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

they remain. Some escaped, including Fowooka, but many

were massacred on the spot, and the woman Bacheeta was captured by

Kamrasi and subsequently sent by him to the Turks’ camp at Faloro, as

already described. From that day unremitting warfare was carried on

between Kamrasi and the island chiefs; the climax was their defeat, and

the capture of their women, through the assistance of the Turks.

 

Kamrasi’s delight at the victory knew no bounds; ivory poured into the

camp, and a hut was actually filled with elephants’ tusks of the largest

size. Eddrees, the leader of the Turks’ party, knowing that the victory

was gained by the aid of his guns, refused to give up the captives on

the demand of the king, claiming them as prisoners belonging to Ibrahim,

and declining any arguments upon the matter until his master should

arrive in the country. Kamrasi urged that, although the guns had been of

great service, no prisoners could have been captured without the aid of

his canoes, that had been brought by land, dragged all the way from

Karuma by hundreds of his people in readiness for the attack upon the

islands.

 

As usual in all cases of dispute, I was to be referee. Kamrasi sent his

factotum Cassave in the night to my hut to confer with me without the

Turks’ knowledge; then came his brother, M’Gambi, and at length, after

being pestered daily by messengers, the great king arrived in person. He

said that Eddrees was excessively insolent, and had threatened to shoot

him; that he had insulted him when on his throne surrounded by his

chiefs, and that, had he not been introduced into the country by me, he

would have killed him and his men on the spot.

 

I advised Kamrasi not to talk too big, as he had lately seen what only

ten guns had effected in the fight with Fowooka, and he might imagine

the results that would occur should he even hint at hostility, as the

large parties of Ibrahim and the men of Mahommed Wat-el-Mek would

immediately unite and destroy both him and his country, and place his

now beaten enemy Fowooka upon HIS throne should a hair of a Turk’s head

be missing. The gallant Kamrasi turned almost green at the bare

suggestion of this possibility. I advised him not to quarrel about

straws, assuring him, that as I had become responsible for the behaviour

of the Turks while in his country, he need have no fear; but that, on

the other hand, he must be both just and generous. If he would give them

a supply of ivory, he might always reckon upon them as valuable allies;

but if he attempted to quarrel, they would assuredly destroy his country

after my departure. Of course he requested me never to think of leaving

him, but to take up my abode for life in Kitwara, promising me all that

I should require in addition to a large territory. I replied that the

climate did not agree with me, and that nothing would induce me to

remain, but that, as the boats would not arrive at Gondokoro for six

months (until February), I might as well reside with him as anywhere

else. At the same time, I assured him that his professed friendship for

me was a delusion, as he only regarded me as a shield between him and

danger. After a long conversation, I succeeded in persuading him not to

interfere in matters regarding prisoners of war, and to look upon

Eddrees only as a vakeel until Ibrahim should arrive. He left my hut

promising not to mention the affair again; but the next, day he sent

Cassave to Eddrees, demanding two of the prettiest women who were

captives. In reply, Eddrees, who was an extremely hotheaded fellow, went

straight to Kamrasi, and spoke to him in a most insulting manner,

refusing his request. The king immediately rose from his seat and turned

his back upon the offender. Off rushed Eddrees, boiling with passion, to

his camp, summoned his men well armed, and marched straight towards the

residence of Kamrasi to demand satisfaction for the affront.

 

Fortunately, my vakeel brought me the intelligence, and I sent after

him, ordering his immediate return, and declaring that no one should

break the peace so long as I was in the country. In about ten minutes,

both he and his men slunk back ashamed, mutually accusing each other, as

is usual in cases of failure. This was an instance of the madness of

these Turks in assuming the offensive, when, in the event of a fight,

defeat must have been certain. They were positively without ammunition!

having fired away all their cartridges except about five rounds for each

man in the attack upon Fowooka. Fortunately, this was unknown to

Kamrasi. I had a large supply, as my men were never permitted to fire a

shot without my special permission.

 

The party of Turks were now completely in my power. I sent for Eddrees,

and also for the king: the latter had already heard from the natives of

the approach of the armed Turks, and of my interference. He refused to

appear in person, but sent his brother M’Gambi, who was, as usual, the

cat’s-paw. M’Gambi was highly offended, and declared that Kamrasi had

forbidden Eddrees ever to appear again in his presence. I insisted upon

Eddrees apologizing, and it was resolved that all future negotiations

should be carried on through me alone.

 

I suggested that it would be advisable for all parties that a message

should be sent without delay to Ibrahim at Shooa, as it was highly

necessary that he should be present, as I should not continue

responsible for the conduct of the Turks. When I arrived in Unyoro it

was with the intention of visiting the lake, and returning immediately.

I had been delayed entirely through Kamrasi’s orders, and I could not be

held responsible for Eddrees;—my agreement had been to guarantee the

conduct of the Turks under Ibrahim, who was the commander of the party.

