The World and Its People Part 16

"Standing upright and balancing themselves in their hollow logs, which appear but little larger than themselves, they strike the water furiously with their paddles, skimming over the surface, dashing to and fro, splashing one another, urging forward, backing, and wheeling their craft, now capsizing, then regaining their position with wonderful dexterity.

"They make coa.r.s.e hooks, and have many varieties of nets and creels.

Conspicuous on the waters and the villages is the dewa, or otter of Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the position of the net. A stronger kind, and used for the larger ground fish, is a cage of open basket work, provided like the former with a bait and two entrances. The fish, once entangled, cannot escape, and a log of wood used as a trimmer, attached to a float-rope of rushy reeds, directs the fisherman."

The results of Burton's trip up and down the lake, owing to the obstinacy of the native guides, were not very important. The sh.o.r.es of the lake he found to be very muddy, and the landscape bright and green with vegetation. The inhospitable natives, although favored with every blessing of so luxuriant a climate, were ignorant and barbarous.

Tanganyika is probably the longest fresh water lake in the world. It occupies an area of nearly thirteen thousand square miles, and has a coast line of nine hundred miles in extent.

CHAPTER XXII.

SOME VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE.

Burton and his companion, Speke, remained for over three months at Ujiji, a small province situated upon Lake Tanganyika. It has a convenient situation as a mart, and was a central point for the establishment of trading depots by the Arabs as early as 1840. It was their custom to send decoy slaves with their agents, to navigate the waters of the lake, for the purpose of collecting ivory and slaves upon its sh.o.r.es.

The atmosphere of Ujiji has great humidity, and its soil, consequently, great fertility. The large forest trees and the profusion of ferns give abundant evidence that the province is one of the most productive in this portion of Africa. Vegetables, which in other sections grow only under cultivation, here have a spontaneous growth.

The Arabs found rice of an excellent quality could be raised upon the sh.o.r.es of the lake. It grew very luxuriantly, sometimes to the height of eight or nine feet. The natives, however, found that the ravages of the monkey, the elephant, and the hippopotamus were such as to spoil their rice fields, and turned their attention to the cultivation of sorghum, for which they have a preference.

"The bazaar at Ujiji is well supplied. Fresh fish of various kinds is always procurable, except during the violence of the rains; the people, however, invariably cut it up and clean it before bringing it to market.

Good honey abounds after the wet monsoon. By the favor of the chief, milk and b.u.t.ter may be purchased every day. Long-tailed sheep and well-bred goats, poultry and eggs--the two latter are never eaten by the people--are brought in from the adjoining countries. The Arabs breed a few Manilla ducks, and the people rear, but will not sell, pigeons."

It will be interesting to know the meaning of the various prefixes to native words used in speaking of the land and people of Africa. Captain Burton uses these prefixes invariably in his journal and letters. They are _U_, meaning the country; _Ki_, meaning the language; _Wa_, the people in a body; and _M_, an individual. These prefixes are used in connection with some special stem or root, as _jiji_, chosen by a native tribe. Thus we find U-jiji, the _country_ of _jiji_; Ki-jiji, the _language_ of _jiji_. Wa-jiji, the _people_ of _jiji_; M-jiji, an _individual_ in jiji__. This little explanation will tend to help us in our understanding of the various African words we shall meet in our reading.

"The Wajiji are a burly race of barbarians, far stronger than the tribes. .h.i.therto traversed, with dark skins, plain features, and straight, st.u.r.dy limbs," we are told in Burton's account of his explorations in the region along the sh.o.r.es of the lake. "They are larger and heavier men than the Wanyamwezi, and the type, as it approaches Central Africa, becomes rather negro than negroid.

"Their feet and hands are large and flat, their voices are harsh and strident, and their looks as well as their manners are independent almost to insolence. Many, of both s.e.xes and all ages, are disfigured by the smallpox. The Arabs have vainly taught them inoculation."

In continuation Burton writes: "The Wajiji are considered by the Arabs to be the most troublesome race in these black regions. They are taught by the example of their chiefs to be rude, insolent, and extortionate; they demand beads even for pointing out the road; they will deride and imitate a stranger's speech and manner before his face; they can do nothing without a long preliminary of the fiercest scolding; they are as ready with a blow as with a word; and they may often be seen playing at 'rough and tumble,' fighting, pushing, and tearing hair, in their boats.

"A Mjiji uses his dagger or his spear upon a guest with little hesitation; he thinks twice, however, before drawing blood, if it will cause a feud.

"When the sultan appears among his people, he stands in a circle and claps his hands, to which all respond in the same way. Women curtsey to one another, bending the right knee almost to the ground. When two men meet, they clasp each other's arms with both hands, rubbing them up and down, and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.n.g. for some minutes, 'Nama, sanga? nama sanga?'--Art thou well? They then pa.s.s the hands down to the forearm, exclaiming, 'Wahke? wahke?'--How art thou?--and finally they clap palms at each other, a token of respect which appears common to these tribes of Central Africa.

"The children have all the frowning and unprepossessing look of their parents. They reject little civilities, and seem to spend life in disputes, biting and clawing like wildcats. There seems to be little family affection in this undemonstrative race."

CHAPTER XXIII

THE MARCH TOWARDS VICTORIA NYANZA.

One of the last of Burton's explorations, before his return to his native country, was an attempt to ascertain some particulars as to the nature of the countries which lay north and south of the route he had followed. He was especially anxious to glean information of a great sea, or lake, which the Arabs told him was an immense body of water, much larger than Tanganyika, at a distance of fifteen or twenty marches to the north.

