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

I was in the country; that

they were allies of Fowooka, Rionga, and Owine, the three hostile

chiefs; that they had received both ivory and slaves from them on

condition that they should kill Kamrasi; and that, according to the

custom of the White Nile trade, they had agreed to these conditions.

They complained that it was very hard upon them to march six days

through an uninhabited wilderness between their station at Faloro and

Fowooka’s islands and to return empty handed. In reply I told them, that

they should carry a letter from me to their vakeel Mahommed, in which I

should give him twelve hours from the receipt of my order to recross the

river with his entire party and their allies and quit Kamrasi’s country.

 

They demurred to this alternative: but I shortly settled their

objections, by ordering my vakeel to write the necessary letter, and

desiring them to start before sunrise on the following morning. Kamrasi

had been suspicious that I had sent for Mahommed’s party to invade him

because he had kept me starving at Shooa Moru instead of forwarding me

to Shooa as he had promised. This suspicion placed me in an awkward

position; I therefore called M’Gambi (his brother) in presence of the

Turks, and explained the whole affair face to face, desiring Mahommed’s

people themselves to explain to him that they would retire from the

country simply because I commanded them to do so, but that, had I not

been there, they would have attacked him. This they repeated with a very

bad grace, boasting, at the completion, that, were it not for me, they

would shoot M’Gambi where he stood at that moment. The latter, fully

aware of their good intentions, suddenly disappeared… . My letter to

Mahommed was delivered to Suleiman Choush, the leader of his party, and

I ordered a sheep to be killed for their supper… . At sunrise on the

following morning they all departed, accompanied by six of my men, who

were to bring a reply to my letter. These people had two donkeys, and

just as they were starting, a crowd of natives made a rush to gather a

heap of dung that lay beneath the animals; a great fight and tussle took

place for the possession of this valuable medicine, in the midst of

which the donkey lifted up his voice and brayed so lustily that the

crowd rushed away with more eagerness than they had exhibited on

arriving, alarmed at the savage voice of the unknown animal. It appeared

that the dung of the donkey rubbed upon the skin was supposed to be a

cure for rheumatism, and that this rare specific was brought from a

distant country in the East where such animals existed.

 

CHAPTER XV.

 

KAMRASI BEGS FOR THE BRITISH FLAG.

 

Kamrasi, thus freed from his invaders, was almost stupefied with

astonishment. He immediately paid me a visit, and as he entered the

courtyard he stopped to look at the flag that was gaily fluttering above

him, as though it were a talisman. He inquired “why the Turks were awed

by an apparent trifle.” I explained that the flag was well known, and

might be seen in every part of the world; wherever it was hoisted it was

respected, as he had just witnessed, even at so great a distance from

home and unsupported, as in Unyoro.

 

Seizing the opportunity, he demanded it, saying, “What shall I do when

you leave my country and take that with you? These Turks will surely

return. Give me the flag, and they will be afraid to attack me!” I was

obliged to explain to him that “the respect for the British ensign had

not been gained by running away on the approach of danger, as he had

proposed on the arrival of the enemy, and that its honour could not be

confided to any stranger.” True to his uncontrollable instinct of

begging, he replied, “If you cannot give me the flag, give me at least

that little double-barrelled rifle that you do not require, as you are

going home; then I can defend myself should the Turks attack me.”

 

I was excessively disgusted; he had just been saved by my intervention,

and his manner of thanking me was by begging most pertinaciously for the

rifle that I had refused him on more than twenty occasions. I requested

him never to mention the subject again, as I would not part with it

under any circumstances. Just at this moment I heard an uproar outside

my gate, and loud screams, attended with heavy blows. A man was dragged

past the entrance of the courtyard bound hand and foot, and was

immediately cudgelled to death by a crowd of natives. This operation

continued for some minutes, until his bones had been thoroughly broken

up by the repeated blows of clubs. The body was dragged to a grove of

plantains, and was there left for the vultures, who in a few minutes

congregated around it.

 

It appeared that the offence thus summarily punished was the simple act

of conversing with some of the natives who had attended Mahommed’s men

from Fowooka’s island to Kisoona: a conversation with one of the enemy

was considered high treason, and was punished with immediate death. In

such cases, where either Kamrasi or his brother M’Gambi determined upon

the sudden execution of a criminal, the signal was given by touching the

condemned with the point of a lance: this sign was the order that was

immediately obeyed by the guards who were in attendance, and the culprit

was beaten to death upon the spot. Sometimes the condemned was touched

by a stick instead of a lance-point; this was a signal that he should be

killed by the lance, and the sentence was carried out by thrusting him

through the body with numerous spears—thus the instrument used to slay

the criminal was always contrary to the sign.

