Their children and wives were captured,
together with large herds of cattle, which are celebrated for their
size. All these were driven in triumph to Fatiko.
The success of this infernal scheme, raised the reputation of Ali
Hussein to the highest pitch. The reports of the vast pastoral wealth of
the Umiro excited the cupidity of the various companies in the stations
of Abou Saood.
It was determined to make a grand attack upon a people, who, in spite of
their warlike character, had exhibited a total want of power to resist.
Ali Hussein sent an expedition of about 350 men, in addition to a large
number of Fatiko allies. They arrived on the borders of Umiro, within
about an hour's march of the villages doomed to pillage. The party was
under the command of a notorious ruffian named Lazim, whom I had known
during my former exploration.
Upon arrival in the Umiro country, during the night after a forced
march, he sent a detachment of 103 men, together with about 150 natives,
to attack the villages by a surprise at dawn, and to capture the slaves
and cattle in the usual manner.
The party started at the early hour of first cock-crow, while the main
body under Lazim waited for the result.
Hours passed, but the company did not return. A few shots had been heard
in the distance.
The country was clear and open, but nothing could be seen. There was no
lowing of cattle, neither did the heavy clouds of smoke, usual on such
occasions, point out the direction of burning villages.
Presently, drums were heard in every direction, the horns and whistles
of the Umiro sounded the alarm, and large bodies of natives rushed
across the plain to the attack of Lazim's main body.
They had just time to form, and to post the men around the strong cattle
kraal, which they had occupied, when the stream of enemies came down
upon them.
Upon the open plain, the Umiro had no chance in attacking so well
defended a position, and the muskets, loaded with heavy mould shot, told
with great effect upon the naked bodies of the assailants.
The Umiro were beaten back with some loss, and the slave-hunters held
the position, although in a state of terror, as they felt that some
terrible calamity must have befallen the party which had started to
surprise the villages.
After dark, a Bari native cried out to the sentries to let him pass.
This was a wounded man of their own people, the only survivor of all
those who had left the main body on that morning.
The Bari described, that the Umiro, having gained information of the
intended attack, had lain in ambush within high withered grass, in which
they had awaited the arrival of their assailants.
The slave-hunters were advancing as usual, in single file, along the
narrow track through the high grass, unsuspicious of an enemy, when the
Umiro rushed from both sides of the ambuscade upon them.
Taken by surprise, a panic seized the slave-hunters, very few of whom
had time to fire their muskets before they were speared by the pitiless
Umiro, who wreaked wholesale vengeance by the massacre of 103 of Abou
Saood's men and about 150 of their allies.
The main body under Lazim were completely cowed, as they feared an
overwhelming attack that might exhaust their ammunition. The Umiro had
now become possessed of 103 guns and several large cases of cartridges,
in addition to those in the pouches of the soldiers.
Night favoured the retreat, and the remnant of the expedition under
Lazim returned by forced marches to Fatiko.
The defeat had spread consternation among the various stations, as it
followed closely upon the destruction of a station belonging to Abou
Saood in the Madi country.
This zareeba had been under the command of a vakeel named Jusef, who had
exasperated the natives by continual acts of treachery and
slave-hunting. They had accordingly combined to attack the station at
night, and had set fire to the straw huts, by shooting red-hot arrows
into the inflammable thatched roofs.
These calamities had happened since the arrival of Abou Saood in the
Shooli country, and it was he who had given the order to attack the
Umiro. His own people, being naturally superstitious, thought he had
brought bad luck with him.
It appeared that when Abou Saood had first arrived at Fatiko from
Gondokoro, the vakeels of his different stations were all prepared for
the journey to deliver the ivory. They had given the cattle obtained in
the first attack upon Umiro to the native carriers of Madi and Shooli,
and the tusks had been arranged in about 2,000 loads for transport.
The sudden arrival of Abou Saood changed all their plans, as he
immediately gave orders to return the ivory to the store huts; he did
not intend to deliver it at Gondokoro that year. He also sent a letter
to his Latooka station, nine days' march to the north-east, together
with a party of eighty men, with instructions to his vakeel to deliver
the ivory at the Bohr station below Gondokoro.
He thus hoped to defraud the government out of the two-fifths due to
them by contract with Agad. At the same time, he had intended to remain
concealed in the interior of the country until I should have returned to
England; after which he had no doubt that affairs would continue in
their original position.
It may be imagined that my sudden arrival at Fatiko had disconcerted all
his plans.
In spite of his extreme cunning, he had over-estimated his own power of
intrigue, and he had mismanaged his affairs.