Eddrees, who, being without ammunition, was now excessively humble and

wished for reinforcements, offered to send five men to Shooa, provided

that Kamrasi would allow some natives to accompany them. This did not

suit the ideas of the suspicious M’Gambi, who suspected that he intended

to misrepresent Kamrasi’s conduct to prejudice Ibrahim against him.

Accordingly, he declined his offer, but agreed to give porters and

guides, should I wish to send any of my men with a letter. This suited

my views exactly; I longed to quit Kamrasi’s country, as Kisoona was a

prison of high grass and inaction, and could I only return to Shooa, I

could pass my time pleasantly in a fine open country and healthy

climate, with the advantage of being five days’ march nearer home than

Unyoro. Accordingly, I instructed my vakeel to write a letter to

Ibrahim, calling him immediately to Kisoona, informing him that a large

quantity of ivory was collected, which, should Eddrees create a

disturbance, would be lost. On the following morning, four of my men

started for Shooa, accompanied by a number of natives.

 

Kisoona relapsed into its former monotony-the war with Fowooka being

over, the natives, free from care, passed their time in singing and

drinking; it was next to impossible to sleep at night, as crowds of

people all drunk were yelling in chorus, blowing horns and beating drums

from sunset until morning. The women took no part in this amusement, as

it was the custom in Unyoro for the men to enjoy themselves in laziness,

while the women performed all the labour of the fields. Thus they were

fatigued, and glad to rest, while the men passed the night in uproarious

merriment. The usual style of singing was a rapid chant delivered as a

solo, while at intervals the crowd burst out in a deafening chorus

together with the drums and horns; the latter were formed of immense

gourds which, growing in a peculiar shape, with long bottle necks, were

easily converted into musical (?) instruments. Every now and then a cry

of fire in the middle of the night enlivened the ennui of our existence;

the huts were littered deep with straw, and the inmates, intoxicated,

frequently fell asleep with their huge pipes alight, which, falling in

the dry straw, at once occasioned a conflagration. In such cases the

flames spread from hut to hut with immense rapidity, and frequently four

or five hundred huts in Kamrasi’s large camp were destroyed by fire, and

rebuilt in a few days. I was anxious concerning my powder, as, in the

event of fire, the blaze of the straw hut was so instantaneous that

nothing could be saved: should my powder explode, I should be entirely

defenceless. Accordingly, after a conflagration in my neighbourhood, I

insisted upon removing all huts within a circuit of thirty yards of my

dwelling: the natives demurring, I at once ordered my men to pull down

the houses, and thereby relieved myself from drunken and dangerous

neighbours.

 

Although we had been regularly supplied with beef by the king, we now

found it most difficult to procure fowls; the war with Fowooka had

occasioned the destruction of nearly all the poultry in the

neighbourhood of Kisoona, as Kamrasi and his kojoors (magicians) were

occupied with daily sacrifices, deducing prognostications of coming

events from the appearances of the entrails of the birds slain. The king

was surrounded by sorcerers, both men and women; these people were

distinguished from others by witch-like chaplets of various dried roots

worn upon the head; some of them had dried lizards, crocodiles’ teeth,

lions’ claws, minute tortoise-shells, &c. added to their collection of

charms. They could have subscribed to the witches’ cauldron of Macbeth:

 

“Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

 

On the first appearance of these women, many of whom were old and

haggard, I felt inclined to repeat Banquo’s question: “What are these,

so withered and so wild in their attire, that look not like the

inhabitants o’ the earth, and yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught

that man may question?”

 

In such witches and wizards Kamrasi and his people believed implicitly.

Bacheeta, and also my men, told me that when my wife was expected to die

during the attack of coup de soleil, the guide had procured a witch, who

had killed a fowl to question it, “Whether she would recover and reach

the lake?” The fowl in its dying struggle protruded its tongue, which

sign is considered affirmative; after this reply the natives had no

doubt of the result. These people, although far superior to the tribes

on the north of the Nile in general intelligence, had no idea of a

Supreme Being, nor any object of worship, their faith resting upon a

simple belief in magic like that of the natives of Madi and Obbo.

 

Some weeks passed without a reply from Shooa to the letter I had

forwarded by my men, neither had any news been received of their

arrival; we had relapsed into the usual monotony of existence. This was

happily broken by a most important event.

 

On the 6th September, M’Gambi came to my hut in a state of great

excitement, with the intelligence that the M’was, the natives of Uganda,

had invaded Kamrasi’s country with a large army; that they had already

crossed the Kafoor river and had captured M’rooli, and that they were

marching through the country direct to Kisoona, with the intention of

killing Kamrasi and of attacking us, and annexing the country of Unyoro

to M’tese’s dominions. My force was reduced by four men that I had sent

to