens of a picturesque character. At the entrance of the +first a huge column of basalt had been hurled from a height of three +hundred feet, and having fixed itself perpendicularly in the ground, +stood like a sentry, keeping guard over a fair bright pool, which +occupied the whole width of the glen’s mouth—a pool about fifteen feet +wide, fifty feet long, and enclosed by lofty and precipitous basaltic +cliffs. At the entrance, the view does not extend beyond thirty yards; +but, on accomplishing that distance, you find that the glen strikes off +at a right angle, and embosoms another pool of deep clear water, circular +in shape, and so roofed over by a single huge slab of basalt that the +sun’s rays can never reach it. There is a second glen, less grand, less +rugged than the former, but more picturesque. At the head of it bubble +and sparkle many springs and much running water. + +The surrounding country was clothed with porcupine-grass (spinifex)—a +sharp thorny kind of herbage, growing in tussocks of from eighteen inches +to five feet in diameter. When quite young, its shoots are green; but as +they mature they assume a yellow colour, and instead of brightening, +deepen the desolate aspect of the wilderness. “It is quite uneatable +even for camels, who are compelled to thread their way painfully through +its mazes, never planting a foot on the stools, if they can possibly +avoid it. To horses on more than one occasion it has proved most +destructive, piercing and cutting their legs, which in a very short time +become fly-blown, when the animals have either to be destroyed or +abandoned. The spiny shoots are of all heights, from the little spike +that wounds the fetlock to the longer blade that penetrates the hock. It +is one of the most cheerless objects that an explorer can meet, and it is +perhaps unnecessary to say that the country it loves to dwell in is +utterly useless for pastoral purposes.” + +Coming to a range of granite, steep, bare, and smooth, Colonel Warburton +clambered up its face on hands and knees, to find there a fine hole or +basin in the rock, perfectly round and nearly full of water. This hole +was, of course, the work of nature, and, strange to say, was on the point +of a smooth projecting part of the rock, where it would have seemed +impossible that any water could lodge. How it was wrought in such a +place one cannot imagine, but the position was so prominent as to be +visible from the plain at a considerable distance. + +Another day the travellers fell in with a bees’ hive;—unfortunately, it +was empty. The Australian bee is stingless, and very little larger than +our common house-fly, but its honey is remarkably sweet. The nest, or +“sugar-bag,” as the bushmen call it, is generally made in a hollow tree. +They also saw some specimens of the crested dove—one of the loveliest of +the Australian pigeons. In truth, it is hardly surpassed anywhere in +chasteness of colouring and elegance of form, while its graceful crest +greatly enhances the charm of its appearance. It frequently assembles in +very large flocks, which, on visiting the lagoons or river banks for +water, during the dry seasons, generally congregate on a single tree or +even branch, perching side by side, and afterwards descending in a body +to drink; so closely are they massed together while thus engaged, that +dozens may be killed by a single discharge of a gun. Their flight is +singularly swift; with a few quick flaps of the wings they gain the +necessary impetus, and then sail forward without any apparent exertion. + +The diamond-sparrow, or spotted pardalote, was also seen. This bird +inhabits the whole of the southern parts of the Australian continent, +from the western to the eastern border, and is very common in Tasmania. +It is nearly always engaged in searching for insects among the foliage +both of the tallest trees and the lowest shrubs, in the garden and +orchard as in the open forest; and it displays in all its movements a +remarkable activity, clinging about in every variety of position, both +above and beneath the leaves, with equal facility. Its mode of +nest-building differs from that of every other member of the genus to +which it belongs. It first excavates, in some neighbouring bank, a hole +just large enough to admit of the passage of its body, in a nearly +horizontal direction, to the depth of two or three feet; at the end of +this burrow or gallery, it forms a chamber; and in this chamber it +deposits its nest, which is beautifully woven of strips of the inner bark +of the Eucalypti, and lined with finer strips of the same or similar +materials. In shape it is spherical, about four inches in diameter, with +a lateral hole for an entrance. To prevent the ingress of rain the +chamber is raised somewhat higher than the mouth of the hole. Mr. Gould, +the Australian naturalist, speaks of these nests as very difficult to +detect; they can be found, he says, only by watching for the ingress or +egress of the parent birds, as the entrance is generally concealed by +herbage or the overhanging roots of a tree. Why so neat a structure as +the diamond-sparrow’s nest should be constructed at the end of a gallery +or tunnel, into which no light can possibly enter, is beyond +comprehension; it is one of those wonderful results of instinct so often +brought before us in the economy of the animal kingdom, without our being +able to explain them. The diamond-sparrow rears two broods, of four or +five each, in the course of the year. Its song or call is a rather +harsh, piping note of two syllables, frequently repeated. + +The great difficulty which besets the Australian explorer is the want of +water. He travels day after day across open grassy plains, relieved by +few variations of surface, except the sand ridges, to meet with neither +spring nor watercourse. Sometimes he comes upon the native wells, but +these, very frequently, are dry or almost dry; he digs well after well +himself, but no water rises. Colonel Warburton’s party suffered severely +from this deficiency. They met with much trouble, moreover, through the +straying of their camels. Thus, one evening, “Charley,” who acted as +camel-herd, reported that they had run away southward. He traced their +tracks for several miles, and observed that one camel had broken its +hobbles. {302} Halleem, the Afghan camel-driver, then mounted the +Colonel’s riding camel, “Hosee,” and started in search of them at five +o’clock on a Sunday evening. He was to push on for five or six miles, +then camp for the night, and at dawn follow up the tracks vigorously, so +as to overtake the truants, and return by mid-day. + +Monday came, but Halleem and the camels came not with it. Sahleh, who +had been exploring in the vicinity of the camp with a gun, returned in +the evening with the startling information that he had seen Hosee’s +_return_ track, coming near the camp, and then striking off in a +north-easterly direction. Colonel Warburton now also learned for the +first time that Halleem was occasionally subject to fits, and that while +they lasted he knew not what he was doing or where he was going. It was +evident that such a man ought not to have been trusted alone, and it +became a question whether Halleem had lost his camel or his wits; the +latter seemed more probable, as Hosee, if he had come near the other +camels, would certainly have joined them. + +Next day, Monday, July 22nd, the Colonel writes:—“I sent my son and +Charley with a week’s provisions on our back tracks, to try for Halleem +first; but, in the event of not finding his _foot_ tracks, to continue +on, and endeavour to recover the camels. Lewis also went in the other +direction, to run up Hosee’s tracks; so that I hoped that by one or other +of these means I should learn what had become of Halleem. Unfortunately, +Lewis, supposing he had only a few hours’ work, took neither food nor +water. Now, 6 p.m., it is beginning to rain, and Lewis has not returned. +I know he will stick to the tracks as long as he can, but I wish he were +back; if Halleem be demented, he may urge the camel on sixty or seventy +miles without stopping, and thus get a start in his mad career that will +make it impossible for Lewis to help him. + +“23rd. It has rained lightly all night. Lewis is still absent; I am +greatly grieved at his having nothing to eat. + +“1 p.m. Lewis returned; he had camped with Richard, and so was all +right. + +“It appears from his report that Sahleh, whilst out ‘birding,’ must have +stumbled upon a mare’s nest, for Lewis soon abandoned the track he +started on, and turned after Richard to find Halleem’s first camp. They +did not find this, but they fell on his tracks of next day, steadily +following the runaway camels; it is clear, therefore, that Sahleh has +done his countryman some injustice, and caused much unnecessary alarm. . . . +Richard returned, having seen Halleem, and promised to take out +provisions to meet him on his return. + +“26th. Sahleh shot an emu (_Dromaius Novoe Hollandicæ_), a welcome +addition to our larder. Every scrap of this bird was eaten up, except +the feathers. The liver is a great delicacy, and the flesh by no means +unpalatable. + +“27th and 28th. Sent provisions to Ethel Creek for Halleem. + +“29th. The camel-hunters returned in the evening, but without the +camels. This is a double loss; the camels are gone, and so is our time; +our means of locomotion are much reduced, whilst the necessity of getting +on is greatly increased. Halleem has, however, done all he could do; he +followed the camels nearly one hundred miles, but as they travelled night +and day, whilst he could only track them by day, he never could have +overtaken them. No doubt these animals will go back to Beltana, where +alarm will be created as soon as they are recognized as belonging to our +party.” + + * * * * * + +Such is the Colonel’s simple, unaffected account of what was really an +annoying and perplexing incident. + +At this date (July 29th) the explorers had accomplished seventeen hundred +miles. The country continued to present the same general features—plains +yellow with porcupine-grass, alternating with low hills of sand; but as +they advanced, the sand-hills became more numerous, and among them lay +numerous half-dry salt lagoons of a particularly cheerless aspect. Dense +spinifex—high, steep sand-ridges, with timber in the flats, and nothing +for the camels to eat but low scrubby bushes;—that horses should cross +such a region is obviously impossible. The want of water again became +urgent. From the burnt ground clouds of dust and sand were thrown up by +the wind, almost choking the travellers, and intensifying their thirst. +They were temporarily relieved by coming upon a native well. But the +country still wore the same cheerless aspect of inhospitality; the +desolate arid plain extended in every region—a desert of sand, which +wearied the travellers by its monotony. Even when they arrived at the +so-called basaltic hills, there was no water, no sign of green and +pleasant vegetation. It was quite an excitement when, for the first +time, they descried some flock-pigeons. The birds were very wild, and +they could kill only three or four, but they were excellent eating, and +made quite a dainty dish. Soon after this cheerful episode, Lewis, who +had been sent on a short excursion south in quest of water, returned with +intelligence of an Eden oasis which he had discovered in the wilderness. +A beautiful clump of large gum trees flourished at the bottom of a small +creek, which was hemmed in by a high sand-hill, and afterwards broke +through a rocky ridge sprinkled with fine, clear, deep water-holes, one +hundred feet in circumference. The rich green foliage of the gum trees +contrasted vividly with the red sand-hills on either side, and the bare +rocky barrier in front. To this delightful spot of greenery, bustard, +bronze-wing pigeons, owls, and other birds resorted. + +Colonel Warburton, however, was averse to retrace his steps, even to +enjoy a halt in such an “earthly paradise;” and, pushing forward, was +rewarded for his persistency by discovering a fine large lake of fresh +water, haunted by ducks, flock-pigeons, and parrots. He halted on its +borders for a couple of days. + +Of the bronze-wing pigeon, to which allusion has just been made, it may +be affirmed that it prevails in every part of Australia. In some +individuals the forehead is brown, in others buff white; the crown of the +head and occiput, dark brown, shading into plum colour; sides of the +neck, grey; upper surface of the body, brown, each feather edged with +tawny brown; wings, brown, with an oblong spot of lustrous bronze on the +coverts; the tail feathers, deep grey, with a black band near the tip, +except the two central, which are brown; under surface of the wing, +ferruginous; breast, deep wine-colour, passing into grey on the under +parts; bill, blackish grey; legs and feet, carmine red. It is a plump, +heavy bird, and, when in good condition, weighs nearly a pound. Its +favourite haunts are the dry hot plains, among the bushes or “scrub.” +Its speed is very surprising; in an incredibly short time it traverses a +great expanse of country. Before sunrise it may be seen in full flight +across the plain, directing its course towards the creeks, where it +quenches its thirst. The traveller who knows its habits can, by +observing it, determine, even in the most arid places, whether water is +near at hand; if he descry it wending its way from all quarters towards a +given point, he may rest assured that there he will obtain the welcome +draught he seeks. Mr. Gould says that it feeds entirely upon the ground, +where it finds the varieties of leguminous seeds that constitute its +food. It breeds during August and the four following months, that is, in +the Australian spring and summer, and often rears two or more broods. +Its nest is a frail structure of small twigs, rather hollow in form; and +is generally placed on the horizontal branch of an apple or gum tree, +near the ground. On one occasion, Mr. Gould, during a long drought, was +encamped at the northern extremity of the Brezi range, where he had daily +opportunities of observing the arrival of the bronze-wing to drink. The +only water for miles around lay in the vicinity of his tent, though that +was merely the scanty supply left in a few small rocky basins by the +rains of many months before. Hence, he enjoyed an excellent opportunity +for observing not only the bronze-wing, but all the other birds of the +neighbourhood. Few, if any, of the true insectivorous or fissirostral +birds came to the water-holes; but, on the other hand, the species that +live upon grain and seeds, particularly the parrots and honey-eaters +(_Trichoglossi_ and _Meliphagi_), rushed down incessantly to the margins +of the pools, heedless of the naturalist’s presence, their sense of peril +vanquished temporarily by their sense of thirst. The bronze-wing, +however, seldom appeared during the heat of the day; it was at sunset +that, with the swiftness of an arrow, it rushed towards the +watering-place. It did not descend at once, says Mr. Gould, to the brink +of the pool, but dashed down upon the ground at about ten yards’ +distance, remained quiet for a while until satisfied of its safety, and +then leisurely walked to the water. After deep and frequent draughts, it +retired, winging its way towards its secluded nest. + +Just before reaching the lake, the Colonel’s party made a capture, a +young native woman; and they detained her in order that she might guide +them to the native wells. On the 1st of September, however, she effected +her escape by gnawing through a thick hair-rope, with which she had been +fastened to a tree. + +Spinifex and sand resumed their predominance as the travellers left the +lake behind them. The heat was very great, and crossing the hot sand and +the steep hills was trying work. On the 12th, they rejoiced in the +discovery of some excellent wells. Then again came spinifex and +sand-hills. These troublesome ridges varied considerably in height and +in distance from one another; but their elevation seldom exceeded eighty +feet, and the space between them was not often more than three hundred +yards. They lay parallel to one another, running from east to west; so +that while going either eastward or westward the travellers could keep in +the intervening hollows, and travel with comparative facility, but when +compelled to cross them at a great angle, the feet of the camels ploughed +deep in the sand, and the strain upon the poor animals was terrible. Yet +the Australian waste is, after all, less wearisome than the sandy deserts +of Nubia or the great Sahara; it is sadly deficient in water, but the +sand-hills disguise their inhospitality with many varieties of shrubs and +flowers, as well as with acacias and gum trees. The shrubs are not +edible, and the trees are of no value as timber, but they serve to hide +the nakedness of the land. + +A grave danger beset them on the 15th. Their master bull (or male) camel +had eaten poison, and fell ill; he was of immense value to the +travellers, not only on account of his great strength, but because +without his help it would be almost impossible to keep the young bulls in +order, and they might elope with all the ewe (or female) camels. They +administered to him a bottle of mustard in a quart of water—the only +available medicine—but without any beneficial effect. In every herd of +camels, it is necessary to explain, is found a master bull, who, by his +strength, preserves order among his young brethren. These gay cavaliers +are always desirous of a harem to themselves; and, if allowed an +opportunity, would cut off three or four cows from the herd, and at full +speed drive them for hundreds of miles. They are quiet only while under +subjection to the master bull, and become intractable if, through illness +or accident, his supremacy should be relaxed. Colonel Warburton was +surprised at the marvellous instinct of the young bulls in his little +camel harem; they knew that their master was ailing almost before the +camel-men did, and at once showed signs of insubordination, so that it +was necessary to watch them by night and to knee-halter them. + +The old camel did not improve, and on the 16th the Colonel was compelled +to abandon him. Three misfortunes followed: on the 17th two riding +camels were taken ill, having been struck in the loins by the night wind; +and on the 18th the same fate befell Richard Warburton’s riding camel. +Thus, in three days the travellers lost four camels. They endeavoured to +make some profit out of the misadventure by “curing” a quantity of +camel-meat. The inner portions of the animal were first eaten—not the +liver and other dainty parts only, but the whole; every single scrap was +carefully consumed, not a shred was wasted. Then, head, feet, hide, +tail, all went into the boiling pot. Even the very bones were stewed +down, for soup first, and afterwards for the sake of the marrow they +contained. The flesh was cut into thin flat strips, and hung upon the +bushes for three days to be dried by the sun. The tough thick hide was +cut up and parboiled, the coarse hair scraped off with a knife, and the +leathery substance replaced in the pot and stewed until, both as to +flavour and savour, it bore a disagreeable resemblance to the inside of a +carpenter’s glue-pot. As may be supposed, such a dish as this was not so +nutritious as the roast beef (or mutton) of Old England; but it stifled +for a while the cry of an empty stomach. The attack next fell upon the +head, which was speedily reduced to a polished skull. As for the foot, +like cow-heel or sheep’s trotters, it was looked upon as a delicacy, and +its preparation was a marvel of culinary skill. First, a good fire was +lighted, and allowed to burn down to bright red embers, while the foot, +severed at the hock, was scraped and singed as thoroughly as time +permitted. The foot was thrust into the glowing coals, burnt for some +considerable time, removed, placed on its side on the ground, and +deprived of its tough horny sole. After this elaborate series of +operations, the reader will doubtless suppose that the delicacy is fit +for the table. Not a bit of it! It must be placed in a bucket of water, +and kept steadily boiling for six and thirty hours; then, and then only, +may it be served up. On the whole, we should not consider it a dish for +a hungry man. + +The 21st of September was the anniversary of their departure from +Adelaide. Two of the party went out on camels to search for water, and +two, in a different direction, on foot. As they had only two riding +camels left, and these in a weak condition, they threw away their tents, +and most of their private property, retaining only their guns and +ammunition, and clothing enough for decency. Happily, one of the +reconnoitring parties found a well, to which the travellers at once +proceeded, and watered the thirsty, weary camels. + +After a three days’ halt they resumed their advance, but moved very +slowly. They were sick and feeble, and the country was difficult to +traverse. Another camel had to be abandoned; so that out of seventeen +animals, only eight remained. A plague of insects was added to their +troubles. Not only did clouds of common flies buzz and worry around +them, and legions of ants assail them, but the Australian bee, or +honey-fly, tormented them by its pertinacious adhesion to their +persons—an unwelcome adhesion, as it is famed for its intolerable smell. +To get water they were again compelled to wander from the direct route, +and at one time they descended as far south as lat. 20° 2′. Hence they +began to suffer from want of provisions, and a grim alternative faced +them: if they pressed forward, they ran the chance of losing their camels +and dying of thirst; if they halted, they could hope only to prolong +their lives on sun-dried camel flesh. + +On the 3rd of October their condition was critical. The improvident +Afghans, having consumed all their flour and meat, had to be supplied +from the scanty rations of the white men, and Colonel Warburton resolved +that if water were but once more found, so that he might not be compelled +to retrace his steps, he would at all risks push forward to the river +Oakover. Another riding camel broke down, and was killed for meat. A +well was discovered, but the supply of water was so small that only one +bucketful could be obtained in three hours, and on the second day it ran +dry. On the 8th, having slightly recruited their animals, the undaunted +travellers again moved forward; but one of the camels was still so feeble +that Colonel Warburton and his son took it in turns to walk. The Colonel +had the first stage, and, owing to stoppages from loads