 

On the day following this event, drums were beating, horns blowing, and

crowds of natives were singing and dancing in all directions; pots of

plantain cider were distributed, and general festivities proclaimed the

joy of the people at the news that Mahommed’s party had retreated across

the river, according to their agreement with me. My men had returned

with a letter from Mahommed, stating that he was neither afraid of

Ibrahim’s people nor of Kamrasi, but that as I claimed the country, he

must retire. Not only had he retired with his thwarted allies, but,

disgusted at the failure of his expedition, he had quarrelled with

Fowooka, and had plundered him of all his cattle, together with a number

of slaves: this termination of the affair had so delighted Kamrasi that

he had ordered general rejoicings: he killed a number of oxen, and

distributed them among his people, and intoxicated half the country with

presents of maroua, or the plantain cider.

 

Altogether Mahommed, the vakeel of Debono, had behaved well to me in

this affair, although rather shabbily to his allies: he sent me six

pieces of soap, and a few strings of blue beads and jenettos (red glass

beads) as a proof that he parted with no ill feeling. Hardly were the

Turks in retreat when Kamrasi determined to give the finishing stroke to

his enemies. He sent great quantities of ivory to the camp, and one

evening his people laid about twenty tusks at my door, begging me to

count them. I told him to give the ivory to Ibrahim’s men, as I required

nothing; but that should Ibrahim find a large quantity ready for him on

his return to the country, he would do anything that he might desire.

 

A few days later, whole lines of porters arrived, carrying enormous

elephants’ tusks to Eddrees, the vakeel. Early the next morning,

Kamrasi’s entire army arrived laden with provisions, each man carrying

about 40 lbs. of flour in a package upon his head. The Turks’ party of

ten men joined them, and I heard that an attack was meditated upon

Fowooka.

 

A few days after the expedition had started, the Turks and about 1,000

natives returned. Kamrasi was overjoyed; they had gained a complete

victory, having entirely routed Fowooka, and not only captured the

islands and massacred the greater number of the inhabitants, but they

had captured all the wives of the rebel chiefs, together with a number

of inferior slaves, and a herd of goats that had fortunately escaped the

search of Mahommed’s retreating party. Fowooka and Owine had escaped by

crossing to the northern shore, but their power was irretrievably

ruined, their villages plundered and burned, and their women and

children captured.

 

A number of old women had been taken in the general razzia; these could

not walk sufficiently fast to keep up with their victors during the

return march, they had accordingly all been killed on the road as being

cumbersome: in every case they were killed by being beaten on the back

of the neck with a club. Such were the brutalities indulged in.

 

On the following morning I went to visit the captives; the women were

sitting in an open shed, apparently much dejected. I examined the hands

of about fourteen, all of which were well shaped and beautifully soft,

proving that they were women of high degree who never worked

laboriously: they were for the most part remarkably good looking, of

soft and pleasing expression, dark brown complexion, fine noses, woolly

hair, and good figures, precisely similar to the general style of women

in Chopi and Unyoro.

 

Among the captives was a woman with a most beautiful child, a boy about

twelve months old; all these were slaves, and the greater number were in

a most pitiable state, being perfectly unfit for labour, having been

accustomed to luxury as the women of chiefs of high position. Curiously

enough, the woman Bacheeta, who had accompanied us to visit these

unfortunate captives, now recognised her former mistress, who was the

wife of the murdered Sali; she had been captured with the wives and

daughters of Rionga. Bacheeta immediately fell on her knees and crept

towards her on all fours, precisely as the subjects of Kamrasi were

accustomed to approach his throne. Sali had held as high a position as

Fowooka, and had been treacherously killed by Kamrasi at M’rooli in the

presence of Bacheeta. At that time peace had been established between

Kamrasi and the three great chiefs, who were invited to a conference at

M’rooli with a treacherous design on the part of the king. Hardly had

they arrived, when Rionga was seized by Kamrasi’s orders, and confined

in a circular but with high mud walls and no doorway; the prisoner was

hoisted up and lowered down through an aperture in the roof. He was

condemned to be burnt alive on the following morning for some imaginary

offence, while Sali and Fowooka were to be either pardoned or murdered,

as circumstances might dictate. Sali was a great friend of Rionga, and

determined to rescue him; accordingly he plied the guards with drink,

and engaged them in singing throughout the night on one side of the

prison, while his men burrowed like rabbits beneath the wall on the

opposite side, and rescued Rionga, who escaped.

 

Sali showed extreme folly in remaining at M’rooli, and Kamrasi,

suspicious of his complicity, immediately ordered him to be seized and

cut to pieces: he was accordingly tied to a stake, and tortured by

having his limbs cut off piecemeal—the hands being first severed at

the wrists, and the arms at the elbow joints. Bacheeta was an eyewitness

of this horrible act, and testified to the courage of Sali, who, while

under the torture, cried out to his friends in the crowd, warning them

to fly and save themselves, as he was a dead man, and they would share

his fate should