How I Found Livingstone, Henry M. Stanley [best fantasy books to read txt] 📗

which I gained additional honour and credit as a leader and

guide. My shoes were very bad, and it was difficult to decide

whose were the worst in condition, the Doctor’s or mine. A great

change had come upon the face of the land since I had passed

northward en route to Ujiji. The wild grapes now hung in clusters

along the road; the corn ears were advanced enough to pluck and

roast for food; the various plants shed their flowers; and the

deep woods and grasses of the country were greener than ever.

 

On the 19th we arrived at Mpokwa’s deserted village. The Doctor’s

feet were very much chafed and sore by the marching. He had

walked on foot all the way from Urimba, though he owned a donkey;

while I, considerably to my shame be it said, had ridden

occasionally to husband my strength,: that I might be enabled

to hunt after arrival at camp.

 

Two huts were cleared for our use, but, just as we had made

ourselves comfortable, our sharp-eyed fellows had discovered

several herds of game in the plain west of Mpokwa. Hastily

devouring a morsel of corn-bread with coffee, I hastened away,

with Bilali for a gunbearer, taking with me the famous Reilly

rifle of the Doctor and a supply of Fraser’s shells. After

plunging through a deep stream, and getting wet again, and pushing

my way through a dense brake, I arrived at a thin belt of forest,

through which I was obliged to crawl, and, in half an hour, I had

arrived within one hundred and forty yards of a group of zebras,

which were playfully biting each other under the shade of a large

tree. Suddenly rising up, I attracted their attention; but the

true old rifle was at my shoulder, and “crack—crack” went both

barrels, and two fine zebras, a male and female, fell dead under

the tree where they had stood. In a few seconds their throats

were cut, and after giving the signal of my success, I was soon

surrounded by a dozen of my men, who gave utterance to their

delight by fulsome compliments to the merits of the rifle, though

very few to me. When I returned to camp with the meat I received

the congratulations of the Doctor, which I valued far higher, as

he knew from long experience what shooting was.

 

When the eatable portions of the two zebras were hung to the scale,

we found, according to the Doctor’s own figures, that we had 719

lbs. of good meat, which, divided among forty-four men, gave a

little over 16 lbs. to each person. Bombay, especially, was very

happy, as he had dreamed a dream wherein I figured prominently as

shooting animals down right and left; and, when he had seen me

depart with that wonderful Reilly rifle he had not entertained

a doubt of my success, and, accordingly, had commanded the men

to be ready to go after me, as soon as they should hear the

reports of the gun.

 

The following is quoted from my Diary:

 

January 20th, 1872.—To-day was a halt. On going out for a hunt

I saw a herd of eleven giraffes. After crossing Mpokwa stream I

succeeded in getting within one hundred and fifty yards of one of

them, and fired at it; but, though it was wounded, I did not

succeed in dropping it, though I desired the skin of one of them

very much.

 

In the afternoon I went out to the east of the village, and came

to a herd of six giraffes. I wounded one of them, but it got off,

despite my efforts.

 

What remarkable creatures they are! How beautiful their large

limpid eyes! I could have declared on oath that both shots had

been a success, but they sheered off with the stately movements

of a clipper about to tack. When they ran they had an ungainly,

dislocated motion, somewhat like the contortions of an Indian

nautch or a Theban danseuse—a dreamy, undulating movement, which

even the tail, with its long fringe of black hair, seemed to

partake of.

 

The Doctor, who knew how to console an ardent but disappointed

young hunter, attributed my non-success to shooting with leaden

balls, which were too soft to penetrate the thick hide of the

giraffes, and advised me to melt my zinc canteens with which to

harden the lead. It was not the first time that I had cause to

think the Doctor an admirable travelling companion; none knew so

well how to console one for bad luck none knew so well how to

elevate one in his own mind. If I killed a zebra, did not his

friend Oswell—the South African hunter—and himself long ago

come to the conclusion that zebra meat was the finest in Africa?

If I shot a buffalo cow, she was sure to be the best of her kind,

and her horns were worth while carrying home as specimens; and was

she not fat? If I returned without anything, the game was very

wild, or the people had made a noise, and the game had been

frightened; and who could stalk animals already alarmed? Indeed,

he was a most considerate companion, and, knowing him to be

literally truthful, I was proud of his praise when successful,

and when I failed I was easily consoled.

 

Ibrahim, the old pagazi whose feelings had been so lacerated in

Ukawendi, when his ancient kibuyu broke, before leaving Ujiji

invested his cloth in a slave from Manyuema, who bore the name

of “Ulimengo,” which signifies the “World.” As we approached Mpokwa,

Ulimengo absconded with all his master’s property, consisting of a

few cloths and a bag of salt, which he had thought of taking to

Unyanyembe for trade. Ibrahim was inconsolable, and he kept

lamenting his loss daily in such lugubrious tones that the people,

instead of sympathizing, laughed at him. I asked him why he

purchased such a slave, and, while he was with him, why he did not

feed him? Replied he, tartly, “Was he not my slave? Was not the

cloth with which I bought him mine? If the cloth was my own,

could I not purchase what I liked? Why do you talk so?”

 

Ibrahim’s heart was made glad this evening by the return of

Ulimengo with the salt and the cloth, and the one-eyed old man

danced with his great joy, and came in all haste to impart to me

the glad news. “Lo, the `World’ has come back. Sure. My salt

and my cloth are with him also. Sure.” To which I replied,

that he had better feed him in future, as slaves required food

as well as their masters.

 

From 10 P.M. to midnight the Doctor was employed in taking

observations from the star Canopus, the result of which was that

he ascertained Mpokwa, district of Utanda, Ukonongo, to be in S.

latitude 6 degrees 18 minutes 40 seconds. On comparing it with

its position as laid down in my map by dead reckoning, I found

we differed by three miles; I having !aid it down at 6 degrees

15 minutes south latitude.

 

The day following was a halt. The Doctor’s feet were so inflamed

and sore that he could not bear his shoes on. My heels were also

raw, and I viciously cut large circles out of my shoes to enable

me to move about.

 

Having converted my zinc canteens into bullets, and provided

myself with a butcher and gunbearer, I set out for the lovely

park-land and plain west of Mpokwa stream, with the laudable

resolution to obtain something; and seeing nothing in the plain,

I crossed over a ridge, and came to a broad basin covered with

tall grass, with clumps here and there of hyphene palm, with a

stray mimosa or so scattered about. Nibbling off the branches

of the latter, I saw a group of giraffes, and then began stalking

them through the grass, taking advantage of the tall grass-grown

anthills that I might approach the wary beasts before their great

eyes could discover me. I contrived to come within 175 yards, by

means of one of these curious hummocks; but beyond it no man could

crawl without being observed—the grass was so thin and short. I

took a long breath, wiped my perspiring brow, and sat down for a

while; my black assistants also, like myself, were almost breathless

with the exertion, and the high expectations roused by the near

presence of the royal beasts. I toyed lovingly with the heavy

Reilly, saw to my cartridges, and then stood up and turned, with

my rifle ready; took one good, long, steady aim; then lowered it

again to arrange the sights, lifted it up once more—dropped it.

A giraffe half turned his body; for the last time I lifted it,

took one quick sight at the region of the heart, and fired.

He staggered, reeled, then made a short gallop; but the blood

was spouting from the wound in a thick stream, and before he had

gone 200 yards he came to a dead halt, with his ears drawn back,

and allowed me to come within twenty yards of him, when, receiving

a zinc bullet through the head, he fell dead.

 

“Allah ho, akhbar!” cried Khamisi, my butcher, fervently.

“This is meat, master!”

 

I was rather saddened than otherwise at seeing the noble animal

stretched before me. If I could have given him his life back I

think I should have done so. I thought it a great pity that such

splendid animals, so well adapted for the service of man in Africa,

could not be converted to some other use than that of food.

Horses, mules, and donkeys died in these sickly regions; but what

a blessing for Africa would it be if we could tame the giraffes and

zebras for the use of explorers and traders! Mounted on a zebra,

a man would be enabled to reach Ujiji in one month from Bagamoyo;

whereas it took me over seven months to travel that distance!

 

The dead giraffe measured 16 feet 9 inches from his right fore-hoof

to the top of his head, and was one of the largest size, though

some have been found to measure over 17 feet. He was spotted all

over with large black, nearly round, patches.

 

I left Khamisi in charge of the dead beast, while I returned to

camp to send off men to cut it up, and convey the meat to our

village. But Khamisi climbed a tree for fear of the lions, and the

vultures settled on it, so that when the men arrived on the spot,

the eyes, the tongue, and a great part of the posteriors were eaten

up. What remained weighed as follows, when brought in and hung to

the scales:

 

1 hind leg … . 134 lbs.

 

1 ” … . 136 “

 

1 fore leg … . 160 “

 

I ” … . 160 “

 

Ribs … … 158 “

 

Neck … … 74 “

 

Rump … … 87 “

 

Breast … . . 46 “

 

Liver … . . 20 “

 

Lungs … . . 12 “

 

Heart … . . 6 “

 

Total weight of eatable portions . . 993 lbs.

 

Skin and head, 181 lbs.

 

The three days following I suffered from a severe attack of fever,

and was unable to stir from bed. I applied my usual remedies for

it, which consisted of colocynth and quinine; but experience has

shown me that an excessive use of the same cathartic weakens its

effect, and that it would be well for travellers to take with them

different medicines to cause proper action in the liver, such as

colocynth, calomel, resin of jalap, Epsom salts; and that