slipping off at +the sand-hills, he soon struck ahead of the camels. Suddenly, hearing a +noise behind him, he turned;—nine armed blacks were rushing full upon +him! He halted to confront them, and they too stopped, at fifteen yards +apart; two of them, in bravado, poised their spears, but, on his +advancing pistol in hand, immediately lowered them, and a parley +followed, in which, however, as neither understood the other’s language, +there was very little edification. + +The blacks were all chattering round him, when he heard a shot, as he +supposed, on his “right front.” In reality it was fired from quite an +opposite direction; but he was unwilling to answer the signal, because he +did not wish to lose one of the three charges of his pistol. Moreover, +the natives might have supposed that the single discharge had exhausted +his resources, and have made an attack upon him. He accompanied them to +their camp, and got a little water. The women and children would not +approach him, but, thanks to his grey beard, the men similarly equipped +welcomed him readily. There was a general passing of hands over each +other’s beards—a sign of friendship, it is to be presumed; for, after +this little ceremony, the intercourse was conducted on the most amicable +terms. Eventually the Colonel resumed his walk across the hot glaring +sand-hills, until he thought he had covered the required distance, and +that the camels would soon overtake him; then he stopped, lighted a fire, +smoked a pipe, and would have indulged in a short nap, had the ants been +agreeable. Finding that sleep was impossible, he resolved on returning +to the camp of the blacks for some more water; but, at that moment, his +son and Lewis arrived with Charley, who had followed up his tracks, and +he found that he must retrace his steps, having gone astray. Exhausted +by heat, hunger, and fatigue, he could scarcely stagger along; but his +companions supported his tottering feet, and in the evening he reached +their encampment. + +A good supply of water had been discovered, and, notwithstanding the +alarming scarcity of provisions, it was indispensable that they should +halt by it for some days, in order to give the camels an opportunity of +partially recovering their strength. Without them the explorers could +hardly hope to cross the wide and weary wilderness in which they were +involved. Their rapidly diminishing store of food they endeavoured to +eke out by killing such feathered spoil as came within their range—Gular +parrots, and bronze-wing and top-knot pigeons—and by a mess of boiled +salt-plant (_Salicornia_). On the 14th they resumed their weary march. + +An entry or two from Colonel Warburton’s journal will afford a vivid idea +of his distressed condition at this period:— + +“19th. This is Sunday. How unlike one at home! Half a quart of flour +and water at four a.m.; a hard, sinewy bit of raw, that is, sun-dried, +but uncooked, camel-meat for dinner at two p.m.; supper uncertain, +perhaps some roasted acacia seeds: this is our bill of fare. These seeds +are not bad, but very small and very hard; they are on bushes, not trees, +and the natives use them roasted and pounded. + +“20th. Got a pigeon; and some flour and water for breakfast. We can +only allow ourselves a spoonful of flour each at a time, and it won’t +last many days even at this rate. + +“Killed a large camel for food at sunset. We would rather have killed a +worse one, but this bull had, in the early part of our journey, got a +very bad back, and was unable to work for a long time. . . . + +“21st. Cutting up and jerking camel-meat. The inside has given us a +good supper and breakfast. This is a much better beast than the old, +worn-out cow we killed before, and we have utilized every scrap, having +had a sharp lesson as to the value of anything we can masticate. . . . + +“25th. All the camel-meat has been successfully jerked, and we have +lived since the 20th on bone-broth and gristle. The birds were getting +shy, so when we killed the camel we gave them a rest; to-day we go at +them again. I hope the water-searchers will return this evening; our +prospects are not very bright under any circumstances, but if we get +water anywhere between south and west we shall have a prospect of +overcoming the difficulties and dangers that threaten us. . . . + +“29th. A short rain squall passed over us last evening; it has cooled +the ground a little. Economy is, of course, the order of the day in +provisions. My son and I have managed to hoard up about one pound of +flour and a pinch of tea; all our sugar is gone. Now and then we afford +ourselves a couple of spoonfuls of flour, made into paste. When we +indulge in tea the leaves are boiled twice over. I eat my sun-dried +camel-meat uncooked, as far as I can bite it; what I cannot bite goes +into the quart pot, and is boiled down to a sort of poor-house broth. +When we get a bird we dare not clean it, lest we should lose anything. + +“More disasters this morning. One of our largest camels very ill; the +only thing we could do for it was to pound four boxes of Holloway’s +pills, and drench the animal. . . . One of the Afghans apparently wrong +in his head. . . . In the evening the camel was still very sick.” + +The animal, however, was better on the following day, and the expedition +again toiled onward across the sands. Very troublesome were the ants, +which seemed to have undertaken a deliberate campaign against the +much-suffering travellers. They were small black ants, and in such +numbers that a stamp of the foot on the ground started them in thousands. +When the wearied men flung themselves down in the shade of a bush to +obtain the solace of half an hour’s sleep, these pestilent persecutors +attacked them, making their way through their scanty clothing, and +dealing sharp painful nips with their strong mandibles. + +On the evening of the 1st of November, they began their “rush” or forced +march for the Oakover river, and across the wearisome sand-hills actually +accomplished five and twenty miles. Colonel Warburton then felt unable +to continue the journey, thirst, famine, and fatigue having reduced him +to a skeleton, while such was his weakness that he could scarcely rise +from the ground, or when up, stagger half a dozen steps forward. +“Charley” had been absent all day, and when he did not return at sunset, +much alarm was felt about him. The Colonel knew not what to do. Delay +meant ruin to them all, considering their want of food and water; yet to +leave the camp without the Colonel seemed inhuman, as it was dooming him +to certain death. Until nine o’clock in the evening they waited. Then a +start was made, but before they had gone eight miles, the poor lad joined +them. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the previous night’s travelling, +the lad had actually walked about twenty miles; he had fallen in with a +large party of natives, and accompanied them to their water. “It may, I +think, be admitted,” says Colonel Warburton, “that the hand of Providence +was distinctly visible in this instance.”—Is it not in _every_ +instance?—“I had deferred starting until nine p.m., to give the absent +boy the chance of regaining the camp. It turned out afterwards that if +we had expedited our departure by ten minutes, or postponed it for the +same length of time, Charley would have crossed us; and had this +happened, there is little doubt that not only myself, but probably other +members of the expedition, would have perished from thirst. The route +pursued by us was at right angles with the course pursued by the boy, and +the chances of our stumbling up against each other in the dark were +infinitesimally small. Providence mercifully ordered it otherwise, and +our departure was so timed that, after travelling from two to two hours +and a half, when all hope of the recovery of the wanderer was almost +abandoned, I was gladdened by the ‘cooee’ of the brave lad, whose keen +ears had caught the sound of the bells attached to the camels’ necks. To +the energy and courage of this untutored native may, under the guidance +of the Almighty, be attributed the salvation of the party. It was by no +accident that he encountered the friendly well. For fourteen miles he +followed up the tracks of some blacks, though fatigued by a day of severe +work, and, receiving a kindly welcome from the natives, he had hurried +back, unmindful of his own exhausted condition, to apprise his companions +of the important discovery he had made.” + +At the native camp, Colonel Warburton’s party obtained some kangaroo +meat, and a good supply of fresh water. They rested for twenty-four +hours, and the repose and the food together temporarily reinvigorated +them. At this time their position was lat. 20° 41′, and long. 122° 30′; +so that they were only three days’ journey from the Oakover. Forward +they went, the country still presenting the two main features of sand and +spinifex; forward they went, over the cheerless, monotonous plains, +broken by sand ridges; growing weaker every day, but losing not one jot +of hope or resolution. The annals of travel present few examples of more +heroic tenacity and persistent purpose; few records of suffering more +patiently borne, or of obstacles more steadfastly overcome. The highest +energy, perseverance, and fortitude were necessary to the leader of an +exploring expedition through so forlorn a wilderness, and these were +never wanting on the part of Colonel Warburton, whose name, amongst the +pioneers of civilization in Australia, must always be held in honour. + +On the 11th of November, the seven members of the expedition were living +wholly on sun-dried strips of meat, as devoid of nutriment as they were +of taste; and as these were almost exhausted, they had to consider the +probability of having to sacrifice another camel. They had no salt—a +terrible deprivation; no flour, tea, or sugar. Next day, they were +surrounded by sand-hills, and no water was visible anywhere. It was +certain that, unless some providentially opportune help arrived, they +could not live more than twenty-four hours; for the burning heat and the +terrible country could not be endured without water. Not a snake, kite, +or crow could they discover; one little bird, the size of a sparrow, was +all that their guns could procure. Writing in his journal, the Colonel +calmly says:—“We have tried to do our duty, and have been disappointed in +all our expectations. I have been in excellent health during the whole +journey, and am so still, being merely worn out from want of food and +water. Let no self-reproaches afflict any one respecting me. I +undertook the journey for the benefit of my family, and was quite equal +to it under all the circumstances that could reasonably be anticipated, +but difficulties and losses have come upon us so thickly for the last few +months that we have not been able to move; thus our provisions are gone, +but this would not have stopped us could we have found water without such +laborious search. The country is terrible. I do not believe men ever +traversed so vast an extent of continuous desert.” + +Early on the 14th Charley sighted in the distance a native camp, and +while the remainder of the party, with the camels, kept out of sight, he +advanced alone towards it. The blacks received him kindly and gave him +water, but when he “cooed” for the party to come up, they seem to have +thought he had entrapped them, and instantly speared him in the back and +arm, cut his skull with a tomahawk, and nearly broke his jaw. After +perpetrating this cruelty, they fled ignominiously. Colonel Warburton +took possession of the fire they had kindled, and rejoiced at obtaining +water. Charley’s wounds were serious, but they were bound up as +carefully as circumstances permitted, and it is satisfactory to state +that he recovered from them. Another camel was killed, and Charley was +nursed upon soup. This supply of meat enabled the expedition to continue +its march towards the Oakover, which receded apparently as they advanced; +and they toiled onward painfully, with the hot sun and hot wind +exhausting their small resource of energy, the ants tormenting them at +night, the sand and spinifex oppressing them by their monotony. On the +25th, to save themselves from starvation, they killed another camel, and +all hands were employed in cutting up and jerking the meat. At last, on +the 4th of December, they camped on a rocky creek, tributary to the +Oakover, and were able to take leave of the dreadful desert which had so +long hemmed them in on every side. Their spirits revived, for there was +no longer a scarcity of water and they hoped that the river would supply +them with the means of subsistence. + +But they had soon reason to feel that their difficulties were not all at +an end. It was pleasant to look on the beautiful trees and profuse +vegetation of the creek, but the charms of nature will not satisfy +stomachs that have had no food for two days. So, on the evening of the +6th, a third camel was killed. Next day a few small fish were caught; +they were greatly relished, and proved of real benefit. The 8th was +happily marked by another banquet of fish; but as they had no net or +fishing apparatus, it was by no means easy work to catch them. Still, +the travellers did not grow stronger; want of rest and of wholesome food, +and the strain of continuous exertion and anxiety for so long a period, +had undermined the whole system, and they could not rally. + +On the 11th they struck the Oakover in lat. 21° 11′ 23″. This must be a +noble river, writes the Colonel, when the floods come down. The bed is +wide and gravelly, fringed with magnificent cajeput or paper-bark trees. +How grateful was its lovely and shady refuge from the hot fierce sun +after the terrible sand-hills among which the travellers had wandered so +long! + +On the 13th Lewis and an Afghan driver, on the only two camels that could +travel, were sent forward to search for the station of Messrs. Harper and +Co., and procure some help both in food and carriage. During his absence +the Colonel and his companions lived, to use an expressive phrase, from +hand to mouth. They could not get the fish to bite; but one day Richard +Warburton shot a teal, and they rescued from the talons of a hawk a fine +black duck, which supplied them with a splendid dinner. They were +compelled, however, to fall back upon their last camel, though he was so +lean and worn-out that he did not cut up well. On the 23rd they rejoiced +in the capture of a couple of wood-ducks, and they also secured a little +honey—a delightful novelty for persons who for many weeks had been +deprived of the strengthening and useful properties of sugar. Still, +these occasional “tidbits” could not supply the want of regular and +nutritious food; and all the travellers could hope for was to stave off +actual famine. Day after day passed by, and Lewis did not return. +Colonel Warburton had calculated that he would be absent about fourteen +days; but the seventeenth came, and yet there was no sign of Lewis. +Writing in his journal, Colonel Warburton, on December 20th, sums up his +position in a few pithy and pregnant sentences:—“We have abundance of +water, a little tobacco, and a few bits of dried camel. Occasionally an +iguana or a cockatoo enlivens our fare; and, lastly, I hope the late rain +will bring up some thistles or some pig-weed that we can eat. Our +difficulties are, to make our meat last, though, so far from doing us +good, we are all afflicted with scurvy, diarrhoea, and affection of the +kidneys from the use of it. We cannot catch the fish; we cannot find +opossums or snakes; the birds won’t sit down by us, and we can’t get up +to go to them. We thought we should have no difficulty in feeding +ourselves on the river, but it turns out that, from one cause or another, +we can get very little, and we are daily dropping down a peg or two +lower.” But a few hours after making this entry, the Colonel’s long +period of suffering and anxiety was at an end. He and his son were lying +down near the little hut of boughs which they had constructed as a +shelter, and listlessly eyeing the boy Charley, who had climbed a tree to +look for honey, when they were startled by his cry—whether a yell of pain +or shout of joy, it was impossible to determine. But in a moment the +cause of his emotion was satisfactorily explained; out from the thick +brushwood trotted a string of six horses, driven by the gallant Mr. +Lewis, accompanied by another white man from a station on the De Grey +river. They brought an ample supply of nutritious food, and on the +following day some additional stores came up on camels. Mr. Lewis’s +apparent delay was soon explained; the station, which belonged to Messrs. +Grant, Harper, and Anderson, was one hundred and seventy miles distant. + +On the 3rd of January Colonel Warburton started down the river. For the +first few days he had to be lifted on his horse’s back, but with good +food and moderate exercise he regained something of his old strength, and +the journey to the station was accomplished in a week and a day. Ten +days were then given to rest under the hospitable roof of Messrs. Grant, +and on the 21st he started for Roebourne, one hundred and seventy miles +further, arriving there on the 26th. His after stages were Lepack, +Fremantle, Perth, Albany. At Glenelg, in South Australia, the Colonel +and his companions arrived on Easter Sunday, having travelled by land +four thousand miles, and by sea two thousand miles. + +The casualties are quickly recorded: the Colonel lost the sight of one +eye, and his son’s health was seriously shaken. Out of seventeen camels, +only two arrived safely at the station on the De Grey river. + +It is almost needless to say that everywhere in West Australia Colonel +Warburton was received with the public honours due to a man who has +courageously and successfully accomplished a work of equal difficulty and +danger. He was entertained in the most generous and cordial manner, and +the high utility of his labours was liberally acknowledged. On his +return to South Australia he met, of course, with an enthusiastic +welcome. A great banquet was given to the explorers, and the Legislative +Assembly voted the sum of £1000 to the leader, and £500 to be divided +among the subordinates. In 1874 the Royal Geographical Society of London +conferred upon him its gold medal, and a few months later the Queen +appointed him a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. + +Here closes a simple but stirring narrative, of which it is not, perhaps, +too much to say, as has been said, that scarcely has a record of terrible +suffering more nobly borne been given to the world. Hunger and thirst, +intense physical exhaustion, the burning heat of a tropic sun, the +glowing sands of an arid desert—not a single circumstance was wanting +that could test the heroic endurance and patient heroism of the +explorers. The country through which they toiled day after day was +barren, inhospitable, desolate; a wilderness of coarse yellow herbage, a +sombre waste of sand-hills. Their hearts were never cheered by bright +glimpses of gorgeous scenery, of forests clothed with magnificent +vegetation, of rivers pouring their ample waters through sylvan valleys; +everywhere the landscape was melancholy and unprofitable. He who, with +his life in his hand, penetrates the frozen recesses of the Polar World, +and dares its storms of snow and its icy winds, has at least the +inspiration to support him that springs from the grandeur of huge cliffs +of ice and vast glaciers and white-gleaming peaks outlined against a deep +blue sky. But in the wide Australian interior the landscape is always +marked by the same monotony of dreariness, the same uniformity of gloom; +and it tests and taxes the traveller’s energies to rise superior to its +depressing influences. + +The reader, therefore, will feel that “the Municipal Council and +inhabitants of Fremantle” used no language of undeserved eulogy when, in +their address of welcome to Colonel Egerton Warburton, they said— + +“The difficulties to be overcome in the work of Australian exploration +are acknowledged to be as formidable as are to be found in any part of +our globe, and to meet these difficulties requires a combination of +intelligence, energy, perseverance, and fortitude that few men possess; +and the fact that you have surmounted all obstacles, and borne up under +so many privations, has awakened in all our minds the deepest feelings of +gratitude and admiration.” {324} + + + + +MAJOR BURNABY, +AND A RIDE TO KHIVA. + + +I. + + +THAT vast and various region of sandy deserts and fertile valleys, of +broad open plains and lofty highlands, which extends eastward from the +Caspian Sea to the borders of Afghanistan, and from Persia northward to +the confines of Siberia, is known to geographers by the name of +Turkistan, or “the country of the Turks.” Across it, from north to +south, strikes the massive chain of the Bolor-tagh, dividing it into two +unequal portions. The western division is popularly known as Independent +Tartary, or Great Bokhara; it covers an area of nearly 900,000 square +miles—that is, it is ten times as large as Great Britain—and it consists +of the arid sandy plain of the Caspian and Aral Seas, and of the hilly +districts which skirt the ranges of the Bolor-Tagh, the Thian-Shan, and +the Hindu Kush. The eastern division, or Upper Tartary, probably +contains 700,000 square miles, and extends from Asiatic Russia on the +north to Thibet and Kashmir on the south, from Mongolia on the east to +the Bolor-Tagh on the west. The Thian-Shan separates its two provinces, +which the Chinese call Thian-Shan-Pe-lû and Thian-Shan-Nan-lû. The +reader’s attention, however, will be here directed only to Western +Turkistan, which is divided into the Khanates of Khokan (north-east), +Badakshan (south-east), Bokhara (east), and Khiva (west). To the north +stretch the steppes of the nomadic Kirghiz; to the south the hills and +dales are occupied by the hordes of the Turkomans. Its two great rivers +are the Amu-Daria and the Syr-Daria, the ancient _Oxus_ and +_Jaxartes_,—the former traversing the centre, and the latter the south of +the district, on their way to the great Arabian Sea; and the valleys +through which they flow, as well as those of their tributary streams, are +mostly fertile and pleasant. As might be inferred from the character of +the country, the chief resources of the population are the breeding of +domestic animals, and the cultivation of the soil; but in the towns of +Khokand, Bokhara, Urgondji, and Karshi, a brisk manufacturing industry +flourishes, which disposes of its surplus produce, after the local demand +is satisfied, to the merchants of