After Cooking, When The Night Has Set It, The
Everlasting Dance Begins, Attended With Clapping Of Hands And
Jingling Small
Bells strapped to the legs - the whole being
accompanied by a constant repetition of senseless words, which
stand in place
Of the song to the negroes; for song they have
none, being mentally incapacitated for musical composition,
though as timists they are not to be surpassed.
What remains to be told is the daily occupation of Captain Grant,
myself, and our private servants. Beginning at the foot: Rahan,
a very peppery little negro, who had served in a British man-of-
war at the taking of Rangoon, was my valet; and Baraka, who had
been trained much in the same manner, but had seen engagements at
Multan, was Captain Grant's. They both knew Hindustani; but
while Rahan's services at sea had been short, Baraka had served
nearly all his life with Englishmen - was the smartest and most
intelligent negro I ever saw - was invaluable to Colonel Rigby as
a detector of slave-traders, and enjoyed his confidence
completely - so much so, that he said, on parting with him, that
he did not know where he should be able to find another man to
fill his post. These two men had now charge of our tents and
personal kit, while Baraka was considered the general of the
Wanguana forces, and Rahan a captain of ten.
My first occupation was to map the country. This is done by
timing the rate of march with a watch, taking compass-bearings
along the road, or on any conspicuous marks - as, for instance,
hills off it - and by noting the watershed - in short, all
topographical objects. On arrival in camp every day came the
ascertaining, by boiling a thermometer, of the altitude of the
station above the sea-level; of the latitude of the station by
the meridian altitude of the star taken with a sextant; and of
the compass variation by azimuth. Occasionally there was the
fixing of certain crucial stations, at intervals of sixty miles
or so, by lunar observations, or distances of the moon either
from the sun or from certain given stars, for determining the
longitude, by which the original-timed course can be drawn out
with certainty on the map by proportion. Should a date be lost,
you can always discover it by taking a lunar distance and
comparing it with the Nautical Almanac, by noting the time when a
star passes the meridian if your watch is right, or by observing
the phases of the moon, or her rising or setting, as compared
with the Nautical Almanac. The rest of my work, besides
sketching and keeping a diary, which was the most troublesome of
all, consisted in making geological and zoological collections.
With Captain Grant rested the botanical collections and
thermometrical registers. He also boiled one of the
thermometers, kept the rain-gauge, and undertook the photography;
but after a time I sent the instruments back, considering this
work too severe for the climate, and he tried instead sketching
with watercolours - the results of which form the chief part of
the illustrations in this book. The rest of our day went in
breakfasting after the march was over - a pipe, to prepare us for
rummaging the fields and villages to discover their contents for
scientific purposes - dinner close to sunset, and tea and pipe
before turning in at night.
A short stage brought us to Ikamburu, included in the district of
Nzasa, where there is another small village presided over by
Phanze Khombe la Simba, meaning Claw of Lion. He, immediately
after our arrival, sent us a present of a basket of rice, value
one dollar, of course expecting a return - for absolute generosity
is a thing unknown to the negro. Not being aware of the value of
the offering, I simply requested the Sheikh to give him four
yards of American sheeting, and thought no more about the matter,
until presently I found the cloth returned. The "Sultan" could
not think of receiving such a paltry present from me, when on the
former journey he got so much; if he showed this cloth at home,
nobody would believe him, but would say he took much more and
concealed it from his family, wishing to keep all his goods to
himself. I answered that my footing in the country had been paid
for on the last journey, and unless he would accept me as any
other common traveller, he had better walk away; but the little
Sheikh, a timid, though very gentlemanly creature, knowing the
man, and dreading the consequences of too high a tone, pleaded
for him, and proposed as a fitting hongo, one dubuani, one
sahari, and eight yards merikani, as the American sheeting is
called here. This was pressed by the jemadar, and acceded to by
myself, as the very utmost I could afford. Lion's Claw, however,
would not accept it; it was too far below the mark of what he got
last time. He therefore returned the cloths to the Sheikh, as he
could get no hearing from myself, and retreated in high dudgeon,
threatening the caravan with a view of his terrible presence on
the morrow. Meanwhile the little Sheikh, who always carried a
sword fully two-thirds the length of himself, commenced casting
bullets for his double-barrelled rifle, ordered the Wanguana to
load their guns, and came wheedling up to me for one more cloth,
as it was no use hazarding the expedition's safety for four yards
of cloth. This is a fair specimen of tax-gathering, within
twelve miles of the coast, by a native who claims the protection
of Zanzibar. We shall soon see what they are further on. The
result of experience is, that, ardent as the traveller is to see
the interior of Africa, no sooner has he dealings with the
natives, than his whole thoughts tend to discovering some road
where he won't be molested, or a short cut, but long march, to
get over the ground.
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