Ismailia Part 72

The Nile was reported to be about six miles in width opposite their station, in about 3 degrees lat.i.tude, which is only a few miles from the Albert N'yanza. This visitation of small-pox created a panic which entirely broke up and dispersed the invading force, and defeated their plans.

We were now in frequent communication with Rionga, who was always represented in my Fatiko camp by the presence of one of his sheiks and several men.

Ali Genninar had made a combined attack upon Kabba Rega, together with Rionga and the Langgo tribe, and had utterly defeated him. His people were now deserting him in great numbers, and were flocking to the winning side. Kabba Rega had taken to flight, and was supposed to be hiding in the neighbourhood of Chibero, on the borders of the Albert N'yanza.

M'tese, the king of Uganda, had invaded Unyoro from the south, and having heard of Kabba Rega's treachery towards myself, he had sent an army of 6,000 men under his general, Congow, to be placed at my disposal.

This friendship was the result of my diplomacy in having sent him valuable presents from Masindi, together with a letter warning him against Kabba Rega, who wished to prevent the goods of the north from reaching Uganda, in order that he might monopolize the trade in Unyoro.

The subsequent conduct of Kabba Rega had proved this accusation, and M'tese had heard with rage and dismay that I had been forced to burn all the numerous goods, which otherwise would have pa.s.sed to him in Uganda.

On the 25th December the fort of Fatiko was completed. This was commenced on the 28th August; thus my men had been four months engaged in the work, owing to the extreme hardness of the subsoil, which was a compact gravel resembling concrete.

The three faces of the fort measured 455 yards of fosse and earthen rampart. The fosse was eight feet wide, eight feet deep, and the face of the rampart was protected by chevaux-de-frise of sharpened stakes. The west base of the fort was the rock citadel, which commanded the surrounding country. Upon this solid foundation I had built an excellent powder-magazine and store, of solid masonry. This fire-proof building was roofed with a thick cement of clay from the white-ant hills, that had been tempered for some weeks and mixed with chopped straw.

All my work was completed, and I could do nothing until the reinforcements should arrive from Gondokoro. The natives paid their trifling corn-tax with great good humour, and they generally arrived in crowds of several hundreds, singing and dancing, with large baskets of tullaboon upon their heads, with which they filled our rows of granaries.

The gra.s.s was fit to burn, and the bunting season had fairly commenced.

All the natives now devoted themselves to this important pursuit. The chase supplies the great tribe of Shooli with clothing. Although the women are perfectly naked, every man wears the skin of an antelope slung across his shoulders, so arranged as to be tolerably decent. The number of animals that are annually destroyed may be imagined from the amount of the skin-clad population.

Although the wilderness between Unyoro and Fatiko is uninhabited, in like manner with extensive tracts between Fabbo and Fatiko, every portion of that apparently abandoned country is nominally possessed by individual proprietors, who claim a right of game by inheritance.

This strictly conservative principle has existed from time immemorial, and may perhaps suggest to those ultra-radicals who would introduce communistic principles into England, that the supposed original equality of human beings is a false datum for their problem. There is no such thing as equality among human beings in their primitive state, any more than there is equality among the waves of the sea, although they may start from the same level of the calm.

In a state of savagedom, the same rules of superiority which advance certain individuals above the general level in civilized societies will be found to exert a natural influence. Those who become eminent will be acknowledged by their inferiors. The man who is clever and wise in council will be listened to: the warrior who leads with courage and judgment will be followed in the battle; the hunter who excels in tracking up the game will be sent to the front when the party are on the blood-track. In this way superiority will be generally admitted.

Superiority of intellect will naturally tend to material advancement.

The man of sense will gather more than the fool. That which he gathers becomes property, which must be acknowledged by society as an individual right that must be protected by laws.

In tribes where government is weak, there is a difficulty in enforcing laws, as the penalty exacted may be resisted; but even amidst those wild tribes there is a force that exerts a certain moral influence among the savage as among the civilized: that force is public opinion.

Thus, a breach of the game-laws would be regarded by the public as a disgrace to the guilty individual, precisely as an act of poaching would damage the character of a civilized person.

The rights of game are among the first rudiments of property. Man in a primitive state is a hunter, depending for his clothing upon the skins of wild animals, and upon their flesh for his subsistence; therefore the beast that he kills upon the desert must be his property; and in a public hunt, should he be the first to wound a wild animal, he will have gained an increased interest or share in the flesh by having reduced the chance of its escape. Thus public opinion, which we must regard as the foundation of EQUITY, rewards him with a distinct and special right, which, becomes LAW.

It is impossible to trace the origin of game-laws in Central Africa, but it is nevertheless interesting to find that such rights are generally acknowledged, and that large tracts of uninhabited country are possessed by individuals which are simply manorial. These rights are inherited, descending from father to the eldest son.

When the gra.s.s is sufficiently dry to burn, the whole thoughts of the community are centred upon sport; but should a person set fire to the gra.s.s belonging to another proprietor, he would be at once condemned by public opinion, and he would (if such establishments existed) be certainly expelled from his club.

There was no more work undone in my charming Fatiko station. The roads from the three gates were so far completed as to form respectable approaches. The gardens had produced abundantly, and the troops were all in excellent health and good discipline. On Mondays and Fridays they were exercised at light-infantry drill for several hours. Every man had his post, which he occupied like lightning when the bugle suddenly sounded the alarm. The "Forty Thieves" held the rock citadel, as they could fire over the heads of those in the camp without fear of accident.

The night alarm sounded unexpectedly, and as I went the rounds, every man was at his quarters without a whisper. The cleanliness and general order of the camp were perfect.

I now a.s.sociated with the natives as a hunter. It was in this capacity that I had first won their hearts many years ago. We were so short of meat that I began to feel the necessity that first turned the hand of savage man against the beasts of the forest.

The chase throughout the Shooli country was carried on as a profession, and was conducted by general rules under an admirable organization.

The favourite method of hunting was by means of nets. Every man in the country was provided with a net of strong cord. This was twelve yards long, and about eleven feet deep, if stretched to its maximum. The meshes were about six inches square. There was no promiscuous net-hunting, but the chief of the district organized the chase in the following manner:--

The big nogara was sounded, and the news rapidly spread that an a.s.sembly was desired at the village of their headman. At Fatiko the chief was Wat-el-Ajoos Omare. A few hours after the drum had summoned the headmen, natives might be seen approaching from all sides to the appointed spot at which the council was to be held.

After much talking, it was at length decided that the hunt should take place upon the manors of certain individuals whose property was contiguous. The day of the hunt was arranged, and the headmen of the villages retired to make the necessary arrangements.

Should a chief be hospitably disposed, he would frequently give a grand entertainment prior to the meet. On such occasions upwards of a thousand natives would arrive from different villages, in their full-dress costume, consisting of plumes of ostrich feathers, leopard-skin mantles, and their faces painted a frightful colour with fresh cow-dung. On these occasions a large quant.i.ty of merissa was consumed, and one or two oxen were slaughtered, according to the wealth of the person who gave the festivity.

The sorcerer was an important personage at such entertainments, as it was necessary to a.s.sure good luck by a variety of magic ceremonies, that would not only protect the hunters from accidents, but would also bring the wild animals direct into their nets.

At length the day of the hunt had arrived, when several thousand people would collect at a certain rendezvous, about nine miles distant from Fatiko, on the Fabbo road, which is the best neighbourhood for game.

At a little before 5 A.M. I started on my solitary but powerful horse, "Jamoos," accompanied by Lieutenant Baker and Colonel Abd-el-Kader, with a few soldiers of "The Forty". Gimoro and Shooli, who were renowned hunters, were always with me when shooting. These excellent men had an extraordinary affection for each other, and they were well known as inseparables--the one was rarely seen without the other.

Descending the rocky terrace from the station at Fatiko, we were at once in the lovely, park-like glades, diversified by bold granite rocks, among which were scattered the graceful drooping acacias in clumps of dense foliage.

Crossing the clear, rippling stream, we clambered up the steep bank on the opposite side, and, after a ride of about a mile and a half, we gained the water-shed, and commenced a gradual descent towards the west.

We were now joined by numerous people, both men, women and children, all of whom were bent upon the hunt.

The men carried their nets and spears; the boys were also armed with lighter weapons, and the very little fellows carried tiny lances, all of which had been carefully sharpened for the expected game.

The women were in great numbers, and upon that day the villages were quite deserted. Babies accompanied their mothers, strapped upon their backs with leathern bands, and protected from the weather by the usual tortoise-like coverings of gourd-sh.e.l.ls. Thus it may be imagined that the Shooli tribe were born hunters, as they had accompanied the public hunts from their earliest infancy.

My two boys, Saat and Bellaal, carried spare guns. These fine strong lads always attended me, and they had become useful gun-bearers. They were both plucky fellows. Little Amarn had been suffering for more than twelve months from an ulcerated leg; therefore he was spared from unnecessary fatigue, and was the pet boy at home.

As we proceeded, the number of natives increased, but there was no noise or loud talking. Every one appeared thoroughly to understand his duties.

Having crossed the beautiful Un-y-Ame river, we entered the game country. Extensive prairies, devoid of forest, now stretched before us in graceful undulations to the base of distant mountains. The country was watered by numerous clear streams, all of which drained into the main channel of the Un-y-Ame river, that became a roaring torrent during the wet season.

We now left the Fabbo path and struck off to our left for several miles, over ground that had been cleared by burning, which showed in many directions the crimson fruit of the wild ginger, growing half-exposed from the earth. This is a leathery, hard pod, about the size of a goose-egg, filled with a semi-transparent pulp of a subacid flavour, with a delicious perfume between pine-apple and lemon-peel. It is very juicy and refreshing, and is decidedly the best wild fruit of Central Africa.

The natives immediately collected a quant.i.ty, and we quickly pushed forward to the rendezvous, where, upon arrival, we found a great number of people were collected.

A line of about a mile and a half was quickly protected by netting, and the natives were already in position.

Each man had lashed his net to that of his neighbour and supported it with bamboos, which were secured with ropes fastened to twisted gra.s.s.

Thus the entire net resembled a fence, that would be invisible to the game in the high gra.s.s, until, when driven, they should burst suddenly upon it.

The gra.s.s was as dry as straw, and several thousand acres would be fired up to windward, which would compel the animals to run before the flames, until they reached the netting placed a few paces in front; where the high gra.s.s had been purposely cleared to resist the advance of the fire.

Before each section of net, a man was concealed both within and without, behind a screen, simply formed of the long, gra.s.s tied together at the top.

The rule of sport decided that the proprietor of each section of netting of twelve yards length would be ent.i.tled to all game that should be killed within these limits; but that the owners of the manors which formed the hunt upon that day should receive a hind leg from every animal captured.

This was fair play; but in such hunts a breach of the peace was of common occurrence, as a large animal might charge the net and receive a spear from the owner of the section, after which he might break back, and eventually be killed in the net of another hunter; which would cause a hot dispute.

The nets had been arranged with perfect stillness, and the men having concealed themselves, we were placed in positions on the extreme flanks with the rifles.

Rifle-shooting was dangerous work, as the country was alive with people, who were hidden in every direction.

I took my position behind a white-ant hill in front of a stream which rippled in a hollow about forty yards beneath me.