Russia, Persia, India, and China. + +Since 1864, the supremacy of Russia has been steadily advancing in +Western Turkistan. In ordinary circumstances, the extension of the power +of a civilized nation over a number of semi-barbarous states, constantly +engaged in internecine warfare, is regarded as a just and legitimate +movement, or, at all events, as one that is inevitable and calls for no +expression of regret; but the eastward progress of Russia has long been +considered, by a large party in England, as a menace to the safety of our +Indian empire. Every fresh step of the Russian armies has therefore +excited alarm or created suspicion among those who are known as +Russophobists. How far their fear or their mistrust is justifiable or +dignified it is not our business in these pages to inquire; but it has +been necessary to allude to it because it was this Russophobism which +impelled Major (then Captain) Burnaby to undertake the difficult, if not +dangerous, task of visiting Western Turkistan, that he might see with his +own eyes what the Russians were doing there. The Russians had recently +conquered Khokand and Khiva; it was thought they were preparing for +further annexations; and Major Burnaby determined on an effort to reach +Khiva, which during the Russian campaign had been visited, as we have +seen, by Mr. MacGahan, the war correspondent of the _New York Herald_. +Having obtained leave of absence from his regiment, the Royal Horse +Guards, Major Burnaby rapidly equipped himself for his adventurous +journey. He was well aware that the Russian authorities did not welcome +the inquisitive eyes of English travellers, and that from them he could +expect no assistance. His confidence in his resources, however, was +great; he felt _totus in se ipso_; and he did not intend to be baffled in +his object by anything but sheer force. The climate was another +difficulty. The cold of the Kirghiz desert is a thing unknown in any +other part of the world, even in the Arctic wastes and wildernesses; and +he would have to traverse on horseback an enormous expanse of flat +country, extending for hundreds of miles, and devoid of everything save +snow and salt-lakes, and here and there the species of bramble-tree +called saxaul. The inhabitants of Western Europe can form no conception +of the force of the winds in Turkistan. They grumble at the pungent, +irritating east; but they little imagine what it is like in countries +exposed to the awful vehemence of its first onset, before its rigour has +been mitigated by the kindly ocean, and where its wild career is +unimpeded by trees or rising land, by hills or mountains. +Uninterruptedly it blows over dreary leagues of snow and salt, absorbing +the saline matter, and blighting or almost gashing the faces of those +unfortunates who are exposed to its fury. But no fear of the east wind +prevailed over Major Burnaby’s patriotic curiosity. He provided against +it as best he could: warm were the garments specially made for him; his +boots were lined with fur; his hose were the thickest Scottish fishing +stockings; his jerseys and flannel shirts of the thickest possible +texture; and he ordered for himself a waterproof and airproof +sleeping-bag, seven feet and a half long, and two feet round. A large +aperture was left on one side, so that the traveller might take up his +quarters in the interior, and sleep well protected from the wintry +blasts. For defensive purposes he took with him his rifle, a revolver, +cartridges, and ball. His cooking apparatus consisted of a couple of +soldier’s mess-tins. A trooper’s hold-all, with its accompanying knife, +fork, and spoon, completed his kit; and, by way of instruments, he +carried a thermometer, a barometer, and a pocket sextant. + +On the 30th of November, 1875, Major Burnaby left London. He arrived at +St. Petersburg on the 3rd of December, and immediately set to work to +obtain the necessary authorization for his proposed journey, which he +defined as a tour to India _viâ_ Khiva, Merv, and Kabul; in other words, +across Central Asia and Afghanistan. All that he _did_ obtain was a +communication to the effect that the commandants in Russian Asia had +received orders to assist him in travelling through the territory under +their command, but that the Imperial Government could not acquiesce in +his extending his journey beyond its boundaries, as it could not answer +for the security or the lives of travellers except within the Emperor’s +dominions—a self-evident fact. The reply was evidently intended to +discourage Major Burnaby; but Major Burnaby was not to be discouraged. +It is not in the English character to be daunted by a consideration of +prospective or possible dangers; certainly, it is not in the character of +English officers. So the adventurous guardsman started by railway for +Orenburg, the great centre and depôt of Central Asiatic traffic. At +Riajsk he obtained a vivid illustration of the heterogeneous character of +the Russian empire, the waiting-room being crowded with representatives +of different nationalities. Here stalked a Tartar merchant in a long +parti-coloured gown, a pair of high boots, and a small yellow fez. There +a fur trader, in a greasy-looking black coat, clutched his small leather +bag of coin. Here an old Bokharan, in flowing robes, was lulled by opium +into a temporary forgetfulness of his troubles. There Russian peasants +moved to and fro, with well-knit frames, clad in untanned leather, which +was bound about their loins by narrow leather belts, studded with buttons +of brass and silver. Europe and Asia met together in the waiting-room at +Riajsk station. + +The railway went no further than Sizeran, where Major Burnaby and a +Russian gentleman hired a troika, or three-horse sleigh, to take them to +Samara. The distance was about eighty-five miles; but as the thermometer +marked 20° below zero (R.), the travellers found it necessary to make +formidable preparations. First they donned three pairs of the thickest +stockings, drawn up high above the knee; next, over these, a pair of +fur-lined low shoes, which in their turn were inserted into leather +goloshes; and, finally, over all, a pair of enormously thick boots. +Allow for extra thick drawers and a pair of massive trousers; and add a +heavy flannel under-shirt, a shirt covered by a thick wadded waistcoat +and coat, and an external wrap in the form of a large shuba, or fur +pelisse, reaching to the heels; and you may suppose that the protection +against the cold was tolerably complete. The head was guarded with a fur +cap and vashlik, _i.e._ a kind of conical cloth headpiece made to cover +the cap, and having two long ends tied round the throat. Thus accoutred, +the travellers took their places in the troika, which, drawn by three +horses harnessed abreast, and with jingling bell, rapidly descended the +hill, and dashed on to the frozen surface of the river Volga. Along the +solid highway furnished by the ice-bound stream, past frozen-in shipping +and sledges loaded with various kinds of wares, sped the troika; +sometimes, in its turn, outstripped by other troikas,—drivers and +passengers all alike white with glittering hoar-frost, until they seemed +a company of grey-beards. The solid river flashed like a burnished +cuirass in the rays of the morning. Here the scene was varied by a group +of strangely patterned blocks and pillars; there a fountain gracefully +shooting upwards with shapely Ionic and Doric columns, reflected a myriad +prismatic hues from its diamond-like stalactites. Here a broken Gothic +arch overhung the shining highway; there an Egyptian obelisk lay half +buried beneath the snow. Such were the fantastic shapes into which the +strong wind had moulded the ice as it was rapidly formed. + +Regaining the main road, Major Burnaby and his companion sped on towards +Samara. Their first halting-place was a farmhouse, called Nijny Pegersky +Hootor, twenty-five versts from Sizeran, where some men were winnowing +corn after a fashion of antediluvian simplicity. Throwing the corn high +up into the air with a shovel, they allowed the wind to blow away the +husks, and the grain fell upon a carpet laid out to catch it. As for the +farmhouse, it was a square wooden building, containing two low but +spacious rooms. A large stove of dried clay was so placed as to warm +both apartments; and above it, a platform of boards, not more than three +feet from the ceiling, supplied the family with sleeping accommodation. +On the outside of the building a heavy wooden door opened into a small +portico, at one end of which stood the obraz, or image—as usual an +appendage to a Russian house, as were the Lares and Penates, or household +gods, to a Roman house. The obrazye are made of different patterns, but +usually represent a saint or the Trinity; they are executed in +silver-gilt on brass relief, and adorned with all kinds of gewgaws. + +A fresh team having been obtained, the travellers resumed their journey; +but the cold had increased, the wind blew more furiously, and their +suffering was severe. In thick flakes fell the constant snow, and the +driver had much ado to keep the track, while the half-fed horses +floundered along heavily, and frequently sank up to the traces in the +gathering drift. The cracks of the whip resounded from their jaded +flanks like pistol-shots. With sarcastic apostrophes the driver +endeavoured to stimulate their progress:— + +“Oh, sons of animals!” (whack!) + +“Oh, spoiled one!” (whack!) This to a poor, attenuated brute. + +“Oh, woolly ones!” (whack, whack, whack!) Here all were upset into a +snow-drift, the sleigh being three-parts overturned, and the driver flung +in an opposite direction. + +The sleigh was righted; the travellers once more took their seats; and on +through the darkening day they drove, until they came to a long +straggling village, where the horses stopped before a detached cottage. +Benumbed with the bitter cold, Major Burnaby and his companion dashed +inside, and made haste, in front of a blazing stove, to restore the +suspended circulation. Then, while the women of the house made tea in a +samovar, or urn, they unfroze in the stove some cutlets and bread which +they had carried with them, and proceeded to enjoy a hearty repast. In +one hour’s time they were ready to start; but their driver demurred. The +snowstorm was heavy; wolves prowled along the track; the river ice might +give way. It was better to wait until the morning, when, with beautiful +horses, they might go like birds to the next station. The two travellers +could do nothing with him, and were compelled to resign themselves to +pass the night on the hard boards, in an atmosphere infested by many +unpleasant smells. A good hour before sunrise all were again in motion. +The Major and his companion abandoned their heavy troika, and engaged two +small sleighs with a pair of horses to each, one for themselves and one +to carry their luggage. + +It was a glorious winter morning, and the sun came forth like a +bridegroom to run his course, invested with indescribable pomp of colour. +First, over the whole of the eastern horizon extended a pale blue streak, +which seemed, like a wall, to shut off the vast Beyond. Suddenly its +summit changed into rare lapis-lazuli, while its base became a sheet of +purple. From the darker lines shot wondrous waves of grey and crystal; +and in time the purple foundations upheaved into glowing seas of fire. +The wall broke up into castles, battlements, and towers—all with magical +gleams, which gradually floated far away, while the seas of flame, +lighting up the whole horizon, burst through their borders and swelled +into a mighty ocean. The sight was one on which the eye of man could +scarcely gaze. The sunny expanse of the winter-bound earth reflected as +in a mirror the celestial panorama. Shafts of light seemed to dart in +rapid succession from earth to sky, until at last the vast luminous orb +of day rose from the depth of the many-coloured radiance, and with its +surpassing glory put everything else to shame. + +The travellers reached Samara—a well-built prosperous town, situated on a +tributary of the Volga. There Major Burnaby parted from his companion, +whose road thenceforward lay in a different direction, and proceeded to +make his preparations for a drive across the steppes to Orenburg. + +He started next morning, in a sleigh which he had purchased, and had +caused to be well repaired, and took the road towards Orenburg. The +country was flat and uninteresting; buried beneath a white shroud of +sand, with a few trees scattered here and there, and at intervals a +dreary-looking hut or two. The first post-station, for changing horses, +was Smeveshlaevskaya, twenty versts (a verst is two-thirds of an English +mile); the next, Bodrovsky, where Burnaby arrived a little after sunset. +After drinking a few glasses of tea to fortify himself against the +increasing cold (25° below zero, R.), he pushed forward in the hope of +reaching Malomalisky, about twenty-six and a half versts, about nine p.m. +But plunging into the heart of a terrible snowstorm, he and his driver +were so blinded and beaten, and the horses so jaded by the swiftly +forming snow-drifts, that he was compelled to give the order to return, +and to pass the night at Bodrovsky. + +At daybreak the resolute guardsman was on his way. In the course of the +day he fell in with General Kryjonovsky, the governor of the Orenburg +district, who was bound for St. Petersburg; and a brief conversation with +him showed that the authorities, as he had suspected, by no means +approved of his expedition to Khiva. At one of the stations, the man +assigned to him as driver had been married only the day before, and +undertook his duties with obvious reluctance. His sole desire was to +return as quickly as possible to his bride, and with this intent he +lashed his horses until they kicked and jumped in the most furious +contortions. The Major was thrown in the air, and caught again by the +rebound; upset, righted, and upset again; gun, saddle-bags, +cartridge-cases, and traveller, all simultaneously flying in the air. +After a third of these rough experiences, the Major resolved to try the +effect of a sharp application of his boot. + +“Why do you do that?” said the driver, pulling up his horse. “You hurt, +you break my ribs.” + +“I only do to you what you do to me,” replied the Major. “You hurt, you +break my ribs, and injure my property besides.” + +“Oh, sir of noble birth,” ejaculated the fellow, “it is not my fault. It +is thine, oh moody one!” to his offside horse, accompanied by a crack +from his whip. “It is thine, oh spoilt and cherished one!” to his other +meagre and half-starved quadruped (whack!) “Oh, petted and caressed sons +of animals” (whack, whack, whack!), “I will teach you to upset the +gentleman.” + + * * * * * + +At length, after a journey of four hundred versts, Orenburg was reached. +At this frontier town, situated almost on the verge of civilization, our +traveller was compelled to make a short sojourn. He had letters of +introduction to present, which procured him some useful friends; a +servant to engage, provisions to purchase, information to collect about +the route to Khiva, and his English gold and notes to convert into +Russian coin. Through the good offices of a Moslem gentleman, he was +able to engage a Tartar, named Nazar—not five feet high—as a servant; and +after some delay he obtained from the military chief a podorojoraya, or +passport, as far as Kasala, or Fort No. 1. This pass ran as follows: “By +the order of His Majesty the Emperor Alexander, the son of Nicolas, +Autocrat of the whole of Russia, etc., etc. From the town of Orsk to the +town of Kasala, to the Captain of the English service, Frederick, the son +of Gustavus Burnaby, to give three horses, with a driver, for the legal +fare, without delay. Given in the town of Orenburg, 15th December, +1875.” + +The next day, Frederick, “the son of Gustavus Burnaby,” with his Tartar +servant, took their departure from Orenburg, and in a few minutes were +trotting along the frozen surface of the river Ural. Every now and then +they fell in with a caravan of rough, shaggy, undersized camels, drawing +sleighs laden with cotton from Tashkent; or a Cossack galloped by, +brandishing his long spear; or a ruddy-faced Kirghiz slowly caracolled +over the shining snow. Three stations were passed in safety, and Burnaby +resolved on halting at the fourth, Krasnojorsk, for refreshment. But as +the afternoon closed in, the Tartar driver began to lash his weary jades +impatiently; as an excuse for his vehemence, pointing to the clouds that +were rising before them, and the signs of a gathering snowstorm. Soon +the air was filled with flakes; the darkness rapidly increased; the +driver lost his way, and, at length, the team came to a standstill, +breast deep in a snow-drift. What was to be done? It was equally +impossible to go forward or to return; there was no wood in the +neighbourhood with which to kindle a fire, no shovel with which to make a +snow house; nothing could the belated wayfarer do but endure the bitter +cold and the silent darkness, and wait for morning. Burnaby suffered +much from the exposure, but the great difficulty was to prevent himself +from yielding to the fatal lethargy which extreme cold induces—from +falling into that sleep which turns inevitably into death. How he +rejoiced when the day broke, and he was able to despatch the driver on +one of the horses for assistance; and how he rejoiced when the man +returned with three post horses and some peasants, and the road was +regained, and the journey resumed, and the station reached at last! +There they rested and refreshed themselves, before, with invigorated +spirits, they dashed once again into the snow-bound depths of the +steppes. + +After a while the aspect of the country grew more cheery. The low chain +of mountains to the north-east was sometimes abruptly broken, and a +prominent peak thrust its summit into the interval. Through the fleecy +snow various coloured grasses were visible. Olive-tinted branches, and +dark forests of fir and pine, contrasted strongly with the whitely +shining expanse that spread as far as the eye could see. Spider-like +webs of frozen dew hung from the branches. The thin icicles glistened +like prisms with all the colours of the rainbow. Thus, through a +succession of fairy landscapes, such as the dwellers in Western lands can +form but a faint idea of, the travellers dashed onward to Orsk. + +Then the face of the country underwent another change. They were fairly +in the region of the steppes—those wide and level plains which, during +the brief summer, bloom with luxuriant vegetation, and are alive with the +flocks and herds of the nomads, but in the long drear winter, from north +to south and east to west, are buried deep beneath frozen snow. Wherever +you direct your gaze it rests upon snow, snow, still snow; shining with a +painful glare in the mid-day sun; fading into a dull, grey, melancholy +ocean as noon lapses into twilight. “A picture of desolation which +wearies by its utter loneliness, and at the same time appals by its +immensity; a circle of which the centre is everywhere, and the +circumference nowhere.” Travel, in this world-beyond-the-world, in this +solitude which Frost and Winter make all their own, tests the courage and +endurance of a man, for it makes no appeal to the imagination or the +fancy, it charms the eye with no pleasant pictures, suggests no +associations to the mind. But it has its dangers, as Major Burnaby +experienced. He had left the station of Karabootak (three hundred and +seventeen miles from Orsk), and as the road was comparatively smooth, and +the wind had subsided, he leaned back in his sleigh and fell asleep. +Unluckily he had forgotten to put on his thick gloves, and his hands, +slipping from the fur-lined sleeves of his pelisse, lay exposed to the +full potency of the cold air. In a few minutes he awoke with a feeling +of intense pain; and looking at his hands, he saw that the finger-nails +were blue, blue too the fingers and back of the hands, while the wrists +and lower part of the arms had assumed the hue of wax. They were +frost-bitten! He called his servant, and made him rub the skin with some +snow in the hope of restoring the vitality. This he did for some +minutes; but, meanwhile, the pain gradually ascended up the arms, while +the lower portion of the arms was dead to all feeling, all sensation. +“It is no good,” said Nazar, looking sorrowfully at his master; “we must +drive on as fast as possible to the station.” + +The station was some miles off. Miles? Each mile seemed to the tortured +traveller a league; each league a day’s journey; the physical pain +consumed him, wore him down as mental anguish might have done. But at +last the station was reached; Burnaby sprang from the sleigh, rushed into +the waiting-room, and to three Cossacks whom he met there showed his +hands. Straightway they conducted him into an outer apartment, took off +his coat, bared his arms, and plunged him into a tub of ice and water up +to the shoulders. He felt nothing. + +“Brother,” said the eldest of the soldiers, shaking his head, “it is a +bad job; you will lose your hands.” + +“They will drop off,” remarked another, “if we cannot get back the +circulation.” + +“Have you any spirit with you?” asked a third. + +Nazar, on hearing this inquiry, immediately ran out, and returned with a +tin bottle containing naphtha for cooking purposes; upon which the +Cossacks, taking the Major’s arms out of the icy water, proceeded to rub +them with the strong spirit. + +Rub, rub, rub; the skin peeled under their horny hands, and the spirit +irritated the membrane below. At last a faint sensation like tickling—we +are using the Major’s own words—pervaded the elbow-joints, and he +slightly flinched. + +“Does it hurt?” asked the eldest Cossack. + +“A little.” + +“Capital, brothers,” he continued; “rub as hard as you can;” and after +continuing the friction until the flesh was almost flayed, they suddenly +plunged his arms again into the ice and water. This time, the pain was +sharp. + +“Good,” exclaimed the Cossacks. “The more it hurts, the better chance +you have of saving your hands.” And after a short time they let him +remove his arms from the tub. + +“You are fortunate, little father,” said the eldest Cossack. “If it had +not been for the spirit your hands would have dropped off, even if you +had not lost your arms.” + +“Rough, kind-hearted fellows were these poor soldiers,” adds Major +Burnaby; “and when I forced on the oldest of them a present for himself +and comrades, the old soldier simply said, ‘Are we not all brothers when +in misfortune? Would you not have helped me if I had