Burton saw that if he could prove the existence of such a lake, it would explain many disputed points and confirm many speculations of modern geographers. Owing to illness, Burton was obliged to give up his intention of exploring the new body of water. Speke, his companion, continued the journey, and reached the lake, which he named Victoria Nyanza.

Speke was strongly convinced that here was the long-sought source of that most mysterious of rivers, the Nile. He returned to England to render an account of his exploration to the Royal Geographical Society and proposed the forming of a new expedition party for the purpose of exploring the newly discovered lake, Victoria Nyanza, and the adjacent countries. The plan met with such favor that in the spring of the following year, with a companion named Grant, he started out with an exploring party.

Leaving England they went to the Cape of Good Hope, and then started for Zanzibar. They first proceeded to East London, then north to Delagoa Bay, and finally to Zanzibar. Here the sultan received them courteously, and promised to aid the expedition in every possible way.

Speke's description of the start from Zanzibar is most realistic: "Starting on the march with a large mixed caravan, one could hardly expect to find everybody in his place at the proper time for breaking ground; but, at the same time, it could hardly be expected that ten men, who had actually received their bounty money, and had sworn fidelity, should give one the slip the first day. Such, however, was the case.

Ten, out of the thirty-six given by the sultan, ran away, because they feared that the white men, whom they believed to be cannibals, were only taking them into the interior to eat them; and one porter, more honest than the freed men, deposited his pay upon the ground, and ran away, too. Go we must, however, for one desertion is sure to lead to more; and go we did.

"Our procession was in this fashion: the kirangozi, with a load on his shoulder, led the way, flag in hand, followed by the pagazis, carrying spears or bows and arrows in their hands, and bearing their share of the baggage in the form either of bolster-shaped loads of cloth and beads, covered with matting, each tied into the fork of a three-p.r.o.nged stick, or else coils of bra.s.s or copper wire, tied in even weights to each end of sticks, which they laid on the shoulder."

The kirangozi of whom he speaks was doubtless the leader, or director, of the band of pagazis, or porters. Continuing, he writes: "Then, helter skelter, came the Waguana, carrying carbines in their hands, and boxes, bundles, tents, cooking-pots--all the miscellaneous property--on their heads. Next the Hottentots, dragging the refractory mules laden with ammunition boxes, but very lightly, to save the animals for the future; and, finally, Sheikh Said and the Balock escort, while the goats, sick women, and stragglers brought up the rear."

The whole caravan under Speke mustered about two hundred persons.

The caravan proceeded over a route very similar to the one which the previous expedition had followed. Finally, after many vicissitudes, it crossed the frontier of Unyamwezi, and entered the district that lay next to it on the north.

The people of this district are described as being pastoral in their occupations. Hence, travelers see very little of them. They roam about with their flocks and build their huts as far as possible from cultivated sections. Most of the district chiefs are directly descended from those who previously ruled in the same places, before the invasion of the country by the white man. It is with these chiefs that travelers have dealings.

The dress of these people is simple in the extreme. It is made of cowhide which has been tanned black. A few magic ornaments and charms, bra.s.s or copper bracelets, and odd-looking coverings for their long legs complete the costume. They smear themselves with rancid b.u.t.ter, which serves to render them most offensive to people of a delicate sense of smell. For arms these people carry either bow or spear, generally the latter weapon.

In the northern portions of the country, where the ground is hilly and rugged in character, the people are more energetic and active than in the southern districts. All live in gra.s.s huts, which are congregated in villages fenced round on the south, but open on the north.

After a continued journey of many hardships, the caravan crossed a dreary waste of uninhabited land, and entered the next district to the north.

Pushing forward, the travelers crossed a narrow strip of uninhabited territory, and entered the famous and unknown kingdom of Karagwe.

Throughout this kingdom the caravan received the kindest of treatment from the king and his people under the village chiefs. No taxes were exacted, and food was supplied at the king's expense. Speke writes of the kingdom: "The farther we went in this country the better we liked it, as the people were all kept in good order, and the village chiefs were so civil that we could do as we liked."

[Ill.u.s.tration: VICTORIA NYANZA.]

Speke thus describes the scene when he caught his first glimpse of the lake: "Next day, after crossing more of those abominable rush drains, while in sight of the Victoria Nyanza, we ascended the most beautiful hills, covered with verdure of all descriptions. 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 gra.s.ses, straight over the hills and down through the woods in the dells, a strange contrast to the wretched tracks in all the 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 frequent rains, it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales which now so much pleased the eye."

CHAPTER XXIV.

VIEW OF THE NILE AT LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA.

It was Speke's desire to proceed northward and then to the east, for the purpose of reaching the point where the Nile was supposed to flow out from Victoria Nyanza.

His description of the accomplishment of his purpose is interesting: "Here at last I stood on the brink of the Nile; most beautiful was the scene; nothing could surpa.s.s it! It was the very perfection of the kind of effect aimed at in a highly kept park; with a magnificent stream, from six hundred to seven hundred yards wide, dotted with islets and rocks,--the former occupied by the fishermen's huts, the latter by many crocodiles basking in the sun,--flowing between fine gra.s.sy banks, with rich trees and plantations in the background, where herds of the hartbeest could be seen grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water, and florikin and guinea fowl rising at our feet."

He proceeded some distance up the left bank of the Nile, keeping away from the stream. Pa.s.sing through rich jungles, and gardens of plantain, he reached Isamba Falls. Here he found the river exceedingly beautiful.