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diff --git a/75534-0.txt b/75534-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..feaed75 --- /dev/null +++ b/75534-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10787 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75534 *** + + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Additional +notes will be found near the end of this ebook. + + + + + THE STORY OF EXPLORATION + + EDITED BY + + J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D., SEC. R.G.S. + + + THE NILE QUEST + + BY + + SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. + +[Illustration: + + [_Frontispiece_ + +SPEKE (from a Drawing by the Author).] + + + + + THE NILE QUEST + + A RECORD OF + THE EXPLORATION OF THE + NILE AND ITS BASIN + + + BY + SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. + (PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETY) + + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AND + PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS_ + + + WITH MAPS BY J. G. BARTHOLOMEW + + + [Illustration] + + + LONDON + ALSTON RIVERS, LIMITED + ARUNDEL STREET, W.C. + 1906 + + + + +THE STORY OF EXPLORATION + + +Probably few of the stories that tell of the achievements due to the +curiosity of humanity have a wider or more lasting interest than that +which is concerned with the exploration of the lands and seas, which +give feature to the face of the earth. It is a long story, and would +be longer still, if the men in the remote past had left any record of +their wanderings. Even as it is, in the scanty and perplexing records +left behind them by ancient Egyptians, Phœnicians, Carthaginians, +Hebrews, and even Chinese, the story begins more than three thousand +years ago and, so far as the pioneer work of exploration is concerned, +may be taken to have practically concluded with the end of the +nineteenth century. It seems, therefore, an opportune time to recount +the leading episodes in this long record of incessant human effort, in +a manner which will appeal to, and interest, all intelligent readers. + +In the series of volumes, which will be issued under the general title +“The Story of Exploration,” it will be sought to make the narrative +circle round the personality of the men who had the leading share in +carrying on the adventurous work. + +Beginning with the earliest journeys of which we have any record, the +story will be carried down stage by stage to the present day, and it +is believed that, when complete, it will form what may be called a +biographical history of exploration. While the work of geographical +research in all parts of the globe will be seriously and adequately +treated, the adventures incident to such research, which add human +interest to it, will have due prominence given to them. In all cases +it will be sought to obtain the co-operation of men who are recognized +as authorities on the particular subjects with which they deal. Each +volume will be profusely illustrated, the illustrations being selected +for their appropriateness to the text, while every assistance will be +given to the reader by means of carefully executed maps. + + J. SCOTT KELTIE. + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +When the author of this book was composing his recent work on the +Uganda Protectorate, he was led through the history of its discovery +into the general consideration of Nile exploration, since it was in the +search for the Nile sources that the territories now forming the Uganda +Protectorate were laid bare to the gaze of the civilised world. But as +anything like a detailed review of the exploration of the Nile basin +by the Caucasian race would have unduly extended a book dealing more +particularly with Uganda, he gladly took advantage of the suggestion +made by Dr. Scott Keltie (Editor of this series) that these studies +should be applied to the present volume, which is one of a series on +the history of great geographical discoveries. + +It is not for the author to say that his book on the Nile Quest will +prove interesting; but he has striven to make it as accurate as +possible, and he hopes it may be permanently useful as a faithful +record of the names and achievements of those who solved the greatest +geographical secret, after the discovery of America, which remained for +the Caucasian’s consideration. + + H. H. JOHNSTON. + + LONDON, 1903. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENTS + + +The Editor and the Author desire to acknowledge, with thanks, the loan +of photographs, letters, or maps for the illustration of this book, +from Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., Mrs. Murdoch (_née_ Speke), Mr. J. F. +Cunningham, Mr. W. G. Doggett, Mr. Theodore Tinne, Mr. T. Douglas +Murray, Lady Baker, Mr. Oscar Neumann, Mr. J. E. S. Moore, Major Gwynn, +Major Austin, Mr. J. Thomson, The African Society, Mr. S. Crispin, and +Mr. Warry. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Chapter Page + I. The Dawn of Nile Exploration 1 + + II. The Greeks interest Europe in the Nile Question 14 + + III. Abyssinians and Jews 30 + + IV. Islamites and Italians 37 + + V. A Summary of the Ancients’ Knowledge of the Nile 42 + + VI. Portugal and Abyssinia 45 + + VII. French Inquiries and D’Anville’s Maps 65 + + VIII. Bruce and the Nile: Sonnini, Browne, and Bonaparte 73 + + IX. Muhammad Ali opens up the White Nile 91 + + X. Missionaries and Snow-Mountains 111 + + XI. Burton and Speke 115 + + XII. Speke and the Nile Quest 125 + + XIII. Speke in Uganda 150 + + XIV. From the Victoria Nyanza to Alexandria 160 + + XV. Samuel Baker and the Albert Nyanza 174 + + XVI. Alexandrine Tinne and Theodor von Heuglin 192 + + XVII. Schweinfurth and the Basin of the Bahr-al-Ghazal 201 + + XVIII. Schweinfurth’s Achievements and Descriptions 216 + + XIX. Stanley confirms Speke 223 + + XX. Gordon and his Lieutenants.--Junker and the Nile-Congo + Water-parting 230 + + XXI. Joseph Thomson, Mt. Elgon, and Kavirondo Bay 246 + + XXII. Emin Pasha 250 + + XXIII. Stanley discovers the Mountains of the Moon and Lake + Albert Edward.--The End of Emin 259 + + XXIV. German Explorers determine the Southern Limits of the + Nile Basin 265 + + XXV. Geographical Work in the Uganda Protectorate 269 + + XXVI. The Eastern Basin of the Nile 276 + + XXVII. Conclusion 293 + + XXVIII. The Geography of the Nile Basin 299 + + + APPENDIX I. The Roll of Fame of those who started on the Nile + Quest 319 + + APPENDIX II. Bibliography 322 + + INDEX 329 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + SPEKE (from a drawing by the author) _Frontispiece_ + + _Page_ + 1. The Nile and the Pyramids 4 + + 2. The Mountains of the Moon 23 + + 3. The Course of the Nile according to Ptolemy 24 + + 4. An Arab Trader (Maskati) 40 + + 5. Dapper’s Map (Amsterdam: 1686) giving the falsified results + of Portuguese explorations 58 + + 6. D’Anville’s Map of the Nile Basin 70 + + 7. The Branching _Hyphæne_ Palm 75 + + 8. Bruce’s Map of the Nile Sources 80 + + 9. Portrait of James Bruce 86 + + 10. Map of Africa by Williamson, London, 1800 90 + + 11. Blue Nile, twenty miles east of Fazokl 93 + + 12. Ferdinand Werne 96 + + 13. Whale-headed Stork (_Balæniceps rex_) 100 + + 14. John Petherick 102 + + 15. Map published in Penny Magazine of 1852 108 + + 16. The River Sobat 111 + + 17. Rev. Dr. J. Ludwig Krapf 112 + + 18. A Swahili Arab Trader 117 + + 19. Sketch Map by Burton and Speke, 1858 123 + + 20. John Hanning Speke, at the age of 17 126 + + 21. Burton’s idea of the Nile Sources, December, 1864 127 + + 22. James Augustus Grant 132 + + 23. A Mnyamwezi Porter 135 + + 24. A Hima of Mpororo near Karagwe 144 + + 25. Speke’s Tragelaph 146 + + 26. The Ripon Falls, from the west bank 151 + + 27. A View in Uganda 152 + + 28. The Nile at the Isamba Rapids, looking North 160 + + 29. Ripon Falls, from Bugunga 162 + + 30. View of Napoleon Gulf, from Jinja 163 + + 31. The last Map issued to illustrate Speke’s Theories, 1865 170 + + 32. Speke’s Handwriting 172 + + 33. Samuel Baker, 1865 176 + + 34. A Native of Unyoro 184 + + 35. Alexandrine Tinne 192 + + 36. On the Jur River: Sudd blocking the Channel 195 + + 37. Letter of Miss Tinne to her nephew 198 + + 38. Georg Schweinfurth, 1875 203 + + 39. Shiluks 211 + + 40. “Papyrus, fifteen feet high” 218 + + 41. A Path through the Forest 220 + + 42. Schweinfurth’s Map 223 + + 43. The Victoria Nyanza 226 + + 44. Stanley’s idea of the Victoria Nyanza, 1880 228 + + 45. The Victoria Nile flowing towards Lake Kioga 232 + + 46. Nuërr Village, Sobat River 241 + + 47. Joseph Thomson and Wilhelm Junker 242 + + 48. A Stern-wheel Steamboat forcing its way up the Jur (Sue) + or main affluent of the Bahr-al-Ghazal 245 + + 49. N.E. corner of Victoria Nyanza (with Samia Hills in + distance) 247 + + 50. Joseph Thomson 248 + + 51. Emin Pasha 252 + + 52. Raphia Palms by a Central African stream 257 + + 53. Sir Henry Stanley, G.C.B. 261 + + 54. Shores of the Victoria Nyanza near Emin Pasha Gulf 262 + + 55. Dr. Franz Stuhlmann 264 + + 56. A Native of Unyamwezi from near south shores of Victoria + Nyanza 267 + + 57. Sir Frederic D. Lugard 269 + + 58. G. F. Scott-Elliott 271 + + 59. Dr. Donaldson-Smith 272 + + 60. Cutting the Sudd 274 + + 61. Dr. C. Beke 281 + + 62. Natives of the Baro (Upper Sobat) 284 + + 63. Colonel J. B. Marchand 286 + + 64. Gorge of the River Baro (Upper Sobat) 287 + + 65. Berta Negroes 289 + + 66. A Berta Village in the Matongwe Mountains 291 + + 67. The Nile in Egypt 293 + + 68. Nubia: a “Washout” on the Sudan Railway 294 + + 69. Tropical Forest at Entebbe, on the northwest shores of the + Victoria Nyanza 295 + + 70. Napoleon Gulf, looking South 302 + + 71. The Birth of the Victoria Nile, at the Ripon Falls 304 + + 72. On Lake Albert Edward (North-west Coast) 305 + + 73. In the Libyan Desert 315 + + 74. Orographical Features of the Nile Basin 328 + + 75. Land Surface Features of the Nile Basin 328 + + + + +THE NILE QUEST + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE DAWN OF NILE EXPLORATION + + +The first men who entered Egypt and travelled up the valley of the +Nile came, almost unquestionably, from the east, and were part of +those radiations from the central focus of humanity, India. It is +possible that the first men who entered the valley of the Nile from +this direction may have been of so primitive, simian, and undetermined +a type--so “Neanderthaloid”--as not to belong definitely to any one +of the three main species of humanity. At that distant time, however +(let us say at the end of the Pleistocene period or beginning of the +Quaternary Epoch), there was undoubtedly a land connection over the +south as well as over the north end of the Red Sea, joining Arabia to +Ethiopia as well as to Egypt; and across this bridge came many types +of Asiatic mammals, also man,--possibly in the form of a low Negroid, +a type represented to-day (much changed and modified, of course) by +the Congo Pygmies and South African Bushmen. As regards the history +of humanity, however, the valley of the Nile has been divided into +two very distinct parts. The southern half of its basin--in common +with all Africa south of the Sahara and the fifteenth degree of north +latitude--was peopled from the east, through southern Arabia, and by +the Negro species in the main. Egypt proper and the adjoining regions +of Arabia once lay within the domain of the Negroid Pygmies, but +these indigenes were overwhelmed at a relatively early period by more +or less “negrified” branches of the Caucasian stock coming from the +direction of Syria or from Libya. Before the dawn of the historical +epoch--say nine thousand years ago--an element in the population of +Lower Egypt certainly showed Bushmen affinities. These steatopygous +Bushmen were perhaps Proto-negroes, who may have branched off from +the Nigritic stock when first that species reached the Mediterranean +regions. This Bushman element in Egypt was for some time distinct, +prior to the historical period, as the characteristic type of the +servile class. Following on these dwarfish people came races bearing +some slight resemblance to the Dravidians of India or the Brahuis of +Baluchistan,--a somewhat Australoid stock which has left traces in +Elam and around the shores of the Persian Gulf. Then came an aquiline +type of nearly pure Caucasian stock, usually known by Egyptologists as +the “Khafra” race. This probably arrived from Syria or Cyprus. But the +men of the northern half of the Nile basin who fathered the principal, +dominating type of ancient and modern Egyptian emigrated seemingly +from the direction of Galaland, Somaliland, or Abyssinia. In these +countries, or originally perhaps in southern Arabia, there was formed a +handsome race mainly of Caucasian stock, but which had mingled somewhat +considerably with the Proto-negroes and Dravidians in Arabia and in +northeast Africa, and so had acquired darker skins, and hair with +more or less tendency to curl. The men of this race, like the modern +Somali or Gala, and the inhabitants of southern Arabia, grew thin and +wedge-shaped beards. Their lips were full, their noses straight and +finely shaped. Their degenerate descendants continue to exist with but +little altered facial type in the Danākil, Somali, and Gala of the +present day; but in the northern half of the Nile valley they became +in time the main stock of the Egyptian population. They also, it would +seem, profoundly modified Negro Africa; for while on the one hand +they started out by a series of race movements and conquests from the +direction of Abyssinia to invade and mould Egypt, on the other (though +more faint-heartedly) they advanced in a southwesterly direction to +influence Negro Africa. They have formed aristocracies in the countries +round the head-waters of the White Nile. Their influence on the Negro +races has been widespread, permeating, even though faintly, in a +handsome physical type and remarkable form of language, to Zululand +on the south and perhaps westward across the continent to the Congo, +the Cross River, and the Atlantic coast. This Hamitic race (as it is +called for want of a better word), which made its first home--and +retains as its last--the highlands of Abyssinia and the plateaux and +arid coastlands of Afar, Somaliland, and the Gala countries, has +been the mainstay of Ancient Egypt, and also, together with its not +distantly related Libyan brethren, the main human agent in saving the +Negro from slipping back into the life of the anthropoid ape. + +[Illustration: THE NILE AND THE PYRAMIDS.] + +The valley of the Lower Nile, however, attracted many invasions from +Europe and Asia, and from Libya (northwest Africa), where the dominant +race was mainly of Iberian stock.[1] Dynasties rose and fell, often +coincident with the invasion of Egypt by one race of conquerors after +another. All these races (with the exception perhaps of the Hittites) +belonged to various types of the Caucasian species. The Hittites +possibly may have introduced a slight element of the Mongolian. In +the earliest historical period Egypt and the lower valley of the +Nile does not seem to have been markedly severed in its interracial +relations from the far greater portion of the Nile basin which lies +to the south of the fifteenth degree of north latitude. Egyptians +penetrated no doubt without much difficulty up the Nile valley into +and among the Negro tribes of the Central Sudan and Equatoria. The +Ancient Egyptians may have had--must have had--a certain proportion of +Negro or Negroid in their composition; beside the drop of Negro blood +in their Hamitic ancestors, they must have absorbed the earlier +Negroid population of their country and have imported and intermarried +with Negro slaves. But they were fully Caucasian in the vivid interest +they took in nature, and in their desire to depict all the striking +forms of life around them, especially when such forms had anything of +novelty. Prof. Flinders Petrie has, I believe, recently discovered a +vase of immeasurable antiquity of the “Pre-Dynastic” period in Lower +Egypt which is incised with a delineation of the Kudu antelope.[2] +Other and later relics would seem to show that the Egyptians were +acquainted with the chimpanzee of the Bahr-al-Ghazal regions, the +Pygmies who once inhabited the western part of the Upper Nile basin, +and many forms of the Tropical African fauna. But after these early +historical times there appears to have come about a severance of +relations between Egypt and the Upper Nile, though an overland route +to the Land of Punt (Somaliland) either through Abyssinia or to the +west of that elevated region nearly always existed unclosed to traffic. +It is noteworthy that the Ancient Egyptians themselves do not appear +ever to have penetrated up the main stream of the Nile much above its +junction with the Bahr-al-Ghazal, no doubt owing to the obstruction +of the sudd. Their traders may have travelled into many parts of the +Bahr-al-Ghazal region, and possibly even westward in the direction +of Lake Chad,--westward, it may be, even across the western Sudan +to the Niger,--yet there is not the slightest indication of their +ever having journeyed up the main White Nile to the snow-mountains +and the equatorial lakes. But they traded for thousands of years +with the men of Punt (Somaliland) by sea and by land; and there is +evidence to show that the peoples of Somaliland and Galaland (who had +by repeated prehistoric invasions permeated the Upper Nile basin and +left aristocracies behind them) traded anciently--say, in pre-Islamic +times--southwestward to Lake Rudolf, and round Lake Rudolf to the +present Turkana country, the neighbourhood of Mount Elgon, and even to +the northeastern shores of the Victoria Nyanza. + +The Ancient Egyptians seem to have known the main Nile as far as +Khartum, and the Blue Nile up to its source in Lake Tsana. They +exercised intermittently some kind of rule over the northern and +western escarpment of Abyssinia, and are said to have sent criminals +and political exiles to die of cold on the snowy heights of the Samien +range. But they appear to have displayed little knowledge or curiosity +concerning the ultimate source of the _White_ Nile. No doubt the vast +marshes and obstructions of the sudd which characterised the course of +the Nile above its confluence with the Bahr-al-Ghazal, the generally +hopeless nature of this country with its utter absence of anything +like high land, of minerals, or of a trading population, discouraged +the practical-minded Egyptians from pursuing their researches in that +direction. The Nile itself they called _Hapi_, which was also the name +of the Nile God. It was sometimes spoken of as _Pi Yuma_, or “the +River.”[3] Its valley they called Atr, Atur, Aur (Modern Coptic = +_Eiōr_).[4] + +Several foreign dynasties ruled over Ancient Egypt,--Arabian and +Libyan,--and for centuries at a time the energies of Egypt were mainly +concentrated on domestic work under these foreign task-masters or +insurrections to expel the hated rulers. The original civilisation of +Egypt rose rapidly to a great and wonderful height at a period which +may be as remote, historically, as about seven thousand years ago. The +main source of their civilisation seems to have been the introduction +into the country of copper implements instead of and in addition to +those of improved stone and flint manufacture. A wonderful development +of pictorial art occurred concurrently with this brilliant rise in +civilisation, and this early Egyptian art is of a realistic character +from which all subsequent Egyptian pictorial or sculptured art has been +a degeneration. At this time they easily impressed the Negroes of +the south and the Libyans of the west with their power, and it was no +doubt a matter of ease for Egyptian expeditions to penetrate into the +Sudan from the countries of Abyssinia and Galaland. Gold and precious +or gaudy stones were sought for in the east and southeast. Ivory, +slaves, gums, perfumes, and strange beasts were obtained from the south +and southwest. But no doubt Ancient Egyptians in their extensions of +political or commercial influence introduced amongst the Negro tribes +the knowledge of working metals. They also gave to them all those +domestic animals and cultivated plants now existing in Tropical Africa +which are not of a far later American or Indian origin (that is, +introduced by the Portuguese and Arabs). By instructing the Negroes +in this indirect manner in the arts of civilisation, and by spreading +among them, no doubt, the use of metal weapons (which were probably +as good as those used by the Egyptians themselves), there came a time +when--to use a term once much employed by the European pioneer--the +black men became “saucy” and objected to be harried, bullied, assessed, +and exploited by the lordly Egyptian. The Negro race at this time, too, +was becoming infiltrated by the same splendid stock--the Hamites--as +had so largely composed the ruling population of Egypt. Here and +there, no doubt, Negro tribes submitted willingly to be governed by +Hamitic princes (as has been the case in Uganda and Unyoro), and, thus +ruled, offered sharp opposition to Egyptian encroachments. Egyptian +interest, therefore, in the sources of the Nile died away, especially +as in the revival of native Egyptian power and in the expulsion of +foreign dynasties the thoughts of Egypt were all bent on the conquest +and retention of Syria, Asia Minor, and Cyprus. These lands were more +desirable in their eyes than the appalling wastes of the Sahara, the +sun-smitten Sudan, the cold mountains of Abyssinia, or the fetid +marshes of the Nile Negroes. + +Almost older than the civilisation of Egypt was that of Mesopotamia, +the reflex action of which on the Hamites of western Arabia and +Abyssinia and on the inhabitants of the Nile Delta may have provoked +the civilisation of Egypt. Empires rose, declined, fell, and were +revived in the valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and their +influence over Arabia and Syria produced in those countries a stirring +of commerce and invention and a desire for distant enterprise. The +Phœnicians, who were originally an Arab people of the Persian Gulf, +forced their way across the barren wastes of northern Arabia to the +coasts of Syria, leaving behind, however, colonies of bold navigators +at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. The Phœnicians, by the +building of more seaworthy boats, and probably by the development of +sails, soon traversed the Mediterranean in all directions, passed +out through the Straits of Gibraltar, and even found their way to +Britain long before Julius Cæsar. Their most noteworthy action in +connection with Africa perhaps was the founding of Utica in 1100 B.C. +and Carthage in 820 B.C., these settlements being made at no great +distance from each other in that projection of North Africa which +constitutes the modern state of Tunis. The Carthaginian successors of +the Phœnicians carried on the work of discovery along the north and +west coasts of Africa until, in the memorable voyage of Hanno, they +had penetrated as far south in that direction as the existing colony +of Sierra Leone. The Phœnicians as bold navigators were enlisted in +the service of one of the last Egyptian sovereigns of a real Egyptian +dynasty,--Neku, son of Psametik I., who succeeded to the throne of +Egypt in 611 B.C. Evidently by this time the overland routes to the +regions of the Upper Nile and even to Somaliland had been closed by +hostilities with the Ethiopians and Negroes. A Phœnician expedition +was directed to sail down the Red Sea and along the coast to the Land +of Punt and the unknown territory beyond. According to tradition, +this expedition sailed round the whole continent of Africa and passed +through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean, reaching Egypt +from that direction. + +Egypt, in her several thousand years of history, had been many times +conquered by foreign races or the leaders of foreign armies, and had +sometimes endured the domination of strangers for five hundred years at +a time, though Egyptian art, tradition, and religion either survived +concurrently alongside the habits and customs of the less civilised +rulers, or ended by Egyptianising the stranger. But there was to +come a time when the independence of Egypt was to disappear, when the +Egyptian language was to cease to be dominant, when, in fact, the Egypt +of the Pharaohs and the Pyramids, of the Hieroglyph and the Mummy, +of Ra and Aphis, Osiris, Isis, and Horus was to disappear--perhaps +for ever; for the potent race that had so long held aloft a +brightly-lighted lamp of civilisation has been so changed and degraded +by the infusion of Persian, Arab, Greek, Italian, Negro, Circassian, +Turkish, French, and Maltese blood, so often decimated by wars, +famines, and diseases, and renewed with the tainted blood of mercenary +armies, that, though the residuum of the population may still offer +great facial resemblances to the vanished Egyptian type, the majesty of +demeanour, the brilliant mental endowments of the old race have gone, +and the rulers of Egypt to-day under the indifferent English are the +descendants of Slavs and Turks, Arabs, Armenians, and Circassians. + +A ruler of Egypt, a usurper named Aahmes, had been raised to the +kingship over Egypt by a soldier’s mutiny. He had legitimised his +position by marrying a granddaughter of Psametik I. Carrying out a +series of successful expeditions, he once more opened a way to the +commerce of Nubia and the Upper Nile. He intervened in the affairs of +Asia Minor to support a small state there against encroachments by +the Persian conqueror Cyrus. The son of Cyrus the Great, whom we know +as Cambyses, but whose real name was probably in Persian Kambujiya, +resolved to punish Egypt for this interference. Aahmes, whom the +Greeks called Amasis, died before he could resist the invasion, and +his son, Psametik III., lost his throne and the independence of +Egypt in the battle of Pelusium. Cambyses became the conqueror, and +was crowned the legitimate King of Egypt. He seems to have been an +erratic and cruel conqueror, but, like Nero, somewhat fantastically +interested in science and exploration. He sent one great expedition +into the Libyan Desert which was never heard of again, and is supposed +to have perished in the sand; and he led a great army himself up the +Nile with some vague intention of conquering the Ethiopians. His +soldiers, however, had marched only a small distance into the desert +when their commissariat failed, and many perished, while others became +cannibals in their mad hunger. This disaster put a stop to any further +efforts on the part of the Persian Overlords of Egypt. For nearly +two hundred years Persia maintained her hold over Egypt, though for +brief intervals native dynasties arose in this part and that part and +flickered for a time in a state of semi-independence. Then happened +one of the great events in the history of Egypt and of the development +of Africa,--an event which may be paralleled by the descent on Egypt +of Napoleon Bonaparte two thousand one hundred and thirty-one years +later: Alexander the Great, continuing his war against the Persian +Empire, attacked that power in Egypt and won the day. Alexander left +in charge in Egypt one of his generals (who was perhaps also his +illegitimate half-brother), Ptolemy. After his death Ptolemy refused to +acknowledge the claims of Alexander’s posthumous son, and made himself +King of Egypt. He thus founded a Greek dynasty in that country which +lasted till the advent of the Cæsars and expired in the person of the +world-famed Cleopatra. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GREEKS INTEREST EUROPE IN THE NILE QUESTION + + +The second division of the Caucasian species of man (the Iberian being +the first) was the Aryan,--a race of golden-haired, pink and white +complexioned people, with eyes that are blue, gray, or violet.[5] +The Aryans first came into Greece as barbarians and destroyers, but +were soon conquered by the preceding Iberian Mykenæan civilisation, +on which they built up that Hellenic art and knowledge which are the +foundations of European civilisation at the present day. This Hellenic +spirit first made itself felt in Africa through the Greek colonies of +the Cyrenaica. Greece, when it became conscious of a world beyond its +peninsulas and islands, was strongly drawn towards Africa. The power +of Egypt long withstood attempts at Greek colonisation, though in +quite early days Hellenic or Hellenised Europeans were employed by the +rulers of Egypt as mercenary soldiers. Therefore, following the line +of least resistance, Greece planted her first African colonies between +Egypt on the east and the settlements of the Phœnicians (Carthage) on +the west. Due west of the narrow coast belt of Egypt is a remarkable +projection of North Africa into the Mediterranean,--the modern Barka, +the ancient Cyrenaica. This projection has been, several times in +geological history, a series of islands in a larger Mediterranean, or +it has grown into a bridge connecting Greece with Africa. The land now +rises to heights of three thousand feet, and there is a sufficiency of +rainfall in ordinary seasons to nourish a vegetation not much less rich +than that of southern Italy. South of the Cyrenaica lies the Sahara +Desert in its most aggravated form of well-nigh impassable sand dunes. +No Greek expedition that we know of ever succeeded in crossing the +Sahara from Cyrenaica and reaching the Sudan; but Greek influence and +inquiries were dimly felt in Phazania (Fezzan) to the southwest, and +the existence and prosperity of these Greek colonies in North Africa +aroused the interest of the Greeks in matters of African exploration. +In about 457 B.C. Herodotus (a native of Halicarnassus, a Hellenised +state in Asia Minor under Persian rule) visited Egypt, which from 650 +B.C. onwards had been more or less thrown open to Greek enterprise by +Psametik I. Herodotus himself travelled up the Nile as far as the First +Cataract, and collected with some industry information from Egyptians +and travelled Greeks as to the regions which lay beyond. From these he +learned that the origin of the Nile was unknown, but that the river +might come from the far west, from the region where we now know Lake +Chad to be; that there was a civilised city of Ethiopians in the great +bend of the Nile at Meroe (Merāwi of to-day), and that beyond this +nothing certain was known of the Nile course. Aristotle--the great +Greek philosopher, who was born in northern Greece in 384 B.C.--wrote +on African discovery and recorded the news that to the southwest of +the Nile were Pygmy races who frequently warred with the “cranes” (? +ostriches). + +In B.C. 276 was born at Cyrene, in North Africa, Eratosthenes, a Greek +geographer, who was made Librarian at Alexandria. From the information +he collected and collated (supplied, no doubt, by Greek traders) he, +first of all known geographers, sketched out with fair accuracy the +course of the Nile and its two great Abyssinian affluents as far +south as the modern Khartum. He hinted at the lake sources and first +mentioned the Nubians. + +It was the conquest of Egypt from Persian domination by Alexander the +Great which really did more to extend Greek commerce and civilisation +and the use of the Greek language over eastern Africa and western Asia +than has even been done at a far later date in other parts of the +world for German commerce, knowledge, and the German language by the +unification of Germany under Bismarck, William I., and William II. +Greek explorers visited the Nile as far south as the junction of the +Astapus (Blue Nile), and Greek settlements were made on the island of +Sokotra, and possibly at other points near the mouth of the Red Sea. +Greek traders even visited the East African coast as far as Pangani, +opposite Zanzibar. The Greeks revealed India to Europe, and the +commerce which sprung up there through Greek agencies on the Persian +Gulf and the Red Sea gave unwilling navigators, in those days before +steam force, some acquaintance with the eastern coast of Africa as far +south as Zanzibar. + +Yet the Greeks in all these regions were (as subsequently happened +with the Portuguese) but the followers of the Arabs and Phœnicians. +Some impulse, kindred in origin, no doubt, to the evolution of the +Phœnicians, had created an ancient civilisation in southern and western +Arabia which perhaps reached its climax in the lofty, well-watered, and +fertile country of Yaman. Much of southern Arabia, however, several +thousand years ago, was less arid than at the present day. The rainfall +was greater, and the already civilised inhabitants industriously +preserved the precious water by dams for purposes of irrigation. This +civilisation may be briefly styled Himyaritic or Sabæan,--perhaps the +last name is the more comprehensive. These Sabæan Arabs of south and +southwest Arabia, separately or in conjunction with their Phœnician +cousins, pursued their search for metals down the east coast of Africa, +along which they made settlements which are probably the sites of most +of the modern emporiums of commerce on the same coast. They had reached +the mouth of the Zambezi and ascended that river, and had penetrated +as far south as, let us say, Delagoa Bay. It was perhaps their +exploration of the Zambezi which led them to discover alluvial gold +in the vicinity of that river, though they afterwards found a shorter +route to the gold fields by way of Sofala. In this way they forestalled +by some twenty-five hundred years modern Rhodesian enterprise, and +gold was worked in the regions to the south of the Lower Zambezi and +a little to the north of that river by Arabs or people of allied +language and race almost continuously from an approximate period of +three thousand years ago down to the arrival of the Portuguese at the +beginning of the sixteenth century of this era. In the days before the +appalling religious disunion brought about by the conflicts between +Christianity and Islam there was no bitter feeling against the European +on the part of the Arab, and Greek adventurers and traders appear to +have penetrated freely up the Nile, and to have worked cordially with +the Sabæan Arabs whom they found established at various points between +India on the one hand and Zanzibar and the Red Sea on the other. The +Greek colony on the island of Sokotra no doubt traded industriously +with the opposite coast of Somaliland. + +Rome displaced Greece in Egypt in the same way that Greece had +displaced Persia, and that Persia had closed the five thousand years +of fighting between Libyan, Gala, Arab, and Nubian. In 168 B.C. Rome +extended her protection over Egypt. In 30 B.C. Egypt became a Roman +province. When the Romans really took over the administration of the +land, they too, like the Galas, Persians, and Greeks before them, and +the French, Turks, and English after them, began to be interested in +the quest for the Nile sources. Each newly-arrived race of Caucasian +conquerors in Egypt has felt the same interest. But much of the +exploring and recording work under Roman rule was done by Greeks. +Strabo, a native of Amasia in Pontus, on the southern shore of the +Black Sea, who was born somewhere about 50 B.C., became, when quite a +young man, a geographer of the Roman world. He accompanied in B.C. 24 +Ælius Gallus, the Roman Governor of Egypt, on a journey up the Nile as +far as Philæ (beyond Assuan and the First Cataract). Pliny the Elder, +writing some fifty years after the birth of Christ, shows us that just +before and just after that event Greek explorers (mainly from Asia +Minor) had been busy on the Nile above the First Cataract and perhaps +south of Khartum. These were Bion, Dalion, and Simonides. Aristocreon +and Basilis are also mentioned as authorities on Nile exploration, but +not necessarily explorers themselves. Simonides, above mentioned, lived +for five years in Meroe. Dalion is thought to have penetrated up the +river some distance beyond Khartum. The “Meroe” which is so constantly +mentioned by Greek and Roman writers from Herodotus to Ptolemy, was a +name given originally to an important and flourishing city on the south +or left bank of the Nile in Dongola,--the modern Merāwi. This place +was also known as Napata (Egyptian, Nepet), and was the residence +of Ethiopian (Abyssinian, Gala, Nubian) kings. Later the name Meroe +was also applied to a place on the right bank of the Nile about one +hundred miles south of that river’s confluence with the Atbara. +This is probably where the Greek Simonides stayed and beyond which +Dalion travelled. Finally, the term Meroe was applied to the “Island” +(peninsula) formed by the Atbara, the Blue Nile, and the White Nile, a +region formerly of great fertility. + +The Emperor Nero, though the Beast of the Apocalypse, had a certain +genial interest in geography. He despatched--or caused to be +despatched--an expedition under two centurions in about the year 66 +A.D., to discover, if possible, the source or sources of the White +Nile. Before dealing with Egypt the Romans had taken over control of +the old Greek colonies of the Cyrenaica and on the coast of Tripoli. +This had led (A.D. 19) to their having extensive relations with the +Berber kingdom of Fezzan, with whom and with the Tawareq people of +Garama to the south they maintained friendly relations. Through this +friendly co-operation a Roman expedition under Septimus Flaccus had in +the year 50 A.D. (perhaps) reached to some trans-Saharan place like +Bilma. Much later, about 150 A.D., another expedition under Julius +Maternus joined forces with the friendly Berber King of Garama, and +actually travelled to the vicinity of Lake Chad, or, as some think, +to the oasis of Air or Asben farther to the west. It was a country +which they called Agisymba, and abounded in rhinoceroses. From this +expedition the Romans derived some inkling of the possibilities, beyond +the sandy wastes and sun-smitten rocks of the Sahara Desert, of a +fertile Sudan, populated with an excellent material for slaves. But a +hundred years earlier they had realised the enormous difficulties which +attended any enterprise (in the days before camels were used in Africa) +across the Sahara Desert, and this gave them an added desire to follow +up the Nile and ascertain its practicability as a waterway into Negro +Africa. + +Nero’s two centurions were passed on by Roman prefects to friendly +Nubian chiefs, one of whom ruled the principality of Meroe along the +main Nile between Atbara and the Blue Nile confluence. Furnished with +boats which they later exchanged for dug-out canoes, they appear to +have ascended the Nile above Fashoda, and possibly above the confluence +between the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the Kir or White Nile. At any rate they +got far enough south to come in contact with the Great Marsh which +extends from the vicinity of Fashoda to the frontiers of the Uganda +Protectorate. Their passage was stopped by the accumulation of water +vegetation which we now know as the “sudd.” Some writers on ancient +geography believe that the two centurions penetrated as far south as +the sixth degree of north latitude, or the verge of the Bari country. +At any rate they got well into the land of the naked Nile Negroes. +Their discouraging reports seem to have put an end to any further Roman +enterprise in the matter. + +Greek traders in Egypt prospered greatly under the peace imposed by the +Roman Empire. Their commerce with Arabia, East Africa, and India grew +to a wonderful development in the first century after Christ. About 77 +A.D. was published by a Greek of Alexandria the celebrated “Periplus of +the Red Sea,” a pilot’s manual not unlike the modern Admiralty “sailing +directions.” This “Periplus” shows us that the Greeks by the middle of +the first century knew the Zanzibar coast very well under the name of +Azan or Azania. + +Among these Greek merchants trading with India was one Diogenes, +who, on returning from a voyage to India in about 50 A.D., landed on +the East African coast at Rhaptum (Pangani or the mouth of the river +Rufu?). Thence, he said, he “travelled inland for a twenty-five days’ +journey, and arrived in the vicinity of the two great lakes and the +snowy range of mountains whence the Nile draws its twin sources.” As +nothing is recorded about his return journey, it is more probable that +he merely conversed on the coast with Arab settlers and traders who +told him that at a distance of twenty-five days’ march in the interior +began a series of great lakes from two of which were derived the twin +sources of the White Nile; that farther to the south of the most +western of these two lakes was a range of mountains of great altitude +covered with snow and ice, and named for their brilliant appearance of +white the Mountains of the Moon. The Nile, he was told, united its twin +head-streams at a point to the north of these two great lakes, and +then flowed through marshes until it joined the River of Abyssinia (the +Blue Nile), and so reached the regions of the known. + +[Illustration: THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON: A GLIMPSE ON ONE OF +RUWENZORI’S HIGHEST PEAKS.] + +This story was told by Diogenes to a Syrian geographer called +Marinus of Tyre, who published it in his geographical works in the +first century of the Christian era. The writings of Marinus of Tyre +disappeared, probably with the dispersal of the Alexandrian Library, +but fortunately for us at the present day all that portion of them +dealing with the sources of the Nile was quoted almost _in extenso_ +by another geographer, Claudius Ptolemæus, a Greek-Egyptian, born at +Ptolemais in the Delta of the Nile, and resident at Alexandria (perhaps +in connection with the celebrated Library). Ptolemy (as he is currently +and incorrectly called) wrote in about the year 150 A.D., and therefore +to Ptolemy is commonly attributed the first clearly expressed theory +as to the main origin of the White Nile, the twin lakes (Victoria and +Albert), and the great snowy range called the Mountains of the Moon +(Ruwenzori).[6] Neither Marinus of Tyre nor Claudius Ptolemæus was the +first person to hint at this origin of the Nile. Besides Eratosthenes +and Pliny there are indications in various records of the two centuries +before Christ that the idea of the White Nile issuing from two great +lakes and passing through a vast marshy region before it reached +Ethiopia was vaguely known. The idea had perhaps even reached the ears +of Cambyses and of such of the earlier Ptolemies as may have cared for +geographical speculations. The bearers of the news would undoubtedly +have been men of the Gala (Abyssinian, Somali, Cushite) race, who at +that distant period of time seem to have freely penetrated through +the lands of the brutish and unarmed Negroes. No doubt many a Greek +adventurer in passing along the east coast of Africa brought back +tidings similar to those of Diogenes, but his grain fell among the +rocks, and the only definite record of the existence of this theory as +to the Nile’s origin is the story of Diogenes preserved through the +industry of Marinus of Tyre and Claudius Ptolemæus of Alexandria. + +[Illustration: THE COURSE OF THE NILE, ACCORDING TO PTOLEMY. + +From the oldest version of Ptolemy’s Map in existence, about 930 A.D., +preserved in Mount Athos Monastery.] + +The recording of travellers’ tales as to the twin lake sources of +the main Nile stream and the existence of a great snowy range called +the Mountains of the Moon was not the only contribution made by +Claudius Ptolemæus to Nile geography. The Egyptian Greek indeed was +a geographical giant compared with any of his predecessors, nor was +the height of his knowledge concerning the geography of Europe, Asia, +and Africa reached and passed until the fifteenth century of the +present era, some twelve hundred years after his death. The results +of the later Crusades, intercourse with the Arabs, and the journeys +of Marco Polo and other enterprising Venetians had brought in some +cases confirmation of Ptolemy’s theories, had corrected some of his +errors, and had filled up gaps in his information. But as regards the +geography of Africa more especially, Ptolemy remained ostensibly the +great authority until the end of the fifteenth century, although, as +already mentioned in a footnote, the latest editions of Ptolemy’s +maps (the latest ascribed to Ptolemy was published about 1485) show +that the geographers at the closing part of the fifteenth century, +consciously or unconsciously, touched up Ptolemy’s work by later +information received from Arabs, Italians, and Turks. Ptolemy discussed +with much detail the whole course of the Nile so far as it lay to any +extent within the regions of the known. He described the approximate +outline of its course about as far as the present site of Berber, +which district he describes as the Greater Primis, a name which Sir +E. H. Bunbury takes to be identical with the locality of Primnis[7] +rumoured by Strabo. Above this point Ptolemy applies the name of Meroe +(so often attributed to settlements or districts in Dongola) to that +great peninsula which is so nearly enclosed between the Atbara, the +main and the Blue Niles. Ptolemy indeed, and most writers of earlier +and later days, believed this district to be an actual island.[8] +The junction of the Blue and the White Niles is wrongly placed by +Ptolemy in latitude 12° north, instead of 15° 40′, and from this point +southwards Ptolemy’s proposed latitudes of places on the White Nile +became increasingly incorrect, so that by him the Nile system was +carried a little too far to the south of the equator. South of the site +of modern Khartum Ptolemy had but little information to go upon, other +than the account of the Centurions’ voyage; but from such suggestions +as he could obtain, together with the story of Diogenes, he guessed +that the twin sources of the White Nile joined their streams into one +river at 2° north latitude. This junction described with the knowledge +of later days would be equivalent to the exit of the Nile from Lake +Albert, the real latitude of this point being 2° 25′--an uncommonly +good guess on Ptolemy’s part. Ptolemy, however, imagined nothing quite +like Lake Albert, but thought that the waters coming respectively from +the two great equatorial lakes effected their junction at a point some +two hundred and fifty miles north of the western lake source (Lake +Albert); for he surmises that this lake lies approximately under the +sixth degree of south latitude (its southernmost extremity is in 1° 10′ +north of the equator). His hypothetical Lake Victoria lies under or +extends to the seventh degree of south latitude, instead of no farther +than about 3° 30′ south. Ptolemy, however, was careful to discriminate +between the lake sources of the White Nile and the lake (Tsana) from +which the Blue Nile issues in the highlands of Abyssinia. This sheet +of water he calls definitely Coloe, and states that it is the source of +the river Astapus (or Blue Nile). It is thought that Strabo also made +allusion to Lake Tsana under the name of Psebo. It is probable that +both Strabo and Ptolemy heard of this lake source of the Astapus or +Blue Nile from Greek traders who had penetrated Abyssinia; for, during +the first centuries after Christ, Axum (then called Auxuma) had become +an important trading-centre which was reached from Adulis (Adulis +being a port on the Red Sea not far from the modern Masawa). Ptolemy’s +location of Lake Tsana, however, like the equatorial lakes, is too far +to the south. His sketch of the main course of the Atbara (Astaboras) +on the one hand, and of the Blue Nile (Astapus) on the other, would not +be very incorrect, but for the fact that he makes these streams unite +somewhere in the latitude of Khartum and then separate again, their +northern separation enclosing the island of Meroe. The Græcicised names +of Astapos (Blue Nile) and Astaboras (Atbara) were recorded before +the days of Ptolemy by Eratosthenes, but were not applied in the same +definite way to the Blue Nile and the Atbara. Eratosthenes sometimes +applies the name of Astapos to the main stream of the Nile and not +specially to the Blue Nile. He also mentions that the main stream of +the Nile is called Astasobas. It is evident that in these words we have +corruptions of local names, possibly derived from Nubian, or it may be +from Hamitic languages. Astaboras needs but little identification with +the Atbara. Astapus (Greek = Astapos) is not clearly recognizable under +the modern Abyssinian name of the Blue Nile,--Abai. The second part of +Astasobas certainly recalls the name Sobat, which besides being applied +by the Sudanese Arabs to the Baro or Sobat is also sometimes given by +them or by the Nile Negroes to the main course of the White Nile south +of Khartum. Asta may have been some Ethiopian term meaning “river.” + +The present writer is unable to understand why that able geographer, +Mr. E. G. Ravenstein, has doubted the identification of Ruwenzori with +Ptolemy’s Mountains of the Moon. It must be obvious, when all facts +are considered, that Ruwenzori was the principal germ of this idea. +The Greek traders at Rhapta (Pangani) no doubt had some idea of the +existence of Kilimanjaro, but it is doubtful whether either the single +dome of Kilimanjaro or the gleaming pinnacle of Kenia would impress the +imagination so strongly as the whole brilliant range of Ruwenzori’s +four or five snow-peaks and thirty miles of glaciation. On such +occasions, as when this range is visible from a distance, and broadside +on, the dark blue forested slopes merge into the morning mists of the +lowlands, leaving the splendid phantasmagoria of cream-coloured snow +and gray rock floating in the sky like an exaggerated lunar landscape. +Ptolemy places this range, as he does his lakes, too far to the south, +and associates it more with the modern country of Unyamwezi than +with the region between the two lakes Albert and Victoria. But no +doubt then, as in Speke’s day, Ruwenzori and Lake Albert were reached +by Greek adventurers, by Sabæan Arabs, or by natives who served +as intermediaries, by way of the established trade route through +Unyamwezi. This word, which means “the Land of the Moon,” appears to +be rather old for a Bantu place name: Unyamwezi indeed seems in the +history of Bantu migrations to have played an important part, and to +have been one of those many sub-centres from which great dispersals of +the Bantu races took place. Indeed the Zulus (who were probably the +dreaded Mazimba or Bazimba spoken of by the Portuguese) seem to have +halted in their cannibal days in Unyamwezi before they descended on +South Africa in the sixteenth century. Ruwenzori is not, after all, +such a very long journey to the northwest of Unyamwezi, and it is very +possible that the returning travellers, having stated that they reached +the Nile sources and these wonderful snow-mountains through the Land of +the Moon thus caused this lunar name to be applied by Ptolemy to the +Ruwenzori range. + +Though not an explorer, Ptolemy stands (for his age) in the highest +rank of Nile geographers; but he had to wait something like seventeen +hundred and forty years before Sir Henry Stanley, by his discovery +of the Semliki, the Ruwenzori snow-range, and the last problems of +the Nile sources, did justice to that remarkable foreshadowing of the +main features of the Nile system due to the genius of the Alexandrian +geographer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ABYSSINIANS AND JEWS + + +The race of the Greek kings who ruled over Egypt after the death of +Alexander the Great and until 30 B.C., and later, again, the Byzantine +Emperors of Eastern Rome did much to implant Hellenic civilisation and +the use of the Greek language in Egypt, and their influence extended +over Abyssinia, where the kings of Ethiopian race (Gala dashed with +Arab and Jew) admired and imitated them in much the same manner as +the second Emperor of the French was admired and imitated by the +lesser potentates of Germany. The history of Abyssinia--if it is to be +written with regard to truth--is still obscure. This country of lofty +mountains and temperate climate is bordered on the east by the land of +Afar, an inhospitable desert inhabited by fierce Hamites (Danākil). On +the south its mountains are connected by plateaux and ridges with the +highlands of East Africa, but are separated by much arid and parched +country from the regions of the modern Uganda protectorate. On the +west the mountains of Abyssinia descend in terraces to the plains of +the central Nile. Here the torrid climate is that of the Sudan, but +the country is better watered by the rivers which rise in Abyssinia, +and by a fairly regular rainfall. On the extreme north the Abyssinian +mountains almost overhang the coast of the Red Sea, and are no doubt +visible in clear weather from the opposite Arabian shore. The mountains +of Yaman are remarkably similar in many points to those of Abyssinia, +and the people of Yaman when they were seized with a desire to emigrate +in search of fresh homes were no doubt drawn to this distant land of +mountains just visible in the west. Originally no doubt Abyssinia was +peopled by the same dwarf Bushman race as that which formed the lowest +stratum of all the African populations. Then a portion of the country +came into the possession of the big black Negroes who still inhabit its +western flanks. These again are superseded and partially absorbed by +the superior race of the Hamites, the ancestors of the Gala, Somali, +and Ancient Egyptian. This Hamite race of Caucasian stock with some +Negroid intermixture forms the basis of the Abyssinian population at +the present day. But in the early days of Sabæan enterprise--say four +thousand to three thousand years ago--Abyssinia was conquered by Sabæan +Arabs from Yaman. At many subsequent periods Abyssinia and Yaman (the +Red Sea acting as no barrier) were governed by the same dynasty, and +when Yaman came under Persian influence that influence also penetrated +Abyssinia. In this manner Abyssinia early developed a trade with India, +and even served as an emporium for the introduction of Indian wares +into Egypt on the one hand and the remote parts of eastern equatorial +Africa on the other. The Queen of Saba (Sheba) is no doubt in many +respects a legendary personage, but if she had any real historical +existence she is another instance of an Arab ruler who governed both +Abyssinia and Yaman. She may or may not have visited Solomon, but there +is no doubt that in the time of that Jewish king some intercourse was +kept up between the kingdom of Israel in its brief flicker of power +and prosperity, and the coasts of the Red Sea and southern Arabia. +After the smashing up of the Hebrew state by the Assyrians there are +good reasons for assuming that a number of the dispersed Israelites +migrated to Abyssinia, as no doubt they did to other parts of the +Sabæan Empire. Jewish monotheism always had a certain fascination (in +the days before Christianity and Islam) for the peoples of Arabia and +of Mauritania. This influence was most felt after the final destruction +of Jerusalem by the Romans and the subsequent dispersal of the Jews +in all directions. Several princes in southwestern Arabia adopted +the Jewish faith, more or less, and the Jewish settlers in Abyssinia +also appear to have acted as missionaries in converting the savage, +nominally Semitic, partly Gala rulers of Abyssinia to the principles +of the Jewish faith, into which they wove Jewish legends, such as the +glory and power of Solomon. A similar influence impressed on the Arab +mind the Solomon of the legends. The real son of David was no doubt an +unimportant Semitic prince who borrowed a little civilisation from his +Phœnician, Egyptian, and Sabæan neighbours. But the Greek influence +emanating from Egypt displaced for a time the Persian and Jewish +culture in Abyssinia. In the northern parts of that (then) collection +of Arab and Gala kingdoms, Greek began to be used as a second language, +the speech of the Court itself being a foreign tongue (Ge’ez), derived +from the Himyaritic or some early south Semitic language. + +Auxuma--the modern Auxum--in the kingdom or province of Tigre +(northeastern Abyssinia) and near the more modern town of Adua, became +an important trade centre, frequented by many Greek merchants, some +of whom seem to have occasionally returned to their homes in Egypt by +way of the Atbara and the Nile. Others forestalled the Portuguese by +entering into trade relations or actually undertaking journeys which +revealed to them the existence of Lake Tsana and the upper waters of +the Blue Nile. + +Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Byzantine Greek, who traded with India in +the early part of the sixth century of our era, called at the port of +Adulis (near Masawa) in 520 A.D. He discovered at this place a monument +which contained two separate inscriptions. The monument was apparently +one erected at the orders of Ptolemy III. (Philadelphus), who reigned +in Egypt from 285 to 247 B.C. This Ptolemy led and sent expeditions +which made a partial conquest of the coast regions of northern +Abyssinia, and added to the Egyptian Empire of that day a good deal of +what now constitutes the modern Italian colony of Eritrea.[9] + +On the same monument some four hundred and seventy years later, in +about 127 A.D., a Semitic Abyssinian king (possibly Ela-Auda) recorded +in turn his own victories and extensions of rule. These conquests seem +to have done much to carry the Abyssinian (Semitic as distinct from +Hamitic) arms as far south as the ninth degree of north latitude. Other +indications would show that from this time onwards to about the tenth +century A.D. Abyssinian influence and conquests extended southward +intermittently to the vicinity of Lake Rudolf (the northern end of that +lake). Owing to these conquests, Christianity was carried as far south +as the modern province of Kaffa, and northwestwards along the course +of the Blue Nile to the site of the modern Khartum; for at one time +Abyssinian suzerainty or rule extended almost to the verge of Kordofan +on the west.[10] + +The introduction of Islam among the Somalis, among some of the Gala +tribes, and all round the north and west of Abyssinia in the centuries +that followed the eleventh, checked any further spread of Christianity, +and limited--even curtailed--the political aspirations of Abyssinia. +In the sixteenth century a Muhammadan ruler--Muhammad Granye--arose +in the Danākil country (Tajurra Bay), and practically smashed the +Ethiopian Christian power in Abyssinia, which did not recover from the +ravages of these Muhammadan (Arab and Somali) armies for a century or +more. Soon after the wars of Muhammad Granye the heathen Galas[11] +from the south and southwest entered Abyssinia in force, and it was a +long time before the Semitic rulers of that country could bring them +under control. The arrival of the Portuguese (to be described in the +next chapter) gave a fillip to the power of the Christian Semites of +Abyssinia, mainly through the introduction of guns and gunpowder. It is +possible, indeed, that at different times after the commencement of the +Christian era Abyssinian raiders may have ridden south on their slave, +ivory, and cattle-hunting expeditions as far as the vicinity of Mount +Elgon. At the present day their raiders come almost to the frontiers +of Busoga, for there is no tsetse fly in all the district between +Abyssinia and the Victoria Nyanza; therefore, as the Abyssinians have +possessed horses for several thousand years, there has been little to +stop their making rapid expeditions into the Land of the Blacks. In +this way they may have raided and traded as far south as the Victoria +Nyanza and as far west as the White Nile, bringing back with them +for the edification of the Greeks stories of the Great Lakes and +Snow-mountains, and assisting, perhaps, to distribute over the lands +now comprised within the Uganda Protectorate those remarkable blue +Egyptian beads of unknown antiquity which have been referred to by the +present writer in his book, “The Uganda Protectorate,” as being some +slight indication of ancient trading relations between the countries of +the Great Lakes and those under the dominion of Egypt. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ISLAMITES AND ITALIANS + + +When Egypt had become part of the Byzantine dominions, all interest in +the Nile sources had died away, and men’s minds were mainly centred on +religious controversies of greater or less violence. Greek Christianity +penetrated to Abyssinia and south of Abyssinia to countries not far +from the north end of Lake Rudolf. Most of the Nubian kingdoms became +nominally Christian, and Christianity was the religion of the people +on the Nile banks as far south as the confluence of the Blue and White +Niles. It is thought by the missionaries of the White Fathers’ Mission +to Uganda that the sign of the cross and the idea of baptism, with one +or two other practices found in the old heathen religions of Unyoro and +Uganda, may have reached those countries from Abyssinia. Greek and Arab +Christians in the first six centuries of the Christian era certainly +penetrated to the East African coast, but after the official adoption +of Christianity by the Roman Empire all mundane knowledge began to +decay. Christianity inspired a contempt for science, and the only ideas +of geography which floated about the world were connected with the +wanderings of propagandists or pilgrimages to the shrines of saints. +Arab enterprise, moreover, in these sad centuries suffered a curious +eclipse. Far to the south, in Zambezia, no doubt the invasion of the +country by the earlier and later sections of the Bantu Negroes brought +about the destruction of Sabæan power; and the somewhat degenerate +successors of the Sabæans from the south coast of Arabia only occupied +the coast emporiums dotted along the littoral from Somaliland to Sofala. + +Then came one of the great landmarks of the world’s history, a movement +productive of a little good and some harm to civilisation. Christianity +had first been organised as a socialistic religion, grafting on to +the beautiful and indisputable precepts of its Founder the reaction +of poor, ignorant, starved, and enslaved people against the unmoral +philosophy, unequal wealth, and excessive materialism of the time. It +then grew to be a somewhat dismal faith, taking no heed of the beauty +of this world and of mundane opportunities for happiness; and above +all it waged an active warfare with sexuality, not merely curbing +immorality, but (wisely or unwisely) opposing polygamy and advocating +celibacy. The Arab and the North African were not ripe for such a +faith, and Judaism had already biassed them against the polytheistic +tendencies of Greek Christianity. Muhammad, the prophet of western +Arabia, founded on a basis of phallic worship and animistic belief +the third great Semitic religion--Islam. His teaching was a direct +challenge to Christianity, and soon became iconoclastic in every sense +of the word. Though the Persian, Syrian, and Iberian elements of the +Arab Empire for a time revived and perpetuated in somewhat grotesque +aspect the science of Greece, the art of Persia, and the lore of India, +the Muhammadan religion sealed most parts of Africa to European and +Christian research. It is true, however, that the conquests of Islam +enabled Arabs to penetrate further into the interior of tropical Africa +than before, though from the dawn of civilisation they had been the +most constant explorers of the eastern part of that continent. + +The Arabs began to mention names connected with the Niger and the +western Sudan to the geographers of Italy and Sicily. Under the impulse +of Islamic, Persian, and Arab colonies the east coast of Africa and +the north coast of Madagascar came partially under Muhammadan rule in +the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Arabs there carrying on almost +continuously the commercial enterprise founded by their predecessors +and brothers, the Phœnicians and Sabæans. Invasion after invasion +crossed from Arabia, and passed over the lowlands surrounding Abyssinia +to the central Sudan; or higher up, through Egypt, to Mauritania. +But the Arabs who crossed the Nile in the latitudes of Khartum and +Assuan made no attempts to follow the White Nile, the Blue Nile, or +the Bahr-al-Ghazal to their sources,--left in fact all the Nile basin +above the confluence of the Blue and White rivers absolutely untouched +and unexplored. Egypt itself came under Arab rule in 640 A.D., and +subsequently formed an independent principality under the Fatimite +Khalifs. + +The Crusades brought French, Germans, and English, Aragonese and +Flemings to the Delta of the Nile in more or less disastrous +expeditions against the Saracen power,--a power which was fast becoming +that of the Turk. A curious relic of these crusading days in the Nile +Delta is or was (for the present writer is not aware if they still +exist) several Spanish (originally Aragonese) monasteries, which were +established with the consent of the Muhammadan rulers of Egypt in order +to mitigate the woes of Christian captives and to arrange terms for +their release. + +[Illustration: AN ARAB TRADER (MASKATI).] + +Venice, however,--which had somewhat held aloof from the religious +ardour of the Crusades in order to build up a great commerce with the +Muhammadan East,--Venice became during the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries the great neutral go-between for the trade of India, Persia, +Egypt, Arabia, and Syria with the Byzantine Empire and the rest of +Europe. Venetians (in Arab dress, of course) ran less risk than other +Europeans when travelling in Egypt in the days before the Portuguese +discoveries. Through the Venetians Europe became acquainted with +several strange African beasts which were brought from the Sudan +for public exhibition in Muhammadan Egypt, and in this way European +interest in the sources of the Nile was occasionally revived. It +is remarkable to reflect that the name of Venice will probably +never die out (as far as etymology is concerned) in the very heart +of Africa. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and perhaps +later, Venice manufactured in her arsenals improved types of guns. +She also acted as an intermediary in exchanging muskets (manufactured +elsewhere in Europe) with the Arabs and Turks, who at that time could +not construct these firearms for themselves. Thus the Turks and Arabs +became accustomed to call any improved type of musket a “Venetian” +(Bunduqi).[12] In this way the name of the most beautiful city in the +world has penetrated beyond the explorations of any European into +the very heart of Africa, as it has also circulated through all the +Muhammadan East. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A SUMMARY OF THE ANCIENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF THE NILE + + +The next page in the history of the Nile Quest is marked by the coming +of the Portuguese; but before we proceed to consider what effect this +movement had on the revelation of Africa to the knowledge of the +Caucasian species, let us sum up briefly the purport of the foregoing +chapters:-- + +1. The lands through which the Nile flows were inhabited some ten +thousand years ago--let us say at a guess--by Pygmies in the north, +east, and southwest, and elsewhere by big black Negroes, these types +being offshoots from the original Negro Asiatic stem. + +At some such period as ten thousand years ago northeast Africa was +repeatedly invaded from Arabia by a branch of the Caucasian race--the +Hamites--which in Arabia had absorbed a certain proportion of early +Negro and Dravidian[13] blood. About the same time in Egypt itself +there were invasions of other Caucasian immigrants; some perhaps of +the Dravidian stock still met with in Baluchistan and India, and +others of Libyan (Iberian, Algerian) race. There had also been early +minglings between the big black Negroes on the Central Nile and Hamite +invaders which had resulted in further hybrids such as the Nubians or +“Ethiopians.” These Ethiopians constantly invaded and raided Egypt, +thus mingling with the Caucasian Egyptians, but also at other times +acted as middlemen between civilised Egypt and the utterly barbarous +countries of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the Sudan; they brought to Egypt +knowledge of the Pygmies and such of the bigger beasts of Africa as had +become extinct in Egypt before the arrival of intelligent man. Through +these Nubians the Egyptians occasionally had glimmering ideas as to the +sources of the White Nile. + +2. The Egyptians kept up a fairly constant communication with Abyssinia +and Somaliland by sea and overland. They had a fair knowledge of the +geographical features of Abyssinia and of the origin and source of the +Blue Nile. Moreover, through the ancestors of the Galas and Somalis +they came slightly into contact with the peoples of Lake Rudolf and the +Victoria Nyanza. + +3. The Greeks, who began to travel in Egypt five hundred years before +Christ, expressed some curiosity about the origin of the Nile, and +communicated this inquiring spirit to the Romans. This resulted for a +time in the knowledge of the White Nile as far south as Fashoda. + +4. The Arabs of western and southern Arabia very early in the history +of civilisation developed a culture scarcely inferior to that of the +Egyptians, and entered into trading and colonising relations with +Abyssinia and Somaliland, and with the East African coastlands as far +south as the modern Rhodesia. From their settlements on the Zanzibar +coast (such as Mombasa) they probably journeyed inland on trading +expeditions, or else the natives, who came to trade with them at the +coast, gave them geographical information. In one or other way they +learnt the existence of great lakes and snow-mountains. These stories +the Arabs passed on to inquiring Greeks as far back as two thousand +years ago; and an account which was an uncommonly near guess at the +truth was given to the reading world during the first two centuries +after the birth of Christ by writers on geography like Marinus of Tyre +and Claudius Ptolemæus of Alexandria. + +5. This was the high-water mark of knowledge concerning the sources of +the White Nile for something like eighteen hundred years. Information +on the subject in the interval began to grow less rather than more. +The stories of the Nile lakes were, however, revived after the Arab +invasions of northeast Africa in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, +and were communicated to the European world of the Renaissance through +the intermediary of the Saracen writers of Sicily, the theologians of +Rome, and the merchants of Venice. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PORTUGAL AND ABYSSINIA + + +Portugal was created by the crusading spirit. The King of Castile, who +had become the leading prince in the northern half of Spain, despatched +a young Burgundian adventurer, Count Henry, to advance on the Douro +from Galicia (in the northwest corner of the Spanish peninsula) and +to drive the Moors into the sea,--either the Atlantic Ocean or the +Straits of Gibraltar. Count Henry drove them at any rate half-way down +that western coastland of the Spanish peninsula which we now call +Portugal.[14] Lisbon was only eventually conquered from the Moors by +the help of a large party of English volunteers who stopped to aid +in this struggle with the Moslem while on their way to a Crusade in +the Holy Land. Steadily, bit by bit, Count Henry and his successors, +the kings of Portugal, drove the Moors southward into and out of the +little province of Algarve, and then, flushed with continuous success, +crossed the Straits, attacked them in Morocco, and added a large part +of the present Empire of Morocco to the possessions of the Portuguese +Crown.[15] These brilliant successes awoke a great spirit of discovery +in Portugal,--a spirit fomented and encouraged by that noble and +far-sighted man, Prince Henry the Navigator, who had himself shared in +the Morocco wars. Rapidly the limits of the Portuguese explorations +extended. First they rounded Cape Bojador on the northwest coast of +Africa. Then they reached Sierra Leone, the gold coast, Benin (where +they powerfully affected native art and industry), the Niger Delta, the +Cameroons, the Congo, Angola, and the Cape of Good Hope. Once having +passed this promontory, whence they had once retired baffled, their +great navigator, Vasco da Gama, carried on the exploration of the +coasts of Africa eastward and northward to Mombasa and thence to India. +Succeeding vessels explored the Red Sea, and the expeditions they +conveyed attempted to get into touch with Abyssinia, where, according +to the rumours brought home by crusaders and Italian merchants from +Egypt, there lay a Christian country ruled by a pious monarch, John +the Priest.[16] But before ever Vasco da Gama had rounded the Cape of +Good Hope, the Portuguese, by contact with the Moors, had heard of Arab +settlements on the East Coast of Africa, and of the insular character +of the great continent. Their government, therefore, in 1486 despatched +on a journey to Egypt, India, and eastern Africa Pero de Covilhaõ to +spy out the land. + +This was a very risky journey in those days when the jealousy of Venice +was added to the fanaticism of the Moslems. But Pero de Covilhaõ +fulfilled his mission. He visited Egypt, the Red Sea, and India. He +then, on his return journey, touched at many of the Arab ports on the +East African coast. Finally he disembarked at Masawa, and travelled +to Abyssinia, the first intelligent European to enter that country +for a very long period of time,--the first, in fact, since the Greek +merchants and missionaries who traded and travelled under the Byzantine +Empire. The King of Abyssinia was so delighted with the advent of this +white man, yet so suspicious of his country’s motives, that he was +detained as an unwilling guest in Abyssinia for several years, and +died when on his way home. But the Portuguese fleet came to Masawa in +1520 with an embassy which remained in the country of Abyssinia for +six years. In this embassy were the priests Bermudez and Francisco +Alvarez. Alvarez afterwards (about 1550) wrote an interesting account +of Abyssinia, describing more especially the province of Tigre, and +alluding to the Atbara (there known as the Takaze) as the main Nile. + +Bermudez became for a time the primate or patriarch of Abyssinia. The +Jesuit missionaries, for the most part Portuguese, strove hard to +replace the corrupt Greek Christianity of the country by the Latin +rite. This action not unnaturally set up against them a strong body of +opponents in the native Abyssinian priesthood. For a time, however, +the civilisation they introduced, and their trading connection with +India, made a great impression on the king and chieftains of Ethiopia, +until, as will be seen later on, the country became suspicious of +Portuguese intentions, observing the facility with which parts of +East Africa, India, and the shores of the Persian Gulf had been +conquered and occupied by the Portuguese. But before this jealousy +was to culminate in the expulsion of the Portuguese from Abyssinia +one hundred years later, the Christian rulers of that country were +forced to appeal to Portugal for help and armed intervention. As +already mentioned in Chapter V., an attack on Abyssinia had been made +by a Muhammadan chieftain of the Danakil country,--Muhammad Granye, +or Muhammad the Lame. This man was probably of Somali race, and ruled +the country round about Tajurra Bay,--the French Somaliland of to-day. +In alliance with the Arabs and Turks, he not only created the Somali +kingdom of Adel, but ravaged the greater part of Abyssinia. His policy +was distinctly anti-Christian, and it is conceivable that he might +have extinguished for ever the Christian Semite rule over Abyssinia +but for the intervention of the Portuguese. The Emperor David, about +1530, managed to send emissaries (probably Jesuit priests) to Lisbon +to implore the assistance of the King of Portugal. The result was that +Dom Estevaõ da Gama (son of the celebrated Vasco[17]) as Portuguese +Admiral entered the Red Sea with the Portuguese fleet, and landed +at Masawa four hundred Portuguese under the command of his brother +Christophoro da Gama. The Portuguese brought with them firearms, with +which apparently the Muhammadan invaders of Abyssinia were at first +unprovided. They threw into the struggle with the Somalis and Arabs +all the crusading ardour with which their ancestors had driven the +Moors out of Portugal. Christophoro da Gama was a heroic figure, a +very paladin. He excited the admiration of his Somali opponent, who +at one stage of the struggle offered him a safe conduct to the coast +and the means of departing from Abyssinia worth all the honours of +war. Nevertheless, the four hundred Portuguese inflicted reverse after +reverse on the thousands that followed the banner of Muhammad Granye, +who at that time was practically master even of the mountainous regions +of Abyssinia. Some of the Portuguese went to the assistance of the +fugitive Emperor of Abyssinia. Those that remained under Christophoro +da Gama, despite the constant defeats they inflicted on superior +numbers, gradually found themselves isolated and vastly outnumbered. +The Turks had taken alarm at Portuguese successes, and had sent to +Muhammad Granye’s assistance a train of artillery, while two thousand +Arabs with muskets crossed over from Mokha and joined the Somalis. Thus +reinforced, Muhammad Granye attacked the Portuguese entrenched camp, +which he ultimately carried, when the unfortunate Christophoro da Gama +had one arm broken and his knee shattered. A few of the Portuguese +escaped and joined the Abyssinians, but most of them were slaughtered +by Muhammad Granye. Christophoro da Gama, however, though wounded, +managed with ten of his men to escape on horseback to a forest. Here he +was captured by Muhammad Granye, who, after inflicting much torture on +him, offered, in admiration of his bravery, to set him at liberty and +assist him to return to India, if only he would abjure Christianity. +The blazing indignation with which he answered this proposal so enraged +Muhammad Granye that he struck off his head with a sword. The body of +Dom Christophoro was then cut into quarters and his remains buried in +separate places. Ultimately, however, the bones are supposed to have +been gathered together by Roman Catholic Abyssinians, and some seventy +years later the skull of the martyr was thought to have been found by +Jeronimo Lobo. + +Amongst the Portuguese who escaped slaughter at the hands of Muhammad +Granye was Pedro Leon, who had been body-servant to Christophoro da +Gama. Assisted by the advice of this little band of Portuguese heroes, +the Emperor of Abyssinia at last made a successful stand against the +Muhammadan invader. In the furious battle which ensued, the Portuguese +directed all their energies against that part of the Somali army +where Muhammad Granye was commanding. Pedro Leon, filled with a holy +rage, singled out the Somali king from amongst his men, and shot him +through the head with a musket. Muhammad Granye did not die at once, +but managed to escape for some distance from the battlefield, being +always, however, resolutely followed on horseback by Pedro Leon. At +last Muhammad fell down dead, and Leon, having satisfied himself of +the fact, cut off one of his ears to prove to the Emperor of Abyssinia +that it was he who had avenged Dom Christophoro. After the death of +their leader the Muhammadan forces melted away, and Christian Abyssinia +slowly recovered from the greatest crisis in its fortunes prior to the +Italian invasion of 1896. + +In 1615[18] a notable advance in Nile exploration was made. Father +Pedro Paez was shown by the Abyssinians the sources of the Blue Nile +on the Sagada or Sakala Mountain in the western part of the province +of Gojam. Paez mentions that the river, before it enters Lake Tsana, +is styled the Jemma, a term which scarcely differs from its name at +the present day. He also alludes to, though he does not describe very +carefully, Lake Tsana. + +In 1622 Father Jeronimo Lobo left Lisbon and proceeded to Goa, whence, +after staying for more than a year, he started for Abyssinia. News +had reached the Portuguese at Goa, from such of the missionaries as +remained in Abyssinia, that the Emperor of that country had decided to +join the Roman Church. A pressing demand was made for more Portuguese +missionaries to strengthen this conversion, and the missionaries +were advised to enter Ethiopia by way of the river Nile, through +Dongola and Sennar. Unfortunately the secretary to the missionaries +in Abyssinia mixed up the word Dancala (Dongola) with the country of +the Danakil (on the Red Sea),[19] and advised the Jesuits at Goa to +land at Zeila (Somaliland), and make their way through the Danakil +country to Abyssinia. It was attempted to carry out this unfortunate +advice. The eight missionaries who started from Goa were to divide +into two companies, one to go to Zeila, and the other to land at +Melinda (Malindi) on the Zanzibar coast, and thence make their way +overland to Abyssinia,--rather a “large order” at that date (to use +modern slang). Those that went by sea to Zeila were seized by the +Turks, though finally released at the intercession of the Emperor +of Abyssinia, who bribed the Turkish Pasha with the present of a +zebra.[20] The other four missionaries, among whom Lobo was one, were +again divided into two lots. Two of the fathers that were to attempt +entering southern Abyssinia from Somaliland were duly landed at Zeila. +A Muhammadan chieftain who was styled king of the country (probably in +the neighbourhood of Tajurra Bay) seized these unfortunate missionaries +and threw them into prison. In spite of the entreaties of the Emperor +of Abyssinia, this Muhammadan chieftain (some relation of the Muhammad +Granye who had been killed by the Portuguese when he invaded Abyssinia +seventy years previously) finally had the Jesuits beheaded. + +Father Lobo and a companion were conveyed by a Portuguese ship to the +island of Lamu on the Zanzibar coast. Thence with great difficulty +they made their way in a boat along the coast to the mouth of the Juba +River, where they came into contact with the “Galles,”[21] probably the +existing Ogadein Somalis. These boisterous people soon made it apparent +to the missionaries that any journey overland from Kismayu to Zeila +and Abyssinia was an impossibility; so, after many hardships, they +eventually made their way back to Mombasa and India. + +In 1625[22] Lobo and his companion once more started for Abyssinia, and +this time sailed past Sokotra Island and Cape Guardafui, and finally +landed at Baylur (Bailul), a port opposite Mokha, on the coast of +the little known Danakil country. Here they received a very friendly +reception, owing to the precautions taken by the Emperor of Abyssinia; +and the two Portuguese missionaries actually made their way through +the country of the fierce Danakil and across the salt deserts and +blazing steppes of that inhospitable region, which along the same route +has probably never since been traversed by Europeans. “Our clothes +tattered, and our feet bloody,” they climbed the Abyssinian mountains, +rejoicing at the cool temperature, running water, and singing birds, +and at length reached the Jesuit settlement of Fremona.[23] After +undergoing many risks and dangers owing to the hostility with which +the Abyssinians of Tigre regarded the Latin Christianity introduced +by the Jesuits, Lobo started for the kingdom of Damot, which is in +the southern part of Abyssinia proper, between the Blue Nile and Lake +Tsana. Prior to his crossing the Blue Nile, he had paid a ceremonial +visit to the Emperor of Abyssinia. He mentions that the Blue Nile +(which he not unnaturally considers to be the main stream) is called +by the Abyssinians Abavi. This may be an older form than Abai, and is +perhaps a little nearer to the Hellenised Astapus. The Blue Nile, he +found, as his predecessor Paez had declared, takes its rise on the +declivity of a mountain called Sakala (Sagada), some distance to the +south-southwest of Lake Tsana. The source of the Blue Nile he describes +as follows: “This spring, or rather these two springs, are two holes, +each about two feet in diameter, a short distance from each other. One +is about five feet and a half in depth.... The other, which is somewhat +less, has no bottom. We were assured by the inhabitants that none had +ever been found. It is believed here that these springs are the vents +of a great subterranean lake, and they have this circumstance to favour +their opinion: that the ground is always moist, and so soft that the +water boils up under foot as one walks upon it. This is more remarkable +after rain, for then the ground yields and sinks so much that I believe +it is chiefly supported by roots of trees that are interwoven one with +another.” Father Lobo declares that the infant Blue Nile (which bears +the name of Jimma) only enters Lake Tsana[24] on the southwest to +leave that lake not far from its entry, turning abruptly to the east +and south. It crosses Lake Tsana only at one end, “with so violent +a rapidity that the waters of the Nile may be distinguished through +all the passage, which is six leagues.” Fifteen miles from the point +where the Nile leaves Lake Tsana it “forms one of the most beautiful +waterfalls in the world,” under which Father Lobo rested himself “for +the sake of the coolness.” He was charmed “with the thousand delightful +rainbows which the sunbeams painted on the water in all their shining +and lovely colours. The fall of this mighty stream from so great a +height makes a noise which may be heard from a considerable distance, +and the mist rising from this fall of water may be seen much further +than the noise can be heard.” Father Lobo notes that at the cataracts +which succeeded this splendid fall there was a bridge of timber (logs) +over which the whole Abyssinian army had recently passed, but he goes +on to state that the Emperor had since built a bridge of one arch in +the same place, for which purpose masons were imported from India. This +stone bridge was the first erected in Abyssinia. + +Father Lobo makes a truthful observation regarding the source of the +Nile floods, believing them to arise rather from the excessive rainfall +on the high mountains of Abyssinia than from the melting of the snows +in the summer. He declares, in fact, that he only saw snow on the +Samien and Namera mountains, and in small quantity. + +As to the country of Damot, to the south of Lake Tsana, in which he +was sent to reside for a time, he expatiates enthusiastically on its +beauty, fertility, and perfect climate. He also describes here--first +of all Europeans--the wild banana, or Ensete, the name of which he +declares means “the tree for hunger,” though it is difficult to +understand, from our subsequent knowledge of the wild banana and from +Father Lobo’s description, how it can be used as an article of food, +as its fruit is almost inedible, while the leaves and watery trunk are +quite unfit for food. + +But Lobo’s residence in Damot was not lengthy, as, owing to the jealous +suspicions of the Abyssinians, he was sent back to reside with the +rest of the Jesuits in Tigre. Their settlement of Fremona, where +some hundred Portuguese priests and seminarists were established, +was attacked by the Abyssinians. The Portuguese defended themselves +bravely, and for a time there was a truce. The friendly Emperor of +Abyssinia had died, and the subsidiary chiefs all believed that +Portugal intended to invade and annex Abyssinia. The prowess of the +four hundred Portuguese who in the preceding century had, as the +allies of the Abyssinians, completely routed the Muhammadan invaders, +made them feel that a few thousand Portuguese warriors would soon add +Abyssinia to the Portuguese Empire. At this juncture the Portuguese +sent a strong expedition to chastise the Sultan of Tajurra who had +killed the missionaries. + +After attempting to flee from Abyssinia and make their way to the coast +of the Red Sea, the whole of the Portuguese colony of Fremona was +handed over to the Turks at Masawa, and by them sent to Suakin. They +underwent cruel sufferings at the hands of the Turks, but some of the +missionaries, including Father Lobo, were allowed to ransom themselves, +and return in a ship to India. Here Lobo endeavoured to induce the +Viceroy of Portuguese India to send an expedition against the Turks of +Suakin in order to release the priests that were left in their hands; +but the viceroy declined to take this step without the consent of the +Portuguese Government. Accordingly Father Lobo started for Lisbon, was +shipwrecked on the coast of Natal, fell into the hands of the Dutch, +but in spite of his extraordinary hardships, and difficulties wellnigh +insurmountable, actually returned to Portugal; whence he went to plead +at Rome the cause of Latin Christianity in Abyssinia. The missionaries +left in the hands of the Turks at Suakin were eventually ransomed, and +returned to India. The few Portuguese missionaries who for one cause or +another were left in Abyssinia were all killed by the Abyssinians. + +[Illustration: DAPPER’S MAP (AMSTERDAM, 1686). + +Giving the falsified results of Portuguese explorations in East Africa.] + +Portuguese contact with Abyssinia, the Portuguese conquest of Zanzibar +and long occupation of Mombassa very naturally led to this people +acquiring in their intercourse with Arabs and Abyssinians some idea +of the geography of inner Africa,--ideas which were added to by the +information collected on the West Coast. Nevertheless, strange to say, +they were less correct in their surmises than Claudius Ptolemæus. +The maps of the Nile and the geography of inner Africa which +they formed on the reports of their explorers and missionaries were +altogether misleading. Their delineation of the whole interior of +the western half of Africa bears absolutely no correspondence to +actuality in geographical features; moreover, they were so ignorant of +the simplest principles of hydrography as to make one lake give rise +to several great rivers.[25] The only element of truth in all their +guesses at the inner waterways of Africa lay in their delineation of +Abyssinia. They put down with some likeness to actuality the Blue +Nile, and they named correctly the principal countries that lie to the +south of Abyssinia proper. But this contribution was vitiated by the +exaggerations regarding distances,--exaggerations perpetrated chiefly +by map-makers,--so that the Blue Nile and its tributaries, and such +provinces as Gojam, Kaffa, Shoa, etc., instead of lying a considerable +distance north of the equator, were dragged far to the south of the +line, and these features were even made to encroach on the basin of +the Congo. A good idea of the extent of Portuguese knowledge and fable +concerning the geography of inner Africa may be obtained from a glance +at the celebrated Vatican map of Africa which, from information derived +from the Portuguese and from the Abyssinian converts, was painted +on one of the panels of a gallery at the Vatican in the seventeenth +century. + +Several Portuguese adventurers were despatched in the sixteenth century +across Africa from west to east to strike the Nile, but they were never +heard of any more. Credit must be given to the Portuguese Jesuits +for amassing much accurate knowledge regarding the scenery, people, +and products of Abyssinia. There is a wonderfully interesting and +very beautiful piece of tapestry in the Governor’s Palace at Valletta +(Malta), which it is supposed was executed early in the eighteenth +century from the information supplied by the Portuguese Jesuits. The +characteristic fauna and flora, domestic animals, houses, and natives +of Abyssinia are portrayed in this tapestry with great fidelity to +nature. Later in the eighteenth century Portugal began to take up with +some earnestness the scientific exploration of such African territories +as remained to her after the revolt and the attacks of the East Coast +Arabs, but these journeys and their results do not come within the +scope of the present volume. Portuguese influence over Abyssinia had +disappeared by the end of the seventeenth century, and almost all +that remains of it is the name which the civilised world applies to +this country. In the southeastern part of this powerful African state +is the river Hawash, or Habash, which attempts to reach the Red Sea +but finally expires in the barren sands of the Danakil country. The +name of this river had been applied by the Arabs to the Semiticised +people living north and west of its course. “Habash, Habshi”[26] was +transmuted through the Portuguese speech to Abessi, Abessim, Abessinia. +This in time was further misspelt in French and English as Abyssinie, +Abyssinia. + +The Turks had always viewed with a great deal of jealousy and anger +the attempts of Portugal to establish herself as mistress of the +navigation of the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Arabian +Sea. Consequently the Turks occupied and held Masawa, and drove away +Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries from easy contact +with Abyssinia, which between 1633 and 1769 was only visited by one +European, a French doctor named Poncet (1698). + +Several Abyssinian converts of the Portuguese missionaries who had +become devotedly attached to the Roman Catholic form of the Christian +faith had proceeded to Italy for further instructions. Indeed, all +through the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries +Abyssinians constantly journeyed to Italy. They were able to traverse +the Muhammadan countries of Nubia and Egypt very easily, either +disguised as Copts or affecting to be Muhammadans. From the ports of +Egypt they easily made their way to Venice or to Naples as traders. +Four of these Christian Abyssinians, one of them known as Gregory, were +established at Rome in the middle of the seventeenth century. + +At Erfurt in Saxony was born, in 1624, the celebrated Ludolf, whose +real name was Hiob Leutholf. Ludolf at an early age exhibited a +remarkable talent for acquiring languages, and he had a special bent +for the Semitic tongues. Having been entrusted with a secret mission +to Rome by the Swedish Ambassador at Paris, Leutholf, or Ludolf, +encountered in Rome these four Abyssinians. He spent three years in +enthusiastically studying Amharic, and also the older liturgical tongue +of Ethiopia, the Gez or Ge’ez. By the help of these Abyssinians he +compiled a grammar of the Amharic, and dictionaries of that tongue and +of the Ge’ez. He also wrote a history of Ethiopia; but, above all (as +far as this book is concerned), he did important work in elucidating +the geography of the northeastern portion of the Nile basin, and the +information he received from Gregory and the other Abyssinians he +carefully collated with the works of the Portuguese Jesuits. Although +Ludolf never visited even Egypt, he did a great deal to assist the +map-makers of his time to delineate the course of the Blue Nile and +of the Atbara with its various affluents. Ludolf passed a good many +years of his life in the diplomatic service of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha. +Curiously enough, he not only visited England repeatedly, but became +an Anglophil, and desired to establish trading connections between +England and Abyssinia. The troubles consequent on James II.’s reign, +and the jealous opposition of the Coptic Church in Egypt baulked his +scheme, which was much taken up in high quarters in England, and which +might, if it had been carried out, have strangely anticipated events +in northeast Africa by establishing British influence in Egypt and +Abyssinia at the end of the seventeenth century. + +Attracted towards the mystery of the Nile and of the so-called +Christian civilisation of Abyssinia, that Duke of Saxe-Gotha who had +taken Ludolf into his diplomatic service caused another Saxon, named +Michael Wansleb (born at Erfurt), to learn Amharic first of all from +Ludolf, and then to go to Abyssinia. Here he was expected to explore, +and also to collect liturgies and other books likely to throw light on +the Abyssinian version of Christianity, which the Duke believed would +be found to be in harmony with Lutheranism. Wansleb never succeeded in +getting to Abyssinia, but journeyed for some distance up the Nile and +wrote on the subject of Egypt, publishing also in London, between 1661 +and 1671, a number of Abyssinian liturgies and dissertations on the +Amharic language. + +In 1668 the then recently founded Royal Society in England took up +the question of the Portuguese explorations of the Nile sources, +and ordered that the translation of a Portuguese manuscript by Sir +Peter Wyche should be printed and published. This little work is +described as “A Short Relation of the River Nile, etc.: Writings by an +Eye-witness who lived many years in the Abyssine Empire.” Sir Peter +Wyche probably did little else than translate and collate what seemed +to him the most interesting extracts from the works of Paez and Lobo. +These works were seemingly written first of all in Portuguese, but +were never printed in that language. Paez’ manuscript was translated +into Latin and published at Rome in 1652 by the Jesuit Athanasius +Kircher. The Portuguese manuscript of Jeronimo Lobo was translated at +length into English, and published in London by the Jesuit father F. +Balthazar Tellez. Seemingly, however, this book was issued either in a +Portuguese or a Latin version at Lisbon in 1670. It was translated into +French from the original Portuguese manuscript by M. Le Grand in the +early part of the eighteenth century, and this translation, with some +additional matter, was rendered into English and published in London in +1735. + +The Royal Society’s paraphrase of which Sir Peter Wyche was author +contains no new matter, but its date is worthy of remark,--1668. +It would seem as though Sir Peter Wyche had had access to Lobo’s +manuscript, or to the joint works of Lobo and Paez, before the actual +publication of Lobo’s book in 1670. It is further remarkable as showing +the intelligent interest taken in these geographical questions at that +day by the cultivated classes in England. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FRENCH INQUIRIES AND D’ANVILLE’S MAPS + + +Towards the close of the seventeenth century Louis XIV. of France +had begun to make the influence of his country widely felt in the +Mediterranean, though before his time Richelieu had cast an eye over +the Levant with the idea of supporting French commerce. Louis XIV. +even entered into an alliance with Turkey, in which he cut rather a +foolish figure, but which at any rate enabled him to send Frenchmen to +report on the trade of Egypt. It is stated that the result of these +inquiries was a scheme for the conquering and colonising of Egypt +which was laid before that monarch and remained in the archives of the +French government until it caught the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte +when he rose to power. Louis XIV. either did not notice the project +or put it aside; but nevertheless, during half of the seventeenth +and the whole of the eighteenth century Frenchmen were beginning to +interest themselves in the exploration of Egypt, Abyssinia, and the +Nile. When the Portuguese missionaries were irrevocably expelled from +Abyssinia, or were slaughtered in that country by Abyssinians, or died +under the hands of the Turks of Masawa or Suakin, it was suggested to +the Pope that perhaps French missionaries might prove more acceptable +to Ethiopia. Not a few Roman Catholic Abyssinians found their way +to Rome during the seventeenth century, where, as we know, they +imparted very valuable information to the learned Saxon philologist +Ludolf. These Ethiopians seem to have conveyed the idea to the Papal +Court that it was not so much Roman Christianity that was objected +to as the political ambitions of the Portuguese. But later on in the +seventeenth century _any_ missionaries teaching the Latin rite had +become unacceptable to the Abyssinians, and the project of sending +French Capuchins to take the place of the Portuguese Jesuits came to +nothing. But the Emperor of Abyssinia had one reason for regretting +the expulsion of the Jesuits,--an expulsion to which he personally +was less favourable than were his powerful vassal chiefs of Tigre and +Amhara,--he had relied on the Portuguese Jesuits for medical treatment. + +At the close of the seventeenth century an agent of the then ruler of +Abyssinia was suffering from stone, and stood in urgent need of a good +surgeon. His agent in Egypt (Haji Ali) was instructed to inquire for +the services of a European who could operate, and at first endeavoured +to find one amongst the Franciscan missionaries, who were Italians. +But the Consul of France at Alexandria, hearing of this, resolved to +obtain the post for a French physician, and eventually Jacques Charles +Poncet, a surgeon from the Franche Comté, was engaged, and it was +decided that he should journey to Abyssinia accompanied by Father +Brèvedent, a French Jesuit. They reached the country of Sennar in +1699. Soon afterwards Father Brèvedent died, but Poncet succeeded in +reaching Abyssinia, and afforded medical assistance to the Emperor. +But his arrival in the country, together with the rumour that he was +being followed by French Jesuit priests (who as a matter of fact were +massacred in Egypt), so aroused the animosities of the Abyssinian +clerics that he was hurried out of the country, and returned to Europe +(Rome) in 1700. Notwithstanding his experiences, he mixed himself up +with the intrigues of an Abyssinian agent and a priest at Rome for the +despatch of French missionaries to Abyssinia. The Pope was prudent in +the matter, and determined to find out the truth by a Maronite priest, +Gabriel, whom he despatched from Cairo. Poncet, however, returned to +Egypt in 1703, was joined by a Jesuit, and set out for Jidda in Arabia, +but the mission came to grief. He quarrelled with the Abyssinian envoy, +Murat, whose pretensions to represent the Abyssinian government were +probably mythical, but who had accompanied Poncet to Italy. Poncet +never succeeded in returning to Abyssinia, but instead drifted away to +Persia and died at Ispahan. + +Louis XIV. now took the matter up, urged to interference in the +affairs of Abyssinia by the French Consul at Alexandria. He decided +to despatch a mission to Ethiopia to open up diplomatic relations +with the Christian Emperor. Janus de Noir, le Sieur du Roule, was +appointed envoy and placed at the head of this mission. The consent +of the Turkish government was given to the passage through Egypt. +The expedition left France at the end of 1703, and after a stormy +voyage of four months (!) landed at Alexandria. Thence it pursued its +way to Cairo, and so on up the Nile and the Blue Nile to the country +of Sennar, a region at that time to a great extent under Abyssinian +political influence. Here the cupidity and suspicion of the local +chieftain were aroused. The mission was attacked, and M. du Roule was +massacred. The Emperor of Abyssinia expressed perfunctory regrets, and +then, to use a modern phrase, “the incident was closed,” Abyssinia +being in such an unattackable position as to make any French reprisals +impossible. + +Here perhaps may be mentioned a curious attempt at Nile exploration +which in an indirect way was connected with French enterprise at this +period. The failure of M. du Roule to reach Abyssinia made a great +impression on the mind of a Frenchman named Joseph le Roux, Count of +Desneval. This nobleman had been in the Danish navy for many years, +leaving that service in 1739 with the rank of Rear Admiral. All this +time he had been giving his attention with laborious stupidity to +the Nile problem, and was convinced that he “had found the proper +key to enter these regions,” by studying in Denmark the reports of +unsuccessful travellers. Accordingly, in 1739, he started with his wife +for Cairo, accompanied by Lieutenant Norden, a Dane. None of the party +knew a word of Arabic. The expedition first got into trouble at Cairo +through the haughty manners of the Countess, who, becoming involved +in a street row, slashed at the people right and left with a pair of +scissors. Count Desneval penetrated some distance into Nubia, and his +lieutenant, Norden, went as far (possibly) as Berber, which he mentions +under its older name of Ibrim. But the Count was obliged to turn back, +and Norden was imprisoned by the Turkish Governor, and barely escaped +to Egypt with his life. The Count then resolved on an extraordinary +expedition. He decided to obtain a commission from Spain and start with +a fleet of ships to circumnavigate Africa, enter the Red Sea, and so +proceed to Abyssinia. But becoming involved in the war which was then +raging between Spain and England, his ship was captured by the British, +and he was sent as a prisoner of war to Lisbon, where his projects of +Nile exploration came to an end. + +The Dutch in the seventeenth century, and some of the Rhenish +geographers of western Germany, had published remarkable maps of +Africa, but with the exception of the west and south, these maps, in +so far as the Nile basin was concerned, were based on the information +presented to the world by the Portuguese Jesuits Alvarez, Paez, and +Lobo, and on the interesting information concerning the geography of +Abyssinia collected by the Saxon philologist Ludolf when communing in +Italy with the Abyssinian envoys. These maps, as already related, did +injustice to the Portuguese by enormously exaggerating the area of +Abyssinia. In fact, Abyssinian geography was extended by these Dutch +interpreters of Portuguese travel notes far into the south and west of +Africa, so that Abyssinian place names such as Gojam, Kaffa, Enarea, +and the lakes and rivers of Abyssinia were pushed down to the vicinity +of the Zambezi, and right across the Congo basin. These maps, however, +continued to maintain European interest in African exploration, while +the French consuls in Egypt and early British travellers in that +country began to transmit information (derived for the most part from +Copts and Circassians) regarding the main course of the Nile. + +In 1772 a French cartographer of a much higher order than had hitherto +appeared--D’Anville--published a notable map of Africa, in which +he cleared away much of the fantastic geography which the Dutch +and Germans had developed from the explorations of the Portuguese. +D’Anville’s map of Africa marks an important stage in the exploration +of the Nile basin, as it approaches the maps of to-day much more +than any previous chart. The outline of the African coast is given +more correctly than heretofore, while D’Anville brushes away the +exaggerations of Dutch and Portuguese cartographers, who had gradually +extended the geography of Abyssinia till they had connected with the +Nile all the main rivers of Africa in an absurd system of natural +canalisation. + +[Illustration: D’ANVILLE’S MAP OF THE NILE BASIN. + +(Published 1729; Revised 1772.)] + +Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville was born at Paris in 1697. From +his boyhood he devoted himself to the study of geography, and met with +considerable encouragement from the learned societies of Paris and from +the Court. D’Anville’s geography of Abyssinia was mainly based on the +information collected by the Portuguese missionaries and by Ludolf. +The result is so strikingly like the map subsequently constructed by +Bruce as the result of his explorations, that it shows how very much +information had already been collected by the Portuguese. The last +edition of this map bears the date 1772, a date which is one year +before Bruce could make the result of his explorations known. Were +these dates not certain, it would almost have seemed as if D’Anville +had obtained access to Bruce’s information and used it in his geography +of Abyssinia. A great mistake in D’Anville’s map, however, is made in +the delineation of the course of the Nile in its great Dongola bend. +Here the Nile is made to approach the Red Sea at least a hundred miles +nearer than is the case. There is a fairly correct suggestion of the +Bahr-al-Ghazal (which is named) and the Bahr-al-Arab. The White Nile +above the confluence of the Bahr-al-Ghazal is indicated more timidly. +Its course passes through a somewhat vague lake, which may be due to a +rumour of Lake Albert. Beyond this lake the sources of the White Nile +are divided, and made to flow from two lakelets ten degrees north of +the equator. To the south of these ultimate sources is the range of the +Mountains of the Moon. + +On D’Anville’s map may be seen for the first time several modern place +and river names connected with the Nile, such as Shendi (spelled +Shanedi) and Bahr-al-Ghazal. Such other terms as Sennar, the Boran +Gala tribe, and the Shankala Negroes are also given; but these were +first mentioned by the Portuguese and by the Abyssinian teachers of +Ludolf one hundred years earlier. There is also a hint at the Unyamwezi +country south of the Victoria Nyanza under the name of Moenemuji, +though this also was first mentioned by the Portuguese. + +D’Anville, who followed to some extent the Sicilian maps of the +eleventh century in his delineation of the Nile and inner Africa, made +the opposite mistake to Ptolemy and the Portuguese. They carried the +main Nile and the geography of Abyssinia many degrees too far to the +south. D’Anville placed the sources of the Nile and the Bahr-al-Ghazal +something like ten degrees too far to the north. At the same time his +map marked a considerable advance in the correct delineation of Nile +geography as well as in that of the Niger and the Zambezi. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BRUCE AND THE NILE: SONNINI, BROWNE, AND BONAPARTE + + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century there was a decline in +Muhammadan fanaticism which in the preceding centuries had so zealously +guarded the portals of African discovery. This was partly due to the +increase of friendliness and commercial relations between England and +France on the one hand and the Turkish Empire on the other. Consuls +were established to safeguard the interests of British merchants in +the tributary Turkish states of Barbary and in Egypt. Another stimulus +to friendly relations was the coffee trade. Coffee had been introduced +from Turkey into Europe in the seventeenth century. By the beginning of +the eighteenth the demand for it in the civilised countries of northern +and central Europe became so great that British and French ships began +to ply on the Red Sea and in the Levant merely for the transport of +coffee from the ports of southern Arabia to Suez, and thence (_via_ +Alexandria) to France and England. It became possible for Frenchmen +and Englishmen to travel in Turkish Egypt without undue risk of +maltreatment, especially if they obtained permission to do so through +their consuls. + +Almost the first English traveller to start on the Nile quest in the +eighteenth century was Richard Pococke, a learned divine (Doctor of +Laws and Fellow of the Royal Society), who afterwards became Bishop of +Meath. Pococke was remarkable for his knowledge of Greek. He travelled +a great deal in the Levant between 1737 and 1740, and made at least two +journeys to Egypt, during which he followed the Nile up to the First +Cataract. At that period the description of the journey from England to +Egypt has a rather modern sound. The traveller proceeds without much +difficulty overland from Calais to Leghorn, and from this Tuscan port +sails round Sicily to Alexandria, sometimes to Rosetta. + +The book in which Pococke describes his adventures and researches[27] +is also in advance of its times, and in printing and illustrations +might well have been credited to the beginning of the nineteenth +century. Pococke devoted himself mainly to making plans and drawings +of Egyptian monuments, Coptic churches, and Muhammadan mosques. +He collected a great many Greek inscriptions (amongst others, the +interesting Greek and Latin sentences scratched on the legs of Memnon), +and besides many plans and drawings of buildings which illustrate his +book, are some excellent pictures of plants characteristic of Egypt. +Especially noteworthy are the botanical drawings of the branching +Hyphæne palm. These etchings would not be out of place in the most +modern work on Africa. Pococke ascended the Nile to the First Cataract, +then the limit of Turkish rule. + +[Illustration: THE BRANCHING _Hyphæne_ PALM (_Hyphæne thebaica_). + +Taken from interior of Nasr Fort (R. Sobat).] + +One amusing feature in Pococke’s sumptuous volumes is the number of +dedications to British statesmen and notabilities of that date. The +book in general is dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, +“Groom of the Stole to His Majesty George II.” His careful map of the +Nile from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean is dedicated to Lord +Carteret, “First Secretary to the King.” The map of Cairo and its +environs (a very interesting one with reference to the modern growth +of the city) is inscribed to the Earl of Stafford. These dedications, +however, seem to foreshadow a growing interest on the part of English +noblemen in the problem of the Nile,--an interest which, as will now be +shown, played such a part in the expedition of Bruce. + +James Bruce was the first of the great group of notable British +explorers who between them in a century and a half have laid bare +to the world nearly every notable feature in the geography of the +Nile basin. This remarkable Scotchman was born at Kinnaird House, +Stirlingshire, in 1730. He was the son of a land-owner, and was +educated at Harrow. Soon after leaving school he was put (against his +will) into the wine trade with Spain and northern Portugal. In this +pursuit he visited Galicia and the northwest coast of the Spanish +peninsula. His trade, never very successful, was interrupted by the +war with Spain, which broke out in 1758. Bruce conceived a plan for +landing a British force at Ferrol, in Galicia, and to prosecute this +idea he obtained an introduction to the Earl of Halifax, then president +of the Board of Trade. George Montagu Dunk, second Earl of Halifax, +was a widely read man,[28] who took an interest in many subjects, +amongst others the mystery of the Nile. He is a curious link in that +chain of persons who have contributed efforts toward the revelation +to the civilised world of the whole course of this wonderful river. +Lord Halifax brushed aside the scheme for landing a force at Ferrol +as unnecessary and impracticable. But he began to consult Bruce about +the Nile Quest, as a man who had travelled considerably about Europe +even at that period--his travels having been undertaken to assuage +the grief caused by the loss of his wife. Bruce took up the matter +with energy. Lord Halifax, therefore, secured for him the appointment +of consul at Algiers, with the idea that this place and post would +enable Bruce to prepare for the exploration of the Nile by learning +Arabic and acquiring information concerning the interior of Africa. +Apparently the consulate at Algiers in those days was not harassed with +any restrictions regarding residence; indeed, Bruce’s consular duties +appear to have been merely nominal, for he was only a year at Algiers, +and spent it in the study of Arabic and Turkish.[29] In 1763 Bruce +started on a remarkable tour through Tunis and Tripoli, in which he +drew and measured (with the aid of a professional Italian draughtsman) +the wonderful Roman ruins in those countries. He then extended his +journeys to the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, and explored Syria and +Palestine. The greater part of the drawings which he made of buildings +in all these Mediterranean lands are now stored in the British Museum. + +At last, in the summer of 1786, Bruce landed at Alexandria, accompanied +by the Italian artist-assistant, Balugano. He ascended the Nile as +far as Assuan. Then, crossing the desert to the Red Sea coast, he +took ship and sailed to Jiddah, the port of the Hajaz. After four +months spent on the coast of Arabia, where apparently he met with +no fanaticism, he sailed over to Masawa, the port of Abyssinia, and +from this point travelled to the then capital, Gondar in Tigre. The +Emperor of Abyssinia received him with great favour, gave him military +rank, and enabled him to reach the course of the Blue Nile, which +Bruce always held to be the main stream. Striking the Blue Nile in +the country of Gojam near its exit from Lake Tsana, Bruce crossed the +stream by its masonry bridge and travelled due west of the source of +the river in the western part of Gojam. Bruce fixed with approximate +correctness the latitude of the source of the Blue Nile on Sagada +Mountain, and also the longitude, by observation of the first satellite +of Jupiter. The latitude he fixed at 10° 55′ 25″, the longitude at 36° +55′ 30″ east of Greenwich. The present writer is not aware that any +subsequent observations have much upset these computations of Bruce’s. +The latitude of the Blue Nile source is, therefore, approximately 11° +north. As the Jesuits guessed it at 12°, they were not so much out +in a surmise which, after all, was based on nothing but vague dead +reckoning, and one cannot sympathise with Bruce when he sneers at them +for their error. Bruce, in fact, was very bitter against the memory of +Paez and Lobo when he learned from D’Anville that these missionaries +had preceded him as discoverers of the Blue Nile sources. He admits the +genuineness of Paez’ reports, but endeavours to show that Lobo merely +copied Paez’ description, and did not himself visit the sources of the +Blue Nile. In this contention I think he is unjust. There is certainly +a great deal of correspondence between the accounts of Paez and Lobo, +but Lobo enters into more detail than Paez, and as, after all, he +is describing the same features, it is hardly surprising that his +description should so closely parallel that of the man who preceded him +by some ten years. As there is no doubt that Lobo was in the country +round about Lake Tsana in the year 1625 or 1626, it would be surprising +if he had not attempted to see the sources of the famous river. + +Bruce brings out as strongly as the Jesuits the fact that the river +Jimma, which rises on Sagada Mountain, flows with a strong observable +current in a circular course through the southern part of Lake Tsana. +Lake Tsana, indeed, would seem to be nothing but a huge volcanic +crater which has been filled up by the Blue Nile. He calculates the +approximate altitude of these sources at forty-eight hundred and +seventy feet. Near the village of Sakala or Sagada is a marsh at the +bottom of the Mountain of Gish. In this marsh there is a hillock of +a circular form a few feet above the surface of the marsh, a more or +less artificial altar raised by the people to the sources of their +Nile. In the middle of this hillock is a hole, artificially made, or +at least enlarged by the hand of man, and kept clear of grass or other +aquatic plants. The water in it is perfectly pure and limpid, but has +no ebullition or motion of any kind observable on its surface, though +it overflows into a shallow trench running round the mound and entering +the water in an eastward direction. The principal fountain of the +Blue Nile is only about three feet across. Ten feet distant from this +first source is another, only eleven inches broad. This would seem to +be the deepest of the three sources, and the one which was pronounced +unsoundable by Lobo. The water from these fountains is good, tasteless, +and intensely cold. + +Following by land the course of the Blue Nile down stream till he +reached the confluence with the White Nile at the site of Khartum, +Bruce then turned northwards and descended the main Nile to Berber. +From this point he travelled across the Nubian desert to Korosko, which +place he reached with the greatest difficulty, very many dying from +thirst on the way. Having been obliged to abandon his caravan in the +desert, he started back from Korosko with fresh camels and guides, and +recovered his baggage from the desert. Bruce’s journeys in Abyssinia +and along the course of the Nile had occupied him nearly three years, +from the middle of 1770 to the beginning of 1773. From Alexandria he +made his way to Marseilles during a brief interval of peace between +England and France. The cultivated Frenchmen of that day received him +with the greatest kindness and _empressement_, and he spent some time +in Paris conferring with Buffon and other scientific men. But in Paris +he learned to his great chagrin that he was not the original discoverer +of the source of the (Blue) Nile. D’Anville, the great map-maker, +was able to prove to him that Lake Tsana and the main course of the +Bahr-al-Azrak had been made known to Europe by the journeys of the +Jesuit priests Paez and Lobo. Moreover this geographer attempted to +convince Bruce that the Blue Nile was not the main stream, and that the +mystery of the Nile sources remained at least two-thirds unexplored. +It is curious, in fact, to reflect that D’Anville, by his industrious +gathering up of all floating information, especially from French +consuls in Egypt, was far more correct in his delineation of the Nile +basin than Bruce himself, though D’Anville had published his map a year +before Bruce’s arrival in Paris. + +[Illustration: BRUCE’S MAP OF THE NILE SOURCES.] + +On account of this chagrin, or for other reasons, Bruce delayed[30] +the publication of his travels for seventeen years after his return +to England. They were not published (in five volumes) until 1790. +Strange to say, Bruce’s admirable work, though so truthful[31] and +convincing as one reads it now, was received with universal incredulity +in Great Britain. Among the stories selected for special derision was +the account constantly repeated by Bruce of the Abyssinian custom +of bleeding cattle and drinking their blood, and, still more, of +cutting raw flesh off the living animal, which is then turned out to +graze (or at least that is the flippant rendering of the contemporary +critic). As a matter of fact, these customs had been already reported +by the Jesuits from one to two hundred years previously, nor is there +any reason to suppose that Bruce departed from the exact truth in +describing contemporary Abyssinian customs. A hundred years later East +African travellers like New, Von der Decken, Joseph Thomson, and the +author of this book, noticed similar customs as regards blood-drinking +on the part of the Masai and the Bantu races of Kilimanjaro and Kikuyu. +The same writers constantly make allusion to the love of raw flesh +on the part of most of the East African pastoral races, many of whom +are more or less related to the Galas in blood (the foundation of the +Abyssinian population is Gala). The actual truth about the cutting +of steaks from the living animal seems to be this. It was sometimes +customary (even if the custom has wholly died out at the present day) +to slaughter a beast by degrees. The great arteries and the vital parts +were avoided, and the palpitating, hot flesh was cut off strip by strip +and devoured. But in all probability the creature was not as a general +rule expected to live long after part of its flesh was removed. It was +generally finished within two or three hours. Bruce, if I remember +rightly, only relates one instance where, after two pieces of flesh +had been removed from the buttocks of a cow, the skin was fastened up +over the wound and the creature was driven on a little further to be +finished on a later occasion. A summarised extract from Bruce’s travels +gives a vivid description of the way the Abyssinians feasted on raw +meat:-- + + “In the capital, where one is safe from surprise at all times, or + in the country villages, when the rains have become so constant + that the valleys will not bear a horse to pass them, or that men + cannot venture far from home through fear of being surrounded by + sudden showers in the mountains; in a word, when a man can say + he is safe at home, and the spear and shield are hung up in the + hall, a number of people of the best fashion in the villages, of + both sexes, courtiers in the palaces or citizens in the town, meet + together to dine between twelve and one o’clock. A long table is + set in the middle of a large room, and benches beside it for a + number of guests who are invited. Tables and benches the Portuguese + introduced amongst them, but bull hides spread upon the ground + served them before, as they now do in the camp and country. + + “A cow or bull, one or more, as the company is numerous, is brought + close to the door and its feet strongly tied. The skin that hangs + down under its chin and throat is cut only so deep as to arrive at + the fat, of which it totally consists, and by the separation of + a few small blood-vessels six or seven drops of blood only fall + upon the ground. They have no stone bench or altar upon which + these cruel assassins lay the animal’s head in this operation. + The author, indeed, begs their pardon for calling them assassins, + as they are not so merciful as to aim at the life, but, on the + contrary, to keep the beast alive till he is nearly eaten up. + Having satisfied the Mosaic law, according to their conception, by + pouring these six or seven drops upon the ground, two or more of + them fall to work. On the back of the beast, and on each side of + the spine they cut skin deep; then, putting their fingers between + the flesh and the skin, they begin to strip the hide of the animal + half-way down his ribs, and so on to the buttock, cutting the skin + wherever it hinders them commodiously to strip the poor animal + bare. All the flesh on the buttocks is then cut off, and in solid, + square pieces, without bones, or much effusion of blood; and the + prodigious noise the animal makes is a signal for the company to + sit down to table. + + “There are then laid before every guest, instead of plates, + round cakes (if they may be so called) about twice as big as a + pancake, and something thicker and tougher. It is unleavened bread + of a sourish taste, far from being disagreeable, and very easily + digested, made of a grain called teff. It is of different colours, + from black to the colour of the whitest wheat bread. Three or four + of these cakes are generally put uppermost for the food of the + person opposite to whose feet they are placed. Beneath these are + four or five of ordinary bread and of a blackish kind. These serve + the master to wipe his fingers upon, and afterwards the servant + as bread for his dinner. Two or three servants then come, each + with a square piece of beef in their bare hands, laying it upon + the cakes of teff placed like dishes down the table, without cloth + or anything else beneath them. By this time all the guests have + knives in their hands, and their men have large crooked ones, which + they put to all sorts of uses during the time of war. The women + have small clasped knives, such as the worst of the kind made at + Birmingham, sold at a penny each. The company are so ranged that + one man sits between two women; the man with his long knife cuts + a thin piece, which would be thought a good beefsteak in England, + while you see the motion of the fibres yet perfectly distinct and + alive in the flesh. No man in Abyssinia, of any fashion whatever, + feeds himself or touches his own meat. The women take the steak + and cut it lengthways about the thickness of a little finger, then + crossways into square pieces something smaller than dice. This they + lay upon a piece of the teff bread strongly powdered with black + pepper, or Cayenne pepper, and mineral salt; they then wrap it up + in teff bread like a cartridge. + + “In the mean time, the man having put up his knife, with each hand + resting on his neighbour’s knee, his body stooping, his head low + and forward, and mouth open very like an idiot, he turns to the one + whose cartridge is first ready, who stuffs the whole of it into + his mouth, which is so full that he is in constant danger of being + choked. This is a mark of grandeur. The greater the man would seem + to be the larger piece he takes in his mouth; and the more noise he + makes in chewing it the more polite he is thought to be. They have + indeed a proverb that says, ‘Beggars and thieves only eat small + pieces or without making a noise.’ Having despatched this morsel, + which he does very expeditiously, his next female neighbour holds + another cartridge which goes the same way, and so on till he has + finished. He never drinks till he has finished eating; and, before + he begins, in gratitude to the fair one that fed him, he makes up + two small rolls of the same kind and form; each of his neighbours + open their mouths at the same time, while with each hand he puts + their portion into their mouths. He then falls to drinking out of + a large handsome horn; the ladies eat till they are satisfied, + and then all drink together. A great deal of mirth and jokes goes + round, very seldom with any mixture of acrimony or ill-humour. + + “During all this time the unfortunate victim at the door is + bleeding indeed, but bleeding little. As long as they can cut off + the flesh from his bones they do not meddle with the thighs or the + parts where the great arteries are. At last they fall upon the + thighs likewise, and soon afterwards the animal, bleeding to death, + becomes so tough that the cannibals, who have the rest of it to + eat, find it very hard work to separate the flesh from the bones + with their teeth, like dogs. + + “In the mean time those within are very much elevated; love + lights all its fires, and everything is permitted with absolute + freedom. There is no coyness, no delays, no need of appointments or + retirement to gratify their wishes; there are no rooms but one, in + which they sacrifice both to Bacchus and to Venus.” + +Bruce’s travels are as well worth reading to-day as they were in 1790. +A somewhat conveniently abridged edition was published in the same year +(1790) as the five volumes appeared, but all who are taking up the +subject of Abyssinia seriously are advised to work their way through +the original five volumes. A sumptuously illustrated edition in eight +volumes appeared after the author’s death, in 1805. Bruce was received +with some honour at court on his return, but was awarded no special +distinction. Dr. Johnson, amongst others, denounced the brilliant +young Scotch traveller as an unscrupulous romancer; Horace Walpole +pronounced his volumes “dull and dear.” Just as the African Association +sprang into being and directed its efforts toward the rehabilitating +of Bruce’s character as a truthful writer, Bruce himself died in the +most disappointing manner by falling down the stairs at his house and +breaking his neck. His death was occasioned by over-politeness. He was +rushing from his study to the hall in order to be able to escort a lady +to her carriage. + +Bruce was really a great traveller, an accurate observer, a splendid +sportsman,[32] and a far-sighted “Imperialist.” In 1775 he conceived +the need of the English rulers of India controlling the Egyptian +route, and actually obtained from the Turkish authorities in Egypt a +concession for the English on the shores of the Red Sea. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JAMES BRUCE.] + +As has been already mentioned, Bruce had been accorded a magnificent +reception by the scientific men of France. Buffon especially was +incited by Bruce’s stories to urge the French government in the +direction of Nile exploration. Buffon had become interested in a +young man native to Alsace, Sonnini de Manoncourt. Sonnini was born +at Lunéville in 1751. He was the son of a Roman court official who +had followed King Stanislas of Poland to his residence in Lorraine. +Sonnini, the younger, who had travelled in French South America, had +conceived the idea of a journey through Africa from north to south, +from the Gulf of Sidra in Tripoli to the Cape of Good Hope. This +scheme, however, when recommended to the French Foreign Office official +who then had charge of the French establishments in the Levant, was +deemed impracticable, and Sonnini was invited to restrict his attempts +to a careful exploration of the Nile from Rosetta southward to the +limits of Egyptian rule. His travels did not extend much beyond Assuan, +but he brought back a great deal of detailed information about Upper +Egypt, its fauna, flora, and the habits and customs of its population +along the banks of the Nile. Sonnini’s work will always remain a useful +book of reference. For the period at which he wrote he took a great +interest in the question of the geographical distribution of mammals. +He attempted to collect information regarding the gradual disappearance +from civilised Egypt of the great fauna. In this he followed the +inspiration of Buffon. According to Sonnini and Buffon, hippopotamuses +only became extinct in the Lower Nile near the Mediterranean as late as +1658. Two hippopotamuses were killed at Damietta in 1600 by an Italian +surgeon named Federigo Zeringhi. + + * * * * * + +Nearly a hundred years before Cecil John Rhodes was brooding in his +studies at Oriel College over the advance of British South Africa +toward the equatorial regions, that same college at Oxford was +nurturing other dreams of African exploration in the mind of William +George Browne, a Londoner by birth (1768), who at seventeen became an +undergraduate at Oriel. Browne was fired by reading Bruce’s “Travels,” +and a year after those five volumes were published, when he was only +twenty-three (1791), he started for Alexandria, which he reached +after a month’s journey from England (not a bad record for those +days). Egypt proper prior to the descent of the French under Napoleon +must have been fairly free from Muhammadan fanaticism and distrust +of Europeans in the second half of the eighteenth century. Not a few +travellers--French, Italian, and English--were able to circulate in +the dominions governed by the Mameluks. Browne first of all visited +the oasis of Siwah. He spent a year and a half on this journey, and +examined the whole of Egypt proper and the peninsula of Sinai. Being at +Assiut in March or April, 1793, he heard of the caravan which, until +quite recently, left that place annually to travel across the desert +to Darfur. Following the same route, and in a measure attaching himself +to the caravan, he reached Darfur after a journey of considerable +difficulty. Here he found himself amongst such fanatical Muhammadans +that he was practically a prisoner, and it was only by invoking the aid +and sympathy of the Turkish authorities in Egypt that he induced the +Sultan of Darfur to allow him to return. Even then he was not allowed +to carry out his project of striking the White Nile from the direction +of Darfur, and thence crossing into Abyssinia. He was obliged to return +along the caravan route to Assiut. He then continued his travels in the +direction of Syria, and arrived in London in 1798. After publishing an +account of his travels, he again left England for the Levant. In 1812 +he started for Persia with the intention of exploring Central Asia. +Between Tabriz and Teheran his caravan was attacked by robbers, and he +was killed. + +The part of his book which deals with Egypt and Darfur is excellent, +much in advance of his age and very “modern” in its accuracy, +definiteness, and absence of gushing enthusiasm. Equally remarkable for +the age is the soundness of his orthography in spelling local names and +in transcribing dialects. Browne’s work still remains an authority on +Darfur. + +The eighteenth century closed with some advance in the direction of +the Nile Quest. At any rate interest in the Nile problem had revived +in Europe. The publication at the beginning of the century, in an +English translation from the Portuguese, of the travels undertaken by +the Jesuit Fathers in Abyssinia,--the fact that an English statesman +(Lord Halifax) under the second George made it possible for Bruce to +start on his great journeys, and, lastly, the creation of the African +Association, testified to the commencement of this interest in England. +In France the question had been receiving attention from the end of the +seventeenth century, but mainly for political reasons. It had occurred +to Louis XIV. and to the ministers of his successor that Egypt, so +loosely held by the Turk, would be an admirable base from which to +effect the conquest of India. These ideas were not lost on Napoleon +Bonaparte, and the eighteenth century closes with the invasion of Egypt +by the French, an event as wonderful to the full and as far-reaching +in its results as the conquest of the same country by the Greeks under +Alexander the Great 2131 years previously. Alexander’s conquest of +Egypt from the Persians, or rather from the several native Egyptian +dynasties who were ruling under Persian suzerainty, put an end to the +régime of Ancient Egypt and Hellenised the countries of the Lower Nile +and of Abyssinia. The invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte broke the power +of the Moslem, and prepared the way for the administration of Egypt +by Europeans and Christians. Rome profited by the exploits of the +Macedonians; England has succeeded to the task which was begun with +such amazing brilliance by Frenchmen. + +[Illustration: MAP OF AFRICA BY WILLIAMSON, LONDON, 1800. + +Giving results of Browne’s journey to Darfur, French exploration of +lower Nile, and much Arab information from Egypt, North Africa, and +Senegambia.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MUHAMMAD ALI OPENS UP THE WHITE NILE + + +In 1807 Jacotin published at Paris an “Atlas de l’Égypte,” which gave +a fairly accurate survey of the Nile from the Delta to Assuan. This +Atlas gave the results of the geographical work done by the French +army of occupation. The splendid volumes which illustrated the other +scientific results of Napoleon’s venture were not published until the +Bourbons had been restored to the throne of France. They aroused, +however, great interest in the valley of the Nile, especially by the +account they gave of its remarkable fauna. This interest was felt as +much in England as in France; one of the first English travellers to +explore the Nile (as far as Korosko) after the close of the Napoleonic +war was the Hon. Charles Leonard Irby, who, with James Mangles (both +of them naval commanders), travelled in Egypt in 1817–1818. When +Egypt had settled down under the iron rule of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the +French, who had begun to conceive the idea of supporting the power of +that adventurer, and so once more gaining control over Egypt, began +to resume their interest in Nile exploration. In 1819 a Frenchman +named Frederic Caillaud (of Nantes), who had been in Egypt under the +Napoleonic régime, returned under the patronage of Louis XVIII. and +explored the main Nile as far south as the present site of Khartum, +and gave the first accurate account of one of the several Meroes, +namely, that ancient Ethiopian capital which is situated on the right +bank of the Nile about one hundred miles south of the confluence of +the Atbara. Caillaud and his companion Letorzec also accompanied +a military expedition under Ibrahim Pasha. This expedition (which +resulted in the founding of Khartum[33] in 1823) explored the Blue Nile +for a considerable distance,--as far as Fazokl. French interest in +Nile exploration was to continue later on more merged in the service +of the Egyptian government. But British efforts in this direction +had not been lacking in the early part of the nineteenth century. A +young Swiss, John Ludwig Burckhardt, born in French Switzerland in +1784,[34] and a student of two German universities, came to England in +1806 with a letter of introduction to Sir Joseph Banks and the African +Association.[35] This Association accepted his proposals for African +exploration. Burckhardt then set himself to study first in London and +then at Cambridge, and during his residence in England attempted in the +thoroughgoing Teutonic manner to inure himself to hardships by exposing +himself to cold, fatigue, and hunger in many fashions. After his three +years’ residence in England he left for Malta, and reached Aleppo +in October, 1809. Here he thoroughly mastered Arabic, the contents +of the Koran, and much else that appertained to the practice of the +Muhammadan religion and the administration of its law. In 1812 he +started from Cairo with the intention of journeying across the desert +to Fezzan, but, changing his plans, followed the Nile to Korosko, and +thence travelled across the Nubian Desert to Berber and Shendi. From +this last place he travelled to Suakin and to Jiddah. From Jiddah he +made (the first of all European Christians) the pilgrimage to Mecca. +Returning again to Cairo and preparing once more to start for Fezzan +and the Niger, he was seized with an illness of which he died at Cairo. +His journeys had resulted in the collection of eight hundred volumes +of Oriental manuscripts, all of which he sent to Cambridge University. +All the works of this brilliant traveller and profound Orientalist were +published after his death. + +[Illustration: BLUE NILE, TWENTY MILES EAST OF FAZOKL.] + +In 1827 Adolphe Linant (Bey), a Belgian, who subsequently called +himself Linant de Bellefonds, took service under the British African +Association,[36] ascended the White Nile (first of all Europeans, so +far as we know, since Dalion the Greek), and reached a point (Al Ais) +nearly one hundred and fifty miles south of Khartum. + +But the next great blow at the Nile mystery was to be struck by the +orders of the Pasha of Egypt. Muhammad[37] Ali was the native of a +little Vlach (Wallach) town or settlement in Albania called Cavalla. +In appearance he might at any time have been mistaken for a Frenchman +of eastern France, a German, or an Englishman. He was born in 1768, +and was adopted as a son by the Governor of the town, who, as a reward +for his bravery as a soldier, gave him his daughter in marriage. His +three eldest sons, Ibrahim, Tusun, and Ismail, were born in Albania. +In 1801 he was sent to Egypt with the rank of a major, rising soon to +be colonel. When the French had evacuated Egypt, the Turks endeavoured +to gain direct control over the country by attacking the power of the +Mameluks or Circassian soldiery who had really ruled in the name of the +Turks. In 1803 the British evacuated Egypt, and gradually the situation +resolved itself into a struggle for power between the Albanian soldiery +under Muhammad Ali and the Turks. The Albanians allied themselves at +first with the Mameluk or Circassian party, the former rulers. At +length, after a civil war lasting for two years, the Turkish government +appointed Muhammad Ali to be Governor of Egypt. In 1807 the British +attempted to reoccupy Egypt, and took possession of Alexandria. This +action temporarily united Muhammad Ali with his enemies, the Circassian +Beys. The British expedition ended in disaster and withdrawal. At last, +by means of treachery and an appalling massacre, Muhammad Ali got rid +of the Circassian party and became the undisputed master of Egypt. +He then assisted the Porte to put down the Wahabi revolt in Arabia. +These expeditions resulting in many military successes, the ambition +of Muhammad Ali grew, and he desired to create for himself a perfectly +disciplined army. To this end he decided to employ his disaffected +troops who were opposed to innovations in discipline in conquering the +Sudan. He commenced with Nubia, Dongola, and Sennar. From the Sudan +were brought back numbers of the sturdy Negroes, who were drilled into +some kind of disciplined force by French officers at Assuan. Then came +the war with Turkey, which nearly resulted in Muhammad Ali capturing +Constantinople. But this led to the intervention of Europe, and the +ambition of Muhammad Ali was confined within the limits of Egypt and +the Sudan. + +In 1839 the ruler of Egypt despatched the first important conquering +and exploring expedition up the White Nile. It was accompanied by +a French officer, Thibaut,[38] who had become a Muhammadan. This +expedition reached as far south as north latitude 6° 30′. In 1841 a +second expedition, which was accompanied by two Frenchmen (D’Arnaud +and Sabatier), and by a German, Ferdinand Werne, reached the vicinity +of Gondokoro in north latitude 4° 42′. Werne wrote an interesting and +scientific account of this second expedition. His map of the White +Nile from Khartum to Gondokoro is a remarkably good piece of work. A +third expedition under the same Turkish commander (Selim Bimbashi), and +accompanied by D’Arnaud, Sabatier, and Thibaut also reached Gondokoro. +All these expeditions were made in sailing boats, and those that +reached farthest were stopped by the same obstacles,--the rapids at +Gondokoro. + +As far back as 1820 steamers had been introduced onto the Nile between +the Delta and the First Cataract, mainly through French enterprise. +Some of these steamers even plied between Cairo and Korosko. In 1846 +the first steamboat was put together on the White Nile above Khartum. +In 1845 a Frenchman (Brun-Rollet) ascended the White Nile in a sailing +vessel and founded a trading post in the Kich country. + +[Illustration: FERDINAND WERNE.] + +Between 1827 and 1830 a German, Prokesch von Osten, had made a correct +survey of the Nile between Assuan and Wadi Halfa, and in the later +forties this survey was continued under Baron von Müller as far south +as Ambukol in Dongola. During the forties great interest concerning +the Egyptian Sudan had arisen in Austria. Austria was not suspected +of political views in the direction of Egypt, and therefore no doubt +Muhammad Ali and his successors were more disposed to encourage +Austrian missionaries than those of France or England. The Pope +created a Bishop of Khartum in 1849, and Austrian missionaries[39] had +founded stations on the White Nile as far distant as Gondokoro by 1850, +in which year Dr. Ignatz Knoblecher, an Austrian missionary, extended +his explorations a few miles beyond Gondokoro to Mount Logwek. A +little, very little, information was collected as to the course of the +Nile above that seventy miles of rapids which cuts off the navigation +of the river between Nimule on the south and Gondokoro on the north. A +vague story was collected from the Bari to the effect that this great +river came from a considerable distance southwards and issued from a +lake. This, no doubt, was a correct hint as to the existence of Lake +Albert Nyanza. But at this point the information stopped. + +In other directions progress had been made in Nile exploration. Besides +the Austrian Roman Catholic Mission,[40] which established stations +chiefly in the Kich and Bari countries on the White or Mountain +Niles, the rapid opening up of the waterways into the heart of Africa +soon attracted pioneers of exploration, traders, and adventurers of +several European nationalities. Far ahead of the European and the +Turk, however, went the Nubian (the native of Dongola) and the Arab of +Upper Egypt. These men were the real pioneers of European exploration, +since they served as guides and transport agents to the Europeans who +followed along the routes they opened up. These Nubians started a +far-reaching trade in slaves, and were guilty of many barbarities. They +made such a deep impression on the minds of the Negroes in the Nile +basin from the Bahr-al-Ghazal to Uganda that to this day the natives +of the Egyptian Sudan are called “Nubi” or Nubian, even though they be +black Negroes from the equatorial regions. The Nubian slave-traders +laid the foundation of the Sudanese regiments which were to serve +Egypt and England in subduing and controlling Eastern Equatorial +Africa. As the Mountain Nile (thus the main stream is called, south +of its junction with the Bahr-al-Ghazal) led through excessively +swampy, despairing countries, and did not reach the habitable land +until it entered the Bari country near the rapids of Gondokoro, most +of the exploring enterprise for fifteen years, between 1840 and 1860, +preferred to follow the more easily navigable streams which unite to +form the Bahr-al-Ghazal, the great western tributaries of the Nile. + +Among the pioneers in Nile exploration at this stage was the forerunner +of the intelligent tourist, Mr. Andrew Melly, a member of a Liverpool +family, though born at Geneva. Mr. Melly actually started for Khartum +and the White Nile accompanied by his wife, two sons, and a daughter. +His main object seems to have been that of natural history collecting. +He took insufficient measures for living with health in a tropical +climate; fever attacked him on his return journey, and he died near +Shendi on his way back from Khartum. His son George wrote a book in +two volumes describing Khartum and the Nile between that place and the +First Cataract. This book was mainly based on the father’s journal. +The expedition seems to have been well equipped. The provisions +were furnished by Fortnum and Mason, who even in that early period +(1849–1850) supplied tinned salmon. + +The first of the long roll of European martyrs to African fever in the +opening up of the Sudan was Herr Baumgarten, a Swiss mining engineer, +educated in Austria, who died at Khartum in 1839 after returning with +Muhammad Ali, who at that period had penetrated as far south as Al +Ais, in the Shiluk country. Brun-Rollet, a Frenchman, was perhaps the +first European trader to establish himself on the White Nile. He ceased +trading, however, in 1850, after having established posts as far south +as the Bari country. + +In 1851 the mission station of Gondokoro was founded by Knoblecher and +Vinci of the Austrian Mission. A short distance beyond Gondokoro, on +the west bank of the Nile, near the modern Belgian station of Rejaf, +is a little stony hill called by the Bari Logwek. This hill was the +extreme point reached by the third expedition despatched from Khartum +at the orders of Muhammad Ali in 1841, and afterwards by the Austrian +missionary, Knoblecher, in 1848. Here the White Nile, approached from +the north, became unnavigable owing to the rapids which obstruct the +course of the stream during its thousand-feet fall from Dufile to +Gondokoro. For a long time Logwek (remarkable as being the first high +and stony land which is met with in ascending the White Nile after the +many hundred miles’ journey through the marshes) formed the limit of +European discovery coming from the north. + +About 1843 or 1844 D’Arnaud, one of the Frenchmen who accompanied the +exploring expeditions of the Egyptian government, published a map of +the White Nile which carried the course of the river as far south as 4° +42′ north latitude. Towards the end of the forties further explorations +were made from time to time west of the White Nile by a Frenchman, +De Malzac, who at the time of his death at Khartum, in 1859 (?), was +compiling a work on the Fauna of the White Nile. + +[Illustration: THE WHALE-HEADED STORK (_Balæniceps rex_).] + +In 1845 a Welsh[41] mining engineer named John Petherick entered the +service of Muhammad Ali, the Pasha of Egypt. He was employed for some +years in examining the countries of Upper Egypt, the coast of the Red +Sea, and Kordofan for coal and other minerals, apparently with little +or no success. In his interesting work, “Egypt, the Sudan, and Central +Africa,” he has left us, amongst other things, a remarkably interesting +account of Kordofan at the end of the forties of the last century, +some twenty-five years after its conquest by the Turks from the mild +rule of Darfur.[42] In 1848 Muhammad Ali died, and Petherick quitted +the service of the Egyptian government. Trade in the Sudan had now +ceased to be a government monopoly, partly owing to the efforts of +the English Consul-General at that time. Petherick therefore resided +at El Obeid in Kordofan for five years as a trader in gums and other +produce. In 1853 he resolved to go in for the ivory trade on the White +Nile and the Bahr-al-Ghazal. This great western feeder of the Nile was +beginning to be opened up by the Nubian traders already referred to. +For six years Petherick traded for ivory and explored some of the great +rivers which flowed into the Bahr-al-Ghazal,--chiefly the Jur and the +Yalo or Rōl. During the course of his explorations he was the first +European (unless De Malzac preceded him) to reach the Nyam-nyam country +(Mundo). He made some remarkable discoveries in natural history,--the +splendid _Cobus maria_ or Mrs. Gray’s Waterbuck, and the _Balæniceps +rex_ or Whale-headed Stork. Petherick’s skins of the _Balæniceps_ which +he gave to the British Museum in 1859 were the only specimens in that +collection for more than forty years, until they were reinforced by +the first Whale-headed Storks obtained on the Victoria Nyanza, which +were sent home by the author of this book. Petherick also captured +and brought to Europe a young hippopotamus. [It is interesting to +observe in his first book, “Egypt, the Sudan,” etc., published in 1859, +that the classification of his bird collections is made by Dr. P. L. +Sclater, then and until recently Secretary to the Zoölogical Society.] +Petherick’s return to Europe with a recital of such wonders obtained +for him considerable attention. He married in the early part of 1861, +and was invited to take charge of a relief expedition to be sent up the +Nile to meet Captain Speke and Grant, who were to attempt descending +the Nile from its supposed source at the north end of the Victoria +Nyanza. + +[Illustration: John Petherick.] + +During the latter period of Petherick’s experiences on the Nile (in +1858), he had been appointed consular agent for the British government +at Khartum. In 1861, before starting to return to the Sudan, he was +given the rank of consul. He left England in 1861 with his wife +and with an English youth named Foxcroft, who accompanied him as +bird-stuffer and natural history collector.[43] In 1861 he despatched +to Gondokoro, to await the arrival of Speke and Grant, an expedition +under the Turks and Arabs, with boats full of supplies. Petherick +and his wife, accompanied by Dr. Murie (who had joined them from +England) and by Foxcroft, then spent some years exploring the western +affluents of the Nile which unite in the Bahr-al-Ghazal. In this way +they revisited the Nyam-nyam country. Petherick seems to have been +partly trading and partly collecting information on the slave-trade and +prosecuting Maltese slave-traders; and these investigations seem to +have rather taken his attention from one of the objects of his mission, +which was to insure a proper relief to Speke and Grant. How far he +was to blame in the matter it is difficult to determine. People in +England seem to have doubted the effectiveness of his methods to insure +this relief, and amongst others who thought it necessary to forestall +Petherick was Mr. (afterwards Sir Samuel) Baker, who, in 1862–1863, got +ahead of the Pethericks (then deciding to go in person to the relief +of the explorers), and actually arrived at Gondokoro in time to afford +much needed assistance to the exhausted travellers. Speke appears to +have considered that Petherick had not acted up to the assurance he +had given to the Royal Geographical Society, who intrusted him with +the expenditure of the relief fund. This criticism, together with the +bitter animosity aroused by Petherick’s prosecution of slave-traders +and reports on the misgovernment of Egyptian officials, cost him +the confidence of the Foreign Office, and in 1864 his consulate was +abolished. It was actually alleged by some of his enemies that he +himself carried on a trade in slaves,--an allegation for which there +does not seem to have been the slightest foundation. In 1865 the +Pethericks returned to England. Petherick’s second book (“Travels in +Central Africa”) was not published until 1869. It is impossible, after +careful observation and a more than thirty years’ interval, to avoid +the impression that Petherick was treated by his country with some +ingratitude. He did a great deal to increase our knowledge of the Nile +basin and its remarkable fauna. His collections of beasts, birds, and +fishes enriched the British Museum. He took a number of astronomical +observations in order to fix important points on the White Nile and in +the region of the Bahr-al-Ghazal. He died in 1882. + +In 1840 a French Egyptian official, Clot Bey, engaged as private +secretary a young French doctor of medicine, Alfred Peney. For +something like fifteen years Dr. Peney carried on official medical +work in Egypt. He was gradually led, however, towards Nile exploration +through his official visits to Khartum, the Blue Nile, and Kordofan. +He was intensely interested in ethnology and in the study of the Nile +Negroes. French influence in Egypt during the fifties was in the +ascendency. De Lesseps and the various officials who served France +as agents and consuls-general at Cairo had known how to secure the +concession for the Suez Canal. They became jealous that France should +also secure for her citizens the glory of having discovered and traced +the course and the sources of the Upper Nile. This blue ribbon of +geographical discovery was already being sought for by Germans and +Englishmen. Dr. Peney especially was continually urging his superiors +in Cairo to organise, or induce the Viceroy Said to organise, a Nile +research expedition under French auspices. But the choice by the +French agent of a leader for this enterprise fell most unfortunately. +Hanging about Cairo was a Frenchman of a type not infrequently met +with at Levantine courts during the first eight decades of the +nineteenth century. This was the Count d’Escayrac de Lauture. Men of +this description were either Royalist refugees, or the sons of such, +or they were Napoleonic noblemen who had got into financial or social +difficulties. D’Escayrac, however, appears to have been an amiable +dilettante, who had some pretensions to be an Egyptologist. But he was +utterly unsuited to lead an expedition into Central Africa. He was +elderly, vain, pompous, and extravagant. The viceroy, wishing that the +expedition should not be too exclusively French, ordered d’Escayrac to +recruit part of his personnel in England, Germany, and Switzerland. +This was done, but the expedition never left Cairo for the Upper Nile. +D’Escayrac made himself perfectly ridiculous by strutting about in a +fantastic uniform, trailing a long sabre. His expensive scientific +instruments were badly packed, and arrived at Cairo injured. The whole +expedition was dissolved, owing to the bitter dislike which d’Escayrac +inspired among his staff. The only incident in the whole of Count +d’Escayrac’s preparations which shows him to have been in any way +enterprising or intelligent, was his desire to secure good photographic +views of the Upper Nile and its natives. He had provided the expedition +with the best apparatus which could be obtained at that period (1856). +It is curious to note that in the criticisms of his plans published at +the time, the critics animadvert more bitterly on the extravagance of +spending one hundred pounds on photography than on any other supposed +mistake in d’Escayrac’s preparations. + +Dr. Albert Peney was to have been medical officer to the expedition. +When it was dissolved, he started off for the White Nile on his +own account, attaching himself, whenever opportunity offered, to +such caravans as those of Andrea de Bono, the Maltese. Peney made a +remarkably good map (most interesting to place on record as showing +subsequent changes in the course of the Nile) between Bor and a place +which he calls Nieki, which was situated on the Mountain Nile very near +to the present site of Fort Berkeley. Peney, hearing rumours of great +rivers to the west, crossed the range of hills which flanks the western +bank of the Mountain Nile in the Bari country, and thus reached the +river Yie or Yeï. This river, as we know now, flows northwest nearly +parallel to the main Mountain Nile, and joins that river some distance +before its junction with the Bahr-al-Ghazal. But Peney exaggerated +the importance of this stream, and confused it with the accounts he +heard of the many great rivers that united to form the Bahr-al-Ghazal. +On his map he actually makes the Yie an effluent of the White Nile, +issuing from the main stream not far from the present post of Nimule, +and flowing northwestwards until it enters the Bahr-al-Ghazal. He thus +transformed the whole region of the Bahr-al-Ghazal into an enormous +island encircled by two branches of the Nile. Peney further visited the +country to the east of Gondokoro, and was probably the first explorer +to mention the name Latuka. This country he rightly designates Lotuka. +Latuka is the incorrect version given to the world by Emin Pasha. The +_Lo_ in this word is really the masculine article met with in so many +of the Masai group of languages to which the tongue of Latuka belongs. +The root _tuka_ (which should be properly spelled and pronounced +_tukă_) is evidently a racial name widespread among that Negroid group +resulting from an ancient intermixture of the Gala with the Negro, from +which groups the Latuka, Turkana, Masai, Nandi, and Elgumi descend.[44] + +Dr. Peney died of blackwater fever in July, 1861, at a point on the +Nile near Fort Berkeley. Andrea de Bono was with him at his death, +and records the characteristics of the disease from which Dr. Peney +died. Since the idea has been started that blackwater fever is quite a +new disease in these regions, it is interesting to know that from all +accounts several of the earliest European pioneers from 1848 to 1861 +appear to have died of this malady whilst exploring the Upper Nile. + +About the time that Peney was exploring the Mountain Nile, another +Frenchman, Lejean, was surveying with some correctness the +Bahr-al-Ghazal estuary, of which he published a map in 1862. + +[Illustration: MAP PUBLISHED IN PENNY MAGAZINE OF 1852. + +Which gives results of Nile exploration up to that date.] + +Not only Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Germans, but Italians and Maltese +had by this time appeared as explorers, traders, and naturalists on +the White Nile and its tributaries.[45] Some of these came as members +of the Austrian Roman Catholic Mission. Perhaps out of jealousy +of Austria, or with the idea of spreading North Italian trade and +influence, the then Kingdom of Sardinia appointed Signor Vaudet +(apparently a Piedmontese trader) Sardinian proconsul at Khartum. +Vaudet invited out his two nephews, the brothers Poncet (one of whom +published a book on the White Nile in 1863). Vaudet was killed by the +Bari tribe near Gondokoro about 1859. This Bari people, now so much +diminished by famine and by the raids of the Sudanese slave-traders +and Dervishes, was a far more serious bar to the prosecution of +exploration up the Mountain Nile in the direction of the great lakes +than the rapids above Gondokoro. The Bari, no doubt, were wronged by +the Europeans and Nubians, but they were nevertheless responsible for +the death of not a few European explorers. But for their determined +hostility, there is little doubt that the earlier French, Italian, +German, and English pioneers would have found their way to Lake Albert +long before its discovery by Baker. Indeed Giovanni Miani, a Venetian, +got as far south as Apuddo,[46] if not farther, in the prosecution +of his search for the rumoured lake. Miani subsequently explored the +regions of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the headwaters of the streams rising +in the Nyam-nyam country. He it was who, first of all explorers, +brought back those rumours of a watershed beyond the Nile system, with +a great river (the Welle) flowing to the west. + +There seems to have been little, if any, international jealousy in +this wonderful field of exploration between 1840 and 1860. Khartum was +the rendezvous, the principal depot of the Europeans, and throughout +all these years was under a Turkish governor. Life in Khartum between +1850 and 1860 was by no means devoid of attractions. Several of the +Europeans who made it their headquarters brought out their wives with +them. Others were married to handsome Abyssinian women. The houses +of Egyptian style were comfortable and cool. The place swarmed with +strange new beasts and birds; indeed, nearly every house included a +menagerie in one of its yards. A great slave-market brought before the +eyes of astonished and interested Europeans nearly all the principal +Negro types from as far west as Wadai and Darfur, from the confines +of Abyssinia on the east, from the lands of the naked Nile Negroes on +the south; stalwart, lighter-coloured, bearded Nyam-nyam cannibals +from the southwest, coal-black Madi, here and there an Akka Pygmy, +thin-shanked Dinka and Shiluk, sturdy Bongo, and handsome Gala. “There +ain’t no Ten Commandments” might with some justice have been said of +society at Khartum. At any rate it was much untrammelled as regards the +more wearisome conventions of civilised life. Nobody inquired if M. +Dubois was legally married to Mme. Dubois, and perhaps the treatment of +the doubtful Mme. Dubois as a respectable married woman by blue-eyed +strait-souled Mrs. Jones ended by Mme. Dubois becoming legally united +to her spouse later on at Cairo, and finishing the rest of her life +as a happy and perfectly respectable person. The air was full of +wonderment. Improvements made year by year in firearms resulted in +marvellous big-game shooting. Though there were bad fevers to be got in +the Bahr-al-Ghazal, the climate of Khartum itself was not necessarily +unhealthy. The post seems to have arrived across the desert on camels +at least once a month. The tyranny, social and administrative, of the +British military officer and his dame was not to come for many years; +the “smart” hotel was absent; provisions were good, plentiful, and +cheap. Those are times that the African explorer of to-day looks back +upon with something like a sigh. + +[Illustration: THE RIVER SOBAT.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MISSIONARIES AND SNOW-MOUNTAINS + + +Down to 1858 all that Europe knew of the Nile basin was this: The +course of the Blue Nile had been mapped to some extent from its source +in Lake Tsana; and the travels of Rüppell (1830–1831) (the great German +naturalist), of another German, Joseph Russegger, of the D’Abbadies +(the great French surveyors), of Sir William Cornwallis Harris (who +was sent on a mission to Shoa), Théophile Le Febvre, Mansfield Parkyns +(1840–1845), H. Dufton, and C. T. Beke had cleared up a good many blank +spaces in the geography of Abyssinia and of the various affluents of +the Nile flowing from the snow-mountains of that African Afghanistan +in the direction of the Atbara, the Blue Nile, and the Sobat. The +Sobat had been explored for a hundred miles or so, as far as steamers +could penetrate. The White Nile had been surveyed from Khartum to the +junction of the Bahr-al-Ghazal. South of that point, under the name +of Mountain Nile, it and some of its branches, such as the Giraffe +River, had also been explored, and the River of the Mountains, as the +Upper White Nile is called by the Arabs, had been ascended to a little +distance south of Gondokoro. The Bahr-al-Ghazal, the great western +feeder of the Nile, and several of its more important affluents, such +as the Jur, had been made known, and the existence of the Nyam-nyam +cannibal country ascertained. But the ultimate sources of the Nile +stream were still undiscovered. This problem was now to be attacked +from two very different directions. + +In 1829 the Church Missionary Society had resolved to attempt the +evangelisation of Abyssinia, and sent missionaries to the northern part +of that country. Amongst these missionaries, in 1840, was a Würtemberg +student named Ludwig Krapf, sent to prospect in northern Abyssinia. But +the Abyssinians eventually resented this missionary enterprise, and +Krapf and some others were expelled from the country in 1842. + +[Illustration: REV. DR. L. LUDWIG KRAPF.] + +Hearing good accounts of the more genial nature of the Zanzibar +Arabs and of their Maskat ruler, Krapf journeyed down the East Coast +of Africa and visited the Sayyid of Zanzibar (Majid); he obtained +permission from this Arab viceroy[47] to settle at Mombasa and +establish a Christian mission there. Krapf was soon joined by John +Rebman (another Würtemberger). Both were well-educated men, who had +been trained at Tübingen, at Basle, and in Rebman’s case at an English +missionary college. They acquired a knowledge of Arabic, and soon +added to it an intimate acquaintance with several African tongues. +Their intercourse with the Arabs and the Negroes at Mombasa and its +vicinity soon opened their ears to remarkable stories of the unknown +interior. Already the Arabs were pushing farther and farther inland +from these ports on the Zanzibar coast, and some of them had reached +Lake Tanganyika, while they had also heard rumours of the Victoria +Nyanza. The natives further told the missionaries of the wonderfully +high mountains distant from ten to thirty days’ march from the coast, +the tops of which were covered with “white stuff.” By 1850, through the +agency of the Church Missionary Society, Rebman and Krapf were able +to report from their own observation the existence of snow-mountains +nearly under the equator, Rebman having discovered Kilimanjaro in +1848, while in the following year Krapf not only confirmed this +discovery, but pushed his way far enough inland to catch a glimpse of +Mount Kenya, the distance of which from the coast he underestimated. +The missionaries also sent to Europe about the same time stories of +a great inland sea. They had gathered up the reports of Lake Nyasa, +Tanganyika, and the Victoria Nyanza, and had imagined these separate +sheets of water to be only parts of a huge, slug-shaped lake as big +as the Caspian Sea. They also reported the separate existence of Lake +Baringo. These stories they illustrated by a map (Erhardt and Rebman) +published in 1855. Their stories of snow-mountains in equatorial Africa +only drew down on them for the most part the ridicule of English +geographers, among whom was a wearisome person, Mr. Desborough Cooley, +who published fine-spun theories based on a fantastic interpretation +of African etymology; but their stories were believed in France, and +they were awarded a medal by the Paris Geographical Society. They also +impressed an American poet, Bayard Taylor, who in 1855 wrote some +stirring lines on Kilimanjaro:-- + + “Remote, inaccessible, silent, and lone-- + Who from the heart of the tropical fervours + Liftest to heaven thine alien snows.” + +These stories from the missionaries revived the interest in Ptolemy’s +Geography. The Nile lakes were once more believed in, especially as the +discovery of Kenya and Kilimanjaro appeared to confirm the stories of +the Mountains of the Moon. This idea indeed was additionally favoured +by the fact that the missionaries often referred to their hypothetical +lake as the Sea of Unyamwezi, which name they rightly explained as +meaning (we know not why) the “Land of the Moon.”[48] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BURTON AND SPEKE + + +Nile exploration from the north had stopped in 1851 at the rapids south +of Gondokoro. It was now felt that the problem should be attacked +from other directions. In 1839 the British government had formally +annexed Aden at the southwestern corner of Arabia as a coaling station +for ships plying between Suez and India. Aden is opposite the Somali +coast, and has been for many centuries the outpost of civilisation +with which the Somali have traded. It was impossible to possess Aden +long without desiring to become acquainted with the character of the +African coast across the gulf, especially as Aden depended so much +on Somaliland for its supplies of meat, grain, and fodder, and the +ostrich feathers, ivory, and skins sold in the Aden bazaars. Aden +was, and is still, under the government of India, and officers of the +Indian army soon found their way across to Somaliland on authorised +or unauthorised surveys. Among these was Lieutenant Cruttenden, who +collected some new information about the sterile country beyond the +coast. In 1854 a remarkable man came to Aden as an officer in the +Indian garrison,--Lieutenant Richard Francis Burton, fresh from +his wonderful journey as a pilgrim to Mecca. Burton induced the +authorities to support him in a project for entering inner East Africa +through Somaliland, and thus perhaps striking at the sources of the +Nile. Another explorer in the bud, Lieutenant John Hanning Speke, +reached Aden soon afterwards, and obtained permission to join Burton’s +expedition. + +Whilst waiting for a time thought to be favourable for travelling +southwards into the Ogadein country, Burton went off alone on a +remarkably plucky journey to the mysterious city of Harrar, to-day a +frontier town of Abyssinia. Harrar, lying to the south of that Rift +valley, which can be traced after a few interruptions from the Gulf of +Tajurra right down into British and German East Africa, was a walled +city inhabited by a Semitic people, or rather a people still retaining +the use of a Semitic dialect akin to those of Abyssinia and South +Arabia. + +Speke did a good deal to increase our knowledge of the remarkable fauna +of Somaliland, but the Burton-Speke expedition into that country got no +great distance inland, and ended in disaster, owing to the suspicions +of the Somali. The expedition was attacked close to the seashore at +Berbera. One of the party, Lieutenant Stroyan, was killed. Speke was +severely, and Burton slightly wounded. Speke is of opinion that much +of this disaster was due to the mismanagement of Burton. He considers +that if, when the expedition was first organised, instead of fussing +about mysterious visits to Harrar and waiting for this thing and that +thing, the whole expedition had started off boldly for the interior, +the Somali would have had no time to cultivate suspicion, and would +have opposed no resistance. It is quite conceivable that Speke was +right, and that if the expedition had started with promptitude it might +have reached the confines of Shoa or the Gala country in the direction +of modern British East Africa. As it was, the attack on Burton’s +expedition closed for some thirty years any attempt at penetrating the +mysterious country of the Somali, with its remarkable mammalian fauna +and its as yet unexplained ruins.[49] + +[Illustration: A SWAHILI ARAB TRADER.] + +Burton’s attention was now drawn to the stories of the Mombasa +missionaries. With some difficulty he obtained from the Foreign Office, +the East India Company, and the Royal Geographical Society funds to +equip an expedition which should start from the Zanzibar coast in +search of the great lake. As Speke had lost over five hundred pounds +worth of private property in the disaster which fell on the Somali +expedition, Burton invited him to join this new expedition as his +lieutenant. Burton had been distracted for a time from this idea by +the Crimean War, but when peace was declared, he obtained the sanction +of the Geographical Society to his plans, and started with Speke for +India to smooth the difficulties placed in his way by the Indian +government. At the very end of 1856 the explorers reached Zanzibar. +While the expedition was being organised at Zanzibar, Burton and Speke +visited Pemba, Mombasa, and the mission station ten miles in the +interior. Fired by the stories of the snow-mountains and the rumour +of the great lake of Ukerewe,[50] Speke proposed that they should +bring their expedition to Mombasa and start for the lake by way of +Kilimanjaro. The Masai, however, were raiding the country right up +to within ten miles of Mombasa, and in consequence Burton was afraid +to take this route. The explorers visited the mountainous country of +Usambara, which is close to the coast, and then returned to Zanzibar. +The original instructions, however, of the Royal Geographical Society +(which had found the bulk of the funds) had been: “The great object +of the expedition is to penetrate inland, from Kilwa or some other +place on the East Coast of Africa, and make the best of its way to +the reputed Lake of Nyasa.” Burton found, however, that the Arabs of +Kilwa were strongly opposed to white men penetrating the interior +in that direction. He therefore decided to choose the line of least +resistance at Bagamoyo, and go along the now beaten track of the Arabs +to Ujiji. When Burton and Speke reached Unyamwezi (Kaze) at the close +of 1857, they were received with much kindness and courtesy by the +Zanzibar Arabs established there, especially by Sheikh Snay, who had +been the first Arab to reach Uganda. Snay promptly cleared up the +mystery of the missionaries’ great lake, telling the explorers that +it was three different lakes (Nyasa, Tanganyika, and Victoria) rolled +into one. The Arabs had also heard through the Banyoro rumours of +European vessels travelling up the White Nile to the Bari country. +Burton was continually prostrated with fever during this stay in +Unyamwezi, so that the command of the expedition and the solution of +its difficulties temporarily devolved on Speke. The main trouble, as +on all these expeditions, was with the question of transport. It was +very difficult to obtain porters to proceed in any direction north or +west of Unyamwezi. At last they induced a number of their paid-off men +who had accompanied them through the coast lands to rejoin and convey +the loads as far as Ujiji. In that way Burton and Speke discovered +Lake Tanganyika, and Speke thought (wrongly) that in the great tilted +plateau which they ascended on the east, and from which they looked +down on the beautiful blue waters of the lake, he had discovered the +Mountains of the Moon. + +After a somewhat half-hearted exploration of the northern portion +of Tanganyika in an Arab dau, during which they heard and partially +verified the fact that no river flowed out of Tanganyika on the north, +but that the Rusizi flowed _into_ the lake[51] in that direction, they +returned to Ujiji, and from this point made their way back to Kaze in +Unyamwezi. Here Burton again became ill. Speke with some difficulty +obtained from him permission to travel northwards in search of the Lake +of Bukerebe. Burton yielded his consent reluctantly, and appears to +have given but grudging assistance in the shape of men and guides. Full +of energy, however, Speke gathered together a caravan, which crossed +Unyamwezi and Usukuma, and on the 30th of July, 1858, he saw the Mwanza +creek, one of the southernmost gulfs of the Victoria Nyanza. The +extremity of this he named “Jordans Nullah.”[52] Travelling northwards +along this creek, on August 3d (1858), early in the morning, Speke +saw the open waters of a great lake with a sea horizon to the north. +Much of the horizon was shut in by great and small islands, but Speke +detected through their interstices the vast extent of open water which +stretched to the north. + +He realised to the full the wonder of his discovery, and the obvious +probability that this mighty lake would prove to be the main +headwaters of the White Nile. Even Speke, however, failed to appreciate +then or subsequently the full extent of the Nyanza’s area. He only +guessed its breadth at over one hundred miles, and its length from +north to south at under two hundred. Speke inquired from the natives +the name of this freshwater sea, and they replied “Nyanza,” which in +varying forms such as Nyanja, Nyasa, Mwanza, Kianja, Luanza (according +to prefix), is a widespread Bantu root for a large extent of water,--a +river or a lake. To this term Speke added the name of Victoria after +the Queen of England. The following extract from his book, “What Led to +the Discovery of the Source of the Nile,” gives his first impressions +of the great lake:-- + + “The caravan, after quitting Isamiro, began winding up a long but + gradually inclined hill [which, as it bears no native name, I shall + call Somerset] until it reached its summit, when the vast expanse + of the pale blue waters of the Nyanza burst suddenly upon my gaze. + It was early morning. The distant sea-line of the north horizon + was defined in the calm atmosphere between the north and the west + points of the compass; but even this did not afford me any idea + of the breadth of the lake, as an archipelago of islands, each + consisting of a single hill, rising to a height two hundred or + three hundred feet above the water, intersected the line of vision + to the left; while on the right the western horn of the Ukerewe + Island cut off any further view of its distant waters to the + eastward of north. A sheet of water--an elbow of the sea, however, + at the base of the low range on which I stood--extended far away + to the eastward, to where, in the dim horizon, a hummock-like + elevation of the mainland marked what I understood to be the south + and east angle of the lake. The important islands of Ukerewe and + Mzita, distant about twenty or thirty miles, formed the visible + north shore of this firth. The name of the former of these islands + was familiar to us as that by which this long-sought lake was + usually known. It is reported by the natives to be of no great + extent, and though of no considerable elevation, I could discover + several spurs stretching down to the water’s edge from its central + ridge of hills. The other island, Mzita, is of greater elevation, + of a hog-backed shape, but being more distant its physical features + were not so distinctly visible. + + “In consequence of the northern islands of the Bengal Archipelago + before-mentioned obstructing the view, the western shore of the + lake could not be defined: a series of low hill-tops extended in + this direction as far as the eye could reach; while below me, at + no great distance, was the _débouchure_ of the creek which enters + the lake from the south, and along the banks of which my last + three days’ journey had led me. This view was one which even in a + well-known and explored country would have arrested the traveller + by its peaceful beauty. The islands, each swelling in a gentle + slope to a rounded summit, clothed with wood between the rugged, + angular, closely-cropping rocks of granite, seemed mirrored in the + calm surface of the lake, on which I here and there detected a + small black speck,--the tiny canoe of some Muanza fisherman. On the + gently shelving plain below me blue smoke curled among the trees, + which here and there partially concealed villages and hamlets, + their brown thatched roofs contrasting with the emerald-green of + the beautiful aloes, the coral flower-branches of which cluster in + such profusion round the cottages, and form alleys and hedgerows + about the villages as ornamental as any garden shrub in England. + But the pleasure of the mere view vanished in the presence of those + more intense and exciting emotions which are called up by the + consideration of the commercial and geographical importance of the + prospect before me. + + “I no longer felt any doubt that the lake at my feet gave birth to + that interesting river, the source of which has been the subject + of so much speculation, and the object of so many explorers. + The Arabs’ tale was proved to the letter. This is a far more + extensive lake than the Tanganyika; ‘so broad that you could not + see across it, and so long that nobody knew its length.’ I had now + the pleasure of perceiving that a map I had constructed on Arab + testimony, and sent home to the Royal Geographical Society before + leaving Unyanyembe, was so substantially correct in its general + outlines I had nothing whatever to alter. Further, as I drew that + map after proving their first statements about the Tanganyika, + which were made before my going there, I have every reason to feel + confident of their veracity relative to their travels north through + Karagwe, and to Kibuga in Uganda.” + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP BY BURTON AND SPEKE, 1858. + +From the Original in the possession of the Royal Geographical Society.] + +Unable to delay longer in his exploration of the southern shores of +the Victoria Nyanza, as he had promised to rejoin Burton by a certain +date, Speke returned to Kaze in Unyanyembe, to find his companion vexed +at the great discovery which he had made. Speke did not pursue the +argument as to the Victoria Nyanza being the main source of the Nile. +The two men journeyed together on more or less bad terms to Zanzibar, +where Burton remained to wind up the affairs of the expedition, Speke +returning direct to England. Here the wonderful news he brought +prompted the Royal Geographical Society to gather together the funds +for a fresh expedition, which was to enable Speke to make good his +discovery of the lake, and to prove to the satisfaction of the +scientific world that this sheet of water was the ultimate source of +the White Nile. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SPEKE AND THE NILE QUEST + + +John Hanning Speke was born on May 27, 1827, at Orleigh Court, +Bideford, North Devon. His father’s family had its seat in +Somersetshire, near the pretty old town of Ilminster, and was of +ancient descent. The name was spelled L’Espec in Norman times, and +apparently meant a spike or porcupine quill (the family crest was a +porcupine).[53] Speke’s mother was a Miss Hanning of Dillington Park, +also in Somerset. He was one of four sons, and had several sisters. As +his father (Mr. William Speke), after he came into the family place +of Jordans near Ilminster, had two church livings to dispose of, he +was desirous that two at least of his sons might be brought up to +the Church. John Hanning and Edward Speke (who was killed at Delhi) +declined such a career, however, and wished to go into the army. Speke +was a restless boy, who detested school, declaring that a sedentary +life made him ill. Whenever he could escape from his masters, he was +always out in the woods and on the heaths, displaying a great devotion +to natural history and sport. + +When only seventeen his mother, who was acquainted with the Duke of +Wellington, obtained for her two sons, John and Edward, commissions +in the Indian army. The Duke asked to see the boys, and congratulated +their mother on two such fine young fellows coming forward for service +in India. Edward Speke, as already mentioned, was killed during the +Indian mutiny at the siege of Delhi. John Hanning Speke himself, +between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two, had seen a good deal of +military service in India, and took part in the last Sikh war, having +been at the battles of Ramnagar, Sedulapur, Chilianwala, and Guzerat. + +In 1849 he first entertained the idea of exploring equatorial Africa. +Prior to this date he had shot a great deal in India, and subsequently +explored southwestern Tibet. His first interest in Africa lay in +the possibility of amassing magnificent zoölogical collections to +illustrate the fauna of that wide stretch of country which lay between +South Africa and Abyssinia. He wished to supplement the researches of +Rüppell on the northeast and of Harris, Gordon Cumming, and others in +the far south. Even at that date Speke desired to land at some point on +the East African coast, and strike across to the Nile, descending the +Nile to Egypt with his zoölogical collections. + +[Illustration: JOHN HANNING SPEKE. + +At the age of 17, on first receiving his commission in the Indian Army.] + +He obtained furlough in the autumn of 1854, and proceeded to Aden +with the intention of landing on the opposite coast of Somaliland. +Arrived at Aden, his plans met with stubborn opposition from Colonel +Sir James Outram, the Resident, who not only opposed Speke’s journeys, +but even those which were officially ordered by the Bombay government +to be conducted by Richard Burton. But the Bombay government, in regard +to the latter plan, insisted on Sir James Outram withdrawing his +opposition. Sir James Outram then attached Speke to this expedition, +knowing him to be a good surveyor. Speke had in fact mapped a good deal +of southwestern Tibet, and was thoroughly at home with the sextant. The +results of this venture have been described in the preceding chapter. +The Somali expedition led to Speke’s accompanying Burton in 1857. + +Speke returned to England alone on the 8th of May, 1859. The day after +his arrival Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical +Society, decided that Speke was to be sent back as soon as possible to +substantiate his discovery of the Victoria Nyanza, and to ascertain its +connection with the Nile system. But although funds were soon secured +by public subscription, it was deemed advisable by Speke that the new +expedition should not start for nearly a year. Captain James Augustus +Grant, who had shot with Speke in India, begged leave to accompany him +as his lieutenant. + +[Illustration: BURTON’S IDEA OF THE NILE SOURCES, DEC. 1864.] + +Burton returned to England in 1859, somewhat chagrined to hear of +the enthusiasm with which Speke’s discovery of the Victoria Nyanza +had been received,--an enthusiasm which to some extent had put the +revelation of Lake Tanganyika in the shade. Burton nevertheless was +awarded, in 1860, the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, +and in returning thanks for this honour, he uttered a handsome +acknowledgment of Speke’s services as surveyor on this expedition +to the great lakes. But the two men were evidently on bad terms, +and though the fault of their disaccord may have lain with Burton’s +conduct, the world knew of it first through the writings of Speke in +“Blackwood’s Magazine,” and later (in 1864) in the republication of +these Blackwood articles with additions under the title of “What Led to +the Discovery of the Source of the Nile.” In these works Speke makes +certain stinging references to Burton. So far as an impartial verdict +can be arrived at, Speke in all probability spoke the truth; but he +was perhaps unduly hard on his companion, for whom he had evidently a +great personal dislike and some degree of contempt. In some respects +Speke’s own education had been defective (at least, we are told that he +was so much of a truant as to receive but little schooling before going +to India). He may, therefore, have been unable to appreciate to the +full Burton’s undoubted talents. Yet again, in reading Speke’s books +it would occur to no one to say that he was deficient in education. +He had become an admirable geographer, a keen naturalist; and whether +his writing was or was not without grace of style, it was certainly +pithy and to the point. His great book, the “Discovery of the Source +of the Nile,” is good reading all through, and strikes one who, like +the present writer, has been over much of the same ground, as being +singularly truthful. It is as good a book as any that Burton himself +ever wrote on Africa, not excepting even the excellent “Lake Regions.” +Speke was a fine figure of a man,--tall and handsome in an English +style, with blue eyes and a brown beard. There is no doubt that he +impressed the natives favourably wherever he went as being a man and +a gentleman. Yet there was a little hardness in his disposition, +something pitiless in his criticisms of Burton. Burton’s own attacks on +Speke scarcely appeared in a public form until four years after Speke +had returned to Africa. They were angry, and somewhat clumsy, but not +so incisive as Speke’s criticisms of Burton. Burton’s chief revenge lay +in endeavouring for many years to prove that Speke had made no very +great discovery; that his Victoria Nyanza was not the greatest lake in +Africa and the main source of the Nile, but a network of swamps and +lakelets. Burton hailed with delight Sir Samuel Baker’s description +of the Albert Nyanza as being the ultimate origin of the White Nile. +To meet this view he, against his own convictions, tried to make the +Rusizi River flow out of the north end of Tanganyika instead of flowing +into that lake, in the hope that Tanganyika was thus connected with +Lake Albert,--a fact which, if proved, would dwarf the discovery of +the Victoria Nyanza into insignificance. To this end he published a +map, and endeavoured to persuade every geographer who would listen +to him that the Victoria Nyanza was more than half a myth, and that +its contribution to the Nile waters was insignificant compared to the +supply received from the western chain of lakes. + +Speke’s character was that of many an officer in the British army. +Though his family claimed Norman descent, his physique was emphatically +Anglo-Saxon. Born almost without fear, he had perhaps too ready a +contempt for others of weaker nerve who could better weigh the chances +of danger and the counsels of prudence. Speke was a splendid shot, +and accurate in those astronomical observations necessary to the +determination of geographical positions. He had a good knowledge of +Hindustani,[54] but not that great readiness in picking up languages +which was Burton’s forte. Yet he was perfectly honest about this, as +about every talent which he possessed or lacked. On the other hand, his +great dislike of Burton sometimes made him unjust in denying to his +companion the qualities of mind he really possessed. Burton’s _résumé_ +of ethnological information concerning the East African tribes from the +Zanzibar coast to Uganda and the shores of Tanganyika is masterly, and +due to the most careful note-taking. It may not, perhaps, be out of +place if I quote a few lines from a letter written by Sir Samuel Baker +to a correspondent:[55]-- + + “Speke comes first as a geographer and African explorer. He was + superior to Burton as a painstaking, determined traveller, who + worked out his object for the real love of geographical research, + without the slightest jealousy of others.... But Burton excelled + Speke in cleverness and general information, though he was not so + reliable. Speke was a splendid fellow in every way.... Grant (his + companion) was one of the most loyal and charming creatures in the + world. Perfectly unselfish, he adored Speke, and throughout his + life he maintained an attitude of chivalrous defence of Speke’s + reputation.... They were all friends of mine.” + +There is little doubt that Burton, who had displayed such cool +courage on his journey to Mecca, had received a shock over the Somali +attack on his camp in 1854, from which he never wholly recovered. His +proceedings in connection with the Tanganyika journey were marked by +something approaching timidity. It is probable that had Speke been in +command of this expedition much more would have been done than was +actually accomplished. Feeling this very strongly, and realising that +he had contributed a good deal of his private funds to the resources +of this and the preceding Somali expedition, Speke considered himself +quite justified in hurrying home with the news of the expedition’s +discoveries, the more so because Burton had snubbed him for his pains +in connection with the Victoria Nyanza. I do not think it can be said +that he ever treated Burton unfairly, but there was perhaps in his +behaviour a touch of hardness and a lack of generosity. He heartily +disliked Burton, and that was the reason. + +[Illustration: JAMES AUGUSTUS GRANT.] + +In James Augustus Grant (as is indicated by the quotation from Sir +Samuel Baker’s letter) Speke had found a companion after his own heart. +Grant was a handsome Scotchman of the “Iberian” type,--black hair, +dark eyes, dark eyebrows, clear complexion. In later life the hair and +the beard turned white, but the face remained singularly youthful. Of +Grant Sir Samuel Baker writes: “He was the most unselfish man I ever +met; amiable and gentle to a degree that might to a stranger denote +weakness, but, on the contrary, no man could be more determined in +character or unrelenting when once he was offended.” Grant, like +Speke, was a sportsman; he was also--in a somewhat uninstructed way--a +zoölogist and a botanist. The botany of Africa, in fact, was his +principal hobby. He painted cleverly in water-colours, and did more +than anybody else, down to a quite recent date, to put before our +eyes some idea of the beautiful coloration of African wild flowers. +He published at his own expense, through the Linnæan Society, three +volumes illustrating the more notable features of his botanical +collections. Although most of these flowers were drawn for him by +scientific draughtsmen, his own sketches supplied the means for an +accurate coloration which could no longer be ascertained from the dried +specimens. In this particular Grant has made an important contribution +to African research. + +Before leaving England Speke made arrangements, through the British +consul at Zanzibar, to send on an instalment of porters and property +to Unyamwezi, intending to follow his old route to the Victoria +Nyanza. The Indian government, which has often done so much to assist +the opening up or the settlement of eastern Africa, gave to Speke’s +expedition fifty carbines and twenty thousand rounds of ammunition, and +lent him as many surveying instruments as were required. The government +of India also put at his disposal rich presents (gold watches) for such +Arabs as had assisted him on the former expedition. + +Petherick, whose explorations have been treated of in the previous +chapter, had recently arrived in England from the Upper Nile, and had +been promoted to be British Consul. Speke, before he left England, +made arrangements with Petherick to place boats at his disposal at +Gondokoro, and to send a party of men in the same direction to collect +ivory and to wait about in the vicinity of Gondokoro in order to +assist him when he should reach that part of the Nile. Petherick was +also invited to ascend the Asua River (then thought to be a branch of +the Nile instead of an affluent) in case it should be another means +of communication with the Victoria Nyanza. Speke and Grant journeyed +out by way of the Cape, and at Cape Town stayed for a while with the +great Sir George Grey, who, taking the greatest interest in their +undertaking, induced the Cape government to grant the sum of three +hundred pounds to be spent in buying baggage mules. With these mules +were sent ten Hottentot mounted police. From Cape Town the expedition +was conveyed on a gunboat to Zanzibar. At the commencement of October, +1860, Speke’s expedition was organised, and he started for the +interior. His expedition consisted of one corporal and nine privates +of the Hottentot police; one jemadar and twenty-five privates of the +Baluch soldiery of the Sultan of Zanzibar; one Arab caravan leader +and seventy-five freed slaves; one kirongozi or guide and one hundred +negro porters; two black valets, who had both been man-of-war’s men and +could speak Hindustani; Frij, the black cook (also from a man-of-war), +and the invaluable “Bombay,” who was interpreter and factotum. (The +expedition took with it twelve transport mules and three donkeys, also +twenty-two goats for milk and meat. The Hottentots soon broke down in +health, and took to riding the donkeys, the mules being loaded with +ammunition.) The white men, as a rule, had to walk. The Hottentots +were sometimes useful as camp cooks, but they suffered so much from +fever as to become a burden to the expedition. + +[Illustration: A MNYAMWEZI PORTER.] + + “My first occupation [writes Speke][56] was to map the country. + This is done by timing the rate of march with a watch, making + compass bearings along the road, or any conspicuous marks,--as, for + instance, hills off it,--and by noting the watershed,--in short, + all topographical objects. On arrival in camp every day came the + ascertaining, by boiling-point thermometer, of the altitude of the + station above the sea-level; of the latitude of the station by + the meridian altitude of a star taken with a sextant; and of the + compass variation by azimuth. Occasionally there was the fixing + of certain crucial stations at intervals of sixty miles or so, by + lunar observations ... for determining the longitude, by which the + original-timed course can be drawn out with certainty on the map by + proportion.... The rest of my work, besides sketching and keeping a + diary, which was the most troublesome of all, consisted in making + geological and zoölogical collections. With Captain Grant rested + the botanical collections and thermometrical registers. He also + undertook the photography. The rest of our day went in breakfasting + after the march was over,--a pipe, to prepare us for rummaging + the fields and villages to discover their contents for scientific + purposes,--dinner close to sunset, and tea and a pipe before + turning in at night.” + +Speke noticed in Uzegura deposits of pisolitic limestone in which +marine fossils are observable. He draws attention to the interesting +fact that a limestone formation occurs with a few breaks almost +continuously from the southwest coast of Portugal, through North +Africa, Egypt, and part of the Somali country, across Arabia to eastern +India.