been in the same +predicament?’” + +The Major shook his hand heartily, and retired to the waiting-room to +rest upon the sofa, as the physical shock he had undergone had for the +moment thoroughly prostrated him. Moreover, his arms were sore and +inflamed, the spirit having in some places penetrated the raw flesh; and +several weeks elapsed before he thoroughly recovered from the effects of +his carelessness. + + * * * * * + +At Terekli, about five hundred miles from Orenburg, our traveller entered +the province of Turkistan, and found himself in the region which +acknowledges the authority of General Kauffmann—a restless and ambitious +soldier, to whose energy much of Russia’s recent advance eastward would +seem to be due. He still pushed forward with characteristic resolution, +braving the terrors of the climate and the dangers of the road in his +determined purpose to reach Khiva. At one station no horses were to be +obtained, and, instead, three gigantic camels were harnessed to the tiny +sleigh. A strange spectacle! “I have tried many ways of locomotion in +my life, from fire-balloons to bicycles, from canoes and bullocks to +cows, camels, and donkeys; whilst in the East the time-honoured sedan of +our grandfathers has occasionally borne me and my fortunes; but never had +I travelled in so comical a fashion. A Tartar rode the centre camel. +His head-gear would have called attention, if nothing else had, for he +wore a large black hat, which reminded me of an inverted coal-scuttle, +whilst a horn-like protuberance sticking out from its summit gave a +diabolical appearance to his lobster-coloured visage. The hat, which was +made of sheepskin, had the white wool inside, which formed a striking +contrast to the flaming countenance of the excited Tartar. He had +replaced the usual knout used for driving, by a whip armed with a thin +cord lash, and he urged on his ungainly team more by the shrill sounds of +his voice than by any attempt at flagellation, the Tartar seldom being +able to get more than four miles an hour from the lazy brutes. + +“All of a sudden the camel in the centre quickly stopped, and the rider +was precipitated head-over-heels in the snow. Luckily, it was soft +falling; there were no bones broken, and in a minute or two he was again +in the saddle, having changed the system of harnessing, and placed one of +the camels as leader, whilst the other two were driven as wheelers. We +got on very fairly for a little while, when the foremost of our train +having received a rather sharper application of the lash than he deemed +expedient remonstrated with his rider by lying down. Coaxing and +persuasion were now used; he was promised the warmest of stalls, the most +delicious of water, if he would only get up. But this the beast +absolutely declined to do, until the cold from the snow striking against +his body induced him to rise from the ground. + +“We now went even slower than before. Our driver was afraid to use his +whip for fear of another ebullition of temper on the part of the +delinquent, and confined himself to cracking his whip in the air. The +sounds of this proceeding presently reaching the ears of the leader, +perhaps made him think that his companions were undergoing chastisement. +Anyhow, it appeared to afford him some satisfaction, for, quickening his +stride, he compelled his brethren behind to accelerate their pace; and +after a long, wearisome drive we arrived at our destination.” + +Under the influence of milder weather the aspect of the country rapidly +modified and brightened, and instead of a uniform sheet of frozen snow, +broad patches of vegetation met the eye. On these the Kirghiz horses +were browsing with evident delight. How they live through the winter is +a mystery, as their owners seldom feed them with corn, and they are +compelled to trust to the scanty grasses which may still be partially +alive underneath the snow. Nor are they in any way protected from the +cold. As a necessary consequence, the spring finds them reduced to mere +skeletons, whose ribs are barely covered by their parchment-like skin; +but they soon gain in flesh and strength when once the rich pasturage of +the steppes is at their disposal. Their powers of endurance are +wonderful; and without rest, or water, or food, they will accomplish +surprising distances, maintaining a first-rate speed. An instance is on +record of a Kirghiz chief having galloped two hundred miles, over a rocky +and mountainous ground, in twenty-four hours. A Russian detachment of +cavalry, mounted on Kirghiz horses, marched 333 miles in six days. + +Major Burnaby was soon apprised that he was nearing the Sea (or Lake) of +Aral by the salt breeze which blew persistently in his face. The whole +district for miles around was impregnated with salt, and the springs and +streams had all a brackish taste and strong saline flavour. At +Nicolaivskaya his road touched close upon the north-eastern extremity of +the sea. This great inland basin of brackish water is separated from the +Caspian by the dense plateau of Ust-Urt. It measures about 260 miles +from north to south, and 125 from east to west. On the north-east it +receives the waters of the Syr-Daria, or Jaxartes; on the south-east +those of the Amu-Daria, or Oxus. As it is on the same level with the +Caspian, we may reasonably suppose that both seas were at one time +connected. Owing to the excessive evaporation which takes place, it is +understood to be decreasing in size. + +At Kasala, or Fort No. 1, our traveller struck the Syr-Daria, some forty +or fifty miles above its outlet in the Aral. Kasala is inhabited by +nomad Kirghiz, who pitch their kibitkas in its outskirts in the winter, +to resume their migratory life with the first breath of spring; by +Russian and Tartar merchants, who dwell in one-storied houses, built of +brick or cement; and by a motley population of Greeks, Khivans, +Bokharans, Tashkentians, and Turcomans generally, attracted thither by +the hope of gain. Owing to its geographical position, it is the centre +of a considerable trade; for all goods to Orenburg from Western Turkistan +must pass through it. Its civil population numbers about 5000 souls; its +garrison consists of about 350 infantry and 400 cavalry, and it is also +the head-quarters in winter of the sailors of the Aral fleet, which is +made up of four small steamers of light draught. As for the fort, it is +simply an earthwork, constructed in the shape of a half-star, with a +bastion on the south extending to the bank of the Syr-Daria. A dry +ditch, thirty feet broad by twelve feet deep, and a parapet, eight feet +high and twelve feet thick, surround it. Sufficiently strong to overawe +the Kirghiz, it could offer no effective resistance to an European force. + +Major Burnaby paid a visit to a Kirghiz kibitka, or tent, and his +description of it may be compared with Mr. Atkinson’s. Inside it was +adorned with thick carpets of various hues, and bright-coloured cushions, +for the accommodation of the inmates. In the centre a small fire gave +out a cloud of white smoke, which rose in coils and wreaths to the roof, +and there escaped through an aperture left for the purpose. The fuel +used is saxaul, the wood of the bramble tree, and it emits an acrid, +pungent odour. The women in the tent had their faces uncovered; they +received their visitor with a warm welcome, and spread some rugs for him +to sit down by their side. They were all of them moon-faced, with large +mouths, but good eyes and teeth. + +The master of the kibitka, who was clad in a long brown robe, thickly +wadded to keep out the cold, poured some water into a large caldron, and +proceeded to make tea, while a young girl handed round raisins and dried +currants. A brief conversation then arose. The Kirghiz were much +surprised to learn that their visitor was not a Russian, but had come +from a far Western land, and were even more surprised to find that he had +brought no wife with him—a wife, in the opinion of the Kirghiz, being as +indispensable to a man’s happiness as a horse or camel. In entering into +matrimony, the Kirghiz have one great advantage over the other Moslem +races; they see the girls whom they wish to marry, and are allowed to +converse with them before the bargain is concluded between the parents, +one hundred sheep being the average price given for a young woman. + + * * * * * + +On the 12th of January Major Burnaby left Kasala for Khiva. His retinue +consisted of three camels, loaded with a tent, forage, and provisions, +his Tartar servant, who bestrode the largest camel, and a Kirghiz guide, +who, like himself, was mounted on horseback. His provisions included +stchi, or cabbage soup, with large pieces of meat cut up in it, which, +having been poured into two large iron stable buckets, had become hard +frozen, so that it could be easily carried slung on a camel’s back. He +also took with him twenty pounds of cooked meat. A hatchet, to chop up +the meat or cut down brushwood for a fire, and a cooking lamp, with a +supply of spirit, formed part of his equipment. + +Crossing the icy surface of the Syr-Daria, our traveller once more +plunged into the solitude of the steppes, bravely facing the storm-wind +and the ridges of snow which rolled before it, like the wave-crests of a +frozen sea. After a five hours’ march, he called a halt, that the camels +might rest and be fed—for they will feed only in the daytime; wherefore +it is wise to march them as much as possible during the night. Their +ordinary pace is about two miles and a third in an hour; and the best +plan is to start at midnight, unload them for about two hours in the day +to feed, and halt at sunset: thus securing sixteen hours’ work per day, +and accomplishing a daily journey of at least thirty-seven miles. + +The kibitka was soon raised. “Imagine,” says our traveller, “a bundle of +sticks, each five feet three inches in length, and an inch in diameter; +these are connected with each other by means of cross sticks, through the +ends of which holes are bored, and leather thongs passed. This allows +plenty of room for all the sticks to open out freely; they then form a +complete circle, about twelve feet in diameter, and five feet three in +height. They do not require any pressing into the ground, for the +circular shape keeps them steady. When this is done, a thick piece of +cashmar, or cloth made of sheep’s wool, is suspended from their tops, and +reaches to the ground. This forms a shield through which the wind cannot +pass. Another bundle of sticks is then produced. They are all fastened +at one end to a small wooden cross, about six inches long by four broad; +a man standing in the centre of the circle raises up this bundle in the +air, the cross upwards, and hitches their other ends by means of little +leather loops one by one on the different upright sticks which form the +circular walls. The result is, they all pull against each other, and are +consequently self-supporting; another piece of cloth is passed round the +outside of this scaffolding, leaving a piece uncovered at the top to +allow the smoke to escape. One stick is removed from the uprights which +form the walls. This constitutes a door, and the kibitka is complete.” + +While the Major and his followers were enjoying a meal of rice and +mutton, and a glass of hot tea, three Khivans rode up to them—a merchant +and his two servants. The Khivan merchant was strongly built, and about +five feet ten inches in height. He wore a tall, conical black Astrakhan +hat; an orange-coloured dressing-gown, thickly quilted, and girt about +the loins with a long, red sash; and over all, enveloping him from hand +to foot, a heavy sheepskin mantle. His weapons consisted of a long, +single-barrelled gun, and a short, richly mounted sabre. An exchange of +civilities followed, and then both parties retired to rest. At about +three o’clock in the morning, after some difficulty with his guide and +camel-driver, the Major resumed his march, and for six hours the weary +tramp and toil over the frost-bound plain continued. At nine a halt was +called, soup was made, and the party breakfasted. By the time they were +ready to set out again, the Khivan merchant’s caravan had come up, and +all went on together. + +In advance rode the guide, singing a song in praise of mutton, and +descriptive of his partiality for that succulent meat. The Kirghiz poets +make the sheep the special subject of their metrical eulogium; in truth, +it fills in their poetry as conspicuous a place as the dove in the +love-songs of the Latin bards. Nor is to be wondered at. The sheep +represents the wealth, the property of the nomads. During the summer and +autumn they live upon their milk, and never think of killing them except +to do honour to a guest by serving up before him a leg of mutton. In the +winter they are, of course, obliged very frequently to sacrifice the +highly esteemed animal, but they live upon horseflesh and camel’s flesh +as much as they can. Their clothing is furnished by the sheep, being +made entirely of sheep’s wool wrought into a coarse homespun. Finally, +if they want to buy a horse, a camel, or a wife, they pay in sheep; and a +man’s worth in the world is reckoned by the numbers of his flock. + +On the following day, in the course of their march, the travellers came +upon a Kirghiz encampment, the members of which were considerably excited +by Major Burnaby’s announcement of his desire to purchase a whole sheep. +The head of the principal kibitka, accompanied by a pretty Kirghiz girl, +hastened to conduct him to the sheepfold, that he might select an animal, +and the fattest of the flock became his for the small sum of four +roubles. The pretty young girl acted as butcher, receiving the skin and +head in acknowledgment of her trouble, and the carcase was conveyed to +the Major’s tent, where it was duly cooked, and devoured by his +followers, who showed the most intense appreciation of his liberality. + +The march being resumed, Major Burnaby made for a place called +Kalenderhana, instead of the Russian settlement of Petro-Alexandrovsky, +having a shrewd suspicion that if he went thither, as the governor of +Kasala had desired, he would, in some way or other, be prevented from +reaching Khiva. Pushing forward steadily, he left his Khivan merchant +far behind, and strode across an undulating country in the direction of +south-south-west. Next he came into a salt district, barren and dreary; +and afterwards reached the desert of Jana-Daria, the dried-up bed of a +river, which is lost in the sand. Still continuing his march, he came +upon an unbounded ocean of sand, which, in the glaring sunshine, +glittered like a sea of molten gold. When this was traversed, the +country grew pleasanter and more fertile. Traces of game appeared. +Sometimes a brown hare darted through the herbage; while in the distance +herds of saigak, or antelopes, bounded with elastic tread across the +sward. A chain of mountains running east and west rose up before the +wanderer’s path, and presented a picturesque spectacle, with their broken +crests, sharp pinnacles, and masses of shining quartz. Upon their rugged +sides could be traced the furrows ploughed by the torrents which the +spring lets loose and feeds with its abundant rains. Through a dark and +deep defile, about seven miles long, the little company penetrated the +mountain barrier of the Kazan-Tor, and descended into a broad plain, +overspread by a network of canals for irrigation, where a striking +indication of the desultory but ceaseless hostilities waged between the +Kirghiz and the Turcomans was presented in the rude fortifications, a +high ditch and a wattled palisade, that encircled every little village. +Kalenderhana was fortified in this manner. Here Major Burnaby was warmly +welcomed, and in great state escorted to his Kirghiz guide’s house, or +kibitka, where a curious throng quickly surrounded him, and proceeded to +examine, and comment unreservedly upon, every part of his attire. Major +Burnaby, if less outspoken, was not less curious, and carefully noted +that the hostess was a good-looking woman, clad in a flowing white +dressing-gown, with a whiter turban, folded many times around her small +head. The brother-in-law, a short hump-backed fellow, had a horse to +sell, which Major Burnaby expressed his willingness to purchase, if he +went to Khiva. The guide had been ordered by the Russian governor of +Kasala to conduct the Englishman to Petro-Alexandrovsky, and at first he +was reluctant to run the risk of punishment; but the domestic pressure +put upon him could not be resisted, and he agreed to go to Khiva, on +condition that the Major completed his bargain with the horse-dealer. +This was at last arranged, and a Tartar being sent forward with a letter +to the Khan, requesting permission to visit his capital, the traveller +resumed his journey, with Nazar proudly seated astride the new purchase. + +A brief ride carried them to the bank of the great Amu-Daria, the Oxus of +Alexander the Great, which at this time was frozen over, presenting a +solid highway of ice, half a mile in breadth. There they met with some +Khivan merchants—stalwart men, with dark complexions and large eyes, +dressed in long red thickly wadded dressing-gowns and cone-shaped black +lambskin hats. A caravan of camels was crossing the river, and numerous +arbas, or two-wheeled carts, each drawn by one horse, passed to and fro. +Every man whom they encountered saluted them with the customary Arab +greeting, “_Salam aaleikom_!” to which the response was always given, +“_Aaleikom salam_!” Soon after crossing the frozen river, Major Burnaby +determined to halt for the night; and the guide began to look about for +suitable quarters. He pulled up at last by the side of a large, +substantial-looking square building, built of clay. A rap at the high +wooden gates brought out an old man bent nearly double with age, who, on +hearing that the travellers wanted a night’s hospitality, immediately +called to his servants to take charge of the horses and camels, and +across the square-walled courtyard ushered Major Burnaby into his house. +The guest-room was spacious and lofty. One end of it was covered with +thick carpets; this was the place of honour for visitors. In the centre +a small square hearth was filled with charcoal embers, confined within a +coping about three inches high. On the coping stood a richly chased +copper ewer—which might have been dug out of the ruins of the buried +Pompeii, so classic was it in shape and appearance—with a long swan-like +neck, constructed so as to assist the attendant in pouring water over the +hands of his master’s guests before they began their repast. On one side +of the hearth was a square hole about three feet deep, filled with water, +and reached by a couple of steps. It was the place of ablution—something +like the _impluvium_ in a Roman villa—and its sides were lined with +ornamental tiles. The windows were represented by two narrow slits, each +about two feet long by six inches wide, while some open wooden +trellis-work supplied the place of glass. + +After a brief absence the host reappeared, carrying in his hand a large +earthenware dish full of rice and mutton, while his servants followed, +with baskets of bread and hard-boiled eggs. A pitcher of milk was also +produced, and an enormous melon, weighing quite twenty-five pounds. When +the host and his visitor had completed their repast, they began to +converse, the Khivan asking many questions about the countries which the +Englishman had travelled. To his inquiry whether there were camels in +England, Major Burnaby replied with an amusing description of our +railways and locomotives. + +“We have trains,” he said, “composed of arbas with iron wheels; they run +upon long strips of iron, which are laid upon the ground for the wheels +to roll over.” + +“Do the horses drag them very fast?” asked the Khivan. + +“We do not use live horses, but we make a horse of iron and fill him with +water, and put fire under the water. The water boils and turns into +steam. The steam is very powerful; it rushes out of the horse’s stomach, +and turns large wheels which we give him instead of legs. The wheels +revolve over the iron lines which we have previously laid down, and the +horse, which we call an engine, moves very quickly, dragging the arbas +behind him; they are made of wood and iron, and have four wheels, not +two, like your arbas in Khiva. The pace is so great that if your Khan +had an iron horse and a railway, he could go to Kasala in one day.” + +Next morning, after remunerating his host for his hospitality, Major +Burnaby proceeded towards the goal of his daring enterprise. He passed +through the busy trading town of Oogentel, the first in Khivan territory +on the road from Kalenderhana, and, as an Englishman, attracted the +attention of the population. This attention grew into wild excitement, +when he found his way to a barber, intent upon getting rid of a beard of +thirteen weeks’ growth. In Oogentel the people shave their heads and not +their chins; so that the traveller’s desire to have his chin shaved, +instead of his head, begat an extraordinary sensation. An increasing +crowd gathered round the barber’s shop; moullahs (or priests), +camel-drivers, and merchants jostling one another in their anxiety to +obtain good points of view, like the London populace on the Lord Mayor’s +Show day. The thought occurred to Major Burnaby that this fanatical +Moslem multitude might not be displeased if the barber cut an +unbeliever’s throat, and it was not without a qualm he resigned himself +to his hands. No such catastrophe happened, however; but the barber, +rendered nervous by the accumulated gaze of hundreds of eyes, let slip +the thin strip of steel which did duty for a razor, and inflicted a +slight wound on his customer’s cheek. As no soap was used, and the +substitute for a razor was innocent of “edge,” the operation was +sufficiently disagreeable; and if the crowd were sorry, Major Burnaby was +heartily rejoiced when it came to an end and he was free to continue his +journey. + +At nine versts from Oogentel he and his party crossed the canal of the +Shabbalat, and rode through a barren tract of sand until they arrived at +a cemetery. The tombs were made of dried clay, and fashioned into the +strangest shapes; while over several of the larger floated banners or +white flags, from poles ten or twelve feet high, indicating the last +resting-place of some unknown and unchronicled hero. _Multi fortes +vixerunt ante Agamemnona_; but they have found no bard to record their +deeds of prowess in immortal verse. The Khivan warriors who fell in +defence of their wild father-land must sleep for ever in nameless graves. + +At a village called