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

and I

converted them into a stew, and then took refuge, wet and miserable,

under our untanned oxhides until the following morning. Although an

ox-hide is not waterproof, it will keep out a considerable amount of

wet; but when thoroughly saturated, it is about as comfortable as any

other wet leather, with the additional charm of an exceedingly

disagreeable raw smell, very attractive to hyenas. The night being dark,

several men thus lost their leather bags that they had left upon the

rock.

 

At 6 A.M., having passed a most uncomfortable night, we started, and

after a march of about two miles I was made extremely anxious for the

donkeys, by being assured that it was necessary to ascend a most

precipitous granite hill, at least seven hundred feet high, that rose

exactly before us, and upon the very summit of which was perched a large

village. There was no help by means of porters; we led our horses with

difficulty up the steep face of the rock—fortunately they had never

been shod, thus their firm hoofs obtained a hold where an iron shoe

would have slipped; and after extreme difficulty and a most tedious

struggle, we found our party all assembled on the flat summit. From this

elevated point we had a superb view of the surrounding country, and I

took the compass bearing of the Latooka mountain Gebel Lafeet, N. 45

degrees east. The natives of the village that we had now reached had

nothing to sell but a few beans, therefore without further delay we

commenced the descent upon the opposite side, and at 2.40 P.M. we

reached the base, the horses and donkeys having scrambled over the large

blocks of stone with the greatest labour. At the foot of the hill the

country was parklike and well wooded, although there was no very large

timber. Here the grass was two feet high and growing rapidly, while at

Latooka all was barren. Halted at 5.20 P.M. on the banks of a small

running stream, a tributary to the Kanieti. The night being fine we

slept well; and the next morning at 6 A.M. we commenced the most lovely

march that I have ever made in Africa. Winding through the very bosom of

the mountains, well covered with forest until the bare granite peaks

towered above all vegetation to the height of about 5,000 feet, we

continued through narrow valleys bordered by abrupt spurs of the

mountains from 1,700 to 2,000 feet high. On the peak of each was a

village; evidently these impregnable positions were chosen for security.

At length the great ascent was to be made, and for two hours we toiled

up a steep zigzag pass. The air was most invigorating; beautiful wild

flowers, some of which were highly scented, ornamented the route, and

innumerable wild grape-vines hung in festoons from tree to tree. We were

now in an elevated country on the range of mountains dividing the lower

lands of Latooka from the high lands of Obbo. We arrived at the summit

of the pass about 2,500 feet above the Latooka valley. In addition to

the wild flowers were numerous fruits, all good; especially a variety of

custard apple, and a full-flavoured yellow plum. The grapes were in most

promising bunches, but unripe. The scenery was very fine; to the east

and southeast, masses of high mountains, while to the west and south

were vast tracts of parklike country of intense green. In this elevated

region the season was much farther advanced than in Latooka;-this was

the mountain range upon which I had formerly observed that the storms

had concentrated; here the rainy season had been in full play for

months, while in Latooka everything was parched. The grass on the west

side of the pass was full six feet high. Although the ascent had

occupied about two hours, the descent on the west side was a mere

trifle, and was effected in about fifteen minutes—we were on an

elevated plateau that formed the watershed between the east and west.

 

After a march of about twelve miles from the top of the pass, we arrived

at the chief village of Obbo. The rain fell in torrents, and, soaked to

the skin, we crawled into a dirty hut. This village was forty miles S.W.

of Tarrangolle, my headquarters in Latooka.

 

The natives of Obbo are entirely different to the Latookas, both in

language and appearance. They are not quite naked, except when going to

war, on which occasion they are painted in stripes of red and yellow;

but their usual covering is the skin of an antelope or goat, slung like

a mantle across the shoulders. Their faces are well formed, with

peculiarly fine-shaped noses. The headdress of the Obbo is remarkably

neat, the woolly hair being matted and worked with thread into a flat

form like a beaver’s tail, and bound with a fine edge of raw hide to

keep it in shape. This, like the headdress of Latooka, requires many

years to complete.

 

From Obbo to the Southeast all is mountainous, the highest points of the

chain rising to an elevation of four or five thousand feet above the

general level of the country; to the south, although there are no actual

mountains, but merely a few isolated hills, the country distinctly

rises.

 

The entire drainage is to the west and northwest, in which direction

there is a very perceptible inclination. The vegetation of Obbo, and the

whole of the west side of the mountain range, is different from that

upon the east side; the soil is exceedingly rich, producing an abundance

of Guinea grass, with which the plains are covered. This country

produces nine varieties of yams, many of which grow wild in the forests.

There is one most peculiar species, called by the natives “Collolollo,”

that I had not met with in other countries. This variety produces

several tubers at the root, and also upon the stalk; it does not spread

upon the ground, like most of the vines that characterise the yams, but

it climbs upon trees or upon any object that may tempt its tendrils.

