At 7.30 P.M. the cattle arrived by torchlight, together with the troops
and baggage. Some of the Lobore carriers had already deserted on the
road, which had caused much delay.
We had marched nine miles, but it was absolutely necessary to send four
men back to Lobore, to insist upon fresh carriers being immediately sent
to replace the runaways.
On March 1 we started at half-past six A.M., after a terrific scramble
for loads by 400 Lobore carriers, who rushed in and tugged and wrestled
for their packages like wolves over a carcase. Boxes were turned upside
down, and carried in that manner with an utter disregard for the
contents.
The inverted canteen was discovered upon the head of a brutal Lobore,
whose body was being basted with Cognac and gin that showered from the
loosened stoppers of the decanters.
I never saw such a wild pack of savages; they were only fit to carry the
elephants' tusks of the traders; but any civilized baggage ran a risk of
instant destruction.
The old sheik, Abbio, had given me his son to keep order among the
people. This young man was about twenty-seven years of age, but,
although respectable in appearance, he did not appear to have the
slightest control over his people, and he regarded their desertions with
seeming indifference.
I had a strong suspicion that he might quietly abscond at night, in
which case every man might instantly follow his example. I therefore
ordered a light thong of leather to be attached to the iron collar worn
as an ornament upon his neck, and I trusted him to the surveillance of a
couple of soldiers told off as his guard of honour.
We marched south for sixteen miles through a fine country of hills and
low forest, where the villages of the Madi had been mostly destroyed by
the slave-hunting parties of Abou Saood.
We passed large tracts of land that had formerly been in a high state of
cultivation, and the charred remains of numerous villages bespoke the
desolation caused by these brigands of the White Nile. The road was well
watered by many small streams in deep gorges, until we descended to the
Asua river. This was just twenty-five miles from our camp at Lobore, in
latitude N., by observation, 3 degrees 43 minutes.
We happened to arrive at the spot where the river Atabbi joined the
Asua. At this junction the Atabbi was perfectly clear, while the Asua
was muddy, which proved that heavy rain had fallen in the Madi and
Shooli countries, while the weather was dry in the mountains of Obbo.
The Asua flowed through a fine forest, but although the water was muddy
from recent rains, the volume at this season was confined to a portion
of the bed, in the deepest parts of which it did not exceed two feet six
inches. The bed from bank to bank was about 120 yards in width, and the
maximum rise of the river was about twelve feet. During the wet season
this is a frightful torrent that acts as a barrier to any advance or
retreat of troops encumbered with baggage.
Having waded through the river, we halted under the shady trees on the
south side; here there was excellent herbage for the cattle, as the
young grass after the annual fires was now about eight inches high, upon
the rich soil near the river's bank.
Whenever we halted during daylight, I took a stroll with the rifle,
accompanied by Lieutenant Baker.
We walked for some time along the banks of the river up stream without
seeing any game, and I was struck with the absence of tracks of the
larger animals, which coincided with my remarks on the Asua river many
years previous, when I crossed it about thirty miles higher up, on my
route from Latooka to Shooa.
I expected to return without seeing game, when we suddenly spied a few
waterbuck in the sandy bed of the river, about 300 paces distant.
We made a good stalk, but I only wounded the animal at which I fired at
about 150 yards, and they galloped off through the open forest. I heard
the bullet from the left hand barrel strike a tree stem, which saved the
antelope, but having quickly reloaded, I had a clear and steady shot at
a long range as the large buck suddenly stopped and looked back. I put
up the last sight for 250 yards and took a full bead. To my great
satisfaction the waterbuck with a fine set of horns dropped dead. I
could not measure the distance accurately as we had to descend a rocky
bank, and then, crossing the bed of the Asua, to ascend the steep north
bank before we arrived at tolerably level ground.
Upon reaching the animal, I found the bullet in the neck, where it had
divided the spine. I guessed the distance at about 240 yards. Some of
our Lobore natives, who had kept at a distance behind us, now came up,
and in a short time the noble waterbuck was cut up and the flesh carried
into camp. This species of antelope, when in good condition, weighs
about thirty stone (cleaned).
On March 2 we started at 6 A.M., and marched at a rapid rate along a
hard and excellent path, which inclined upwards from the river for about
eight miles.
The bush was very open, and in many portions the country was a
succession of deep dells, which in the wet season were covered with high
grass, but at this time the young grass was hardly three inches high,
having sprouted after the recent fires.