Shamahoolhur, the traveller was received with true +Khivan hospitality. His entertainer was a fair-looking man, with a +genial address and a hearty glance in his dark eyes, and appeared, from +his surroundings, to be possessed of considerable wealth. He was a +sportsman, and kept several hawks; these birds being used in Khiva to fly +at the saigahs and hares. The bird strikes his victim between its eyes +with a force which stuns or confuses it, so that it can make no +resistance or attempt at escape when the hounds seize it. + +“Do you not hunt in this way in your country?” said the Khivan. + +“No; we hunt foxes, but only with hounds, and we ourselves follow on +horseback.” + +“Are your horses like our own?” he asked. + +“No; they are most of them stouter built, have stronger shoulders, and +are better animals; but though they can gallop faster than your horses +for a short distance, I do not think they can last so long.” + +“Which do you like best, your horse or your wife?” inquired the man. + +“That depends upon the woman,” I replied; and the guide, here joining in +the conversation, said that in England they did not buy or sell their +wives, and that I was not a married man. + +“What! you have not got a wife?” + +“No; how could I travel if I had one?” + +“Why, you might leave her behind, and lock her up, as our merchants do +with their wives when they go on a journey!” + +The next morning Major Burnaby encountered on the road the messenger he +had despatched to Khiva. He was accompanied by two Khivan noblemen, one +of whom courteously saluted the English traveller, and explained that the +Khan had sent him to escort him into the city, and bid him welcome. + +They rapidly approached the capital, and above its belt of trees could +see its glittering crown of minarets and domes. The landscape round +about it was very pleasant to see, with its leafy groves, its walled +orchards, and its avenues of mulberry trees; and recalled to the +traveller’s mind the descriptions which figure in the pages of Oriental +story-tellers. A swift ride brought the party to the gates of Khiva. +The city is built in an oblong form, and surrounded by two walls; of +which the outer is not less than fifty feet in height, and constructed of +baked bricks, with the upper part of dried clay. This forms the first +line of defence. At a quarter of a mile within it rises the second wall, +somewhat lower than the first, and protected by a dry ditch. It +immediately surrounds the tower. The space between the two walls is used +as a market, and high above the throng of vendors and buyers, and the +press of cattle, horses, sheep, and camels, rises the cross-beam of the +ghastly gallows, on which all people convicted of theft are executed. + +But as we have already spoken of this now famous city, we must confine +ourselves in these pages to Major Burnaby’s individual adventures. +Lodging was provided for him in the house of his escort, and directly on +his entry he was served with refreshments. Afterwards he was conducted +to the bath. In the evening a succession of visitors arrived; and it was +late when the Major was at liberty to seek repose. + + + +II. + + +In the afternoon of the following day two officials arrived from the +Khan, with an escort of six men on horseback and four on foot, to conduct +the English officer to the palace. Mounting his horse, he rode forth, +preceded by the six horsemen, and with an official on either side; the +rear being brought up by Nazar, with some attendants on foot, who lashed +out freely with their long whips when the staring crowd drew +inconveniently near the _cortége_. Fresh sightseers arrived every +moment, for the name of England exercises a charm and a power in Khiva, +where people are never weary of talking of the nation which holds in fee +the gorgeous Indian empire, and is regarded as the rival and inevitable +foe of the White Czar. The very housetops were lined with curious eyes. +Through the hum and din of voices the Englishman proceeded to the Khan’s +residence; a large building, with pillars and domes reflecting the sun’s +rays from their bright glazed tiles. At the gates stood a guard of +thirty or forty men with flashing scimitars. The company passed into a +small courtyard, from which a door opened into a low passage, and this +led to some squalid corridors, terminating in a large square room, where +was seated the treasurer, with three moullahs, busily engaged in counting +up his money. He made a sign to the attendants, and a large wooden box +was at once pushed forward, and offered to Major Burnaby as a seat. An +interval of fifteen minutes, as the playwrights say, followed. Then a +messenger entered the room, and announced that the Khan was at liberty to +receive the stranger. Away through a long corridor, and across an inner +courtyard, to the reception-hall—a large dome-shaped tent or kibitka. A +curtain was drawn aside, and the Englishman found himself face to face +with the celebrated Khan. + +The portrait he draws of the Khivan potentate differs in some particulars +from that drawn by Mr. MacGahan (see p. 283):—“He is taller than the +average of his subjects, being quite five feet ten in height, and is +strongly built. His face is of a broad massive type; he has a low square +forehead, large dark eyes, a short straight nose, with dilated nostrils, +and a coal-black beard and moustache. An enormous mouth, with irregular +but white teeth, and a chin somewhat concealed by his beard, and not at +all in character with the otherwise determined appearance of his face, +must complete the picture. He did not look more than eight and twenty, +and had a pleasant genial smile, and a merry twinkle in his eye, very +unusual amongst Orientals; in fact, a Spanish expression would describe +him better than any English one I can think of. He is _muy simpatico_. . . . +The Khan was dressed in a similar sort of costume to that generally +worn by his subjects, but it was made of much richer materials, and a +jewelled sword was lying by his feet. His head was covered by a tall +black Astrakhan hat, of a sugar-loaf shape.” + +Tea having been served in a small porcelain cup, the Khan entered into +conversation with his visitor, through the medium of Nazar, a Kirghiz +interpreter, and a moullah. At first it turned upon the relations +existing between England and Russia, the Crimean War, the Indian +Government, and other branches of _la haute politique_; the Khan +displaying a quick and clear intelligence. At last he said— + +“You do not have a Khan at the head of affairs?” + +“No,” replied Burnaby, “a Queen; and her Majesty is advised as to her +policy by her ministers, who for the time being are supposed to represent +the opinion of the country.” + +“And does that opinion change?” + +“Very frequently; and since your country was conquered we have had a +fresh Government, whose policy is diametrically opposite to that held by +the previous one; and in a few years’ time we shall have another change, +for in our country, as the people advance in knowledge and wealth, they +require fresh laws and privileges. The result of this is, they choose a +different set of people to represent them;” and the Major entered on a +brief exposition of constitutional principles, which to the Khan must +surely have been unintelligible. + +“Can your Queen have a subject’s head cut off?” + +“No, not without a trial before our judges.” + +“Then she never has their throats cut?” [the Khivan punishment for +murder]. + +“No.” + +“Hindostan is a very wonderful country,” continued the Khan; “the envoy I +sent there a few years ago {359} has told me of your railroads and +telegraphs; but the Russians have railroads, too.” + +“Yes,” replied Burnaby; “we lent them money, and our engineers have +helped to make them.” + +“Do the Russians pay you for this?” he inquired. + +“Yes; so far they have behaved very honourably.” + +“Are there not Jews in your country like some of the Jews at Bokhara?” + +“One of the richest men in England is a Jew.” + +“The Russians do not take away the money from the Jews?” + +“No.” + +Here the Khan said a few words to his treasurer, and then remarked, in +allusion to the tribute he pays to Russia annually:—“Why do they take +money from me, then? The Russians love money very much.” As he said +this, he shook his head sorrowfully at the treasurer; and the latter, +assuming a dolorous expression, poured out with a pitiful accent the +monosyllable “Hum!” which, in Khivan language, seems to convey as +pregnant a meaning as Lord Burleigh’s shake of the head in “The Critic.” + +With a low bow from the Khan, the interview terminated. + +On the following day Major Burnaby visited the Khan’s gardens, which lie +about three-quarters of a mile from the town. They are five in number, +surrounded by high walls of sun-dried clay, and each from four to five +acres in extent. Entering one of them, our traveller discovered that it +was neatly laid out and trimly kept. The fruit trees, arranged in long +avenues, were carefully cut and pruned; apple, pear, and cherry trees +abounded. In the spring melons are grown on a large scale; and in the +summer trellis-work arbours of vines, loaded with grapes, afford a +delightful shelter from the sun’s fierce glare. In a small summer-palace +here, the Khan holds his court in June and July, and on a raised stone +daïs outside sits to administer justice. + +Returning to Khiva, Burnaby visited the prison and the principal +school—the invariable accompaniments of civilization, however imperfect. +But may we not hope that, some day, the school will destroy the gaol, and +relieve civilization from the reproach of barbarism that still attaches +to it? Meanwhile, Nazar was preparing for the Major’s contemplated +expedition to Bokhara, his tour to Merv and Meshed, and his journey from +Persia into India, and so back to England. It was the 27th of January, +and he had determined to spend only one more day in Khiva. But his plans +were upset by an unexpected incident. On the morning of the 28th, just +after his return from a ride through the market, he was “interviewed” by +two strangers, who presented him with a letter from the commandant of +Petro-Alexandrovsky, the Russian fort he had so determinedly avoided. It +was to the effect that a telegram, which had been forwarded _viâ_ +Tashkent, awaited him at the fort, whither he must be pleased to repair +to receive it. How or why any person should consider him of importance +enough to despatch a telegram so many thousands of miles, and should go +to the expense a sending it from Tashkent where the telegraph ends, to +Khiva, a distance of nine hundred miles, by couriers with relays of +horses, Burnaby could not understand. But there was no help for it. He +must hasten to Petro-Alexandrovsky, where he did not want to go, and +abandon his trip to Bokhara and Merv, where he very much wished to go. +So he paid a visit to the bazar, and afterwards took leave of the Khan, +who bestowed upon him the honourable gift of a khalat, or dressing-gown, +and on the 29th bade adieu to Khiva. + +He reached Petro-Alexandrovsky on the second day, and found that the +important telegram which had travelled so far was one from the Duke of +Cambridge, Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, requiring his immediate +return to European Russia. He found also that the Russian Government had +given orders for his return by the shortest route to Kasala. All hope of +further exploration and adventure in Central Asia had to be abandoned. +Before leaving Petro-Alexandrovsky, the disappointed traveller had an +opportunity of accompanying a coursing party, and sharing in a day’s +novel sport. There were horses and men of all kinds and shapes, +Russians, Bokharans, Kirghiz, short-legged men on giant steeds, and +long-legged men on short-legged horses. A short colonel, said to be well +versed in the pastime, acted as master of the hunt. Behind him were led +seven or eight greyhounds in couples; while a stalwart Khivan bore on his +elbow a hooded falcon, graceful enough to have figured in Mr. Tennyson’s +poetical little drama. Amid a storm of cries and shouts and yells, the +hunters rode forward at a rattling pace, crossing a flat open country, +intersected by a ditch or two; until, after an eight miles’ run, they +arrived at the cover, a narrow tract of bush and bramble-covered ground +stretching down to the bank of the frozen Oxus. Forming in a line, at a +distance of twenty yards from one another, the horsemen rode through bush +and bramble. A sharp yell from a Kirghiz, and after a startled hare, +which had left its covert, dashed Russians, Bokharans, Englishman, and +hounds. On they went, down the slippery river bank, across the shining +ice, towards a dense bit of copse, where it looked as if poor puss might +find an asylum from her pursuers. But at this moment the falcon was +launched into the air. A swift swooping flight, and whir of wings, and +in a second it was perched on its victim’s back, while around it gathered +the well-trained dogs, with open mouths and lolling tongues, not daring +to approach the quarry. The master galloped up, seized the prize, and in +a few minutes more the hunt was resumed; nor did the horsemen turn their +faces homeward until five hares had rewarded their chivalrous efforts. + +In company with two Russian officers, and an escort of ten Cossacks, +Major Burnaby, after a pleasant sojourn at Petro-Alexandrovsky, set out +on his return to Kasala. As the weather was warmer, and the snow had +begun to melt, the three officers travelled in a tarantass, drawn by six +Kirghiz horses; the said tarantass closely resembling a hansom cab which, +after its wheels have been removed, has been fastened in a brewer’s dray. +It has no springs, and it runs upon small but solid wooden wheels. They +had gone but a few miles before they came again into a land of snow; the +horses had to be taken out, and a couple of camels substituted. At night +they bivouacked, resuming their journey before daybreak. It was a +picturesque sight:—“First, the Cossacks, the barrels of their carbines +gleaming in the moonlight, the vashlik of a conical shape surmounting +each man’s low cap, and giving a ghastly appearance to the riders. Their +distorted shadows were reflected on the snow beneath, and appeared like a +detachment of gigantic phantoms pursuing our little force. Then the +tarantass, drawn by two large camels, which slowly ploughed their way +through the heavy track, the driver nodding on his box but half awake, +the two officers in the arms of Morpheus inside, and the heavy woodwork +creaking at each stride of the enormous quadrupeds. In the wake of this +vehicle strode the baggage camels. The officers’ servants were fast +asleep on the backs of their animals, one man lying with his face to the +tail, and snoring hard in spite of the continued movement; another fellow +lay stretched across his saddle, apparently a good deal the worse for +drink. He shouted out at intervals the strains of a Bacchanalian ditty. +Nazar, who was always hungry, could be seen walking in the rear. He had +kept back a bone from the evening meal, and was gnawing it like a dog, +his strong jaws snapping as they closed on the fibrous mutton. I +generally remained by our bivouac fire an hour or so after the rest of +the party had marched, and seated by the side of the glowing embers, +watched the caravan as it vanished slowly in the distance.” + +At mid-day, on the 12th of February, Burnaby and his companions galloped +across the frozen highway of the Syr-Daria, and into the streets of +Kasala, having ridden three hundred and seventy one miles in exactly nine +days and two hours. He remained at Kasala for a few days, endeavouring +to obtain permission to return to European Russia _viâ_ Western Siberia; +but his application failed, and he was informed that the authorization he +had received to travel in Russian Asia had been cancelled. There was +nothing to be done, therefore, but to complete the necessary preparations +for his journey to Orenburg. A sleigh was hired, and amid a chorus of +farewells from his Russian acquaintances, who showed themselves more +friendly than their Government, he started on his homeward route, having +undergone some novel experiences, and seen Khiva, but gathered no +information of any value to geographers or men of science. In fact, the +chief interest attaching to Major Burnaby’s expedition is personal: it +shows that he was a man of much energy, resolution, and perseverance, and +he may fairly be complimented on the good use he made of these qualities +in his bold but unsuccessful Ride to Khiva. {364} + + + + +SIR SAMUEL BAKER, +AND THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. + + +I. + + +OF late years the Lake Regions of Central Africa have offered a fertile +and attractive field to the explorer. The interest of the public in +African discovery, which had for some time been dormant, was revived in +1849, by the achievements of Dr. Livingstone, who, starting from the +south, crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and penetrated to the shores of +Lake Ngami. In 1853 to 1856 the same great traveller traced the course +of the river Leeambye or Zambési, and traversed the entire breadth of the +“black continent” from Angola on the west coast to Zanzibar on the east. +In 1865 he resumed his labours, striking into the very heart of Africa, +with the view of tracing out the Sources of the Nile, and entering into a +fertile country, the resources of which he found to be capable of immense +development. For the first two or three years of his absence his letters +and despatches reached England with some degree of regularity, but at +length a veil of silence fell across his path, and it began to be feared +that he, like other explorers, had fallen a victim to his enthusiasm. An +expedition in search of the missing traveller was equipped by Mr. Gordon +Bennett, proprietor of the _New York Herald_, in 1871, and placed in +charge of Mr. Henry M. Stanley, who had the good fortune to find +Livingstone at Ujiji, near Unyanyembé, on the 10th of November. He +remained with him until the 14th of March, 1872, when he returned to +England with his diary and other documents. Dr. Livingstone at this time +reported that, in his belief, the Nile springs up about six hundred miles +to the south of the southernmost point of Lake Victoria Nyanza. In +November, 1872, a relief or auxiliary expedition, under Lieutenant V. +Lovett Cameron, started from Zanzibar; but in October, 1873, while at +Unyanyembé, its leader received the intelligence of Livingstone’s death, +which had taken place at Ujiji, and soon afterwards the corpse arrived in +charge of his faithful followers. Cameron then took up the work of +exploration, and in spite of immense difficulties, great mental and +physical suffering, and obstacles of every kind, he made his way to Lake +Tanganyika, thence to Nyangwé, and after identifying the Lualaba with the +Kongo, struck to the southward, and passing through regions hitherto +unexplored, struck the west coast at Benguela. As a result of his +observations, Lieutenant Cameron thus sketches the river system of +Africa:— + +“The basin of the Nile is probably bounded on the south-west by the +watershed reached by Dr. Schweinfurth; on the south of the Albert Nyanza, +by the high lands between that lake and the Tanganyika, whence the +watershed pursues a tortuous course to Unyanyembé (where, I believe, the +basins of the Nile, Kongo, and Lufiji approach each other), and then +follows a wave of high land running east till it turns up northwards +along the landward slopes of the mountains dividing the littoral from the +interior. Passing by Mounts Kilima Njaro and Kenia, it extends to the +mountains of Abyssinia, where the sources of the Blue Nile were +discovered by Bruce [1770], and so on to the parched plains bordering the +Red Sea, where no rains ever fall. The western boundary of the Nile +basin is, of course, the eastern portion of the desert. + +“The basins of the Niger and the Ogowai cannot yet be defined with any +degree of exactitude, and the northern boundary of the basin of the Kongo +has still to be traced. + +“The Zambési drains that portion of the continent south of the Kongo +system, and north of the Kalahari desert and the Limpopo, the northern +boundary of the Transvaal Republic; some of its affluents reaching to +within two hundred and fifty miles of the west coast. + +“The mighty Kongo, king of all the African rivers, and second only to the +Amazon (and perhaps to the Yang-tse-Kiang) in the volume of its waters, +occupies a belt of the continent lying on both sides of the equator, but +most probably the larger area belongs to the southern hemisphere. Many +of its affluents fork into those of the Zambési on a level tableland, +where the watershed is so tortuous that it is hard to trace it, and +where, during the rainy season, floods extend right across between the +head-waters of the two streams. + +“The Kelli, discovered by Dr. Schweinfurth, may possibly prove to be the +Lowa, reported to me as a large affluent of the Lualaba [or Kongo] to the +west of Nyangwé; or, if not an affluent of the Lualaba, it most probably +flows either to the Ogowai or the Tchadda, an affluent of the Niger.” + +In 1874 another expedition of discovery was fitted out, at the joint +expense of the proprietors of the London _Daily Telegraph_ and the _New +York Herald_, and Mr. H. M. Stanley was appointed to the command. In +1875 he reached Lake Victoria Nyanza, and through the good offices of +Mtesa, King of Uganda, obtained a flotilla of canoes, with which he +circumnavigated the lake. It proved to be the largest basin of fresh +water in the world, occupying the immense area of sixty thousand square +miles. Mr. Stanley next pushed on to Lake Albert Nyanza; afterwards +circumnavigated the northern half of Lake Tanganyika; struck westward to +the Lualaba at Nyangwé (1876), and thence descended the Lualaba as far as +the Isangila Falls (June, 1877), whence he crossed the country to +Kalinda, on the west coast. + + * * * * * + +But we must now return to 1857, when Captains Burton and Speke, under the +auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of London, started from +Zanzibar to explore the inland lacustrine region; and discovered, to the +south of the equator, Lake Tanganyika, which they partially explored in a +couple of canoes. Captain Burton being taken ill, Speke pushed on to the +north alone, and discovered the immense basin now known as the Victoria +Nyanza, which he immediately conceived to be the great reservoir and +head-waters of the Nile. To ascertain the truth of this supposition, he +started again from the east coast in October, 1860, accompanied by +Captain