The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, Samuel White Baker [inspirational novels .TXT] 📗

me to shoot him. The buffalo was so concealed by the high grass,

that he could not be seen from the deck; I therefore stood upon an

angarep (bedstead) on the poop, and from this I could just discern his

head and shoulders in the high grass, about a hundred and twenty yards

off. I fired with No. 1 Reilly rifle, and he dropped apparently dead to

the shot. The men being hungry, were mad with delight, and regardless of

all but meat, they dashed into the water, and were shortly at him; one

man holding him by the tail, another dancing upon him and brandishing

his knife, and all shouting a yell of exultation. Presently up jumped

the insulted buffalo, and charging through the men, he disappeared in

the high grass, falling, as the men declared, in the deep morass. It was

dusk, and the men, being rather ashamed of their folly in dancing

instead of hamstringing the animal and securing their beef, slunk back

to their vessels.

 

Jan. 10th.—Early in the morning the buffalo was heard groaning in the

marsh, not far from the spot where he was supposed to have fallen. About

forty men took their guns and knives, intent upon beefsteaks, and waded

knee-deep in mud and water through the high grass of the morass in

search. About one hour passed in this way, and, seeing the reckless

manner in which the men were wandering about, I went down below to beat

the drum to call them back, which the vakeel had been vainly attempting.

Just at this moment I heard a distant yelling, and shot fired after

shot, about twenty times, in quick succession. I saw with the telescope

a crowd of men about three hundred yards distant, standing on a white

ant-hill raised above the green sea of high reeds, from which elevated

point they were keeping up a dropping fire at some object

indistinguishable in the high grass. The death-howl was soon raised, and

the men rushing down from their secure position, shortly appeared,

carrying with them my best choush, Sali Achmet, dead. He had come

suddenly upon the buffalo, who, although disabled, had caught him in the

deep mud and killed him. His gallant comrades bolted, although he called

to them for assistance, and they had kept up a distant fire from the

lofty ant-hill, instead of rushing to his rescue. The buffalo lay dead;

and a grave was immediately dug for the unfortunate Sali. My journey

begins badly with the death of my good man Johann and my best

choush—added to the constant mishaps of the “Clumsy.” Fortunately I did

not start from Khartoum on a Friday, or the unlucky day would have borne

the onus of all the misfortunes.

 

The graves of the Arabs are an improvement upon those of Europeans. What

poor person who cannot afford a vault, has not felt a pang as the clod

fell upon the coffin of his relative? The Arabs avoid this. Although

there is no coffin, the rude earth does not rest upon the body. The hole

being dug similar in shape to a European grave, an extra trench is

formed at the bottom of the grave about a foot wide. The body is laid

upon its side within this trench, and covered by bricks made of clay

which are laid across;-thus the body is contained within a narrow vault.

Mud is then smeared over the hastily made bricks and nothing is visible;

the tomb being made level with the bottom of the large grave. This is

filled up with earth, which, resting on the brick covering of the trench

cannot press upon the body. In such a grave my best man was laid—the

Slave women raising their horrible howling and my men crying loudly, as

well explained in the words of Scripture, “and he lifted up his voice

and wept.” I was glad to see so much external feeling for their comrade,

but the grave being filled, their grief, like all loud sorrow, passed

quickly away and relapsed into thoughts of buffalo meat; they were soon

busily engaged in cutting up the flesh. There are two varieties of

buffaloes in this part of Africa—the Bos Caffer, with convex horns,

and that with flat horns; this was the latter species. A horn had

entered the man’s thigh, tearing the whole of the muscles from the bone;

there was also a wound from the centre of the throat to the ear, thus

completely torn open, severing the jugular vein. One rib was broken, the

breast-bone. As usual with buffaloes, he had not rested content until he

had pounded the breath out of the body, which was found embedded and

literally stamped tight into the mud, with only a portion of the head

above the marsh. Sali had not even cocked his gun, the hammer being down

on the nipples when found. I will not allow these men to come to grief

in this way; they are a reckless set of thoughtless cowards, full of

noise and bluster, fond of firing off their guns like children, and

wasting ammunition uselessly, and in time of danger they can never be

relied upon; they deserted their comrade when in need, and cried aloud

like infants at his death; they shall not again be allowed to move from

the boats.

 

In the evening I listened to the men conversing over the whole affair,

when I learnt the entire truth. It appears that Richarn and two other

men were with the unfortunate Sali when the brute charged him, and the

cowards all bolted without firing a shot in defense. There was a large

white ant-hill about fifty yards distant, to which they retreated; from

the top of this fort they repeatedly saw the man thrown into the air,

and heard him calling for assistance. Instead of hastening in a body to

his aid, they called to him to “keep quiet and the buffalo would leave

him.” This is a sample of the courage of these Khartoumers. The buffalo

was so disabled by my shot of yesterday that he was incapable of leaving

the spot, as, with a broken shoulder, he could not get through the deep

mud. My Reilly No. 10 bullet was found under the skin of the right

shoulder, having passed in at the left shoulder rather above the lungs.