From every bud upon the stalk of this vine springs a bulb, somewhat

kidney-shaped; this increases until, when ripe, it attains the average

size of a potato.

 

So prolific is this plant, that one vine will produce about 150 yams:

they are covered with a fine skin of a greenish brown, and are in

flavour nearly equal to a potato, but rather waxy.

 

There are many good wild fruits, including one very similar to a walnut

in its green shell; the flesh of this has a remarkably fine flavour, and

the nut within exactly resembles a horse-chestnut in size and fine

mahogany colour. This nut is roasted, and, when ground and boiled, a

species of fat or butter is skimmed from the surface of the water: this

is much prized by the natives, and is used for rubbing their bodies,

being considered as the best of all fats for the skin; it is also eaten.

 

Among the best of the wild fruits is one resembling raisins; this grows

in clusters upon a large tree. Also a bright yellow fruit, as large as a

Muscat grape, and several varieties of plums. None of these are produced

in Latooka. Ground-nuts are also in abundance in the forests; these are

not like the well-known African ground-nut of the west coast, but are

contained in an excessively hard shell. A fine quality of flax grows

wild, but the twine generally used by the natives is made from the fibre

of a species of aloe. Tobacco grows to an extraordinary size, and is

prepared similarly to that of the Ellyria tribe.

 

When ripe, the leaves are pounded in a mortar and reduced to a pulp; the

mass is then placed in a conical mould of wood, and pressed. It remains

in this until dry, when it presents the shape of a loaf of sugar, and is

perfectly hard. The tobacco of the Ellyria tribe is shaped into cheeses,

and frequently adulterated with cowdung. I had never smoked until my

arrival in Obbo, but having suffered much from fever, and the country

being excessively damp, I commenced with Obbo pipes and tobacco.

 

Every tribe has a distinct pattern of pipe; those of the Bari have wide

trumpet-shaped mouths; the Latooka are long and narrow; and the Obbo

smaller and the neatest. All their pottery is badly burned, and

excessively fragile if wet. The water jars are well formed, although the

potter’s wheel is quite unknown, and the circular form is obtained

entirely by the hand. Throughout the tribes of the White Nile, the

articles of pottery are limited to the tobacco-pipe and the water-jar:

all other utensils are formed either of wood, or of gourd shells.

 

By observation, 1 determined the latitude of my camp at Obbo to be 4

degrees 02’ N., 32 degrees 31’ long. E., and the general elevation of

the country 3,674 feet above the sea, the temperature about 76 degrees

F. The altitude of Latooka was 2,236 feet above the sea level: thus we

were, at Obbo, upon an elevated plateau, 1,438 feet above the general

level of the country on the east of the mountain range. The climate

would be healthy were the country sufficiently populated to war

successfully against nature; but the rainfall continuing during ten

months of the year, from February to the end of November, and the soil

being extremely fertile, the increase of vegetation is too rapid, and

the scanty population are hemmed in and overpowered by superabundant

herbage. This mass of foliage, and grasses of ten feet in height

interwoven with creeping plants and wild grape-vines, is perfectly

impenetrable to man, and forms a vast jungle, inhabited by elephants,

rhinoceros, and buffaloes, whose ponderous strength alone can overcome

it. There are few antelopes, as those animals dislike the grass jungles,

in which they have no protection against the lion or the leopard, as

such beasts of prey can approach them unseen. In the month of January

the grass is sufficiently dry to burn, but even at that period there is

a quantity of fresh green grass growing between the withered stems; thus

the firing of the prairies does not absolutely clear the country, but

merely consumes the dry matter, and leaves a ruin of charred herbage,

rendered so tough by the burning, that it is quite impossible to ride

without cutting the skin from the horse’s shins and shoulders.

Altogether, it is a most uninteresting country, as there is no

possibility of traversing it except by the narrow footpaths made by the

natives.

 

The chief of Obbo came to meet us with several of his head men. He was

an extraordinary-looking man, about fifty-eight or sixty years of age;

but, far from possessing the dignity usually belonging to a grey head,

he acted the buffoon for our amusement, and might have been a clown in a

pantomime.

 

The heavy storm having cleared, the nogaras beat, and our entertaining

friend determined upon a grand dance; pipes and flutes were soon heard

gathering from all quarters, horns brayed, and numbers of men and women

began to collect in crowds, while old Katchiba, the chief, in a state of

great excitement, gave orders for the entertainment.

 

About a hundred men formed a circle; each man held in his left hand a

small cup-shaped drum, formed of hollowed wood, one end only being

perforated, and this was covered with the skin of the elephant’s ear,

tightly stretched. In the centre of the circle was the chief dancer, who

wore, suspended from his shoulders, an immense drum, also covered with

the elephant’s ear. The dance commenced by all singing remarkably well a

wild but agreeable tune in chorus, the big drum directing the time, and

the whole of the little