Grant; crossed the great equatorial table-land of the interior; +reached the Victoria Nyanza; skirted its shores until they discovered its +main outlet, which proved to be the Nile, and then traced the course of +the famous river to Gondokoro, whence, by way of Assouan, Thebes, and +Cairo, they proceeded to Alexandria. Their well-directed energy had to a +great extent solved the geographical problem of ages, and dispelled the +cloud-land in which the Nile springs had so long been hidden:— + + “The mystery of old Nile was solved; brave men + Had through the lion-haunted inland past, + Dared all the perils of desert, gorge, and glen, + Found the far Source at last.” + +With heroic patience they had accomplished on foot their journey of +thirteen hundred miles, and shown that the parent stream of the Nile, +even in its earliest course a considerable river, was fed by the vast +reservoir of the “Victorian Sea.” What remained to be discovered was the +feeders of this vast basin, and which among them was indeed the primary +source of the Nile. Some fresher light was thrown on the subject by Sir +Samuel Baker, {369} who, with his wife, underwent some remarkable +experiences in Central Africa, and earned a right to be included among +our Heroes of Travel. Let us now follow him “through scorching deserts +and thirsty sands; through swamp and jungle and interminable morass; +through difficulties, fatigues, and sickness,” until we stand with him on +that high cliff where the great prize burst upon his view, and he saw +before him one of the chief sources of the Nile in the Luta N’zige, or +Albert Lake. + + * * * * * + +Accompanied by his courageous and devoted wife, who insisted upon sharing +his labours and his perils, he sailed up the Nile from Cairo on the 15th +of April, 1861. In twenty-six days they arrived at Kousko, whence they +crossed the Nubian desert, so as to cut off the western bend of the +river, touching it again at Aboù Hamed. Eight days more and they reached +Berber, where they remained until the 11th of June. A year was spent in +exploring the Abyssinian frontier and the Abyssinian tributaries of the +Nile; and the travellers made their appearance at Khartûm on the 11th of +June, 1862. Khartûm is a densely populated, unclean, and pestiferous +town, in lat. 15° 29′, at the junction point of the White and Blue Nile; +it is the capital of the Soudan, and the seat of a governor-general. +Twenty years ago it was also the centre of a cruel and desolating +slave-trade, but the exertions of Sir Samuel Baker and Colonel Gordon +have done much to lessen its proportions. + +Having engaged a Nile boat, or dahabeeyah, and two larger noggens or +sailing barges, with an escort of forty armed men, and forty sailors, and +accumulated four months’ supplies of provisions, Sir Samuel set sail from +Khartûm on the 18th of December, 1862. On Christmas Day he was slowly +ascending the river, the banks of which were fringed with immense +forests. These trees are the soont (_Acacia Arabica_), which produce an +excellent tannin; the fruit is used for that purpose, and yields a rich +brown dye. The straight smooth trunks are thirty-five feet high, and +about eighteen inches in diameter. When in full foliage they look well +from a distance, but on a closer approach the forest is seen to be a +desolate swamp, completely overflowed; “a mass of fallen dead trees +protruding from the stagnant waters, a solitary crane perched here and +there upon the rotten boughs; floating water-plants massed together, and +forming green swimming islands, hitched generally among the sunken trunks +and branches; sometimes slowly descending with the sluggish stream, +bearing, spectre-like, storks thus voyaging on nature’s rafts to freer +lands unknown.” This kind of scenery—depressing enough, no +doubt—continues for a considerable distance, and so long as it lasts +deprives the Nile of that romance with which it has been invested by the +imagination of poets. There is neither beauty nor interest in it; and +one is surprised to see the low flat banks studded with populous +villages. The flooded plains, however, afford abundant pasture for the +herds of the Shillooks, who in their choice of a locality are governed by +considerations of utility, and not by the principles of æstheticism. + +The junction of the Sobat takes place in lat. 9° 21′. This tributary, at +the point of confluence, is a hundred and twenty yards broad, and flows +at the rate of two miles and a half per hour. Still the Nile valley +presents the same characteristics—broad tracts of marsh and grasses; +dull, monotonous levels, unrelieved by any vividness of colour. After +receiving the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the White Nile turns abruptly to the +south-east, and winds upward through a flat country, which, in the rainy +season, is resolved into a system of extensive lakes. Its highway is +half choked with floating vegetation, which nurtures innumerable clouds +of mosquitoes. The people on its banks belong to the Nuehr tribe; the +women pierce the upper lip, and wear an ornament about four inches long, +of beads upon a iron wire, which projects like the horn of a rhinoceros. +The men are both tall and robust, and armed with lances. They carry +pipes that will hold nearly a quarter of a pound of tobacco; when the +supply of “the weed” fails, they substitute charcoal. + +The monotony of the voyage was broken one day by the appearance of a +hippopotamus close to Sir Samuel’s boat. He was about half grown, and in +an instant a score of men jumped into the water to seize him. The +captain caught him by the hind-leg; and then the crowd rushed in, and, +with ropes thrown from the vessel, slipped nooses over his head. A grand +struggle ensued, but as it seemed likely to result in a victory for the +hippopotamus, Sir Samuel slew him with a rifle ball. The Arab seamen, +who have an extraordinary appetite, like the old school-men, for the most +trivial arguments, observing that the animal had been “bullied” and +scarred by some other and stronger hippopotamus, plunged into a fierce +contention on the point whether he had been misused by his father or his +mother. As they could not agree, they referred the question to the +arbitration of Sir Samuel, who pacified both parties by the felicitous +suggestion that perhaps it was his uncle! They set to work at once with +willing vigour to cut up the ill-treated hippopotamus, which proved to be +as fat as butter, and made most excellent soup. + +Continuing their “up-river” course, the voyagers came to the country of +the Kegtah tribe. Such savages as they saw were equally uncivilized and +emaciated. The young women wore no clothing, except a small piece of +dressed hide across the shoulders; the men, instead of the hide, assumed +a leopard-skin. There was greater appearance of intelligence in the +termites, or white ant, than in these poor half-starved wretches. The +white-ant hills here rise like castle-towers above the water of the +marshes. Their inmates build them ten feet high in the dry season, and +when the rains come, live high and dry in the upper stories. Humanity, +meanwhile, sickens in the stagnant swamp, and lingers out a miserable +existence. The Bohr and Aliab tribes are a degree higher in the scale of +civilization, but the Shir go beyond them. They are armed with well-made +ebony clubs, two lances, a bow and arrows; they carry upon their backs a +neatly made miniature stool, along with an immense pipe. The females are +not absolutely naked; they wear small lappets of tanned leather as broad +as the hand; at the back of the belt which supports this apron is a tail, +depending to the lower portions of the thighs—a tail of finely cut strips +of leather, which has probably given rise to the Arab report that a tribe +in Central Africa had tails like horses. The huts here, and all along +the Nile, are circular, with entrances so low that the inmates creep in +and out on hands and knees. The men decorate their heads with tufts of +cock’s feathers; their favourite attitude, when standing, is on one leg, +while leaning on a spear, the uplifted leg reposing on the inside of the +other knee. + +All the White Nile tribes are quick to collect their harvest of the +lotus, or water-lily, seed, which they grind into flour, and make into a +kind of porridge. The seed-pod of the white lotus resembles an unblown +artichoke, and contains a number of light red grains about the size of +the mustard-seed, but in shape like those of the poppy, and like them in +flavour. The ripe pods are strung upon reeds about four feet long, +formed into large bundles, and carried from the river to the villages, to +be dried in the sun, and stored away until wanted. + +The 1st of February was a “white day” in the voyagers’ calendar, for on +that day the scenery of the river underwent a welcome improvement. The +marshes gave place to dry ground; the well-wooded banks rose four feet +above the water level; the thickly populated country bloomed like an +orchard. At Gondokoro the picture was fresh and pleasant, with a distant +view of high mountains, and neat villages nestling under the shade of +evergreen trees. Gondokoro is not a town, but merely a station of the +ivory traders, and for ten months of the year is almost a solitude. Its +climate is hot and unhealthy. Sir Samuel Baker did not meet with a +friendly reception. The men who profited by the slave-trade regarded him +with suspicion; they believed he had come to watch their doings, and +report them to the world. Their hostility, however, did not disturb his +composure, and he amused himself in riding about the neighbourhood, and +studying the place and its inhabitants. He admired the exquisite +cleanliness of the native dwellings, which almost rose to the standard of +the famous village of Brock. Each house was enclosed by a hedge of the +impenetrable euphorbia, and the area within was neatly plastered with a +cement of ashes, cow-dung, and sand. Upon this well-kept surface stood +one or more huts, surrounded by granaries of neat wicker-work, thatched, +resting upon raised platforms. The huts are built with projecting roofs +for the sake of shade, and the entrance is not more than two feet high. +On the death of a member of the family, he is buried in the yard, his +resting-place being indicated by a pole crowned by a bunch of cock’s +feathers, and ornamented with a few ox-horns and skulls. Each man +carries with him, wherever he goes, his weapons, pipe, and stool, the +whole (except the stool) being held between his legs when he is standing. +The Gondokoro natives belong to the Bari tribe: the men are well grown; +the women are not prepossessing, with good features, and no sign of negro +blood, except the woolly hair. They tattoo themselves on stomach, sides, +and back, and anoint their persons with a peculiar red clay, abounding in +oxide of iron. Their principal weapon is the bow and arrow; the arrow +they steep in the juice of euphorbia and other poisonous plants. + +At the secret instigation of the slave-traders, Sir Samuel Baker’s escort +broke out into open mutiny, declaring that they had not meat enough, and +demanding leave to carry off the oxen of the natives. The ringleader, an +Arab, was so violent that Sir Samuel ordered him to receive twenty-five +lashes. The vakeel, Saati, advanced to seize him, when many of the men +rushed to his rescue; and Sir Samuel was compelled to interfere. The +Arab then rushed at his employer; but Sir Samuel knocked him back into +the middle of the crowd, caught him by the throat, and called to the +vakeel for a rope to bind him; but in an instant all the mutineers sprang +forward to his assistance. How the affair would have ended seems +doubtful; but as the fray took place within ten yards of the boat, Lady +Baker, who was ill with fever in the cabin, witnessed the whole of it, +and seeing her husband surrounded, rushed out, forced her way into the +middle of the crowd, and called on some of the least mutinous to assist. +For a moment the crowd wavered, and Sir Samuel seized the opportunity to +shout to the drummer-boy to beat the drum. Immediately, the drum beat, +and in his loudest tones Sir Samuel ordered the men to “fall in.” The +instinct of discipline prevailed: two-thirds of the men fell in, and +formed in line, while the others retreated with the ringleader, declaring +he was badly hurt. Then Sir Samuel insisted upon their all forming in +line, and upon the ringleader being brought forward. At this critical +moment, Lady Baker, with true feminine tact, implored her husband to +forgive the man if he kissed his hand and begged for pardon. The men +were completely conquered by this generosity, and called on their +ringleader to apologize, and that all would be right. Thus the affair +ended; but Sir Samuel rightly foresaw in it the promise of future +troubles. According to the custom of the White Nile, the men had five +months’ wages in advance; he had therefore no control over them; yet he +and his wife were about to penetrate into the midst of a probably hostile +native population, with an escort on whose faithfulness no reliance could +be placed. + +On the 15th of February, Captains Speke and Grant arrived at Gondokoro, +from the Victoria Nyanza, and the meeting between them and Sir Samuel was +necessarily very cordial. The information they communicated had a +material effect upon his plans. He found that they had been unable to +complete the actual exploration of the Nile—that a most important portion +remained to be determined. It appears that in lat. 2° 17′ N. they had +crossed the Nile, after tracking it from the Victoria Lake; that the +river then turned suddenly to the west, and that they did not touch it +again until they arrived in lat. 3° 32′ N., when it was then flowing from +the west-south-west. The natives, and Kamrasi, King of Unyoro, had +assured them that the Nile from the Victoria Nyanza, which they had +crossed in lat. 2° 17′ N., flowed westward for several days’ journey, and +at length fell into a large lake called the Luta N’zige (“Dead Locust”); +that this lake came from the south, and that the Nile, on entering its +northern extremity, almost immediately made its exit, and as a navigable +river continued its course to the north through the Koshi and Madi +countries. Circumstances prevented Speke and Grant from pushing their +explorations as far as the Luta N’zige; and the question that remained to +be answered was, What was the exact position of this lake in the basin of +the Nile? what was its relation to the great river? + +This question Sir Samuel Baker resolved upon settling. Speke and Grant +sailed from Gondokoro, homeward bound, on the 26th, and he immediately +began to prepare for his journey to the Luta N’zige. His preparations +were delayed, however, by the mutinous conduct of his escort, and the +obstacles thrown in his path by the nefarious ivory-traders and +slave-hunters; and it was the 26th of March before he was able to effect +a start. Then, with his escort reduced in number to fifteen men, with +two faithful servants, Richard and the boy Saat, and a heavily loaded +caravan of camels and donkeys, with Lady Baker mounted on a good strong +Abyssinian hunter, Tétel (“Hartebeest”), and Sir Samuel himself on his +horse Filfil (“Pepper”), and the British flag waving proudly above the +_cortége_, they left Gondokoro, and began their march into Central +Africa. + +The country was park-like, but dried up by the hot weather. The soil was +sandy, but firm, and numerous evergreen trees enlivened the landscape, +which was further animated by clusters of villages, each surrounded by a +fence of euphorbia. It varied greatly in character as the travellers +advanced; sometimes presenting a magnificent forest, sometimes a dense +jungle, sometimes a labyrinth of ravines, through which the caravan made +its way with difficulty. The view of the valley of Tollogo was +exceedingly picturesque. An abrupt granite wall rose on the east side to +a height of about a thousand feet; from this perpendicular cliff huge +blocks had fallen, strewing the bottom with a confused mass of fragments, +among which the natives had built their village. A slow stream wound its +way in the hollow, which was nowhere more than half a mile wide, in the +shade of numerous fig trees. At Ellyria Sir Samuel narrowly escaped a +hostile encounter with an ivory-trader’s party, but through the firmness +and skilfulness of himself and his wife, not only was it avoided, but +friendly relations were established with its leader. No supplies, +however, could be procured from the natives, whose character Sir Samuel +paints in the darkest colours. Of the village of Wakkala he gives a +pleasant description. The soil was very rich, and the ground being +protected from the burning sun by the large trees, there was a wealth of +luscious grass; while the good pasturage, the extensive forest, and a +plentiful supply of water insured a not less plentiful supply of wild +animals—antelopes in numerous varieties, rhinoceros, buffaloes, +elephants, and giraffes. The next town was Latomé, where the traveller’s +presence of mind and courage were tested by another mutiny; but again he +succeeded in defeating the intentions of the insurgents, and reducing +them to obedience. + +Along the foot of the Lafut mountains, which attain a general elevation +of six to seven thousand feet, the travellers pursued their way. +Desertions reduced their escort by five men, but they abated not their +high hopes or spirit of daring enterprise. They duly arrived at +Tarangdlé, famous for its fine trees—the chief settlement of the +Latookas, a fine, frank, and warlike race, who resemble the Irish in +their readiness to join either in a feast or a fray. The town contains +three thousand houses, each of which, as well as the town itself, is +protected by an iron-wood palisade. The cattle are kept in large kraals, +and at various points high platforms are erected, where sentinels keep +watch and ward both day and night. The cattle are the wealth of the +country, and so rich are the Latookas in them, that ten or twelve +thousand head are housed in every large town. The natives are constantly +on guard to prevent the depredations of neighbouring tribes. + +“The houses of the Latookas,” says Sir Samuel, “are generally +bell-shaped, while others are precisely like huge candle-extinguishers, +about twenty-five feet high. The roofs are neatly thatched, at an angle +of about 75°, resting upon a circular wall about four feet high; thus the +roof forms a cap descending to within two feet and a half of the ground. +The doorway is only two feet and two inches high, thus an entrance must +be effected upon all-fours. The interior is remarkably clean, but dark, +as the architects have no idea of windows. It is a curious fact that the +circular form of hut is the only style of architecture adopted among all +the tribes of Central Africa, and also among the Arabs of Upper Egypt; +and that, although these differ more or less in the form of the roof, no +tribe has ever yet sufficiently advanced to construct a window. The town +of Tarangdlé is arranged with several entrances, in the shape of low +archways through the palisades; these are closed at night by large +branches of the hooked thorn of the kittur bush (a species of mimosa). +The main street is broad, but all others are studiously arranged to admit +of only one cow, in single file, between high stockades; thus, in the +event of an attack, these narrow passages could be easily defended, and +it would be impossible to drive off their vast herds of cattle unless by +the main street. The large cattle kraals are accordingly arranged in +various quarters in connection with the great road, and the entrance of +each kraal is a small archway in the strong iron-wood fence, sufficiently +wide to admit one ox at a time. Suspended from the arch is a bell, +formed of the shell of the Oolape palm-nut, against which every animal +must strike either its horns or back, on entrance. Every tinkle of the +bell announces the passage of an ox into the kraal, and they are thus +counted every evening when brought home from pasture.” + +While at Latooka Sir Samuel was enabled to gratify his passion for the +chase, and his skill and prowess were rewarded by the capture of an +elephant. There is a great difference, or rather, there are three great +differences between the African and the Asiatic elephant: the back of the +former is concave, that of the latter convex; the former has an enormous +ear, the latter a comparatively small one; the head of the former has a +convex front, while that of the latter exposes a flat surface a little +above the trunk. The African animal is much larger than the Asiatic; and +while the latter seeks the forest depths during the day, and does not +wander forth upon the plains till towards evening, the former remains all +day in the vast open prairies, where the thick grass springs to a height +of twelve feet. The African elephant feeds chiefly on the foliage of +trees; the Asiatic is an extensive grass feeder. + +The natives hunt the elephant for the sake of the flesh and the tusks. +Sometimes he is caught in pitfalls; at other times, the grass of the +prairies is fired, and the elephants gradually driven back into a +confined area, where they are surrounded and speared to death. Or, +should a number of elephants be in the neighbourhood of a village, about +a hundred men, armed with heavy-bladed lances, post themselves in as many +trees, while a multitude of natives gradually drive the animals towards +this ambush, when such as pass near enough are speared between the +shoulders. The Bagara Arabs are famous elephant hunters. Armed with +bamboo lances, tipped with a sharp iron head, two of them, mounted on +good horses, sally forth to secure a prize. On coming in sight of a +herd, they single out the finest tusker and separate him from the others. +One man then leads the charge, and the animal, hotly pursued, turns +against the horse, which the rider so manages as to draw the elephant +further and further after him, while carefully keeping a safe distance +ahead. The other man, meanwhile, is at the elephant’s heels, and +suddenly dismounting, while at full gallop, plunges his spear into its +body about two feet below the junction of the tail, driving it with all +his strength into the abdomen, and then withdrawing it. If successful in +his thrust, he remounts his horse and escapes, or takes to flight on +foot, pursued by the elephant, until the attention of the latter is drawn +to his first assailant, who in his turn rides up, and inflicts a wound. +Sometimes the first wound proves fatal; sometimes the process is repeated +twice or thrice before the animal succumbs; and sometimes