We Were Not Expected To March Again, But Being Anxious Myself To
See More Of The River, Before Starting, I Obtained Leave To Go By
Boat As Far As The River Was Navigable, Sending Our Cattle By
Land.
To this concession was accompanied a request for a few more
gun-caps, and liberty was given us to seize any pombe which might
be found coming on the river in boats, for the supplies to the
palace all come in this manner.
We then took boat again, an
immense canoe, and, after going a short distance, emerged from
the Kafu, and found ourselves on what at first appeared a long
lake, averaging from two hundred at first to one thousand yards
broad before the day's work was out; but this was the Nile again,
navigable in this way from Urondogani.
Both sides were fringed with the huge papyrus rush. The left one
was low and swampy, whilst the right one - in which the Kidi
people and Wanyoro occasionally hunt - rose from the water in a
gently sloping bank, covered with trees and beautiful convolvuli,
which hung in festoons. Floating islands, composed of rush,
grass, and ferns, were continually in motion, working their way
slowly down the stream, and proving to us that the Nile was in
full flood. On one occasion we saw hippopotami, which our men
said came to the surface because we had domestic fowls on board,
supposing them to have an antipathy to that bird. Boats there
were, which the sailors gave chase to; but, as they had no
liquor, they were allowed to go their way, and the sailors,
instead, set to lifting baskets and taking fish from the snares
which fisherman, who live in small huts amongst the rushes, had
laid for themselves.
After arrival, as we found the boatmen wished to make off,
instead of carrying out their king's orders to take us to the
waterfall, we seized all the paddles, and kept their tongues
quiet by giving them a cow to eat. The overland route, by which
Kidgwiga and the cattle went, was not so interesting, by all
accounts, as the river one; for they walked the whole way through
marshy ground, and crossed one drain in boats, where some savages
struggled to plunder our men of their goats.
With a great deal of difficulty, and after hours of delay, we
managed to get under way with two boats besides the original one;
and, after an hour and a half's paddling in the laziest manner
possible, the men seized two pots of pombe and pulled in to Koki,
guided by a king's messenger, who said this was one of the places
appointed by order to pick up recruits for the force which was to
take us to Gani. We found, however, nothing but loss and
disappointment - one calf stolen, and five goats nearly so.
Fortunately, the thief who attempted to run off with the goats
was taken by my men in the act, tied with his hands painfully
tight behind his back, and left, with his face painted white,
till midnight, when his comrades stole into Bombay's hut and
released him. After all these annoyances, the chief officer of
the place offered us a present of a goat, but was sent to the
right-about in scorn. How could he be countenanced as a friend
when the men under him steal from us?
The big boat gave us the slip, floating away and leaving its
paddles behind. To supply its place, we took six small boats,
turning my men into sailors, and going as we liked. The river
still continued beautiful; but after paddling three hours we
found it bend considerably, and narrow to two hundred yards, the
average depth being from two to three fathoms. At the fourth
hour, imagining our cattle to be far behind, we pulled in, and
walked up a well-cultivated hill to Yaragonjo's, the governor of
these parts. The guide, however, on first sighting his thorn-
fenced cluster of huts, regarding it apparently with the awe and
deference due to a palace, shrank from advancing, and merely
pointed, till he was forced on, and in the next minute we found
ourselves confronted with the heads of the establishment. The
father of the house, surprised at our unexpected manner of
entrance - imagining, probably, we were the king's sorcerers, in
consequence of our hats, sent to fight "the brothers" - without
saying a word, quietly beckoned us to follow him out of the gate
by the same way as we came. Preferring, however, to have a
little talk where we were, we remained.
The eldest son, a fine young man considerably above six feet
high, with large gashes on his body received in war during late
skirmishes with the refractory brothers, now came in, did the
honours, and, on hearing of the importance of his visitors,
directed us to some huts a little distance off, where we could
rest for the night, for there was no accommodation for such a
large party in the palace. The red hill we were now on, with
plantain-gardens, fine huts neatly kept, and dense grasses
covering the country, reminded us of our residence in Uganda.
The people seemed of a decidedly sporting order, for they kept
hippopotamus-harpoons, attached to strong ropes with trimmers of
pith wood, in their huts; and, outside, trophies of their toil in
the shape of a pile of heads, consisting of those of buffalo and
hippopotami. The women, anything but pretty, wore their mbugu
cut into two flounces, fastened with a drawing-string round the
waist; and, in place of stockings, they bound strings of small
iron beads, kept bright and shining, carefully up the leg from
the ankle to the bottom of the calf.
Kidgwiga with our cattle arrived in the morning. A bundle of
cartridges, stolen from one of the men's pouches, which we knew
could only have been done by some comrade, was discovered by
stopping the rations of flesh.
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Words from 193398 to 194401
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