[57] In connection with this it may be mentioned as a point of +great interest that Mr. C. W. Hobley (Sub-Commissioner in the East +Africa Protectorate) discovered deposits of limestone in the Nyando +valley, about forty miles from the northeast corner of the Victoria +Nyanza. + +Speke’s expedition travelled on with little trouble as far as Usagara. +The complete harmony which existed at all times between Speke and Grant +contributed much to the smoothness of the arrangements. At Usagara, +however, they had trouble with one of their caravan leaders (Baraka). +The Hottentots became increasingly sick and helpless, and Captain Grant +was seriously ill with fever. However, they pushed on to that East +Coast range of terraced mountains which is nowadays dotted with not a +few mission and government stations. There is charming and fantastic +scenery in these mountains, which rise in parts to an altitude of seven +thousand feet. From Usagara were sent back some of the Hottentots, a +collection of natural history specimens, and the camera. Speke had +greatly desired to illustrate the scenery of equatorial Africa by means +of photography,--a most serious undertaking in the sixties. Grant +worked the apparatus, but was rendered so ill by the heat of the dark +tent that Speke decided to abandon photography and to rely instead on +his companion’s drawings. + +Ugogo, which is a rolling plateau to the west of the Usagara range, +gave the travellers some trouble. Here, as elsewhere, there was famine, +owing to the scarcity of water and the incessant raids on the part +of the Masai from the north or the Wahehe from the south. The Wagogo +themselves are a truculent people, who have given serious annoyance to +caravans during the last hundred years. They speak a Bantu language, +but have very much more the physical aspect of the Nilotic tribes to +the north, being, like them, very much addicted to nudity.[58] On the +plains of Ugogo Grant killed the largest and handsomest of all the +gazelles, which had henceforth borne his name.[59] + +In Ugogo Speke also records the existence of that strange archaic type +of dog, the _Otocyon_, a specimen of which he killed. On the western +frontier of Ugogo the expedition was menaced with serious trouble. The +rapacious native chief made increasing demands on them for taxes. A +number of their porters deserted, and their Wanyamwezi carriers who +had agreed to replace the missing men were scared away by the threats +of the Wagogo. In addition, the rainy season had come on, and was +unusually heavy, flooding the country in all directions. The expedition +would have come to grief but for the game shot by its leaders, which +kept the men from starvation. It was only got out of its difficulties +at last by the friendly help of the Arabs of Unyamwezi, who sent +seventy porters to the relief of the explorers. When Speke reached the +borders of Unyamwezi and took stock of his position, he found that +six of his Hottentots were dead or had been sent back to the coast +in charge of several free porters, that twenty-five of the Sultan of +Zanzibar’s slaves and ninety-eight of the original Wanyamwezi porters +had deserted, all the mules and donkeys were dead, and half of his +property had been stolen. + +Unyamwezi, “the Land of the Moon,” is a remarkable part of eastern +Africa. Practically it consists of nearly all the land lying between +the Victoria Nyanza on the north and the vicinity of Lake Rukwa on +the south. It is longer (from north to south) than it is broad. Prior +to the German occupation it had ceased to be a single kingdom, and +was divided into a number of small and mutually hostile states only +united by the common bond of the Kinyamwezi language. This varies a +good deal in dialect, though it has distinctive features of its own. +In Usukuma to the north it offers more resemblance to the languages +of the Uganda Protectorate; on the south it links on in some way with +the languages of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau. How the country became +associated with the moon is not known; for the most part of it is an +undulating plateau, with occasional rift valleys that contain salt or +fresh water pools. A great part of its drainage goes towards Tanganyika +or Lake Rukwa. The language of its people is typically Bantu, but +they would seem to be a very mixed race physically. Some of them have +the ugly features of the Congo Pygmies; others again are strikingly +like the Galas and the Bahima. The bulk of the nation consists of tall +and very muscular Negroes, with thoroughly Negro features. They are +celebrated as porters, being able to carry burdens twice as heavy as +could be offered to any other carriers. They have also a keen instinct +for trade, and it is supposed that, first of all Bantu nations of the +East African interior, they opened up communications with the coast. +There has been trade going on between the Zanzibar coast and Unyamwezi +for at least five centuries,--a trade, however, which has been subject +to prolonged interruptions. The Zanzibar Arabs did not settle in the +country until a hundred years ago. + +Conversing with the Arabs of Unyamwezi, Speke again heard from them +of “a wonderful mountain to the northward of Karagwe[60] so high and +steep that no one could ascend it. It was seldom visible, being up in +the clouds, where white matter--snow or hail--fell on it.” The Arabs +also spoke of the other lake, which was salt and also called Nyanza, +but quite different from the Victoria.[61] From the Arabs Speke also +heard of the naked Nile Negroes to the north and east of Unyoro, and +of those of them (the Lango) who, like the Turkana farther east, wear +their hair in enormous bags down the back. They told him that Lake +Tanganyika was drained by the Marungu River.[62] Some of this knowledge +Speke perverted to fit in with erroneous and preconceived notions. At +this interval of time, however, one is surprised at the correctness +of geographical information given to Burton, Speke, and Baker by the +Arabs. One is still more surprised that the constant hints as to the +great snow-mountain range of Ruwenzori should have so often fallen on +deaf ears. + +In Unyamwezi Speke’s further progress was much delayed, owing to the +difficulty in getting porters. The country to the east from which he +had come was convulsed with wars between the Arabs and the natives. +In these wars figured, as a bandit leader of handsome appearance and +remarkable adventures, the celebrated Manwa Sera, a dispossessed +Unyamwezi chief. In the course of these wars Speke’s principal friends +amongst the Arabs were killed or disappeared. Amongst them was the +celebrated Snay, the first Arab to enter Uganda, and in fact the +first non-Negro to convey the news of the existence of Uganda to the +civilised world. On the northwest trouble was threatened by the warlike +country of Usui, whose chief, Suwarora, blocked the way to Karagwe by +his extortions. To the west and north also the country was being raided +by the Watuta, a mysterious race of warlike nomads who were said to +be of Zulu origin, and were, according to all accounts, the furthest +extension of the great Zulu invasion of East Africa, which took place +in the first half of the nineteenth century. + +Speke attempted to recruit porters in the northern parts of Unyamwezi, +but without success. He therefore returned to the headquarters of the +Arabs at Kaze, and from this point sent back the last of the Hottentots +to the coast. Speke, seeing that he could get no farther without +bringing some order into the country, negotiated a peace between Manwa +Sera and the Arabs. The peace with Manwa Sera broke down. Finally Speke +decided to leave Bombay and Grant behind in northern Unyamwezi with the +loads which it was impossible to transport. With such porters as he had +he pushed on to the northwest and entered Buzinza, the first country +ruled by Bahima chiefs.[63] Speke remarks rightly that specimens of +this Hamitic (Gala) aristocracy extend from the south shores of the +Victoria Nyanza southwards as far as the Fipa country and the edges of +the Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau. On pages 128 to 134 of his book[64] Speke +gives an excellent description of the maddening extortions of a petty +African chief. This behaviour on the chief’s part should be borne in +mind when the armchair geographer is inclined to lay all the blame on +the European and Arab for commencing wars with Negro tribes. + +From February to October Speke had the most trying experiences which +were to await him on this journey. He travelled backwards and forwards +from Kaze to Uzinza, endeavouring in all possible ways to get porters +to carry him to Usui. In these journeys he caught a severe cold, the +effects of which lasted for months in a most distressing cough, and +some disease of the chest which he could not diagnose. His caravans +were robbed, though the goods were sometimes recovered. Several of his +Swahili headmen turned traitors; Bombay alone was faithful. Grant, when +he had recovered from fever, marched and countermarched. But Speke +had fortunately managed months before to send on word of his coming +to Suwarora, Chief of Usui, who himself was a vassal of Rumanika, the +great Hima ruler of Karagwe. Suwarora sent an envoy with his mace to +invite Speke to proceed at once to his court. This intervention made a +good impression on the treacherous chief of Buzinza, Lumeresi. Much of +the stolen property was recovered, and the expedition obtaining a few +porters started for Usui in October, 1861. + +Grant was left behind with such of the property as could not be +removed. Speke, when he left Buzinza, “was a most miserable spectre in +appearance, puffing and blowing at each step he took, with shoulders +drooping and left arm hanging like a dead log, which he was unable to +swing.” At last, after incredible worries and trouble, occasioned by +the demands for “hongo” (tribute) on the part of every petty chief +whose territories they crossed, they reached the large country of +Usui or Busui at the southwest corner of the Victoria Nyanza. Usui is +“a most convulsed looking country of well-rounded hills composed of +sandstone.... Cattle were numerous, kept by the Wahuma (Bahima), who +would not sell their milk to us because we ate fowls and a bean called +_maharagwe_.” In Usui the caravan was incessantly worried at night +by the attacks of thieves until one of these was killed, whereupon +the Basui congratulated the expedition, saying that the slain man was +a wonderful magician. “They thought us wonderful men, possessed of +supernatural powers.” Suwarora and his fellow-chief Vikora were most +exacting in their demands for hongo. At last, after heart-breaking +delays, they got away out of Suwarora’s country. + +Between Usui and Karagwe was one of those no man’s lands, which at +times are such a relief to the harassed traveller,--a land in which +he can enjoy the beauty of the landscapes, the excitement of sport in +complete freedom from the harassing attentions of Negro tribes. In +this lovely wilderness they were greeted by officers sent to their +assistance by Rumanika, who said, “Rumanika has ordered us to bring +you to his palace at once, and wherever you stop a day, the village +officers are instructed to supply you with food at the King’s expense; +for there are no taxes gathered from strangers in the Kingdom of +Karagwe.” Speke noted the little lake of Urigi, and learned from the +natives that this was the remains of a much larger sheet of water. They +declared, in fact, that this lake had formerly extended far to the +southwards in the direction of Tanganyika, having been at one time a +considerable gulf of the Victoria Nyanza. + +For the first time since leaving the coast they travelled day after day +through beautiful and attractive scenery, in which rhinoceroses, both +“white” and black, and herds of hartebeest mingled with the splendid +long-horned cattle of the natives. Speke and Grant shot several +square-lipped “white” rhinoceroses. (Stanley subsequently did the same +in this country of Karagwe. Though it has since been shot on the Upper +Nile, this creature is now becoming extinct in East Equatorial Africa.) +“Leaving the valley of Uthenja, we rose over the spur of Nyamwara, and +found we had attained the delightful altitude of five thousand feet. +Oh, how we enjoyed it!--every one feeling so happy at the prospect +of meeting the good king Rumanika. Rumanika the king and his brother +Nyanaji were both of them men of noble appearance and size.... They had +fine oval faces, large eyes, and high noses, denoting the best blood +of Abyssinia. Having shaken hands in true English style, which is the +peculiar custom of the men of this country, the ever-smiling Rumanika +begged us to be seated on the ground opposite to him, and at once +wished to know what we thought of Karagwe, for it had struck him his +mountains were the finest in the world; and the lake, too, did we not +admire it?” + +[Illustration: A HIMA OF MPORORO, NEAR KARAGWE.] + +Speke subsequently went to see the queens and princesses of this +royal family, who, by means of a milk diet, were kept immoderately fat. +Of one of them he writes: “She could not rise; and so large were her +arms that between the joints the flesh hung down like large, stuffed +puddings. Then in came their children, all models of the Abyssinian +type of beauty, and as polite in their manners as thoroughbred +gentlemen.” + +Rumanika and his brothers received their presents with a graceful +gratitude which was striking after the ill manners of the Negro chiefs +in Unyamwezi and Usui. Rumanika begged Speke to remain a little while +in his country so that he might send on word of his coming to the +King of Uganda. Speke consented to do so, and when walking about +the vicinity of the king’s capital, descried the distant cone of +Mfumbiro. This he at once identified with the Mountains of the Moon +and with the story of the snow-capped peaks. It is curious, seeing how +friendly were all the Bahima, and what facilities were given to him for +travelling about the country of Karagwe, that he made no attempt to +enter Ruanda whilst waiting to go on to the north, and thus obtain a +nearer acquaintance with the Mountains of the Moon. Had he done so, he +might perchance have caught a glimpse of Ruwenzori. Grant’s drawing of +Mfumbiro and other volcanoes (since explored by many travellers) is a +truthful one. + +In Rumanika’s country Speke discovered the water tragelaph which now +bears his name (_Limnotragus spekei_). This creature has the hoofs +very much prolonged, so as to enable it to walk on floating vegetation +and marshy ground. Speke at once discerned that this creature was +closely allied to the water tragelaph found by Livingstone on Lake +Ngami. + +[Illustration: SPEKE’S TRAGELAPH (_Limnotragus spekei_).] + +The existence of this Bahima[65] aristocracy in the countries west +and south of the Victoria Nyanza was not reported for the first time +in Speke’s account of his second journey to the Victoria Nyanza. +First of all, in the early fifties, the Zanzibar Arabs brought to the +coast--either at Mombasa or Zanzibar--accounts of a race of “white” +men who lived on the Mountains of the Moon. Burton, analysing these +stories at Kaze in Unyamwezi, reduced them to accounts of Bahima, who +were believed to have the features and complexion of Abyssinians. +Speke’s arrival in Buzinza and Karagwe made us partially acquainted +with the facts. We now know that at some relatively remote period not +less than two thousand years ago the lands between the Victoria and +Albert Nyanzas were invaded from the northeast by a Caucasian race +allied to the Gala and the Egyptian. These ancestors of the Bahima +mingled to some extent with the indigenous Negroes, and so somewhat +darkened the colour of their skins and acquired hair more like the +Negro’s wool. This pastoral people brought with them herds of cattle +from the direction of Abyssinia or Galaland,--cattle with enormous +horns, sometimes over three feet in length. This breed of cattle is +found at the present day in southern and western Abyssinia. It is also +depicted--with other breeds on the Egyptian monuments. It is supposed +to be allied in origin to the stock which gave rise to the ordinary +humped cattle of India,--the Zebu type. These oxen with enormous +horns--horns which are not only very long but sometimes very large +in girth--are found westwards as far as the vicinity of Lake Chad, +and in a more degenerate type farther west still, to the sources of +the Niger. It might be thought that they were also related to the +long-horned cattle of South Africa, but it is sometimes asserted that +the long-horned South African cattle owe their main origin to the +introduction of Spanish breeds by the Portuguese, the cattle met with +by the first Europeans in South Africa having belonged to the humped +zebu type. + +The Bahima once founded an empire which stretched from the northern +limits of Unyoro and the Victoria Nile westward to the Congo Forest and +southward to the coast of Tanganyika. This ancient Empire of Kitara +split up into a number of states governed for the most part by Hima +dynasties, though in Uganda the native kings became more and more Negro +in aspect through their fathers’ intermarriage with Negro women. But +for the most part friendly relations subsisted between all the states +into which the Empire of Kitara was subdivided; it was only in more +recent times that the existing blood feud sprang up between Unyoro and +Uganda. The Bahima were reverenced and admired by the mass of the Negro +population as the descendants of supernatural beings who had brought +to these lands what little civilisation they possessed. Intermarriage +constantly took place between the dynasties of Buzinza, Usui, Karagwe, +Ruanda, Mpororo, Ankole, Unyoro, and Uganda. This and other causes for +intercommunication gave intelligent chiefs like Rumanika a considerable +grasp of African geography. These chiefs knew that their world was +bounded on the west by the impenetrable Congo Forest. They knew all +about Tanganyika, the Victoria Nyanza, the Masai countries, the course +of the Nile as far north as Gondokoro, and even the existence of Lake +Rudolf. Perhaps also they had a glimmering knowledge not only of +the “Turks” on the White Nile (which was the case), but also of the +existence of men like themselves in Galaland and Abyssinia. Speke and +subsequent travellers found these Hima sovereigns and their courts +very different to the petty Negro states of East Africa. Besides the +recognised king (a member of a long dynasty), there were regularly +established Court officials and functionaries, and an orderly system +of government. Travellers like Speke were not slow to appreciate the +influence which this Gala invasion of equatorial Africa had on the +Negro types. We now begin to feel that this Negrified Caucasian has +interpenetrated most parts of Negro Africa between the Cameroons and +Zanzibar, and between the northern limits of the Sudan and Natal. +In the western prolongation of Africa something like the same +infiltration of a superior race has been brought about by the Tawareqs +of the Sahara. This Libyan race is also of the Caucasian family, more +directly so indeed than the curly-haired Gala, who, mixing with the +Libyan, laid the foundation of Ancient Egyptian civilisation. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SPEKE IN UGANDA + + +Speke and Grant both seem to have taken the shape and existence of the +Victoria Nyanza for granted. No doubt from the highlands of Karagwe and +Buddu they occasionally caught glimpses of the distant Nyanza; besides +which the chiefs and the Arabs spoke of its existence as a fact which +could be ascertained by one or two days’ journey to the east. Speke was +more concerned himself with losing no time in getting to the point at +which the Nile left the Victoria Nyanza. He made little or no attempt +to delineate the coast line of that lake with any accuracy, and as +we know, he placed the west coast much too far to the east, reducing +the lake to almost two-thirds of its actual area. Seeing how near he +marched to the coast in Buddu, it is curious that he got no sight of +the large archipelago of the Sese Islands,[66] which can be sighted +from a distance of many miles. There is no indication of these islands +on his map. Apparently he made no attempts to check his computation +of the altitude of the Victoria Nyanza, which in 1858 he computed +at 3740 feet (an estimate not far off the correct one of 3775 feet). +All the other altitudes taken by his boiling-point thermometer seem to +be too low. His surmise that the Ripon Falls are only 3308 feet above +sea-level is more than four hundred feet too low; and if his altitudes +in northern Unyamwezi are correct (which I doubt), the waters of the +Victoria Nyanza must be a huge, pent-up dam which would flood large +tracts of German East Africa. + +[Illustration: THE RIPON FALLS FROM THE WEST BANK.] + +Grant had to be left behind in Karagwe, owing to an ulcerated leg. +Speke decided upon going to Uganda alone, but despatched the head-man +of his caravan, Baraka, with a companion to the north of Unyoro, +providing him with a letter to Petherick. He himself entered Uganda +(first of all Europeans to do so) on the 16th of January, 1862. +He travelled along the coast country of Buddu, and soon began to +appreciate the beauty of the land. + + “I felt inclined to stop here a month, everything was so very + pleasant. The temperature was perfect. The roads, as indeed they + were everywhere, were as broad as our coach roads, cut through the + long grasses, straight over the hills and down through the woods + in the dells,--a strange contrast to the wretched tracks in all + adjacent countries. The huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a + fault could be found with them; the gardens the same. Wherever I + strolled I saw nothing but richness, and what ought to be wealth. + The whole land was a picture of quiescent beauty, with a boundless + sea in the background. Looking over the hills, it struck the fancy + at once that at one period the whole land must have been at a + uniform level with their present tops, but that, by the constant + denudation it was subjected to by the frequent rains, it had been + cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales which now + so much please the eye; for there were none of those quartz dykes + I had seen protruding through the same kind of aqueous formations + in Usui and Karagwe, nor were there any other sorts of volcanic + disturbance to distort the quiet aspect of the scene.” + +[Illustration: A VIEW IN UGANDA.] + +Speke found an Uganda not much smaller in area than that Negro kingdom +is to-day. It lacked the large slices of Unyoro which were cut off and +added to Uganda after the commencement of the British Protectorate, +but it probably wielded a political influence over Busoga on the east +and Toro on the west, since denied to it. The population of this +kingdom in those days was computed at not far under four millions. Its +administrators at the present time are doubtful if the same kingdom +possesses eight hundred thousand inhabitants. The roads then were as +broad and as well kept as they are now. It is sad to think that the +people were possibly happier. True, their despotic ruler--whom they +regarded with almost religious veneration--slaughtered and tortured +those who frequented his Court; but the people at large were little +affected by these deeds of cruelty, even if they did not regard them +with that disinterested admiration which the Negro always accords to a +display of force. Syphilis had wrought but slight ravages amongst them; +indeed, it was a disease of but recent introduction (coming from +the Nile).[67] No religious feuds had begun. The people believed their +monarch to be the mightiest on earth, and themselves to be the happiest +folk, living in a real paradise. For beauty the land can hardly be +matched elsewhere in Africa. The one indisputable flaw in the climate +is the frequency of dangerous thunderstorms. But for these reminders +of a harsher law the Baganda might well have looked back on their life +under Mutesa and his predecessors as one of ideal happiness. They had +plenty to eat. Their banana groves provided the staple of their diet +unfailingly. In addition, the rich soil grew such legumens and cereals +as they required. The rivers, lakes, and marshes swarmed with fish. +Cattle throve. Goats, sheep, and fowls were abundant. Bark cloth from +the fig-trees and carefully dressed skins provided the clothing they +were so scrupulous to wear; for they shuddered at open indecency, +and yet led the most licentious lives, licentiousness then paying no +penalty in the spread of malignant diseases. This would be the way in +which the average Muganda might look back on the past. Of course there +was another side to the picture, no doubt. The paradisaical, unmoral +lives of easy indulgence in their banana groves ill fitted them in the +long run to cope with the attacks of stronger races. Fate led them +under the British ægis after the country had been brought to something +like ruin by ten years of civil war, and ten years of wretched +misgovernment at the hands of a wicked sovereign. Had the British +Protectorate not been declared, it is futile to suppose the country +could have retained its independence. It would have been annexed by +Germany or France, have been added to the Congo Free State or to the +Egyptian Sudan.[68] If by some miracle it had escaped any one of these +masters, it would have fallen victim later on to the Abyssinian raiders +of the present day. + +Speke found the country governed by a worshipped despot, Mutesa, +who had just succeeded to a throne which had been in existence for +something like four hundred and fifty years in an unbroken dynasty +originally of Hima origin. This despot was a young man of agreeable +countenance, with somewhat negroid features but a yellowish-brown skin. +He had the large, liquid eyes characteristic of all the princes and +princesses of this family. He lived in palaces which, though built +of palm trunks, reeds, and grass were often imposing in appearance, +with roofs rising to fifty feet above the ground. The interior of +these dwellings had a raised floor of mud, hard as cement, and was +divided into compartments by reed screens. The floor would be strewn +with a soft carpet of fine fragrant grass, on which leopard skins and +beautifully dressed ox-hides were laid down. The towns consisted +mainly of collections of these straw-thatched dwellings surrounded by +large gardens and banana groves, and fenced off from the outer world +by tall reed fences so plaited as to produce an agreeably variegated +aspect. Speke and his companion, and the Swahili porters with them, +noticed the resemblance offered by this beautifully “tidy” country of +Uganda to the civilised coast belt of Zanzibar. Negro savagery was +far removed, especially in sanitary matters, where the arrangements +were quite equal to those in force in England one hundred years +ago. The religion of the country consisted of a worship paid to a +large number of Ba-lubari or spirits, some of which were obviously +ancestral, and others the personification of earth, air, or water +forces.[69] The ministers of this religion were the Ba-mandwa or +sorcerer-priests. Originally these priests were of the Bahima stock. +Indeed, this religion which prevails amongst so many tribes in western +and equatorial Africa seems to have had (like the Bahima aristocracy) +a Hamitic origin, and to have come originally from the regions east of +the White Nile. + +Mutesa’s Court was remarkable for its hierarchy of officials. The +principal minister is now the Katikiro, but was formerly styled +Kamuraviona. He was formerly the commander-in-chief, though now no +longer associated with such office. Some functions were hereditary, +such as the Pokino or Governor of Buddu; but these hereditary posts +were formerly the recognition of the existence of feudatory princes. +The Kimbugwe was formerly the guardian of the king’s navel string and +the keeper of his drums. The Mugema was the commissioner in charge +of the royal tombs; Kasuju was the guardian of the king’s sisters; +Mukwenda was his treasurer; Kauta was the steward of his kitchen; +Seruti his head brewer; and so forth. In course of time many of these +functions were purely honorary. The system seems to have come, like so +much else of the civilisation of Uganda, from the Hamitic invaders, and +it bears a curious resemblance to the origin of similar functionaries +in the courts of Europe. + +Society also was divided much as it is in our own world. There were +the Royal Family and its collateral branches, known as Balángira, or +princes. The princesses were called Bambeja. The Baronage was styled +Bakungu. Then there was an upper class of functionaries known as +Batongoli, while the peasants were classed as Bakopi. + +Speke--handsome, manly, kindly, and straightforward--became an immense +favourite with the volatile tyrant of Uganda, with the queens (for +there were several queens--dowagers, mothers, consorts--at once in +Uganda), with the nobles, and with the people. “My beard,” he writes, +“engrossed the major part of most conversations; all the Baganda +said they would come out in future with hairy faces.” The Royal +Family of Uganda, he also remarks, gave orders without knowing how +they were to be carried out, and treated all practical arrangements +as trifling details not worth their attention; so that Speke and his +caravan sometimes found themselves not very well off for food. The +king or the queen-mother had said, “Let them be fed,” but ministers +were not equally eager to see the royal largesse awarded. The handsome +young king was extremely trying to deal with, as he put a great many +questions and seldom waited for the answers. His slavish courtiers were +constantly on their bellies, uttering incessant expressions of “Thank +you very much” (“Niyanzi-ge”) for whatever their chief was pleased to +do, say, or show to them. Not infrequently Speke intervened to save +the lives of queens or pages who for a nothing were condemned to a +cruel execution. On one occasion a picnic on the shores of the Victoria +Nyanza was attended by the following incident. One of Mutesa’s wives,-- + + “a most charming creature, and truly one of the best of the lot, + plucked a fruit and offered it to the king, thinking, doubtless, + to please him greatly; but he, like a madman, flew into a towering + passion, said it was the first time a woman had ever had the + impudence to offer him anything, and ordered the pages to seize, + bind, and lead her off to execution. These words were no sooner + uttered by the king than the whole bevy of pages slipped their cord + turbans from their heads, and rushed like a pack of cupid beagles + upon the fairy queen, who, indignant at the little urchins daring + to touch her majesty, remonstrated with the king, and tried to + beat them off like flies, but was soon captured, overcome, and + dragged away, crying on the names of the Kamuraviona and ‘Mzungu’ + (myself) for help and protection; whilst Lubuga, the pet sister, + and all the other women clasped the king by his legs, and kneeling, + implored forgiveness for their sister. The more they craved for + mercy, the more brutal he became, till at last he took a heavy + stick and began to belabour the poor victim on the head. Hitherto I + had been extremely careful not to interfere with any of the king’s + acts of arbitrary cruelty, knowing that such interference, at an + early stage, would produce more harm than good. This last act of + barbarism, however, was too much for my English blood to stand; and + as I heard my name, ‘Mzungu,’[70] imploringly pronounced, I rushed + at the king, and staying his uplifted arm, demanded from him the + woman’s life. Of course I ran imminent risk of losing my own in + thus thwarting the capricious tyrant; but his caprice proved the + friend of both. The novelty of interference even made him smile, + and the woman was instantly released.” + +Speke had quitted Grant in January, 1862. The two travellers did +not meet again till the end of May in the same year. Grant had been +constantly ill, and had been unable to make any survey of the lake +shore. It was not till the 7th of July that Speke and Grant obtained +leave to quit the capricious king on their journey eastwards to the +Nile. The day before they started Speke notes:-- + + “On the way home one of the king’s favourite women overtook us, + walking, with her hands behind her head, to execution, crying + ‘Nyawo’ in the most pitiful manner. A man was preceding her, + but did not touch her; for she loved to obey the orders of her + king voluntarily, and in consequence of previous attachment was + permitted as a mark of distinction to walk free. Wondrous world! It + was not ten minutes since we parted from the king, yet he had found + time to transact this bloody piece of business.” + +On the following morning the king replied to Speke’s farewell remarks +“with great feeling and good taste.” The king followed him with his +courtiers in a procession to his camp, and exhorted the porters to +follow the travellers through fire and water. “Then, exchanging adieus +again, he walked ahead in gigantic strides up the hill, the pretty +favourite of his harem, Lubuga, beckoning and waving with her little +hands, and crying, ‘Bana! Bana!’[71] All showed a little feeling at the +severance. We saw them no more.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FROM VICTORIA NYANZA TO ALEXANDRIA + + +On the 28th of July, 1862, Speke stood by the side of the Ripon Falls, +where the Victoria Nile leaves the great Nyanza at the head of Napoleon +Gulf. Grant had gone off with a portion of the expedition on the more +direct route to Unyoro. Speke had reached the Victoria Nile first of +all below its exit from the lake, and describes the scene as follows:-- + + “It was the very perfection of the effect aimed at in a highly + kept park, with a magnificent stream of from six to seven hundred + yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks,--the former occupied by + fishermen’s huts, the latter by birds and crocodiles basking in the + sun,--flowing between fine, high grassy banks, with rich trees and + plantains in the background, where herds of topi and hartebeest + could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the + water and bustards and guineafowl were rising at our feet.” + +[Illustration: THE NILE AT THE ISAMBA RAPIDS (looking North). + +Where Speke first struck it.] + +Marching up the left bank of the Nile towards the lake, he thus +describes that river at the Isamba rapids:-- + + “The water ran deep between its banks, which were covered with fine + grass, soft cloudy acacia, and festoons of lilac convolvuli, whilst + here and there, where the land had slipped above the rapids, + bared spaces of red earth could be seen, like that of Devonshire; + there, too, the waters, impeded by a natural dam, seemed like a + huge mill pond, sullen and dark, in which two crocodiles, lying + about, were looking out for prey. From the high banks I looked down + upon a line of sloping wooded islets lying across the stream, which + divide its waters, and, by interrupting them, cause at once both + dam and rapids. The whole was more fairy-like, wild, and romantic + than--I must confess that my thoughts took that shape--anything I + ever saw outside of a theatre. It was exactly the sort of place, + in fact, where, bridged across from one side-slip to the other, on + a moonlight night, brigands would assemble to enact some dreadful + tragedy. Even the Wangwana (Zanzibaris) seemed spellbound at the + novel beauty of the sight, and no one thought of moving till hunger + warned us that night was setting in, and we had better look out for + lodgings.” + +Speke describes the Ripon Falls, where the Nile leaves the lake, as by +far the most interesting sight he had ever seen in Africa. The falls +are stemmed by rocky islands and crowned by magnificent trees.[72] + + “It was a sight that attracted one to it for hours,--the roar of + the waters, the thousands of passenger-fish, leaping at the falls + with all their might, the Basoga and Baganda fishermen coming + out in boats and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, + hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry + at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the + margin of the lake. The scene made, in all, with the pretty nature + of the country,--small hills, grassy-topped, with trees in the + folds, and gardens on the lower slopes,--as interesting a picture + as one could wish to see.” + +This was Speke’s furthest point eastward in connection with Nile +discovery. He confesses in his book that he has missed much by not +going through Busoga to see the northeast corner of the lake. Had +he done so, he might have cleared up at the very beginning the most +disputed portion of that lake’s geography. At the northeast corner +of the Victoria Nyanza is a long and narrow gulf which we now term +Kavirondo Bay. This gulf figures on Speke’s map as a semi-independent +Lake Baringo. Stanley, in his circumnavigation, wholly overlooked it, +as its mouth is blocked by islands. Joseph Thompson read a quarter of +the riddle. One-half was guessed by Mr. C. W. Hobley, and the remaining +quarter was cleared up by an expedition under Commander Whitehouse. + +[Illustration: RIPON FALLS, FROM BUGUNGA, WHERE SPEKE FIRST SAW THEM.] + +These falls of the Nile were named after the Earl de Grey and Ripon, +then President of the Royal Geographical Society; and the gulf of +the Victoria Nyanza, from which the Nile issued, was called Napoleon +Channel after the then Emperor of the French. Speke and his party, with +their Baganda guides, got into canoes, and paddled some distance down +the Nile north of the Isamba rapids. But just as they were nearing Lake +Kioga (of whose existence Speke was ignorant) they passed an important +town on the left bank of the Nile which was an outpost of Unyoro, +under a semi-independent chief. Here the party was received with the +greatest hostility, and obliged to give up the river route. Speke +struck inland to the waters of the Luajali, which he wrongly believed +to be another outlet of the Victoria Nyanza, and shortly afterwards +met Grant, who was on his return journey from the capital of Unyoro. +After some hesitation they decided to join forces and march on Unyoro +overland. By this means they entirely lost count of the course of the +Victoria Nile for some distance, and of the existence of the great +lakes Kioga and Kwania. As they crossed the boundary line and entered +Unyoro, Speke writes:-- + + “This first march was a picture of all the country to its capital: + an interminable forest of small trees, bush, and tall grass, with + scanty villages, low huts, and dirty-looking people clad in skins; + the plantain, sweet potato, sesamum, and ulezi (millet) forming + the chief edibles, besides goats and fowls; whilst the cows, which + are reported to be numerous, were kept, as everywhere else where + pasture-lands are good, by the wandering, unsociable Wahuma, and + were seldom seen. No hills, except a few scattered cones, disturb + the level surface of the land, and no pretty views ever cheer + the eye. Uganda is now entirely left behind; we shall not see + its like again; for the further one leaves the equator, and the + rain-attracting influences of the Mountains of the Moon, vegetation + decreases proportionately with the distance.” + +[Illustration: VIEW OF NAPOLEON GULF, FROM JINJA.] + +Speke had sent on, many months in advance, his head-man, Baraka, to +await him in Unyoro, and possibly to convey letters to Petherick. But +for this action in all probability a peaceful entry into Unyoro would +have been refused, as the Baganda were much detested there for their +predatory raids. Kamurasi, King of Unyoro, was very nearly as big a +scoundrel and as inhospitable to strangers as his son Kabarega, who is +now residing in the Seychelles Islands. After innumerable difficulties +caused by the caprices of Mutesa and the jealousies subsisting between +the Baganda and Banyoro, and the fierce suspicions of Kamurasi, they +reached the capital of that monarch who considered himself to be the +legitimate emperor over all the lands once ruled by the Bahima race. +This capital was situated then on a peninsula between the Kafu River +and the Nile, on what is now the soil of Uganda. The Kafu River, which +is a broad, marshy stream rising not far from the Albert Nyanza, is the +present boundary between the two kingdoms. Speke wrongly believed it to +be another outlet of the Nile. + +For nine days Speke and his companion were kept waiting before the +suspicious king could make up his mind to see them. From the 9th of +September to the 9th of November the whole expedition was detained +at the Court of this greedy tyrant. At his Court they heard of the +existence of a large lake, “Lutanzige,” to the west,[73] and asked +permission to go and see it. This was refused, and thus another +opportunity of adding an important piece of information to Nile +discovery was denied to Speke, who could have travelled to and from +the coast of Lake Albert in three weeks instead of wasting two months +at Kamurasi’s Court. However, during this long stay Speke managed to +send Bombay with some of Kamurasi’s men down the Nile and through +the Lango and Acholi countries to Petherick’s outpost. After Bombay’s +return with this cheering news, Speke was more than ever impatient to +get away. Kamurasi attempted to delay the departure under one pretext +or another, no doubt with the object of bleeding the expedition of more +and more gifts. At last, on the 9th of November, they descended the +Kafu River to its junction with the Nile, and found themselves on the +broad Nile, still lake-like in extent, owing to the vicinity of Lake +Kioga. In this manner, some travelling by canoe and some by land, they +reached the Karuma Falls, from which point they left the Nile, marching +across the marshy and then steppe-like countries of the Acholi, and +came first into touch with the influence of Egypt at Faloro, on the +borders of the Madi country. Here they met a Sudanese named Muhammad +Wad-el-Mek,--quite black, but dressed like an Egyptian and talking +Arabic. Muhammad was in command of some two hundred Sudanese, who, +by their association with Egypt, were known as Turks by the natives. +Muhammad Wad-el-Mek at first professed to be Petherick’s employé, and +then confessed that he was really the head-man of a Maltese trader +named De Bono. These were the men that Petherick had arranged with De +Bono were to come into touch with Speke’s expedition. + +Here, however, they met with some disappointment. Instead of being +allowed to proceed directly to Gondokoro, Muhammad Wad-el-Mek sought +to detain them by alleging that no boats would be waiting for them +at Gondokoro at that season (December). The usual heart-breaking +delays took place. Speke decided from this point (Faloro) to send back +Kijwiga,--a fairly faithful Unyoro guide, who had been with him now, +one way and the other, about a year, having originally been sent to +greet him in Uganda. Meantime Muhammad, De Bono’s agent, went off to +the southward with his men to fight one African chief on behalf of +another so as to secure a large quantity of ivory. + +Speke was shocked, during his stay in Unyoro, at the abominable way +in which the “Turks” treated the inoffensive Madi natives. At last, +on the 12th of January, 1863, Speke, disgusted and hopeless at the +delay, started ahead to a village called Panyoro. He was followed +up by Muhammad’s men, and they arrived at the Nile near the modern +station of Afuddu (close to the junction of the river Asua and the +Nile). At this place they found a tree with the letters M. I. inscribed +on its bark. This was the remains of an attempt on the part of the +Venetian traveller Miani to carve his name on a tree so as to give some +information to Speke, who had long been expected in this direction. At +this place there was another halt, which Speke and Grant employed in +killing game, and giving a great deal of the meat thus acquired to the +natives. + +On the first of February they started again, Muhammad having procured +porters by the most arbitrary methods. They followed the Nile down to +the confluence of the Asua River. This stream Speke imagined to flow +out of what we now call Kavirondo Bay. It is strange that so great a +geographer should have had such elementary notions about hydrography. +He gives the Victoria Nyanza something like four principal outlets, +much as the Portuguese in earlier days provided lakes in the centre +of Africa which fed impartially the Congo, the Nile, and the Zambezi. +Crossing the Asua, they emerged along the Nile rapids until they +arrived at the verge of the Bari country. One serious attack was made +on them, but was met by the determined measures taken by Muhammad. + +At last, on the 15th of February, 1863, they walked into Gondokoro. +Here their first inquiry was for Petherick. “A mysterious silence +ensued; we were informed that Mr. De Bono was the man we had to thank +for the assistance we had received in coming from Madi.” Hurrying down +through the ruins of the abandoned Austrian Mission to the bank of the +river, where a line of vessels was moored, the explorers suddenly saw +Mr. Samuel Baker marching towards them. “What joy this was I cannot +tell. We could not talk fast enough, so overwhelmed were we both to +meet again.”[74] + +Mr. Samuel Baker had conceived the idea of going to meet Speke at the +head waters of the Nile. He and his wife (the present Lady Baker) +arrived at Khartum, and there received much information and assistance +from Petherick in the furtherance of their work. As to Petherick +himself, he arrived with his wife also a few days after Speke reached +Gondokoro. Speke seems to have been rather hard on this man. We know +that Petherick went up the river to Gondokoro in 1862, expecting to +get news of Speke, and not imagining that he could have lost something +like a year of travel by his delays in Unyamwezi, Uganda, and Unyoro. +Being unable to remain indefinitely at Gondokoro without news of the +travellers, he arranged with De Bono to send Muhammad and his men in +the direction of Unyoro to found a post where Speke might be awaited. +As we know, these orders were carried out. Petherick was naturally +obliged to think of his own means of livelihood, for he was an unpaid +consul. He therefore went on an ivory-trading expedition west of +the Mountain Nile, knowing, of course, that Baker would be awaiting +the travellers, and that runners from the direction of Gondokoro +would keep him advised as to their approach. He and his wife reached +Gondokoro only a few days after Speke had arrived there. Speke, +however, refused all assistance at their hands, and decided to return +to Khartum on Baker’s dahabiah. Speke’s adverse report on Petherick, +combined with the intrigues of the Turks, who disliked his opposition +to the slave-trade, practically ruined Petherick, as we have seen in a +previous chapter. + +The journey of this wonderful expedition from Gondokoro down the Nile +(Speke mistaking the origin and course of its affluents as he went +along, so that his map in this respect is very incorrect) was broken +at Khartum, whence the Europeans and Negroes travelled across the +desert to Egypt. Of the hundred-odd porters who left Zanzibar with this +expedition in 1860, nineteen (including Bombay) reached Cairo with +Speke and Grant, the remainder having deserted, died, or been sent back +from various points. These survivors were generously treated by Speke, +who gave them an extra year’s pay as a gratuity, and orders for land +and marriage portions on their reaching Zanzibar. He also provided for +their free passage from Suez to Zanzibar via the Seychelles Islands. +Somehow or other they went on by mistake to Mauritius, where they were +treated most generously by the little colony. Thence they were sent in +safety to Zanzibar. From this point several of these men subsequently +journeyed with Stanley and other African explorers. Bombay, “Captain +of the Faithful,” died in 1886 (?), having been in receipt during the +last years of his life of a regular pension from the Royal Geographical +Society. + +Speke and Grant returned to England in the spring of 1863. By December +in that year Speke had finished his great book, the “Discovery of the +Source of the Nile.” Speke, soon after his return, was received by the +present king. In the autumn of 1863 he was given an ovation in the +county of Somerset worthy of his achievements. “Punch” accorded him +a cartoon drawn by Tenniel, but the British government did _nothing_ +for him, unless there can be attributed to its influence the paltry +satisfaction of granting to him through the Heralds College supporters +and an additional motto to his coat of arms. By this grant his family +is now entitled to add a hippopotamus and a crocodile as supporters to +their shield, a crocodile to their crest, the flowing Nile to their +coat of arms, and the additional motto, “Honor est a Nilo.” + +[Illustration: THE LAST MAP ISSUED TO ILLUSTRATE SPEKE’S THEORIES, +1865.] + +Meantime Burton had become a British consul on the West Coast of +Africa, and was returning to England in 1864. Speke had published +articles in “Blackwood” and a book which, as already related, made +uncomplimentary references to his former companion. The two great +travellers were invited to meet at the British Association at Bath in +1864 and discuss their different views as to the Nile sources; for +Burton, as a tit-for-tat, had published a work in collaboration with +Petherick, in which he sought to prove that Speke’s discovery of the +Victoria Nyanza was unimportant. Taking advantage of the traveller’s +admission that he had touched but seldom the shores of this great +lake, he denied its existence, and reduced it to a mere assemblage of +pools and swamps. Speke, before quitting Baker at Gondokoro, had told +him much of the Luta Nzige or Western Lake which had some connection +with the Nile, and Baker (as will be subsequently set forth) had +followed Speke’s indications with success, and discovered and named +the Albert Nyanza. His exaggeration of the length of this sheet of +water had convinced Burton that Speke was altogether mistaken, and +that he himself was wrong in having earlier stated that the Rusizi +River flowed into and not out of the north end of Tanganyika. (Neither +Speke nor Burton actually saw the Rusizi.) Burton therefore turned +the Rusizi into an effluent of Tanganyika, and made it a connection +between that lake and the Albert Nyanza. Had he had any glimmerings +of lakes Kivu, Albert Edward, and the Semliki, he would no doubt have +been still more certain of his hypothesis. As it was, Speke’s theories +have been shown subsequently to have been very near the whole truth. +The Victoria Nyanza is the main source of the Nile, though that river +finds another reservoir in the great swampy lakes of Kioga and Kwania +(which again receive much of the drainage of Mount Elgon), and a most +important contribution from the Albert Nyanza; for this last lake +is the receptacle of all the drainage of the Ruwenzori snow range. +At the time, however, Speke’s theory was not sufficiently supported +by evidence, and was certainly open to attack, the more so because +he had blundered by giving the Victoria Nyanza so many outlets. The +two great men were to meet and discuss their differences, and every +one knew that underneath a mere dispute on geographical theories lay +deep-seated bitterness of feeling. It was said that Speke, who hated +quarrelling, and perhaps felt some compunction as to the frankness of +his remarks concerning Burton, looked forward to this public meeting +with great dislike, the more so as he was a poor and unready public +speaker. But the intended conference was never to come off; on the +21st of September, 1864, Speke, whilst out partridge-shooting on his +father’s land at Jordans, near Ilminster, was scrambling over a stile +with his gun at full-cock. It was just one of those little imprudences +that even the wariest of African travellers commits when he returns to +civilisation. Both barrels of the gun were discharged into his body, +and he died within a few hours. The news was received by the British +Association at Bath just as the meeting was about to commence, and +as Burton was seated awaiting the arrival of his old comrade. This +terrible event hushed the difference between them. Burton’s wife, a +gifted woman, who sometimes wrote very good poetry, inscribed some very +beautiful lines to the memory of Speke. + +[Illustration: SPEKE’S HANDWRITING. + +(Letter to Laurence Oliphant.)] + +We take leave here of one of the greatest of African explorers, the +second greatest only, if Stanley is to be accounted the first. Only a +man of extraordinary energy, determination, bravery, tact, and of iron +constitution could have struggled through the difficulties which beset +Speke on his route from Zanzibar to the Victoria Nyanza, and from the +Victoria Nyanza to the navigable Nile. The purport of the expedition +was wellnigh wrecked between Unyamwezi and the Victoria Nyanza; it +ran many risks from the caprices of Mutesa; several times Kamurasi +threatened it with failure in Unyoro; other dangers awaited it in the +Madi and Bari countries, but it finally resulted in affording us the +main solution of the Nile Quest. As the outcome of Speke’s journey, +the Victoria Nyanza was placed on the map with some approximate +correctness as to shape and area; the shape and size of Lake Albert +Nyanza were guessed at with extraordinary accuracy, and the course +of the White and Mountain Nile was foreshadowed with the same amount +of truth as in the case of the Albert Nyanza. The remarkable Hima +aristocracy of equatorial Africa and the barbaric court of Uganda were +revealed to the world. Speke broke the back of the Nile mystery, just +as Stanley did that of the Congo. It only remained henceforth to fill +up the minor details of the map. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SAMUEL BAKER AND THE ALBERT NYANZA + + +Samuel White Baker was born in London on the 8th June, 1821, and was +the second and eventually eldest son of Mr. Samuel Baker, a city +merchant, who possessed large properties and sugar plantations in +Jamaica and Mauritius. Samuel Baker, the elder, at one time maintained +a small fleet of sailing vessels. He also became one of the first +Directors of the Great Western Railway. His family and grandfather were +mainly settled at Bristol, and were much connected with the navy in +the eighteenth century. Further back still the Bakers were members of +Parliament and Court officials. They came originally from London, then +became a Kentish family, then moved to Dorsetshire, then to Bristol, +and finally back again to London. Samuel Baker, the younger, was a +typical English boy. His biographer, Mr. Douglas Murray, describes him +as having been “of the Saxon type; a noble-looking boy, of very fair +complexion, light hair, and fearless blue eyes.” He was “enterprising, +mischievous, for ever getting into scrapes, and leading others into +them; but he was never known to tell a lie or do a mean thing.” His +career was very nearly brought to a premature close when he was twelve +years old by an attempt to make fireworks. He ignited a small heap of +gunpowder on the kitchen table, and caused a terrible explosion, which +blew him to the far end of the room and burnt his arm severely. + +He hated school, and received most of his education from a private +tutor and by a residence at Frankfurt in Germany. His father attempted +to put him in his London office; and this work, though excessively +irksome, was endured for a time, as he had early fallen in love with +the daughter of a Gloucestershire rector, whom he married when he was +only twenty-two. Soon after his marriage he went out to Mauritius +with his wife, to attempt the management of his father’s estates in +that island. But he was restless and dissatisfied with this career; +moreover, his three children, born in three years, all died. He +therefore started for Ceylon, to which island he was attracted by the +stories of big-game shooting. His interest was excited in the splendid +mountain region of the interior of Ceylon, which presents considerable +areas for European occupations between six thousand and eight thousand +feet in altitude. Here for nine years he worked at founding an English +settlement of planters, which exists to this day in a flourishing +condition, some of the land-owners being members of the Baker family. +But his wife, who bore him many children, suffered greatly in health. +In 1855 he returned to England, and wrote a book on Ceylon. At the +end of that year his wife died, and Baker, after leaving his young +children to be brought up in England, started for Constantinople, which +he reached at the close of the Crimean War. His idea was to travel in +Circassia, and see what advance in that direction Russia was making +towards India; but he spent several years in a rather objectless +fashion, shooting, fishing, and exploring in Asia Minor and Turkey in +Europe. + +In 1859 he settled down as Manager-General of a British-made railway +from the Danube to the Black Sea. Whilst this railway was being made +he met in Hungary the lady who became his second wife.[75] The railway +was completed in 1860, and Baker once more became restless. Big-game +shooting in Asia Minor--splendid as it seems to have been at that +period, when he could shoot as many bears, boars, wolves, red deer, and +roe deer as he wished--did not content him; his thoughts turned towards +Africa and the Nile. He arrived at Cairo with Mrs. Baker in 1861, with +the idea of travelling up the Nile to meet Speke and Grant coming from +Zanzibar via the Victoria Nyanza. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by Maull & Fox._] + +SAMUEL BAKER, 1865.] + +But Baker resolved, before attempting anything so difficult as the +exploration of the White Nile above Gondokoro, to learn something of +African travel and Sudanese Arabic. He therefore left the main Nile +at Berber and ascended the Atbara River, the last affluent which the +Nile receives on its way to the Mediterranean;[76] the first running +river encountered by the traveller ascending the Nile that can be said +to flow through tropical Africa,--the Africa with the typical Ethiopian +fauna and flora. + + “After a scorching march of about twenty miles we arrived at + the junction of the Atbara River with the Nile [writes Baker]; + throughout the route the barren sand stretched to the horizon + on the left, while on the right, within a mile of the Nile, + the soil was sufficiently rich to support a certain amount of + vegetation, chiefly dwarf mimosas and the _Asclepia gigantea_.... + The Atbara has a curious appearance; in no part was it less than + four hundred yards in width, while in many places this breadth + was much exceeded. The banks were from twenty-five to thirty feet + deep: these had evidently been overflowed during floods, but at + the present time the river was dead, not only partially dry, but + so glaring was the sandy bed that the reflection of the sun was + almost unbearable. Great numbers of the _Dum_ palm (_Hyphæne + thebaica_) grew upon the banks.... The only shade there is afforded + by the evergreen Dum palms.... Many pools were of considerable + size and great depth. In flood time a tremendous torrent sweeps + down the course of the Atbara, and the sudden bends of the river + are hollowed out by the force of the stream to a depth of twenty + or thirty feet below the level of the bed. Accordingly, these + hollows become reservoirs of water when the river is otherwise + exhausted.... These pools are full of life, huge fish, crocodiles + of immense size, turtles, and occasionally hippopotami.... The + animals of the desert gazelles, hyaenas, and wild asses--are + compelled to resort to these crowded drinking places.... + Innumerable doves, varying in species, throng the trees and seek + the shelter of the Dum palms; thousands of sand grouse arrive + morning and evening to drink and to depart.” + +In the pools of the Atbara Baker for the first time shot +hippopotamuses. He also started fishing with a rod and line, and on one +occasion caught an enormous “turtle.”[77] + +At the end of June they were nearly suffocated with the heat and dust +of the Sudan summer, but they were to experience the effects of the +melting of Abyssinian snows and of the descent of the tropical rains +on that African Switzerland. On the 24th of June Baker was lying half +asleep on his bed by the margin of the river when he fancied he heard a +rumbling sound like distant thunder. This roar increased in volume till +it awoke his Arabs, who rushed into the camp shouting, “The river! The +river!” + + “We were up in an instant, and my interpreter in a state of intense + confusion exclaimed that the river was coming down, and that the + supposed distant thunder was the roar of approaching water.... + Many of the people were sleeping on the clean sand of the river’s + bed, and were only just in time to reach the top of the steep + bank before the water was on them in the darkness.... The river + had arrived ‘like a thief in the night.’ When morning broke I + stood upon the banks of a noble river, the wonder of the desert! + Yesterday there was a barren sheet of glaring sand with a fringe of + withered bush and trees upon its borders.... No bush could boast + of a leaf, no tree could throw a shade: crisp gum crackled upon + the stems of the mimosas.... In one night there was a mysterious + change.... An army of water was hastening to the wasted river, + which had become a magnificent stream some five hundred yards + in width and fifteen to twenty feet in depth. Bamboos and reeds + with trash of all kinds were hurried along the muddy waters.... I + realised what had occurred: the rains were falling and the snows + were melting in Abyssinia. These were the main source of the Nile + floods.” + +Baker left the Atbara in a land of wild asses and gazelles, and +travelled to Kassala,--a fortress of the eastern Sudan since rendered +famous by the struggle for its possession between Dervishes and +Italians. Kassala is situated on the right bank of the river Mareb, +which rises close to the Red Sea on the northern slopes of the +Abyssinian plateau. The Mareb has every intention of reaching the Nile, +or rather the Atbara, and no doubt did so in past epochs; but at the +present time northwards of Kassala it loses itself in the desert. + + “There was an extraordinary change [writes Baker] in the appearance + of the river between Gozerajup and this spot. There was no longer + the vast sandy desert with the river flowing through its sterile + course on a level with the surface of the country, but after + traversing an apparently perfect flat of forty-five miles of rich + alluvial soil, we suddenly arrived upon the edge of a deep valley, + between five and six miles wide, at the bottom of which, about two + hundred feet below the general level of the country, flowed the + river Atbara. On the opposite side of the valley, the same vast + table-lands continued to the western horizon. + + “We commenced the descent towards the river; the valley was a + succession of gullies and ravines, of landslips and watercourses; + the entire hollow of miles in width had evidently been the work of + the river. How many ages had the rains and the stream been at work + to scoop out from the flat tableland this deep and broad valley? + Here was the giant labourer that had shovelled the rich loam upon + the delta of lower Egypt! Upon these vast flats of fertile soil + there can be no drainage except through soakage. The deep valley + is therefore the receptacle not only for the water that oozes from + its sides, but subterranean channels bursting as land-springs + from all parts of the walls of the valley, wash down the more + soluble portions of the earth, and continually waste away the + soil. Landslips occur during the rainy season; streams of rich mud + pour down the valley’s slopes, and as the river flows beneath in + a swollen torrent, the friable banks topple down into the stream + and dissolve. The Atbara becomes the thickness of pea-soup, as its + muddy waters steadily perform the duty they have fulfilled from age + to age. Thus was the great river at work upon our arrival on its + banks at the bottom of the valley. The Arab name, ‘Bahr-al-Aswad’ + (black river), was well bestowed. It was the black mother of Egypt, + still carrying to her offspring the nourishment that had formed the + Delta. + + “At this point of interest the journey had commenced; the deserts + were passed, all was fertility and life; wherever the sources of + the Nile might be, the Atbara was the parent of Egypt! This was my + first impression, to be proved hereafter.” + +Baker gives a fine description of the splendid type of Arab who is +still found in the regions of the Atbara:-- + + “He was the most magnificent specimen of an Arab that I have ever + seen. Although upwards of eighty years of age, he was as erect as + a lance, and did not appear more than between fifty and sixty; he + was of Herculean stature, about six feet three inches high, with + immensely broad shoulders and chest, a remarkably arched nose; eyes + like an eagle, beneath large, shaggy, but perfectly white eyebrows; + a snow-white beard of great thickness descended below the middle of + his breast. He wore a white turban, and a white cashmere abbai or + long robe, from the throat to the ankles. As a desert patriarch he + was superb, the very perfection of all that the imagination could + paint, if we would personify Abraham at the head of his people.” + +This fine old Sheikh brought ten of his sons, most of them as tall +as himself. He seems to have been the father of many children,--a +fortunate circumstance for the country, though no doubt nearly all +of his stalwart descendants were extirpated in the miserable wars +following on the Mahdi’s revolt. + +Baker ascended the Atbara to its upper waters, where it is known as the +Settit (higher up still as the Takaze). Here he had magnificent hunting +of big game amongst the Hamran Arabs, whose extraordinary prowess with +the sword he describes most vividly. They would follow up elephants and +hamstring them with a single blow of their long weapons, which were +like those of the Crusaders. (As a matter of fact, the generality of +the Hamran swords were manufactured at Sollingen in Germany.) In this +land Baker saw innumerable giraffes, and most of the big antelopes of +Central Africa, including Kudu and Oryx. The country about the Upper +Atbara below the Abyssinian highlands was exactly like an English park, +though the trees were mainly acacias. Here and there was a gigantic +baobab. In the waters of the river was found the now well-known +Lung-fish, the _Protopterus_. + +From the upper waters of the Atbara and its many tributaries Baker, +skirting the western terraces of Abyssinia, reached the river +Rahad,--an Egyptian affluent of the Blue Nile which flows nearly +parallel to the river Dinder. These two streams rise on the western +flanks of the Abyssinian tableland, and enter the Blue Nile about one +hundred miles southeast of Khartum. On his way down this river Baker, +in the country of Galabat, met two German lay missionaries proceeding +to Abyssinia in spite of the objection expressed to their presence by +King Theodore. “One of these preachers was a blacksmith, whose iron +constitution had entirely given way, and the little strength that +remained he exhausted in endless quotations of texts from the Bible, +which he considered applicable to every trifling event or expression.” + +In June, 1862, the Bakers reached Khartum. After a long stay at the +Pethericks’ house, Baker decided, as already related, to go in search +of Speke. His wife, the present Lady Baker, accompanied him. As already +related, she was a Hungarian lady of great beauty, and possessed of +extraordinary courage. Her fame as “_the_ Lady” (Es-sitt) still lingers +among the Nile Negroes. + +It has already been shown that Baker succeeded in being the first +European to greet Speke and Grant. He received from these travellers +the legacy to complete their task of ascertaining definitely the +existence of the western Nile lake (Albert), of which Speke had heard +under the name of Luta Nzige. On the 26th of March, 1863, the Bakers +left Gondokoro on this errand. + +Muhammad Wad-al-Mek, De Bono’s agent, and all the other Nubian Nile +traders, did their very utmost to prevent Baker returning along Speke’s +route through the Bari country. They incited his Khartum men to mutiny. +Baker, being unable to obtain porters, owing to the excessive hostility +of the slave-traders, employed the camels he had brought with him +from Khartum for his transport. As the slave-traders had threatened, +if he followed in their footsteps, to raise the natives about him, he +determined to reach the back country of Lotuka first, and therefore +deliberately strewed some of his goods in the way so as to delay the +slave-traders, who stopped to pick them up. He was outdone at his own +game, for a large caravan of “Turks” reached the Elliria country nearly +as soon as he did. The leader of this expedition was one Ibrahim. Mrs. +Baker resolved to see what could be done by a direct appeal to whatever +the man might possess of generosity. The Bakers threatened that if +he did them harm he would probably be hung at Khartum, while if he +assisted them to see this lake, they would see he was well rewarded. +The result was that a truce was patched up between the slave-traders +and Baker’s small expedition. Nevertheless, a mutiny happened among +Baker’s camel-men in the vicinity of Lotuka. Some of these men ran away +and joined a slave-trading party, which, however, was massacred by the +Lotuka. Henceforth Baker’s few men stuck to him faithfully, in terror +of what might happen to them from his evil eye. + +Baker journeyed southward through the splendid Lotuka country,--a +land of which we know even now scarcely more than he told us forty +years ago. The Lotuka people are a splendid race of Negroids, with a +good deal more Gala blood in their veins than is the case with the +Masai, to whom they are closely allied in language, but who dwell +very much farther to the east and south. Since the days of Baker’s +adventure some of the Lotuka have become Muhammadans, and they are +no longer completely nude in consequence. Their country is a very +mountainous one, and on the whole well watered. It will probably play +a considerable part in the future of the Uganda Protectorate. Working +steadily south through the Madi and Acholi countries, the Bakers forded +the Asua, the great southeastern tributary of the Mountain Nile. Here +nearly all their porters deserted, and as their camels had died in the +Madi country, they were obliged to abandon all loads which were not +absolutely necessary,--such as ammunition, and presents for Kamurasi. + +[Illustration: A NATIVE OF UNYORO.] + +At length they arrived at the Karuma Falls on the Victoria Nile, +and entered Unyoro. Their first reception in Unyoro was hostile, +because Muhammad Wad-al-Mek had preceded them, and had made the worst +impression by his treatment of the Banyoro. At first Baker desired to +follow the Nile down stream till it entered the Albert Nyanza, but the +Banyoro would not allow him to do anything of the kind, or to make +any journey off the main road along the Victoria Nile to Kamurasi’s +capital. Contrary to their anticipations, Kamurasi received the Bakers +well; and this was the more fortunate, as Mr. Baker was very nearly +dead with fever. But Kamurasi soon showed his evil nature. He refused +to allow Baker to proceed due west to the Albert Nyanza, declaring +that lake was distant a six months’ journey. Ibrahim, the slave and +ivory trader, had purchased all the goods he required, and had left +Unyoro. All Baker’s porters, except thirteen, had deserted. Finding, +however, there was nothing more to be got out of Baker, Kamurasi +relented, accepted a double-barrelled gun, and sent off the explorer +and his wife with two guides and an escort of three hundred men. This +escort, however, was soon sent back, owing to their unruly behaviour. +Somehow or other, with such porters as could be procured from village +to village, they managed, in the teeth of fearful misfortunes, to +reach the Albert Nyanza at a place called Mbakovia, on the southeast +coast. On this journey Mrs. Baker nearly died from sunstroke, and +Baker himself was frightfully ill. But on the 16th of March, 1864, +they had discovered a great lake “with a boundless sea-horizon to the +southwards,” which they named the Albert Nyanza. + +At the time of Baker’s visit no doubt (though he does not say so) +there was a good deal of mist about this lake,--a common feature. +The mist and the clouds seem to have prevented the travellers from +getting any glimpse of the mass of the Ruwenzori snow-range which lay +not many miles distant from them to the south. They also believed +(though they were then a day’s journey from the end of the lake) that +there was a boundless sea-horizon to the south. Their misapprehension +of the geography of this lake has often caused surprise; but apart +from a natural tendency to exaggerate the importance of their own +particular lake, in looking to the southward they were looking up the +broad valley of the Semliki, which was undoubtedly at one time--at any +rate for a distance of some fifty miles--a southern extension of the +Albert Nyanza. This valley was bordered on either side by cliff-like +mountains--plateau edges--continued northwards along the coasts of the +Albert Lake. To the west of Lake Albert the plateau tilts westwards +towards the Congo basin. Baker called the western cliffs and the +foothills of Ruwenzori the Blue Mountains,--a name they might very well +continue to bear, as there is no native designation for these heights, +which separate so abruptly and by only a few miles the basin of the +Congo from the basin of the Nile. + +After a short stay at Mbakovia, the Bakers got into canoes and coasted +along the Albert Nyanza to Magungo, where the lake is entered by the +Victoria Nile. They ascended the Victoria Nile and discovered the +Murchison Falls, “where the river drops in one leap one hundred and +twenty feet into a deep basin, the edge of which literally swarms with +crocodiles.” On their overland journey in the direction of the Karuma +Falls, their porters again deserted, and for two months they were +stranded, almost at death’s door, living with difficulty on wild herbs +and mouldy flour; occasionally, but rarely, obtaining fowls from the +natives. Once more they came within the persecution of Kamurasi, who +pestered Baker for his assistance in a war he was carrying on against +his relation, Fowuka. Whilst Baker was hesitating, the Nile was crossed +by one of De Bono’s caravans of ivory-traders, who had entered into an +alliance with Fowuka. They were just about to attack Kamurasi’s army +(and with their one hundred and fifty guns would have easily defeated +it) when Baker planted the British flag in Kamurasi’s camp, and +warned De Bono’s soldiers that the Unyoro king was now under British +protection. Overawed by Baker’s threats, the ivory-traders withdrew +to the north side of the Nile. The only return that he received from +Kamurasi for this service was that the latter placed every obstacle +in his way to prevent his leaving Unyoro. At the same time Mutesa of +Uganda, having heard of a white man’s arrival in Unyoro, and imagining +that Kamurasi was stopping his further journey to Uganda, sent a large +army to ravage Unyoro. Kamurasi fled to some islands in the Nile, +and left Baker to shift for himself, without provisions or beasts +of burden, at the Karuma Falls. From this point he managed to send +messages to Ibrahim, the slave and ivory trader, and the latter came +to his assistance. With the aid of Ibrahim, the Bakers, who had lost +everything except guns and ammunition, eventually managed to return +to Gondokoro, though they were nearly killed on the way by the Bari +tribe, which had risen against the slave-raiders. At Gondokoro their +troubles were not ended, for the sudd had begun to form, and obstructed +the passage of the White Nile. Plague also had broken out in Khartum. +But the travellers fought through all obstacles, any one of which +might have wrecked an expedition conducted by less intrepid people, +and reached Khartum in May, 1865. Here they remained two months to +recuperate, and during this time they managed to secure the banishment +of one of the slave-traders who had incited the mutiny of their men at +Gondokoro in 1863. + +From Khartum they travelled to Berber down the Nile, and then started +on camels to cross the desert to Suakin. They reached England in the +autumn of 1865. By this time perhaps African exploration had become +more interesting to the British government, for Baker received for his +discoveries a well-earned knighthood,--a distinction which might very +well have been accorded to Speke or to Grant. As a matter of fact, the +only reward given to the last-named traveller was a C.B., which was +awarded, not for his marvellous “Walk across Africa,” but for the +inconspicuous services which he rendered some years later in connection +with the Abyssinian War. + +As the result of the Speke and Baker explorations, so far as published +maps were concerned, our knowledge of the Nile basin in 1865 was +as follows: The shape and area of the Victoria Nyanza were roughly +indicated, together with the outlet of the Victoria Nile at the Ripon +Falls. The course of the Victoria Nile was mapped (with a good many +blanks) from the Ripon Falls to the north end of Lake Albert Nyanza. +Baker was able to show that there was a widening of the Victoria Nile +opposite the eastern frontier of Unyoro, but it was some years later +before this widening was discovered to consist of two large lakes +(Kioga and Kwania). Baker had given an extremely exaggerated size to +the Albert Nyanza. Speke, on the other hand, had sketched this lake +with remarkable accuracy merely from hearsay. The course of the Nile +from the north end of Lake Albert to its junction with the Asua River +was quite unexplored. The rest of the course of the Mountain Nile was +mapped as far as its junction with the Bahr-al-Ghazal, but very little +was known about one of its branches, the Giraffe River. No further +researches beyond those made by the Turks had taken place on the Sobat +River. + +As for Sir Samuel Baker, we take leave of him here as one of the great +explorers of the Nile. He returned to the regions of the great lakes in +1869, having been appointed for four years in charge of an expedition +to subdue and annex to the Egyptian Empire the equatorial regions of +the Nile basin. This object involved him in incessant fighting in +Unyoro, with the slave-traders between Unyoro and Gondokoro, and with +the Bari. Some of these conflicts were forced on him; others, it is +to be feared, he precipitated by his determination to enlarge the +territories of the Egyptian Sudan. His time would seem to have been +passed mainly in warfare with one enemy or another, or in laying very +solidly the foundations of a civilised administration. His stay in +Equatoria resulted in but little addition to our knowledge of the Nile +and its affluents. A good many of his efforts for the welfare of the +country were thwarted by the Egyptian Governor-General at Khartum, +and after his departure, in 1873, some of his worst enemies among the +slave-traders were reinstated. This much must always be recorded to +the credit of Sir Samuel Baker’s work on the Upper Nile: he inspired +universal respect among the fair-dealing natives; he, first of all, +broke the back of the immense slave-trading industry which had sprung +up on the Mountain Nile, in Unyoro, and in the Acholi countries; +throughout these regions the natives can remember but one great and +good administrator before the present régime, and that is Sir Samuel +Baker. “Gordoom” Pasha is but a name, and represents little to their +minds; Emin they only remembered as an enthusiastic naturalist, who +did but little to check the rapine and wrong-doing of his Sudanese +soldiers; but “Baker Basha” is, in the remembrance of the old +people, the one heroic White man they have known: terrible in battle, +scrupulously just, at all times kind and jovial in demeanour amongst +friends; a born ruler over a savage people. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ALEXANDRINE TINNE AND THEODOR VON HEUGLIN + + +The journeys of Petherick and Miani in the western Nile basin +have already been described. The very interesting region of the +Bahr-al-Ghazal, however, had been relatively neglected by scientific +explorers down to the beginning of the sixties of the last century. +Petherick’s own map of these regions was not published till 1869. There +were two obstacles to water travel in this direction: the sudd, and the +terrible fevers which attacked Europeans. The introduction of steamers +on the Upper Nile to some extent enabled Europeans to force their +way up streams which were not to be penetrated by sailing-vessels. +Quite a rendezvous had been created at a place called Mashra-ar-Rak, +where many great streams coming from the Nyam-nyam country enter the +Bahr-al-Ghazal, which, as a geographical term, applied to the western +lake-like affluent of the Nile, may be said to begin its course here. + +[Illustration: ALEXANDRINE TINNE.] + +Miss Tinne, who with her German companions Von Heuglin and Steudner was +to considerably increase our knowledge of these regions, had already, +in 1859 and 1860, ascended the White Nile in sailing-vessels to near +Gondokoro. In 1861 she organised a great expedition in steamers and +boats, which was accompanied by her mother, her aunt, and, later on, +by several scientific explorers,--such as Baron d’Ablaing, Theodor von +Heuglin, and Dr. Steudner. This expedition was intended to explore the +region of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, to see how far the Nile basin extended +westward in the direction of Lake Chad, and also, if possible, to +discover a great lake in the very heart of Africa, of which rumours had +been brought back by Miani and others.[78] + +Alexandrine[79] Tinne was the daughter of Philip Frederic Tinne and +Henrietta, Baroness van Steengracht Capellen. Her father, Philip +Tinne, was a Dutchman, who settled in England during the wars of the +French Revolution, the French invasion of Holland having brought his +family into trouble. The Tinnes were of remote French Huguenot origin, +having emigrated to Holland from Calais. But further back still they +came from Saxony. A very far back ancestor went to the Crusades, and +distinguished himself at Rosetta (Egypt) by clambering onto the Saracen +battlements. He received therefrom the soubriquet of “Tinne” (in Low +Dutch, a battlement) and a coat of arms, still used by the family, +embodying battlements. It is remarkable that Miss Tinne’s remote +ancestor should have sprung into fame in the thirteenth century at +the _mouth_ of the Nile. Philip Tinne, who emigrated to England at the +end of the eighteenth century, returned to Holland after Napoleon’s +downfall, and married a Dutch heiress, the daughter of Admiral van +Capellen. He died when his daughter Alexandrine was only five years +old, leaving her the richest heiress in the Netherlands. It is said +that when a young girl she had a serious love disappointment, and +dismissed or lost her fiancé. To stifle her mental anguish, she +undertook a course of travel;[80] and after staying for some time +in the Levant and Egypt, ascended the Nile in dahabiahs to near +Gondokoro. This journey was followed by the great expedition to the +Bahr-al-Ghazal in 1861. It is said that this expedition was even +provided with European lady’s-maids. Probably no equally luxurious and +well-equipped undertaking ever started for equatorial Africa. Miss +Tinne commenced her second Nile journey by ascending the main stream as +far as Gondokoro, and then, returning, she explored a portion of the +Sobat River. She set out once more with the whole party from Khartum +in February, 1863, and entered the Bahr-al-Ghazal. This was ascended +as far as the mouth of the Bahr-al-Hamr. From this point a journey was +then made overland to the Jur and Kosango rivers, and to the mountains +on the borders of the Nyam-nyam country. On this exploration the +travellers suffered most severely from fever. Dr. Steudner and the +Baroness van Capellen eventually died of blackwater fever, and the +remainder of the party only managed with the greatest difficulty +to reach Khartum in July, 1864, where further deaths occurred. The +geographical results of this expedition were not published in full till +1869, though Miss Tinne’s cousin printed some notes on their expedition +at Liverpool in 1864. + +[Illustration: ON THE JUR RIVER: SUDD BLOCKING THE CHANNEL.] + +After four years spent in various places in Egypt, Algeria, and Tunis, +Miss Tinne started from Tripoli with a very large caravan to proceed to +Lake Chad, intending afterwards to journey from Lake Chad to the Upper +Nile. + +Miss Tinne took with her two Dutch sailors to assist in the +organisation of her caravan, several Algerian women-servants, and her +confidential old Negress, Saadah, who was originally a slave freed by +Miss Tinne in the Sudan. The Turkish authorities made no opposition to +her journeys, nor do they seem to have been in any way to blame for +the catastrophe that occurred. Unfortunately, Miss Tinne, in order +to provide for the comfort of her followers as well as for herself, +decided to take with her one or more iron tanks filled with water, +which were carried by the camels. These tanks attracted much attention +when the expedition halted for a time at Murzuk, the capital of Fezzan, +where Turkish authority was still maintained. The rumour that they +contained treasure in coin which was to accompany this wonderful +princess into the heart of Africa spread from the bazaars of Murzuk +to the Tawareq of the desert, ever on the lookout to plunder caravans +crossing the Sahara. + +Miss Tinne had taken all reasonable precautions to secure the +friendship of the Tawareq on this journey. She had sent messages to +Ghat, an important Saharan town, to the chief Ikenukhen, with presents, +and requests for guides. The chief replied that he would meet her +himself at a water place on the way to Ghat, and send her the guides. +These guides apparently concerted measures with the Arab and Tawareq +camel-drivers of her expedition, and plans were evidently laid for her +murder and the plunder of her goods. + +The expedition had halted at Wadi Aberjong to await the Tawareq chief +Ikenukhen. On the early morning of the 1st of August Miss Tinne, in +her tent, heard the Arab and Tawareq camel-drivers disputing about +arranging the saddles of the Algerian women-servants. She called to the +Dutch sailors to stop the noise, which had developed into a sham fight. +The Dutch sailors went amongst the men to get at their own luggage +and take their rifles. The camel-drivers stopped their sham fight and +endeavoured to prevent the Dutch sailors obtaining their arms. Miss +Tinne, hearing the continued clamour, came out of her tent to inquire +its meaning. She held up her right hand to command attention. Suddenly +there was a cry of “Strike,” and a Tawareq made a cut at her with a +sabre, which severed her right hand almost entirely through the wrist, +so that it hung only by tendons of skin. The poor girl endeavoured to +replace it in position, and staggered back to her tent, where she sat +on a box. At the same moment that the blow was aimed at her one of the +Dutch sailors, Cornelius, was pierced through the body by a spear. The +other, Jacobse, was killed by a sabre cut cleaving his head. Cornelius, +with the spear passing right through him, ran into the tent and fell +at Miss Tinne’s feet. A man followed him, pinned him to the ground +with another spear, and fired two pistol shots into his head. Another +Tawareq struck Miss Tinne with a sabre on the nape of the neck, which +cut through the foulard enveloping her head, and severed the long +plait of her hair, but did not cut through the spine. She fell forward +to the ground, stunned. Two men then tore off most of her clothing, +and, seizing her by the heels, dragged her out of the tent to a spot a +few yards away, where they left her lying on the sand in the blazing +sunshine. Her poor old Negress, Saadah, followed, and raising her head, +gently rested it on her knee; but the Tawareq tore her away, and drove +her back into the camp. The unfortunate Alexandrine Tinne lay where +she was left from eight o’clock in the morning to three o’clock in the +afternoon, when death at last ended her sufferings. At intervals she +called piteously on her people, one by one, to bring her water, but +none were allowed to approach her. One of her Arab servants was asked +afterwards why they behaved so callously. He replied, “We had no arms, +we were like women: they kept us in the tent, and threatened to kill us +if we came out.” + +Her baggage was ransacked by the Arabs and Tawareq, among whom +disputes then arose as to the allotment of the Algerian waiting-maids +and men-servants. Strange to say, this dispute ended by both parties +agreeing to make no slaves. The servants were each given a camel and a +dollar, and allowed to return to Murzuk. + +The Pasha of Murzuk sent soldiers out to bury the bodies. They laid a +strip of calico about thirty yards long on the sand, and wound it round +Miss Tinne’s body by rolling it over with sticks, to avoid touching +her. Then they put boards on each side loaded with stones, and piled +sand over all. The two bodies of the faithful sailors were laid on each +side of her. Men were afterwards sent out to mark the spot, but the +sand of the desert had in the interval been blown over the place, thus +hiding the grave of this beautiful and talented woman.[81] + +[Illustration: LETTER OF MISS TINNE TO HER NEPHEW JOHN. + +Written from Tripoli, 1869.] + +The leader of not a few exploring parties in Africa has been alone +to blame for disasters to his expedition, by committing himself or +allowing his followers to commit misdeeds sufficient to justify +native hostility. But wherever Miss Tinne and her expeditions went in +Africa, they left behind them nothing but the memory of considerate +treatment, kindness, and acts of sumptuous generosity. In all the +preparations which Miss Tinne made for crossing the Sahara, and so +reaching the western limits of the Nile basin, she showed a desire +to conciliate the suspicions of the people, and paid generously for +assistance afforded. The fierce Berber tribes which range over the +Sahara Desert from North Africa to the neighbourhood of Lake Chad, +almost alone of all African races, have earned sharp reprisals from +Europeans for their innumerable acts of causeless treachery to +explorers. If ever the French occupy the district of Ghat, as they will +eventually some day, it is to be hoped that they will bear in mind the +massacre of Alexandrine Tinne and avenge it. + +This woman was the romantic figure in Nile exploration. Young and +beautiful,[82] remarkably accomplished, a daring horsewoman, a charming +Diana; mistress of many tongues, including Arabic, and generous to a +fault, it is little wonder that the “Signorina” (as she was called in +the days when most dragomen were Italian or Maltese) has lingered as a +beautiful and gracious demi-goddess in the remembrance of such Arabs +and Nile Negroes of the Egyptian Sudan as were not exterminated by the +Mahdi’s revolt. + + * * * * * + +Theodor von Heuglin was a native of Würtemberg. He was a scientific +observer and a naturalist much in the style of Schweinfurth. His +interest in the exploration of the Nile basin was rather in the +direction of zoölogy and anthropology. He began to travel in these +regions in the fifties of the last century. With Munzinger, a Swiss +(afterwards Munzinger Pasha), and Dr. Steudner, a German, he explored +Kordofan, and the regions round Khartum. In 1862 Von Heuglin and +Steudner joined Miss Tinne’s Nile expedition, and as her guest or alone +on their own account, explored the affluents of the Bahr-al-Ghazal +and the main White Nile. After the death of Steudner and of Miss +Tinne’s aunt and mother from blackwater fever, Heuglin turned away +from these regions with some disgust, and devoted himself henceforth +to the exploration of the healthier regions along the upper waters +of the Blue Nile and of the Atbara. In all this part of western and +northern Abyssinia he made valuable collections of natural history. Von +Heuglin’s books are of very great interest, and are full of valuable +natural history notes. His writings were published between 1860 and +1875, generally in Germany. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SCHWEINFURTH AND THE BASIN OF THE BAHR-AL-GHAZAL + + +As already related down to 1869, but little had been placed on the map +concerning the western tributaries of the Nile in the region now styled +generally the Bahr-al-Ghazal Province. The Bahr-al-Ghazal itself is the +gathering up of some nine great rivers. These unite to form a marshy, +lake-like stream, which indeed widens out into a lake of variable +size (Lake No) at its junction with the main or Mountain Nile. The +great breadth of the Bahr-al-Ghazal is often disguised, and the open +water reduced to a mere thread by an immense floating vegetable growth +which we now know by the name of _sudd_. The name “Bahr-al-Ghazal” +simply means a “River of Antelopes,” and is a designation given to the +great western affluent of the Nile by the Sudanese Arabs. Rumours of +this important contribution coming to the Nile from the west (and the +tributary periodical streams known as the Bahr-al-Arab or Bahr-al-Hamr +extend the Nile basin as far west as the frontiers of Wadai) reached +even the Greek geographers two thousand years ago, and induced some +of them to believe that the main sources of the Nile lay far to the +west, near where Lake Chad is situated on the map. Then this was +forgotten, and it was not until Arabs and Nubians had begun to extend +their commerce into the Sudan, when Egypt was under Turkish rule, that +the existence of the Bahr-al-Ghazal was again mooted. This affluent of +the Nile was first sketched on the map with an approach to definiteness +in 1771, when D’Anville plainly indicates its existence. In a very +truncated form it appears on the maps of the Nile drawn from the +surveys of the Frenchmen who accompanied the three expeditions sent by +Muhammad Ali to conquer the Sudan between 1839 and 1841. In the forties +of the last century Nubian slave-traders started in numbers to explore +these regions, firstly to purchase ivory, and secondly to acquire +slaves. The strange Nyam-nyam cannibals began to be heard of at Khartum +about 1845. Petherick himself went in these directions in 1848. He was +followed, as has been related, by Miani the Venetian, and by Miss Tinne +and Von Heuglin. First of all Europeans, Miani had penetrated so far +south up these affluents of the Bahr-al-Ghazal as to have heard from +the Nyam-nyam people of the existence of the Welle River, which he +reported to Petherick, and through Petherick to Speke, as a great river +flowing steadily to the west. This was the first hint received of the +southwestern limits of the Nile basin. + +But little precise information about the southern portions of this +wonderful region had reached Europe until the work of Schweinfurth was +completed in 1871. + +[Illustration: GEORG SCHWEINFURTH (1875).] + +Georg Schweinfurth is a native of Riga in the Baltic Provinces of +Russia. He is consequently of German extraction. He was born in +1837, and in the early sixties spent much time in exploring for +botanical purposes Nubia, Upper Egypt, southwestern Abyssinia, and the +regions between these countries and the Red Sea coast. The tropical +luxuriance of the vegetation in the outlying districts of Abyssinia +attracted him to further journeys towards the equator. He conceived +the idea of visiting the then least known part of the Nile basin, the +Bahr-al-Ghazal province. For this purpose he obtained ample funds from +the Royal Academy of Science at Berlin. Apart from the fact that he was +a German by descent and speech, his great explorations of the Nile were +due entirely to German support, and must be considered one of Germany’s +many contributions towards the Nile Quest. + +Schweinfurth landed at Suakin in September, 1867. Before proceeding +on his voyage up the White Nile, he resolved to commence with a +preliminary exploration of the mountains to the south and west of +Suakin between the end of the Nubian Alps and the beginning of the +Abyssinian highlands. This elevated district lies for the most part +within the watershed of the Atbara’s tributaries, though it also sends +down intermittent torrents to the Red Sea. In the mountains to the +south of Suakin first appears to any traveller coming from Egypt and +the north the characteristic vegetation of tropical Africa, especially +such types as the dragon trees (_Dracænæ_) and arborescent euphorbias. +These types begin at an altitude of about two thousand feet, as at that +height they obtain some moisture, whereas lower down the country is +mostly an arid desert. The Nubian _Dracænæ_ and those of the slopes of +the Abyssinian tableland are relatively dwarfish (at most some twenty +feet high) compared to the giant forms of these tree-lilies which are +met with in equatorial Africa. Aloes, of course, grow in the same +districts as the euphorbia and the dracæna. “Found in company with them +is a wild, unearthly-looking plant called the ‘Karaib’ (_Bucerosia_), +of which the branches are like wings, prickly and jagged round the +edges like a dragon’s back. They produce clusters of brown flowers +as large as one’s fist, which exhale a noxious and revolting smell, +the plants themselves being swollen with a white and slimy poisonous +juice.” Another item in this harsh vegetation is the _Sanseviera_, a +plant belonging to the same group as the aloes, lilies, and dracænas, +with isolated, leathery leaves like sword blades, though sometimes with +rolled edges like a thick, leathery whip. Higher up, at altitudes of +from four thousand to six thousand feet, the trees are covered with +clusters of _Usnea_ lichen. On the northern spurs of the Abyssinian +highlands is found the wild olive tree, “of low bushy shape, with +box-like foliage.” The wild olive is found nowhere else in tropical +Africa beyond the Abyssinian region. + +All watercourses with a supply of moist soil under ground just +sufficient for a few months’ vegetation are comprehended within the +Arab designation _Wadi_. Cheerless through the dry season, after the +first rain their level sand flats are clothed with the most luxuriant +flora; fresh-springing grasses put forth their pointed leaves and +give the sward the appearance of being dotted with a myriad spikes; +then quickly come the sprouting blades, and the river bed is like a +waving field of corn. Half-way between Singat and Erkowit Schweinfurth +halted at a wady of this character, which bore the name of Sarrowi. He +writes:-- + + “What a prospect! How gay with its variety of hue,--green, red + and yellow! Nothing could be more pleasant than the shade of the + acacia, nothing more striking than the abundance of bloom of the + Abyssinian aloe, transforming the dreary sand beds into smiling + gardens. Green were the tabbes-grass and the acacias, yellow + and red were the aloes, and in such crowded masses, that I was + involuntarily reminded of the splendour of the tulip beds of the + Netherlands: but here the garden lay in a waste of gloomy black + stone. One special charm of a desert journey is that it is full + of contrasts, that it brings close together dearth and plenty, + death and life; it opens the eyes of the traveller to the minutest + benefits of nature, and demonstrates how every enjoyment is allied + to a corresponding deprivation.” + +When he reached the Nile, coming from Suakin, he was received at +Berber by an old acquaintance, M. Lafargue, who was settled in that +starting-point for Suakin as a merchant and French vice-consul. +Lafargue, himself an experienced traveller on the Upper Nile, received +the German explorers with that hearty hospitality “which many other +desert wanderers have proved besides myself.” + + “Sir Samuel Baker [writes Schweinfurth] aptly compares such + receptions to the oasis in the desert. No necessity for letters of + introduction here as with us in Europe, no hollow forms of speech, + exchanging courtesies which perchance mean the very reverse; no + empty compliment of at best a tedious dinner; but here in the + Egyptian Sudan we are received with free and genial amiability; all + Europeans are fellow-citizens, and everything is true and hearty. + ‘What pleases me the most is the ease with which you travel in this + country; you come, you go, you return again as though it were a + walk.’ Such were M. Lafargue’s cordial words to me. We parted well + pleased with one another; I shall not see him again.” + +About that part of the journey from Berber to Khartum by way of the +Nile Schweinfurth gives a vivid description. For the first part of the +voyage, as far as Shendi and Matammah, the only considerable towns in +this district, the shore offered nothing attractive. It reminded him +of the Egyptian valley of the Nile only in two places,--the mouth of +the Atbara, and one spot where the renowned pyramids of Meroe formed a +noble background. + +Matammah was then a populous town, but dull and unenterprising. The +buildings, constructed of Nile earth, were insignificant in themselves, +and irregularly crowded together in a mass like huge ant-hills; not a +single tree afforded shade in the dreary streets, which were filthy +with dirt. + +The Nile voyage below Shendi was, however, rich in the charms of +scenery. This was especially applicable to the views afforded by the +river islands. These islands were so many throughout the whole extent +of the sixth cataract between the island of Marnad and the lofty +mountain-island of Royān, “that no one pretends to know their precise +number, and the sailors call them in consequence the ninety-nine +islands.” The landscapes on shore afforded the traveller a treat “which +no other river voyage could surpass.” Splendid groups of acacias, in +three varieties, with groves of ‘holy-thorn,’ overgrown by the hanging +foliage of graceful climbers, made the profusion of islands set in +the surface of the water appear like bright green, luxuriant, and gay +tangles. + + “Wildly romantic on the contrary, reminding one of the Bingerloch + on the Rhine, are the narrow straits of Sablu where the Nile, + reduced to a deep mountain stream, flows between high, bare granite + walls that rise to several hundred feet. + + “So much the more surprising appeared the breadth which the Nile + exhibited above this cataract, where it displays itself in a + majesty which it has long lost in Egypt. Below their confluence, + the waters of the Blue and the White Nile are distinctly visible + many miles apart. It is highly probable that at certain times the + level of the streams might show a difference of several feet; the + proposed establishment of a Nilometer should therefore take place + below the confluence, in order that with the help of the telegraph + accurate intelligence of its condition might be remitted to Cairo.” + +Schweinfurth reached Khartum on the 1st of November, 1868. He left that +place in January, 1869, for the Bahr-al-Ghazal. Of his voyage up the +White Nile he writes:-- + + “As the morning sun fell upon the low, monotonous shores of + the flowing river, it seemed at times almost as though it were + illuminating the ocean, so vast was the extent of water where the + current ran for any distance in a straight and unwinding course.... + The districts along the shore mostly retained an unchanging aspect + for miles together. Rarely does some distant mountain or isolated + hill relieve the eye from the wide monotony.... The attention is + soon attracted by the astonishing number of geese and ducks which + are seen day after day. The traveller in these parts is so satiated + with them, fattened and roasted, that the sight creates something + akin to disgust. The number of cattle is prodigious: far as the eye + can reach they are scattered alike on either shore, whilst, close + at hand, they come down to the river-marshes to get their drink. + + “The stream, as wide again as the Nile of Egypt, is enlivened by + the boats belonging to the shepherds, who row hither and thither to + conduct their cattle, their dogs in the water swimming patiently + behind.” + +Early on the third day he reached Getina, a considerable village +inhabited by Hassaniah Arabs (long since wiped out by the Dervishes). +Getina was then a favourite rendezvous of the Nile boats. The flats +here were bright with the luxuriant green of sedges which in their +abundant growth imparted to the banks the meadow-like character of +European river-sides. Thousands of geese (_Chenalopex ægyptiacus_), in +no degree disconcerted by the arrival of humans, paced the greensward. +Although in places the right bank was bounded by sand-banks thirty +feet high, the left appeared completely and interminably flat, and +occasionally admitted the culture of sorghum. “This remarkable +difference which exists between the aspect of the two banks, and +which may be observed for several degrees, is to be explained by a +hydrographical law, which is illustrated not only here, but likewise +in the district of the Lower Nile. As rivers flow from southerly into +more northern latitudes, their fluid particles are set in motion with +increased velocity, the result of which is to drive them onwards so as +to wash away the eastern bank, leaving a continual deposit on the west.” + +About two hundred miles to the south of Khartum more signs of +Tropical Africa begin to appear. Graceful, shade-giving acacias (_A. +spirocarpa_) grew on the river banks, where also were seen great +masses of large-leaved shrubs, many of them covered with the beautiful +blossoms of the _Ipomœa_ convolvulus. Hippopotamuses were abundant, +lions were heard roaring at night, and the semi-Arab, somewhat Nubian +population was gradually replaced by the naked, black, and lanky Shiluk +Negroes. Great monitor lizards (_Varanus_) and snakes rustled in the +dry grass, while _Cercopithecus_ monkeys, crowned cranes, and handsome +red and white waterbuck diversified the aspect of the river-banks; +huge crocodiles lay on the foreshore. In Negro Nileland Schweinfurth +first noticed the ambatch. This is really a member of the bean tribe +(_Herminiera elaphroxylon_), which grows in shallow water. Its leaves +resemble those of the acacia, and its blossoms are bold, pea-like +flowers of bright orange. + + “The ambatch is distinguished for the unexampled lightness of its + wood, if the fungus-like substance of the stem deserves such a + name at all. It shoots up to fifteen or twenty feet in height, and + at its base generally attains a thickness of about six inches. + The weight of this fungus-wood is so insignificant that it really + suggests comparison to a feather. Only by taking it into his hands + could anyone believe that it were possible for one man to lift on + his shoulders a raft made large enough to carry eight people on + the water. The plant shoots up with great rapidity by the quiet + places on the shore, and since it roots merely in the water, whole + bushes are easily broken off by the force of the wind or stream, + and settle themselves afresh in other places. This is the true + origin of the grass-barriers so frequently mentioned as blocking up + the waters of the Upper Nile, and in many places making navigation + utterly impracticable. Other plants have a share in the formation + of these floating islands, which daily emerge like the Delos of + tradition; among them, in particular, the _Vossia_ grass and the + famous papyrus of antiquity, which at present is nowhere to be + found on the Nile either in Egypt or in Nubia.” + +Schweinfurth notices a remarkable extinct volcano called Defafang, one +thousand feet high, which is situated some five miles from the east +bank of the Nile, in about latitude 10° 50′ north. This extinct volcano +was first discovered by Ferdinand Werne, who collected specimens +of the rocks,--chiefly basaltic lava. Defafang for a long time was +the boundary on that side of the Nile between the territory of the +Negroes on the south and that of the more or less Arab shepherds on +the north. + +[Illustration: SHILUKS.] + +At the village of Kaka, on the east bank of the White Nile, +Schweinfurth observed ruins of a fort which had once been the +headquarters of a renowned robber chief, Muhammad Kher. This man, who +flourished between 1840 and 1855, was a Nubian, who gathered round him +a number of well-armed Baggara Arab horsemen. He was one of the first +of the slave-traders to show how, by means of fortified stations, it +was possible to intimidate the Negroes of the Sudan and bring them +into subjection. Muhammed Kher and his Arabs devastated the country +for hundreds of miles along the banks of the Nile, exterminating +the population in many places. At Kaka Schweinfurth found himself +greeted by a great crowd of naked Shiluks, who, prompted by curiosity, +assembled on the shore. + + “The first sight of a throng of savages suddenly presenting + themselves in their native nudity is one from which no amount of + familiarity can remove the strange impression; it takes abiding + hold upon the memory, and makes the traveller recall anew the + civilisation he has left behind.... Although these savages are + altogether unacquainted with the refined cosmetics of Europe, they + make use of cosmetics of their own; viz., a coating of ashes for + protection against insects. When the ashes are prepared from wood + they render the body perfectly gray; when obtained from cow-dung + they give a rusty red tint, the hue of red devils. This colour is + only donned by land-owners. Ashes, dung, and the urine of cows + are the indispensable requisites of the toilet. The item last + named affects the nose of the stranger rather unpleasantly when he + makes use of any of their milk vessels, as, according to a regular + African habit, they are washed with it, probably to compensate for + a lack of salt.... Entirely bare of clothing, the bodies of the men + would not of themselves be ungraceful, but through the perpetual + plastering over with ashes they assume a thoroughly diabolical + aspect. The movements of their lean bony limbs are so languid, and + their repose so perfect, as not rarely to give the Shiluks the + resemblance of mummies; and whoever comes as a novice amongst them + can hardly resist the impression that in gazing at these ash-gray + forms he is looking upon mouldering corpses rather than upon living + beings.” + +As to the Bahr-al-Ghazal, Schweinfurth opines that the volume of +water brought down by the Gazelle River to swell the Nile is still an +unsolved problem. “In the contention as to which stream is entitled +to rank as first born among the children of the great river god, the +Bahr-al-Ghazal has apparently a claim in every way as valid as the +Bahr-al-Jabl (Mountain Nile). In truth, it would seem to stand in the +same relation to the Bahr-al-Jabl as the White Nile does to the Blue. +At the season when the waters are highest the inundations of the Ghazal +spread over a wide territory; about March, the time of year when they +are lowest, the river settles down in its upper section into a number +of vast pools of nearly stagnant water, whilst its lower portion runs +off into divers narrow and sluggish channels. These channels, overgrown +as they look with massy vegetation, conceal beneath (either in their +open depths or mingled with the unfathomable abyss of mud) such volumes +of water as to be in some places nearly unsoundable by moderate lengths +of pole or cord.” + +At the commencement of the real Bahr-al-Ghazal, where that broad +lake-like stream is formed by the confluence of the Dyur (Jur) and +other rivers, there was, before the uprising of the Mahdi and the +consequent devastation of the Sudan, a large trading-station originally +founded by the Nubian, Arab, and Coptic merchants of Khartum. This +was named Mashra-ar-Rak--transcribed, in the mincing Turkish fashion, +“Meshra-er-Rek.” Here merchants and travellers generally started on +their land journeys into the Nyam-nyam countries. Miss Tinne had paused +a long time at Mashra-ar-Rak, and it was supposed that there her +expedition had contracted the severe malarial fevers which eventually +caused the death of five out of its nine Europeans. Mashra-ar-Rak was +situated on a lake-like swelling of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, which expanse +is partly covered by four wooded islands. All the surroundings of this +lake-like estuary are very low and swampy. In all directions the eyes +rest on jungles of papyrus, with the exception of the few trees on the +islands aforementioned. + +A short time before Schweinfurth reached this place with its dismal +record of disease amongst Europeans, he heard that a French predecessor +had died not far from the Bahr-al-Ghazal. This was Le Saint, a French +naval officer, who had been despatched by the Paris Geographical +Society to make that extended exploration of the whole of the region +of the Bahr-al-Ghazal which Fate had destined Schweinfurth himself to +accomplish.[83] + +Schweinfurth’s own expedition had to be conducted in a most economical +and unobtrusive fashion. He made most of his great journeys between +the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the Congo watershed on foot. Remembering that +his expedition was purely scientific, and was financed by a scientific +society, he very wisely concerned himself with no question of ethics +or reform such as had hitherto caused all English explorers of these +regions to be hindered as much as possible by Nubians, Arabs, and +Turks. He was not there to undertake crusades, but to make collections. +He thus won and retained the friendship and confidence of men of all +colours, some of them, no doubt, great ruffians, but all made equally +to subserve the interests of science by affording sympathetic support +to one of the greatest and most genial of African explorers, Georg +Schweinfurth. Schweinfurth was no sympathiser with the slave-trade and +the barbarities to which it gave rise. “Throughout my wanderings,” he +writes, “I was for ever puzzling out schemes for setting bounds to this +inhuman traffic. On one point (i.e. the abolition of the slave-trade) +all are unanimous,--that from Islam no help can be expected, and that +with Islamism no pact can be made.” His reports on the behaviour of the +slave-traders did a great deal to bring about the abolition of this +devastation by Gordon Pasha and his officers some years later. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SCHWEINFURTH’S ACHIEVEMENTS AND DESCRIPTIONS + + +Dr. Schweinfurth spent three years exploring the regions of the +Bahr-al-Ghazal, and returned to Europe in the autumn of 1871. During +the course of his journeys he took no observation of latitude or +longitude, but kept a most accurate dead reckoning. He laid down with +astonishing accuracy much of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, of the courses of the +Rōl, the Roah and its affluents, the Dogoru and Tondi, the Jur, Nyenam, +Ji, Biri, Kuru, and Dembo tributaries of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, the upper +waters of the Sue and Yabongo; lastly, he crossed the Nile watershed +and entered that of the Congo, thus discovering the upper waters of the +Welle River and its many affluents. Here he thought that he had entered +the basin of the Shari River, but, as we know now, he had discovered +the head streams of that most important affluent of the Congo, the +Welle-Ubangi. + +Dr. Schweinfurth gave the first true and particular account of the +Congo Pygmies under the name of Akka, whom he found in the thickly +forested region on the northern limits of the Congo watershed; he drew +our attention to those remarkable “gallery” forests,[84] and to the +existence in the Nile basin of the chimpanzee, the gray parrot,[85] +and other West African types. He discovered a slightly civilised race +on this Congo-Nile water-parting--the Mangbettu--speaking a language +which has no known relations, but leading a life singularly similar to +that of the other semi-civilised Negro states of Unyoro and Uganda. +The Mangbettu and their chiefs exhibit traces of former intermixture +with Hamitic people. Dr. Schweinfurth also told us much we did not know +before as to the Nyam-nyam,[86] the Bongo, and the Dinka tribes. + +Schweinfurth possessed many qualifications for writing a book on +African exploration. He was a scientific botanist, and knew a great +deal of zoölogy. He had a quick ear for languages, and wrote down +vocabularies of the important dialects. He collected invaluable +notes on ethnology and anthropology. Although he was unable to do +much photography, he was a skilled draughtsman, and his beautiful +drawings are apt illustrations of his book. As regards the value of the +information he collected, no such book as Schweinfurth’s had appeared +before, with the exception of Barth’s classical work on the Western +Sudan; but Schweinfurth’s book was far ahead of Barth’s in the matter +of illustrations. These are as accurate as photographs, and yet much +clearer. More than any previous traveller who had written on Africa, +Schweinfurth is able to bring to our mental vision the different +aspects of vegetation. He describes the tree-lilies (_Dracænæ_), +with their bouquets of leaves like bayonets and their short, woody +stems, the Candelabra euphorbias, the coral red aloes, the dragon-like +_Bucerosia_, the leathery _Sanseviera_, and the gigantic clumps of the +grass-green _Salvadora_, which characterise the northern flanks of +Abyssinia. + +[Illustration: “PAPYRUS, FIFTEEN FEET HIGH.”] + +In another place he describes acacia groves on the right bank of the +White Nile above Khartum, with their enormous white bulbous thorns,[87] +and their oozy lumps of amber-coloured gum. He notes the remarkable +fact that little, if any, of the floating vegetation of the Upper +Nile reaches Egypt. He describes the jungles of papyrus, “fifteen +feet high,” the floating grass barriers and the sudd (which he calls +_sett_); the _suf_ reeds, the water-ferns, the floating _Pistia +stratiotes_ (like a pale-green lettuce), the duck-weeds, the beautiful +white and blue waterlilies. When he reached the vicinity of the +water-parting between the Nile and the Congo, he had entered the forest +region of West-Central Africa. This mighty tropical forest has no great +reverence for geographical boundaries, but overlaps in several places +the watershed of the Nile, while of course it exists in patches in +the basins of the Shari, the Benue, the Niger, and on the coast belt +of Upper and Lower Guinea. Perhaps the most marked feature of it, the +clearest indication of its West African nature, is the existence of the +climbing _Calamus_ palm, which is never found in typical East Africa. +The wonderful “gallery”[88] forests are described as follows:-- + + “Trees with immense stems, and of a height surpassing all that we + had elsewhere seen (not even excepting the palms of Egypt), here + stood in masses which seemed unbounded, except where at intervals + some less towering forms rose gradually higher and higher beneath + their shade. In the innermost recesses of these woods one would + come upon an avenue like the colonnade of an Egyptian temple, + veiled in the leafy shade of a triple roof above. Seen from + without, they had all the appearance of impenetrable forests, but, + traversed within, they opened into aisles and corridors which + were musical with many a murmuring fount. Hardly anywhere was + the height of these less than seventy feet, and on an average it + was much nearer one hundred; yet, viewed from without, they very + often failed to present anything of that imposing sight which was + always so captivating when taken from the brinks of the brooks + within. In some places the sinking of the ground along which the + gallery-tunnels ran would be so great that not half the wood + revealed itself at all to the contiguous steppes, while in that + wood (out of sight as it was) many a ‘gallery’ might still exist.” + +Most of these gigantic trees, the size of whose stems exceeds any +European forest growth, belong to the order of the _Sterculiæ_, +_Boswelliæ_, _Papilionaceæ_, _Rosaceæ_, or _Cæsalpiniæ_; to the +_Ficaceæ_, the _Artocarpeæ_, the _Euphorbiaceæ_, and the varied order +of the _Rubiaceæ_. Amongst the trees of second and third rank are a +few _Araliacea_, large-leaved figs, brilliant-flowered Spathodeas, +Combretums, and Mussændas, as well as innumerable other rubiaceous or +papilionaceous plants. There is no lack of thorny shrubberies; “and +the _Oncoba_, the _Phyllanthus_, the _Celastrus_, and the _Acacia +ataxacantha_, cluster after cluster, are met with in abundance.” +“Thick creepers climbed from bough to bough, the _Modecca_ being the +most prominent of all; but the _Cissus_, with its purple leaf, the +_Coccinea_, the prickly _Smilax_, the _Helmiæ_, and the _Dioscoreæ_, +had all their part to play. Made up of these, the whole underwood +spread out its ample ramifications, its great twilight made more +complete by the thickness of the substance of the leaves themselves.” + +[Illustration: A PATH THROUGH THE FOREST.] + +Down upon the very ground, again, there were masses, all but +impenetrable, of plants (mainly _Zingeberaceæ_ or else Arums) growing +large gorgeously painted leaves which contributed to fill up the gaps +left in this mazy labyrinth of foliage. First of all there were the +extensive jungles of the _Amomum_ and the _Costus_, rising full fifteen +feet high, and of which the rigid stems (like those of stout reeds) +either bar out the progress of a traveller altogether, or admit +him, if he venture to force his way among them, only to fall into the +sloughs of muddy slime from which they grow. + + “And then there was the marvellous world of ferns, destitute + indeed of stems, but running in their foliage to some twelve feet + high. Boundless in the variety of the feathery articulations of + their fronds, some of them seemed to perform the graceful part of + throwing a veil over the treasures of the wood; and others lent a + charming contrast to the general uniformity of the leafy scene. + High above these there rose the large, slim-stemmed _Rubiaceæ_ + (_Coffeæ_), which by regularity of growth and symmetry of leaf + appeared to imitate, and in a measure to supply the absence of, the + arboraceous ferns. Of all the other ferns the most singular which + I observed was that which I call the elephant’s ear. This I found + up in trees at a height of more than fifty feet, in association + with the _Angræcum_ orchis and the long gray beard of the hanging + _Usnea_.” + +Whenever the stems of the trees failed to be thickly overgrown by some +of these different ferns, they were rarely wanting in garlands of the +crimson-berried pepper. Far as the eye could reach, it rested solely +upon green which did not admit a gap. The narrow paths that wound +themselves partly through and partly around the growing thickets were +formed by steps consisting of bare and protruding roots which retained +the light, loose soil together. Mouldering stems, thickly clad with +moss, obstructed the passage at wellnigh every turn. “The air was no +longer that of the sunny steppe, nor that of the shady grove; it was +stifling as the atmosphere of a palm-house. Its temperature might vary +from 70° to 80° Fahr., but the air was so overloaded with an oppressive +moisture exhaled by the rank foliage that the traveller could not feel +otherwise than relieved to escape.” + + * * * * * + +In the second volume of his work Schweinfurth adds:-- + + “The cumbrous stems are thickly overgrown with wild pepper, and + the spreading branches are loaded with bead moss (_Usnea_) and + with that remarkable lichen which resembles an elephant’s ear. + High among the boughs are the huge dwellings of the tree-termites + (white ants). Some stems already decayed serve as supports for + immense garlands of _Mucuna_ (a bean), and overhung by impenetrable + foliage, form roomy bowers, where dull obscurity reigns supreme. + Such is the home of the chimpanzee.” + +Schweinfurth might have extended his researches further into the +unknown but for a disastrous campfire in the Dyur country, which +destroyed the greater part of his collections, journals, drawings, and +instruments. Eventually, with such of his collections as he was able to +save from the conflagration, Schweinfurth turned his steps northward +again, and reached Europe in 1871. He subsequently did much to increase +our knowledge of the botany of Abyssinia and Arabia, but never resumed +the rôle of African explorer. + +[Illustration: SCHWEINFURTH’S MAP.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +STANLEY CONFIRMS SPEKE + + +Dr. Schweinfurth evidently shared Burton’s opinions on the subject +of the Victoria Nyanza. Speke’s great discovery may be said to have +reached its low-water mark of depreciation in the map issued in 1873 to +illustrate Schweinfurth’s book, “The Heart of Africa.” On this map a +fairly correct estimate of the shape and area of the Albert Nyanza is +given, together with some hint of the abrupt commencement of the Congo +watershed west of Lake Albert. But the mountainous character of Unyoro +is greatly exaggerated, and the area of the great Victoria Nyanza is +taken up by five lakes and lakelets. Speke was dead, and Grant was +tired of asseverating that the Victoria Nyanza was one huge continuous +sheet of water. + +In 1873, just as Dr. Schweinfurth’s book was being published, Henry +Moreton Stanley, an Americanised Welshman, had returned to London from +the discovery and relief of Dr. Livingstone. Soon after his return +arrived the news of Livingstone’s death. The sorrow over this loss, and +enthusiasm at the half-finished discoveries on the great mysterious +river which Livingstone believed to be the Nile and everyone else the +Congo, caused the “Daily Telegraph” and the “New York Herald” to unite +in furnishing funds for a great expedition which should attempt to +clear up many African problems. This expedition Stanley (who therefrom +rose to be the greatest of African explorers) commanded. + +Starting from the coast opposite Zanzibar, whence so many expeditions +had set forth since Maizen[89] and Burton had made the first attempts, +Stanley travelled by the Unyamwezi route to the Victoria Nyanza, the +south shore of which he reached at the end of February, 1875. On +the 8th of March in that year Stanley (having put together a boat +which he brought in sections, and which he named the _Lady Alice_) +started--accompanied by eleven of his men--on a most adventurous voyage +along the eastern and northern shores of the lake. He coasted and named +the important southeastern arm of the Victoria Nyanza, which is known +as Speke Gulf. Passing rather hurriedly along the northeast coast of +the lake, he made one great blunder, in that he overlooked the very +narrow entrance to Kavirondo Bay (which is almost a separate lake), and +created instead a broad northern gulf which he called Ugowe Bay. Ugowe +Bay actually is the native name of quite a small shallow inlet on the +Uyoma coast. Stanley skirted at some distance the much indented shores +of Busoga, passed through what is now known as Rosebery Channel, and +so on up Murchison Gulf to the native capital of Uganda, then called +Rubaga (now known as Mengo). Here he had a splendid reception from +Mutesa, and here he met Édouard Linant de Bellefonds,[90] a Belgian in +the Egyptian government, who had been sent by Gordon Pasha to report on +the state of affairs in Uganda. + +Mutesa having agreed to send a large fleet of canoes to transport +all Stanley’s expedition to Uganda, Stanley then resumed his +circumnavigation of the lake, following the western shore. Passing +between the mainland of Karagwe and the little island of Bumbiri, he +was fiercely and unprovokedly attacked by the natives of that island, +who were a savage people ruled over by light-coloured Bahima chiefs. +Narrowly escaping disaster, he rushed through the opposing savages, got +into the _Lady Alice_, and his men paddled off with boards which they +tore up from the bottom of the boat. Having rejoined his expedition, +which he had left at a place called Kagehi, near to the modern German +station of Muanza, Stanley made one more blunder in his configuration +of the lake (which he was the first to set right years afterwards). +Deceived by a chain of islands, he curtailed the Victoria Nyanza of its +southwestern gulf, which extension of the lake Stanley subsequently +named after Emin Pasha. + +Reinforced by Mutesa’s fleet of canoes, Stanley’s entire expedition +was saved the long march through the Hima kingdoms to the west of the +Victoria Nyanza. But on his return journey to Uganda he was obliged to +stop and give a severe lesson to the Bumbiri islanders. These warlike +people barred the passage with their canoes. Stanley had been warned of +this opposition by the natives of Iroba on the mainland. Stanley seized +the king and two chiefs of Iroba as hostages, who should negotiate a +peace between himself and the king of Bumbiri. These hostages caught +for him the king’s son. At this moment a large reinforcement of Baganda +canoes arrived, and volunteered to go to Bumbiri and negotiate. But +they were attacked, and driven off with some loss. Stanley, therefore, +was obliged to inflict punishment. On the 4th of August, 1875, he +attacked Bumbiri, and drove its natives to the interior of the island. +The expedition then pursued its way along the west and north coasts +until they entered Napoleon Gulf and arrived at the Ripon Falls, where +the Nile leaves the lake. Here they found Mutesa encamped with a large +army, engaged in one of his periodical wars with Unyoro. + +Stanley not only ascertained the approximate area and shape of the +Victoria Nyanza, but he was able to define with some approach to +accuracy its principal islands and archipelagoes. After his journey +there was no longer any doubt as to Speke’s great discovery. The +question was settled once and for ever. + +[Illustration: THE VICTORIA NYANZA: UGANDA GOVERNMENT STEAMER IN THE +OFFING.] + +Leaving Uganda in December, 1875, Stanley accompanied an expedition +sent by Mutesa to the countries then governed by the Banyoro at the +base of Ruwenzori. Amazing to relate, Stanley was actually encamped +under the Ruwenzori range (called, by the Baganda, Gambaragara), +and yet was unaware of the importance of his discovery. He guessed +that the mountain in front of him might be from fourteen to fifteen +thousand feet high, and he called it Mount Edwin Arnold. What is +so extraordinary about the matter is that he relates (as though he +disbelieved them) the stories of the natives to the effect that white +stuff and intense cold characterised the upper parts of this mountain +range, yet he evinced little or no curiosity to ascertain the truth of +these statements. Of course at the time of his visit all the thirty +miles of snow and glaciers were concealed under heavy clouds. + +From the vicinity of Ruwenzori the party made its way to Lake Dweru, +which Stanley named Beatrice Gulf. This he learned from the natives +was (as it is) but a loop of a much larger lake. Years afterwards +Stanley was to realise that he had discovered a portion of Lake Albert +Edward. Quitting these regions of mysterious lakes and mountains, he +journeyed much more prosaically past the volcanoes of Mfumbiro and the +Hima kingdoms of Karagwe to Lake Tanganyika, which he reached at Ujiji +on its northeast coast. On this portion of the journey Stanley added +a good deal to our information regarding the ultimate source of the +Nile, the Kagera, though he was somewhat misled by native information, +and perhaps by exaggerated swamps, into the creation of a non-existing +lake, which he called the Alexandra Nyanza. His subsequent route across +Africa from Tanganyika to the mouth of the Congo does not concern the +present narrative. + +One interesting result of Stanley’s explorations of the Victoria +Nyanza, Uganda, and Unyamwezi was that Mr. (now Sir Edwin) Arnold[91] +was inspired to propose a Cape-to-Cairo overland telegraph wire to pass +via the Zambezi, Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika, to Uganda and the Egyptian +Sudan, thereby forestalling both Cecil Rhodes and the author of this +book in the advocacy of a continuous line of British communications +between South Africa and Egypt. + +[Illustration: STANLEY’S IDEA OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA.. 1880.] + +It has been mentioned that Stanley’s letter to the “Daily Telegraph,” +summoning missionaries to the court of Mutesa, decided the fate of +Uganda. This letter met with an immediate response, and in 1876 two +parties of English missionaries were sent out by the Church Missionary +Society. The Rev. G. Lichfield, Mr. C. W. Pearson, and Dr. R. W. Felkin +were despatched by the Nile route. They travelled from Suakin to +Khartum, and thence, by the help of Gordon Pasha, to the Albert Nyanza +and Uganda. The other half of the missionary party (Lieutenant Shergold +Smith, R.N., the Rev. C. T. Wilson, and, amongst others, Alexander +Mackay, a Scottish engineer) made the journey by way of Zanzibar and +Unyamwezi. Some of these missionaries were detained at the south +end of the Victoria Nyanza. Lieutenant Shergold Smith--a man of great +promise--journeyed across the lake in a boat and reached Uganda; but +soon after his return to the south end of the lake he was killed in an +attack made by the natives of Ukerewe (Bukerebe) on the Arab traders. +Leaving Mackay, Lichfield, and O’Neil in Uganda, C. T. Wilson and +R. W. Felkin decided to return to Europe, taking with them envoys +whom Mutesa wished to send to England. On their return journey they +were greatly troubled by the sudd, which then--as frequently before +and since--practically blocked the navigation of the main Nile. They +therefore made a very interesting overland journey through Darfur and +Kordofan, and thence back into Egypt. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +GORDON AND HIS LIEUTENANTS.--JUNKER AND THE NILE-CONGO WATER-PARTING + + +In 1874 Colonel Purdy and Colonel Colston (Englishmen) were despatched +by the Egyptian government respectively into Darfur and Kordofan +for surveying purposes. By their expeditions a good deal of the +country along these half-dry affluents of the Bahr-al-Arab and the +water-parting between the Shari and the Nile was explored and made +known. Their work was added to in some respects (1875–1876) by Sidney +Ensor, a civil engineer, who surveyed the route for a railway from Wadi +Halfa to Al Fasher, the capital of Darfur. + +The energetic work undertaken by Sir Samuel Baker of suppressing the +slave-trade in the Equatorial Province of the Egyptian Sudan was +carried much further by the celebrated Charles Gordon, who was destined +to die at Khartum under circumstances conferring on him lasting fame. +Gordon Pasha (as he subsequently became) had, as it is hardly necessary +to state, been an engineer officer. It was thought that his appointment +to the supreme government of the Egyptian Sudan (an appointment which +Baker had not held, since he worked with an Egyptian Governor-General +at Khartum) would--as it did--materially assist the improvement of +communications. Gordon made an interesting survey of the country +between Suakin and Berber on the Nile, and together with Lieutenants +Watson and Chippendall mapped the main Nile from Khartum to Gondokoro +and Lake Albert. He also caused the circumnavigation of that lake to be +effected. + +Soon after Gordon had taken up the work begun by Sir Samuel Baker, a +curious theory had been started concerning Lake Albert Nyanza. In those +days, when so much personal feeling was very naturally imported into +Nile exploration, and one great explorer vied with another, theories +were often started by A to minimise the work of B or to exaggerate +the results of A’s own discoveries. It has been already recounted how +Burton, piqued by Speke’s great discovery of the Victoria Nyanza, which +might have fallen to Burton’s own lot had he been less crippled with +fever, subsequently strove to prove the non-existence of that lake as +a continuous sheet of water. Speke in the most wonderful manner had +not only discovered the Victoria Nyanza, but had, by the collection +of native information and the deductions he drew therefrom, made, on +the whole, a remarkably accurate forecast of the Nile system in the +region of the equatorial lakes. He had put Lake Albert on the map, +merely from report, in a shape and position closely in accordance with +actuality. Not, however, being able to visit this lake himself, he +had handed the task over to Sir Samuel Baker, who had discovered the +Albert Nyanza, but had not been able to ascertain its area and shape. +Both Speke and Baker, however, assumed that the Victoria Nile entered +Lake Albert, and quitted that lake as the main stream of the White +Nile. Neither explorer, however, nor most that came after them, could +state positively that they had mapped the Victoria Nile along its whole +course from the Ripon Falls to Lake Albert, nor had they traced the +course of the Nile from Lake Albert northward to Gondokoro. Therefore +in the early seventies some theorist had started the ingenious idea +that Lake Albert belonged either to the system of the Congo or the +Shari, and that its waters drained away by an unknown river at the +south end, or else by an outlet to the north, which was not the Nile, +as generally assumed, but a river which flowed westward to the unknown. +The discovery about this time of Lake Kioga further confused notions +about the Nile system, and it was thought that the Victoria Nile +discovered by Speke did not enter Lake Albert, but in some tortuous way +joined the Asua, and so flowed on past Gondokoro, leaving Lake Albert +altogether out of its system. + +[Illustration: THE VICTORIA NILE FLOWING TOWARDS LAKE KIOGA.] + +To settle these doubts, Gordon resolved to despatch Romolo Gessi,[92] +who was then little more than a steamer engineer, though, having +been the mate of a Mediterranean steamer, he was able to take +astronomical observations. Gessi was therefore instructed to +circumnavigate Lake Albert. This task he carried out in 1876. He +ascertained positively that the Victoria Nile entered Lake Albert and +left it again, and he connected his rough survey of the Albertine Nile +with the work which was being carried on up stream from Gondokoro +by two English engineer officers in Gordon’s employ, Lieutenants +Watson[93] and Chippendall. In 1877 Colonel Mason (an American) took +advantage of the first steamer being placed on Lake Albert to make a +survey rather more careful than that of Gessi, but neither of these +explorers ascertained the existence of the Semliki River or of the +snow-range of Ruwenzori, though it is said that in some of Gessi’s +private letters mention was made of a strange apparition “like +snow-mountains” in the sky, which had appeared to some of his men at +the south end of Lake Albert,--a remark that attracted no attention at +the time. Gessi also records having seen the mouth of a large river at +the south end of Lake Albert, but it never seems to have occurred to +him that this river was probably of the greatest geographical interest. + +Nevertheless, when Gessi returned to Khartum to report the result of +his Albert Nyanza explorations to Gordon, the latter exclaimed, “What +a pity you are not an Englishman!” This remark is supposed to have +been made from pique that the two English officers despatched by Gordon +(Watson and Chippendall) had not arrived in time to accomplish what +a Levantine Italian had successfully performed. Gessi was already +somewhat offended, because he considered that he had done an excellent +piece of work, and he had only received as a reward a present of a few +hundred francs and the decoration of the Mejidieh, third class. He +therefore flung his fez at Gordon’s feet and tendered his resignation. +He journeyed to Italy, and was received with great distinction by the +Italian Geographical Society at Rome, who presented him with their Gold +Medal. He resolved, however, to return to work as an explorer, giving +particular attention to anthropological and zoölogical researches. He +engaged two Austrian-Italians--Giacomo Morch and Riccardo Buchta--to +accompany him. Buchta deserves special notice, as he was the first +careful photographer to visit the regions of the Upper Nile. His +photographs of the native types and scenery of these countries taken +between 1878 and 1882 are remarkably interesting. + +Soon after Gessi’s arrival in Egypt with all his stores, he was +informed that a fire had broken out at Suez railway station, resulting +in the complete destruction of all his goods, involving a monetary +loss of something like twelve hundred pounds. He therefore returned to +Italy, gave up the idea of exploring the Bahr-al-Ghazal, and instead +resolved to start for the river Sobat, and work his way from the upper +waters of that stream to the southern regions of Abyssinia, where +two Italians--Cecchi and Chiarini--were supposed to be wandering. His +second expedition was financed by generous Italians and by the late +King of Italy. He was accompanied by Dr. Pellegrino Matteucci, who was +subsequently to cross Africa from east to west and die at the end of +his journey. + +Ernst Marno, a Viennese, had attempted, in 1870, to ascend the Blue +Nile and then enter the country of the Galas to the south of it. After +penetrating, however, as far as Fadasi, he was obliged to turn back, +owing to the hostility of the people. The same obstacles turned back +Gessi and his companions, and the expedition to Kaffa was given up. +Returning to Khartum, Gessi was preparing to attempt the ascent of the +Sobat when Gordon returned to his post, from which he had been absent, +and invited Gessi to re-enter the service of the Egyptian government. +A serious revolt had occurred in the western part of the Egyptian +Sudan. The great slave-trader, Zubeir, who had conquered Darfur, had +become a danger to the Egyptian power. By dint of a wily invitation he +was lured to Cairo, and once in Egypt, was prevented by the Khedive +from returning to the Sudan. His son Suleiman, however, remained in +Darfur, and attempted to rise against the Egyptian government. His +attempt was frustrated by Gordon, who, however, pardoned him, and +appointed him sub-governor of his country with a handsome salary. But +in 1878 Suleiman openly espoused the cause of the Nubian and Arab +slave-traders whose devastations of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the White +Nile regions had been sternly suppressed by Baker and Gordon. Putting +himself at the head of these disaffected people, Suleiman practically +subjugated all the vast territory of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, and proclaimed +his independence. Gessi proceeded with a small force on steamers to +Lado, on the White Nile, where he met Emin Pasha. From this point +he started for the Nyam-nyam country,[94] picking up on the way all +the soldiers he could obtain from the various stations of the Sudan +government. He found that Suleiman had proclaimed himself “Lord of +Bahr-al-Ghazal, Rōl, and Makarka.” At Dem Idris, in the most western +part of the Bahr-al-Ghazal province, the great battle took place.[95] +The people of the country were on the side of Gessi and the Egyptian +forces, because of the incessant slave-raiding of Suleiman and his +men. Gessi had entrenched himself and his small force, which at the +outside amounted to seven thousand men, regulars and irregulars. He had +several pieces of artillery that fired grape-shot. His entrenchments +were assaulted by Suleiman’s forces, and as the result of this attack +Suleiman lost his flags, much of his ammunition, and most of his guns, +together with several thousand of his men. Nevertheless, in spite of +the recovery of Egyptian prestige throughout the Sudan, Suleiman’s +power was not yet at an end. He gathered up more forces, and continued +to attack Gessi. At last reinforcements arrived from the north which +enabled Gessi to take the offensive. He captured stronghold after +stronghold. In the spring of 1879 Suleiman was flying for his life with +only a thousand men. Gessi destroyed almost all the strongholds of +the slavers (some of which had existed for twenty-five years, and had +devastated all the country around) in the province of Bahr-al-Ghazal. + +Gordon Pasha had now come to Gessi’s assistance, and established +himself at Shakka on the Nile. He also invaded Darfur, reconquered +that country, and prevented reinforcements reaching Suleiman from that +direction. Eventually, after a hundred fights, Gessi succeeded in +tracking Suleiman to his last refuge. At the time he had no more than +two hundred men with him, whilst Suleiman had eight hundred. Taking +the camp entirely by surprise, he tried a game of bluff, and sent a +messenger to tell Suleiman that he had surrounded his place with a +large force, and that resistance was hopeless. Suleiman therefore +surrendered. Gessi tried him by court-martial, and had him shot in +November, 1879. This ended the first of the great rebellions which +menaced Anglo-Egyptian authority in the Sudan. Gessi was made a Pasha +for his services, and Governor of the Bahr-al-Ghazal province. He +slowly brought about peace among the distracted Negro tribes. + +During all the operations undertaken by Gordon and Gessi a good many +additions were made to the geography of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, the +Bahr-al-Arab, and Darfur. After Gordon’s departure from the Sudan Gessi +found it impossible to work with the Egyptian Governor-General, Raiūf +Pasha. He was also extremely ill. He therefore decided to return to +Europe, but got no farther than Suez, where he died in 1881, having +uttered several premonitions as to the possibility of another revolt. +As a matter of fact, the Mahdi, who had just begun to make himself +known as a rebel, did little more than carry on the reaction against +the anti-slave-trading policy of the Anglo-Egyptian control. All the +elements of Suleiman’s revolt which had been destroyed by the splendid +valour of Gessi and Gordon gathered round the new leader, and brought +about that cataclysm which closed the area of Nile exploration for +fourteen years. + +Édouard Linant de Bellefonds, the Belgian official in Gordon’s +employment of whom mention was made in the previous chapter, and who +had met his death at the hands of the Bari, was avenged by the American +C. Chaillé-Long, who inflicted severe chastisement on the Bari and +allied tribes at and around Gondokoro. Chaillé-Long was made a colonel +by the Egyptian government. He was despatched by Gordon on a mission to +Uganda to spy out the land; but owing to the intervention of Sir John +Kirk from Zanzibar, the British government stayed the ambitious Khedive +from attempting to include Uganda in the Egyptian Sudan. Chaillé-Long +added a little to our knowledge of the Victoria Nile, and gave a more +detailed report of Lake Kioga than had been previously gleaned from +the unscientific journey of Piaggia. He named this lake “Ibrahim.” +Chaillé-Long also travelled to the west of the Mountain Nile in the +Nyam-nyam countries. His book (“Central Africa: Naked Truths of Naked +People”) is unfortunately marred by much incorrect information, and by +the erroneous spelling of native names. Mutesa, the ruler of Uganda, is +disguised as “M’tse;” Uganda becomes Ugunda, while preposterous plurals +are invented for the people of Uganda and Unyoro, who are called the +Ugundi, Unyori, etc. Chaillé-Long’s one practical contribution to Nile +exploration was the definite discovery of Lake Kioga, which had only +been hesitatingly reported by the unlearned Piaggia. + +Ernst Marno, the Viennese, surveyed a good deal of country west of +Lado and the Mountain Nile,--the valley of the Yei among other rivers. +Casati, an Italian officer, journeyed all over the lands of the +Egyptian Sudan; but as he was an unscientific observer and lost all +his journals in the troubles that followed on the Mahdi’s revolt, his +contributions to our knowledge of the Nile regions are practically +worthless. + +Dr. Gustav Nachtigal, one of the great African explorers, was born +at Eichstadt, near Magdeburg, in Germany. He was despatched on a +mission to Bornu by the King of Prussia. After years spent with great +advantage to science in the Sahara, round Lake Chad, and on the Shari +River, he passed from Wadai into the Nile basin in the country of +Darfur, and added somewhat to our geographical knowledge of this little +known part of the Nile basin. Nachtigal reached Khartum at the end of +1874. Another German was to contribute his share to the opening up of +the Nile basin. Dr. Wilhelm Junker was born at Moscow in 1840 of German +parents, and was educated in Germany. He started for Egypt in 1875 with +the intention of going to Darfur, but he spent some time examining +the Libyan Desert and the curious blocked outlet of the Nile in the +Fayūm. After exploring the Atbara as far as Kasala and journeying +thence across country to the Blue Nile, he travelled up the Sobat River +to Nasr (a point at which all exploration of the Sobat stopped for +many years), and then made his way to the White Nile and the Makarka +(Nyam-nyam) country. His journeys through the Bahr-al-Ghazal province +took him as far south as the Kibali or Welle River. After a visit to +Europe with his collections and notes, he returned to the Welle and +the Mangbettu country. He explored the Welle and its tributaries for +some distance eastward and westward. Munza, the celebrated king of the +Mangbettu, about whom Schweinfurth wrote so much, had been murdered by +the Nubian slave-traders, and the country about the Upper Welle was +much disordered. Junker reached the Nepoko River, which is an affluent +of the Aruwimi. His journeys westward to the Welle River near its +confluence with the Mbomu convinced him that this mysterious stream, +the existence of which had first been reported by Miani and Potagos (a +Greek trader), was after all the most northern affluent of the Congo, +and not the Upper Shari. Junker’s journeys were now interrupted by the +news of the Mahdi’s revolt. + +[Illustration: NUĒR VILLAGE, SOBAT RIVER.] + +Frank Lupton (Bey), a native of Essex, and once a mate on a small +steamer plying between the Red Sea ports, had entered Gordon’s service, +and had become in time Governor of the Bahr-al-Ghazal province. Lupton +added a good deal to our knowledge regarding the many affluents of the +Bahr-al-Ghazal. He unhappily fell into the hands of the Dervishes, +and eventually lost his life. Lupton managed to warn Junker of the +outbreak, and the Russo-German traveller then made his way across +country to Lado. There he stayed until the news arrived of the fall +of Khartum. He then started for Uganda, crossed the Victoria Nyanza +by the help of the English missionaries, and travelled to Zanzibar +by way of Unyamwezi. Junker brought home with him the invaluable +journals of Emin Pasha. His own two great works on the Nile basin are +full of interesting information concerning the natives. He added much +to our knowledge of the southern tributaries of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, +but the chief value and glory of his work lay in the Congo basin and +was concerned with the identification of the Welle-Kibali with the +Ubangi. He also discovered the important northern tributary of the +Welle, the Mbomu. Junker’s observations regarding natural history +are not altogether trustworthy or accurate. His work in this respect +is not to be compared with that of Schweinfurth or Emin. His books +are badly illustrated, the drawings of beasts and birds being seldom +recognisable, and the pictures of the people quite without any +scientific value. + +Two Italian officers, Massari and Matteucci, crossed the Nile +basin just before the uprising of the Dervishes closed the Sudan +to exploration for sixteen years. They passed through the northern +frontier lands of Abyssinia, descended the White Nile, and ascended +the Bahr-al-Ghazal, entered Darfur and quitted the Nile basin on the +borders of Wadai, which excessively hostile Muhammadan state they +actually traversed unharmed. From Wadai they reached the West Coast via +Bornu and the Niger, but only to die respectively in England and Italy +soon afterwards. For daring and courage the journey was a marvel; for +geography it was a nullity. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by Maull & Fox._] + +JOSEPH THOMSON AND WILHELM JUNKER.] + +When the intensity of the Dervish rule was slackening, in the early +nineties of the last century various Belgian officers, such as +Lieutenant Van Kerckhoven, passed the Congo basin to the Bahr-al-Arab +and the westernmost tributaries of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, and threw +a little fresh light on the still mysterious hydrography of the +Nile-Shari water-parting. They pointed the way, however, to Joseph +Marchand and his associates. This gallant band of Frenchmen, in +1897, made their way from the Mbomu River (Congo basin) down +the Jur (Sue) to the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the White Nile, to face +England at Fashoda. Marchand was accompanied, amongst other European +officers and non-commissioned officers, by Lieutenants A. H. Dyé and +Tanguedec. Tanguedec remained till 1900 on the Mountain Nile near the +Bahr-az-Ziraf. Dyé gave, in 1902, some account of the explorations of +the Bahr-al-Ghazal region undertaken by the Marchand expedition. The +swamps which characterise the northeastern part of the Bahr-al-Ghazal +province render the definite mapping of the lower courses of its great +rivers extremely difficult. Nevertheless, in the most systematic way, +Marchand and his companions, in their little steam launch _Faidherbe_, +surveyed the Sue or Jur (the longest stream flowing into the +Bahr-al-Ghazal estuary), the Bahr-al-Arab, Bahr-al-Hamr, the Tonj, and +Rōl. + +The Bahr-al-Ghazal itself, from Mashra-ar-Rak downwards, was carefully +surveyed, and many indications were found of the changes which have +taken place since the days of its early explorers, though M. Dyé +considers the sketch given by Lejean in 1862 as wonderfully correct in +its general outlines. + +After describing the ferruginous laterite plateau, which occupies +the whole southern part of the Bahr-al-Ghazal province, as well as +adjoining parts on the Congo basin, Lieutenant Dyé sketches the +transition from this region, in which the streams flow in steep-sided +valleys to the sea of swamps which lies along the ninth parallel. It is +in about 7° 20′ north that the first change occurs, the river-banks +opening out and leaving between them an alluvial-flood plain, grassy +and intersected by swamps, through which the river winds in a tortuous +course, much choked by sand-banks. At the height of the rains this +is entirely flooded. Still lower, the rocky valley sides entirely +disappear, and the clayey banks sink below the mean water-level, the +rivers becoming more and more narrow, and diminishing in depth until +they are finally lost, each in its own belt of swamp, which forms a sea +of grass, “Um Suf” [fleecy reeds], and papyrus. + +Lieutenant Dyé, in his description, divides the estuary or drainage +channel of the Bahr-al-Ghazal below Mashra-ar-Rak into three sections, +each with its particular characteristics, the general trend of the +estuary, however, below Mashra-ar-Rak being north, then northeast, and +lastly east. The first section near Mashra-ar-Rak is at times of great +width, as at the expansion known as Lake Ambady or Ambach. There is +much floating vegetation, and the channels frequently change with the +winds. The depth is nowhere greater than thirteen feet in this section, +which is distinguished as the region of lakes, lagoons, and reed-beds. +In the second section, characterised by the growth of papyrus, the +channel becomes much narrower, and reaches depths of twenty feet and +more, though the figures given by former travellers seem somewhat +exaggerated. The width becomes greater again in the last section, +the banks of which are, as a rule, marked by ant-hills covered with +brushwood. Schweinfurth was mistaken in saying that the current +of the Bahr-al-Ghazal is imperceptible, for, except in expansions +and side branches, some movement can always be traced, and in the +narrowest section it reaches a speed of one mile and a quarter an hour. +A remarkable characteristic of the region is the small variation of +water-level between the seasons, owing to the impounding of the water +in the marshes. The maximum flood-level occurs on the Bahr-al-Ghazal in +November and December, or two months later than that on the Sue, and +various facts are quoted showing the slight effect which a rise in the +upper courses of the streams has on the water-level of the swamp region. + +[Illustration: A STERNWHEEL STEAMBOAT. + +Forcing its way up the Jur (Sue) or main affluent of the +Bahr-al-Ghazal.] + +Given their resources and the distance they had to traverse (from +Loango on the West Coast to Fashoda on the Nile, and afterwards to +Abyssinia and Somaliland via the Congo, Ubangi, Mbomu, Sue, and +Bahr-al-Ghazal), the enemies they had to encounter, the allies they +had to win, the privations they had to endure: the journey of Marchand +and his companions is one of the most splendid feats in African +exploration, and well deserves the admiration accorded to it in France +and England. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JOSEPH THOMSON, MT. ELGON, AND KAVIRONDO BAY + + +It will be remembered that a remarkable turn was given to Nile +exploration when between 1849 and 1855 the German missionaries in the +employ of the Church Missionary Society at Mombasa reported their +explorations of inner East Africa,--explorations which revealed the +existence of snow-mountains, and which gathered reports of great lakes +in the interior. The outcome of these researches on the part of Krapf +and Rebman was the despatch of Speke and Burton in search of the Nile +lakes. We read that only Burton’s excessive prudence prevented this +first expedition to the lakes from starting inland from Mombasa and +following the trading route right through the Masai country to the +Victoria Nyanza. This was the route followed by Arab traders as far +back as 1850. The terror caused by the Masai led to great exaggerations +of the dangers of this direct journey. Its chief difficulty lay in the +fact that owing to the ravages of the Masai and the somewhat waterless +character of the intervening country, there were no inhabitants for +a distance of some two hundred miles between the coast regions on +the east and the fertile lands bordering the Victoria Nyanza on the +west. The missionaries, German and English, who were settled at or +near Mombasa, continued to collect information from Arab caravans. +In this way news arrived of the existence of the Rift valley, with +its chain of lakes, salt and fresh, and of some greater lake beyond +called “Samburu,” afterwards known as Lake Rudolf; also of the Nilotic +Negroes in the country of Kavirondo, on the northeast coast of the +Victoria Nyanza. Much of this information was industriously gathered up +by a most excellent missionary, the late Mr. Wakefield,[96] who sent +his notes and theories to an eminent geographer, E. G. Ravenstein. +Mr. Ravenstein prepared this information for the use of the Royal +Geographical Society, and in about 1880 had gathered together all that +was known from surveys and reports into maps illustrating Eastern +Equatorial Africa. + +[Illustration: N.E. CORNER OF VICTORIA NYANZA (WITH SAMIA HILLS IN +DISTANCE). + +Near where Joseph Thomson struck the lake shore at the end of his long +march, December, 1883.] + +As the result of the interest these maps inspired, the Royal +Geographical Society resolved, in 1882, to despatch on this search for +a direct route to the Victoria Nyanza, Joseph Thomson, a very young and +very brilliant African explorer, who had already performed a remarkable +journey to lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika. Joseph Thomson left Mombasa +in the spring of 1883, and after several checks and disappointments, +finally crossed Masailand (Dr. Fischer, a German, had discovered the +Rift valley and Lake Naivasha a year previously), settled at last the +existence of the much exaggerated Lake Baringo, and finally reached +the northeast coast of the Victoria Nyanza, in Kavirondo Bay, on the +borders of Busoga. So far as Nile exploration was concerned, the +chief immediate result of Joseph Thomson’s remarkable journey was +to draw attention to Stanley’s blunder about Ugowe Bay. But Thomson +himself only made a step towards the delineation of this gulf; his +work had subsequently to be finished by Mr. C. W. Hobley and Commander +Whitehouse. He discovered Mount Elgon, however (previously alluded to +by Stanley as Mount Masawa), and was, politically, the forefather of +the Uganda Railway. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by Jamieson & Co._] + +JOSEPH THOMSON.] + +The present writer supplemented Thomson’s work in the neighbourhood of +the snow-mountain Kilimanjaro, and laid the foundations there of the +British Protectorate of East Africa. Bishop Hannington followed in an +attempt to repeat Thomson’s journey to the Victoria Nyanza, and thus +enter Uganda. The missionary bishop was murdered on the confines of +Uganda, and his plucky enterprise added nothing to our geographical +knowledge. Then came Count Samuel Teleki von Szek (a Hungarian) and +Lieutenant von Höhnel (an Austrian naval officer) in 1887. Although +the expedition led by these gentlemen never actually entered the Nile +basin, it achieved the most important results of discovering lakes +Rudolf and Stephanie, and thereby limiting the Nile basin on the +southeast. Ernest Gedge and F. J. Jackson crossed what is now British +East Africa in 1889–1890, and reached Elgon, the Victoria Nyanza, +and Uganda. Dr. Carl Peters made the same journey in 1890, but did not +add to our geographical knowledge in the basin of the Nile. All these +expeditions were the direct result of Joseph Thomson’s work. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +EMIN PASHA + + +The remarkable man whose name is given to this chapter was a German +Jew,--Eduard Schnitzer,--born in Silesia about 1830. Becoming a +doctor of medicine, he gradually drifted to Austria and thence to +Turkey, where he engaged in much medical service in the suite of high +officials. To some extent he adopted the religion of Islam, and changed +his name to Dr. Emin. Attracted by the mystery of Central Africa, he +found his way to Khartum, and from being a mere medical practitioner, +became a Bey in the service of the Egyptian government under General +Gordon. He did a great deal to add to our knowledge of the eastern +tributaries of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the western tributaries of the +Mountain Nile. He explored the Nile-Congo water-parting, and made very +interesting notes on Unyoro, Uganda, and the Albert Nyanza. He also +added considerably to our knowledge of the Latuka, Bari, and Acholi +countries. Strange to relate, though he lived so much between 1877 +and 1888 on the Albert Nyanza, he never once sighted the remarkable +snow-range of Ruwenzori. This extraordinary omission may have been +due to the fact that he was very short-sighted. He would, therefore, +not himself have noticed any remarkable appearance in the sky, and +probably the Negroes and Turks around him were too dull-witted to draw +his attention to the snow-peaks on the rare occasions on which they +were visible. In travelling along the west coast of Lake Albert Nyanza, +however, he discovered the Semliki River flowing into that lake, and +called it the river Dweru.[97] Emin Pasha’s journals and letters, which +were brought to England by Dr. Junker, were issued as a book in 1888. +Regarding this compilation, it may be classed as one of the few great +books that have ever been written about tropical Africa. It is full +of concise and valuable information on natural history, anthropology, +languages, and geography.[98] He gives a very interesting description +of the mountainous country of Lotuka (Latuka), and of the regions +further east. + +He had been received by Latome, “an elderly gentleman of medium height +and rather pleasing features,” who was the ruler of the nude and +handsome Lotuka Negroids:-- + + “Meantime a motley crowd assembled in the yard,--women and girls, + the former with leather aprons, the latter entirely nude; men + of different districts, all armed with shields and spears,--the + genuine Lotuka people, recognisable by their slight figures and + long faces,--all nude, and adorned with iron ornaments, ivory rings + on the upper arm, broad copper rings as necklaces, and helmets + of shining brass or copper plates, surmounted by waving ostrich + plumes. Some of them wore caps made of basket work. After our + reception was over, we visited the summit of the hill, whence a + splendid view is obtained, extending from Mount Loligono in the + Bēr country, northwards over the whole Lokoya range, to the west, + and to the high peaks of the Obbo Mountains, in the south and + southwest, where the horns of Jebel Asal tower up,--so named on + Baker’s map, but called by the Bari “Ekara,” and by the Lotuka + “Chufal,”--then away to the long lofty ranges of Molong and Killio, + the defile leading to Tarangole, with its hills rising up like + sentinels, and finally the long range of Lafit, which closes the + scene on the northeast,--a typical Alpine landscape.” + +The Lotuka people, it might be mentioned, are very similar in +appearance and language to the Elgumi tribe, which is much farther +south, in the vicinity of Mount Elgon. Both these peoples are nearly +related in origin to the Masai. They should properly be styled +Lotuka.[99] + +[Illustration: EMIN PASHA.] + +Of the Lotuka country Dr. Emin writes:-- + + “The sky was overclouded when we left Tarangole. Taking a + southeasterly course along Khor Kos,[100] through beautiful park + land, we reached the ford in about half an hour. The _khor_ was + here about twenty-two yards broad, and full of yellowish water, + which reached up to our thighs, and flowed over a sandy, rocky + bottom. We had a pleasant march over a good firm road, across + sandy country covered with open wood, the ground being rather wet + in some places; the predominance of acacias (_Acacia albida_, _A. + mellifera_, and _A. campylacantha_) and _Balanites_ gave a gray + tone to the scenery. Khor Oteng, now very insignificant, is said to + pour such large volumes of water into Khor Kos[101] in the rainy + season that the passage is often rendered impossible for hours. + The ford of Khor Kos is called Chuchur; a splendid forest of doleb + palms (_Borassus_) yielding an abundance of odorous fruits, skirts + the khor, copses of various other trees intervening. Large flat + blocks of friable granite, with white streaks, lie across the + road that leads direct to the foot of the hill of Loguren, which + is about four hundred feet high. Its summit is crowned with the + dome-shaped huts of the village bearing the same name. + + “Dum Palms (_Hyphæne thebaica_) grow here, as they do at the ford + of Khor Kos. It appears, therefore, that the southern limit of this + tree runs along the Bahr-al-Jabl between Bor and Lado, and then + advances farther to the south, no doubt owing to the sandy soil + which connects the Lotuka and Somal districts.[102] Picturesque + groups of rocks, inhabited by the restless Hyrax, well-tilled + fields, and here and there small clumps of doleb palms are seen + along the road to Elianga, where, on the edges of the rocks, + numerous clay vessels containing human bones seem to say ‘Memento + mori,’ a rather unnecessary warning in Central Africa.” + +Emin describes the Lotuka villages as being dreadfully dirty, in +contrast to the Bari settlements, which are always kept scrupulously +clean within, though their environments are filthy. Hundreds of rats +and mice infest the Lotuka huts. These latter are built upon round +substructures about four and one-half feet high, usually caulked +and overlaid with mud. The huts are surmounted by bell-shaped roofs +(sometimes peaked), which project considerably over the substructures. +A small doorway is left open, about two and a half feet high, which +must, of course, be entered on all fours. The interior is kept fairly +clean, but is quite dark. The thatch is generally made of grass; many +huts are covered with split leaves of the _Borassus_ palm, which are +more durable and compact,--a very desirable quality for withstanding +tropical rain. Sheep and goats are the only domestic animals kept here; +the former are long legged and of a superior breed. The Lotuka do not +seem to keep dogs. Agriculture, as is usual among hunting tribes, is +rather neglected, although the soil is excellent, and the Sudanese +soldiers stationed in Lotuka grew without difficulty durrah, maize, +ground-nuts, and splendid watermelons. + +Ostriches are caught when young, and are tamed in the Lotuka +settlements. Sometimes they are hatched from eggs buried in the sand. +Snakes of many kinds, especially viperine, frequent the Lotuka villages +unmolested by the people, and often making their way into the huts +after the rats. A poisonous species of _Echis_ is, however, much +dreaded. + +Okkela in the Lotuka country was a paradise for a natural history +collector like Emin. The belt of wood round this settlement was full +of treasures. There were many Colobus monkeys, whose white dorsal mane +and tail-tuft gleamed through the dark foliage, small families of them +being led by white-bearded old males which gazed fearlessly at the +stranger. Close by a brown baboon mother might be giving her offspring +rough lectures on good manners, which, to judge from the howling, were +not much appreciated; “tall, fox-coloured baboons, white on the under +side,[103] were chasing one another along the tree-tops, and barking +and yelping like hoarse dogs. A small mouse-coloured monkey with a +black face, and quite unknown to me, skulked away through the thick +bush; two varieties of _Funambulus_ squirrels ran up and down the long +tendrils of the creeping plants, and the graceful _Xerus leucumbrinus_ +squirrel roved about upon the ground. Small cats, ichneumons, rats, +and mice had also found a comfortable shelter in the woods, and other +creatures, quite unknown, to judge from the description, are said to +haunt it, especially at night.” + +Birds were even more numerous and striking. “Gorgeous blue kingfishers +(_Halcyon senegalensis_ and _H. semicærulea_) and beautiful bee-eaters +(_Merops bullockii_ and _M. albicollis_) were perched on the dry +boughs waiting for insects; a large gray cuckoo, probably a new +variety,[104] could be heard in the tree-tops, as also the handsome +_Cuculus capensis_, whose loud cry the Nile Negroes interpret by the +word _lashakong_ (my gourd), and a charming little falcon (_Nisus_ +sp.) joined them with a sharp chirp, which the natives call _lefit_, +a happy imitation of its cry. Snow-white _Terpsiphone_ and brilliant +golden cuckoos (_Chalcites cupreus_ and _C. clasii_) were swinging in +the green leafy bowers, and cunning barbets (_Pogonorhynchus rolleti_, +_P. diadematus_, and _P. abyssinicus_) came into sight for a moment, +to disappear again directly like woodpeckers. In the thick copsewood +_Bessornis heuglinii_ flew off at my approach with a sudden cry of +fear, and _Cichladusa guttata_ sang as loudly, but was not quite so +shy. An _Aedon_ warbled its beautiful song among the thickest briars, +and was accompanied by the tapping of numerous woodpeckers. I caught +_Picus nubicus_, the rarer _P. minutus_, and another kind which I +think is new; it closely resembles _P. schoensis_, and it is equally +handsome.” + +Animal life abounded also in the open country of Lotuka,--a land +covered with shrubs, with broad, grassy clearings and sandy flats. The +ground was strewn with the shells of _Achatina zebra_; small lizards +and snakes of various kinds--among them the rare _Typhlops_--glided +over the sand, and larger snakes hissed frightfully and retreated. +A concert of croaking frogs would arise from the reedy margins of +the half-dry rivers, and on the sandy islands of the Kos enormous +crocodiles were watching the children bathing close by. Herds of _Cobus +leucotis_[105] grazed on the young grass; large wart hogs issued +from holes in the ground. “They were,” writes Emin, “no despicable +antagonists, for they can make very good use of their huge tusks. Going +further into the bush, I saw the elegant form of a wild cat stealing +off with its tail in the air, and heard a loud growl from a leopard +which disapproved of my presence. Lions were most plentiful.” + +[Illustration: RAPHIA PALMS BY A CENTRAL AFRICAN STREAM.] + +A herd of zebras grazing on the fresh green grass is a pleasant +picture, whether surrounded by their frolicking young or running +away at a thundering gallop. One does not often meet with the +scaly ant-eater, _Manis temmincki_, still less with the earth-pig +(_Orycteropus æthiopicus_), but a fine example of the latter edentate +having fallen into a pitfall, Emin was able to attest its presence in +Nile land. + +Emin’s journeys in the region of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and along the +water-parting between the basins of the Nile and the Congo added +greatly to our knowledge of those countries. The forests in these +regions he described as magnificent “gallery” woods, in which all the +marvels of vegetation unfolded themselves before the enchanted gaze of +the botanist. These forests border the streams, and exist only near to +running water. The region, however, of immense unbroken forests, in +which one may wander for hours without seeing a sunbeam, and where one +hears the rain beating upon the summits of the trees without feeling +a drop, commences only a little to the west of the Nyam-nyam (Zande) +country. There is no doubt that much of the Bahr-al-Ghazal region +was originally quite covered with forests, to judge from the remains +of virgin woods which still exist. The gradual disappearance of the +forest is to be attributed to the comparatively thick population, the +constant removal of villages and fields, and to the inroads of both +axe and fire. Emin saw the remains of many a gigantic and magnificent +forest-tree lying rotting on the ground, having been cut down, and +given to decay because it spread too much shade over the crops. After +many years of wandering among these regions, he was inclined to think +that in ancient times the true Central African forest region, that is, +the permanence of evergreen woods containing westerly species, extended +much farther to the north than it does to-day. Towards the east of the +Nyam-nyam country, as far as the district of Janda, he observed such +West African forms as _Artocarpus_ and _Anthocleista_, but he states +that the valley of the Mountain Nile throughout its whole length, as +far south as Lake Albert, is characterised by steppe vegetation, as is +also the entire eastern region of the Nile basin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +STANLEY DISCOVERS THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON AND LAKE ALBERT +EDWARD.--THE END OF EMIN + + +Two sets of circumstances now hindered further exploration of the Nile +basin,--the revolt of the Mahdi, with the disasters that followed at +Khartum; and the persecution of the Christians followed by civil war +in Uganda. Emin Pasha was left to govern Equatoria for four years, cut +off from all communication with Egypt. Dr. Junker, arriving with his +collections and journals in 1886, aroused a great wave of enthusiasm +in England and Germany. Stanley at once offered to lead a relief +expedition to the Equatorial provinces of the Nile. The great prestige +of this remarkable man made it impossible for any other candidate to +enter the field in England. Many, however, were in favour of entrusting +the expedition to Thomson, who believed in the practicability of +conducting it by a direct route from Mombasa to Mount Elgon, and so +across to the Nile. Whether he would have succeeded is a moot question, +owing to the fierceness of the Nile tribes between Elgon and Gondokoro, +and the jealousy and suspicion of Uganda and Unyoro; for the King +of Uganda, having had his fears aroused as to European aggression, +had already caused Bishop Hannington to be murdered for repeating +Thomson’s journey to Busoga. + +Stanley was precluded from following the old Unyamwezi route, owing +to German jealousy. He decided, therefore, to strike at the Upper +Nile by way of the Congo, and so found himself struggling through the +dense forests of the Congo basin between the navigable waters of the +Aruwimi and the cliffs of Lake Albert. This wonderful journey, which +he took for the relief of Emin Pasha, resulted in the discovery of +the real Mountains of the Moon [Ruwenzori], the complete course of +the Semliki River, Lake Albert Edward, and the southwesternmost gulf +of the Victoria Nyanza. Stanley added a great deal to our knowledge +of the Congo Pygmies, who in this direction stray over into the Nile +watershed; but his grand discovery on this occasion was Ruwenzori. On +May 24, 1888, about five miles from Nsabe, on the grassy mountains to +the southwest of Lake Albert Nyanza, + + “while looking to the southeast and meditating upon the events of + the last month, my eyes were directed by a boy to a mountain said + to be covered with salt, and I saw a peculiar shaped cloud of a + most beautiful silver colour, which assumed the proportions and + appearance of a vast mountain covered with snow. Following its form + downward, I became struck with the deep blue-black colour of its + base, and wondered if it portended another tornado; then as the + sight descended to the gap between the eastern and western plateaux + I became for the first time conscious that what I gazed upon was + not the image or semblance of a vast mountain, but the solid + substance of a real one, with its summit covered with snow.... + It now dawned upon me that this must be the Ruwenzori, which was + said to be covered with a white metal or substance believed to be a + rock, as reported by Kavali’s two slaves.” + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by John Fergus._] + +SIR HENRY STANLEY, G.C.B.] + +This view was obtained from a distance of seventy miles,--about the +distance of the chief snows of Ruwenzori from the south end of Lake +Albert Nyanza. The constant haze rising from the Semliki valley no +doubt keeps this mountain usually invisible from the waters of the +lake. It is, therefore, not so surprising that it was not hitherto seen +by the explorers of the Albert Nyanza, as it is that Stanley himself +should have camped at the very base of this mountain for some days +in 1875, and have been ignorant of its true character as the highest +ground and the most completely snow-and-glacier-covered range in the +whole of Africa. The name that he has given to it unfortunately does +not completely correspond with the native pronunciation; it should be +Runsororo. + +The discovery of this snowy range was soon followed by the realisation +of the Semliki River, another geographical name of Stanley’s giving +which it is most difficult to trace to any native source. (The Semliki, +in fact, is never called by any native tribe “Semliki.” It is known as +Dweru, Nyanja, Ituri, Isango, and other Bantu terms indicating _lake_ +or _river_. When first discovered by Emin Pasha, a short time before +Stanley’s arrival, it was known as the Dweru.) This stream is really +the Albertine Nile. Its existence had been surmised by Sir Samuel +Baker without much foundation (then) for his theory. Emin Pasha first +noted it in 1884 as a feeder of Lake Albert. Stanley, in 1889, traced +the Semliki up its course to its point of exit from Lake Albert Edward, +which sheet of water he was the first European to discover. Albert +Edward is connected by a narrow, winding channel[106] on the northeast +with a somewhat extensive, shallow lake, usually known as “Dweru.”[107] + +Dweru was discovered by Stanley in 1875, and named by him Beatrice +Gulf. Stanley now ascertained that the two lakes were connected. His +expedition crossed the Kafuru, as the connecting stream is called, +and entered the till then unvisited Hima kingdom of Ankole. Stanley’s +guess at the shape of the Albert Edward was incorrect, and it needed +subsequent expeditions to give us a truer idea of the form and area +of this sheet of water, the eastern shore of which still remains +unsurveyed. + +[Illustration: SHORES OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA, NEAR EMIN PASHA GULF.] + +Passing through Ankole, Stanley reached the southwestern extremity of +the Victoria Nyanza, which he named Emin Pasha Gulf. On his journeys of +circumnavigation in 1875, he had been deceived by a chain of islands +into an incorrect limitation of the area of the Victoria Nyanza in this +direction. He now realised that the lake extends much further to +the southwest than was previously thought by Speke and himself, and is +therefore not of the heart-shape assigned to it in the earliest maps; +it is, in fact, much longer from north to south than it is broad from +east to west. + +The rest of Stanley’s great journey took him out of the Nile watershed. + +But the discoveries which he made in the Albertine region of the Nile +basin whetted the curiosity of Emin Pasha, who longed to return to +these mysterious regions. + +He did so in 1890, as a German official. Accompanied by Dr. Franz +Stuhlmann, a very able explorer, he directed his steps to these regions +of fascinating interest, the Snow-mountains, and the Great Forest. In +1891 Dr. Stuhlmann made an ascent of the Ruwenzori range on its western +aspect nearly to the snow-line. He revealed the existence of its +remarkable Alpine vegetation of giant groundsels and lobelias. He also +attempted to discriminate between the many different snow-peaks of this +lofty range, though with only partial success, his failure in arriving +at a complete result, like that of subsequent travellers, being due to +the constant presence of clouds. Emin and Stuhlmann together added a +good deal to our knowledge of the Semliki, and to the clearing up of +geographical points connected with the line of watershed between the +Nile and the Congo systems immediately west of Lake Albert. Emin Pasha +resolved to return by way of the Congo, and was therefore left to do +so by Stuhlmann, who returned to his duties in German East Africa. +Re-entering the great Congo forest, and following a northern affluent +of the Ituri-Aruwimi, Emin was captured by one of the slave-trading, +Arabised Manyema who had recently invaded this region to secure ivory +and slaves. As a German official, Emin (together with other Germans) +had confiscated property belonging to these Manyema, had released +slaves, and had severely punished slave-raiders. From motives of +revenge, therefore, he was sentenced to death by his captor, and his +throat was cut in his house one day in October, 1892. + +[Illustration: DR. FRANZ STUHLMANN. + +(Deputy Governor of German East Africa.)] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +GERMAN EXPLORERS DETERMINE THE SOUTHERN LIMITS OF THE NILE BASIN + + +The acquisition by Germany of those interior regions of the Zanzibar +coast-line which now constitute German East Africa led to a +considerable development of exploration in the southernmost regions +of the Nile basin. Prior to 1890 there had been much discussion as to +what was the Nile’s furthest tributary,--what stream, in fact, was the +ultimate source of the Nile. Stanley’s journeys in search of Emin Pasha +had revealed the existence of the Semliki and of Lake Albert Edward, +and had thus extended considerably the length of the Albertine Nile +system. Later on Count Götzen had shown by his remarkable journeys +north from Tanganyika that Lake Kivu (the existence of which had been +already reported by Burton, Speke, and Stanley) was connected with +Tanganyika, and therefore with the Congo. This put a limit to the Nile +basin in that direction, and disposed for ever of the last vestige of +Livingstone’s wild dream, by which the main course of the Nile would +have risen far south of the equator in what we now know to be the basin +of the Congo, and have flowed through Lake Albert instead of through +the Victoria Nyanza. Speke had discovered the important Kagera River +(which he called the Kitangule), and Stanley had extended our knowledge +of this, the largest affluent of the Victoria Nyanza. Stanley had, +in fact, in 1875 christened it the Alexandra Nile, but he was very +much misled about its origin and course, and he made it issue from a +hypothetical lake, Akanyaru,[108] which has no existence, but which +was no doubt in part an exaggeration of swamps along the course of the +Kagera, and in part a confusion with the rumoured Lake Kivu. + +The Kagera is now acknowledged to be the extreme head-waters of the +Nile. A distinctly observable current passes across the Victoria +Nyanza from the mouth of the Kagera to the Ripon Falls. In 1891–1893 +Dr. Oscar Baumann, a German official, who had previously done some +good exploring work in West Africa, made extensive journeys through +southern Masailand and Unyamwezi to the sources of the Kagera River. +This stream (especially in its upper waters, where it is known as +Ruvuvu), was further explored in 1899–1900 by M. Lionel Dècle, a French +traveller, who had done a great deal to increase our knowledge of +Central Africa.[109] Dr. Kandt,[110] in 1898, and other Germans, have +also put on the map portions of the Kagera’s course, and our knowledge +of this stream has received contributions from Messrs. Racey, Mundy, +and R. W. Macallister, officials of the Uganda Protectorate. The Kagera +River has two principal sources, both of them almost within sight of +the waters of Tanganyika. The stream which is usually taken to be the +more important source rises in south latitude 3° in the country of +Ruziga, about fifteen miles due north of the north end of Tanganyika, +at an altitude of about 6,270 feet above sea-level. Some fifty miles +south-southeast of this point, however, there is another source, which +may be taken to be the southernmost extension of the Nile system. This +fountain, in south latitude 3° 45′, is on the eastern slope of the +Utembera or Kangozi Mountains, only ten miles east of Tanganyika. The +altitude is about 6,300 feet. This would seem to be the farthest source +of the Nile. + +[Illustration: A NATIVE OF UNYAMWEZI, FROM NEAR SOUTH SHORES OF +VICTORIA NYANZA.] + +Herr Baumann made another contribution of negative value to Nile +exploration. Stanley and some other travellers had believed that the +southernmost source of the Nile lay in the country of Unyamwezi, in +certain streams which flowed northward into the Victoria Nyanza, which +they entered under the name of the river Simiyu or Shimeyu. But in +these deductions they were wrong. Baumann showed that the river Simiyu +was an inconsiderable stream of short course, and that the waters much +further to the south which had been identified with this river really +flowed northeastwards into a largish salt lake, discovered by Baumann +and called Lake Eyasi. Eyasi has no outlet. It is situated in a rift +valley which joins the great Rift valley of Masailand. The journeys +of Baumann and of other Germans considerably curtailed the present +extent of the Nile basin in Unyamwezi. The waters of this somewhat arid +tableland, which apparently is almost below the surface of the Victoria +Nyanza, flow mainly to Tanganyika, to Lake Rukwa, and to Lake Eyasi and +other isolated pools of the rift valleys. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by J. Thomson._] + +SIR FREDERIC D. LUGARD.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GEOGRAPHICAL WORK IN THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE + + +Stanley’s relief of Emin Pasha led to the withdrawal of the latter’s +government from the equatorial regions, and after a brief interval of +hesitation, to the foundation of a British Protectorate over Uganda +and the adjoining territories. Preparations for this Protectorate were +made by Captain (now General Sir Frederic) Lugard, who, in the course +of his settlement of the disturbed country of Uganda, journeyed round +Ruwenzori to Lake Albert Edward.[111] Shortly afterwards (as already +related) Emin Pasha returned to this part of the world accompanied +by Dr. Stuhlmann. Mr. Scott-Elliott, a Scottish naturalist, came out +in 1893–1894 for the purpose of making natural history collections. +He drew a very neat and truthful little map of the eastern and +southern flanks of Ruwenzori,--a map which until quite recently has +been somewhat overlooked by those who have compiled charts of this +region. Scott-Elliott, Lugard, Stuhlmann, Grogan, J. E. Moore, Malcolm +Fergusson, and several Belgian officers, such as the late Lieutenant +Meura, were not slow to point out and correct serious errors on the +part of Stanley in his rough delimitation of Lake Albert Edward. Lake +Dweru or Beatrice Gulf was also redrawn with advantage. But curiously +enough, all these travellers--Stanley included--omitted to point out +that the connection between Lake Dweru and Lake Albert Edward was not +a broad channel, but a narrow and winding river between high banks. +It was left to the present writer to make this correction on the map. +The author also, together with Lieutenant Meura, redrew with greater +correctness the upper course of the Semliki River, and in 1900 added +somewhat to our knowledge of the configuration of the Ruwenzori range. + +The expedition of Sir Gerald Portal (especially through the work of his +brother Raymond, who died after doing excellent service in pacifying +Toro) added to the map of the countries between Ruwenzori on the west +and Kavirondo on the east. In 1895 the late Colonel Seymour Vandeleur +(when only a lieutenant in the army) made an excellent and systematic +survey of the Kingdom of Uganda and of much of Unyoro. The wars against +the Sudanese mutineers added to our geographical knowledge of these +districts. Colonel John Evatt and Captain H. Maddox, amongst others, +gave us for the first time something like the true shape of the marshy +lakes of Kioga and Kwania, which, in some respects, are huge backwaters +of the Victoria Nile. But the great addition to the geography of the +southern extremities of the Nile basin was made by the expedition +under Colonel J. R. L. Macdonald. This officer had accurately +mapped the regions bordering on the northwest coasts of the Victoria +Nyanza in 1894. About this period also Mr. F. J. Jackson,[112] Mr. +C. W. Hobley, and Mr. Ernest Gedge were filling up the map as regards +the configuration of the country along the northeastern watershed of +Victoria Nyanza and the slopes of Mount Elgon. Mount Elgon was ascended +to its highest peak (14,080 feet), for the first and only time, by +Messrs. Jackson and Gedge in 1895. + +[Illustration: G. F. SCOTT-ELLIOT.] + +Colonel Macdonald was despatched more with a political than with a +geographical object. He was to journey through the northeastern part +of the British sphere of interest in East Africa and make for the +Nile about Gondokoro, and so travel with the idea of forestalling any +possible French competitors; whilst General (Lord) Kitchener should +be defeating the Khalifa at Khartum with a view to recovering all +the provinces of the Egyptian Sudan. But the mutiny of the Sudanese +soldiers in Uganda and other causes threw great difficulties in the +way of Colonel Macdonald’s expedition. He succeeded however in mapping +himself, and with the aid of such officers on his staff as Majors +Austin, Bright, Hanbury-Tracey, and others, the regions to the north +of Mount Elgon. He filled up a considerable blank in the map between +what was known east of the Mountain Nile and the actual coast-line of +Lake Rudolf. Colonel Macdonald’s expedition first brought clearly to +our knowledge the remarkable mountain-ranges of Chemorongi, Nakwai, +Lobor, Lopala, Morongole, Agoro, and Harogo. He put on the map the +upper waters of the Asua River (an important eastern contributary of +the Mountain Nile) and its larger affluents. His work and that of the +late Captain Welby has enabled us to define more clearly the separation +between the waters of Lake Rudolf on the east and the Mountain Nile on +the west. Colonel Macdonald discovered Lake Kirkpatrick on the upper +Asua, and mapped more precisely Lake Salisbury and the northern slopes +and streams of Mount Elgon. + +Captain M. S. Wellby had travelled in 1899 round the east and south +shores of Lake Rudolf, and thence had penetrated westwards through +the Turkana and Karamojo countries to the Nile watershed, where he +discovered two streams flowing north, both of which he named Ruzi. +These he imagined to be the head-waters of the Sobat. Donaldson Smith +and H. H. Austin showed his theory to be wrong [?]. The Ruzis probably +flow into the rivers draining the Lotuka highlands and entering the +Bahr-az-Ziraf or Giraffe Nile. + +[Illustration: DR. DONALDSON-SMITH.] + +Colonel J. R. L. Macdonald (assisted by Captain Pringle) had previously +(1893), when first employed in Uganda, made an admirable survey of the +British coasts of the Victoria Nyanza, from Port Victoria in northern +Kavirondo, westwards to the German frontier at the Kagera River, and +for the first time put on record all or nearly all the islands, bays, +inlets, peninsulas, and rivers of the north and northwest coasts +of the Victoria Nyanza. Here and there his work in this direction has +been added to by Mr. C. W. Fowler and Commander Whitehouse. Whitehouse, +as already related, was the surveyor who finally amended Stanley’s +error of “Ugowe Bay,” and gave us for the first time the correct form +of the great northeastern gulf of the Victoria Nyanza (Kavirondo +Bay), together with the shape of the two large islands which mask +its entrance. Commander Whitehouse also surveyed the east coast of +the Victoria Nyanza down to the German frontier, and added a lot of +new material to the delineation of this eastern coast-line. In this +direction an interesting journey was made from Lake Naivasha to the +coast of Kavirondo Bay by Major E. Gorges in 1900. Mr. C. W. Hobley, +a Sub-Commissioner in the Uganda Protectorate, contributed a good +deal of information to fill up the blank places of the map between +Kavirondo Bay on the south and the northwestern flanks of Mount Elgon +on the north. Captain Pringle had already mapped these countries on the +railway survey. + +In 1900 Dr. Donaldson-Smith, an American, traversed the countries +which lie between the north end of Lake Rudolf and the Mountain Nile. +He crossed several dry river-beds, in a region of appalling drought +(extinct tributaries of the Sobat), and then reached the rivers +Oguelokur, Tu, and Kos which flow in a northwesterly direction towards +the Mountain Nile or its branch, the Giraffe River. The region between +the Giraffe and the Sobat remains to-day the only unexplored part of +the Nile Basin. + +In 1900 and 1901 Major C. Delmé Radcliffe made the first completely +accurate survey of the Nile from Lake Albert to Gondokoro, and put on +the map for the first time many new details concerning the Asua River +and its affluents, besides streams which rise in the hills of the +Acholi and Madi countries and enter that portion of the Nile between +Gondokoro and Lake Albert. + +From the Cape to Cairo was a watchword that, as an idea, first emanated +from the pen of Sir Edwin Arnold in 1876, and as a phrase took shape +in writings by the author of this book in 1888 and 1890, and as a +policy was finally adopted by Cecil Rhodes in 1892. The first person +to carry this idea into practical execution was Mr. Ewart Grogan, who +(accompanied part of the way by Mr. Sharp) travelled literally from the +Cape to Cairo via Lake Albert Edward and the Uganda Protectorate. His +contributions to Nile explorations are referred to in the next chapter. +He was followed in 1900 by Major A. St. Hill Gibbons and later by M. +Lionel Dècle. Between 1898 and 1902 Colonel E. A. Stanton surveyed the +eastern part of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the intricate channels of the +lower Mountain Nile. + +[Illustration: CUTTING THE SUDD.] + +In the year 1900 a very notable achievement took place. The terrible +obstruction of the sudd which had intermittently blocked the Nile +navigation from the days of Nero’s two centurions (who could hardly +force their way through it in the year 66 A.D.) to our own times was +cut through resolutely by an expedition under Major Malcolm Peake. The +government of the Egyptian Sudan has for the last two years continued +to clear away this obstacle, and in all probability it will never be +allowed to form again. In fact, in this direction man will probably do +much to modify the subsequent history of the Nile. Sir William Garstin +has recently explored Lake Tsana and the Blue Nile as well as the White +Mountain Nile as far as Gondokoro, Lake Albert, and Lake Victoria, with +a view to ascertaining which of the two rivers contributes the most +valuable supply of water for the irrigation and fertilisation of Egypt. +So far, he has decided for the Blue Nile, a fact which lends increased +importance to the Empire of Abyssinia.[113] It may be, however, that +with the clearing of the sudd on the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the Mountain +Nile these branches of the great river may send down increasing +supplies of water to Egypt. In any case the clearing of the sudd will +permit of these waterways being used for penetrating in all directions +into the heart of Equatorial Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE EASTERN BASIN OF THE NILE + + +We will now turn to the eastern part of the Nile basin--the first to +be explored, the last to be finished. It has been already related +how, alarmed at the rapid successes of the Portuguese in India, the +Persian Gulf, and East Africa, the Abyssinians resolutely ejected the +Portuguese missionaries from their country during the seventeenth +century, and how the attempts of Louis XIV. to supplant the Portuguese +by French influence resulted disastrously. Bruce had broken the spell +which rested on this strange country, so fascinating to Europeans, +because while being absolutely “Africa” it was ruled, and for the most +part inhabited, by more or less Caucasian races, its rulers having a +Semitic history which attached them to the fountains of civilisation. +Our previous review of exploration in Abyssinia ended with Bruce’s +journey, and with the attempts on the part of French and German +explorers during the early part of the nineteenth century to enter +Abyssinia up the course of the Blue Nile. Meantime the overland route +to the East had been conceived by Lieutenant Waghorn, the British +government had seized Aden in 1839, and a much greater interest than +heretofore was taken in the navigation of the Red Sea, which was +rapidly becoming the main route to India. Although Abyssinia then as +now had no acknowledged political control over any part of the Red +Sea littoral, it was early recognised that Abyssinia was an important +factor in the political problems governing the control of the Red Sea. +Even before the safety of the British route to India became a matter +of urgent importance, we had sought to enter into direct relations +with Abyssinia. In 1805 a British mission under Lord Valentia and +Consul Henry Salt was sent to conclude an alliance with Abyssinia +and obtain a port on the Danakil coast by means of which Britain +could, if necessary, convey troops to Abyssinia, and so take a French +Egypt in the rear. The writings of Henry Salt added greatly to our +knowledge of the peoples, languages, and fauna of Abyssinia and of the +Zanzibar coast, but did not contribute materially to the elucidation +of Nile problems. During the first part of the nineteenth century +Abyssinia was in the throes of civil war caused by the struggles +for supremacy between the ruler of Tigre (the northern province) +and the Ras or Governor of Amhara (the central province). The Ras +of Tigre--Sabagadis--threw open northern Abyssinia to the English, +cordially inviting missionaries, mechanics, and explorers to enter +his dominions. In this way the Church Missionary Society’s missions +to eastern Africa started by the despatch of Protestant missionaries +(mostly Germans in the pay of the Society) to Tigre. On the other +hand, the war between Tigre and Amhara having resulted in the death +of both the chiefs, a third potentate, the ruler of the lofty Samien +Mountains, annexed Tigre, and out of opposition to his predecessor’s +policy invited Frenchmen to develop the country. Captains Galinier and +Ferret accepted the commission to survey Tigre and Samien by careful +triangulation. This task was accomplished in 1842, and resulted in the +correct mapping of the affluents of the Atbara. Meantime the British +Protestant missionaries had penetrated into Amhara, while Tigre and +Samien came under French Roman Catholic influence. In fact, the history +of Uganda was given here on a larger scale. Simultaneously the southern +province of Ethiopia, Shoa, under the enlightened ruler Selasié had +attracted the attention of Europeans. Major (afterwards Sir William) +Harris was sent by the Indian government in 1841 to conclude a treaty +with Shoa, as it was thought that this country might eventually extend +its influence over Somaliland, and so come into direct contact with +the Indian government at Aden. This British mission was naturally +followed by a French one, and a French envoy applied to the Pope for +the starting of a Roman Catholic mission in Shoa. + +The work of Monseigneur Massaja, who was despatched by Pope Pius IX., +though it throws much interesting light on the structure of the Gala +language, hardly comes within the sphere of Nile exploration. Meantime +an adventurer named Kasa had arisen in Amhara, and had gradually made +himself master of the northern and western provinces of Abyssinia. +He had himself crowned King of Kings of Ethiopia under the name of +Theodore, and then proceeded to annex the province of Shoa to his +dominions. + +During the early part of Theodore’s reign the two brothers d’Abbadie +were at work surveying Abyssinia and collecting invaluable information +regarding the languages, literature, coins, inscriptions, and religions +of that assemblage of Semitic, Hamitic, and Negro states. Antoine +Thomson d’Abbadie and his brother Arnaud Michel were actually born in +Dublin, their father being French and their mother Irish. They were +however educated in France. Their bent for scientific exploration +was early recognised, for the French Academy sent the elder of the +two on a scientific mission to Brazil at the age of twenty-five. The +younger d’Abbadie explored Algeria. This leading his thoughts in the +direction of Abyssinia, he proposed to his brother a joint mission +of exploration, which commenced in 1838 by their landing at Masawa. +Besides carefully surveying the northern and central provinces of +Abyssinia they did work of special novelty and interest in the south. +Until the journeys of Cecchi and other Italians twenty years ago the +d’Abbadies’ information concerning the countries lying to the south +of Abyssinia represented all that we knew of Kaffa and Enarea,--names +indeed which had been cited by the Portuguese, but names unsupported +by geographical information. Antoine d’Abbadie penetrated the furthest +into Kaffa. He collected an immense amount of information regarding +the languages spoken in the vague south and southwest districts +inhabited mainly by races of Hamitic origin. The d’Abbadies closed +their survey of Abyssinia in 1848, though the younger brother paid the +country another short visit in 1853. They were in no hurry to give the +results of their explorations to the world; in fact, the “Géographie +de l’Éthiopie” (of which only one volume was published) did not appear +till 1890. Their actual surveys of Abyssinia were published between +the years 1860 and 1873. Their Ethiopian manuscripts came out also +during that period, but Antoine’s Dictionary of the Amharic tongue +was published no further back than 1881. Their twelve years’ work +in Abyssinia was the greatest contribution that has ever been made +to our knowledge of that country, but most of their labours do not +lie sufficiently within the field of Nile exploration to admit of an +adequate description in this book. Antoine d’Abbadie lived to the age +of eighty-seven (he died in 1897). About 1859 he found himself involved +in a somewhat acrid conflict of opinion with another Abyssinian +explorer, Dr. C. T. Beke, who visited Abyssinia in the forties of the +last century. D’Abbadie was naturally prejudiced in favour of the Blue +Nile being the main Nile, since that river and its southern affluents +had been the special object of his researches during twelve years. +On the other hand, Dr. Beke was hotly in favour of the White Nile, +especially after Speke’s discovery of the Victoria Nyanza. Dr. Beke was +right in his main contentions, but seems to have thrown unnecessary +aspersions on the genuineness of Antoine d’Abbadie’s explorations in +southern Abyssinia. We now know d’Abbadie’s work to have been perfectly +accurate. + +[Illustration: DR. C. BEKE.] + +Mansfield Parkyns, an Englishman, visited Abyssinia from 1843 to 1846, +wrote interestingly on the country in confirmation or correction of +Bruce’s statements, but did not add materially to our geographical +knowledge, though his book is still often quoted in regard to habits +and customs now dying out. + +Amongst the Protestant missionaries first despatched to the country +by the Church Missionary Society of London was the celebrated Krapf, +already alluded to in Chapter XI. as the joint discoverer of the East +African snow-mountains. Krapf penetrated far south into Shoa, and gave +considerable information, both interesting and true, regarding the +dwarfish Negro tribes found to the southwest of the Abyssinian Empire. + +Lij Kasa, who had become King of Kings of Ethiopia under the name of +Theodore III., showed himself, when he had consolidated his power, +very fond of the English, and encouraged English missionaries and +consuls to go to his court. He seems, however, to have pursued this +policy more with the idea of strengthening his prestige and improving +his kingdom by the spread of mechanical appliances and the manufacture +of superior arms and ammunition, than from any desire to encourage +missionary work. In the early sixties he became offended at a supposed +slight on the part of the British government, which left unanswered a +letter addressed to it by Theodore in 1863. His subsequent proceedings +in regard to the imprisonment of the consul and missionaries +eventually brought about the British expedition of 1868. A force of +sixteen thousand British and Indian soldiers under Sir Charles Napier +(afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala) marched from Masawa up and along +the eastern escarpment of the Abyssinian plateau, and captured the +citadel of Magdala, which is situated within the basin of the Nile, +close to the northeasternmost tributary of that river. This expedition +was accompanied by Dr. W. T. Blanford, who compiled a valuable work on +the geology and zoölogy of Abyssinia, which was published in 1870. + +For ten years after the withdrawal of the British expedition, +in 1869, little advance was made in our knowledge of Abyssinian +geography. Theodore was succeeded by another adventurer, also called +Kasa,--a native of Tigre,--who afforded considerable help to the +British. By means of our indirect support he succeeded in getting +himself crowned as Yohannes (John), King of Kings of Ethiopia. Shoa +alone, where Menelik (the present emperor) was slowly recovering the +power of his father (who had lost the country to Theodore), was not +actually conquered by the Emperor John; for just as he was starting +to subdue Menelik, he himself was attacked by the Egyptian army +under Munzinger, the Swiss Governor of Masawa. Munzinger was urging +the Khedive’s government to occupy and annex Abyssinia, and Egypt +had, as a preliminary, seized the Bogos country, the greater part of +which still remains Egyptian. But in 1875 John inflicted a tremendous +defeat on the Egyptian army near the river Mareb, and in 1876 a second +defeat, still more disastrous to the Egyptian power. This brought +about the intervention of General Gordon, who, in 1876 and 1879, made +two attempts to come to a friendly understanding with Abyssinia. His +journeys added a little to our knowledge of the affluents of the Blue +Nile and the Atbara. + +In 1879 the Earl of Mayo (who subsequently travelled with the writer of +this book in southwest Africa) made an interesting journey along the +Takaze River, which is the upper waters of the Atbara. His sporting +expedition was followed by that of the brothers W. and F. L. James +(who subsequently explored Somaliland). The Italians began to take +an interest in Abyssinia at the end of the seventies, but the first +expeditions undertaken by their explorers have no connection with the +Nile basin. + +In 1839 or 1840 one of the most important affluents of the Nile was +discovered by the expedition of Turks and Europeans despatched by +Muhammad Ali to explore the White Nile. This was the Sobat (as it was +named by the Nile Arabs), which enters the White River under the ninth +degree of latitude. The word Sobat was evidently an ancient Nubian or +Ethiopian term which was in existence two thousand years ago, when it +was applied to the White Nile (Asta Sobas), in contradistinction to the +Blue Nile (Ast’apos). At the present day the Sobat is known by the +name of Kir[114] on its lower portion, and Baro on its upper course. +In subsequent years steamers ascended the Sobat from the Nile as far +as it was navigable, namely, to a point called Nasr. Johann Maria +Schuver, a Dutch traveller in the seventies of the last century, and +several Europeans in the service of the Egyptian government, collected +a little more information about the Sobat and its tributaries above +Nasr, but this river long remained one of the unsolved problems of +Nile geography. Schuver did much to explore the western Gala countries +between the Sobat and the Blue Nile. On some of these journeys he was +accompanied by the Italian explorer Piaggia[115] (who had discovered +Lake Kioga on the Victoria Nile). Piaggia, in endeavouring once more to +force his way towards the Sobat, died at Karkoj, on the Blue Nile, in +1882. + +[Illustration: NATIVES OF THE BARO (UPPER SOBAT) SKINNING HIPPOPOTAMUS.] + +The surcease of the Nile exploration which followed on the Mahdi’s +revolt in 1882, closed for a time the exploration of the Sobat and its +affluents. But one result of this revolt was to urge European inquirers +more and more towards Abyssinia, especially the southern provinces +of that empire. A French explorer, Jules Borelli, made remarkable +journeys to the south and southwest of Abyssinia at the close of the +eighties of the last century, and, besides discovering the river Omo, +which flows into Lake Rudolf, he gave much new information regarding +the source of the Sobat. The book which he published in 1890--“Ethiopie +Méridionale”--is one of the best and most beautifully illustrated works +which have appeared on Africa. + +Italy having assumed an unacknowledged protectorate over Abyssinia, +subsidised expedition after expedition, nominally for scientific +research. Among the best equipped of these undertakings, and the most +fruitful in geographical results, was an expedition under Vittorio +Bottego, L. Vannutelli, and C. Citerni, which explored the head-waters +of the Sobat (Baro, Akobo, etc.) in the southern Abyssinian highlands, +and also the waters of the Didessa (Dabessa), which is the southernmost +tributary of the Blue Nile. + +In 1898 the celebrated Captain (now Colonel) J. B. Marchand, who +had made a most remarkable journey across the Nyam-nyam country in +the western Nile basin from the Mbomu (a northern affluent of the +Welle-Ubangi), across the Nile watershed to the Sue River, and down the +Sue to the Bahr-al-Ghazal and Fashoda, left Fashoda[116] in consequence +of the agreement between France and Great Britain, and travelled to +Abyssinia more or less along the course of the Sobat River, thus, +first of all Europeans, practically connecting the southern provinces +of Abyssinia with the White Nile by a direct journey up the valley of +the Sobat or Baro. Marchand’s explorations were supplemented by those +of MM. de Bonchamps and Michel. + +[Illustration: + + _Photo by Pierre Petit & Fils._] + +COLONEL J. B. MARCHAND.] + +These explorers were soon followed in the same direction by the late +Captain M. S. Wellby. Captain Wellby also made a most interesting +journey from Abyssinia to Lake Rudolf, down the east coast of Lake +Rudolf to Lake Baringo and the Uganda Protectorate, and then northwest +through the Turkana country, which lies to the west of Lake Rudolf. +Here Captain Wellby found himself on the Nile-Rudolf water-parting. +To the west of the Turkana, in the Karamojo country, he crossed an +important stream named the Ruzi,[117] which was flowing in a general +way northwest. Farther north he encountered another river also named +Ruzi, which might or might not be the same, but which in doubt he +called Ruzi II. From the second of these Ruzis he eventually reached +the main Sobat. Thenceforth he believed that in one or other of the +Ruzis he had discovered the southernmost affluent, or perhaps the +headwaters of the Sobat River. His theory, however, was strongly +contested by Major H. H. Austin, who, in company with Major R. G. T. +Bright, travelled over the greater part of the Sobat system in +1900–1901, giving us for the first time a fairly accurate survey of +that river, and of its southern affluents, especially the Pibor-Akobo, +which for length of course, though not in volume, might lay claim to +be the main Sobat River. The Akobo rises in the mountains to the north +of Lake Rudolf, its source being very close to the stream of the Omo, +the principal feeder of Lake Rudolf. It does receive an affluent from +the south, which is named by Major Austin “Neubari,” but this stream +is at present unexplored in its lower course. It might turn out to be +one of the rivers named by Captain Wellby “Ruzi.” At the same time Dr. +Donaldson-Smith, who crossed this region in 1900, does not appear to +have encountered running water where the junction of the Ruzi and the +Neubari should have taken place. Probably the two Ruzis discovered +by Captain Wellby are two different streams, one of which flows +northwestward into the Nile and the other into the northwest corner of +Lake Rudolf. The countries to the south of Akobo and northwest of Lake +Rudolf are described by the few travellers who have visited them as +being a region of appalling drought. + +[Illustration: GORGE OF THE RIVER BARO (UPPER SOBAT).] + +Mr. Weld Blundell had succeeded the Bonchamps-Michel expedition +as an explorer of the Blue Nile, and of its interesting southern +affluent, the Didessa. Mr. Blundell made several interesting changes +in the delineation of the course of the Blue Nile westward of Gojam. +Blundell’s work was succeeded by the remarkable surveys of Major C. W. +Gwynn and Lieutenant L. C. Jackson, who contributed a map of the Blue +Nile from Roseires up stream to the Gubba country, on the frontiers of +Abyssinia. They also threw a little more light on the course of the +Didessa and Yabus affluents of the Blue Nile, and the upper waters of +the Rahad, which also flows (somewhat intermittently) into the Blue +Nile. From the Rahad they crossed the tiny stretch of mountainous +country (Galabat) to the Atbara. Here they showed that only a distance +of about five miles of mountains separates the affluents of the Atbara +from the affluents of the Rahad, which is a tributary of the Blue +Nile. But for this intervening ridge of five miles in breadth, the +systems of the Atbara and the Blue Nile would (as the ancients and +Arabs formerly believed) have turned the whole country of Sennar into a +huge island, in which form it was represented by most travellers down +to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Major Gwynn also explored +the head-waters of the river Garre, which is the northernmost affluent +of the Baro-Sobat, and also the Pibor. As to the country between the +Baro or the main upper Sobat and the Pibor, Major Gwynn describes it +as “a dried-up marsh covered with a thick choking layer of black ash +resulting from the burning of the grass.” The Nuers, one of the eastern +tribes of the Nilotic Negroes, he describes as a wonderfully fine +race physically, averaging nearly six feet in height. Of the work of +the earliest European pioneer in western Galaland Major Gwynn gives a +generous estimate:-- + + “Up to this point (the Lega-Gala country) we had been traversing + a land which had to a certain extent been explored by Schuver, + and his work had, on the whole, been found to be very accurate in + detail, though in the southern portions of his map a considerable + error in latitude had appeared.... Schuver was much liked and + respected throughout the country, and a great impression had been + produced by his dog, which must have been a big Newfoundland. (He + is still always spoken of by the Galas as Abu Sari, ‘the Father of + the Dog.’)” + +[Illustration: BERTA NEGROES.] + +On the middle of the Blue Nile, north of the country of Fazokl, the +aboriginal inhabitants are purely Negro--Berta and Barun. These Negro +races were probably first mentioned by Cailliaud, the French explorer, +and Ferdinand Werne, the German, who travelled on the Blue Nile between +1829 and 1843. Major Gwynn describes them as “a very black race, large, +well made, but slothful and stupid to a degree. Going up to their +villages in the hills, one finds them stretched out, sunning themselves +on the rocks, looking for all the world like great black snails. Funny +little black pigs and stringy fowls share the huts on equal terms.” + +An interesting journey was made by Mr. Oscar T. Crosby across southern +Abyssinia and down the Blue Nile in 1900. In an article by Mr. Crosby +in the “Geographical Journal” of July, 1900, an interesting description +is given of the deep gorge of the Blue Nile in the Gomar country +of Gojam. The level of the river at this point is 4,725 feet above +sea-level. The edge of the plateau above the river is 9,650 feet, and +this plateau descends nearly five thousand feet in a series of abrupt +steps or “benches.” + +At the beginning of 1900 Mr. Oscar Neumann, a German, already noted +for his explorations of the eastern part of the Uganda Protectorate, +reached Abyssinia by the now well-trodden route from Zeila to Harar, +and after visiting the Blue Nile in Gojam, explored the northern part +of the Rudolf basin, and then reached the Galo, which is one of the +rivers that might claim to be the head-waters of the Sobat, a river +rising in those lofty, snow-patched highlands to the southwest of +Enarea. From the Galo, Neumann crossed to the Akobo, and followed this +stream down to its confluence with the Pibor. At this confluence he +makes the Pibor such an important stream that it may well be Captain +Wellby’s Ruzi. In the country immediately to the south of Kaffa and +on the water-parting between the systems of the Nile and Lake Rudolf +Mr. Neumann claims to have discovered Negro races of the Bantu stock. +Apparently he means merely in physical type,--in other words, Negroes +of more or less West African affinities; but if he or any other +traveller should be able to support this statement by specimens of +the language of these Sheko and Binesho peoples which actually showed +affinities with the Bantu family, he would have thrown a remarkable new +light on the unsolved problem concerning the source of this interesting +family of African languages. The present writer has been able to show +that Bantu languages of the most archaic type exist at the present +day on the northwest slopes of Mount Elgon. This is the furthest +point to the northeast to which the Bantu family has been traced. +Thence southwards and westwards it spreads as the dominating family of +languages as far as Cape Colony and Fernando Po. + +[Illustration: A BERTA VILLAGE IN THE MATONGWE MOUNTAINS.] + +Almost the only large white spot now remaining unexplored in the +Nile basin is the district occupied by Nilotic Negroes (Dinka, Nuēr, +Shiluk), lying between the Sobat River on the northeast and the main +White Nile on the west and southwest. This region appears to be a flat +country of alternate marsh and arid steppe, producing few or no great +rivers of its own. On the west it is watered by the affluents of an +important river, vaguely known as the Oguelokur, some of which (such as +the Tu and Kos) rise in those high mountains of the Lotuka country in +the northernmost parts of the Uganda Protectorate. Mr. Ewart Grogan, +accompanied part of the way by Mr. Sharp, in 1899 and 1900, made a +remarkable journey, literally from the Cape to Cairo. He travelled from +the north end of Lake Tanganyika by way of lakes Kivu and Albert Edward +to the Albert Nyanza, and thence down the Nile to the sudd barriers +beyond Bor. After which, taking to the land, he traversed the unknown +country along that branch of the White Nile called Bahr-az-Ziraf or +the Giraffe River. He discovered another branch of the Mountain Nile +which joins the Bahr-az-Ziraf, and at the junction of these rivers he +notes the entry of a powerful tributary from the southeast, doubtless +the Oguelokur. It is sometimes supposed that the southernmost of the +Ruzi rivers discovered by Captain Wellby also joins the Oguelokur, and +not the Sobat, though the more northern Ruzi may be the head-waters of +the Pibor. Some distance to the west of the Pibor is a river called in +Sudanese Arabic “Khor Felus.” This river was practically discovered by +Captain H. H. Wilson in 1902. Starting southwards from the Sobat, not +far from its confluence with the main Nile, Captain Wilson followed +the Khor Felus up stream for a distance of some eighty-five miles in +a direct line due south. He describes the country traversed by this +winding river as being flat and uninteresting,--nothing but a vast +grassy plain, with hardly a tree to be seen. The river or khor was +not traced to its source, which indeed was said by the natives to be +the White Nile itself. If this be true, another branch of the White +Nile would start from near Bor and flow northeastwards into the Sobat; +further, more natural canals seem to connect the Khor Felus with the +Pibor or the Upper Sobat. If this is the case, then in that vast plain +lying between the Sobat and the Nile, which was once a portion of the +“Lake of Fashoda,” we have still remains of many old channels of the +Nile which, as the lake drained off to the northwards, meandered over +its drying bed. + +[Illustration: THE NILE IN EGYPT.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +CONCLUSION + + +The Nile quest is practically ended. It may be safely said that every +important branch or affluent or lake-source of this the longest river +in Africa (very nearly the longest in the world) has been discovered, +named, and partially or completely mapped. The only portion of the +Nile basin which presents any noticeable blank on the map is the +unknown district--some say of swamp alternating with arid steppe--which +stretches like a tongue of white in our charts between the tributaries +of the Mountain Nile and the Giraffe on the west, and the affluents +of the Sobat on the east. In all probability whilst these lines are +written and printed this blank is being filled up by industrious +surveyors sent out by the Anglo-Egyptian government of the Sudan. + +Fate has ordained that the entire basin of this river and its +tributaries (with the trifling exceptions of the upper waters of those +which rise within the political limits of Abyssinia, a portion of the +extreme source of the Nile (the Kagera), of Lake Albert Edward, and of +the Semliki) should come under the political control of Great Britain. +We have, therefore, cast our ægis over one of the most wonderful +regions, in some respects one of the most productive portions, of +Africa. + +On the north there is the oldest country in the world, so far as +history goes,--Egypt, with its ten millions of Egyptians, Arabs, +Europeans, and Nubians; its cotton and wheat, maize, barley, beans, +sugar-cane, dates, rice, and clover; its petroleum, gold, and emeralds +in the eastern desert, and its alum and soda in the Libyan wastes; +Egypt, with its European or Mediterranean fauna and flora. + +Then comes Nubia, producing little at present but fierce men of mixed +Hamitic, Semitic, and Negro blood; then the richer countries of Darfur, +Kordofan, Sennar, Bogos, Kasalá, and Galabat. Here there is no lack of +trade goods,--copper, camels, asses, and, above all, acacia gum. The +vegetation in these lands is no longer that of the Mediterranean. It +is African. On the hills above three thousand feet, appear dracænas +and euphorbias. In the lowlands there are baobabs, acacias, giant +fig-trees, wild-date palms, and the branching hyphæne. Here begins the +great fauna of Africa,--baboons, elephants, antelopes, lions, zebras, +cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyænas, wild asses, rhinoceroses, giraffes. + +[Illustration: NUBIA: A “WASHOUT” ON THE SUDAN RAILWAY.] + +Farther south comes the influence of the regular equatorial rains. The +steppe gives place to grasslands, and, above all, to marshes,--hopeless +marshes of papyrus, of Phragmites reeds, of the fleecy _Vossia_ grass, +of the floating _Pistia stratiotes_, the amaranth, the water-lily, +and the ambatch (a gouty bean with orange-coloured blossoms). In +these marshes swarm the hippopotamuses and crocodiles, long banished +from Egypt proper. Here strides and poses the extraordinary _Balæniceps +rex_ or Whale-headed stork. Sacred ibises, spoonbills, stilts, herons, +marabou storks, white storks, black storks, saddle-billed storks, +tantalus storks, Egyptian geese, spur-winged geese, knobnose geese, +ducks of many kinds frequent this dreary land, that, save to birds, +has no horizon; for everywhere the view is shut in with walls of reed +and rush and amphibious bush. Yet away beyond the marshes--marshes +which are really hidden lakes and mighty rivers with false banks of +floating vegetation--is a grassy country dotted with stony hillocks, +if one travels far enough from the river, and inhabited by naked Nile +Negroes. These are tall black men with long, thin shanks, and the gait +and attitudes of wading birds. They are cattle-keepers, above all, and +their vast unseen herds beyond the marsh lands breed and send forth +periodically for the devastation of Africa those cattle plagues which +recur at intervals of a few years. + +[Illustration: TROPICAL FOREST AT ENTEBBE, ON THE NORTH-WEST SHORES OF +VICTORIA NYANZA, + +(Now turned into Botanical Gardens.)] + +To the southwest of Marshland begins an attractive, even beautiful, +park-like country of rolling, grassy downs, interspersed with fine +trees of ample foliage, with belts of forest along the rivers. Beyond +the parklands rises that tremendous tropical forest which passes thence +uninterruptedly over the water-parting into the basin of the Congo. +This tropical forest, only to be rivalled in luxuriance by that of +the Amazons in South America, stretches in a crescent curve along +the southwestern edge of the Nile basin to Ruwenzori, and, with a few +interruptions, into Unyoro, Uganda, and the northern shores of the +Victoria Nyanza. On the plateaux lying to the northeast of the Victoria +Nyanza are other areas of dense forest, but not always tropical in +character,--forests consisting of great conifers and tree-heaths, which +reappear on the high mountains of Abyssinia. + +To the immediate south of the marshy country appears more parkland on +either side of the Mountain Nile, and in the countries of the Acholi, +the Lango, and the Lotuka. Beyond this parkland is the great area of +marshes between the Victoria Nile and Mount Elgon. North of Elgon +the parkland becomes more arid. East and west of the Victoria Nyanza +are beautiful and healthy plateaux ranging from six thousand to ten +thousand feet in altitude, and highly suggestive of Europe and the Cape +of Good Hope in their vegetation. + +Between the watershed of Rudolf and that of the White Nile are many +mountains, but as one proceeds northward in the direction of the Sobat, +the country is increasingly parched and sandy where it is not stagnant +marsh. + +Nileland contains within its limits the highest point of the African +continent,--the culminating peak (whichever it may be) of the Ruwenzori +range, a ridge which presents some thirty miles of snow and glaciers, +and perhaps attains twenty thousand feet in supreme altitude. South +of Ruwenzori, and still partly within the Nile watershed, is the +Mfumbiro group of volcanoes, two of which possibly exceed an altitude +of thirteen thousand feet. Away to the northeast of the Victoria +Nyanza is the great extinct volcano of Elgon, over fourteen thousand +feet in height, while the mountains of Abyssinia, where the Sobat, the +Blue Nile and its tributaries, and the Atbara take their rise, reach +in places to altitudes of sixteen thousand feet, and are capped with +patches of perpetual snow. Nileland, therefore, offers a wonderful +range of climate, temperature, and vegetation. + +Its fauna comprises the most interesting, the biggest, and the +handsomest of African beasts. And its human races include nearly every +type of Negro and Negroid,--Congo Pygmies, Turkana giants, Masai +like Greek athletes and Balega[118] like apes, long-shanked Dinka +and Shiluk, short-limbed Lendu, burly Baganda, handsome Bahima, ugly +Berta and Shangala, bearded Nyam-nyam and womanish Madi; the clothed, +curly-haired Galas and the absolutely nude Nilotic Negroes. In Egypt +are pure Caucasians; in Nubia and Abyssinia, in the lands between the +Nyanzas, are people of this regal stock variously mixed with antecedent +Negro. + +The Nile has been the main route by which in ancient times the +Caucasian invaded Negro Africa, the once exclusive path by which the +white man’s cultivated plants and domestic animals reached the torrid +lands and dense forests where the Negro, before the Caucasian touched +him, lived in the condition of the semi-beast. No Negro race cared +whence the Nile came or whither it flowed. Interest in geographical +problems, as it was remarked in the first chapter of this book, is +almost the exclusive heritage of the Caucasian. This is the human +race which for some three thousand years has felt first a flickering +curiosity, latterly an intense desire, to wrest the secret of the Nile +sources from the heart of Africa. Its aim is accomplished. The main +features of the Nile system are placed on the maps of civilised men, +are known to intelligent Egyptians, Arabs, Indians, and Abyssinians. + +The Nile has been the Caucasian’s first and easiest way across the +desert to Real Africa before the ocean could be navigated. The Nile +basin, moreover, offered to the more sensitive white man elevated +areas, oases in a land of malarial fever, wherein he could make +some home or settlement, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, not too +dissimilar in climate and temperature to the lands of temperate +Europe and Asia. From the vantage-ground of Abyssinia, of the Nandi +and Ankole plateaux, of the Mediterranean Delta of the Nile, the +Caucasian may still direct the education of the Nile Negroes and +permeate increasingly these black and bronze-skinned, woolly-haired +backsliders from human progress with Caucasian blood, energy, and love +of knowledge, till the Nile Negro himself grows interested in the past +history of Nile discovery. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE NILE BASIN + + +Early in the geological history of the globe there appear to have been +rock-foldings, wrinkles in the earth’s surface in the eastern half of +Africa. Sometimes this puckering of the solid crust manifested itself +simply in longitudinal strips of raised plateaux of which Abyssinia +and the highlands east of the Victoria Nyanza, north and west of +Nyasaland, are remains. A sharper wrinkle than others produced the +remarkable snowy range of Ruwenzori, perhaps the greatest altitude of +the African continent. These lofty plateaux and mountain ranges from +Abyssinia on the north to Nyasaland on the south have no doubt in all +times attracted an unusually heavy rainfall from the moisture-laden +clouds which are blown inland off the Indian Ocean. The rainfall on the +Livingstone Mountains and the Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau drains south +and east to the Indian Ocean and west to the basin of the Congo; or +into Tanganyika, which is likewise connected with the Congo at the +present day.[119] North of the Tanganyika system, however,--that is to +say, approximately north of the third degree of south latitude,--the +rainfall flows either towards the Mediterranean down the valley of +the Nile, or else in a north-northeasterly direction into a string +of isolated lakes which apparently at one time communicated with the +Gulf of Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea. Supervening on the original +wrinkling of the true backbone of Africa (i.e. the elevated ridge +which extends from the Nubian Alps to the Cape of Good Hope or at any +rate to the Zambezi) came a series of profound volcanic disturbances, +elevating, depressing, cracking, and rending the eastern side of +this ancient continent. As a rule this volcanic action seems to +have proceeded along nearly parallel curved lines, running from the +latitudes of the Zambezi River in a north-northeasterly direction. The +first and widest of these faults due to volcanic action was seemingly +the sinking of the ground between Madagascar and East Africa. A nearly +parallel but much narrower rift valley was also formed up the trough of +Lake Nyasa, northwards[120] to the celebrated rift valley which lies +to the east of the Victoria Nyanza, and contains innumerable lakes, +large and small, salt and fresh. This valley, with some interruptions, +extends north and northeast till it reaches the shores of the Gulf +of Aden.[121] Westward again of this East African rift (which some +geologists believe to have been continued with a northwesterly +inflection up the Red Sea to the valley of the Jordan) is another less +clearly-defined fault, which may have produced the valleys of the +Kafue and of the Luapula, and was then continued northwards through +Tanganyika to the Albert Nyanza and the valley of the Nile. Various +upheavals and modifications broke up the continuity of this western +rift valley. The drainage of the Kafue was deflected to the Indian +Ocean; that of the Luapula and its lakes and of Tanganyika to the Congo +basin. North of Lake Kivu,[122] however, the drainage flowed northward +into a vast fresh-water inland sea, which, for want of a better name, +we may call the Lake of Fashoda. A parallel to this great circular, +shallow sheet of water existed not very anciently in the northern +basin of the Congo, and another is to be seen at the present day in +the Victoria Nyanza. This last is the largest existing lake in Africa. +So far as is known it is shallow compared to such deep troughs as +Tanganyika and Nyasa, and is possibly not a very ancient sheet of water +as geological age may be reckoned. + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON GULF, LOOKING SOUTH, NEAR THE OUTLET OF THE +RIPON FALLS. + +[Note the isolated rocks, the remains of a former barrier and fall.]] + +The Victoria Nyanza is in origin little but the widened course of the +river Kagera, which flowed along a curved depression to the eastward +of the Ruwenzori, Ankole, Mpororo, and Mfumbiro highlands. The Kagera, +in fact, at the present day may be regarded as the extreme source of +the Nile. It rises approximately under the fourth degree of south +latitude, only a few miles from the mountainous shores of northeast +Tanganyika. Many streams descending[123] from these Burundi mountains +unite to form the Kagera, which, after a zigzag northerly course +studded with not a few small lakes, turns, under the first degree of +south latitude, abruptly to the east (with one dip to the south) and +enters the Victoria Nyanza a little to the north of the first degree +of south latitude. The original course of the stream evidently lay +between the Sese Islands (the remains of high mountains) and the coasts +of Buddu and Uganda, and then through the Rosebery Channel into the +Napoleon Gulf, from which, over the Ripon Falls, it issues as the +acknowledged Nile. Apart from the Kagera the great Victoria Nyanza +receives few rivers of size or important volume. The only others worthy +to be mentioned are the Nzoia on the northeast, the Nyando and its +affluents, which form Kavirondo Bay, and four largish rivers which +enter the east coast of the lake. If the bed of the Victoria Nyanza +could be raised by some earth movement about two hundred and fifty +feet, it would be traversed by a converging network of river channels +uniting with the Kagera and the main stream of the Nile in what is at +present called Napoleon Gulf; and the geographical appearance of this +dried-up lake would be very similar to the present aspect on the map of +the many branches and affluents of the Nile and its tributaries which +converge (south of Fashoda) at the junction of the Sobat. The surface +area of the Victoria Nyanza may at one time have been considerably +greater than it is at the present day, and have covered a good deal of +the country of Unyamwezi. Perhaps at one time it had no outlet. The +highlands forming the eastern spine of the continent and stretching +along the eastern cliffs of the rift valley from Abyssinia to North +Nyasa prevented its overflowing towards the Indian Ocean; while the +Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau and the mountains bordering the Tanganyika +rift valley opposed any western escapement. Therefore the great inland +sea created by the drainage of Unyamwezi, of the Kagera, and the rivers +from the Nandi plateau was forced up against the ridge of highish land +(4,000 feet), forming the existing countries of Uganda, Busoga, and +Kavirondo. Attacking this ridge at its narrowest diameter, the pent-up +waters of the Victoria Nyanza slowly carved their way northwards down +the gorge now occupied by the Nile at the Ripon Falls. Nearly all the +drainage of the Uganda-Busoga Plateau runs northward, and does not +fall into the Victoria Nyanza. The tilt of this plateau is highest +round the northern shores of the Victoria Nyanza (four to five thousand +feet), and falls gradually till it reaches the somewhat low level (two +thousand feet) of the Upper Nile valley. The escaping waters of the +Victoria Nyanza formed another great lake (Kioga-Kwania) immediately +to the north on the other side of the Uganda ridge. This lake again +drained off eventually to the original (Albertine) Nile. The site of +its former bed is covered at the present day with vast marshes and with +the straggling, many-armed lake of Kioga-Kwania. + +[Illustration: THE BIRTH OF THE VICTORIA NILE, AT THE RIPON FALLS.] + +The Albertine Nile, which some geographers think was the original main +stream of the river, rises under the name of Ruchuru on the northern +slopes of that great volcanic mass called the Mfumbiro mountains. These +mountains have arisen in recent times in the middle of a rift valley +which, seemingly, included Lake Kivu. The same fault may also contain +the basin of Tanganyika, but this lies at a much lower level than Kivu. +From Kivu (which no doubt once drained towards the Nile before the +volcanic dam arose on the north) there would have been a gentle slope +downward and northward (only partially stemmed by the extraordinary +peninsula of Ruwenzori) to the basin of the Albert Nyanza. + +The Ruchuru enters Lake Albert Edward,--creates that lake, in +fact,--and the Albert Edward Nyanza has a northern gulf or +tributary lake known as Dweru, which receives much of the drainage +of Ruwenzori, and transmits the melted snows of this Central African +Caucasus to the basin of the Albert Edward. From the north end of +Albert Edward the Albertine Nile issues again under the conventional +name of the Semliki. The Semliki flows round the abrupt western +slopes of Ruwenzori into Lake Albert Nyanza, from the northern end of +which important basin (which lies at an altitude of 2,100 feet above +the sea), the Mountain Nile, formed by the great twin lakes, whose +existence was remotely known to the ancients, starts on its career. + +[Illustration: ON LAKE ALBERT EDWARD (NORTH-WEST COAST).] + +The Victoria Nile enters the north end of Lake Albert, and its waters +leave that lake almost uninfluenced by their volume; in fact, Lake +Albert has almost become a river, the Albertine Nile, when the water +coming from the Victoria Nyanza enters the river-like end of the Albert +at Magungo and then abruptly turns with full stream to the north. The +Mountain Nile,[124] after leaving Lake Albert, maintains a broad, +lake-like character until it enters the narrow rift valley north of +Nimule in the Madi country. Along this winding gorge, which exhibits +some of the finest scenery of Africa, the Nile flows over nearly a +hundred miles of cataracts and descends in all about five hundred feet. +At Lado (in about 5° north latitude), where it slackens and expands, +the altitude of the White or Mountain Nile is about fifteen hundred +feet above sea-level. At the beginning of this cataract region, north +of Nimule, the Nile receives a lengthy affluent from the southeast. +This is the river Asua, which drains the very mountainous but slightly +arid country west of the Rudolf watershed, and north of Mount Elgon. +The Asua attracted a great deal of attention in the early days of Nile +exploration, owing to Speke having thought that it was an additional +outlet of the Victoria Nyanza, flowing from (what is now called) +Kavirondo Bay. + +North of Lado the Nile enters an exceedingly marshy region, which is +perhaps three hundred miles from north to south and two hundred miles +from east to west. This area once certainly was the site of a lake at +one time as large or larger than the Victoria Nyanza. This lake was +mostly fed from the west by seven or eight important streams, which +to-day, with their many tributaries, unite to form that broad western +branch of the Nile known as the Bahr-al-Ghazal.[125] + +The Bahr-al-Ghazal is little else than a great estuary which receives +contributions from many big rivers. If, however, one of these is to +be selected as the main stream on account of general consistency of +direction, then the Bahr-al-Arab would be the upper waters of the +Gazelle. The furthest perennial source of this river is in the country +of Dar Fertit, on the verge of the northernmost limits of the Congo +basin, and within a few days’ journey of the Upper Shari. Other very +doubtful tributaries of the Bahr-al-Arab drain off what little water is +not evaporated in the somewhat arid country of Darfur. The Bahr-al-Arab +is fed by at least four important rivers, which flow northward from the +Congo water-parting in the Nyam-nyam countries. + +If volume of water is to be considered, then probably the main stream +of the Bahr-al-Ghazal is the Jur or Dyur, which, in its upper waters, +is known as the Sue or Swe. The Sue-Jur rises in about 4° north +latitude, not many days’ journey to the east of Mbomu. (The Mbomu is +an important tributary of the Welle-Ubangi, which again is one of the +principal tributaries of the Congo.) There is nearly continuous steam +navigation up the Welle-Ubangi and the Mbomu to within a few days’ +journey of the Nile basin. It was up this stream (from the Congo) that +Marchand and his intrepid companions travelled in 1897. From the waters +of the Mbomu they carried their little steam-launch overland to the +Upper Sue. They were then able to descend this river for hundreds of +miles to the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the main Nile. Near Mashra-ar-Rak, at +the commencement of what the Sudanese style the Bahr-al-Ghazal, the +Jur is joined by another important stream called, in its lower course, +the Tonj, which has many tributaries coming from the vicinity of the +Welle. Nearly parallel with this river to the east are the Roa and the +Rōl (or Yalo), both of which enter the Bahr-al-Ghazal not far from its +confluence with the main Nile. There is also a river Yei or Ayi, the +direction of which is not fully determined. This river, which flows +nearly parallel with the main Nile, some sixty miles to the west of +Lado, either enters the Rōl and thus the Bahr-al-Ghazal, or turns into +the main Nile not far from the bifurcation of the Bahr-az-Ziraf. + +The Bahr-az-Ziraf is an eastern branch of the main Nile, which leaves +the parental river near Bor (about latitude 6° 40′ north) and flows +very tortuously northwards, rejoining the White Nile about sixty miles +east of Lake No (Bahr-al-Ghazal). The Ziraf or Giraffe River has other +communicating channels with the main Nile, and also throws off sluggish +contributions to the Khor Felus,--a western tributary of the Lower +Sobat. The Giraffe River (so named by the Arabs for the many giraffes +once sighted from its banks) receives from the south an important +stream known (perhaps incorrectly) as the Oguelokur, which, through +its component rivers the Tu and Kos, drains the northern slopes of the +Lotuka Mountains. + +The lower part of the Bahr-al-Ghazal is often lost in marshes or is +widened into lake-like expanses such as Lake No, at the confluence of +the White Nile. About a hundred miles to the east of this confluence +with the Kir or main White Nile (also called, south of this point, +the Bahr-al-Jabl or Mountain Nile), there enters a very important +affluent from the east, the Sobat (Baro), which is formed by a number +of streams flowing from the southwestern part of the Abyssinian Empire +and the vicinity of the Lake Rudolf basin.[126] After its confluence +with the Sobat the White Nile flows without any important tributary for +something like three hundred and fifty miles nearly due north through +a country which passes from a tropical luxuriance of vegetation to +the acacias and thin grass of the steppe region. The influence of the +Sahara Desert, in fact, begins to make itself felt,--that desert which +extends right across from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, interrupted +only by the exceptional mountain regions of Tibesti, Darfur, Abyssinia, +Yaman, and Jabl Akhdar. + +At Khartum, in about 15° 40′ north latitude, the Nile receives its most +important affluent, the Abai or Blue Nile (Bahr-al-Azrak). This river +rises on Sagada Mountain in the Abyssinian province of Gojam, passes +through the south end of Lake Tsana (a piece of water about the area of +Gloucestershire) in the western part of Central Abyssinia, and, after +curving to the east and south, turns west and north, and brings to the +Nile (it is said) that great increase of volume in the summer time +which causes the annual flooding of Lower Egypt. + +Lengthy as is the course of the White Nile from the Victoria and Albert +Nyanzas to Khartum, and infinitely greater though the mass of its +waters should be than the volume of the Blue Nile, the stream of the +White River has nevertheless been much attenuated before it reaches +Khartum by the waste of its volume in the region of vast swamps lying +between Fashoda on the north and Lado on the south, to say nothing +also of a similar waste and evaporation of water from the deflection +of the Victoria Nile into the backwaters and swamps of Kioga and +Kwania. Another contribution--though a much feebler one in volume of +water--comes from Abyssinia in the shape of the Atbara, which, in its +upper waters, is known as the Takaze.[127] This river, during the +dry season, almost ceases to flow in its lower portion, though it is +flooded during the summer months from the melting of the snows and the +heavy tropical rains on the northern Abyssinian mountains. The Atbara +is considered by Sir Samuel Baker to contribute the principal share of +the black mud which fertilises Egypt. + +After the confluence of the Atbara the Nile receives no other tributary +of running water during the whole remainder of its course, though +in former times of far greater rainfall it was joined by streams of +considerable volume flowing northeast from Kordofan. The Nile at +Ambukol seems to fall into another rift valley or series of faults, +along which, and over deserts of sandstone, granite, and limestone, it +pursues its way to the southeastern angle of the Mediterranean Sea. The +great river divides in the extreme lower part of its course into two +main branches, through which, and a number of other smaller streams and +artificial canals, it pours into the sea the attenuated volume of water +derived from the rainfall of Eastern Equatorial Africa, much having +been already spent in useless swamps, or evaporated as it passed over a +thousand miles of desert, or diverted by man to fertilise Lower Egypt. + +An interesting feature of the Nile basin, and one which was known more +or less vaguely to the ancient Egyptians and to the Sabæan Arabs of +two thousand years ago,[128] is the existence of snow-mountains at the +head-waters of the two principal rivers of the Nile system,--the White +and the Blue Niles. Ruwenzori[129] was probably known to the ancients +as the Mountains of the Moon. It is a mass of mainly Archæan rock some +eighty miles long, which runs from northeast to southwest between Lake +Albert and Lake Albert Edward. This marvellous range of snow-peaks and +glaciers--a glittering panorama nearly thirty miles in length--exhibits +a greater display of snow and ice (and that exactly under the equator) +than can be seen anywhere else in the African continent, and is of far +more imposing appearance than the isolated snow-capped summits of +Kenya and Kilimanjaro (extinct volcanoes). The entire drainage of the +Ruwenzori snows falls into the Albertine Nile, that is to say, into +Lake Edward, or the river Semliki, which connects that lake with Albert +Nyanza. The other heights crowned with perpetual snow in the basin of +the Nile are the high peaks of the Samien or Simen range in northern +Abyssinia, and one at least,[130] of the south Ethiopian (Kaffa) +highlands. Two of the Samien peaks rise to a little over fifteen +thousand feet in altitude and one (Buahit) to sixteen thousand feet. +They are part of a nearly circular rim of great heights which surround +Lake Tsana. To the south of Lake Tsana the mountains rise to heights +of eleven, twelve, and fourteen thousand feet, but have no permanent +snow. On the limits of the Nile basin, near the northeast corner of the +Victoria Nyanza, stands Mount Elgon, a mighty extinct volcano,--perhaps +the largest extinct volcano in the world. The crater rim of Elgon rises +in places to over fourteen thousand feet in altitude, but no snow +remains there permanently. Elsewhere than the Nile basin it is probable +that permanent snow and ice are only to be found on the adjacent +extinct volcanoes of Kenya and Kilimanjaro, and on the highest peaks of +the Atlas range far away in the west of Morocco.[131] + +The lower valley of the Nile, the country which we know as Egypt, has +undergone fluctuations of level since the beginning of the Tertiary +Epoch. In the secondary ages the last five hundred miles of the Nile +valley lay for a period of immense duration under the waters of the +ocean, where the limestone deposits were formed. In Eocene times this +limestone bed was slowly raised to the altitude of a tableland above +the Mediterranean, but always cut off from the direction of the Red Sea +by the continuous range of mountains which we know as the Nubian Alps. +It is possible that the drainage of the Central African rift valleys +and lakes and snow-mountains may, by the uprising of this tableland, +have been severed from its natural escape to the Mediterranean, and +that the Nile ran to waste in what is now the Libyan Desert. No doubt +the Nile formed lake after lake, and the overflow from these lakes +slowly bored a passage through the limestone tableland. Then in Miocene +times took place a further rise in the range of the Nubian Alps and +the adjoining land, which caused fractures to occur in the limestone +formation. Of this the Nile took advantage, though it filled up the +rifts to some extent with its debris. The Nile cut at one time a very +deep bed through the limestone; but then occurred fluctuations in +level, a sinking of the Nile valley which once more brought the waters +of the Mediterranean far inland, and covered the channel of the Nile +with rubble washed in by the sea. Previous to this the cracks and +folds which had occurred through the upheaval of the eastern highlands +had evidently caused volcanic disturbances by the water of the Nile +reaching through these cracks the heated strata below. The volcanic +outbursts left behind beds of basalt through which the persistent Nile +again cut a channel. In the later Tertiary ages Egypt was a country of +abundant rainfall, the very reverse of the absolute desert of to-day. +Heavy rains carved and scarped the surface of the country and nourished +a luxuriant forest. At this period the lands lying to the west of +Egypt, in what is now known as the Libyan Desert, were probably a bay +of the Mediterranean. + +After the Pliocene Epoch, when man first began to appear on the scene, +there was another lowering of the level of the Nile valley in Egypt, +and the Mediterranean extended its waters perhaps to the vicinity of +Assiut. At this time the Mediterranean was almost certainly connected +with the Red Sea across the Isthmus of Suez. The Nile stream was +probably rapid in its descent towards the extended Mediterranean, and +cut a deeper and deeper channel. Then another rise of the land took +place, separating the Mediterranean from the Red Sea, and sending back +the Mediterranean to something like its present limits; the upheaval +indeed may have made what is now the Delta of the Nile higher than it +is at the present day, while the river cut its way through a channel +many feet deeper than the existing bed. Gradually, however, the Lower +Nile became more sluggish as the land near the Mediterranean rose, and, +losing its rapidity, it deposited more and more thickly the detritus +brought down from Equatorial Africa, Abyssinia, and Nubia, and so +raised its bed to a higher level. It has also enlarged its delta by the +deposit of mud, though the fatuity of its work in this direction (in +the presence of earth waves) is shown by the fluctuations which have +occurred even within the last three thousand years. Not more than a +thousand years ago Lake Menzaleh was a fertile and richly cultivated +district. + +[Illustration: IN THE LIBYAN DESERT.] + +Some time after man penetrated into Egypt (probably from the east) +the countries to the west of the Lower Nile began to rise above the +sea, for much of the Libyan Desert was under the Mediterranean in the +Tertiary Epoch. This retreat of the sea coupled with other conditions +not clearly known to us brought about a marked change in the climate of +Africa north of the fifteenth degree of north latitude. The aridity of +the Sahara Desert and of Arabia began to exercise a potent influence +over the fate of northern Africa. Many of the lands, which as late +as the human period were still covered with plentiful vegetation and +were traversable by the apes, the elephants, and the antelopes of +to-day, began to dry up into their present condition, an aridity which, +from all we know, is increasing and extending. Only Egypt was kept +alive by the beneficent stream which, so abundantly nurtured by the +snow-mountains and equatorial rain-belt of eastern Africa, survived +even its passage of a thousand miles through the blazing desert, and +covered the narrow ribbon of Upper Egypt and the tassel of the Delta +with an ever fruitful soil of finely triturated mud. + +The Nile has a length of course of some four thousand miles +measured along the windings of the channel of its main stream,--the +Kagera-Victoria-Mountain-White Nile. It is still doubtful as to whether +the Missouri-Mississippi in North America is longer than the Nile, +and thus the longest river in length of course in the world. In any +case the Nile has the pre-eminence for actual length of basin, which, +in a straight line measured from the furthest source of the Kagera to +Rosetta on the Mediterranean, is about 2,490 miles. + +The area of the Nile basin is approximately 1,080,000 square +miles.[132] This falls short of the area of the Congo basin by some +400,000 square miles. The volume of water which the Nile pours into +the Mediterranean is trivial compared with the Congo’s contribution to +the ocean; but then the waters of the equatorial zone in East Africa +are evaporated from the surface of lakes, squandered in swamps, sucked +up by the desert winds, and finally are employed to irrigate Egypt; +so that no comparison with the output of the Congo would give a fair +idea of the catchment in the Nile basin. This, perhaps (including the +annual contribution to the Nile lakes), reaches to two-thirds of the +volume of water poured into the Atlantic by the Congo’s single mouth. + +This geographical sketch is intended to place before the reader the +main features in the geography of Nileland. It is the summing up of +the results of exploration during four or five thousand years. The +preceding chapters deal with the history of the way in which the +Caucasian has laid bare the secrets of the Nile to the curiosity of +the civilised. It is only the Caucasian race which has cared for +geography in the past,--the Caucasian in all his types as Dravidian, +Hamite, Semite, Iberian, and Aryan. The Mongol of Asia and America, the +Negro of Papua and Africa has never cared to ascertain whence rivers +flowed and whither, what lands lay beyond the ocean or the snow-peaks. +Some early cross with a Caucasian race sent the Polynesian cruising +about the Pacific and venturing over the Indian Ocean from Java to +Madagascar; but the more purely Mongoloid brother in China and Japan +did not care to trace the chain of Aleutian Islands to Alaska and +America, or if he did so by accident, felt the question of no interest, +sequence, or importance. Only the Caucasian, and mainly the White +Caucasian, has worried about the Nile problem. He has attacked it first +from the north (Hamite, Greek and Roman); then from the northeast and +east (Hamite and Semite, Greek, Portuguese, and British); once more +from the north (Arabs, Turks, French, British, Germans, Italians); +resolutely from the southeast (British and Germans); latterly from the +southwest (British, Belgians, and French); and, finally and completely, +from the north and northeast. + + + + +APPENDIX I + +THE ROLL OF FAME + +OF THOSE WHO STARTED ON THE NILE QUEST IN MODERN DAYS + + + NAME. NATIONALITY. + Francisco Alvarez Portuguese. + Pedro Paez ” + JERONIMO LOBO ” + Richard Pococke British (English). + JAMES BRUCE ” (Scottish). + William Browne ” (English). + Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Swiss. + Frederic Cailliaud French. + Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds Belgian. + Prokesch von Osten German. + Eduard Rüppell German. + Selim Bimbashi Turk. + Thibaut French. + D’Arnaud ” + FERDINAND WERNE German. + Brun-Rollet French. + Ignatz Knoblecher Austrian. + ANTOINE THOMSON D’ABBADIE French-Irish. + Arnaud d’Abbadie ” ” + Mansfield Parkyns British (English). + Charles T. Beke ” ” + De Malzac French. + John Petherick British (Welsh). + Alfred Peney French. + Lejean ” + Werner Munzinger Swiss. + Theodor von Heuglin German (Würtemberger). + Alexandrine Tinne Dutch. + JOHN HANNING SPEKE British (English). + JAMES AUGUSTUS GRANT ” (Scottish). + SAMUEL WHITE BAKER ” (English). + Florence Baker Hungarian. + Giovanni Miani Italian (Venetian). + GEORG SCHWEINFURTH Russo-German. + Piaggia Italian. + C. Chaillé-Long United States. + Édouard Linant de Bellefonds Belgian. + CHARLES GEORGE GORDON British (English). + HENRY MORETON STANLEY British (Welsh). + WILHELM JUNKER Russo-German. + C. T. Wilson British (English). + R. W. Felkin ” (Scottish). + Romolo Gessi Italian (Levantine). + C. M. WATSON British (English). + Mason (Bey) United States. + Johann Maria Schuver Dutch. + Ernest Marno Austrian. + EMIN (EDUARD SCHNITZER) German (Silesia). + JOSEPH THOMSON British (Scottish). + Frederick Dealtry Lugard ” (English). + Seymour Vandeleur ” (Irish). + G. F. Scott-Elliot ” (Scottish). + Franz Stuhlmann German. + Oscar Baumann ” + Vittorio Bottego Italian. + JAMES R. LENNOX MACDONALD British (Scottish). + A. H. Dyé French. + J. B. Marchand ” + De Bonchamps French. + M. S. Wellby British (English). + H. H. Austin ” ” + R. G. T. Bright ” ” + C. W. Hobley ” ” + Ewart Grogan ” ” + J. E. S. Moore ” ” + Malcolm Fergusson ” (Scottish). + Lionel Dècle French. + Donaldson Smith United States. + Malcolm Peake British (Scottish). + Weld Blundell ” (English). + Benjamin Whitehouse ” ” + G. W. Gwynn ” (Welsh). + Charles Delmé Radcliffe ” (English). + Oscar Neumann German. + H. H. Wilson British (English). + E. A. Stanton British (English). + William Garstin British (Irish). + +This Roll includes those only who added definitely and markedly to the +map of the Nile basin, not those who travelled through these countries +for other than geographical purposes. It comprises: 34 British (21 +English, 8 Scots, 3 Welsh, and 2 Irish); 10 Germans, 13 French, 4 +Italians, 3 Portuguese, 2 Dutch, 2 Belgians, 2 Americans, 2 Swiss, 3 +Austro-Hungarians, 1 Turk. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS REFERRED TO OR CONSULTED IN THE COMPILATION OF +THIS BOOK + + + _Previous to 1840_ + + HISTORY OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, by Sir E. H. Bunbury. London, 1879. + + LE NORD DE L’AFRIQUE DANS L’ANTIQUITÉ, by Vivien de St. Martin (full + of valuable and reliable information). Paris, 1863. + + GÉOGRAPHIE DU MOYEN AGE, by J. Lelewel. (Brussels, 1852.) + + DOCUMENTS SUR L’HISTOIRE DE L’AFRIQUE ORIENTALE, by Guillain. (Paris, + 1850.) + + GÉOGRAPHIE ANCIENNE, by D’Anville (the 1834 edition brought up to + date by Manne). Paris. + + DOCTRINA PTOLEMAEI, etc., by Berlioux. (Paris, 1871.) + + PTOLEMY AND THE NILE, by T. Desborough Cooley. (1854.) + + GÉOGRAPHIE DES ANCIENS, by P. F. G. Gosselin. Paris, 1798 to 1813. + + Various papers by Mr. E. G. Ravenstein in the Proceedings of the + Royal Geographical Society or in the GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE; also + privately written MS. + + HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES, by W. M. Flinders Petrie (4 + vols.). This and the same author’s article on (ANCIENT) EGYPT in + the new edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1902, are very + useful for ascertaining what information on the knowledge of the + Nile and the Land of Punt was prevalent in Ancient Egypt and at + the time of the Muhammadan invasion of the Nile countries. + + HISTORY OF EGYPT, Vol. 1 (1902), by Dr. Wallis Budge. + + PTOLEMY’S TOPOGRAPHY OF EASTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA, by Dr. Schlichter + (Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, September, 1891). + + PARTITION OF AFRICA, by Dr. J. Scott Keltie, Second Edition. 1895. + + A SHORT RELATION OF THE RIVER NILE, etc. Proceedings of the Royal + Society, London, Nov. 1, 1668. (Portuguese Jesuits’ travels.) + + TRAVELS OF THE JESUITS IN ETHIOPIA, by Bartholomeo Tellez. 1710. + + HISTORIA DA AFRICA ORIENTAL PORTUGUEZA, por José Joaquim Lopes de + Lima. Lisbon, 1862. + + A VOYAGE TO ABYSSINIA, by Father Jerome Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit, + from the French of LE GRAND. London, 1735. + + NARRATIVE OF THE PORTUGUESE EMBASSY TO ABYSSINIA, 1520–1527. (Hakluyt + Society’s publications, Vol. 44, 1881.) + + L’HYDROGRAPHIE AFRICAINE AU SEIZIÈME SIÈCLE, D’APRÈS LES PREMIÈRES + EXPLORATIONS PORTUGUAISES. (Lisbon, 1878.) + + A DESCRIPTION OF THE EAST and some other Countries, Vol. 1 (Egypt), + by Richard Pococke, LL.D., F.R.S. London, 1743. + + TRAVELS IN UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT, by C. S. Sonnini de Manoncourt + (translated by Henry Hunter). London, 1799. + + TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE IN 1768, 1773, by James + Bruce, in 5 vols. Edinburgh, 1790. + + (Also an excellent abridgment in 1 vol., published in 1798.) + + A Second Edition in 7 vols., 1805, is considered the best and + fullest account of Bruce’s travels, with some of the errors + corrected. + + TRAVELS IN AFRICA, EGYPT, AND SYRIA, 1792–1798, by William George + Browne. London, 1800. (Darfur, Nubia.) + + THE SOURCES OF THE NILE, by Charles T. Beke. London, 1860. + + THE STORY OF AFRICA, by Dr. Robert Brown, Vols. 2 and 3, 1893, 1894. + (A most useful and trustworthy compilation.) London, Cassel. + + VOYAGE À MEROE, au Fleuve Blanc, etc., by Frederic Cailliaud. 4 vols. + Paris, 1826. + + A VOYAGE TO ABYSSINIA, by Henry Salt, 1814. + + JOURNAL OF NAVIGATION ON THE BAHR-EL-ABIAD OR THE WHITE NILE, by A. + Linant de Bellefonds, 1828. African Association, London. + + TRAVELS IN NUBIA, by John Louis Buckhardt. London, 1819. + + REISEN IN NUBIEN, KORDOFAN, etc., by Eduard Rüppell. Frankfurt a. m., + 1829. + + + _From 1840 to the Present Day_ + + PREMIER VOYAGE À LA RECHERCHE DES SOURCES DU BAHR-AL-ABIAD OU NIL + BLANC: Journal de Voyage par Selim Bimbashi. _Bulletin_, Société + de Géographie. Paris, 1840. + + DOCUMENTS ET OBSERVATIONS SUR LE COURS DU BAHR-AL-ABIAD, by D’Arnaud + Binbachi. Paris, 1843. + + KHARTUM AND THE BLUE AND WHITE NILES (Journeys of Andrew Melly), by + George Melly. London, 1851. 2 vols. + + EXPEDITION ZUR ENTDECKUNG DER QUELLEN DES WEISZEN NIL (1840, 1841), + by Ferdinand Werne. Berlin, 1848. (With admirable map of the + White Nile.) + + JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 17. (Brun-Rollet on + the Sobat River.) + + ANNALES DE VOYAGE(?), by Andrea de Bono. Paris, July, 1862. + + LE FLEUVE BLANC, by Jules Poncet. 1863. + + EGYPT, THE SUDAN, AND CENTRAL AFRICA, etc., by John Petherick. 1861. + + TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA AND EXPLORATION OF THE WESTERN NILE + TRIBUTARIES, 2 vols., by Mr. and Mrs. Petherick. 1869. + + DIE DEUTSCHER EXPEDITION IN OST AFRICA, 1861–1862, by Heuglin and + Munzinger, in Petermann’s Geographische Mittheilungen, No. 13. + + Heuglin also writes on Miss Tinne’s expedition in the same + periodical, No. 15, 1865, and gives further notes on the White + Nile. + + TRAVELS IN THE REGION OF THE WHITE NILE, by Alexandrine Tinne. 1869. + + GÉODÉSIE DE L’ÉTHIOPIE, by Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie. Paris, 1890. 1 + vol. + + LIFE IN ABYSSINIA, by Mansfield Parkyns. London, 1853. 2 vols. + + GEOLOGY AND ZOÖLOGY OF ABYSSINIA, by W. T. Blanford. 1870. + + THE NILE TRIBUTARIES OF ABYSSINIA, by S. W. Baker. 1867. + + JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 36, p. 2, article by + S. W. Baker. + + JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 36, pp. 1 to 18. + + THE ALBERT NYANZA, etc., by Sir Samuel Baker, M.A. 1866. + + THE ALBERT NYANZA, etc., by Sir Samuel Baker, M.A., New Edition. 1872. + + TRAVELS, RESEARCHES, AND MISSIONARY LABOURS, by Dr. J. L. Krapf. 1860. + + WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE NILE SOURCES, by Captain J. H. + Speke. 1864. + + THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA, by R. F. Burton. 1860. + + JOURNAL OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, by J. H. Speke. + 1864. + + A WALK ACROSS AFRICA, by J. A. Grant. 1865. + + REISE IN DAS GEBIET DES WEISSEN NIL und seine westlichen Zuflusse, + 1862–1864, von M. Theodor von Heuglin. Leipzig, 1869. + + THE HEART OF AFRICA, by Georg Schweinfurth. 2 vols. London, 1873. + + REISE IN NORDOST AFRICA, etc., von M. Theodor von Heuglin. Brunswick, + 1869. + + THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT, by H. M. Stanley. 2 vols. 1877. + + UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN, by C. T. Wilson and R. W. Felkin. 1879. + + SIR SAMUEL BAKER: a Memoir by T. Douglas Murray and A. Silva White. + London, 1895. + + ISMAILIA, by Sir Samuel W. Baker. London, 1874. + + REMARKS ON A PROPOSED LINE OF TELEGRAPH OVERLAND from Egypt to the + Cape of Good Hope, by (Sir) Edwin Arnold, Colonel J. A. Grant, + and others. London, 1876. + + COLONEL GORDON IN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1874–1879, by George Birkbeck Hill. + London, 1881. + + CENTRAL AFRICA: NAKED TRUTHS OF NAKED PEOPLE, by Colonel C. + Chaillé-Long. London, 1876. + + PROCEEDINGS OF THE KHÉDIVIAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF CAIRO, + 1860–1882. [Schuver, Marno and other travellers.] + + ARTICLES of Mr. E. G. Ravenstein on the researches of the Rev. C. + Wakefield in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1875, + 1880. + + THROUGH MASAILAND, by Joseph Thomson. 1885. + + TRAVELS IN AFRICA DURING THE YEARS 1875–1878; 1879–1883; 1882–1886; + 1890, 1891, 1892. By Dr. Wilhelm Junker. + + SEVEN YEARS IN THE SUDAN, by Romolo Gessi Pasha. London, 1892. + + IN DARKEST AFRICA, by H. M. Stanley. 2 vols. 1890. + + MIT EMIN PASHA INS HERZ VON AFRICA, by Dr. Franz Stuhlmann. Berlin, + 1894. + + ÉTHIOPIE MÉRIDIONALE, by Jules Borelli. Paris, 1890. + + A NATURALIST’S WANDERINGS IN MID-AFRICA, by C. Scott Elliot. 1894. + + DURCH MASAILAND ZUR NIL QUELLE, by Oscar Baumann. Berlin, 1894. + + JOURNEYS TO THE NORTH OF UGANDA, by Colonel J. R. L. Macdonald and + Major H. H. Austin in Geographical Journal of August, 1899. + + (Also Blue Books giving reports of Major Macdonald’s expedition.) + + CAMPAIGNING ON THE UPPER NILE AND NIGER, by Seymour Vandeleur. 1899. + + THE CAPE TO CAIRO, by E. Grogan and A. Sharp. 1900. + + THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, by J. E. Moore. 1902. + + THE TANGANYIKA PROBLEM, by J. E. Moore. 1902. + + AMONG SWAMPS AND GIANTS IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA, by H. H. Austin. 1902. + + KING MENELIK’S DOMINIONS AND THE COUNTRY BETWEEN LAKE GALLOP (RUDOLF) + AND THE NILE VALLEY, by Captain M. S. Wellby. Geographical + Journal for September, 1900. London. + + THE STORY OF AFRICA, Vols. 2, 3, and 4, by Dr. Robert Brown + (1893–1895). + + THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE, by Sir Harry Johnston. 2 vols. 1902. + + THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL (London) for July and December, 1901; and + October, 1902. + + THE JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETY (London) 1902, 1903. [Colonel + Stanton’s articles.] + + +[Illustration: OROGRAPHICAL FEATURES of the NILE BASIN] + +[Illustration: LAND SURFACE FEATURES of the NILE BASIN] + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] A superior type of dark-haired white man allied with Circassian and +Persian, and perhaps a direct development from the Dravidian. + +[2] The Kudu, which is a tragelaph rather than an antelope, exists at +the present day in the eastern part of the Egyptian Sudan, between +Abyssinia and the Nile, and its remains are found fossil in Algeria. It +may therefore have extended even within the historical period to near +the shores of the Mediterranean. + +[3] This word is the origin of the Arabised _Fayūm_, a name given to +the remains of a curious Nile reservoir, or backwater-lake, to the west +of the Nile, in the Libyan Desert. + +[4] The Biblical Yeôr. The Hebrews also called the Nile _Shikhor_, +or the “Black.” The earliest Greek name for the river and country is +_Aiguptos_ (the origin of “Egypt”). Later the name _Neilos_ (Nile) was +given to the river. This became the later Arab and European _Nilus_, +_Nil_, _Nile_, etc. The origin of the Greek names _Aiguptos_ and +_Neilos_ is unknown, but _Neilos_ may be derived from the Persian word +_nil_ = blue. + +[5] Needless to say, in all cases the iris of these eyes is actually +gray; but the gray almost verges on blue in some instances, while the +absence or presence of a dark rim round the eyes gives or withholds the +violet tinge to the gray. + +[6] Ptolemy’s original maps have disappeared, and we only know them +through the well-nigh innumerable copies that were made by Greek monks +between 600 and 900 A.D., by Arabs in the Islamic Renaissance, by +Latin monks and pilgrims, by Venetian and Catalan sailors, and Flemish +or German geographers. Latterly many of these copyists imported into +Ptolemy’s maps of the Nile much recent and modern information. + +[7] Even to-day the local (unofficial) name of Berber or any of the +districts round Berber is Ibrim. + +[8] This mistake is hardly surprising, seeing that at Matama, in the +country of Galabat, the most southern affluent of the Atbara approaches +to within five miles of the most eastern affluent of the Blue Nile. See +Chapter XXVI. + +[9] Ptolemy Philadelphus’ chief inducement to establish stations in +Abyssinia was to procure war elephants. Thus to these Egyptian Greeks +and Ethiopians the African elephant did not appear too intractable. + +[10] Dongola, the accepted name for the Nubian country north of +Kordofan, appears at one time to have been inhabited by a race speaking +a Hamitic rather than a Nubian language. Dongola (originally Dankala), +or its plural, Danagla, may be etymologically connected with Danākil of +the north Somali coast. + +[11] Gala and Somali are almost convertible terms. But in this book +Somali is used to indicate that section of the Gala peoples who have +become Muhammadans, and Gala is reserved as a general term for the +whole race or for its non-Islamite tribes. + +[12] The Arabic and Turkish name for Venice is, or was, Bunduq. This +was a clumsy rendering of the German Venedig, which again was a +corruption of the Latin Veneticum. Although the Arab _q_ (a very strong +_k_) is almost unpronounceable by most Europeans, it is nevertheless +constantly used by Arabs for translating the _k_-sound in European +words. + +[13] By “Dravidian” I mean that very early and little differentiated, +dark-coloured Caucasian of India who is only a few degrees, physically, +above the Australian race. + +[14] At the time of these exploits Oporto, now the second town of +Portugal, was of little account; the great port at the mouth of the +Douro was called in Latin Portus Calis, or, in the local dialect, +Portucal. This place, being the most important port in the district +recovered from the Moors by Count Henry, gave its name to the little +principality which he founded. + +[15] Algarve is simply a Portuguese softening of the Arabic words +Al Gharb, the Extreme West or place of sun-setting. At that time +Morocco, across the Straits, was also called Al Gharb for the same +reason. Therefore, after these conquests, the kings of Portugal styled +themselves “Kings of the Algarves, on this side and on the other side +of the sea.” The after-triumphs of the Portuguese in the path of +exploration, conquest, and colonisation were finally summed up in the +grandiose titles of their monarchs, which endure to the present day, +and which may well be allowed to endure with respect, seeing what the +world’s knowledge owes to the Portuguese navigators and conquistadores. +The titles run, “Rey de Portugal e dos Algarves, alem e aquem do Mar +na Africa; Senhor da Guiné e da conquista e da navegaçao d’Ethiopia, +Arabia, Persia e India” (King of Portugal and of the Algarves, on this +side and on the other side of the Sea in Africa; Lord of Guinea, and of +the conquest and navigation of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India). + +[16] Prester John. + +[17] It may be interesting to some to know that Vasco is a contraction +of Velasco, meaning “hairy,” and was a nickname often given to +Portuguese in early days. + +[18] In Lobo’s book the date is given as 1613, but Bruce shows with +some likelihood that, according to the native Abyssinian chronicles, +the date of Paez’ visit to the sources of the Blue Nile was probably +1615. In the Latin version of Paez’ account of his travels, published +at Rome in 1652 by the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, the date given is the +21st of April, 1618. + +[19] See page 30. + +[20] Probably, from the description given, _Equus grevyi_; so that +this, the largest, rarest, and the latest described of all the zebras, +was probably the first example of the striped horse to receive that +name at the hands of the Portuguese, and become known to Europe. The +name is spelt “zevra” in Father Lobo’s account, in some versions +“zeura.” + +[21] The modern term, Gala or Galla, used to denominate that section of +the Hamite people closely akin to the Somalis yet heathen and dwelling +inland, is derived through the Portuguese from an Abyssinian cant term +meaning “wild,” “savage.” It is unrecognized by the “Gallas” themselves. + +[22] Father Lobo gives an excellent description of the coasts of the +Red Sea as known to the Portuguese at the beginning of the seventeenth +century. Among other places that are probably mentioned for the first +time is Suakin, which is written “Suaquem.” + +[23] Fremona, the first and principal seat of the Jesuits, was nine +or ten miles from Axum. It was originally called Maigoga, but the +name Fremona was given to it by the Portuguese Jesuits as being the +Abyssinian version of Frumentius, who was the so-called Apostle of +Abyssinia, and converted the rulers of that country to the Greek Church +in the fourth century. + +[24] Lake Tsana is usually styled by Lobo and the earlier Portuguese +travellers Dambia (Dembea); but they also give it the name of Sena, +which is obviously the same as Bruce’s version of Tsana. + +[25] Some of the blame undoubtedly must be laid on the shoulders of +the Dutch and Saxon map-makers, who used and distorted Portuguese +information. + +[26] _Habsh_, _Habshi_ is the name given to Negroes at the present day +in Hindustani. + +[27] A Description of the East and some other countries, Vol. I., by +Richard Pococke, LL.D., F. R. S. London, 1743. + +[28] He filled many posts between 1725 and his death in 1771. He +desired to be made Secretary of State for the West Indies, but George +II. refused. His efforts to foster British trade and colonial expansion +were much appreciated by merchants and colonials, and Halifax, in Nova +Scotia, is named after him. + +[29] Algeria was then practically a dependency of Turkey, governed by +Turks. + +[30] Though it is so stated, the delay was apparently caused by the +complete breakdown of Bruce’s health, a breakdown which obliged him +to spend some time at Italian sulphur baths (Poretta). Bruce, before +leaving Sennar and the regions of the Blue Nile, had received into his +system the germ of the Guinea worm. This creature developed in the +usual way. One day when Bruce was reading on a sofa at Cairo he felt +an itching on his leg, and soon afterwards through the pimple thus +raised appeared the head of the worm. Three inches of this parasite +were wound off round a piece of silk, but on the ship which conveyed +Bruce from Alexandria to Marseilles the surgeon clumsily broke off the +portion of the worm extruding from the body. The remainder of the worm +still in the leg caused the most terrible agony for thirty-five days, +which Bruce had to spend in the lazaretto at Marseilles. Here, however, +he received better surgical treatment. Nevertheless, for some time +afterwards his leg gave him considerable trouble, and apparently, in +1774, he had to visit Italian sulphur baths. + +[31] All except, perhaps, some of his stories of Nubia and Sennar. + +[32] It is curious to read of his using a “rifle” in Abyssinia and +thereby astonishing the princes. + +[33] The name of this notable African city is said to mean, in the +local Arabic, “elephant’s trunk,” as the long spit of sand on which it +was erected was supposed to resemble that feature. Other etymologies +are quoted. Apparently the name was that of a small fishing village of +grass huts which was selected by Ibrahim Pasha as a camp commanding +both the White and Blue Niles and easily defended. Khartum, from its +situation, rapidly became the metropolis of the Sudan. It was taken +and destroyed by the Mahdi in 1885. Its site was reoccupied by Lord +Kitchener’s victorious force in 1898. Khartum has since been rebuilt, +and will probably become one of the greatest cities of Africa. + +[34] The son of a Swiss soldier in the Swiss corps subsidised by +England in the Napoleonic wars. + +[35] Afterwards absorbed by the Royal Geographical Society. + +[36] As this journey was financed by the African Association, it may be +regarded as a British contribution to Nile exploration. + +[37] The name Muhammad is affectedly pronounced by the Turks Mehemet, +but is of course written by them Muhammad. + +[38] Afterwards for nearly forty years French consular agent at Khartum. + +[39] Mainly supported by the Archduchess Sophia. + +[40] The names of the principal members of this Austrian Roman Catholic +Mission, which finally abandoned its labors about 1862, owing to +the terribly unhealthy climate of the Upper Nile, were Knoblecher, +Beltrame, Morlang, Ueberbacher, Ryllo, and Dorvak. Of their numbers +(seventeen in all) fifteen died of fever or dysentery, and only two +returned to Europe. Beltrame wrote important works in Italian on +the Dinka language. Knoblecher, Ueberbacher, and Morlang collected +materials for the illustration of the Bari language, which were put +together by Mitterrützner. + +[41] Glamorgan. + +[42] It may be mentioned here that throughout the Sudan, from the +Albert Nyanza to Khartum, the Egyptians, as distinct from their +Sudanese soldiers, are always spoken of as Turki or Turūk. Kordofan, +once the home of the Nubians and of Negro races, was overrun by Arabs +for several centuries, and more than a hundred years ago formed part of +the half-Ethiopian kingdom of Sennar. It was then subdued by the mailed +horsemen of Darfur, and held by them until conquered by the Egyptian +army under Ibrahim Pasha in 1820. + +[43] Petherick in his last book writes in eulogistic terms of the +behaviour of this mere boy (so far as age went) throughout all the +trying experiences that the Pethericks underwent in their journeys up +and down the White Nile and the rivers of the Bahr-al-Ghazal. It would +be interesting to know what became of Foxcroft after so promising a +début in African travel. + +[44] Many of these tribes are known to us at the present day by foolish +nicknames. For instance, the Kamasia people, who dwell in the western +part of the Baringo district, really call themselves El Tūkan. Turkana +seems often pronounced Tukana. + +[45] Amabile, tried and sentenced to imprisonment by Petherick +for slave-trading, and Andrea de Bono, who, though ostensibly an +ivory-trader, was very unscrupulous in his methods. De Bono, however, +was the first European to explore the countries to the east of the +Mountain Nile, i.e., between the main Nile and the basin of Lake Rudolf. + +[46] Near the confluence of the Asua River. + +[47] Down to about 1860 the Arab ruler over East Africa was the Imam of +Maskat, the sovereign of the principality of Oman on the Persian Gulf. +For more than a hundred years, however, the Imam of Maskat deputed one +of his sons or kinsmen to be Sayyid of Zanzibar. + +[48] By its own people this country is called _Wu-nya-mwezi_. _Wu-_ is +a degenerate form of the Bantu _bu-_ prefix, which is often used to +indicate a country. _Nya_ is a particle, meaning “of,” or “concerning,” +and _mwezi_ = the moon. Unyamwezi is, however, so far away from +Ruwenzori on the one hand or Kilimanjaro on the other that it is +difficult to associate its name (which so far as we know has been in +existence for about four centuries) with that of the snow-mountains. + +[49] Speke and others are of opinion that there was a considerable +civilisation in Somaliland at one time, which completely disappeared +after the Muhammadanising of the country. The Somali (except those +of the far interior) were converted to Islam by Arab immigrants in +the fifteenth century. Prior to this they had been Christian to +some extent, a much degraded type of Christianity having penetrated +southwards from Abyssinia. It is hardly necessary to point out that the +Somali and Gala are practically one people in race and language. Gala +is only apparently a cant term originating in Abyssinia and unknown +to the people whom we call by that name. It is also interesting to +note that Speke and other explorers heard in Somaliland, in the “early +fifties,” of the existence of a great lake far in the interior which +was in all probability the Victoria Nyanza. The present writer has +endeavoured to show, in his book on the Uganda Protectorate, that in +ancient times considerable trading intercourse was kept up between +Somaliland and the northeast shores of the Victoria Nyanza. + +[50] Victoria Nyanza. Often so called in earlier days by the Arabs, +from Bukerebe, a large island near the south shore. + +[51] Though Burton subsequently recanted this opinion in order to +embarrass Speke’s theories, and declared that the Rusizi was the outlet +of Tanganyika. + +[52] After his Somersetshire home, and the Indian word for a +creek--_ălla_. + +[53] Walter L’Espec, in the reign of Henry I., founded three +abbeys,--Kirkham, Rivaulx, and Warden. In the thirteenth century the +L’Especs altered the spelling of their name to Speke. One Speke lost +property by faithfulness to Charles I.; another got into (and out of) +trouble in the reign of Charles II. by advocating the claims to the +succession of the Duke of Monmouth. + +[54] In one of his books Speke shows us how Burton and himself managed +to communicate with the natives. Neither of them--not even Burton--had +a sufficient knowledge of Kiswahili during their journey to Tanganyika +to talk direct with their porters. They conversed with “Bombay,” +their Swahili interpreter, in Hindustani. Burton also was able to +speak Arabic with the Arab traders. Both, perhaps, are a little too +inclined to overlook this language difficulty in describing their +conversations with native chiefs. In all cases these must have been +carried on in the following manner: The chief would probably speak +in his native language, which would be translated by somebody else +into Swahili, and this again would be translated by Bombay, or Frij, +or some other interpreter, into Hindustani or English; or, again, +Burton’s information might be rendered by some Arab in Arabic. Direct +communications no doubt were sometimes made by both parties in broken +Swahili. + +[55] Mr. T. Douglas Murray, who afterwards became Baker’s biographer. +This letter was written near the close of Sir Samuel Baker’s life, on +the 22d of August, 1893. + +[56] See his “Discovery of the Source of the Nile.” + +[57] Discovery of the Source of the Nile, p. 31. + +[58] Worthy of mention here as being the southernmost extension of +“Nilotic” influence among the East African races. + +[59] _Gazella granti_, the horns of which are far longer than is the +case with any other gazelle, the animal itself being about the size of +a fallow deer. + +[60] A Hima state, lying to the west of the Victoria Nyanza. + +[61] This, of course, was Lake Albert, the waters of which are slightly +brackish. But it is often called the Salt Lake by the Arabs, from the +large deposits of salt on its shores. + +[62] They meant, of course, the Rukuga, which flows through Marungu. + +[63] Hima or Huma is the commonest name applied locally to the Gala +aristocracy in East Equatorial Africa. + +[64] Journal of the Discovery of the Sources of the Nile. + +[65] Throughout the writings of Burton, Speke, and Stanley, this race +is called Wahuma. The most common term, however, by which they are +known and know themselves is Bahima (_hima_ being the root and _Ba-_ +the plural prefix). + +[66] This is the more curious because, on page 276 in the “Discovery of +the Source of the Nile,” Speke writes of “a long range of view of the +lake, and of the large island or group of islands called Sese, where +the king of Uganda keeps one of his fleets.” + +[67] According to the traditions of the natives, syphilis and smallpox +entered Uganda about the same time, and came originally from Unyoro. +Unyoro received these plagues from the first Nubian slave- and +ivory-trading caravans, which were the pioneers of Egyptian rule in the +forties of the last century. Syphilis and smallpox were also brought by +the Zanzibar trading caravans from Unyamwezi not many years later. + +[68] This, indeed, long before the British Protectorate, Gordon Pasha +meditated, and was only restrained therefrom by the intervention of Sir +John Kirk. + +[69] It is a question whether all these spirits were not in origin +deified chiefs or medicine-men, who after death were supposed to become +controllers of the lake, of the rain supply, of certain diseases, or +of certain functions. Speke considers that a small element of phallic +worship was mixed up with the old Uganda religion. + +[70] Muzungu, i.e., “White-man.” + +[71] This word is really a mis-hearing on Speke’s part for Bwana, +which, again, is a corruption of Abuna, the Arab word for “our father.” +Bwana is the respectful term, meaning “master,” which is applied in the +Swahili language to all persons of superior position. It was the name +by which Speke was known throughout his stay in Uganda, though it has +long since been discarded for “Sapiki.” + +[72] Since, by the unspeakable barbarism of the British Administration, +_cut down_! + +[73] Albert Nyanza. + +[74] Speke and Baker had met before in India. + +[75] Florence Ninian von Sass. Lady Baker survives her husband. + +[76] For something like twelve hundred miles, from the mouth of the +Atbara to the sea, the Nile receives no further contribution of water. + +[77] _Cycloderma_, the Leathery Fresh-water Turtle. + +[78] This great lake was in reality nothing but the lake-like course +of the Upper Congo. The words for river and lake in almost all African +languages are the same. + +[79] She usually signed herself Alexine. Her full name was Alexandrina +Petronella Francina Tinne. The name is spelt without an accented _e_, +and is pronounced as it would be in German. + +[80] Her nephew, Mr. John Tinne, however, informs the present writer +that his aunt once wrote to him saying that “ever since she was a +little girl doing lessons she had longed to see what there was on the +great blank spot on the map of Africa.” + +[81] This account of the death of Miss Tinne is derived from +information very kindly supplied to the author by her nephew, Theodore +F. S. Tinne, Esq., of Hawkhurst, Kent. + +[82] She was only thirty-three at the time of her death. + +[83] France was dogged with continual ill-luck in her attempts to +open up and explore the Nile basin. Expedition after expedition and +explorer after explorer, despatched directly or indirectly under French +auspices, failed (generally by death from fever) in grasping the great +discoveries which fell to more fortunate Germans and Englishmen. + +[84] They were, however, first mentioned by Piaggia. + +[85] Heuglin forestalled him, perhaps, as regards the Gray Parrot. + +[86] These people do not call themselves by the designation. It is one +applied to them by the Arabs as a nickname, indicating the gusto with +which they eat human flesh. They themselves acknowledge several names, +such as Azande and Makarka. + +[87] Pierced by the ants so that they become whistles played on by the +wind. + +[88] First of all revealed to our notice by the Italian explorer, +Piaggia, who succeeded Miani and preceded Dr. Schweinfurth. + +[89] A gifted French explorer who attempted to forestall other +expeditions in discovering the Central African lakes. He was murdered +about a hundred miles inland from Zanzibar. + +[90] Younger brother of Adolphe Linant, an early Nile explorer of 1827 +and 1828. + +[91] In a pamphlet written in conjunction with Mr. Kerry Nichols and +Colonel J. A. Grant, published in 1876, by William Clowes. + +[92] Romolo Gessi was a Levantine Italian, born at Constantinople in +1831, who had gradually drifted into the employment of the Egyptian +government. He became a Pasha after Gordon’s departure from the Sudan +in 1880. + +[93] Now Colonel Watson, R.E. In 1874–1875 Lieutenant C. M. Watson, +accompanied by Lieutenant Chippendall, made an admirable survey of +the main Nile from Khartum to Gondokoro, and later assisted Gordon in +completing this survey up to Lake Albert. + +[94] A portion of this is often called Makarka. + +[95] During this struggle Gessi was hard put to it for food, but he +quaintly notes that “Of all our troops only the Makarka and Nyam-nyam +remained healthy, owing to their feeding on human flesh. Directly +after a battle they cut off the feet of the dead, and consumed these, +together with their brains.” + +[96] Whose encyclopædic work on the Galas will soon be published. Mr. +Wakefield died in 1902. + +[97] Dweru, like Nyanza, is a very common Bantu word which is applied +equally to lake and river. It simply means “whiteness.” With different +prefixes it becomes Mweru, Jeru, and so forth. + +[98] In giving extracts from this as from other works of Nile explorers +the present writer often summarises. He also employs sometimes more +modern spelling in scientific nomenclature to avoid puzzling the reader +habituated to the most recent descriptions. + +[99] Vide chap. ix. p. 107. + +[100] This stream, joining others from farther east, enters the +Mountain Nile near the bifurcation of the Giraffe River.--H. H. J. + +[101] Khor Kos flows into the Oguelokur, and thus into the +Bahr-az-Ziraf. See chap. xxvi. + +[102] The distribution of the branching Hyphæne Fan palm is very +peculiar. It is found right across the Sahara, south of latitude 25°, +to the vicinity of the Atlantic. It avoids the better watered regions +of Nigeria and the Bahr-al-Ghazal, but on the east extends across +Somaliland and down the coast to Mombasa.--H. H. J. + +[103] Probably Emin refers to the lanky _Cercopithecus patas_. + +[104] Really a plantain-eater--_Schizorhis_ or +_Gymnoschizorhis_.--H. H. J. + +[105] The white-eared Kob antelope.--H. H. J. + +[106] The Kafuru. This was re-examined by the author of this book. +It is a narrow winding channel passing between high banks. In spite +of the author’s delineation of this feature in his book, “The Uganda +Protectorate,” map-makers still continue to draw it as a lake-like +straight arm connecting the Albert Edward with Dweru. + +[107] Dweru, as already explained, merely means a white surface or +sheet of water. + +[108] This word is the name of one of the tributaries of the Kagera. + +[109] M. Dècle travelled overland from the Cape of Good Hope to the +Victoria Nile in 1892–1894. + +[110] Dr. Kandt (who first correctly mapped Lake Kivu) traced the +course of the important Nyavarongo and Akanyaru tributaries of the +Kagera. This learned explorer died in 1901. + +[111] Lugard mapped much of the country between Uganda and Ruwenzori +and discovered Lake Wamala in western Uganda. + +[112] Mr Jackson’s magnificent zoölogical collections, especially in +mammals, birds, and butterflies, have, with those of Mr. Oscar Neumann, +done much to illustrate the fauna of southern Nileland. + +[113] It is said that the contribution to the Nile waters from the +great Victoria Nyanza is not more considerable than the maximum +discharge of one of the great canals in Egypt. Much of the volume +of the Victoria Nile is spread out to waste and evaporate in the +Kioga-Kwania Lake, which also receives the heavy rainfall of north and +west Elgon. + +[114] I should again like to point out how frequent amongst Nilotic +Negroes is the word Kir for a big river. This name is frequently +applied to the main Nile, and appears even to crop up again in the +Bantu languages of the Victoria Nyanza, for in Luganda the Nile is also +called Kiira. + +[115] Piaggia was originally an Italian mechanic, born at Alexandria. +He drifted to the Sudan in 1856, and generally attached himself as a +sort of caravan leader to the traders in the Bahr-al-Ghazal. In this +capacity he explored (quite unscientifically) the Nyam-nyam country in +1863–1865, and in 1876 he visited Lake Kioga and the Victoria Nile. + +[116] For various reasons not all Captain Marchand’s officers could be +brought away from the Nile immediately. Lieutenant Tanguedec was left +for some two years entirely isolated on the White Nile near Bor. + +[117] A name very suggestive of the Bantu languages. + +[118] Negroes of the Semliki valley and forest. + +[119] This lake is at present one of the unsolved African problems +as regards its history and affinities. Unlike other lakes of Central +Africa, its fauna has marine affinities, and would seem indeed to be +actually of marine origin. It is at the present day connected somewhat +intermittently with the Congo drainage, and therefore with the Atlantic +Ocean; and one assumption to explain the existence of its sponges, +shrimps, and jelly-fishes is that in Jurassic times it was connected +with a vast inlet of the Atlantic Ocean which occupied the northern +half of the low-lying Congo basin. Yet, when a relief map of Africa is +looked at, it strikes one at a glance that Tanganyika lies within the +same rift valley as Lakes Kivu, Albert Edward, Albert Nyanza, and the +Albertine Nile. Its southern end may also have been connected through +Lake Rukwa, with the rift valley of Lake Nyasa. It would be easy to +imagine the occurrence of a recent and slight upheaval which detached +this lake from the Nile system and sent its overflowing waters in the +direction of the Congo, but for the aforementioned marine fauna of +its waters. Its history, therefore, remains at the present moment an +unsolved problem. + +[120] With a bifurcated rift up Tanganyika. + +[121] See “L’Omo,” by L. Vannutelli and C. Citerni. + +[122] A small and very interesting lake which lies about sixty miles to +the north of Tanganyika, and communicates with that lake by the river +Rusizi. + +[123] Some rising as far south as Lat. 3° 50′ S. and within ten miles +of Tanganyika. + +[124] Bahr-al-Jabl, so called by the Turks and early French and German +explorers, because by following it up stream they came at last to +mountains after the thousand miles of marsh between Khartum and Bor. + +[125] “River of gazelles,” i.e., antelopes, the name given to it by the +Sudanese Arabs from the dense herds of game which were formerly to be +seen on its marshy shores. + +[126] The Ruzi River, which rises to the west of Lake Rudolf, under the +fourth degree of north latitude, was considered by the late Captain +Wellby to be the southernmost source of the Sobat, but this supposition +has not been verified. + +The Ruzi or the two Ruzis probably join the three big streams--the +Oguelokur, Tu, and Kos--which enter the Giraffe River. + +[127] This name means “the terrible,” from the violence with which it +sweeps down a winding chasm from an altitude of 7,000 feet in Abyssinia +to 2,500 feet in the Nubian plains. + +[128] Who transmitted the rumour to Greek travellers and merchants +visiting the coasts of the Red Sea and East Africa. These again handed +on the information to Greek and Roman geographers. + +[129] A corruption of Runsororo. + +[130] Wosho Mountain, approximately sixteen thousand feet. + +[131] Snow may perhaps occasionally lie for a few days on the highest +points of the volcanic Mfumbiro peaks (Sabinzi and Karisimbi), which +are over thirteen thousand feet and lie almost within the limits of +the Nile basin, to the south of Lake Albert Edward; and there may be a +little permanent snow perhaps on the peaks over eleven thousand feet in +height on the southeast of Basutoland in South Africa. + +[132] A little less perhaps than Dr. A. Bludan’s estimate. + + + + +INDEX + + + Aahmes, 11 + + Abbadie, Antoine Thomson d’, 111, 279, 280, 281, 319 + + Abbadie, Arnaud d’, 279, 319 + + Ablaing, Baron d’, 193 + + Abyssinia, 3, 298 _et seq._; + history of, 30 _et seq._, 46 _et seq._, 61, 112, 277 _et seq._; + geography of, 30, 57, 70, 87, 111, 179, 182, 203, 204, 279 _et + seq._; + people of, 31 _et seq._, 61, 82 _et seq._, + (raw-meat eating) 81–85, + (feasts) 82–85; + Christianity of, 48, 51, 58; + Emperor of, 49, 51, 57, 66, 77, 182, 278 _et seq._; + name of, 60, 61; + missionaries in, 112, 182, 278; + likeness to Bahima, 144; + Mother of the Nile, 179; + mountains, 297, 312 + + Acacia (gum) trees, 182, 205, 207, 209, 218, 220, 294 + + Acholi (Shuli), people, 165, 184, 253, 274, 296 + + Adel (Somaliland), 48 + + Aden, 115, 127, 276 + + Adua, 33 + + Adulis, 27, 33 + + Afar, 4, 30 + + Africa, East, 22, 44, 48, 133, 246 + + Africa, Negro, 21 + + Africa, North, 15, 38, 199 + + Africa, South, 134, 147 + + Africa, West, 148, 217, 219, 242, 245 + + African Association, 86, 90 + + African wild flowers, flora, 133, 177, 204, 205, 218, 257, 258 + + Agoro Mountains, 272 + + Ais, Al, 94, 99 + + Akka pygmies, 110, 216 + + Akobo River, 287, 290 + + Albania, Albanians, 94 + + Albert Edward, Lake, 171, 227, 260, 262, 269, 270, 304 + + Albert Nyanza, 26, 71, 97, 129, 164, 170, 173, 185 _et seq._, 231 _et + seq._, 250, 260 _et seq._, 304 + + Alexander the Great, 12, 13, 16, 90 + + Alexandra Nyanza, 228, 266 + + Alexandria, 16, 22, 23, 66, 80, 95 + + Algarve (southern province of Portugal), 46 + + Algiers, Algeria, 76 + + Aloes, 122, 204, 218 + + Alvarez, Francisco, 47, 69, 319 + + Ambach, or Ambady, 244 + + Ambatch (_Herminiera_), 209, 210, 294 + + Ambukol, 96, 310 + + America, Americans, 8, 233, 273, 317, 321 + + Amhara, 277, 278 + + Amharic language, 62, 63, 280 + + Ankole, 148, 262, 298 + + Antelopes, 182, 201, 209, 306 + + Anthropology, 200, 211, 212, 217, 251 + + Anville, D’, 70 _et seq._, 80, 202 + + Apes, anthropoid, 4, 5, 315 + + Apuddo (Apuddu), 109 + + Arabia, 1, 3, 7, 17, 95 + + Arabs, 17 _et seq._, 22, 39, 44, 50, 113, 119, 180, 181, 246, 317 + + Arabs of Zanzibar, their early knowledge of African geography, 139, + 140 + + Aragonese, 40 + + Aristocracy in Nileland, 156 + + Aristocreon, 19 + + Aristotle, 16 + + Arnaud, D’, 96, 100, 319 + + Arnold, Sir Edwin, 228, 274 + + Aruwimi River, 240, 260, 264 + + Aryan races, languages, 14 + + Asia Minor, 19 + + Assiut, 88 + + Assuan, 19, 39, 77, 87, 95, 96 + + Astaboras (Abbara, _see_) 21, 27 + + Astapus (Blue Nile), 16, 27 + + Astasobas, 27 + + Asua River, 109, 134, 166, 167, 232, 272, 306 + + Atbara, 20 _et seq._, 25, 48, 92, 176 _et seq._, 203, 240, 278, 288, + 310 + + Atlantic Ocean, 317 + + Austin, H. H., 271, 286, 287 + + Austria, Austrians, 96, 234, 248, 321 + + Austrian Mission on Mountain Nile, 97 _et seq._, 167 + + Author’s contributions to Nile geography, 248, 270 + + Auxuma, Axum, 27, 33 + + Azania, 22 + + + Baggara Arabs, 211 + + Bahr-al-Arab, 71, 201, 230, 238, 242, 243, 307 + + Bahr-al-Aswad, 180 + + Bahr-al-Azrak, _see_ Blue Nile + + Bahr-al-Ghazal River, 5, 6, 21, 43, 71, 72, 98, 100 _et seq._, 106 + _et seq._, 192 _et seq._, 201 _et seq._, 212 _et seq._, 234, + 236 _et seq._, 240, 241 _et seq._, 274, 285, 306 _et seq._ + + Bahr-al-Hamr, 194, 201, 243 + + Bahr-al-Jabl, _see_ White and Mountain Nile + + Bahr-az-Ziraf, _see_ Giraffe Nile + + Bailul, 54 + + Baker, Sir Samuel, 103, 129, 131, 167, 168; + birth and parentage, 174; + marriage and Ceylon, 175; + in Turkey, 176; + second marriage, 176; + commences Nile exploration, 176; + on the Atbara, 177 _et seq._; + starts for Albert Nyanza, 183 _et seq._; + deceived as to extent of this lake, 186; + knighted, 188; + results of his explorations, 189; + returns to Nileland, 190, 191; + character, 191, 320 + + Baker (Florence), Lady, 167, 176, 182, 320 + + _Balæniceps rex_, 101, 102, 295 + + Balega Negroes (Lendu), 297 + + Baltic provinces, 203 + + Baluchistan, Baluchi, 2, 43 + + Balugano (Italian draftsman), 77 + + Banana, the, 57, 153 + + Bantu languages, 114, 137, 138, 261, 284, 290, 291 + + Bantu Negro, 29, 38, 137, 290 + + Baobab tree, 182, 294 + + Bari country, people, 21, 97, 98, 108 _et seq._, 188, 190, 238 + + Baringo, Lake, 113, 162, 247 + + Baro (_see also_ Sobat), 284, 285, 288 + + Barth, Dr., 217 + + Basalt, 210, 314 + + Basilis (Greek explorer), 19 + + Bath, 170 + + Baumann, Oscar, 266, 267, 268, 320 + + Baumgarten (Swiss engineer), 99 + + Beads, Blue Egyptian, 36 + + Beatrice Gulf, 227, 262 + + Beke, Dr. C. T., 111, 280, 319 + + Belgium, Belgians, 225, 238, 242, 269, 318, 321 + + Beltrame, Father, 97 + + Benue River, 219 + + Berber (Primnis, Ibrim), 25, 69, 188, 205 + + Berbera, 116 + + Berbers, the, 199 + + Berkeley, Fort, 106 + + Berlin, 203 + + Bermudez, 47 _et seq._ + + Berta Negroes, 289, 297 + + Bilma, 20 + + Binesho tribe, 290 + + Bion (Greek explorer), 19 + + Birds, 208, 255, 295 + + Biri River, 216 + + Blackwater fever, 107, 195 + + Blackwood’s Magazine, 128, 170 + + Blandford, Dr. W. T., 282 + + Blood-drinking (Abyssinian, East African), 81, 82 + + Blundell, Weld, 287, 321 + + Bogos country, 283, 294 + + “Bombay” (Speke’s faithful), 130, 165, 169 + + Bonchamps, De, 286 + + Bongo tribe, 217 + + Bono, Andrea de, 106 _et seq._, 165, 168, 187 + + Bor, 106, 285, 291, 292 + + Boran Galas, 72 + + _Borassus_, palm (_Doleb_), 253, 254 + + Borelli, Jules, 285 + + Bornu, 239, 242 + + Botany, _see_ Flora + + Bottego, V., 285, 320 + + Brahuis (of Beluchistan), 2 + + Brèvedent, Father, 67 + + Bright, R. G. T., 271, 286, 321 + + British, the, 293, 317, 318, 319 _et seq._; + in Egypt, 94, 95; + in Uganda, 154, 161, 228, 269; + in Abyssinia, 282; + in Egypt and Sudan, 293 + + British Association, 170, 172 + + British government, its indifference to African exploration, 169, 188 + + Browne, Wm. Geo., 88, 89, 319 + + Bruce, James, 71, 75 _et seq._; + and the Guinea worm, 81; + raw-flesh eating, 81, 82; + death, 86; + work in Abyssinian history, 276, 319 + + Brun-Rollet, 96, 99, 319 + + _Bucerosia_, 204, 218 + + Buchta, Richard, 234 + + Buddu, 150, 151, 156 + + Buffon, Comte de (naturalist), 80, 87 + + Bumbiri, Island of, 225, 226 + + Bunbury, Sir E. H., 25 + + Burckhardt, J. L., 92, 93, 319 + + Burton, Sir Richard F., 115 _et seq._, 127 _et seq._ (relations with + Speke), 128 _et seq._, 170, 171, 172, (character) 131 _et seq._; + transference to West Africa, 170; + theories of geography, 171, 231; + hesitation to take Mombasa route, 246 + + Burton, Lady, 172 + + Bushmen (pygmies), 1, 31 + + Busoga, 35, 152, 162, 224, 260, 303 + + Byzantine Empire, 30, 37, 40 + + + Cæsar, Julius, 9 + + Cailliaud, Frederic, 91, 92, 289, 319 + + Cairo, 67 _et seq._, 75, 93 + + Cambridge, 93 + + Cambyses, 11, 12, 24 + + Camel, the, 21, 294 + + Camerons, 148 + + Cannibals, Cannibalism, 194, 202, 236 + + Cape of Good Hope, 47, 87, 134, 266 + + “Cape-to-Cairo,” phrase and telegraph, 228, 274 + + Capellen, Baroness Van, 193, 195 + + Carthage, 10, 15 + + Casabi (Italian explorer), 239 + + Cattle, breeds of African, 147; + abundant, 208, 295 + + Caucasian and Nile discovery, _prefatory note_, 19, 297, 298, 317 + + Caucasian, Caucasian race, 2, 14, 31, 42, 146, 148, 297, 317 + + Cecchi (Italian explorer), 235, 279 + + Centurions, Nero’s two, 20, 21, 26, 274 + + Ceylon, 175 + + Chad, Lake, 6, 15, 20, 147, 195, 199, 240 + + Chaillé-Long, Col., 238, 239, 320 + + Charles II., 125 + + Chemorongi Mountains, 272 + + Chiarini (Italian explorer), 235 + + Chimpanzee, the, 5, 217, 222 + + Chippendall, Capt., 231, 233, 234 + + Christianity, 34, 35,37 _et seq._, 48, 259 + + Church Missionary Society, 112, 113, 228, 246, 277, 281 + + Circassians, 11, 70, 94, 95 + + Citerni, C., 285 + + Civilisation, of Egypt, 7; + of Mesopotamia, 9; + of Greece, 14; + Himyaritic, 17 + + Coffee, 73 + + Colston, Col., 230 + + Congo forests, 147, 260 + + Congo Free State, 154 + + Congo River, 3, 46, 70, 193, 216, 218, 223, 228, 263, 299, 301, 316 + + Constantinople, 232 + + Consuls, 73, 76, 102, 282 + + Cooley, Mr. D., 114 + + Copper, 7, 294 + + Coptic language, Copts, 7, 61, 62, 70, 74 + + Cosmas Indicopleustes, 33 + + Covilhaō, Pero de, 47 + + Cow-dung, 211 + + Crocodiles, 209, 295 + + Crosby, Oscar T., 289 + + Cross River, 3 + + Crusades, 24, 40, 193 + + Cruttenden, Lieut., 115 + + Cyprus, 2, 9, 77 + + Cyrenaica, 14, 15, 16 + + + Dahabiahs on Nile, 168, 194 + + “Daily Telegraph,” the, 224, 228 + + Dalion (Greek explorer), 19, 20, 94 + + Damietta, 88 + + Damot, 54, 57 + + Danākil (land, people), 3, 30, 34, 48, 52, 54, 277 + + Danish explorers, 68, 69 + + Darfur, 88, 101, 229, 230, 235 _et seq._, 294, 307 + + De Bono, _see_ Bono, De + + Dècle, Lionel, 266, 274, 321 + + Defafang, extinct volcano on Nile, 210 + + Delmé-Radcliffe, Major C., 274, 321 + + Delta of Nile, _see_ Nile, delta; + _also_ 314, 315 + + Dem Idris, 236 + + Dembo River, 216 + + Dervishes (Mahdi’s adherents), 242 + + Desneval, Count of, 68, 69 + + Didessa, or Dabessa River, 285, 288 + + Dinder River, 182 + + Dinka people, language, country, 97, 110, 217, 297 + + Diogenes (Greek explorer), 22, 23, 26 + + Dogoru River, 216 + + Donaldson-Smith, 272, 273, 321 + + Dongola, 25, 34, 52, 71, 95 + + Dorvak, Father, 97 + + _Dracæna_ (Dragon trees), 203, 204, 218, 294 + + Dravidian race, 2, 42, 317 + + Dublin, 279 + + Dueru, or Dweru, Lake, 227, 251, 261, 262, 305 + + Dufton, H., 111 + + Dum Palm (_Hyphæne thebaica_), 74, 177, 253, 294 + + Dutch, the, 58, 69, 193, 195, 197, 284, 289, 321 + + Dyé, Lieut. A. H., 243, 244, 320 + + Dyur River, _see_ Jur + + + East Africa, British protectorate, 248 + + Edwin Arnold, Sir (_see_ Arnold) + + Edwin Arnold, Mount (Ruwenzori), 227 + + Egypt, 2, 294; + Persian conquest of, 11, 12; + Greek, 12, 13; + Roman, 18, 19; + French, 65, 90; + once a very rainy country, 314 + + Egyptian government, 230 + + Egyptian temple, resemblance to an, 219 + + Egyptians, ancient, 4 _et seq._, 8; + trading relations with Equatorial Africa, 36, 43 + + Eichstadt (Germany, Nachtigal’s birthplace), 239 + + Elam, 2 + + Elephants, 34, 294 + + Elgon, Mount, 6, 35, 171, 248, 252, 271, 272, 291, 312 + + Elgumi, 107, 252 + + Elliott, Scott, Dr. G. F., _see_ Scott-Elliott + + Emin (Pasha), Dr., 107, 190, 225, 236, 242, 320; + birth and early life, 250; + short-sightedness, 250; + journals, 251; + in Lotuka, 251 _et seq._; + description of birds, 255, 256; + beasts, 256; + in Bahr-al-Ghazal, 257; + the Congo forests, 258; + in Equatoria, 259 _et seq._; + journey with Stuhlmann, 263; + death, 264 + + Enarea, 70, 279, 290 + + England, English, the, 40, 45, 64, 91, 228, 245, 259, 281, 321 + + Ensor, Sidney, 230 + + Equatoria (Emin’s province), 259 + + Eratosthenes, 16, 23, 27 + + Erfurt, 61, 63 + + Erhardt (Rev.), 113 + + Eritrea, 34 + + Escayrac, Comte d’, 105, 106 + + Essex, 241 + + Ethiopia (_see also_ Abyssinia), 2, 48, 62, 278, 280 + + Ethiopians, Ethiopic language, 28, 30, 43, 280 + + Euphorbias, 204, 218, 220, 294 + + Euphrates, 9 + + Evatt, Col. John, 270 + + Eyasi, Lake, 267 + + + Fadasi, 235 + + “Faidherbe,” steamship, 243 + + Faloro, 165, 166 + + Fasher, Al, 230 + + Fashoda, 21, 43, 243, 245, 285, 292 + + Fashoda, Lake of, 301, 306 + + Fauna, Tropical African, 5, 87, 104, 177, 209, 253 _et seq._, 294, 297 + + Fayūm, 7, 240 + + Fazokl, Fazogli, 92, 289 + + Febore, Théophile Le, 111 + + Felkin, Dr. R. W., 228, 229, 320 + + Felus, _see_ Khor Felus + + Fergusson, Malcolm, 269, 321 + + Ferret, Capt., 278 + + Ferruginous laterite formations (Bahr-al-Ghazal), 243 + + Fezzan, 15, 93, 195 + + Fischer, Dr., 247 + + Flaccus, Septimus, 20 + + Flemings, Flemish, 40 + + Flora of Africa (Nileland), 133, 177, 204, 218 _et seq._, 220, 221, + 253, 257, 294 + + Foreign Office, 103 + + Forests, 204, 218 _et seq._, 220, 257 _et seq._, 295; + “gallery,” 217, 219, 257 + + Fortnum and Mason, 99 + + Fowler, C. W., 273 + + Foxcroft, Mount, 102 + + France, 65, 214, 245 + + Fremona, 54, 57 + + French, the, 40, 65, 66, 70 _et seq._, 80, 87, 95, 96, 104, 105, 199, + 202, 213, 224, 242, 278, 318, 321 + + + Gala people, Galas, 3, 6, 24, 31, 34 _et seq._, 43, 53, 72, 82, 146, + 148, 247, 297 + + Galabat, 25, 182 + + Galaland, 3, 147, 235, 284 + + Galinier, Capt., 278 + + Gallus, Ælius, 19 + + Galo River, 290 + + Gama, Christoforo da, 49 _et seq._ + + Gama, Estevaõ da, 49 + + Gamo, Vasco da, 46, 49 + + Garama, Garamentes, 20 + + Garstin, Sir William, 275, 321 + + Gazelle, Grant’s, 137 + + Gedge, Mr. Ernest, 248, 271 + + Geese, 208 + + Ge’ez (Ethiopic language), 62 + + Geographical Society, Italian (Rome), 234 + + Geographical Society, Khédivial, 326 + + Geographical Society, Paris, 114, 214 + + Geographical Society, Royal, 92, 103 + + Geology of Nile Basin, 135, 152, 243, 299, 304, 310, 311, 313 _et + seq._ + + George II., 75 + + Germany, Germans, 16, 40, 62, 69, 96, 112, 138, 200, 203, 240, 246, + 247, 250, 259, 260, 263, 264, 265, 268, 277, 318, 321 + + Gessi Pasha, 232 _et seq._, 237, 320 + + Ghat, 196, 199 + + Gibbons, Major A. St. H., 274 + + Giraffe River, 111, 243, 253, 273, 291, 308 + + Giraffes, 294, 308 + + Goa, 52 + + Gojam, 52, 59, 70, 77, 287, 289 + + Gold, 8, 18 + + Gondar, 77 + + Gondokoro, 96, 115, 133, 166 _et seq._, 183, 188, 192, 232, 233, 238, + 274 + + Gordon (Pasha), C. G., 190, 215, 225, 228, 230 _et seq._, 238, 250, + 283, 320 + + Gorges, Major, 273 + + Grand, Le, 64 + + Grant, James Augustus, 103, 127, 131, 132 _et seq._, 142, 151, 158, + 169, 188, 228, 320 + + Gray parrot, 217 + + Greece, 14 + + Greek Christianity, 48 + + Greek dynasties in Egypt, 13, 14 + + Greeks in Africa, 14 _et seq._, 16, 18, 43, 241, 311, 317 + + Gregory the Abyssinian, 61 + + Grogan, Ewart, 269, 274, 321 + + Gum (acacia), 101, 218 + + Gunpowder, 35 + + Guns, 41, (muskets) 50, 51 + + Gwynn, Major C. W., 287, 288, 289, 321 + + + Habash, Hawash, Habshi, 60 + + Halifax, Lord, 76, 90 + + Hamitic languages, 280 + + Hamitic race, Hamites, 3, 8, 31, 42, 217, 280, 317 + + Hanbury-Tracey, Major, 271 + + Hannington, Bishop, 248, 260 + + Harrar, 116 + + Harris, Sir William C., 111, 278 + + Harrow School, 75 + + Hebrews, 7, 32 + + Herodotus, 15 + + Heuglin, Baron von, 192, 199, 200, 217, 320 + + Hima, Ba- (Wahuma), 141, 142 _et seq._, 146 _et seq._, 148, 164, 173, + 225, 262, 297 + + Himyarite Arabs, 17, 33 + + Hippopotamus, 88, 102, 170, 177, 178, 209, 295 + + Hittites, 4 + + Hobley, C. W., 136, 162, 248, 271, 273, 321 + + Höhnel, Lieut. von, 248 + + Holland, 193 + + Hottentots, 134 + + Hungary, Hungarians, 248, 321 + + _Hyphæne_, Branching Palm, 74, 177, 253, 294 + + + Iberian race, 4, 14, 43 + + “Ibrahim,” Lake (Kioga), 239 + + Ibrahim Pasha, 92, 94 + + Ibrahim (slave-trader), 183, 188 + + India, 1, 8, 17, 31, 48, 56, 58, 118, (Speke in) 126, 277, 278 + + Irby, Hon. Charles Leonard, 91 + + Ireland, Irish, 279, 321 + + Islam (Muhammadanism), 18, 34 _et seq._, 37 _et seq._, 73, 215 + + Italy, Italians, 34, 47, 61, 108, 219, 232, 234, 235, 239, 242, 284, + 318, 321 + + Ivory, 8, 168, 202, 264 + + + Jaba River, 53 + + Jackson, F. J., 248, 271 + + Jackson, L. C., 287 + + Jacobin (map publisher), 91 + + James II., 62 + + James, W. and F. L. (brothers), 283 + + Jemma, or Jimma (Upper Blue Nile), 52, 55, 79 + + Jesuit missionaries, 48, 52 _et seq._, 66 _et seq._, 90, 278 + + Jews, in Abyssinia, 32, 33 + + Ji River, 216 + + Jidda, 67, 77 + + Jimma, _see_ Jemma + + John (Yohannes), Emperor of Abyssinia, 282, 283 + + Jordans Nullah, 120 + + “Jordans” (Speke’s home), 120, 172 + + Juba River, 53 + + Judaism, 38 + + Junker, Dr. William, 240, 241, 242, 259, 320 + + Jur, or Dyur, or Sue River, 101, 194, 213, 216, 222, 243, 307 + + + Kabarega, 164 + + Kabirondo (country), 247, 270, 272, 303; + (people) 247; + (bay or gulf) 162, 167, 224, 248, 273, 303 + + Kaffa, 34, 59, 235, 279, 290, 312 + + Kafu River, 164 + + Kafuru River, 262 + + Kagera River (extreme Upper Victoria Nile), 227, 266, 267, 302, 303, + 316 + + Kaka (on the White Nile), 211 + + Kamurasi, 164 _et seq._, 184 _et seq._, 187, 188 + + Kandt, Dr., 266 + + Karagwe, 139, 143, 147, 227 + + Karamojo, 272 + + Karuma Falls of Nile, 165, 187 + + Kasa, a name of several Abyssinian rulers before crowning, 281, 282 + + Kassalá, 179, 240 + + Katikiro, the, 155 + + Kaze, 123, 142 + + Keltie, Dr. J. Scott, _prefatory note_ + + Kenya Mountain, 28, 113, 114 + + Kerckhoven, Lieut. Van, 242 + + Khartum, 6, 16, 26, 34, 92 (founding of), 96, 102, 109, 110, 168, + 182, 188, 202, 230 + + Khedive of Egypt, 235 + + Khor Felus River, 292, 308 + + Khor Kos River, 252, 253, 273, 291, 308 + + Khor Oteng River, 253 + + Kibali River, 240 + + Kich (Kity), 96, 97 + + Kilimanjaro, Mt., 28, 113, 114, 118, 248 + + Kioga, Lake, 162, 171, 189, 232, 239, 270, 284, 304 + + Kir (name of Nile), 284 + + Kircher, Father Athanasius, 51, 64 + + Kirk, Sir John, 154, 238 + + Kirkpatrick, Lake, 272 + + Kitara, Empire of, 147 + + Kivu, Lake, 171, 265, 266, 301, 304 + + Knoblecher, Dr. Ignatz, 97, 99, 319 + + Kordofan, 34, 101, 102, 200, 229, 230, 294, 310 + + Korosko, 80, 91, 93 + + Kosango River, 194 + + Krapf, Dr. Ludwig, 112 _et seq._, 246, 281 + + Kudu, the (antelope), 5, 182 + + Kuru River, 216 + + Kwania, Lake, 171, 189, 270 + + + Lado, 236, 239, 305, 306 + + “Lady Alice,” the, 224, 225 + + Lafargue, Mons., 205, 206 + + Lakes, Nile, 16, 22 _et seq._, 26, 27, 44, 97, 113, 120 _et seq._ + (_see_ Victoria Nyanza), 164, 170, 189, 224, 301 _et seq._ + + Lango country and people (Bakedi), 140 296 + + Latin, 63 + + Latitudes, Ptolemy’s, 26; + Portuguese, 59, 78; + Bruce’s, 78 + + Latuka (Lotuka) country and people, 107, 183, 184, 251 _et seq._, 296 + + Lega, Ba-, _see_ Balega, 297 + + Leghorn, 74 + + Lejean, 108, 243, 320 + + Lendu tribe, 297 + + Leon, Pedro, 51 + + Letorzec, 92 + + Libya, Libyan race, 2, 8, 149 + + Libyan desert, 12, 240, 294, 313 _et seq._ + + Lichfield, Rev. G., 228, 229 + + Limestone formations, 135, 311, 313 + + Linant de Bellefonds, Adolphe, 93, 225, 319 + + Linant de Bellefonds, Édouard, 225, 238, 320 + + Lisbon, 45, 49, 58, 64, 69 + + Liturgies, Abyssinian, 63 + + Liverpool, 195 + + Livingstone, Dr., 265 + + Lobo, Father Jeronimo, 51 _et seq._, 58, 63, 64, 69, 78, 319 + + Lobor Mountains, 272 + + Logwek, Mount, 98 + + Long, Chaillé-, _see_ Chaillé-Long + + Lotuka, _see_ Latuka + + Lotuka Mountains, 252, 291 + + Luajali River (affluent of Victoria Nile), 163 + + Ludolf (Leutholf), Hiob, 61 _et seq._, 66, 69 + + Lugard, Sir F. D., 269, 320 + + Louis XIV., 65 _et seq._, 67 _et seq._, 90 + + Louis XVIII., 92 + + Lupton (Bey), Frank, 241 + + Lutanzige (Albert Nyanza), 164, 170, 183 + + + Macallister, R. W., 267 + + Macdonald, J. R. L., 270, 271, 272, 320 + + Mackay, Alexander, 228, 229 + + Madagascar, 300, 317 + + Maddox, Capt. H., 270 + + Madi country, people, 165, 166, 184, 274, 297 + + Magdala, 282 + + Magungo, 187, 305 + + Mahdi, the, 92, 181, 199, 238, 259, 284 + + Maizen (French explorer), 224 + + Makarka (Nyam-nyam), 236, 240 + + Malindi, 52 + + Malta, Maltese, 60, 103, 106, 108, 199 + + Malzac, De, 100, 101, 319 + + Mameluks, the, 88, 94 + + Mangbettu tribe, 217, 240 + + Mangles, James, 91 + + Manwa Sera, 140 + + Manyema tribe, 264 + + Maps, Ptolemy’s, 23, 25 _et seq._, 58; + Sicilian, 44, 72; + Vatican, 59; + Dutch and German, 59, 69; + Portuguese, 59; + French, 70 _et seq._, 91, 100; + Speke’s, 189 + + Marchand, Col. J., 242, 243, 243, 285, 320 + + Marco Polo, 24 + + Mareb River, 179, 283 + + Marinus of Tyre, 23, 24, 44 + + Marno, Ernst, 235, 320 + + Marseilles, 80, 81 + + Marshes, of the Nile, 21, 212, 213, 218, 243, 244, _et seq._, 294 + + Masai, 82, 107, 118, 137, 246, 247, 297 + + Masawa (Abyssinia), 27, 47, 49, 77, 282 + + Masawa, Mount (Elgon), 248 + + Mashra-ar-Rak, 192, 213, 243, 307 + + Maskat, Maskat Arabs, 112 + + Mason (Bey), 233, 320 + + Massaja, Monseigneur, 278 + + Massari (Italian explorer), 242 + + Matammah (on Desert Nile), 206 + + Maternus, Julius, 20 + + Matteucci, Dr. Pellegrino, 235, 242 + + Mauritania (Morocco, Algeria, Tunis), 39 + + Mauritius, 169, 174 + + Mayo, Earl of, 283 + + Mbakovia (on Lake Albert), 185, 186 + + Mbomu River, 241, 242, 285, 307 + + Mediterranean, 5, 9, 15, 77, 294, 300, 311, 313 _et seq._ + + Mehemet, _see_ Muhammad + + Melly, Andrew, 98, 99 + + Menelik of Abyssinia, 282 + + Mengo, 225 + + Menzalet, Lake, 315 + + Merāwi (Meroe), 16, 19, 21, 25, 92, 206 + + Metals, Metal-working, 8 + + Meura, Lieut. (Belgian), 269 + + Mfumbiro Mountains, 145, 227, 297, 304, 312 + + Miami, Giovanni, 109, 166, 192, 202, 219, 241 + + Michel (French traveller), 286 + + Missionaries, 52, 54, 65, 66, 97, 228, 277, 278, 281 + + Mitterrützner, Herr ----, 97 + + Mokha, 50, 54 + + Mombasa, 44, 54, 113, 117, 118, 146, 246, 247, 259 + + Mongolian races, 317 + + Monkeys, 209, 255 + + Moon, Land of, _see_ Unyamwezi; + Mountains of, _see_ Mountains + + Moore, J. E., 269, 321 + + Moors, Morocco, 45, 46, 49 + + Morch, Giacomo, 234 + + Morlang, Father, 97 + + Morongo Mountains, 272 + + Moscow, 240 + + Mountains, of the Moon, 23, 28, 114, 119, 146, 311; + of Lotuka, 252 + + Mpororo, 148, 302 + + Muhammad, 38 + + Muhammad Ali, 91, 94 _et seq._, 202, 283 + + Muhammad Granye, 35, 48 _et seq._ + + Muhammad Kher, 211 + + Muhammad Wad-el-Mek, 165, 183 + + Muhammadanism, _see_ Islam + + Muhammadans, 49, 184 + + Mundy, Lieut., 267 + + Munza, King, 240 + + Munzinger (Pasha), Werner, 200, 282, 320 + + Murat (Abyssinian), 67 + + Murchison Falls, 187 + + Murchison Gulf, 225 + + Murchison, Sir Roderick, 127 + + Murie, Dr., 103 + + Murray, Mr. T. Douglas, 131, 174 + + Murzuk, 195, 198 + + Museum, British, 77, 101, 104 + + Mutesa, 153 _et seq._; + his cruelties, 158, 225; + name, 239 + + Mwanza Creek, 120, 225 + + Mykenæan civilisation, 14 + + + Nachtigal, Dr., 239 + + Naivasha, Lake, 247, 273 + + Nakwai Mountains, 272 + + Nandi, people, country, 107, 298, 303 + + Napata, 20 + + Napier, Lord, 282 + + Napoleon Bonaparte, 12, 65, 90 + + Napoleon Gulf, 162, 302 + + Napoleon III., 162 + + Nasr (Sobat), 240, 284 + + Natal, 58 + + Neanderthaloid man, 1 + + Negro, the, 8 _et seq._, 31, 42, 210, 297, 317; + Nilotic, 9, 137, 211, 212, 247, 288, 291, 295; + West African, 290 + + Negroid races, 1, 43, 107, 183, 184, 251 + + Neil, O’ (Rev.), 229 + + Neku (King of Egypt), 10 + + Nepoko River, 240 + + Nero, 12, 20, 21, 274 + + Neumann, Oscar, 271, 290, 321 + + “New York Herald,” The, 224 + + Niger River, 219, 242 + + Nile alluvial mud (from Atbara River), 180, 315 + + Nile, Albertine, 233, 261, 274, 304, 305 + + Nile, Blue, 6, 16, 27, 33, 43, 51 _et seq._, 77 _et seq._, 92, 111, + 207, 275, 283, 287, 289, 309 + + Nile, Cataracts of, 74, 161, 187, 207, 305 + + Nile, Giraffe, 111, 189, 252, 253, 272, 273, 291, 308 + + Nile Mountains, 97, 98, 106, 189, 212, 239, 305 + + Nile Quest, the, _prefatory note_, 76, 89, 104; + stops for a time at Gondokoro, 115; + Speke discovers main source of White Nile, 160; + Baker’s explorations, 176 _et seq._; + Alexandrine Tinne the romantic figure of the, 199; + Schweinfurth’s share, 203 _et seq._; + close of, 293 + + Nile River, 1 _et seq._, 206 _et seq._, 293 _et seq._, 313; + names of, 7, 284; + delta of, 9, 40, 298, 315; + origin of, 15, 160, 267, 298; + ultimate sources of, 22, 51 _et seq._, 55, 79, 123, 124, 160, + (farthest source of all) 267; + floods of, 56, 178, 179, 245, 275; + basin of, area, 316; + length of, 316 + + Nile, Valley of the, 1 _et seq._; + like Rhine, 207 + + Nile, Victoria, 187, 189, 232 + + Nile, White, 6, 20, 22, 26, 43, 95, 207 _et seq._, 275, 292, 308 + + Nileland, 42, 177 _et seq._, 206 _et seq._, 293 _et seq._, 296 _et + seq._; + geography of, 299 _et seq._ + + Nilotic Negroes, 9, 21, 137, 209, 247, 288, 291, 295 + + Nimule, 97, 305 + + No, Lake, 201, 308 + + Nubia, Nubians, 11, 34, 43, 69, 98, 202, 235, 236, 295, 297 + + Nubian Alps, 203, 313 + + Nudity of Negroes, 137, 211, 251, 294, 297 + + Nuēr tribe, 288, 291 + + Nyam-nyam country and people, 103, 109, 112, 192, 194, 202, 217, 236, + 257 _et seq._, 297 + + Nyando valley, river, 136, 302 + + Nyanza, name of, 121, 261 + + Nyasa, Lake, 113, 118, 138, 300, 302 + + Nyenam River, 216 + + Nzoia River, 302 + + + Oguelokur River, 253, 273, 291, 292, 308 + + Olive, the wild, 204 + + Oman, 112 + + Omo River, 285 + + Ostriches, 16, 254 + + _Otocyon_ (long-eared fox), 137 + + Oxen, African, 147, 295 + + + Paez, Father Pedro, 51, 63, 78, 319 + + Palms, 219 + + Pangani, 22, 28 + + Papyrus, 210, 213, 218, 244, 294 + + Paris, 62, 71, 91, 114 + + Parklands, African, 182, 252, 295 + + Parkyns, Mansfield, 111, 319 + + Parrot, Gray, 217 + + Peake, Malcolm, 275, 321 + + Pearson, C. W., 228 + + Peney, Alfred, 104, 106 _et seq._, 320 + + Periplus of the Red Sea, 22 + + Persia, Persians, 12, 31, 67, 89 + + Persian Gulf, 2, 9, 48 + + Peters, Dr. Carl, 249 + + Petherick, John, 100 _et seq._, 104, 133, 163, 168, 170, 182, 192, + 202, 319 + + Petherick, Mrs., 103, 104 + + Petrie, Prof. Flinders, 5, 322 + + Phallic worship, 155 + + Phœnicians, the, 9 _et seq._ + + Photography, 106, 135, 234 + + Piaggia, 217, 219, 239, 284, 320 + + Pibor River, 287, 288, 292 + + _Pistia stratiotes_, 294 + + Pliny, 19, 23 + + Pococke, Richard, 74, 75, 319 + + Polynesians, 317 + + Poncet brothers, 108 + + Poncet (French doctor-explorer), 61, 66, 67 + + Pope, Papal Court, 66, 67, 97, 278 + + Portal, Capt. Raymond, 270 + + Portal, Sir Gerald, 270 + + Portugal, 45 + + Portuguese, 8, 18, 46 _et seq._, 65 _et seq._, 279, 317, 319, 321 + + Potagos (Greek traveller), 241 + + “Prester John,” 47 + + Primnis (Berber), 25 + + Pringle, Capt., 272, 273 + + Prokesch von Osten, 96, 319 + + _Protopterus_, fish, 182 + + Psametik, 10, 12, 15 + + Ptolemy (King), 13, 33, 34 + + Ptolemy, Ptolemæus, Claudius, 23, 24 _et seq._, 44, 58, 114 + + Punt, land of, 5, 6, 10 + + Purdy, Col., 230 + + Pygmies, Congo, 1, 216, 260, 297 + + Pygmy races, 5, 16, 42, 281 + + + Quartz, 152 + + Queen Victoria, 121 + + Queens, African, 144, 157 _et seq._ + + + Racey River, 267 + + Radcliffe, Delmé, Ch. (Major), 274, 321 + + Rahad River, 182, 288 + + Raiūf Pasha, 238 + + Ravenstein, Mr. E. G., 28, 247 + + Rebman, John, 112 _et seq._, 246 + + Red Sea, 1, 22, 46, 47, 49, 73, 86, 277, 300 + + Reeds, 294 + + Rejaf, 99 + + Religions, Negro, 155 + + Rhaptum, or Rhapta, 22, 28 + + Rhinoceros, the, 21, 144, 294 + + Rhodes, Cecil, 228, 274 + + Rhodesia, 44 + + Rifles, 86 + + Rift Valley (Great), 247, 267, 268, 300, 301 + + Rift valleys of Eastern Africa, 300 _et seq._, 310 + + Riga, 203 + + Ripon Falls of Nile, 160 _et seq._, 189, 266 + + Roa River, 216, 308 + + Rōl River, 101, 216, 243, 308 + + Roman Catholics, 50, 61, 278 + + Rome, Romans, 18, 44, 58, 62, 66, 317 + + Rosebery Channel, 225, 302 + + Roseires, 288 + + Rosetta, 74, 87, 316 + + Roule, le Sieur du, 68 + + Royal Geographical Society, 92, 103, 118, 123, 124, 127, 162, 247 + + Royal Society, 63, 64 + + Ruanda, 145, 148 + + Ruchuru River, 304 + + Rudolf, Lake, 6, 34, 37, 148, 247, 248, 271, 272, 286, 287 + + Rukwa, Lake, 138, 268, 300 + + Rumanika, King, 143 _et seq._, 148 + + Rüppell, Dr. (German naturalist), 111, 319 + + Rusizi River, 120, 129, 171 + + Russegger, J. I., 111 + + Ruvuvu River (Kagera), 266 + + Ruwenzori Mountains, 23, 28, 139, 171, 186, 227, 233, 250, 260, 261, + (Alpine vegetation) 263, 269, 296, 299, 311 + + Ruzi River, 272, 286, 287, 292, 308 + + Ryllo, Father, 97 + + + Saba (Sheba), Queen of, 32 + + Sabæan Arabs, 17, 31, 32 + + Sabatier, 96 + + Sagada Mountain, 51, 55, 78 + + Sahara Desert, 9, 15, 196, 199, 309, 315 + + Sailing ships, their effect on African discovery, 9 + + Saint, Le (French explorer), 213 + + Salisbury, Lake, 272 + + Salt, Consul Henry, 277 + + Samburu, Lake (_see_ Rudolf), 247 + + Samien Mountains, 6, 56, 278, 312 + + _Sanseviera_, plant, 204 + + Sardinian (i.e. N. Italian) travellers, 108 + + Saxony, Saxe Gotha (share in African exploration), 61, 63 + + Schuver, J. M., 284, 289 + + Schweinfurth, Dr. Georg, 199; + birth and nationality, 203; + starts for Suakin, 203; + describes botany of North Abyssinian terraces, 203, 204; + Berber to Khartum, 206 _et seq._; + White Nile scenery, 208 _et seq._; + Bahr-al-Ghazal, 212 _et seq._; + and the slave-trade, 214; + his achievements, 216 _et seq._; + anthropological discoveries, 217 _et seq._; + botany of Nileland, 218; + “gallery” forests, 219 _et seq._; + shares Burton’s opinions regarding Victoria Nyanza, 223 + + Sclater, Dr. P. L., 102 + + Scott-Elliott, G. F., 269, 320 + + Scottish, Scotland, 75, 132, 269, 321 + + Selim Bimbashi, 96, 319 + + Semitic influence, languages, 34, 49, 116, 317 + + Semliki River, 29, 171, 186, 233, 251, 260, 261, 305 + + Sennar, 52, 68, 95, 288 + + Sese Islands, 150, 302 + + Settit River (Atbara), 181 + + Shankala, Shangala, 72, 297 + + Shari River, 216, 232, 240, 242 + + Sharp, Mr., 274, 291 + + Sheko tribe, 290 + + Shendi, 72, 93, 99, 206 + + Shergold-Smith, R.N. Lieut., 228, 229 + + Shiluk people, country, 99, 209, 211, 212, 291, 297 + + Shoa, 59, 278, 282 + + Sicily, 44, 72, 74 + + Silesia, 250 + + Simiyu, or Shimeyu River, 267 + + Simonides (Greek explorer), 19, 20 + + Slaves, Slavery, 5, 8, 110 + + Slave-trade, Slave-traders, 103, 184, 190, 202, 214, 230, 235, 264 + + Slave-traders’ revolt, 235 _et seq._ + + Small-pox, 153 + + Snakes, 254, 256 + + Snay, Sheikh, 119, 140 + + Snow, Snow-mountains, 6, 22, 113, 114, 227, 233, 246, 247, 260, 290, + 296, 297, 312 + + Sobat River, 28, 111, 189, 194, 234, 240, 272, 283, 284, 285, 292, + 296, 297 + + Sofala, 18, 38 + + Sokotra, Island of, 16, 18, 54 + + Solomon, King, 32 + + Somali people, 3, 34, 117; language, 3 + + Somaliland, 3, 5 _et seq._, 48, 115 _et seq._ + + Somersetshire and Speke, 120, 121, 125 + + Sonnini de Manoncourt, 87 _et seq._ + + Sophia, Archduchess, 97 + + Spain, Spanish, 40, 45, 69, 75 + + Speke, John Hanning, 102, 103, 125, 320; + in Somaliland, 116 _et seq._; + starts for the Central Africa Lakes with Burton, 118 _et seq._; + discovers Victoria Nyanza, 120 _et seq._; + difference with Burton, 123 _et seq._; + returns to England, 124; + his birth and parentage, 125; + youth, 126; + character, 128, 129, 156, 170, 320; + second expedition with Grant, 133 _et seq._, 142; + in Uganda, 150 _et seq._; + returns to England, 158, 170, 171; + name in Uganda, 159; + discovers outlet of Victoria Nyanza, 160, 172; + honours, 169; + interview with King Edward, 169; + geographical theories, 171, 223; + death, 172 + + Speke Gulf, 224 + + Spekes, history of the, 125; + arms of the, 170 + + Stanley, Sir Henry, 29, 172, 223 _et seq._; + greatest African explorer, 172, 224; + confirms Speke, 223 _et seq._; + circumnavigates Victoria Nyanza, 225; + in Uganda, 226, 227; + mistake about Ugowe Bay, 248; + relieves Emin, 259 _et seq._; + discovers Ruwenzori, 260, 261 + + Stanton, E. A., 274, 321 + + Steamers on Nile, 96 + + Steudner, Dr., 192, 195, 200 + + Strabo, 19, 25, 27 + + Stroyan, Lieut., 116 + + Stuhlman, Dr. Franz, 263, 264, 269 + + Suakin, 54, 58, 93, 188, 203 + + Sudan, 4, 15, 96, 154, 190, 230, 235, 238, 275 + + Sudanese soldiers, 95, 190, 270; + races, 217, 297 + + Sudd, the, 5, 21, 188, 210, 274, 275, 294 + + Sue (Sive) River, 216, 243, 285, 307 + + Suez, 73, 234, 238 + + Suez Canal, 104, 314 + + Suleiman-bin-Zubeir, 235, 236 _et seq._ + + Switzerland, Swiss, 92, 99, 282, 321 + + Syphilis, 152, 153 + + Syria, Syrians, 2, 9, 77 + + + Tajarra Bay, 48, 53, 57, 116 + + Takaze River (Upper Atbara), 181, 283, 310 + + Tanganyika, Lake, 113, 119, 120, 129, 171, 265, 266, 267, 299, 300 + + Tanguedec, Lieut., 243, 285 + + Tarangole, 252 + + Tawareq (Tonareg), Tamasheq, 20, 149, 196 _et seq._ + + Teleki, Count S., 248 + + Tellez, F. Balthasar, 64 + + Tertiary Epoch, the Nile during the, 313 _et seq._ + + Theodore, King, 182, 279, 281, 282 + + Thibaud, or Thibaut (French explorer and consular agent), 95, 96, 319 + + Thomson, Joseph, 82, 162, 217, 248, 249, 259, 260, 320 + + Tibet (Speke in), 126, 127 + + Tigre (Abyssinia), 48, 57, 66, 277, 278 + + Tigris River, 9 + + Tinne, Miss A., 192; + names, 193; + origin of Tinne family, 193; + mother and aunt, 194; + first Nile journeys, 194, 195; + death of mother and aunt, 195; + starts from Tripoli to explore Sahara and reach Bahr-al-Ghazal from + N.W., 195; + treacherously slain near Murzuk by Tawareqs, 196 _et seq._; + character and appearance, 198, 199; + on the Roll of Fame, 320 + + Tinne, Theodore F. S., 198 + + Tondi River, 216 + + Tonj River, 243, 307 + + Toro, 152, 270 + + Trade, Traders, 5, 96, 101, 213, 294 + + Tragelaph, Speke’s, 146 + + Trees, great forest, 220, 258 + + Tripoli, 77, 87, 195 _et seq._ + + Tsana, Lake, 6, 26 _et seq._, 33, 52, 55 _et seq._, 77 _et seq._, + 309, 312 + + Tsetse fly, the, 35 + + Tu River, 273, 291 + + Tübingen, 112 + + Tunis, 77 + + Turkana, country, people, 6, 107, 272, 297 + + Turkey, 65, 73 + + Turks, the, 50, 53, 61, 65, 94, 95, 101, 195, 198, 318, 321 + + + Ubangi River, 216, 241, 285 + + Ueberbacher, Father, 97 + + Uganda, _prefatory note_, 8, 228, 259; + protectorate of, 35, 154; + aristocracy of, 35, 148, 156; + country of, 119, 148, 151 _et seq._; + people of, 148, 152 _et seq._, 297; + King of, 154 _et seq._, 226; + Stanley in, 225–228; + missionaries proceed to, 228, 229; + Gordon and, 238; + route, via Busoga, 248 + + Uganda Railway, 248 + + Ugogo, 137 + + Ugowe Bay, 224, 248, 273 + + Ujiji, 119, 120, 227 + + Ukerewe (Bukerebe), 118, 121, 229 + + “Um Suf” (_Vossia_) (reeds), 244, 294 + + Unyamwezi, 29, 72, 114, 120 _et seq._, 138, 224, 228, 260, 267, 303; + porters, 139 + + Unyanyembe, 123 + + Unyoro, 37, 119, 147, 152, 163, 187, 270, 296 + + Usagara, 136 + + Usambara, 118 + + _Usnea_, lichen, 204, 221, 222 + + Usui, 142 + + Utica, 9 + + + Valentia, Lord, 277 + + Vandeleur, Seymour, 270, 320 + + Vannutelli, L., 285, 301 + + Vaudet, Signor, 108 + + Venetians, Venice, 23, 24, 40, 41, 47, 202 + + Victoria Nyanza, 6, 23, 26, 35, 113, 117, 118; + discovery of, 120 _et seq._; + Burton’s depreciation of, 129; + Speke’s estimate of, 150 _et seq._, 162, 189; + Stanley’s circumnavigation, 224 _et seq._; + direct route to, from Mombasa, 246 _et seq._; + last discoveries of Stanley’s, 262; + surveyed (northern coast) by Col. J. R. L. Macdonald, 272; + by Whitehouse, Hobley, etc., 273; + general features of, 302 _et seq._ + + Vinci, 99 + + Volcanoes, 210, 227, 297, 304, 314 + + + Wadai, 201, 240, 242 + + Wadi Halfa, 96, 230 + + _Wadi_, or river-bed, 205 + + Waghorn, Lieut., 276 + + Wakefield, Rev. Mr., 247 + + Wales, Welsh, 100, 321 + + Wansleb, Michael, 63 + + Waterfalls, 56, 161, 187 + + Watson, Col. C. M., 231, 233 _et seq._, 320 + + Wellby, M. S., 272, 286, 287, 321 + + Welle River, 109, 202, 216, 240, 241, 307 + + Werne, Ferdinand, 96, 210, 289, 319 + + Whale-headed storks, _see_ _Balæniceps rex_ + + Whitehouse, Commissioner B., 162, 248, 273, 321 + + White man, _see_ Caucasian + + White Nile, _see_ Nile, White + + Wilson, Capt. H. H., 292, 321 + + Wilson, Rev. C. T., 228, 229, 320 + + Wosho Mountain (North Abyssinia), 312 + + Würtemberg, 112, 199 + + Wyche, Sir Peter, 63 + + + Yabongo River, 216 + + Yalo River, 101, 308 + + Yaman (Arabia), 17, 31, 309 + + Yei River, 106, 239, 308 + + + Zambezi River, 17, 18, 300 + + Zanzibar, 17, 58, 112, 118, 123, 133, 134, 146, 265 + + Zebra, 53, 257, 294 + + Zeila, 52, 54, 290 + + Zinza, U-, Bu-, 142, 148 + + Zubeir Pasha, 235 + + Zululand, Zulus, 3, 29, 140 + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a +predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they +were not changed. + +Several words appear multiple times with and without accent marks. +These inconsistencies have not been changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation +marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left +unbalanced. + +Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs +and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support +hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to +the corresponding illustrations. + +Page numbers in the List of Illustrations have been adjusted to match +the actual pages on which the illustrations appear in this eBook. + +Transcriber added references to two maps at the end of the List of +Illustrations. + +Printer’s notes indicating where to insert illustrations have been +removed from this eBook. + +Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of the pages that referenced them, +have been collected, sequentially renumbered, and placed near the end +of the book, just before the Index. + +The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page +references. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75534 *** |