the elephant +overtakes his enemy, in which case the latter must expect no mercy. + +On the 2nd of May, 1863, leaving five men in charge of his camp and +baggage, Sir Samuel started for Obbo, crossing the Kanisti river, and +travelling through a bold and romantic highland country. He found the +vegetation of Obbo rich and various; the soil produced nine kinds of +yams, and many capital kinds of fruit. Tobacco flourishes, and ground +nuts are plentiful. As for the people, they attire themselves in the +skin of an antelope or goat, wearing it mantle-wise across their +shoulders; but when on the warpath, they paint their body with red and +yellow stripes. Sir Samuel was received with all the honours by +Katchiba, the chief of Obbo, and entertained with a grand dance, in which +more vigour was displayed than elegance. About a hundred men formed a +ring; each holding in his hand a small cup-shaped drum, formed of +hollowed wood, over the perforated end of which was lightly stretched the +skin of an elephant’s ear. In the centre was placed the chief dancer, +wearing, suspended from his shoulders, an immense drum, also covered with +elephant’s ear. The dance commenced with a wild but agreeable chorus, +the time being kept by the big drum, and the small _tympana_ striking in +at certain periods, with so much precision as to give the effect of a +single instrument. The figures varied continually, and the whole +terminated with a “grand galop” in double circles, at a tremendous pace, +the inner ring revolving in a contrary direction to the outer. + +Sir Samuel returned to Latooka, and collecting his baggage and escort, +started again for Obbo on the 13th of June. Here he and his wife +remained for several months, waiting for a favourable opportunity to +resume their southward march. Their quinine was exhausted, and +consequently they suffered much from fever. Sir Samuel, in lieu of +horses, purchased and trained for their contemplated journey three robust +oxen, named respectively, “Beef,” “Steaks,” and “Suet.” He also obtained +a supply of porters to carry his luggage, and arranged with Ibrahim, the +friendly trader, that he should accompany him to Unyoro with a guard of +one hundred men. It was the 5th of January, 1864, before the expedition +started. On the very first day, however, one of the oxen bolted; and Sir +Samuel was compelled to purchase another of one of the Turks at the price +of a double-barrelled gun. Three days’ march through a beautiful country +brought them to the Asua river, in lat. 3° 12′ N. Its bed was almost +dry. On the 13th they arrived at Shooa. This is characterized as a +lovely place. A noble mountain of granite ascended in a sheer precipice +for about eight hundred feet from its base; perfectly abrupt on the +eastern side, the other parts were of gradual inclination, covered with +fine forest trees, and picturesquely studded with villages. The +surrounding country, with its trees and rivulets and greensward, might +have been taken for an English park, but for the granite rocks that rose +at intervals like the gray ruins of ancient castles. + +Shooa is a land of milk and honey. The travellers found fowls, butter, +and goats abundant and ridiculously cheap; and as beads were highly +valued, they effected some good bargains. The women flocked to see the +white lady, bringing her gifts of milk and flowers, and receiving beads +and bracelets in return. They were gentle in manner, and evidently +anxious to establish friendly relations. Sir Samuel was struck by the +superior cultivation of the country. Large quantities of sesamum were +grown and carefully harvested, the crop being collected in oblong frames +about twenty feet long and twelve feet high. These were inclined at an +angle of about 60°; the pods of the sesamum plants hanging on one facet, +so that the frames resembled enormous brushes. When fully dried, the +crop was removed to the granaries, of which there were two kinds: the +wicker-work plastered over with cow-dung, supported on four posts, with a +thatched roof; and a simpler contrivance, which may be thus described:—A +stout pole, twenty feet long, was fixed upright in the earth, and, at +about four foot from the ground, a bundle of strong and long reeds was +tied tightly round it. Round these reeds, at intervals, were fastened +hoop of wicker-work, until the structure assumed the shape of an inverted +umbrella half expanded. When this is filled with grain, fresh reeds are +added, until the work has extended to within a few feet of the top of the +pole. The whole is then crowned with a covering of reeds, securely +strapped, and resembles nothing in the world so much as one of those +cigars which slightly bulge in the middle. + +At Shooa all Sir Samuel’s Obbo porters absconded, being afraid to enter +Kamrasi’s country, and he found so much difficulty in supplying their +places, that he resolved on leaving behind him every article that was not +absolutely indispensable. How different an appearance his expedition +presented to that which it had worn on leaving Khartûm! It was shorn of +all its “pride and circumstance;” but its leader remained as resolute and +as hopeful as ever, and started from Shooa on the 18th of January, +determined to press forward to the Luta N’zige. After passing Fatiko, a +village perched like an eagle’s eyrie on a rocky table-land, he entered +upon a sea of prairies, an immense undulating expanse of verdure, dotted +with a few palms. As his guide lost the road, Sir Samuel proposed to +clear the country to the south by firing the prairies, and a strangely +picturesque spectacle was the result. In a few minutes the flames roared +before them, and waves upon waves of fire, and clouds upon clouds of +smoke, rolled away to the far horizon. Flocks of buzzards and swarms of +beautiful fly-catchers thronged to the spot, to prey upon the innumerable +insects that endeavoured to escape from the approaching conflagration, +which continued to extend until arrested by a reedy swamp. + +On the 22nd, the expedition reached the Victoria White Nile, or, as it is +sometimes called, the Somerset river, and proceeded through the +magnificent forest that crowned its bank to the Karuma Falls. The river +here was about a hundred and fifty yards wide, and flowed between lofty +cliffs, which were green with vines, bananas, and palms. The falls, +however, are very insignificant, not exceeding five feet in height. Just +above them is a ferry, and Sir Samuel and Lady Baker crossing by it, +found themselves in Unyoro, King Kamrasi’s country, and in his town or +village of Atado. Speke and Grant had left behind them pleasant +memories, so that Baker, as their friend and countryman, received a +hearty welcome. A large hut was placed at the disposal of his wife and +himself, and in exchange for fresh beef—Sir Samuel ordering an ox to be +killed for the purpose—the natives furnished liberal quantities of flour, +beans, and sweet potatoes. A brisk market was quickly set going, and +whole rows of girls and women arrived, bringing baskets filled with the +desired provisions. The women, we are told, were neatly dressed in short +double-skirted petticoats: many had the bosom bare: others wore a piece +of bark-cloth, plaid-wise, across chest and shoulders. Bark-cloth, which +is exclusively used throughout Equatorial Africa, is the produce of a +kind of fig tree. The bark is stripped off in large pieces, soaked in +water, and beaten with a mallet. In appearance it much resembles +corduroy, in colour tanned leather; the finer qualities are peculiarly +soft to the touch, like woven cotton. + +The travellers were struck by the difference between the Unyoro people +and the tribes they had previously seen. On the north side of the Nile +the natives were either wholly naked, or wore only a piece of skin across +their shoulders. The river seemed to mark the limit or _ne plus ultra_ +of savagedom, for the inhabitants of Unyoro shrank like Europeans from +the indecency and shame of nakedness. Their higher civilization was +shown also by their manufactures: their smiths were very skilful, and +used iron hammers instead of stone; they converted into fine wire the +thick brass and copper wire which they received from Zanzibar; and their +pottery showed a certain degree of taste in conception. + +“The natives,” writes Sir Samuel, “are particularly neat in all they do; +they never bring anything to sell unless carefully packed in the neatest +parcels, generally formed of the bark of the plantain, and sometimes of +the inner portions of reeds stripped into snow-white stalks, which are +bound round the parcels with the utmost care. Should the plantain cider, +‘marossa,’ be brought in a jar, the mouth is neatly covered with a +finger-like mat of these clean white rushes split into shreds. Not even +tobacco is brought for sale unless most carefully packed. During a +journey, a pretty, bottle-shaped, long-necked gourd is carried, with a +store of plantain cider; the mouth of the bottle is stopped with a bundle +of the white rush shreds, through which a reed is inserted that reaches +to the bottom; thus the drink can be sucked up during the march without +the necessity of halting; nor is it possible to spill it by the movement +of walking. + +“The natives,” he adds, “prepare the skins of goats very beautifully, +making them as soft as chamois leather; these they cut into squares, and +sew them together as neatly as would be effected by a European tailor, +converting them into mantles, which are prized far more highly than +bark-cloth, on account of their durability. They manufacture their own +needles, not by boring the eye, but by sharpening the end into a fine +point, and turning it over, the extremity being hammered into a small cut +in the body of the needle to prevent it from catching.” + +The arrival of Sir Samuel Baker being made known to Kamrasi, he requested +him to pay a visit to his capital, and sent a legion of porters to carry +his baggage. Lady Baker suffered much from illness on the journey, which +she performed in a litter; and Sir Samuel was also attacked by a +debilitating fever. His first interview with “the king” took place on +the 10th of February. He describes him as a fine-looking man, whose +extremely prominent eyes gave a peculiar expression to his countenance; +about six feet high; and dressed in a long robe of bark-cloth, draped in +graceful folds. The nails of his hands and feet were carefully tended, +and his complexion was about as dark a brown as that of an Abyssinian. +He sat upon a copper stool, with a leopard-skin carpet spread around him, +and was attended by about ten of his principal chiefs. Of his character +as a man Sir Samuel Baker speaks in the most unflattering terms; he was +grasping, mean, mendacious, and a coward. After some delay, and by dint +of repeated bribes, Sir Samuel obtained from him a supply of natives to +carry the baggage to the lake, where canoes were to be provided for the +voyage to Magango, a village situated at the junction of the Somerset +river. He went to take leave of the royal savage, and was astonished by +the insolent demand that Lady Baker should be left with him! Sir Samuel +drew his revolver; Lady Baker broke out into invectives in Arabic, which +the woman, Bachuta, translated as nearly as she could, and with indignant +emphasis, into the language of Unyoro; in short, “a scene” ensued! +Kamrasi was completely cowed, and faltered out, “Don’t be angry! I had +no intention of offending you by asking for your wife; I will give you a +wife, if you want one, and I thought you might have no objection to give +me yours; it is my custom to give my visitors pretty wives, and I thought +you might exchange. Don’t make it fuss about it: if you don’t like it, +there’s an end of it; I will never mention it again.” Sir Samuel +received the apology very sternly, and insisted upon starting. Kamrasi +did not feel in a position to interpose any further delay, and the march +to the lake began. + +On the road a very painful incident occurred. The expedition had reached +Uafour river, which ran through the centre of a marsh, and, although +deep, was so thickly covered with matted and tangled water grass and +other aquatic plants, that a natural floating bridge, some two feet in +thickness, was available for crossing. The men passed it quickly, +sinking merely to the ankles, though beneath the tough vegetation was +deep water. It was equally impossible to ride or be carried over this +fickle surface; Sir Samuel therefore led the way, and begged his wife to +follow on foot as quickly as possible, keeping exactly in his track. The +river was about eighty yards wide, and Sir Samuel had scarcely +accomplished a fourth of the distance, when, looking back, he was +horrified to see her standing in one spot, and sinking gradually through +the weeds, while her face was distorted and perfectly purple. She fell, +as if stricken dead. Her husband was immediately by her side, and, with +the help of some of his men, dragged her through the yielding vegetation, +across to the other side. There she was tenderly laid beneath a tree, +and her husband bathed her head and face with water, thinking she had +fainted. But he soon perceived that she was suffering from a sunstroke; +and, removing her to a miserable hut close at hand, he watched anxiously +for some sign of returning consciousness. We shall quote his own words +in all their pathetic simplicity: + +“There was nothing to eat in this spot. My wife had never stirred since +she fell by the _coup de soleil_, and merely respired about five times a +minute. It was impossible to remain; the people would have starved. She +was laid gently upon her litter, and we started forward on our funeral +course. I was ill and broken-hearted, and I followed by her side through +the long day’s march over wild park lands and streams, with thick forest +and deep marshy bottoms; over undulating hills, and through valleys of +tall papyrus rushes, which, as we brushed through them on our melancholy +way, waved over the litter like the black plumes of a hearse. We halted +at a village, and again the night was passed in watching. I was wet, and +coated with mud from the swampy marsh, and shivered with ague; but the +cold within was greater than all. No change had taken place; she had +never moved. I had plenty of fat, and I made four balls of about half a +pound, each of which would burn for three hours. A piece of a broken +water-jar formed a lamp, several pieces of rag serving for wicks. So in +solitude the still calm night passed away as I sat by her side and +watched. In the drawn and distorted features that lay before me I could +hardly trace the same form that for years had been my comfort through all +the difficulties and dangers of my path. Was she to die? Was so +terrible a sacrifice to be the result of my selfish exile? + +“Again the night passed away. Once more the march. Though weak and ill, +and for two nights without a moment’s sleep, I felt no fatigue, but +mechanically followed by the side of the litter as though in a dream. +The same wild country diversified with marsh and forest. Again we +halted. The night came, and I sat by her side in a miserable hut, with +the feeble lamp flickering while she lay, as in death. She had never +moved a muscle since she fell. My people slept. I was alone, and no +sound broke the stillness of the night. The ears ached at the utter +silence, till the sudden wild cry of a hyæna made me shudder as the +horrible thought rushed through my brain, that, should she be buried in +this lonely spot, the hyæna would . . . disturb her rest. + +“The morning was not far distant; it was past four o’clock. I had passed +the night in replacing wet cloths upon her head, and moistening her lips, +as she lay apparently lifeless on her litter. I could do nothing more; +in solitude and abject misery in that dark hour, in a country of savage +heathens, thousands of miles away from a Christian land, I beseeched an +aid above all human, trusting alone to Him. + +“The morning broke; my lamp had just burnt out, and, cramped with the +night’s watching, I rose from my seat, and seeing that she lay in the +same unaltered state, I went to the door of the hut to breathe one gasp +of the fresh morning air. I was watching the first red streak that +heralded the rising sun, when I was startled by the words, ‘Thank God,’ +faintly uttered behind me. Suddenly she had awoke from her torpor, and +with a heart overflowing I went to her bedside. Her eyes were full of +madness! She spoke, but the brain was gone!” + + + +II. + + +Happily, after suffering for some days from brain fever, Lady Baker +recovered consciousness, and thenceforward her progress, though slow, was +sure. After a brief rest, the march to the lake was resumed by the +undaunted travellers; for the devoted wife would not allow any +consideration of her comfort or safety to come between her husband and +the accomplishment of the work he had undertaken. At a village called +Parkani, the guides informed them that they were only a day’s journey +from the lake. In the west rose a lofty range of mountains, and Sir +Samuel Baker had conjectured that the N’zige lay on the other side of it, +but he was told that it actually formed its western or further boundary. +Only a day’s journey! That night Sir Samuel could hardly sleep; his +brain was fired with the thought that he was within so short a distance +of the Source of the Nile—that in a few hours he might drink of the +waters of its mysterious fountain. He was up before sunrise on the 14th +of March, and crossing a deep cool valley between the hills, ascended the +slope, gained the summit, and there, before him, flashing in the light of +morning like a sea of quick-silver or a huge mirror of polished steel, +lay the long-sought lake! The height on which he stood was about fifteen +hundred feet above its level, so that he could survey the entire expanse +of those welcome waters which had created fertility in the heart of the +desert, and made the fame and wealth and glory of Egypt. He resolved +that thenceforth they should bear a great name, and as the eastern +reservoir of the Nile had been named after the Queen of England, he +determined that the western should commemorate her lost and lamented +consort, Prince Albert. It is therefore now known as the Albert Lake. + +With some difficulty, but with a grateful heart, he and his wife +descended the steep to the shore of the silent, shining lake, and took up +their quarters in a fishing village called Vacovia. It was a wretched +place, and the soil was strongly impregnated with salt; but discomforts +were forgotten in the joy of a great discovery. Sir Samuel proceeded to +collect all the information he could relative to its position. The chief +of the village told him that its breadth was immense, but that large +canoes had been known to cross from the other side after four days and +nights of hard rowing. That other side, the west, was included in the +great kingdom of Malegga, governed by King Kajoro, who traded with +Kamrasi from a point opposite to Magango, where the lake contracted to +the width of one day’s voyage. South of Malegga was a country named +Tori, and the lake extended into the kingdom of Karagwé, with whose +sovereign, Rumanika, Speke and Grant had maintained a friendly +intercourse. Karagwé partly bounded the lake on the eastern side, and +next to it, towards the north, came Utumbi; then, in succession, came +Uganda, Unyoro, Chopé. + +The Albert Nyanza formed a vast basin of water, lying far below the +general level of the country, and receiving all its drainage. It was +surrounded by precipitous cliffs, which left but a narrow strip of sand +between them and the swelling waves, and bounded on the west and +south-west by huge mountain-ranges, from five to seven thousand feet in +altitude. Sir Samuel Baker, after a careful survey, concluded that it +was the one great reservoir which received everything, from the passing +shower to the roaring mountain torrent that drained from Central Africa +towards the north. Speke’s Victoria Nyanza was a reservoir situated at a +considerable elevation, receiving the waters from the west of the +Kitangulé river, its principal feeder; but as the Albert Lake extended +much farther north than the Victoria, it took up the river from the +latter, and monopolized the entire head-waters of the Nile. In Sir +Samuel’s opinion the Albert was the great reservoir, while the Nile was +the eastern source; the parent streams that created these lakes were from +the same origin, and the Kitangulé poured its waters into the Victoria, +to be eventually received by the Albert. The discoveries of Mr. Stanley, +however, impose on geographers the necessity of considerably modifying +Sir Samuel Baker’s hypothesis, without detracting from the importance of +his discovery. The Albert Lake really holds an inferior position to the +Victoria, which unquestionably receives the parent waters of the Nile; +but it is not the less one of its great reservoirs. + +Having obtained a canoe at Vacovia, Sir Samuel explored the north-eastern +coast of the Albert, and after a voyage of thirteen days arrived at +Magango, where the Nile, or Somerset river, after a winding course from +the Victoria Nyanza, flows calmly into its basin, to quit it again a few +miles further north, and make its way towards Egypt and the +Mediterranean. At Magango the lake is about seventeen miles wide, but to +the north it ends in a long strip or neck which a growth of tall green +rushes almost conceals. After leaving the lake, the Nile smoothly +descends its green valley, and is navigable for boats until it reaches +Agunddo, where it dashes headlong over a precipice of thirty or forty +feet. + +Having completed his survey of the Albert, as far as his means admitted, +Sir Samuel determined, instead of retracing his steps to Kamrasi’s +residence at ’Mroolli, to trace the course of the Somerset or Nile river +up to Karuma Falls, to which point Speke and Grant had followed it +downwards. The canoes having been got ready, Baker and his wife began +their river voyage. About two miles from Magango the width contracted +from 500 to 250 yards. As they proceeded, the river gradually narrowed +to about 180 yards, and when the men ceased paddling, they could +distinctly hear the roar of water. Arriving at a point where the river +made a slight turn, they saw the sandbanks covered with crocodiles; like +logs of timber, they lay together. The cliffs on either side were steep +and rugged, and the whole picture was rich in various colouring. Foliage +of the intensest green clothed each rocky projection, and through a +narrow cleft or gap in the precipices the river plunged down before them +in one vast leap of about 120 feet. The