The windings of this monotonous river are extraordinary, and during dead

calms in these vast marshes the feeling of melancholy produced is beyond

description. The White Nile is a veritable “Styx.” When the wind does

happen to blow hard, the navigation is most difficult, owing to the

constant windings; the sailors being utterly ignorant, and the rig of

the vessel being the usual huge “leg of mutton” sail, there is an amount

of screaming and confusion at every attempt to tack which generally ends

in our being driven on the lee marsh; this is preferable to a capsize,

which is sometimes anything but distant. This morning is one of those

days of blowing hard, with the accompaniments of screaming and shouting.

Course S.E. Waited half a day for the “Clumsy,” which hove in sight just

before dark; the detentions caused by this vessel are becoming serious,

a quick voyage being indispensable for the animals. The camels are

already suffering from confinement, and I have their legs well swathed

in wet bandages.

 

This marsh land varies in width. In some portions of the river it

appears to extend for about two miles on either side; in other parts

farther than the eye can reach. In all cases the main country is a dead

flat; now blazing and smoking beyond the limit of marshes, as the

natives have fired the dry grass in all directions. Reeds, similar in

appearance to bamboos but distinct from them, big water-grass, like

sugarcanes, excellent fodder for the cattle, and the ever-present

ambatch, cover the morasses. Innumerable mosquitoes.

 

Jan. 12th—Fine breeze in the morning, but obliged to wait for the

“Clumsy”, which arrived at 10 A.M. How absurd are some descriptions of

the White Nile, which state that there is no current! At some parts,

like that from just above the Sobat junction to Khartoum, there is but

little, but since we have left the Bahr el Gazal the stream runs from

one and three-quarters to two and a half miles per hour, varying in

localities. Here it is not more than a hundred yards wide in clear

water. At 11.20 A.M. got under weigh with a rattling breeze, but

scarcely had we been half an hour under sail when crack went the great

yard of the “Clumsy” once more. I had her taken in tow. It is of no use

repairing the yard again, and, were it not for the donkeys, I would

abandon her. Koorshid Aga’s boats were passing us in full sail when his

diahbiah suddenly carried away her rudder, and went head first into the

morass. I serve out grog to the men when the drum beats at sunset, if

all the boats are together.

 

Jan. 13th.—Stopped near a village on the right bank in company with

Koorshid Aga’s two diahbiahs. The natives came down to the boats—they

are something superlative in the way of savages; the men as naked as

they came into the world; their bodies rubbed with ashes, and their hair

stained red by a plaster of ashes and cow’s urine. These fellows are the

most unearthly-looking devils I ever saw—there is no other expression

for them. The unmarried women are also entirely naked; the married have

a fringe made of grass around their loins. The men wear heavy coils of

beads about their necks, two heavy bracelets of ivory on the upper

portion of the arms, copper rings upon the wrists, and a horrible kind

of bracelet of massive iron armed with spikes about an inch in length,

like leopard’s claws, which they use for a similar purpose. The chief of

the Nuehr village, Joctian, with his wife and daughter, paid me a visit,

and asked for all they saw in the shape of beads and bracelets, but

declined a knife as useless. They went away delighted with their

presents. The women perforate the upper lip, and wear an ornament about

four inches long of beads upon an iron wire; this projects like the horn

of a rhinoceros; they are very ugly. The men are tall and powerful,

armed with lances. They carry pipes that contain nearly a quarter of a

pound of tobacco, in which they smoke simple charcoal should the loved

tobacco fail. The carbonic acid gas of the charcoal produces a slight

feeling of intoxication, which is the effect desired. Koorshid Aga

returned them a girl from Khartoum who had been captured by a

slave-hunter; this delighted the people, and they immediately brought an

ox as an offering. The “Clumsy’s” yard broke in two pieces, thus I was

obliged to seek a dry spot for the necessary repairs. I left the village

Nuehr Eliab, and in the evening lowered the “Clumsy’s” yard; taking her

in tow, we are, this moment, 8.30 P.M., slowly sailing through clouds of

mosquitoes looking out for a landing-place in this world of marshes. I

took the chief of the Nuehrs’ portrait, as he sat in my cabin on the

divan; of course he was delighted. He exhibited his wife’s arms and back

covered with jagged scars, in reply to my question as to the use of the

spiked iron bracelet. Charming people are these poor blacks! as they are

termed by English sympathisers; he was quite proud of having clawed his

wife like a wild beast. In sober earnest, my monkey “Wallady” looks like

a civilized being compared to the Nuehr savages. The chiefs forehead was

tattooed in horizontal lines that had the appearance of wrinkles. The

hair is worn drawn back from the face. Both men and women wear a bag