fall of waters was white as +snow, and contrasted magnificently with the dark walls that held it in, +while the graceful palms of the tropics and wild plantains increased the +beauty of the view. This noble cataract, the grandest on the Nile, Sir +Samuel named the Murchison Falls, in honour of the famous geologist and +geographer. + +It was impossible, of course, to pass the cataract, and the voyagers made +haste to land and collect their oxen and attendants in order to resume +their journey. The route they took was parallel to the river, which +continued to flow in a deep and picturesque ravine. From an island +called Palooan, a succession of islets broke its course until near the +Karuma Falls. These islets belonged to two chiefs, Rionza and Fowooka, +who were bitter enemies of the King of Unyoro, Kamrasi. On arriving at +this point, Sir Samuel found that they were at that very time engaged in +hostilities, and that it would be impossible for him to continue along +the bank of the river. Obstacles of every kind were thrown by the +natives in the onward path of the travellers, but in spite of ill health, +weakness, and weariness, they slowly pushed forward. Not the least of +their troubles was the scarcity of suitable provisions, and they grew so +feeble that at last even their brave hearts gave way, and they began to +despair of reaching Gondokoro—to resign themselves to the thought of +being buried in that inhospitable land. “I wrote instructions in my +journal,” says Sir Samuel, “in case of death, and told my headman to be +sure to deliver my maps, observations, and papers to the English consul +at Khartûm; this was my only care, as I feared that all my labour might +be lost should I die. I had no fear for my wife, as she was quite as bad +as I, and if one should die, the other would certainly follow;—in fact, +this had been agreed upon lest she should fall into the hands of Kamrasi +at my death. We had struggled to win, and I thanked God that we had won; +if death were to be the price, at all events we were at the goal, and we +both looked upon death rather as a pleasure, as affording rest; there +would be no more suffering; no fever, no long journey before us, that in +our weak state was an infliction; the only wish was to lay down the +burthen.” + +From this wretched position Sir Samuel delivered himself, by undertaking +to assist Kamrasi in his war against Fowooka. Whether this was a +legitimate proceeding on the part of a scientific explorer, who had no +interest in the quarrel of either party, may well be doubted, but the +alliance led to his obtaining an immediate supply of provisions. Natives +were sent to assist him and his wife in their journey to Kamrasi’s camp +at Kisoona. But what was their surprise to find that the Kamrasi whom +they had interviewed at ’Mrooli was not, after all, the real Kamrasi, the +King of Unyoro, but his brother, M’Gami, whom Kamrasi had ordered to +personate him, in an access of alarm as to the traveller’s possible +designs. Sir Samuel was indignant at the deception, and it was with some +difficulty that M’Gami could prevail upon him to forgive it. At last he +consented to visit the king, and something like an amicable understanding +was established between them. He was well supplied with provisions of +all kinds, and both his wife and himself slowly recovered their health +and spirits. By a dexterous use of the British flag he repelled an +attempted invasion of Fowooka’s warriors; and he rendered various +services to Kamrasi, which met, we need hardly say, with no adequate +reward. It was the middle of November before, in company with a caravan +of ivory-traders under his old friend Ibrahim, Sir Samuel was able to +resume his return journey to Gondokoro. The caravan consisted of about +seven hundred porters and eighty armed men, with women and children; in +all, about one thousand people. To provision such a body was necessarily +difficult, and there was no meat, although flour was abundant. Sir +Samuel’s skill as a hunter was put into requisition to supply a little +variety to the bill of fare; and his bringing down a fine hartebeest was +an event which gave very general satisfaction. + +Five days after leaving the Victoria Nile, the caravan arrived at Shooa, +where Sir Samuel and his wife received a hearty welcome. Some months +were spent in this pleasant locality, the Turks profiting by the +opportunity to make razzias upon the neighbouring tribes, so that, for +many miles around, the blackened ruins of villages and the desolated +fields bore witness to their reckless cruelty; cattle were carried off in +thousands, and a fair and fertile region was converted into a dreary +wilderness. The captives made were detained to be sold as slaves. On +one occasion, among the victims brought in to the Turkish camp was a +pretty young girl of about fifteen. She had been sold by auction, as +usual, the day after the return from the razzia, and had fallen to the +lot of one of the men. A few days later, there appeared in the camp a +native from the plundered village, intent upon ransoming the girl with a +quantity of ivory. He had scarcely entered the gateway, when the girl, +who was sitting at the door of her owner’s hut, descried him, and +springing to her feet, ran with all the speed her chained ankles +permitted, and flung herself into his arms, with the cry of “My father!” +Yes; it was her father who, to rescue his child from degradation, had +nobly risked his life in his brutal enemy’s camp. + +The Turks who witnessed this particular incident, far from being touched +by any emotion of pity, rushed on to the unfortunate native, tore him +from his daughter, and bound him tightly with cords. At this time Sir +Samuel was in his tent, assisting some of his men to clean his rifles. +Suddenly, at a distance of less than a hundred paces, he heard three +shots fired. The men exclaimed, “They have shot the abid (native)!” +“What native?” inquired Sir Samuel; and his men replied by narrating the +story we have just recorded. Sir Samuel at first refused to believe it, +but it proved to be true in every detail, even in the last; for, bound to +a tree, lay the wretched father, shot dead with three balls. + +In the month of February the caravan started for Gondokoro. The route +lay at first through a fertile and pleasant country, crossing twice the +Un-y-Ami river, and touching at its point of junction with the Nile, in +lat. 3° 32′ N. On the north bank of the Un-y-Ami, about three miles from +its mouth, Sir Samuel saw the tamarind tree—the “Shadder-el-Sowar” (or +“Traveller’s Tree”), as the trading parties called it—which indicated the +limit of Signor Miani’s explorations from Gondokoro, and the furthest +point reached by any traveller from the north prior to Sir Samuel Baker’s +enterprise. The journey was continued through a fine park-like extent of +verdant grass, covered with stately tamarind trees, which sheltered among +their branches great numbers of the brilliant yellow-breasted pigeon. +Ascending a rocky eminence by a laborious pass, Sir Samuel, from the +summit, which was eight hundred feet high, saw before him the old +historic river. “Hurrah for the old Nile!” he said, and contemplated +with eager gaze the noble scene before him. Flowing from the westward, +with many a curve and bend, was the broad sheet of unbroken water, four +hundred yards wide, exclusive of the thick belt of reeds on either +margin. Its source could be clearly traced for some scores of miles, and +the range of mountains on the west bank was distantly visible that the +travellers had previously sighted, when on the route from Karuma to +Shooa, at a distance of sixty miles. This chain begins at Magango, and +forms the Koshi frontier of the Nile. The country opposite to Sir +Samuel’s position was Koshi, which extends along the _west_ bank of the +river to the Albert Lake. The country which he was traversing extends, +under the name of Madi, along the _east_ bank to the confluence of the +Somerset Nile, opposite Magango. + +The Nile here enters a rocky valley between Gebel Kookoo and the western +mountains, and foams and frets around and against rock and island, until, +suddenly contracting, it breaks into a roaring torrent, and dashes +furiously onward in the shadow of perpendicular cliffs. Waterfall +succeeds to waterfall, and it is difficult to identify the swollen, +thunderous, angry river with the calm clear stream that brightens the +fertile pastures of Shooa. In this part of its course it receives the +Asua. Through dense thickets of bamboos, and deep ravines which, in the +season of rains, pour their turbid tribute into the great river, the +caravan made its way; but in passing through a gorge between two rocky +hills it was attacked by a body of the Bari natives, who were lying in +ambush. Their bows and arrows, however, proved ineffectual against the +musketry of the Turks, and they retired discomfited. This was the last +important incident of the journey to Gondokoro, where, after an absence +of upwards of two years, Sir Samuel and Lady Baker arrived in safety. + +But what was their disappointment to find there neither letters nor +supplies! Their friends and agents had long since given them up as dead; +never believing that travellers could penetrate into that far and savage +south, and return alive. There was no news from home; no money; no +conveyance provided to take them back to Khartûm. With characteristic +energy Sir Samuel confronted his disappointment, and instead of wringing +his hands and waiting for the help that would not come, he set actively +to work, engaged a dahabeeyah for the sum of four thousand piastres +(£40), removed his baggage on board, collected provisions, took friendly +leave of Ibrahim and the traders, and, with the flag of Old England +flying at his masthead, set sail from Gondokoro. There is very little to +be said about the voyage to Khartûm. Sir Samuel shot some antelopes, and +the progress of the dahabeeyah beyond the junction of the Bahr-el-Ghazal +was considerably impeded by that natural dam of floating vegetation, +intermingled with reeds, sunburnt wood, and mud that here forms so signal +an obstruction to the navigation of the Upper Nile. To allow of the +passage of boats a canal has been cut, about ten feet wide, but it +requires constant clearance, and its transit is not accomplished without +considerable difficulty. Two days’ hard work from morning till night +carried the voyagers through it, and with feelings of relief and +exultation they found themselves once more on the open Nile and beyond +the dam. But as they floated past the Sobat junction, the terrible +plague broke out on board their vessel, carrying off two of the crew, and +the boy Saat, who had served them so long and so faithfully. It was a +sad conclusion to an expedition which, though fraught with sufferings, +trials, and dangers, had, on the whole, been crowned with complete +success. + +It was the evening of the 5th of May, 1865, when Sir Samuel and Lady +Baker entered Khartûm, to be welcomed by the whole European population as +if they had risen from the dead. On the 1st of July they left it for +Berber. In making the passage of the Cataracts they narrowly escaped +shipwreck; their boat, as it sped along under full sail before a high +gale of wind, struck broadside upon a sandbank. About sixty yards below +rose a ridge of rocks on which it seemed certain that the vessel would be +driven, if it cleared the bank; so that to avoid Scylla was to rush into +Charybdis. Sir Samuel, however, proved equal to the occasion. An anchor +was laid up stream; the crew hauled on the cable, and the great force of +the current pressing against the vessels’ broadside, she wore gradually +round. All hands then laboured to clear away the sand, which, when +loosened by their hands and feet, the swift full current rapidly carried +away. For five hours they remained in this position, with the boat +cracking, and half filled with water; however, a channel was opened at +last, and slipping the cable, Sir Samuel hoisted sail, and with the +velocity of an arrow, the head of the vessel swung round, and away she +went, plunging through the swirling, boiling water, and clearing the +rocks by a few inches. + +They arrived at Berber, and procuring camels, started east for Souakim on +the Red Sea, a distance of two hundred and seventy-five miles. There +they obtained passage on board an Egyptian Government steamer, and in +five days landed at Suez. Here ends the record of their heroic +enterprise. {404} + + + + +INDEX. + + + A + +A’damáwa, 116; capital of 119 + +Africa, exploration in, 365, 366 + +Agadez, 97; customs of inhabitants of, 98 + +Alatou Mountains, the, 222, 225, 227 + +Albert Nyanza, the, 391–393 + +Aliyú, the Emir, 135 + +Altai, lakes of the, 193 + +Altin-Kool, Lake, 195 + +Alty-Kuduk, camp of, 277 + +American camp at Valverde, 70 + +American trapper, an, 71 + +Amu-Daria, the, 278, 350, 351 + +Ara, river, the, 226 + +Aral, Lake or Sea of, 343 + +Arkansas valley, 80 + +Asben, Mount, 96 + +Asua, river, 384 + +Atado, town of, 386 + +Atkinson, Thomas Witlam, travels in Siberia and Central Asia, 157–228 + +Australia, sketch of discovery in, 293–295 + + B + +Bacsi, the, enchantments of, 29 + +Badakshan, the river, 14 + +Badámuni, 130 + +Bielouka Mountains, the, 206 + +Bagara Arabs, the, 382 + +Bagirmi, 121 + +Bagma, 116 + +Baikal Lake, 228 + +Baker, Sir Samuel and Lady, discover the Albert Nyanza, 238 + +Baker, Lady, illness of, 390–392 + +Baker, Sir Samuel, travels in Africa, 365–404 + +Barnaoul, mines of, 186 + +Barth, Dr., African travels of, 90–156 + +Bear, adventure with a, 189 + +Beaver-trapping, 79 + +Bénuwé, the river, 118 + +Berber, 403 + +Boiling Spring River, legend of, 84 + +Bokhara, 323 + +Bornú, 105; capital of, 106 + +Bronze-wing pigeon, the, 305, 306 + +Búdduma, or African Lake pirates, 110 + +Bull-tailing, Mexican sport of, described, 57 + +Burnaby, Major, travels in Khiva, 325–364 + + C + +Caldwell, Bishop, quoted, 45 + +Cambaluc, visited by Marco Polo, 32 + +Camels in Australia, 308–310, 315; in Turkistan, 341, 342 + +Cameron, Lieutenant, 366 + +Chandu, city of, described, 25 + +Chihuahua, 67 + +Chinese, curious superstition of the, 43 + +Coleridge, quoted, 31 + +Comanche Indians, the, story of, 56, 59 + +Cossack officer, a, adventure of, 191 + + D + +D’Ablaing, Baron, 247 + +Darma Tsyren, Mr. Atkinson’s visit to, 215 + +Demons’ Mountain, the, 92 + +“Devil-dancing,” 45 + +Diamond-sparrow, the, 300, 301 + +Doré, African town of, 142 + +Durango, Mexican town of, 59 + + E + +Ekaterineburg, 164 + +Elephant-hunting, 381, 382 + +El Gallo, sport of, described, 66 + +Eremil, river, 223 + +Errington, Port, 239 + +Escamilla, story of, 60–63 + + F + +Flinders, Lieutenant, 293 + +Fogha, valley of, 138 + +Frost-bitten, 338–340 + +Fulbi, the, 101 + + G + +Ghat, oasis of, 95 + +Ghûls, the, 19 + +Glenelg, 322 + +Gobi, the Great Desert of, 17, 18, 212–214 + +Golden Lake, the, 195 + +Gondokoro, 247, 374, 375 + +Grant, Captain, 241, 368, 377 + + H + +Heiligenkreuz, missionary settlement of, 246 + +Heughlin, Dr., 249 + +Hommaire de Hell, Madame, quoted, 19 + + I + +Ivory-dealers, the African, 255 + + J + +Jana-Daria, desert of, 349 + +Jornada del Muerto, the, 69 + + K + +Kaiping-fu, described, 25 + +Kalenderhana, 349 + +Kalmucks, the, manners and customs of, 198, 199 + +Kamrasi, the chief of Unyoro, 388, 389, 398 + +Kanó, town of, 100 + +Kara-Kalpaks, the, 263 + +Karakorum Mountains, the, 197 + +Karuma Falls, the, 386 + +Kasala, 260, 335, 336, 343, 364 + +Katchiba, African chief, 383 + +Katounaia, the, 200 + +Katséna, town of, 100 + +Kauffmann, General, 280 + +Khala-Ata, fortress of, 274 + +Khan of Khiva, palace of, 283; description of, 285, 357–359 + +Khartûm, town of, 234, 370, 402 + +Khiva, described, 282, 283, 285, 287, 355, 356, 360 + +Khivans, the, account of, 281 + +Kibitka, a, described, 179, 180, 264, 344, 346 + +Kirghiz chief, a, description of, 182, 183 + +Kirghiz tribes, the, habits of, 178–182, 264–267 + +Kolyvan Lake, 169 + +Kongo, the, 367 + +Kublai Khan, Marco Polo’s visit to the court of, 25 + +Kúkáwa, in Bornú, 106 + +Kyzil-Kum, desert of, 261, 263 + + L + +Latookas, tribe of the, 379–381 + +Lepson, river, 225 + +Lindsay, Hon. Robert, quoted, 41 + +Livingstone, Dr., 364, 365 + +Lop, or Lob, city of, 17 + +Luta N’zige, the, 377 + + M + +MacGahan, Mr. J. A., with the Russian army in Khiva, 260–292 + +Maduwári, 111 + +Magango, 395 + +Mal Pais, the, description of, 55 + +Mapimi, 67 + +Marco Polo, travels of, in Central Asia, 1–48 + +Másená, 124 + +Mexicans, the, character of, 49; sports of, 59 + +Mexico, geographical characteristics of, 50, 51 + +Mongols, the, habits of, 20–22 + +Morzouk, 91 + +Muna Aim, story of, 267, 268 + +Múniyo, 129 + +Murchison Falls, the, 396 + + N + +Nicholas, the Grand-Duke, 280 + +Niger, the, description of, 139; basin of, 367 + +Nile, the, scenery of, 235, 236, 371, 400, 401; basin of, 367 + +Nô, Lake, 243, 244 + +Nor-Zaisan, Lake, 176 + +Nuehr tribe, the, 372 + + O + +Oakover, river, 315, 320 + +Obbo, 383 + +Oogentel, 353 + +Orenburg, 335 + +Overweg, Mr., joins Dr. Barth, 112; death of, 128 + + P + +Pamir, table-land of, described, 16 + +Pardalote, the, 300, 301 + +Peking (anc. Cambaluc), 32 + +Perovsky, Fort, 261 + +Petro-Alexandrovsky, 361, 362 + +Phayre, Sir A., quoted, 54 + +Pike’s Peak, 88 + +Porcupine-grass, 299 + +Palque, Mexican drink of, described, 51 + + Q + +Queretaro, 51 + + R + +Ramusio, quoted, 9 + +Rancho, a Mexican, described, 66 + +Reg, Lake, 249 + +Richardson, Mr. James, African traveller, death of, 106 + +Rio Colorado, the, 78 + +Rocky Mountains, in the, 74, 75 + +Ruxton, Mr. George F., travels in Mexico, 49–89 + + S + +Sagárti, the, 111 + +Samara, Russian town of, 331 + +Santa Fé, 73 + +Say, town of, 139 + +Sesamum, the, cultivation of, 385 + +Shamo, country of, 114 + +Shillooks, the, character of, 242–244, 371 + +Shir, the, African tribe of, 373 + +Shooa, described, 384, 385, 399 + +Snake Indians, the, 85 + +Snow-storm in Arkansas, 81 + +Sobat, the, 371 + +Somerset, the, 386, 391 + +Sourays, the, 111 + +Speke, Captain, travels of, 368, 369, 377 + +Stanley, Mr. H. M., 368 + +Steudner, Dr., death of, 250 + +Syr-Daria, the, 260, 345 + + T + +Tartars, the, described by Marco Polo, 20–25 + +Tasáwa, 100 + +Tchad, Lake, 110, 120 + +Terekli, 340 + +Thian-Shan, the, 325 + +Tibet, description of, 40–43 + +Timbuktu, described, 150 + +Tinné, Alexina, travels of, in the Soudan, 230–259 + +Tiska, Mount, 96 + +Tollogo, 378 + +Towaregs, the, 92, 95 + +Traveller’s Tree, the, 400 + +Turkistan, boundaries and divisions of, 325, 326 + + U + +Uafour river, 389 + +Unyoro, country of, 387, 388 + +U’shek, 129 + +Uzbegs, the, customs of, 288; a house of, 289, 290; dance of, 290, 291 + + V + +Vacovia, 394 + +Valverde, American camp at, 70 + +Venice, rivalry of, with Genoa, 12 + +Victoria Nyanza, the, 369 + +Victoria White Nile, the, 386, 395 + +Volga, the, sleighing on, 330 + + W + +Wakkala, 379 + +Warburton, Colonel Egerton explores West Australia, 293–324 + +White Nile, the, 244 + +Wood, Captain John, quoted, 16 + +Wordsworth, quoted, 60 + + Y + +Yule, Colonel, quoted, 1, 2, 17 + +Yuz-Kudak, valley of, 271 + + Z + +Zacatero, 68 + +Zambési, the, 367 + +Zindu, 131 + + + + +NOTES + + +{3} The roc, a gigantic bird, which figures in the Eastern fable of +Sinbad the Sailor. + +{12} A rich, quaint, walled-up doorway, in semi-Monastic, semi-Byzantine +style, still extant in the Corte del Sabbrin, or Corta Sabbonicia, is +nearly all that remains of the house of Messer Marco Palo. + +{17} A summary of the Russian explorations of the Pamir, by Sievertzof, +has been published in Kettler’s “Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche +Geographie.” + +{22} _Cuir-bouilli_, leather softened by boiling, during which process +it took any form or impression required, and afterwards hardened. + +{35} Probably _malachite_, or carbonate of copper. + +{41} The Hon. Robert Lindsay writes:—“At night each man lights a fire at +his post, and furnishes himself with a dozen joints of the large bamboo, +one of which he occasionally throws into the fire, and the air it +contains being rarefied by the heat, it explodes with a report as loud as +a musket.”—“Lives of the Lindsays,” iii. 191. + +{89} G. F. Ruxton, “Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains.” +London, 1861. + +{156} Heinrich Barth, “Travels and Discoveries in North and Central +Africa.” Second edition. London, 1857. + +{159} The scenery of the Tchossowaia valley is warmly praised by Sir +Roderick Murchison. “A more picturesque river-gorge,” he says, “was +certainly never examined by geologists. Between the hamlet of Kinist and +Ust-Koiva we passed through scenes even surpassing in beauty those higher +up the stream, and to which it would require the pencil of a professed +artist to do justice. The river runs in a limestone gorge, in which are +cliffs of every variety of form, occasionally exposing large caverns +along their vertical faces, with trees and flowers grouped about in the +clefts—rocks varying in colour from black to white.”—“Geology of the +Oural,” p. 188. + +{166} A four-wheeled waggon, made without either nail, bolt, or springs. + +{211} Mrs. Somerville, “Physical Geography,” i. 105. + +{212} Humboldt, “Ansichten der Natur,” i. 8. + +{228} T. W. Atkinson, “Oriental and Western Siberia.” London, 1858. + +{249} It is, in reality, nothing more than a curve of the river, which +forms an island of about half a mile in length, called Meschra-el-Reg. + +{259} Augustus Petermann, _Mittheilungen_; Dr. Heughlin, “Reise in das +Gobiet, des Weissen Nil, etc.” + +{302} These consist of a few links of chain, with a swivel in the +middle, and a steel strap with a buckle at either end. They are fastened +round the animal’s fore-legs just above the hoof, so as to confine the +feet together, and render straying difficult. + +{324} Colonel Egerton Warburton, C.M.G., “Journey across the Western +Interior of Australia,” with Introduction, etc., by C. H. Eden. Edited +by H. W. Bates. London, 1875. + +{359} During the viceroyalty of Lord Northbrook. + +{364} “A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia.” By +Fred Burnaby, Captain, Royal Horse Guards. Second edition. London, +1876. + +{369} Our gallant explorer was not knighted until 1866, but throughout +this chapter we shall use the title by which he is so well and so +honourably known. + +{404} Sir Samuel White Baker, “The Albert Nyanza, Great Basin of the +Nile, and Explorations of the Nile Sources.” London, 1866. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME HEROES OF TRAVEL*** + + +******* This file should be named 42749-0.txt or 42749-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/2/7/4/42749 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |