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HAUSALAND to EGYPT,
THROUGH THE SUDAN.
BY
H: KARL W. KUMM, Ph.D.,
AUTHOR OF
" Tribes of The Nile Valley " ,• " The Political Economy of Nubia " ;
" The Sudan. '^
ILLUSTRATED.
LONDON : CONSTABLE AND CO., LTD.
1910
7)T L*)
Inscribed To the Memory of THE PRINCE OF MISSIONARY EXPIORERS,
DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE.
CHAPTER I. Exordium.
PAGE From the Heart of Europe to the Heart of Africa — Past Explorers — The Toll
of the Sudan — Earlier Journeyings ... ... ... .. ... ... i
CHAPTER H. From the B.\y of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
Landing — An Unexpected " Find" — Tornado — Up the Niger — Conference with Sir P. Girouard — At Government House — Lokoja — Lucy Memorial Home — My Overland Trek — Obtaining Firewood — Negotiating for Supplies — Cash disdained by the Natives — The Novelty of Fire-arms — Maltreating the Natives — Bukuru — Patching up a Leper — Ngell ... ... ... 6
CHAPTER in. From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
Christmas Eve Dinner — Carriers' Troubles — Glued to their Horses — Flight of Pagans — Christmas Day — A Narrow Escape — C.M.S., Panyam — Shy Game — Food Scarce — Difficult Travelling — Among Cannibals — The Yergum Tribe — Wase Rock ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24
CHAPTER IV.
On the Kamerun Border.
Wukari — S.U.M. — Game — The Munchis and their Country — Takum — Result of a Practical Joke — Donga — Farmers and Buffaloes — Buffalo Hunting — A Race for the Bush — Leopard and Water-buck — Lion-land 39
CHAPTER V. On the Bosom of the Benue. page
Farewell — Dangana, the Factotum — Peter — Carriers — Dr. Barth — Garua —
Imperial German Government Methods ... ... ... ... ... 53
CHAPTER VI. March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
The Caravan — Malam Gidar — Lombel — Tribes — Lam Pagans — The Chief City in the Chad Region — Welcome — The Chief of Marua — Diminutive Mutiny — Presents from Chiefs — Musgun pagans — Musgun — Disfigured Women — Morno — Last German Outpost — The White Man's Rule — Coins 66
CHAPTER VII.
On the Shari.
Half-Castes — Crossing the Shari — The Bagirmi Country — My Interpreter a Failure — Canoeing— Even the Women Pray ! — Hippos — Busso — A French Native Official — Chad--The Borderland — Modern Vandalism — Dumraou — Mouth of Bahr-es-Salamat ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 87
CHAPTER VIII.
The Ultima Thule of European Civilisation in Africa.
Fort Archambault — The Heart of the Continent- — Agricultural Implements — •
Naked Pagans — Burial — Two Months at a French Fort — Problems Ahead ! loi
CHAPTER IX.
The Birth of a New Protectorate.
The French Conquest — Rabba, the Napoleon of the Sudan — Fight with Slave Raiders — Smuggled Arms — La Bataille — Third Engagement — The Great Fight — -A Decisive Victory ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1C9
CHAPTER X. Big Game of the Shari \\\lley.
An Elephant Hunt — Music Indescribable ! — Forty Elephants^The Charge : and After ! — My First Elephant — Native Hunting Methods — -Rogues — Hippo Hunting — The Father of the Herd ... ... ... ... ... 120
CHAPTER XI. Two Days' Hunting.
A Curious Giraffe — Buffaloes — A Black Demon — Promenading Rhinos— Lion
Calling — Giraffes — Buck — Stalking Water-buck — Wart Hog .. ... 133
CHAPTER XII.
Into the Unknown. page
Losses — Pack-Oxen a Trial to the Flesh — Pilgrims on Trek — Hausa Pilgrims and Cannibal Chief: A Contrast — Pack-Oxen — My War-boys — Wet — Lions — -More Trouble with My Guard of Honour — Game — Bush Camp — Ox Shams Dying — Lip Discs — A Hunted People — Disfigured Women — An Empty Village — The Golden Rule — -Oxen Begin to Die — Gluttons — Sons of Anak — Tornado — Hungry Pilgrims — Taxing Pilgrims — One More Little Shower — Exciting Chase — Wet, Wetter, Wettest ! — A Lazy Pilgrim — Game — The Ba River — Elephant Country — A Land of Contrasts — Moths and Butterflies— First Fever — Walking Off Fever — Game Preserves ■ of the Slave-Raiders — Rain — ^Our Column ... ... ... ... ... 144
CHAPTER XIII. In Terra Incognita.
Sinussi — Music has Charms — Calling on Sinussi — The Sinussi Movement — Farewell — Lost on the Road to the Congo — Slave Villages — A Wet Camp — Lazy Hausas — Bush Camp — Elephants — Bad Luck — Mid-day Lightning — An Improvised Ferry — Tsetse-^Donkey Submarines — Driver Ants at Play — The Wealth of Wadda — Wading through Swamps — Raymond Rock — Alfred Rocks 170
CHAPTER XIV.
The Bridging of the Kotto.
Bagirmi Raft — Patience Island — Tornado — Imprisoned on the Island — Second Bridge — A Creeper Bridge — Across — Meat — Still Eastward through the Rain — Soaked — Watershed between Nile and Congo — Lion Spoor — Rain, but no Food — First Footprint of Man — Chary Hunters — Almost a Fight 191
CHAPTER XV.
Into the Nile Region.
At Keffi Genji— The Mahmur's Prayer — The Caravan diminished in Number — Isa's Breakdown — ^Honey-Hunting— A Bad Ford — A Deserted Town — The Arab River — The Kreish Pagans converted to Islam — Tsetse — Rain— Road Making — Crossing the Raja River — The First White Man — Aulad Sheitan— Osman and the Mule— Dan and the Mule — Crossing Rivers — An African Night Scene — Dem Ziber— Rest Houses — Nyam- Nyam Cannibals... ... ... ... ... .•• ... ..• ••■ 203
CHAPTER XVI. From Wau to Khartum.
The Sudd— Enemy to Development— God-Help-Us Island— Mule's shabby Trick — "Ordeal" — Problems for the Administrator — Mosquitoes — Dis- appointments— Khartum at Last ! ... ... ... ... ... ■•• -221
CHAPTER XVII. Short History of the Land of Cush.
PAGE
Cush = Sudan— Nubian Temples— In the Time of the Romans— The Egyptian
Sudan in the Middle Ages 235
CHAPTER XVIII.
On the Anthropology of the Sudan Tribes. Coiffures — Language— Arms — Cattle— Coins 244
CHAPTER XIX.
On the Mineral and Botanical Wealth of the Central
Sudan.
Iron, Lime, Granite — Sandstone — Woolsacks — Cold — Tin — Silver — Rubber—
Cum Arabic— Shea-Butter— Cotton— Future Exports 258
CHAPTER XX.
The Mecca Pilgriiniage. Route — My Caravan — Timbuctu Caravan ... ... ... ... ... 262
CHAPTER XXI.
The Moslem Political Danger.
Pioneers of Civilisation — Deserts and Religion — Spread of Islam — Slavery
Dying ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 266
APPENDICES.
(a) Beri-Beri Proverbs and Sayings 272
About the Name of a Tribe and Linguistic Inexacti- tudes 272
Vocabularies 282
(b) Meteorological Observations 292
(c) Zoological Specimens and Collections 305
(d) Trans-African Outfit 308
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Dr. Karl Kumm {Frontispiece)
Map of Africa xv
View of Lokoja 8
The Lucy Memorial Freed Slaves' Home at Rumasha, Northern
Nigeria n
A Woman Grinding Guinea-corn ... ... ... ... ... ... 13
Hausa Women with Water-pots ... ... ... ... ... ... 13
A Chief s Horse ... ... ... ... 14
Chart of Bukuru ... ... ... ... 19
Ngell Station — Tin Holes ... ... ... 21
The Bukuru Plateau — The Land of the Tin Mines ... ... ... 26
Angass Huts Among the Rocks ... ... ... ... ... ... 27
In the Angass Country — Dr. Emlyn's Lodgings. Tatto's House ... 30
Children Playing ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32
Chief of the Yergum... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 33
Vergum Hunters — Watching Brickmaking at Langtang ... ... 34
Hut Building ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 35
The Wase Rock ... 36
" Dogeri." Dr. Kumm's Hunter from Wase ... ... ... ... yj
Missionary Conference at Ibi ... ... ... ... ... ... 39
Plate I ; Butterflies ... facing 39
Rev. C. W. Guinter, Missionary at Wukari ... ... ... ... 40
Roof Thatching ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 43
Village Street, with Shops ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 44
Government Post at Ibi ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 46
The Chief of Dempar ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 49
Youthful Cavaliers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 50
Children at Play in Dempar ... ... ... ... ... ... 51
" Then he yelled for dear life 1 " ... ... ... ... ... ... 52
Chief and Elders at Dempar ... ... ... ... ... ... 53
PAGE
Barge on the Benue ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 54
Peter and Dangana ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 55
M'bula District 58
Cooking Luncheon ... ... ... ... ... ... 59
Hausa Beauties ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 60
Labourers at Garua ... ... ... ... 61
Gathering of Men at Garua... ... ... ... ... ... ... 64
Plate II : Butterflies facing 66
.Mustering of Carriers ... ... ... ... ... 67
Camp at Marua ... ... ... ... ... ... 75
Musgun Village ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 81
Iron Boomerang of Musgun ... ... ... ... ... ... 84
Fisher Boats on the Shari ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 88
Sultan Gaurang of Bagirmi... ... ... ... ... ... ... 89
Sultan Gaurang Calling on French Governor ... ... ... ... 90
Officer Commanding Bagirmi Troops ... ... ... ... ... 91
A Powow on the Shari ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 92
A Dug-out Canoe on the Shari ... ... ... ... ... ... 95
Fulani Village on the Shari... ... ... ... ... ... ... 98
Plate III : Butterflies facing loi
Fort Archambault ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... loi
A Curious Agricultural Implement... ... ... ... ... ... 103
Seed Sowing among the Sara ... ... ... ... ... ... 104
A Hand Plough ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 105
Pagans of the Shari-Chad Protectorate ... ... ... ... ... io6
Liberated Slaves ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 113
A Mighty Hunter, Lieutenant Tourencq ... . ... 116
Headmen of Dr. Kumm at Fort Archambault ... ... ... ... 121
Elephant and Elephant Trap ... ... ... ... ... ... 127
A Father with his Family ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 132
Horns of Shari-Chad Giraffe ... ... ... ... ... ... 133
Curious Flat Horns of Buffalo ... ... ... ... ... ... 136
By-Products of Meat Supply ... ... ... ... 139
Plate IV : Butterflies ... ... ... ... ... ...facing 144
Crossing the Shari at Fort Archambault ... ... ... ... ... 145
A Sara-Kabba Woman (with the Beak-Face) ... ... ... ... 153
Carrying a Plate in her Lips ... ... ... ... ... ... 155
Villagers of the Sara-Kabba ... ... ... ... ... ... 157
Ndele, the Capital of Sinussi ... ... ... ... ... ... 171
Sultan Sinussi of Ndele ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 172
French Post at Ndele 177
Pagan Women showing Cicatrices of the Body... Through Swamps and Brooks and Swollen Rivers Bridging the Kotto ...
Plate V : Moths
Egyptian Officer
Government House at Wau
Review at Wau
Musical Programme and Signatures of White Officials at W
Officer Commanding nth Sudanese, and Doctor at Wau
" English as she is Writ," by an Egyptian Official
Plate VI : Moths
Anthropological Face Types
Court Musician
The Chiefs Band
Meteorological Tables : Mean Monthly Rainfall
„ „ Mean Monthly Atmospheric Pressur
,, „ Mean Monthly Temperature
A Zebra Crocodile ...
Map of Dr. Kumm's Journey
facint^
faci)
PAGE 179 189
203 206 219 22 I 223 226
-35 245 246 247 248 249 250 2 ^2
253 295 296 297 307 End of Book
PREFACE.
The information and observations contained in this book have been most carefully gathered, and if in any point I should have failed to secure perfect accuracy, I venture to ask the reader to assist me in the necessary correction. It is not my desire to promulgate inexactitudes, and for any assistance I may receive to prevent this, I would tender my sincere thanks.
I desire to record my gratitude,
to the Government Officials of Northern Nigeria, German Adamawa, the French Shari-Chad Protectorate, and the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan, who did all they could to help, and who without exception, showed their practical sympathy with my undertaking,
to the Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, both in Northern Nigeria and on the Upper Nile, for their help,
to the Royal Geographical Society for having supplied the maps and charts for this book, and to Captain Lyons, who has kindly assisted with meteorological tables,
to Sir G. Hampson and Mr. Heron, of the British Museum, for having classified the lepidoptera brought home,
to Mrs. Craven, for her assistance to the expedition,
to Lieutenant Raymond and Captain Cornet for illustrations from the Shari Valley,
and to my friends of the Sudan United Mission for their co- operation.
H. K. W. K.
London, 19 lo.
TERMS USED IN THIS BOOK TO EXPRESS THE VARIOUS FORMS OF BUSH AND OPEN COUNTRY.
1. Forest. — Thick bush, with large trees interlaced with creepers that
present considerable difificulties to penetration.
2. Open Bush. — Bush, with trees on an average lo or 12 ft. apart. Trees
not more than 6 inches in diameter.
3. Gallery Forest. — Virgin forest on the banks of the rivers, the largest
trees close to the edge, and diminishing in size with the increased distance from the water.
4. Kiirini (Hausa word). — A dense forest similar to the preceding growing
on swampy ground in and around pools of water and on the brooks.
5. Fadavia (Hausa word). — A meadow, usually situated between the
gallery forest and the bush, varying in width from a few hundred yards to a mile or two.
6. Chaur (Arabic word). — A gorge or ravine in the open bush, or the
fadama caused by the washing away of the soil through heavy rains. These chaurs are usually dry, with very steep banks, from 10 to 50 yards in depth. They become frequent as one approaches the Nile.
NORTH ATLANTIC
OMDURMAN ,
maruaJL-bussu o'^*'
CARUA ^sA
**^".
SOUTH ATLANTIC
OCEAN
AFRICA
SCALF Of M'/l ES
CHAPTER I.
Exordium.
From the Heart of Europe to the Heart ot Africa — Past Explorers — The Toll of the Sudan — Earlier Journeyings.
White gleams the snow in the valley. Great giants of the Alps rear their hoary heads to heaven around us. Dark pine woods creep through "aim" and crag and cliff up to their shoulders, while humble herdsmen's huts lie sheltering in their shadows.
Pale dawns the day over the Bernese Oberland, when from a chalet here in Adelboden my thoughts turn from this heart of Europe to the heart of the Dark Continent, the Sudan ; the land of the mysterious Mountains of the Moon : the land beyond which the sources of the Nile were hidden for ages in darkness, the unsolved mysteries of Lake Chad and the famous City of the Middle Ages, Timbuctu — the throbbing heart of Africa.
In 1885, when Chinese Gordon was killed at Khartum, the whole of the civilised world sorrowed for a great, good man, who had given his life for the sons of slaves, for the men of the midnight and the daughters of darkness ; and when^ 13 years later, Kitchener fought in a mighty slaughter the Dervishes of Omdurman, the eyes of Europe and America were again fixed on those regions.
Men of similar will-power to that of Livingstone and Stanley had acted as path-finders through the wide bush land, mountain and morass of the Sudan.
Men like Mungo Park, Denham, Clapperton, Barth, Rholfs Vogel, Beurman, Loefler, Gentil and Maistre, had, through
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
untiring devotion to the fascinations of exploration, through self-sacrifice and indomitable energy, though most of them died in the attempt, brought light into the geographical darkness of the Sudan. Explorers, soldiers, Government officials, traders and missionaries, form the vanguard of the white man in the Sudan States. Man after man has fallen in carrying forward the flag of European civilisation. As they fall new recruits press to the front, undaunted by the fate of their predecessors.
The Western Sudan and Timbuctu were known lOO years ago. The Niger territories, with Hausaland, were penetrated in the third and fifth decade of the last century. Sir Samuel Baker and Dr. Schweinfurth laid bare the unknown reaches of the Upper Nile ; but between the Central Sudan, the Lake Chad region, and the Nile Valley between the Shari and the Bahr-el-Ghazal, some 50,000 square miles had, up to 1870, remained untouched — a happy hunting ground for slave raiders, a somewhat inaccessible plateau region situated in the very centre of Africa.
In 1869 Dr. Nachtigal — who is without doubt one of, if not the most fruitful African explorer, whose documents form to-day the basis of any botanical, zoological, geological or physiological publications on the provinces of the Central Sudan — had crossed the Sahara, had visited Borku, had wandered round Lake Chad, had seen the lands of the middle Shari, and from Kuka (the capital of Bornu) had essayed to penetrate Bagirmi and Wadai, where both Vogel and Beurman had been killed some years before, and go through Darfur and Kordofan to Khartum. In this he succeeded. With a wonderful amount of tenacity he advanced in his careful and cautious way, made friends as he went, left no enemies behind, and thus slowly passed from land to land until he reached the Nile Valley.
Nachtigal has left for ever his footprints on Africa, not only
Exordium.
in crossing the Sahara, exploring Borku, and traversing the Sudan, but in giving to Germany her African colonies. He it was who hoisted the German flag in the Kameruns and German South- West Africa.
As one follows Nachtigal's route from the Central Sudan to the east, one notices that he aimed at the great Moslem towns of the north, being handed from Moslem Chief to Moslem Chief as a Christian traveller. He never disguised himself as a Moslem, and his straightforwardness and fearlessness gave him considerable prestige with the Moslem Chiefs.
Thirty-five years later — in 1904 — Captain Boyd Alexander, accompanied by his brother, Captain Gosling and Mr. Talbot, besides a Portuguese taxidermist, added largely to our knowledge of the Central Sudan, surveyed Lake Chad, and following the Shari to its headwaters, crossed by way of the Welle to the Nile. This journey skirted more or less the southern border of the Sudan, through savage, cannibal, pagan tribes.
The sufferings to \\hich the Expedition was exposed were exceptionally trying. Captain Claud Alexander (Boyd Alexander's brother) was buried at Maifoni, in Northern Nigeria, and Captain Gosling died at Niangara on the Welle. Mr. Talbot had returned from Lake Chad by way of the Niger, and only Captain Boyd Alexander, accompanied by his Portu- guese collector, succeeded in reaching the Nile. The work done by them, especially in Northern Nigeria and round Lake Chad, was of the greatest importance. Later on, the climatic and health conditions were such as only strong wdll-power, backed by an exceptionally wiry constitution, managed to overcome.
At the moment of my writing Captain Boyd Alexander is again in the Sudan, and the last news from him came from the Lake Chad region, which he had reached after travelling through the German Kameruns and Adamawa. When some time ago I met the brother of Captain Boyd Alexander in
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan,
London he told me that the last news he had received was from Maifoni in Bornu. His brother intended to follow Dr. Nachtigal's route through the Mohammedan states of the North Central Sudan, and attempt to make his way through Borku, Tibesti and Kufra to Bengazi on the Mediterranean. Thus I wrote some weeks ago. Since then the hungry Sudan has taken the bold Captain's life. He was killed at Nyeri, north-east of Abesher, the capital of Wadai. And now he lies buried with his brother at Maifoni, as Captain Gosling lies at Niangara.
"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo ; No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave but fallen few ; On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards with solemn sound
The bivouac of the dead."
The two routes through the north and the south of the Central Sudan opened by Nachtigal and Boyd Alexander have since been covered, the former in 1881 by two Italians — Dr. Pelegrino Matteucci and Lieut. A. Maosari — and the latter by Mr. Savage Landor in 1906. Between the two routes, which are some 600 miles apart, there lay a considerable stretch of unexplored territory, and it was this region which it has been my privilege to traverse.
I have been interested in the Sudan since 1898. In 1899 I visited the southern oases of the Lybian desert, and thought then of following the Darb-el-Arbain towards Darfur, but nothing came of this.
In 1901 I visited Nubia on the Middle Nile, and wrote a dissertation on the political economy of that part of the Nile Valley.
In 1904 I went from Tripoli southwards into the mountains of the desert, studying the Hausa language, and also gathering
Exordium.
information as to the trans-Sahara trade from the Sudan to the Mediterranean.
Later on in 190^, and the beginning of 1905, I led an ex- pedition of investigation into Northern Nigeria to secure more definite information as to the advance of Moham- medanism amongst the pagan tribes of Nigeria. This expe- dition resulted in the formation of the Sudan United Mission, the aim of which is to counteract the Moslem advance by Christianising the pagan tribes of the Sudan.
In the interests of this Mission I visited America and South Africa in 1906 and 1907, endeavouring to secure in the latter place some rehable data as to the Moslem propaganda. I returned from South Africa by way of the East Coast, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, called at Natal, Portuguese East Africa, British East Africa, and went up by rail to Uganda
On October loth, 1908, I left Liverpool with seven mis- sionaries of the Sudan United Mission, including a medical man and an engineer, to visit the Mission stations in Northern Nigeria, estabhsh the Lucy Memorial Freed Slaves' Home at Rumasha, and then, if I found it practicable, to go further inland and, perhaps, to cross the Continent, following the border line between Islam and Paganism.
I was most fortunate in being able to work out these plans — i.e., to visit all the Mission stations, arrange with His Excellency the Governor of Northern Nigeria about the taking over of the Government slave children, to lay out the build- ing site for the Freed Slaves' Home, to plan the occupation of two or three new tribes by the missionaries of the Sudan United Mission, and then to penetrate in a long march during the rainy season the border regions of the Crescent faith in the Central Sudan, and, without any serious illness, to arrive at Khartum on December 3rd, 1909.
I will endeavour in the followdng chapters to lay before the reader the results of this tour.
5
CHAPTER II.
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
Landing — An Unexpected " Find " — Tornado — Up the Niger — Conference with Sir P. Girouard — At Government House— Lokoja— Lucy Memorial Home — My Overland Trek — Obtaining Firewood — Negotiating for Supplies — Cash disdained by the Natives — The Novelty of Fire-arms — Maltreating the Natives — Bukuru — Patching Up a Leper — Ngell.
>p(.al^ It was a Saturday morning ; the R.M.S. " Falaba " was lying in the Mersey roadstead. A number of friends from different parts of the British Isles had come to bid us God- speed. Many loads needed our careful attention. There were tents and food supplies, camp furniture and medicine chests, rifles and cartridges, and many other things that are wanted for a trans-African tour,* with my black boy Tom perched on the top.
We had also with us building materials for the proposed Freed Slaves' Home in Northern Nigeria. A somewhat lengthy farewell, and we were off down the Mersey. The first glimpse we had of the Dark Continent was the lighthouse of Cape Verde. After calling at Sierra Leone and some coast towns, on Tuesday, October 27th, at 7 a.m., our boat cast anchor in Forcados roadstead, the western estuary of the Niger Delta.
The two Government river steamers S.W. " Kapelle " and S.W. "Corona" met the "Falaba," and left at 11 o'clock; while we waited for the Niger Company's steamer, which had been arranged for from London to take us up river.
* Vide Appendix for Outfit List. 6
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
An exceptionally large number of passengers — about 50 — were on board for Northern Nigeria, and both the " Kapelle " and the " Corona " were crowded. The Niger Company's S.W. " Scarborough " came alongside later on and took off five missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, and there were only the eight of us left.
Not till Thursday, October 29th, did the stern-wheeler " Liberty " arrive from Lokoja to carry us up country.
In a tropical downpour we trans-shipped, and reached Burutu, the first Niger Company's station at sunset.
While going along the west coast I had looked forward to securing my former headboy Dangana, if that were possible, but where and how to find him in Northern Nigeria was a problem. Imagine my very pleasant surprise when, on our arriving at Forcados, my boy Tom brought me the news that Dangana had arrived on board and was waiting for me. His ugly, honest face had as broad a grin on it as ever.
At Burutu we purchased provisions, and left on Friday morning, October 30th. The boat was so deeply laden, that when a heavy shower of rain commenced we had to anchor to prevent being swamped. In the early hours of the morn- ing a surf boat, which we had alongside, was filled to the gunwale by the rain, and became awash with the waves. We lost an hour in baling her out again, and then went on through the delta.
The scenery on the river banks is like that of all tropical rivers, most beautiful. Any number of valuable trees, such as ebony, redwood, mahogany, and others clothed them with thick vegetation, from which huts and plantations peeped as bright eyes out of the shadows. We passed about a dozen villages during the day, anchored again during the night in drenching rain, and arrived at Abo on Sunday, November ist. Here we left the Niger Delta, and entered the main river. A little later on in the day we fished up a dug-out
7
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
canoe that had evidently been torn from its moorings in the previous night's tornado, and at 8 o'clock in the evening we were opposite Onitsha, half way to Lokoja. Dr. Alexander and I went ashore, and, when returning from the town, lost our way and wandered about until after lo o'clock before we succeeded in finding the boat.
Monday and Tuesday went by while we slowly ploughed
VIEW OF LOKOJA.
up the dark, muddy river. At times the speed was exasperat- ingly slow, and I was very glad when on Wednesday at mid- day Lokoja hove in sight. Before the steamer had drawn alongside the wharf I departed in a small boat and hastened to see the Marine Superintendent for Northern Nigeria, Captain Elliott.
I had been informed that Sir Percy Girouard, the Governor of Northern Nigeria, desired me to call at Zungeru previous to his departure for the Northern States, Sokoto and Kano ; and I was anxious to comply with his wishes, especially as certain important questions, including the transfer of the
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
freed slave children from Zungeru to the Lucy Memorial Home (so-called in memory of my late wife) at Rumasha, made a conference with His Excellency imperative.
I found Captain Elliott most friendly and ready to help. The Governor's private boat, the " Corona," was going with 15 officers up the Niger to Baro and Mureji, and Captain Elliott placed the Governor's cabin on her at my disposal. He also wired to Mureji, a village at the mouth of the Kaduna river, instructing the agent there to have the fastest canoe ready for me, as the steamers cannot ascend it in the dry season. I was able to tranship within 10 minutes of my arrival.
Two days and a quarter of splendid fast poling against a strong current took our dug-out canoe over the 85 miles between Mureji and Barejuko. Canoes usually take five days to cover the distance.
On Tuesday, November loth, I arrived at Zungeru, having travelled the last 25 miles from Barejuko on the steam tram at the good rate of eight miles an hour.
On my arrival at Zungeru station I found a horse waiting to take me to Government House, and also a number of carriers to attend to my loads. His Excellency the Governor took me to see his new well-planned irrigation farm, watered by four Egyptian shadufs, the Government Freed Slaves' Home, the prison and the new railway line.
He wrote to the Residents of the Benue Provinces instructing them to give me every assistance in furthering my visit. His friendliness \\dll always remain with me a happy memory. The Secretary to the Administration, Mr. M. H. de la Poer- Beresford, Sir Percy's private secretary and aide-de-camp, also placed me under obligations. When I left on Thursday, November 12th, the Governor arranged for a special train to take me back to Barejuko, and then on by steamer to Lokoja.
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Lokoja had very much changed since I was there four years before. Large, well-appointed shops flanked the river. Roads with deeply dug ditches on each side, and multitudes of new bungalows, gave the impression of a rapidly growing, flourishing industrial centre. White buildings, a fine red brick church showing up well against the green background, and behind it all the rocky heights of Patte * Hill, looked charmingly picturesque.
The three largest towns of the future in Nigeria will prob- ably be Lagos, the coast town ; Lokoja, at the meeting of the Niger and the Benue, the transit centre between Northern and Southern Nigeria ; and Baro, the starting point of the Kano Railway.
After my return to Lokoja business had to be transacted with the Superintendent of Public Works, the C.M.S, Missionaries, the Marine Superintendent, the Cantonment Magistrate, the Postmaster-General, and the Niger Company. This took a considerable amount of time.
On November 20th, 1908, I left Lokoja in a small Niger Company's steamer with the materials for the main building of the Freed Slaves' Home on board, and on the next day we arrived at Rumasha. My first impression was that a far more imposing site might have been chosen. There is no bold bluff, no palm grove, no rocky eminence — nothing but a gentle slope upwards from the river ; and then, 500 yards inland, a grass grown elevation of about 80 feet above the level of the river. But further acquaintance modified my earlier opinion.
The Freed Slaves' Home will peep out of the surrounding green verdure, seen by all who pass by on the river — as white snowdrops at home, a sign of the spring of this land.
Half round the Home runs a creek with a great deal of valuable iron wood on both banks.
* Patte means " mountain." 10
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
Two weeks I spent with Messrs. Martin, Young, Botha and Dr. Alexander until a heach was cleared, a rough road
GRINDING GUINEA-CORN.
made, all the building material transported up to the site, a bungalow half finished, and some 15 temporary grass huts erected.
After that it seemed time that I should depart, if I wished to see Bukuru before a Conference, which had been arranged at Ibi for January loth, 1909.
I started on my overland trek on
WOMEN WITH WATER-POi;
13
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Monday, December 6th. Every morning at dawn we began our journey, and with the sun in the zenith usuahy reached our destination.
My horse was a poor one, and I had to walk the greater part of the w^ay. This was good for me as well as for the horse. Both horse and rider at the finish of the first 200 miles were in better condition than at the beginning.
The road into the mountains just beyond Karshi is most interesting and exciting. To the left of the road is a
A CHIEF'S HORSE.
magnificent waterfall, and the path itself in many places looks like a staircase.
Leaving a stockaded village to the right after a steep ascent, we halted at the foot of a magnificent granite cliff, which towered some 800 to 1,000 feet above us. A cool mountain brook, in whose clear water brilliantly coloured trout played, sang its murmuring melody, leaping over the glossy rocks and diving into the shadows of the rubber trees in front of the newly-pitched tent. Baboons were growling and barking in the distance, and bright plumed birds twittered their
14
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
evening song among the leaves of the palm trees. Soon a few shelters were formed with sticks and branches, thatched witli the long, rank grass, and here and there fires began to flare up.
The romantic scene of a traveller's camp in the tropics is difficult to clothe in words.
Some two or three villages hidden away in the surrounding bush were inhabited by absolutely naked natives, as shy as deer at home.
On returning from their fields they would perambulate in a circle of at least i,ooo 3'ards' diameter around our newly- formed encampment, keeping well away from us ; and only when they imagined themselves unobserved, and hidden behind the rocks or trees, did they dare with open mouths and staring eyes to look at the strange, white man. All were armed with bows and poisoned arrows, with spears and hatchets. It took much time before I succeeded with tempting beads to coax some of the braves to approach the tent. None of my men spoke the language of the people, and thus our difficulties of communication were considerable. I pointed to some pieces of dried wood, and endeavoured to convey to the natives my desire that they should bring us firewood. After a while they understood, and stalking away, returned, each of them most solemnly carrying a tiny stick some 6 inches long, and very respectfully deposited it by the side of the fire. I doled out one bead each and repeated my signs. An enterprising young man brought two sticks the next time, and received two beads, and after that there was no difficulty. They made a race for it, and an abundance of firewood, enough for the night, was at our disposal.
Then I attempted to secure provisions. Small seeds (called by the natives "Atcha"; it makes good palatable porridge) gathered from a species of grass are the staple food of the
15
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
people. I made the sign of eating, and tried to make them understand that I wanted food. The chief of one of the villages, who had arrived in the meantime and received a couple of gay-coloured handkerchiefs, sent on one of his hopefuls to bring food. There was much gesticulating and much screaming. The boy returned carrying a small handful of tiny seeds. These would not go far as supplies for my 40 people. A pinch of salt was much appreciated by the youngster. One old man, who offered us a small basin full of these seeds, brought at the same time a sack with him made of the skin of a large antelope, and insisted that he should have this sack filled with salt in payment. I laughed at him, and in the end he was quite happy with a handful.
Money the people did not know. I made an attempt to introduce silver coinage, but as, in exchange for a shilling I only secured one egg — and that a bad one — I gave it up. Sugar was also unknown. I gave a handful to a child, who tasted it and threw it away. Thereupon I gave him a little salt, and he licked all his fingers. Blessings on the little savage !
Empty cartridges were much in demand as neck and ear ornaments. My carriers had saved up plenty, and now they purchased quantities of provisions with them.
The people had no idea of fire-arms. One of the hunters was asked to shoot with his bow and arrow at a tree some 30 yards away, and he succeeded in hitting it. Then he asked me to fire, which I did, and when on approaching the tree they found that a hard-nosed "405 Winchester bullet had drilled its way right through the 18-inch trunk and entered a second tree some distance behind the first, they opened their mouths wide and put their hands over them, thus expressing their astonishment at this great Ju-ju.
The second performance consisted in my pointing at a slab of white rock three-quarters of the distance up the cliff
16
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
some 800 yards away, and informing my audience that I would put a black mark on it. They looked at me sideways ; they looked me up and down, and they began to laugh amongst themselves.
" The white man is trying to make fun of us."
I fired, and the black mark appeared on the white slab.
By 9 o'clock in the evening I had the population of the three villages round me. There was much " tom-tomming," guitar-strumming, lu-luing of women, and a general holiday. And when the next morning my little caravan left, on every rock around sat perched an ebony heathen clapping his hands, shouting, and waving farewell.
Near noon I came upon a number of native porters carrying tin from the Naraguta mines to Loko on the Benue. It is remarkable what loads these natives are wilhng to carry to secure some luxuries of European civilisation. I have seen tin-carriers with a triple load weighing 180 to 200 lbs. on their heads, running with it at a half-trot along the bush path. Carrier after carrier, with his small bag of black tin on his woolly head, passed us. A number of my men were ahead of me when a general halt occurred. I rode out of the line, and as the country was open I could see that three or four naked pagans in front had been set upon by half-a-dozen of the straggling tin carriers. I saw one of the latter tear away the goat-skin food bag from a heathen, and when the man objected, get him by the throat and threaten with his knife to do mischief. Without hesitating a moment I put the spurs into my horse, and galloped along the line of my carriers to where the free fight was taking place. I had heard from Government men and a number of natives that the tin-carriers had commenced to bully the pagans, to steal their women, and. whenever they found themselves in sufficient numbers, to oppress them. When I appeared on the scene the fight suddenly came to an end. There was no mistaking what
17 c
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
had happened, and I proceeded for the first and last time on this journey to administer as sound a chastisement with my riding whip as I could.
Unless such maltreatment of the indigenous tribes of these mountain regions by those passing through is put an end to, these tribesmen will waylay the strangers and porters and kill them. Then a punitive expedition will be sent amongst them, and a considerable number of them be hastened into eternity, all because of the thievish propen- sities of the wretched carriers.
On Wednesday, December 22nd, my little caravan reached Bukuru, a town of some 6,000 inhabitants. The whole district includes about 50 villages of the Kibyen tribe, which — living within a circle of some 20 miles from Bukuru — numbers, roughly speaking, 120,000 people. The whole of the plateau land is healthy. Large deposits of tin constitute the main- spring for the development of those highlands. The people are independent and very brave. High cactus hedges encircle their habitations, and the approach to the village leads through narrow lanes and arches formed by poisonous cactus plants. The mounted troops of the Mohammedan Sultans in the north have not been able to make anything of the Kibyen tribe. Like the natives of the Upper Nile the Kibyen despises clothing. He looks upon garments as the fetters of slaves. They are a moral-living people, and their brown colour and their innocence are their dress.
I rode up to the Mission compound, and came upon Dr. Emlyn bending over a leper and binding up his sores.
On the second day of my stay in Bukuru, amongst a number of patients a woman came to the Mission com- pound. She was unclothed, like all of them, and carried in her arms a very happy healthy-looking baby, and in one hand a calabash full of flour. She pointed to the baby, to the doctor and to the flour, and put the calabash at the
18
BUKURU
and surrounding Villages.
Nat. Scale 1:750.000 or lInch=ll-84 Stat.Miles.
Jere
Amobissa
PJSne
^Gussant *Bimt
JnVt NORTH
1
^FerraX,^ rAme >^ Thin bush
•Bobo /
^ 0Manibandi A Farms ,. •
^AchoJcCV (\ ^^S^ Tbtlw Gongola.
Kissayept *Bal^ / W^
Het • !L J ' ^^^''"^'^^^^
^ VTW/A/ MINE
To BajcLcTvL. BorruL and L.ChxudL.
To the GongolcL
Toihe Gongola
'^J-Orn
Ogboro * NttbljO /\ PUuces underlined visited by DVETnlyn.
\ MonguxujL ••JKsvagir
PREPARED BY A. C. FRANCIS, ASSISTANT RESIDENT, BUKURU.
I
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
doctor's feet. He had saved the hfe of her child and she was grateful.
During m}^ two days' stay in the Bukuru district, I lodged in an outstation, Ngell, two miles from the main station. Mr. Ghey had been in charge of Ngell, and had just left on furlough.
Ngell is a town of between 5,000 and 6,000 people. I had made myself and my men at home at the Station when the
NGELL STATION, TIN HOLES.
pagan mayor of Ngell came to welcome me. After a few minutes' conversation through my interpreter I asked the chief how he liked Mr. Ghe}^ and through the interpreter came the answer, " We love him. Is he not teaching us ? Has he not given us almost everything we possess ? We cr}^ plenty too much when he go. He love us more than our mothers love us." (My boy's pigeon English.) Quite a fair testimony to the work of Mr. Ghey.
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
ROADS FROM THE BENUE TO BUKURU.
A. Rumasha
1. Saggia
2. Tunga
3. Bakunu
4. Sangon Daji
5. Nassarawa
6. Laminga
7. Keffi
|
Time. |
B. Loko |
|
|
6 hours |
I. |
ha |
|
5 hours |
||
|
2. |
Wushini |
|
|
6 hours |
||
|
3- |
Gindin Uuchi |
|
|
5 hours |
||
|
4- |
Nassarawa |
|
|
6 hours |
||
|
s- |
Laminga |
|
|
4 hours |
||
|
6. |
Keffi |
|
|
4 hours |
36 hours
Time.
8 hours 6 hours 5 hours 5 hours 4 hours 4 hours
32 hours
C. Keffi
1. Giddan Fulani
2. Mutum Daya
3. Kwakwosso
4. Jagindi
5. Jama'a
6. Gidan Duchi
7. Hauwan Kibo
8. Bukuru
|
T |
ime. |
|
6 |
hours |
|
4 |
hours |
|
4 |
hours |
|
6 |
hours |
|
6 hours |
|
|
6 hours |
|
|
6 |
hours |
|
6 |
hours |
|
44 |
hours |
From the Bay of Benin to the Bukuru Plateau.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF THE KIBYEN PEOPLE ON THE BUKURU PLATEAU.
Prepared by A. C. Francis, Esq.
|
Tribe. |
Town. |
Population. |
Distance from Bukuru. |
|
Rukaba |
Achaka |
5,000 ... |
30 miles. |
|
,, ... .- . |
Zamagan ... Batsa |
3,000 ... 3,000 . . . |
24 „ |
|
Pachoia |
Teria |
15,000 ... |
28 miles, via Naraguta. |
|
Ba |
Amo |
5,000 ... |
32 miles. |
|
,, |
Amo Bissa |
4,000 ... |
30 » |
|
Irrigwe ... |
Kwall |
9,300 ... |
16 „ |
|
Burum ... ,, |
Hepam Refam Bukuru |
3,000 . . . 2,700 ... 10,500 ... |
8 „ 13 „ |
|
,, |
Jol Woran |
2,300 ... 1,200 ... |
19 „ 9 „ |
|
„ |
Vom |
12,000 ... |
10 ,, |
|
„ |
Rop Assob |
2,200 ... 2,500 ... |
25 „ 26 „ |
|
„ ,, ... . .. |
Rini Kassa Forum |
3,400 ... 2,400 ... 10,800 ... |
20 „ 18 „ 8 „ |
|
,, „ ... ... |
Ngell Kuru Tafaru |
5,400 ... 3,500 ... 5,000 ... |
I* „ 16 „ |
|
Anaguta |
Naraguta |
5,000 ... |
18 „ |
|
Narubunu |
Birji |
3,000 ... |
26 _„ via Naraguta. |
|
,, |
Tare |
5,000 ... |
34 miles, via Naraguta. |
24 towns. Aggregate population, 124,200.
CHAPTER III.
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
Christmas Eve Dinner — Carriers' Troubles — Glued to their Horses — Flight of Pagans — Christmas Day — A Narrow Escape — C.M.S., Panyam — Shv Game — Food Scarce — Difficult Travelling — Among Cannibals — The Yergum Tribe — Wase Rock.
Christmas Eve, 1908. The Assistant Resident, the Super- intendent of PoHce, Dr. Emlyn and myself, were sitting at dinner at the Government Post at Bukuru. In the more civihsed parts of Northern Nigeria one generally wears white dinner kit in the evening, but on this occasion we found that thin white cotton and silk was not the clothing suitable for a winter evening in an altitude of 4,000 feet.
A dinner in any of our tropical dependencies is nowadays quite a civilised affair. Crockery and silver table ware, table- cloths and serviettes, are de rigeur. What a change there has been among the white men in Africa during the last fifty years ! Explorers and Government men had then nolens volens to descend to the simple life. To-day an evening meal is a slight imitation of Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo or the Cataract Hotel in Assuan. If no military band is to be had a gramophone does service. Well-starched, uniformed servants, a frenchified cook, cafe noir and, for some of them, cigarettes, are matters of course. Voild the menu of our evening's entertainment, music non est.
24
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
MENU.
Consomme k la Boy-Boy.
Curried Cod's Roe.
Mince Nigerienne.
Dindon Roti.
Mouton Bouilli.
Omelette h. la confiture.
Welsh Rarebit.
Cafe.
The weather was so bitterly cold that after a few minutes we felt that bed was the place for us, and so we departed.
I rode back to Ngell station, lost the road, and perambulated around deep pits dug by the Niger Company in search of tin, before I succeeded in reaching my hut about lo o'clock.
Early next morning I intended to continue my journey by way of Panyam, Langtang, Rock Station to Dempar on the Benue. Dr. Emlyn proposed to accompany me as far as Panyam, 40 miles distant.
There are certain difficult i s connected with the daily start in Africa ; the weighing and apportioning of the loads, the roping of these loads, the bandaging of sore feet, the cure of digestive troubles — for all these things are carefully saved up by the boys till the last moment. And when every- thing is finally ready one of the boys has "gone off to the village to buy food." He is diligently trading, with the in- evitable attendant discussion. That the white man and all the other carriers have to wait and might, perchance, disUke being kept waiting, does not enter his head. The natives are so delightfully improvident and irresponsible. They are quite ready to share their last crust, and the white man once having secured their trust, they will do anything for him — except be punctual.
Going east we passed through Bukuru town, with its windirg road protected by the previously-mentioned cactus hedges,
25
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
whose poisoned thorny surfaces formed a ver}^ effective noli me tangere for any mounted slave raiders, such as used to come in days gone bj^ from the large Moslem cities in the north.
Some miles further on we saw the village of Rafam before us. This village had been "' palavered " a few months before. It had refused to pay taxes, and in a haughty way had insulted a representative of the Government. So the village was " broken," a considerable number of mountain ponies taken, and the natives taught a very severe lesson.
THE BUKURU PLATEAU, THE LAND OF THE TIN MINES.
The natives ride their mountain ponies barebacked, and as they themselves wear no clothing, with the exception of a weird loin cloth of plaited grass, riding the frisky ponies is somewhat difficult. So they scratch the backs of their animals until their blood exudes, and glue themselves on to the beasts with their blood.
The agility of these animals is very remarkable. The men came riding down precipitous places where it would have
26
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
been absolutely impossible for me mounted to attempt a descent. The ponies are exceedingly well-trained, and follow their masters' call hke dogs. I noticed a man galloping over the fields, balancing on his head a large bundle of grass fodder for his equine friend.
The reception afforded us at Rafam was of the poorest, as, in spite of our calls and shoutings, not a soul was to be
ANG.\SS HUTS AMONG THE ROCKS.
seen, all the villagers having decamped on our approach for fear that the white man had come to levy toll.
Beyond Rafam lay the pathless rocky plateau, and we desired to take a man from the village as a guide. After in vain searching a number of compounds for their inhabitants, Dr.\Emlyn suggested that we ride over to a sister village belonging to the same tribe, where the people spoke the same language.
This village was only three miles distant, and riding through
27
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
the fields we soon saw some of the people at work on their farms. Much of the plateau is cultivated, and though the millet and guinea-corn do not grow to any height and do not bear well, yet by farming large areas the people get sufficient food.
There are towns and hamlets spread in large numbers all over these highlands, each one of them usually situated at the foot of some rocky eminence. The immediate country round Bukuru has been deforested by them to procure wood for smelting iron, and there is hardly a tree to be seen.
At Tafam the chief and some of his elders came to see us as we rested on the banks of a little brook just outside the village. We exchanged presents, asked him for a guide, and after having refreshed ourselves in the clear water of the stream, we continued our march beyond the village through a pass between two hills, and then came out on to the un- dulating plain beyond. There was at first some kind of path leading to the farms of the people, and we followed the direc- tion indicated by our guide, who desired our permission to return, as he was afraid to spend the night outside the village. We let him go and advanced alone. A number of natives whom we met at 4 o'clock coming back from their farms, when they saw us, dived like deer into the long grass, ran with long leaps in a half circle around us, and escaped to their houses amongst the hills.
Later on we crossed a little brook, and, as there were some trees beyond, we formed camp, pitched the tent, and rested for the night. I called this place " Christmas Camp," as it was Christmas evening we spent there, and cut a " C.C." into a large tree. The night was again bitterly cold, and in spite of four blankets, an overcoat, and a mackintosh, I shivered. My usual hot bath in the evening was not much of a success, as the lukewarm water made me shake and long for a closed-in hut and a warm fire.
28
From Bukuru to the Banks of the '' Mother of Waters."
Long before day we were out of our beds, had put on our riding gear, taken the tent down, and in about 20 minutes from the time we woke we were away on the road.
Several bad rivers blocked our way, and our horses found difficulty in many places in climbing over the rocky ground. At midday we saw the large village of Mongur before us. We went round it without resting, as our destination for that day — Panyam — was still a long way off. An hour later we saw the village of Bong under a number of shady trees to the north of us. We missed the direction and went wrong to the right, but were redirected by a native who knew a few words of Hausa, and who kindly volunteered to lead us to a path that would bring us to Panyam in a few hours. After having chased in vain a small herd of antelope in the hope of securing fresh meat, we saw before us a small river, the bed of which consisted of large slabs of slippery basalt. I was going to ride my horse across, when several of my men came running back with excited gesticulations and asked me to dismount. One of them who spoke Hausa informed me that if I rode across we should both fall and break our legs. The men had good reason to be frightened, as my horse had hardly stepped on to the stones when it came down and rolled over and over, being unable to secure a footing. By main force I had to haul it over the stones, and, trembling, it scrambled up the further bank.
Another hour's riding and, in a beautifully sheltered nook amongst magnificent rocks, with a clear stream flow- ing in a half circle around it, we found the newly-estab- lished Mission Station of the Cambridge University Party of the Church Missionary Society, Panyam. The natives evidently have the greatest confidence in Mr. Fox and the other men with him.
Three comfortable, mud buildings of three or four rooms each formed the Station, with an attempt at a flower garden
29
From Hciusaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
in front. Tables with tablecloths, books, papers and easy chairs made this outpost of European civilisation look ex- ceedingly homelike.
I pitched my tent on the football ground in front of the Station, while Dr. Emlyn stayed in one of the Mission houses. When on Monday morning at 7 o'clock my caravan was ready, and I had said good-bye to the missionaries, and waved my last farewell to Dr. Emlyn, I left a district behind me in these
IN THE ANGASS COUNTRY — DR. EMLYN'S LODGINGS. TATTO'S HOUSE.
high, healthy hills, which presented possibilities for consider- able developments, and gave indications of becoming as promising a white man's country as the Plateau of British East Africa.
We passed the villages of Jardi, Mako and Tun ; then followed a stretch of uncultivated land witli a fair amount of game. The game was shy. I shot my first antelope (a
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
Cobus cob) at mid-day on this journey. I posted two of my boys within sight of two antelopes who kept watching them, while I myself crawled down the dry bed of a brook and thus got within 50 yards. I could have shot both beasts, but found I had only one cartridge with me, and although I waited a little, they would not oblige me by moving into Hne so that I might have dropped them both with one shot.
At 3 p.m. we formed camp at Panchim, close to some deep pools containing a good supply of whitish water. Men were sent to the village near by to purchase food, but they came back after a while without obtaining much, as the people had little left, and the harvest had not yet begun.
During the next two days the travelling was as bad as any I experienced on my whole tour, with, perhaps, the one exception of the swamps between the Shari and the Bahr-el- Arab.
Immediately beyond Panchim we entered the " Rocky Mountains." We climbed up and down steep, stony terraces — which in some places looked like staircases — without a path or even a trail, guided by natives whom we had persuaded to lead us to Wokos. Wokos is a Residency, and Captain Foulkes in charge. He was just about to start for Panchim whence I had come, and where he was building a new Government Post. We had luncheon together and then he left. The view from the platform outside my hut was magnificent. The country lay spread out at my feet for some 40 or 60 miles, and from an elevation of 4,200 feet above sea-level we looked down 3,000 feet into the low, foot hills of the Murchison Range.
All the afternoon the sound of tom-tom and fife came up to us from the valleys beneath, where the natives were har- vesting their corn, singing and dancing while they gathered the grain. It all sounded so cheerful and happy, like the music of joyful children.
31
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Next morning for the first two hours we descended the 3,000 feet. Once or twice I thought my horses would turn somersaults as they dropped down stone steps 4 or 5 feet in height. I was compelled to look away ; it seemed im- possible that they could come down safely, but they did. At 8 o'clock we had a few minutes' rest by the side of a well in the rocks close to a village called Monok, situated on a
CHILDREN PLAYING " TOUCH FOOT, TOUCH KNEE," AMONG THE ANGASS.
spur of the hills. The smiling chief of this village brought me guinea-corn for my horses, and leaping down through the rocks among which his village was built, he led us towards a path. At 10.30 we came to Government rest houses, spent the mid-day there, and reached the village of Ampir in the afternoon,
32
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
Thus in a seven hours' march we came down from the Bauchi Hills into the Plains.
The unshod hoofs of my poor horses were worn away a good deal, and they went alternately lame on their different feet as they scrambled over the stones. I therefore walked the greater part of the day.
On the last day of the year igo8 we reached the dry river bed of the Wase River, travelled for some distance along
CHIEF OF THE YERGUAI.
its southern bank, and came to Brot, one of the two main towns of the Yergum tribe. Later we skirted the Gazum^ Hills, and at noon arrived at Langtang, the other centre of the Yergum tribe and a Mission Station of the Sudan United Mission.
This day's march led us through hills inhabited by cannibals. The Gazum have not yet been brought into subjection. They told the Yergum that they had tasted the flesh of many
33 D
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
different nations ; they had eaten Hausas, Fulanis, Ankwes, Montoils and others, but they had never tasted a white man yet, and they were anxiously watching for one to come along.
VERGUM HUNTERS WATCHING BRICK MAKING AT LANGTANG,
A chief of the Gazum, named Miri, came to see me when, in 1905, I stayed at Pioneer Camp in the neighbourhood of the Wase Rock. He was then quite friendly and brought presents, for which I gave him others in return. The Gazum evidently are more dangerous than the other cannibal tribes, of which a traveller tells us that they would not like to eat white men, as the white men were " not ripe," the flesh covered by a sickly white skin evidently not being thought quite wholesome. The people in the Murchison Range seem to know better, and look upon the white man as perfectly ripe ; in fact, the 60-year-old chief of a village there said that the white man must be at least ten times
34
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
as old as he was, for in 60 years his hair was white, but the white man was white all over.
The Yergum people live in small hamlets spread about sporadically over the country side. These hamlets usually
'PUTTING A HAT ON TO THE HUT AND THE HOME IS FINISHED."
consist of some four or half-a-dozen compounds belonging to one family. From the top of the Langtang Juju Hill one can see between 40 to 50 of them partly hidden away amongst the guinea-corn fields. The natives wear little clothing, the usual covering consisting of a goat -skin or a loin-cloth. Only the chiefs and elders are dressed in Hausa tobes, which are long, flowing cotton gowns, with large sleeves ornamented with coloured embroidery.
This whole Yergum plain would probably become an ex- cellent cotton country, for the cotton grown at the Mission Station of Langtang is of quite a good quality. If wants
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
could be created amongst the natives which would lead them to work, the labour difficulty would be overcome.
Looking towards the south and south-east a vast plain spreads out at the foot of the hills, with only here and there a small kopje rising out of it ; but some 12 miles to the south- east the Wase Rock, a wonderful monolith, probably the centre cone of an ancient volcano, towers to a height of almost 1,000 feet above the flat country. It was at tjie foot of this
THE WASE ROCK.
great rock that in 1904 I had the privilege of laying out the first Mission Camp amongst the pagans.
Considerable development has taken place through the whole of Northern Nigeria since that day, but much yet remains to be done in the working of the natural resources of that land, and in the civilisation and education of its natives.
On January 2nd, 1909, in the early morning, the caravan left Langtang, and arrived at Rock Station at 9.45 a.m. We
From Bukuru to the Banks of the " Mother of Waters."
stayed there over Sunday, and went to Dempar, on the banks of the " Mother of Waters " (Benue), on January 5th.
The old Chief of Wase (the southernmost Fulani colony in that part of Northern Nigeria), a man who had been ex- ceedingly friendly to me during my former stay in the neigh- bourhood of his town, welcomed me, but complained that
DOGERI, DR. KUMMS HUNTER FROM WASE.
he was suffering much from sores and rheumatism, for which his people knew no remedy. He begged me to ask one of the medical men of the Mission or the Government doctor to come and see him. He would gladly pay for it. But I found it impossible to send him one, and I heard shortly afterwards that he had died.
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan,
The population of Wase has been decreasing since the British occupation, as the tribal wars have ceased, and people can live safely on their farms and in hamlets in the open country without needing the protection of town wall and moat.
Peace and plenty are spreading their blessing throughout the land, and the pagan natives, reahsing it, are grateful.
FROM BUKURU TO WASE.
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Together
III
401 „
The time taken for the mileage on the different marches indicates the respective difficulties of the road.
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CHAPTER IV. On the Kamerun Border.
Wukari — S.U.M. — Game — The Munchis and Their Country — Talcum — Result of a Practical Joke — Donga — Farmers and Buffaloes — Buffalo Hunting — A Race for the Bush — Leopard and Water-buck — Lion-land.
The " Mother of Waters " flowing from the mountains of Adamawa into the Niger (the Black River) had been crossed. I had attended a gathering of missionaries at Ibi, the metropoHs of the Benue, and was on my way southward to
MISSIONARY CONFERENCE AT IBI.
39
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
the frontier between British and German territory. My men were running with the chain in front of me to measure the
REV. C. W. GUINTER, MISSIONARY AT WUKARI.
road from Ibi to Wukari, as there seemed some doubt as to the exact distance of the latter place. The raised path made travelling easy, and though our horses were still tired, we
40
On the Kamerun Border.
got over the ground at a fair rate. We had started in the afternoon from the newly laid out Mission Station at Ibi, camped at a little village called Raiin Soja, and reached Wukari the following day, after a hot and thirsty march.
Wukari has a famous crocodile pond, in which a large number of tame crocodiles disport themselves close to the arms and legs of women, who wash therein and fill their water pots without fear. The chief of Wukari, who is an exceed- ingly portly and affable gentleman, has an excellent reputa- tion in all the neighbouring villages on account of his justice and straightforwardness. He, and the chief of Dempar, are accounted to be two of the best native chiefs in the Muri province of Northern Nigeria.
Two missionaries of the Sudan United Mission were doing good work at Wukari. One of them, a horticulturist, Mr. Hoover, B.A., from Cornell University in the United States of America, had successfully grown a number of European vegetables, and enjoyed quite a reputation amongst the people as a doctor, having had some experience in medical work during the Spanish- American War. The other. Rev. C. W. Guinter, B.A., also of the United States of America, is much liked by all the natives.
The Sudan United Mission, in which the writer is interested, is a union effort controlled by leaders of various Protestant denominations in Great Britain, America and South Africa. The raison d'etre of this Mission is to attempt to counteract the Mohammedan advance in Central Africa by winning the pagan tribes to the Christian religion. It aims at securing for each tribe at least three white missionaries, a medical man, an ordained educationist and a horticulturist.
There is a good deal of small game in the neighbourhood of Wukari, and during my stay I found no difficulty in supplying the larder with fresh meat in the shape of reed- buck and duiker.
41
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
At the end of January I left for the frontier post of Takum, which lies in the corner between Southern Nigeria, Northern Nigeria and the German Kameruns. To get there I had to pass through several villages of the Munchi tribe. These Munchis form one of the largest tribes of Nigeria, and are not yet properly brought into subjection. They have re- peatedly attacked stations of the Niger Company, destroyed them and killed a number of the officials.
The Munchi country is covered by virgin forest, only narrow paths winding their way through its shadows. The whole country is made for ambush, and punitive expeditions have thus far had little success. The people are warlike and free. They are clever farmers, owning cattle, goats and pigs, and plantations of considerable size. Their houses are well-built, and some of them exceedingly large. In one of the villages the chief's hut, with a conically-shaped grass roof, was no less than II yards in diameter. The men are tall and strong, their legs and arms, as well as chests, showing magnificent muscular development ; and many of the women are quite pretty. Their granaries are small huts raised from the ground some 6 feet on piles. Around the village there is usually a stockade. The whole reminded one of an early settlement of our Saxon forefathers. The Munchis are pagans. They are great hunters and are feared by the tribes around them, who, while looking down upon them, respect them. To see these Munchis march into the market-place at Wukari with bold and self-assertive bearing, bringing their farm produce in the hope of exchanging it for bars of pig-iron which they use for tools and agricultural implements, gives the onlooker the impression that here he has to do with a noble, free-born tribe, capable of great development.
The Munchis wear, beside sword and spear, curiously shaped handknives, which are secured by an iron ring around the palm of the hand. Money is unknown amongst them. When
42
On the Kamerun Border.
on my last journey through Northern Nigeria in 1905, I offered pieces of silver to a Munchi on the banks of the Benue in exchange for his handknife, he, with supreme contempt, turned his back on me, scorning the white man's money. The white man is not the demi-god among the Munchis, such as he feels himself to be among other pagan tribes in Northern Nigeria. Government officials and traders have to walk " softly, softly,'" among them. The tribe has not yet been touched by missionaries.
m
ROOF THATCHING.
On January 31st my little caravan reached Takum, a town belonging to the Siteri tribe, situated in a small plain among the hills. The highest of these hills on the north side of Takum I found with an aneroid barometer to be 1,450 feet.
At Takum I met an official from Southern Nigeria who had walked up from the coast. He had been engaged in a punitive expedition amongst the tribes of Southern Nigeria,
43
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
had visited Ibi, where he had purchased provisions, and was now on his way back to the coast.
He had his camp outside the town wall, where a remarkable number of huts seemed to have been built quite lately. I enquired of him why such a large camp had been prepared, and he informed me that a native, formerly in the Govern- ment service, had played a practical joke on the chief of Takum by pretending to come from the Resident of the Pro- vince, demanding from the chief food supplies, and instructing
VILLAGE STREET, WITH SHOPS.
him to erect immediately this large number of huts, as the Governor of the country would be coming to Takum in a few days. All the inhabitants had been busily at work for days, and when no Governor appeared, they were much put out by the hoax that had been played upon them.
Takum, in days gone by, used to be an important trade centre through which considerable Hausa caravans from the north passed into German territory ; but as the export and the import of trade goods into the Kameruns has been made
44
On the Kamerun Border.
difficult through the German Customs, the trade is suffering and has come almost to a standstill.
The Niger Company used to have a trading post at Takum, but has given it up.
The mountainous country around this place forms the water- shed between the Cross River and Benue. The rock forma- tion is grauwacke and basalt, and is a continuation of the Adamawa mountains. A large number of baboons and a special kind of Cobus cob inhabit the rocky heights. Members of some half-a-dozen different tribes form the Takum town, but if the trade conditions remain as bad as they are at the present moment, the people of the town will probably dis- perse again to their various tribes. A number of huts inside the town wall are already empty, and grass grows in the compounds.
On February 3 I left Takum and returned to Ibi. On my way I called at Donga, a large village on the banks of the Donga River. Two small dug-outs, crazy looking affairs, are the only means of crossing the river, and in fear and trembling I entrusted my boxes, bags and guns to these un- stable crafts. I had heard much about the herds of buffalo around Donga, and looked forward to meeting with them.
The Rev. Joseph W. Baker, S.T.B., a coloured missionary, who was formerly a non-commissioned officer in the West India Regiment, from which he brought a splendid record, and who had studied later on in the United States of America, was working at Donga for the Sudan United Mission as one of their agents. He was an exceptionally good shot and had killed several buffaloes both at Donga and at Dempar, for which the natives of these places seemed very grateful. The buffaloes came out of the bush and long grass at night into the farms, and the damage which such a herd succeeds in . doing in one night may be very serious. The fields bordering on the bush are watched over by men who spend the nights
45
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
in trees tom-tomming, shouting and singing, to drive away the buffaloes, who usually take very little notice of this whole- hearted endeavour of the farmer to protect his field.
Three times Mr. Baker and I went out after buffalo, but each time we failed to come up with them. We saw their spoor, heard them, and even smelt them, but failed to see them. Once, while following the tunnels they had made through the long elephant grass, we could hear them rumbling
|
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GOVERNMENT POST AT IBI.
quite close, and as any escape in case we were charged was out of the question, we spent two or three exciting minutes with nerves alarmingly alive, but the expected charge did not take place, and with disconcerting grunts the beasts made off.
It was half-past four on the last morning at Donga when the loads were packed, and I was just having my early cup
46
On the Kamerun Border.
of tea, preparing for my journey back to Ibi, when suddenly a native hunter came into my hut with the news that the farmers across the river were tom-tomming excitedly, calling to us, and the hunter was quite sure that buffaloes were out in the fields doing damage. Would I come ? A moment's hesitation, and I decided to have a last try. Across the river we went, and ploughed our way through the muddy paths between the cornfields whence we heard the tom-tom- ming. The stars were beginning to pale when we stood under a tree, and questioned the farmer resting in its branches about the buffaloes. We were told they were quite close, not 200 yards away.
Carefully we stalked forward, feeling our way with our feet, and endeavouring not to tread on dry wood or stones, as the slightest sound of this kind would send the herd away at a rush, A minute or two and the hunter just in front stopped behind a low thorn bush, touched my arm, and pointed into the darkness ahead. Straining my eyes I could just make out two large forms some 25 yards away. They looked like large anthills. I saw the first anthill come to life. A great head with magnificent horns turned towards me, nostrils in the air, feet pawing the ground. The enormous brute stood sideways on, with just his head turned in my direction, and offered an excellent shot. I threw up my rifle, aiming somewhat low at the shoulder, not wishing to shoot through the hollow between the spine and the top of the lungs. I distinctly heard the bullet with a hard click strike the bone. Between my shot and the rush of the beasts there was not a second of time. They were standing at the edge of the long grass and disappeared immediately. 1 fired another shot at the second beast, but missed.
From the moment I had seen the animals to the moment they disappeared it could not have been more than 10 seconds at the outside.
47
From Hausaland to Etrypt, through the Sudan.
It was beginning to dawn, the buffaloes were making a terrible ado in the long grass, and I hesitated somewhat to go after them, when the native hunter suggested a detour to cut off the escaping herd from the ravine towards which they were evidently going. At the entrance to the ravine the grass was short, and a number of large trees offered shelter, and also the possibility of a good view.
We went through the fields at a great rate, running our hardest with the idea of making better time than the beasts in the long grass. Half a mile and we were in the ravine. Turning to the left we passed along the edge until we were opposite the long grass through which we expected the herd. The hunter climbed a tree and searched the grass before him. It was now day ; the sun had risen, but in spite of the light nothing could be seen of the buffaloes. They seemed to have entirely disappeared. There might, of course, have been hundreds of buffaloes in the grass without our being able to see them. Men on horseback would disappear entirely, as just about here the stalks of the elephant grass were in many places 12 to 15 feet high. For an hour we waited, and then slowly went back to the place where I had wounded my beast. We took up the spoor, which was plainly marked with the red blood drops, showing the air bubbles of a lung shot. Where the animal had touched the grass with its shoulders one could measure the height where the bullet had entered. It was evidently a low lung shot, piercing both lungs. We followed the spoor for some 60 or 70 yards, when it turned back for about 10 yards, and a pool of blood marked the place where the animal had waited for the hunter two yards from the old spoor. This did not look very promising. Another 50 yards and the same tactics had been repeated by the animal. At this point it had evidently lain down for a few minutes, waited, and as nobody came had gone on. I followed another 30 or 40 yards, and then I am afraid my
48
On the Kamerun Border,
pluck gave out. To follow the spoor one had, of course, to creep on hands and knees through the tunnel the animal had made.
I returned to the edge of the grass, sent for all my men, and spent four hours in searching the long grass where I expected the beast lay hidden ; but after my carriers had
THE CHIEF OF DEMPAR.
been over the same ground two or three times, I gave it up much disappointed. Had I had a dog at my disposal I should very probably have secured the animal. This has been the first and only time that I have seen a wild animal deliberately lie in wait for the hunter. There was no charge, but there must evidently have been reflection in the animal and a
49 E
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
feeling of revenge. I asked the chief of the place to let me have the horns of the bush-cow if it were found, but I never heard any more about it.
On the other side of the kurnii Mr. Baker had shot a leopard. He had wounded a water-buck, and, following the buck about five minutes after he had fired he found it dead, and by its side a full-grown leopai-d attracted by the smell of the fresh blood.
YOUTHFUL CAVALIERS.
The leopard slipped away, but Baker had seen it. He left the buck, and, returning after half an hour, found the leopard and killed it with a shot through the head.
A number of beautiful Colobus monkeys inhabit the ravines around Donga. They are very affectionate, beautiful creatures.
A week later I was back in Ibi. Mr. Baker had accom- panied me, a Mr. Hosking from South Africa joined our party, and the three of us went along the north bank of the Benue from Ibi to Dempar in the hope of securing a lion or two which were reported to be in that locality. I, myself, when
50
On the Kamerun Border.
coming down from Dempar to Ibi in the boat a few weeks before, had seen fresh Hon spoor on the north bank of the river, and had eagerly looked forward to meeting with them. Antelopes there were in great numbers and we procured a good deal of fresh meat, but of lions there were none.
One day, however, while we were camped at a large pool some five miles north of the Benue in an open plain, I was sitting in front of my tent after luncheon enjoying a siesta,
CHILDREN AT PLAY AT THE MISSION STATION OF DEMPAR.
when I heard the voice of my small boy Peter, about 200 yards away, calling out in great distress. His voice sounded desperate, as if he were in the claws or jaws of a lion. I picked up my rifle, and raced off as hard as I could run in the direction whence the cries came. All the men in the camp either followed me or had gone ahead. I ran about the hardest I had run for years. Peter had been a good boy, and to lose that boy through a lion close to my tent
51 E 2
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
in the middle of the day seemed altogether too bad. I went about 300 yards, when I saw a crowd of my men gather, and amongst them Peter sitting on the head of a large buck (Cobus cob). When going down to the pool to fetch water he had come upon this buck, which had been wounded on the previous day. He had chased it, flung a large stone at its head, stunned it and brought it to the ground, and then, bravely sitting on its head, yelled for dear life. I hardly know whether disgust
"then he yelled for dear life!"
at the stupidity of the boy, or satisfaction that he was not being killed by a lion, was uppermost in my mind.
After all I think I was glad that Peter had escaped the lion.
" Then I trekked again to the roUing plain, and I said to my hunter, Lee : ' I long for the brunt of a lion hunt," and he winked his eye, did he. And by half-past four I heard a roar of such a leonine stamp, That by four forty-five I managed to arrive more dead than alive in camp. And since that day I am bound to say that that camp I never stray from ; J"or a lion, you see, I have heard from Lee, is a beast to run away from."
52
CHAPTER V.
On the Bosom of the Benue.
Farewell — Dangana, the Factotum— Peter — Carriers — Ur. Barth— Garua — Imperial German Government Methods.
Slowly the yellow flood surged westward, as we said good- bye at Dempar on February i6th, and I commenced my trans- African journey in earnest, going up the Benue, and thence
CHIEF AND ELDERS AT DEMPAR.
by way of the Shari, to reach, in God's own time, the Nile. My five headmen had said farewell to their wives, who in vain tried to hide their tears, and the missionaries waved
53
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
their farewell, as our eight polers drove the steel boat slowly up the current. Our barge being covered by a heavy sun-roof and awning, was top-heavy and required careful handling. The tornadoes that sweep dov\n the Benue valley at this time of the year have brought disaster to manv canoes and barges before. We therefore took good care to hide behind high banks as soon as the sky became overclouded.
BARGE ON THE BENUE.
I had carefully chosen seven of my best men to accompany me, and intended to use these as personal servants and as headmen. Their names were : —
1. IsA (Jesus), who, while small in stature, w^as a powerful
headman, a magnificent wrestler, a man of con- siderable will-power, and exceptionally intelligent for an African.
2. GiWA (the elephant), a tall, broad-shouldered, bull-
necked Hausa, wdio, at a pinch, could take four men's loads on his head. 54
PETER AND DANGANA, BOYS WHO ACCOMPANIED THE WRITER FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE.
On the Bosom of the Benue.
3. Audu-Abuja (commonly known as " Dorina," the
hippopotamus), who was as much at home in the water as on land. I know not how many times he swam across the Kotto River.
4. BiGiLA (the bugler), a very strong and willing man,
but a thief, suffering from kleptom.ania. He had to be punished once or twice on the road. As long as there was nothing to steal he was one of the most useful men I ever had.
5. MuSA (Moses). He was the oldest man and was a
very good taxidermist, who prepared quite a number of heads and skins for me.
Besides these five headmen, I took Dangana m}^ cook, steward and general factotum. To say that he was faithful, trustworthy and intelligent for an African is to say very little. He was far more than that. I could trust him with important messages to native chiefs, and lie would unostentatiously secure their respect for himself and the caravan. I sent him from Fort Archambault to Milfi in Bagirmi, some eight days' journey, to purchase 25 pack-oxen and several horses, and he executed his commission in a speedy and very creditable way. He was a good shot, and I took him with me repeatedly when hunting dangerous game. If anything was stolen he was the man to ferret out the thief in no time. He could beat everybody in wrestling except the headman, was a good rider, and a splendid cook, whose pancakes and mayonnaise one remembers even here in Europe.
And last, but by no means least of m3^ seven stalwarts, was Peter, the small boy, but latterly the big boy, whose smihng, ugly face and cheerful sing-song as we travelled along the road, with occasional pokes of fun at the carriers who lagged behind, was as useful as it was cheerful. I had taken Peter over from the C.M.S.
Having this set of men to fall back upon, it is easily under- stood that many difficulties vanished that might otherwise
57
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
have interrupted my journey or brought it to an untimely end.
Two districts which were of special interest to me were the Djen district and the ^I'bula district. At both of these places
the pagan population is massed together, and especially in the M'bula district the villages on the bank followed one another without any open space between, thus forming a continuous
58
On the Bosom of the Benue.
town of from five to six miles in length. This is the most densely populated part of the Benue valley.
Shortly after, on Saturday, March 13th, we arrived at Yola. The reception afforded to me by the representatives of the Government there, as well as b}' the officials of the Niger Company, was of the friendliest. The Resident of the Yola Province expressed his sincerest hope that I might not be eaten by the cannibals, especially as I did not intend to take an armed escort with me.
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COOKING LUNCHEON FOR THE MEN ON THE BANKS OF THE BENUE.
On Monday afternoon, March 15th, Mr. Hosking and I attempted to penetrate further up the Benue, and gQ.t, if possible, to Garua. But after spending the better part of Tuesday morning in pulling the boat over sand banks, and digging out channels for it, we found it an impossible task, and I therefore decided to run back to Yola in the afternoon, engage carriers, and begin my overland march. With the assistance of the Niger Company some 55 carriers were en- gaged, and an exceptionally strong horse secured, which I thought would have carried me right across Africa ; but we had to bury it at Fort Archambault.
59
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Two other horses which I had ridden through Northern Nigeria I had left behind in the Miiri Province, and on Wednes- day, March 17th, at 6.30 a.m., my caravan started from the north bank of the Benue, opposite Yola, into the hills of Adamawa.
A clear, bright, sunny morning augured success for the expedition ; the carriers went at a lialf-trot ; the horse I rode was in excellent condition. My heart went out in gratitude to God for be-
ing allowed to make so favourable a start, re- membering how, 50 years ago, Dr. Barth (the first white man to visit Yola) had crept out of the town sick in body and sick at heart, driven from the gates by the order of the Sultan ; and as I thought of the difficulties Mizon, Von Vechtritz, Passarge, and the early representa- tives of the Niger Com- pany had encountered at Yola, I could not but
be gratified with the wonderful change which had been effected.
Our first day's march was a short one of 12 miles. Certain loads had to be re-arranged, and the men got into the way of marching together.
I had 55 carriers divided into sections of 10, each under a kind of sub-headman. With the headmen, Dangana, Peter, and one or two women belonging to the carriers, my caravan amounted to 70 souls. As this is not a diary I will not repeat
60
&:*satM:l
HAUSA BEAUTIES.
On the Bosom of the Benue.
various incidents as they happened day by day, but just give you, if I can, a short " apercu " of my journey through Adamawa.
At mid-day on the third day after leaving Yola, I crossed the frontier and entered German territory. A native cleric who acts as Customs official reminded me of the crisp mili- tarism of the Fatherland. He was very respectful, spoke English, German and Fulatanchi, provided us with good housing and good native food, and was generally useful. Two days later I entered Garua, the Government centre of German Adamawa. Both the captain in command and the lieutenant were absent on patrol, and the medical man acted as Resi- dent. He, with a secretary to the Administration and two non-commissioned officers, occupied the fort. A hundred native soldiers act as a garrison ; they are drilled after the German fashion, but in pigeon English I was told that m}' German friends do not desire their " boys " to knew German, so that these may be unable to follow their conversation. The only word I found well known amongst the boys at Garua was " Jawohl," a glorified "yes." To hear this word flung at you at the end of a conversation in pigeon English, in the most military German fashion, is at first somewhat startling.
The one thing at Garua which astonished me greatly was the successful way in which vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees were grown at the Government station on the most modern, scientific lines, and yet one might have expected it. Several ploughs are in continual use. A European gardener has laid out magnificent flower-beds and shrubberies in front of the fort, and a large number of valuable forest trees are raised in a nursery.
There are roads lo yards wide from Garua to the coast (600 miles), and to the Logone (250 miles), well graded roads with bridges across the smaller rivers, and " drifts " through
63
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
the larger ones. A wagon traffic has been commenced on these roads, and there is no reason why motor cars should not run on them.
There is a Government school, a hospital and a dispensary at Garua, all free for the natives. These are very good and useful paternal institutions. The school, primarily a Freed Slaves' Home, is supported, wonderful to relate, by the Mohammedan Fulani chiefs (the Lamidoes). x\ll this is most
GATHERING OF MEN AT GARUA.
excellent and satisfactory, but there are two points in which the German Government of Adamawa is making serious mistakes. The first is the general employment of forced labour. There are hundreds of natives who get neither pay nor rations employed in strengthening the fort at Garua, and there are thousands of natives working on the roads. All these labourers are slaves sent by the various chiefs to
64
On the Bosom of the Benue.
work off the taxes the tribes should pay. The half-starved skin-and-bone bodies of these workmen are a lamentable sight. The roads running through the country are splendid, but the forced labour employed in making them has depopulated both sides of them. The people have run away into the bush. For five days on the road from Garua to Marua I have counted a dozen villages in ruins. This is not good policy.
The second point is the extension of the Mohammedan faith through the action of the Government. In the Freed Slaves' Home school in Garua, the children, all of them originally pagan, are led every Friday to the mosque, but Christian missionaries have thus far been discouraged from settling at Garua.
These criticisms are not made in a cavilling spirit, but it is the duty of every pioneer of civilisation to point out any direction in which he may believe improvement possible, so as to " uphold the integrity and humanity of ideals of which the Christian civilised nations of Europe are so justly proud."
6s
CHAPTER VI.
March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
The Caravan — Malam Gidar — Lombel — Tribes — Lam Pagans — The Chief City in the Chad Region — Welcome — The Chief of Marua — Diminutive Mutiny — Presents from Chiefs — Musgun Pagans — Musgun — Disfigured Women — Morno — Last German Outpost — The White Man's Rule — Coins.
After a few days of careful preparation I left Garua on March 26th at dawn. The carriers, practically all of them Hausas, with just a few Fulanis, were early on the spot. My caravan consisted at this time of
1 chief.
5 head carriers. 50 carriers. 3 boys. 3 soldiers.
2 women.
5 camp followers
69 people.
After a six miles' march we rested where the road ran through a ditch. Kilometre stones, painted white with black figures on them, marked the distances along this splendid highway. The road runs from the coast to Garua, and from Garua to the Logone, with a regular boat service down to Kusseri and Lake Chad. We arrived in camp at 10 a.m. Some half- a-dozen huts and a large sun-shelter formed the rest-house which the German Government had built. These things are all well arranged, and the only regret is that the carriers do
66
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March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
not seem to be sufficiently considered. Everything is simply for the convenience of the white man.
The first camp is some two or three miles from a village called Tshebagge. The spot is known as Pitoa Camp, Next day we went another 9 kilometres to a camp called Malam Gidar. I found serious difficulties in securing food for the men, as no people live near the road. There are a number of ruined villages, and practically all the people have run away into the bush. They had been impressed to build a road, and were then depended upon to supply food to caravans that might come along, sometimes for payment, sometimes without. We spent Sunday at Malam Gidar, the men lying about asleep for most of the time. Then on Monday we went on to the next rest-houses at Baletun. A number of streams which we crossed all ran from north-west to south-east in the direction of Benue. There was no water in these streams at this time of the year. A certain amount of valuable mineral deposit I found in two of the brooks. It had, of course, been known that the Benue carried valuable metal, but none was aware whence it came.
In the afternoon I managed to pick up a gazelle, and this gave us a change of diet. On Tuesday, March 30th, we camped at Lombel, just beyond a large village going under the name of Golombe. The village is a little way off the road. There is a toll clerk stationed at Golombe, as a considerable trade is carried on between the French Shari-Chad Protec- torate and German Adamawa, Lombel had been a Fulani village in former years, but after the road was built the Fulanis had gone away, and we found it a Hausa colony. About a dozen men with their families had settled down, built their huts, cultivated the ground a little, and were carrying on a flourishing trade at the cross roads. They showed them- selves most friendly, and provided a good deal of food. The first town through which the high road goes is the Fulani
69
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
town of Gidar, which we reached on the following day. Its chief is an independent gentleman who seems to have been somewhat spoiled. Here we left the main road, which con- tinues to Binder-Bongo on the Logone. I intended to go via Matafal to Marua, but for some reason or other we lost our way and arrived about 2 p.m: the next day amongst the Lam pagans in the hills. These people were at first very much frightened, as a German punitive expedition had been sent against them a little while before, and all white men looking alike might be enemies ; but after I had distributed a few handfuls of beads they became more friendly, and in the end brought us food, for which I gave them cloth and beads.
European Government Officials stationed in Adamawa, April, 1909.
Garua ... One Captain, one Lieutenant, one Doctor, one Secretary
and two N.C.O's. Bongo ... One Non-commissioned Officer. Maniling... One ditto ditto.
DiKOA ... One ditto ditto.
KUSSERI ... One Captain, one Lieutenant, one Doctor, two N.C.O's. Altogether 14 white men.
Besides these there are two German traders and the repre- sentative of the Niger Company at Garua, a total of 17 white men.
The most important pagan tribes of Adamawa are the following : —
I. Rei-Buba people, probably numbering 200,000 or 300,000 souls. These people fought Dr. Passarge and turned him back. They were brought into sub- jection by 15 German native soldiers, who, after they had fired all their rifle cartridges, succeeded in frightening the people with their signalling pistols by throwing rockets. 70
March throuoh the Mountains of Adamawa.
2. The Lam Pagans, the people we were now amongst.
3. The Tangele, inhabiting the Mandara Mountains
north of Garua.
4. The MusGUN, a most important tribe living on both
banks of the Logone, and between that river and the Shari. Amongst these Musguns I noticed for the first time the central African thro wing-iron, which is called by them " shue," and by the Bagirmi people " njiga." This thro wing-iron has the shape of an Australian boomerang, and I have been told by the Musgun that they know how to throw it, so that it returns to the hand of the thrower if it misses its mark.
The Lam pagans are absolutely naked except for a weird loin-cloth of plaited grass. They are shy but friendly. Their villages are situated at the foot of little rocky hills distributed over the plain. The compounds are not built together, but are placed here and there and anywhere amongst the rocks. Their country is divided into 17 districts, as follows : —
VILLAGES OF THE LAM PAGANS.
Pillem.
Gilfi.
Lelang.
Gurmui.
Jibu.
Mambaja.
Garnaha.
Bajaba.
1 7. Mulwa.
|
9- |
Lap. |
|
10. |
Mussurutuk |
|
II. |
Muda. |
|
12. |
LuUu. |
|
13- |
Wussol. |
|
14. |
Barama. |
|
15- |
Gollom. |
|
16. |
Ndukla. |
Each district has its own chief, and over all they have their head chief.
We camped on Thursday, April ist, under a large shade tree close to the compound of the great chief of the Lam
71
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan,
pagans. I had taken the precaution of keeping all my men close together, and had appointed two of my headmen to act as policemen and see that none of the carriers visited the native compounds, as I did not want to have any trouble with the inhabitants.
All the next day we travelled through the land of the heathen. The mid-day rest we spent in a place called Mut (the Arabic for death). The district chief waited for me half an hour from his hut and accompanied me to our resting-place, having provided 30 pots of water and a large amount of food. His people seemed most anxious to please, and were in their turn greatly delighted with some pieces of Indian coloured cloth which 1 handed to the chief. Just before sunset we arrived at a village called Laff. This was only a little place ruled over by a boy as chief.
We had the last Lam village on our left next morning after a two hours' march from Laff. At 10 a.m. we were at Jagan, one of the outlying villages of Marua, where we rested for the middle of the day, and left late in the afternoon. Travelling that evening was accompanied by certain discomforts, as a heavy wind drove the pulverised earth in great dust-clouds into our faces.
My reception in Marua was very different from what I expected. The reports I had heard of Marua from residents in Northern Nigeria, as well as the information gathered at Garua, led me to think that I might find in Marua an end to the expedition. I was told that Marua was a very large town (and what I saw of it exceeded the reports), that all the restless, fanatical spirits of the surrounding colonies had sought and found a refuge with its chief ; that- the white man was hated in the to\\Ti ; that a captain in the German army had been shot and killed by a poisoned arrow some time ago at Marua, as he sat in his deck chair after his evening tub, reading his newspaper, and that there was no
72
March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
German Government official in that town ; in fact, I was not qnite sure what I might experience there on my arrival.
I was in a very doubtful frame of mind when I approached the lights of Marua on Saturday evening, April 3rd. It was 9 p.m. when we entered the dry river bed of a branch of the Marua River. The moon was not very bright ; the sand under foot was dry and loose, and the men and horses were tired after an eight hours' march. Along the hne of carriers I saw two men on horseback gallop towards me, as I rode at the end of the caravan to keep the men together, followed only by my personal boys. The two mounted men were guides sent by the brother of the chief of Marua to lead me into the town.
The messenger I had despatched beforehand to announce my arrival had not found the chief at home, but his brother had prepared me a welcome. We were approaching the first compounds of Marua when I rode to the head of my convoy, led by the two guides, and followed by Dangana and a German soldier. The five of us trotted into the town. The streets were narrow lanes fenced in by the high mud- walls of the compounds. All seem deserted and silent. Once or twice I noticed men resting round their fires within sight of our path, when a call from the first guide sent them scurrying away. The question naturally arose, Why this precaution ? Does the chief of Marua want to make sure of us first in the heart of the city before he and his men show themselves ? Or, does he, by driving all the people away from my road, try to prevent any lurking mischief ?
We rode on through the streets 10 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour, when suddenly before us lay spread out a large sheet of water with many men, women and children splashing about in it, enjoying their evening bath. Some approached
73
From Hausalancl to Egypt, through the Sudan.
timidly, but were warned back by our guides. Certainly this looked more peaceful. Just at that moment, through the quiet of the evening, came thundering towards us a con- siderable bod}/ of horsemen, turbaned men in white flowing robes and haiks, but I saw no swords, no spears nor guns. There was to be peace then. The cloud of I-^ulanis surrounded us, and a powerfully-built man clad in garments of grey and white silk, mounted on a magnificent stallion, approached me. We shook hands. He rode in front of me to lead me to a compound that had been prepared for Europeans. We crossed the market-place covered with multitudes of sheds, where the next day I saw about 10,000 people exchanging their produce.
We had been riding for over an hour through the streets of jMarua, and were approaching two small hills, when our leader led us through the open gate of a large compound and halted under a wide-spreading shady tree. We dis- mounted, and once more our host extended his hand to me. The German Fulani soldier interprets : —
" Christian, you are most heartily welcome. The chief is out of town, but has been sent for immediately on the arrival of your messenger ; if the chief rides all night he may be back to-morrow. What can we do for you in the meantime ? Wood and water have been provided already."
I thanked him and told him I was tired.
" Come and see me to-morrow morning " — a salaam, and he departed.
The white man's home in Marua consists of two compounds opening into each other — one for the man, and one for the horses and cattle.
In the first compound there v/ere twelve huts, and a central square house for the European ; in the second some eight huts and several shady trees. The whole looked something like this : —
74
March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
A few minutes after our arrival, all of us being very tired, we were soon asleep. Let me continue from my diary : —
6 a.m., Sunday morning. — Some 20 or 30 people have just arrived with food for the men, and an ox for me. Men and horses are stif^ after yesterday's hard march. During nine hours the men had water only once.
7 a.m. — The brother of the chief comes to ask whether he can serve me in anything. I have sent a present of cloth — value £5 — to the deputy chief.
8 to II a.m. — Have my quiet time.
II a.m. — A messenger comes from the chief. The chief has returned. " When can I see him ? " I send my com- pliments to the chief and tell him to come at sunset.
The day is very hot. The men are toasting themselves in the sun. I wish I could enjoy the sun as they do.
5 p.m. — Reading with the men.
6 p.m. — The chief comes, preceded b}^ a man to announce him. He comes alone into my room. At the door are two German sentinels, whom I have ordered to present arms. I have Dangana and an interpreter with me.
When the chief takes off the cloth with which he had pre- viously covered his face I see before me the features of a strong, just and noble man. They bear the imprint and the marks of a manly man such as one rarely sees. His speech is slow and steady. There is no self-assertion nor hesitation about him. The first signs of good breeding — stillness of person and feature — one notices immediately. He is a gentleman, a black gentleman. He tells me he has been asked b}^ the German Government to take charge of Mania since the murder of the last white man, and that he means to be friends with the Europeans. Half an hour's conversation ends all too soon, and he takes his departure, shaking hands with me repeatedly. Next morning a good
77
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
fast horse was sent to me as his present, for which I returned him ^j^ worth of Indian cloth and a few pounds of beads.
I had promised the chief to call on him on Monday evening, but a terrific tornado made any visit impossible. During our stay at Marua the men lived in a land of plenty ; they were never able to eat all the food supplied to them, and were somewhat loth to leave on Tuesday morning. I had asked the chief to let me have a guide to Musgun and Mand- jafa ; but instead of one man, he sent a guard of seven armed men, four of them on horseback. These men proved most useful to me, as they spoke the various languages of the country. Thus, far from Marua having proved dangerous and troublesome, I had been welcomed there more respectfully than in any other town or village in Adamawa.
It was on Tuesda3'% April 6th, that we continued our march from Marua towards Mandjafa. As a result of the rain of the previous day, the paths were exceedingly muddy, making travelhng difficult. The country was well- populated. Many Fulani villages could be seen on both sides. There were any number of sheep, goats, and cattle grazing. A flock of white guinea-fowl looked most curious as they fluttered away from the road.
The men marched very badly and kept on dawdhng, trying m^y patience sorely. One of the carriers, whose foot had the guinea-worm in it, was left behind by me at Marua, and some of his companions were unhappy about it. They did not know themselves what they wanted. The man was a Fulani, and therefore at home amongst his Fulani people.
During the afternoon we had a diminutive mutiu}-. This is the first and only time when things looked as if I might have trouble. The men had become lazy in Marua. They had done nothing but eat all day and had double indigestion. It took me only a few minutes to find out who was their ring- leader, and next morning when the caravan was ready to start
78
March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
I gave him his conge, and had him escorted by one of mv German soldiers back to Marua.
Balassa, where we slept the night, was a small town whose chief had been absent but had come back post-haste to greet us. His dash (present) consisted of lo fowls, guinea-corn for the horses, eggs, and flour for the men. A great boon while travelling through the Fulani country was the quantity of milk obtainable.
Next day we went from Balassa to Bogo, a walled town of about 5,000 people on the east bank of the Marua River. The presents which the good chief brought me were quite considerable for a chief of a little place like Bogo. He offered 24 chickens and large quantities of food. He also brought me a cow ; but I sent her back, as it would have been a pity to kill her, and I could not take her with me.
The following day we only travelled three hours, to the village of Tshabawol, a place which consisted of a number of scattered Fulani compounds. We found it difficult to house our men, as my caravan now numbered about 100 people.
Gingile, where we had intended to spend the night, lies a few miles to the south.
We had left the last Fulani country and the ]\larua River and entered the Musgun territor3^ On Friday, i\pril 9th, after we had gone for a few hours from Tshabawol in the direction of Gilbidi, the chief of the latter place, with a con- siderable number of horsemen, came to meet me an hour from the town. We had a great reception. All things had been carefully prepared. The chief had cleared and cleaned out his compound, which he asked me to occupy for the night. He performed feats of horsemanship for our amuse- ment, and provided a superabundance of food. Next to Marua this was the best reception we had thus far enjoyed.
Between the Fulani country and this first Musgun centre
79
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
there are nine miles of acacia bush. The Musgun houses are curious fortlike structures, each house or compound con- sisting of five or six round huts built close together, usually in a circle, each hut being connected with the other hut, but only the first and last have a door into the open. These latter are usually the largest, and their conically-shaped surfaces are covered with regular protuberances which are used as ladders in the construction of the building. Some of them are 20 feet in height. Both walls and roofs are made of mud. The Musgun country is absolutely flat. The natives draw their water at this time of the year out of wells, some of them 30 feet or more in depth.
All next day we saw Musgun hamlets on both sides of our line of march, the most prominent places being the village of Muga ; and the largest town of the Musgun — Ngilming — consisting of a great number of splendid mud giddas (com- pounds). At this place the ground became swampy. A number of cob antelope were disporting themselves in the open plain. A breeze begun to blow from the south and the sky became overcast. It was an excellent day for marching, as a few drops of rain had cooled the atmosphere.
At mid-day we reached the banks of the Logone opposite the town of Musgun. The chief came across to meet us, and we forded the western branch to an island. The depth of the water was 2| feet and the width 150 yards. The other branch of the Logone was much deeper, though its width was about the same as the western branch. A number of small dug-outs, each carrying one man and one load, soon ferried us across, and at 2.30 we reached the well-built (but now ruined) former Government station. Musgun is a walled town of about 500 people. Fifteen miles south of Logone is the village Pis on the eastern bank, and 15 miles south- west of that the village of Vullum. Gowei, another large Musgun village, is about 60 miles south-west of Musgun.
80
March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
North of Ngiiming lies Gam j em, and between Pis and Vullum are the three small villages of Mariafi, Tegele and Vaje.
MUSGUN VILLAGES.
|
I. |
Morno. |
17. |
Sulet. |
|
|
2. |
Musgun. |
18. |
Marmai. |
|
|
3- |
Pisgedi (Pis). |
19- |
Karkai. |
|
|
4- |
Tegele. |
20. |
Mugu (Muga). |
|
|
5- |
Ngulmung (Ngiiming). |
21. |
Katawa. |
|
|
6. |
Manda. |
22. |
Mala. |
|
|
7- |
Matha. |
23- |
Mariafi. |
|
|
8. |
Mirvidi (Gilbidi). |
24. |
Balamataba. |
|
|
9- |
Bogo. |
25. |
Milam. |
|
|
lO. |
Kelef. |
26. |
Bedem. |
|
|
II. |
Baria. |
27. |
Luthu. |
|
|
12. |
Muhna. |
28. |
Gian. |
|
|
13- |
Gaja. |
29. |
Gamjem. |
|
|
14. |
Dugi. |
30. |
Vaje. |
|
|
15- |
Govvei. |
31- |
Maniling. |
|
|
16. |
Marakei (the old Musgun). |
capital of |
32. |
Vullum. |
The Musgun men are magnificent specimens of humanity, but the women are exceedingly ugly. Their upper and lower lips are pierced and have large discs of tin, looking-glasses, or Maria Theresa dollars inserted in them. I rested at this place on Sunday, April nth, and as the nearest Musgun village through which we would have to pass — Morno — was a considerable distance away, I decided to use a part of the night for our march. We left Musgun, therefore, on Monday morning at 2.30 a.m., and travelled for two hours north- east through bushless prairie till 4.45 a.m., when we rested for half-an-hour by the side of a large pool, inhabited in the rainy season by hippos. A small jungle growing on the west bank of this pool looked very gloomy, as clouds had covered the moon. We continued our journey at 5.15 a.m., and when it dawned we came upon a herd of Senegambian hartc-
83 G 2
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
beest. I shot a young buck, the colouring of whose skin was very light.
At half-past seven the country changed from prairie to park land, but was absolutely flat. Here and there swampy pools remained as remnants of the floods of the last rainy season.
IRON BOOMERANG OF MUSGUN (SEE PAGE 71).
At mid-day we reached Momo, after having crossed the dry bed of a small river running north-east. Momo is a poor place. The huts are built without any architectural pre-
84
March through the Mountains of Adamawa.
tensions of mud and grass, and are scattered about through the bush. A number of people from Manihng, who had heard of our arrival, came out in the afternoon to visit us.
Two hours' marching the next morning saw us at the latter place, where a German sergeant had drawn up his little body of police for our reception. The path that morning lay through a forest of deleb palm with a good deal of water covering the ground. The sergeant told me that in the rainy season the path I had come by would be covered by 2 or 3 feet of water, and as this breeds mosquitoes and disease, nothing much can be done with the land.
]\Ianiling Station looks tidy and clean, but seems a very poor sort of a place, hidden away, as it is, in the bush sur- rounded by swamps. It was here that I said good-bye to German territory, and looking forward to unexplored regions ahead, hoped for as successful a march through the French sphere as that through German Adamawa had proved itself to be.
Comparisons are odious, but in passing through territories administered by British, German and French officials, one could not but notice the differences of administration.
In this all three agree, though the British and German administrators lay, perhaps, more emphasis upon it than the French, namely, that the autocratic form of Government is the most suitable for primitive races. Forced labour has been largely abolished in the British and French spheres, but is recognised and employed freely in German Adamawa. The payments made to natives are high in the British terri- tory, lower in German, and lowest in the French regions. In roads and river connections the Germans far excel ; then come the British, and lastly the French. The French are most anxious to retain the pagans as pagans, and not let them become Mohammedan. As a consequence the pagans in the Shari-Chad Protectorate have the greatest confidence
85
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
in their white administrators. This is not so in German Adamawa nor in Northern Nigeria, where the intelhgent and half-civihsed Moslem has secured considerable prestige, and is in many cases preferred by the Government official to the naked bush pagan. As a consequence the French have had more trouble with the Moslems, and the Germans and British more trouble with the pagans in their respective territories.
English coinage is now commonly used in Nigeria, and Egyptian coinage in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ; while in Adamawa and the Shari-Chad Protectorate the Maria Theresa dollar is still the favourite coin of the native trader.
Road Distances from Garua to Mandjafa.
I.
2.
3- 4- 5- 6.
7- 8.
9-
lO.
II.
12.
13-
14.
15- 16.
17- 18. 19.
Garua
Dolere
Uro-Malam-Gida
Lominge
Lombel
Gidar
Lam
Midjifin
Kilgin
Mindif
Marua
Balassa
Bogo
Gigile
Gilbidi
Musgun
Morno
Maniling
Mandjafa
4 hours
3 hours
4 hours
5 hours 5 hours 8 hours 4 hours
4 hours
5 hours
4 hours 3 hours 3 hours 3 hours 2 hours
5 hours
6 hours 2 hours 2 hours
(Actual route taken.) Mutu-Rua
Lafif Jag an Marua
3 hours 5 hours 3 hours
CHAPTER VII. On the Shari.
Half-Castes — Crossing the Shari — The Bagirmi Country — My Interpreter a Failure — Canoeing — Even the Women Pray ! — Hippos — Busso — A French Native Official — Chad — The Borderland — Modern Vandalism — Dumraou — Mouth of Bahr-es-Salamat.
Adamawa lay behind us with its growing number of cafc- au-lait children, half-castes of Arab and negro, European and native.
A few years ago I was staying in Germantown, Phila- delphia, U.S.A., in a house where a lady of dusky complexion waited at table. She was referred to by a member of the household as " our black servant," when, without warning, she suddenly flared up, maintaining most stoutly that she was not black. In this she certainly was right, for her colour was cafc-au-lait. To smooth matters out the master of the house corrected the mistake and called her " coloured." But this was worse than ever. " Coloured ! " she exclaimed, highly displeased, " Coloured ! I am not coloured. I was born so." Poor thing, she was neither black nor white.
Children of whom the father is white and the mother a negress are always denationalised. They are not Africans, but neither do they belong to the white race, and so cannot enjoy the white man's prestige. They have often the vices of both and the virtues of neither. There are an exceptional number of these half-castes in Adamawa, more than in the Shari-Chad Protectorate or in Northern Nigeria. For Euro- peans to keep a native woman is deprecated in Northern
S7
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Nigeria ; it is not the usual thing in the Shari-Chad Pro- tectorate, but it is the rule in Adamawa.
The inter-marriage of the Arab and the negro also produces unsatisfactory results. Their offspring combine the drunken- ness of the negro and the immorality and fanaticism of the Arab, without the saving quahties of either, viz., the confi- dence and childlikeness of the negro and the nobility and hospitality of the Arab. The half-caste Eurasian problem
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FISHERBOATS ON THE SHARI.
in India is a serious one ; the half-caste Eurafrican problem in Africa, I am afraid, will be even more serious in the future. On Wednesday, April 14th, we reached the bank of the Shari. After leaving Maniling, the last Musgun town, our way lay for 20 minutes through a mimosa wood, then for an hour through a splendid gallery-forest full of animal life, and the last 10 minutes through tall swamp grass. The path at this time of the year was dry, but must be almost
On the Shari,
impassable during the rains. Tlie main road from Marua to Bagirmi does not lead through the Musgun territory, as this whole country is one vast swamp in the summer months.
We surmounted the last ridge, where a few royal palms stood as lonely sentinels on the right ; and then the wide, limpid, clear stream of the Shari lay before our eyes.
Several revolver shots called a large boat to our side of the river, and the crossing began. At 8 a.m. we were all
SULTAN GAURANG OF BAGIRMI.
on the other side. The chief of Mandjafa had come down with his people to the edge of the water to welcome us. Shouts of rejoicing and luluing of women greeted us from the com- pounds built on the edge of a high bank of the river. Our reception was like a triumphal entry ; the whole town had turned out.
So far so good ; but now the transport problem appeared once more. In Central African travelling transport is a
From Hausaland to Egypt, throuoh the Sudan.
thing that Hves on patience. It always generates worry, and worry is not good for one's nerves. I knew that there was a fleet of some 25 steel canoes on the Shari, but of their whereabouts I was ignorant. In Mandjafa only one large, leaky, wooden boat could be found, but I was told we might obtain another from a neighbouring town. By sending my horses and carriers to march along the bank I thought two
SULTAN GAURAXG CALLING ON THE FRKNCH GO\EKNOR.
canoes might be sufficient to carry us to the mouth of the Auka- Debbe or to Fort Archambault.
During my stay in Mandjafa I lived in a very good com- pound containing a number of huts for the men, and room enough to pitch the tent and build a sun shelter. I sent the chief his presents, and having paid off a number of my carriers who wanted to return from here to the Benue, I " sat down," in local parlance, to wait for the arrival of my second boat.
90
On the Shari.
Mandjafa belongs to the Sultan Gaurang of Bagirmi, and Bagirmi is fanatically Mohammedan. The respectful atten- tion of the pagans is conspicuous by its absence. The banks of the Shari in this region form an example of what has taken place, and is taking place in other parts of the Sudan. The pagans have been harassed by the Moslem slave raiders and have withdrawn themselves out of reach into the swamps, so
OFFICER COMMANDING TROOPS OF SULTAN OF BAGIRMI.
that the east bank of the Shari inhabited by the Mohammedans is alive with people ; while the west bank, where formerly the pagans lived, is an unpeopled wilderness, a home for large herds of game. The Shari River has at this time of the year as much, if not more, water than the Benue ; but the deep, stagnant pools of the lower Benue are not found in the Shari. During my time of waiting at Mandjafa I went over to the German side of the river for meat, and brought home five water-buck and a harnessed antelope.
91
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Two days and a-half we had to spend at Mandjafa until our canoes were ready, caulked, floored with dry sticks and grass mats, and provided with a sun shelter over the central part. This sun shelter was some 5 feet in height, made of thin sticks, covered first with grass mats and then with my waterproof sheets.
On Saturday, April 17th, we began our up-river journey. The horses and most of my men went along the river bank, and only my personal boys and a couple of headmen accom-
A POWOVV ON THE SHARI.
panied me in the boats. A new acquisition, " Osman, the interpreter," sat in front of me. Osman had hanging around him some 30 or 40 layas (charms). He had behind him a very chequered career. Having run away from Northern Nigeria, where he belonged to the Northern Nigerian Regi- ment, he had enlisted as a French Guard in the Shari-Chad Protectorate, got his dismissal, and then entered the services of the chief of Mandjafa as interpreter.
He had come to ask whether he might accompany me to
92
On the Shari.
the Nile on his way to Mecca, and after some hesitation I had agreed. He informed me that he knew English, French, Arabic, Hausa, Fulatanchi and Bagirmi, and was altogether a very learned man. Alas for his pretensions ! I soon found to my disgust that he could speak not one sohtary language properly. True, he knew a few words in each of them, but when I wanted to have things translated correctly he was an utter failure, and the confusion he made can be better imagined than described. When he translated for me in Ndele I had to pull him up at every second word, so that the Chief Sinussi at last suggested that I had better speak to him in my Arabic, as he understood that better than the Arabic of Osman.
My two canoes were propelled by nine polers each — five in front and four behind. The men kept up a continuous chatter, but worked well. Five hours' hard poling brought us to a small Bagirmi village called And] a, where we spent the night. All along the bank flowering acacias with bright yellow clusters of bloom gave the forest a park-hke appear- ance. There were clouds and wind during the evening and the night, but no rain. I slept in the village under a grass shelter that had been prepared for me by the people. Next morning my men were slow in starting, but once they got on the move they worked well. They poled for seven hours and only rested twice during that time to take their food.
The lack of vegetables in the Shari valley makes itself much felt to the European traveller. There seems no reason why sweet potatoes, yams, manioc, paw-paws, onions, beans and other native vegetables should not be grown largely by the people. Milk is plentiful, and of eggs there are a few.
To follow my progress from village to village would be tedious to the reader, so I will limit myself to giving the names of the most important villages on the east bank where we spent the nights or rested at noon-day. These were Onko, a small village ; Tideng, a large village ; Balingeri, about
93
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
seven miles from Tideng, Gole, Mondo, Baingana, Woi, Mabaling, and Labana, a large village.
Our welcome in the villages usually left nothing to be desired. The Bagirmi people, dressed in their blue Bornu tobes, are a very religious people ; even the women pray. Many of them go on pilgrimage to Mecca.
It had become known on the Shari that I intended to go across country to the Nile, and not a few religious enthusiasts came to ask whether they might accompany me on their way to Mecca as far as Egypt. They are a mixture of the Hamitic and Bantu races. They had flat noses and fairly thick lips like the Bantus, but the women wear their hair in the style of the Sphinx like the Fulani.
The sandbanks which appeared everywhere in the river were alive with teal, duck and spur-winged geese. Reed- buck and duiker afforded now and then a welcome change of diet. Some six or eight shoals of hippos we noticed during these days, one or two of them of, at least, 20 head. Three distinct species of crocodiles lived in the deeper pools in perfect amit}^ with the hippos.*
The quiet days on the Shari were perhaps the easiest and happiest of my whole trans- African journey. The much- needed exercise I used to get in providing my larder with meat through the chase produced a thoroughly healthy appetite ; the shady, wild fig-trees on the banks or the roof shelter of the canoes shielded me from the sun. Frequent showers cooled the atmosphere without spoiling my pro- perty, which was safely protected by waterproof sheeting. And should I be caught in the rain while hunting, well, a rain bath had also its delights. The natives were friendly, my boys were content, everything looked bright.
On Saturday, April 24th, we ran ashore at Busso. This is a considerable town with a market and a Government
* Fide Appendix C. 94
On the Shari.
Station. The latter is well laid out, a number of fruit trees having been planted ; and a flourishing vegetable garden is a great boon to the traveller. I had salad for the first time since leaving England six months before. Five Sene- galese tirailleurs under a native Commandant represented the Government and controlled the river and the cross roads which meet here.
...(&» ,._j^.«(*.
A DUG-OUT CANOE ON THE SHARI.
I had intended to change my polers at this place, but I found the greatest difficulty in getting the native sergeant to move. I knew the chief of the town was friendly, so that the sergeant would have no difficulty in securing the men. On the evening of the first day I asked whether men had been found. I was told they had all been in the fields during the day, and that therefore none had been procured yet, but would be on the morrow.
95
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
The second day came, but no polers ! They had " all run away into the bush " — a flagrant untruth, as I had seen all the people m the village. I insisted that there must be i8 men willing to work for me two or three days for " heavy " pay, such as silver dollars, silver bangles, beads, knives, cloth, looking-glasses, etc. But my arguments made no difference.
The third day came. Mons. le Sergeant informed me pompously that he had now sent two soldiers to a large town in the neighbourhood to secure 30 men, so that I might choose 18 out of them. " When would these polers arrive ? " "Oh, the next day, or, if not then, the day following."
On the fourth day I went out shooting to secure meat. No polers came. By the fifth day my stock of patience was getting exhausted, and my conversation with the commandant, which had been warm and friendly, fell to freezing point. On the sixth day I was obliged to draw upon my reserve stock of patience, for still no polers arrived. The seventh day — I will desist from describing, but I can assure the reader that no bad language escaped my lips.
On the tenth day he at last condescended to secure me polers, but then he made me pay for them in advance twice as much as any trader or Government official would pay ; and when I offered him French money, which is the coin of the realmi in the Shari-Chad Protectorate, he refused it and wanted Maria Theresa dollars, of which I did not happen to have a supply at that time. He had received valuable pre- sents from me on my arrival, and his behaviour could go under no other classification than " sponging." In the end my patience gave out, and I told him that I would report him. This I did, and I afterwards learnt that he had been removed from his position and degraded to the ranks.
It was at Busso that I gathered a good deal of information from the natives about the river connections in the Bagirmi country and around Lake Chad. Native tradition says
96
On the Shari.
that Lake Chad rises and falls every 70 years, that 1906 was the lowest fall, and that the lake has begun to rise again.
The difference in pay given to the natives between the British, German and French Governments is very consider- able. Roughly speaking it amounts to the following : —
Traders' pay. Government pay.
|
English (per day, |
Nigeria) |
IS. |
9d. |
|
German ( „ |
Adamawa) |
Sopfgs. = |
35 P%s. = |
|
6d. |
4id. |
||
|
French ( „ |
Shari-Chad |
Protec- 50 centimes |
40 centimes |
|
torate) |
= 5d. |
= 4d. |
May had come, and with it the rainy season, and I became more and more anxious to press on. On May 4th I left Busso, and camped that night on a sandbank near a Fulani village. The Fulanis come down with their large herds of cattle to the river in the dry season, whilst in the rains the}^ return to the upland.
A village called Mirte is marked on most maps as an im- portant place, but actually counts only three huts. At 4 p.m. a heavy thunderstorm gave me a sound drenching while I was out in the vain hope of securing ducks for supper. Large numbers of hippo disported themselves in the deeper pools. I had given up shooting at them, as even in case one was killed the stream would carry the carcase away before it could rise to the surface. At 3.30 we halted for the day at a Kribi village called Medjem. Busso had been the last Bagirmi town, and we were now entering the borderland between the pagans and the Moslems. The Kribi are half-pagan and half-Mohammedan, and live interspersed with cattle Fulanis.
The Shari River, unlike the Benue, is not fordable at this time of the year. It is at least as wide and much deeper than the latter.
97 H
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
In the afternoon we again made our camp with Fulanis on a sandbank, and were glad to find these, as we were always sure of securing fresh milk and usually chickens and sheep at their encampments. The Fulanis are commonly known in the country as Arabs, and indeed most of them in the Shari Valley speak Arabic. They are probably of a similar origin as the Bedauje, Bishareen and Hadendowa of the Nile Valley, and belong to the Hamitic branch of the human family.
FULANI VILLAGE ON THE SHARL
On Friday, May 7th, we came to Miltu, a French Govern- ment post, formerly German, handed over by the Boundary Commission to the French. A number of Kribi villages which go here under the name of Miltu villages — the Miltu and the Kribi languages are almost the same — are situated around the military Government post.
The sergeant in charge of Miltu was a Frenchman from
On the Shari.
Corsica. He had a good deal of patience with my French, which was desperately rusty, not having been used for years. The good Corse was, at the time of my arrival, busily engaged in rebuilding the station, which had been burned by the German N.C.O. before he left. There seemed to be no justi- fication for such an action, as the buildings had been con- structed by native forced labour, and it simply meant that the natives would have to construct the same buildings twice over. It looked too much as if the Africans were there for the Administrators, and not the Administrators for the Africans. What was the sense in burning down a supposed centre of civilisation, before handing it over to another civilised Power ? It seemed to me that only two reasons could account for it, either vandalism or malice, or was it thoughtlessness ?
On May loth I left Miltu, and arrived on the same day at another French Government post on the east bank of the Shari called Dumraou. Dumraou is a well-appointed station with good houses, but very unhealthy. It has a sergeant in charge. Two other sergeants — or, as they are called here, adjutants — arrived during the evening from Fort Lamy on their way home. The sergeant at Dumraou is married to a native young lady, who seems to have the rule in the house, and for the first time I saw a white man turned out of his easy chair by a coloured girl, who appropriated it with the greatest nonchalance, and Mons. le Sergeant seemed quite satisfied with the footstool.
We left Dumraou again the next morning, Tuesday, May nth, and poling all day arrived at the village of Kuno in the Nilim hills. We camped on a sandbank in the middle of the river, and while there noticed two distinct kinds of crocodiles lying close together, the grey kind, and another of lighter colour with six or seven dark rings around its body. I endeavoured to shoot one of them, but they decamped before I got near.
99 H 2
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
The Nihm Hills, which we passed the next morning, were some 700 feet in height, and the whole range, about five miles long, runs parallel' with the stream. These were the first hills I had seen since leaving the Lam country.
During the evening we came to a village called Melum on the east bank, where I killed four Cobus cob — three in the evening and one in the morning before starting — so that the boys had plenty of good food, and rejoiced in their abundance of meat. As long as Africans are well fed they are good-tempered and willing.
On Thursday, May 13th, at mid-day, we passed the mouth of the Bahr-es-Salamaat. Just beyond it the Shari breaks its way through heavy barricades of granite (syenite) rocks, similar to those of the first cataract on the Nile, which are called by Prof. Link " woolsacks." For 2 J hours we poled in and out among these barriers, while a heavy thunderstorm passed over us, and a dark forest of exceptionally tall trees hedged us in.
During the dav I suffered a good deal from headache, which I attributed to a moonstroke. The unusual brightness of the moon woke me up several times during the night.
We had now gone beyond the border of Islam, and come to the uninhabited country which the ogre of Africa, the slave raider, has drawn around his domains. Two days through this country, and on Saturday, May 15th, we were at Fort Archambault.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Ultima Thule of European Civilisation in Africa.
Fort Archambault — The Heart of the Continent — Agricultural Implements — Naked Pagans — Burial — Two Months at a French Fort — Problems Ahead !
Two sergeants and the French store-keeper, Mons. W. Esterhn, were waiting for me on the beach as my canoes arrived at Fort Archambault. This place will be in the future for the
FORT ARCHAMB.\ULT.
Shari what Ibi is for the Benue, just as Fort Lamy is for the Shari-Chad Protectorate, what Lokoja is for Nigeria. Fort Archambault has a wall, a moat and enfiladed gates.
UNIVERSITY CF GALIFCiti
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
A lieutenant, two non-commissioned officers, and a Govern- ment agent, besides 30 or 40 tirailleurs, are in charge. They have laid out three well-kept gardens, have built three mag- nificent rest-houses — each of them a three-roomed bungalow made of burnt brick with a large verandah around it — and have established a place of refuge for freed slaves.
Half-a-dozen freed slaves' villages, occupied by former slaves of Rabba (named by the natives " Rabe "), have grown up round Fort Archambault. Then there is also a consider- able Bornu village inhabited by fugitives and undesirable elements that have escaped from British and German Bornu, and quite a Fulani colony. The Bornu traders have established a flourishing market opposite the Post, and some hundreds of people can usually be seen exchanging their wares about mid-day.
Fort Archambault is called by the natives " Fransambo," and is known as such from the Benue to the Nile. I had heard it spoken about, but had not been able to locate it. There is a remarkable mixed state of civilisation here from the absolutely nude to the most ridiculously highly-dressed specimens of African beauty.
The goods from Tripoli, from Nigeria and the Congo, here meet the Mecca pilgrims from Timbuctu, who arrive in crowds ; and the single shy-eyed, wary Hadj who has been to Mecca, and, like the wandering Jew, seeks his way back to his native land. A babel of languages greets me as I approach the market sheds. Arabic and Sara dominate, that is to say, the language of the Moslem and the language of the pagan of these regions ; but Hausa is also very common. Beri- beri is known to most of the Moslem traders. Fulatanchi is, of course, spoken by the cattle owners, and each of these languages has again many dialects. The Sara language includes Korbol, Sango, Nilim, Bagirmi and a number of other tongues spoken from Busso to Fort Crampel. The
The Ultima Thule of European Civilisation in Africa.
branches of the Sara language are more than dialects, and should perhaps be called sister languages.
All the pagans here belonging to the family of the Kirdi people are excellent agriculturists. They use three different kinds of agricultural implements. The first is a short spade a foot and a-half long with a wooden handle, and an iron shovel after this style : —
A CURIOUS AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT.
The natives kneel on the ground while using this spade. It is the tool for weeding. The second, a small shovel, of about 4 inches in diameter with a long handle some 7 feet long, is used to dig shallow holes for the planting of guinea- corn, maize, and millet. One man digs the hole, and the other drops the seed and treads the earth down. The third tool is more complicated. It is also a shovel but with a very long blade, only the end of which is strengthened with iron. The wooden part is perforated, and has two long cuts running the whole length so as to let some of the earth pass through. The instrument looks something like the illustration on page
105.
10:;
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
This third implement is used by men and women alike to dig the trenches between the rows of guinea-corn. It is worked kneeling. I suppose it might be described as a sort of primitive hand-plough.
SEED SOWING AMONG THE SARA.
Rice and cotton are not grown by the Kirdi, but of all other cereal farm products of the Central Sudan there is an abund- ance. They are strong, muscular people, with well-shaped bodies. The women go about absolutely naked. They are innocent of shame. Here and there is seen a string of blue
104
The Ultima Thule of European Civilisation in Africa.
beads around the body or the neck, but very rarely ; and only in places where the Kirdi come often into contact with the European do they wear a bunch of leaves. They are quite rich enough to buy clothes, but they despise them. Their black colour is their dress. " We are clean, we have nothing to hide," seems to be their thought. The men wear a goat or antelope skin around their loins, — doch ohne die geschlechts- organe zu bedecken. Diese Organe verbergen sie in gewandter
|
^ |
|
|
Y'-'^^y' |
|
|
' />« '' . ^ !^HHHHHBi |
A HAND PLOUGH.
weise hinter den Beinen, und sind doch im Stande schnell zu marschieren.
During my stay at Joko a murder took place. One brother killed another with his spear, and the
" Yai-ooh ! " " Yai-ooh ! the wailing of the women continued all night. On the morrow a large crowd of men gathered under a shade tree in front
J 05
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
of the dead man's house, and with much beating of tom- toms and much drinking of pito (millet beer) commenced to dig the grave in the centre of the hut. Fowls were sacrificed, and in the afternoon the body, tied up into a sitting posture was lowered into the hole, which was then filled with earth and the hut deserted. It will remain deserted until it falls to pieces. Early next morning three natives went to Fort Archambault to call upon the white men for vengeance on
PAGANS OF THE SHARI-CHAD PROTECTORATE.
the murderer. A sergeant with lo soldiers was sent, the murderer captured and condemned to one year's penal servi- tude. Life is cheap in these regions.
Shea-butter nut trees are very plentiful in the Shari valley. When the fruit is ripe, the fleshy part, tasting something like mellow pears, forms good food, and the nut itself yields a valuable fat. The two months at Fort Archambault were
1 06
The Ultima Thule of European Civilisation in Africa.
a preparation for the more difficult part of the tour that lay yet ahead. My intercourse with the French Government officials, who kept passing in a continual stream from Fort Lamy to Fort Crampel and vice versa, was of the happiest. They usually stayed a day or two at Fort Archambault, and reciprocal hospitality, which is the rule amongst the white men in Central Africa, made time fly and gave me a con- siderable insight into the methods employed by the French Government in their very good work in the Shari-Chad Protectorate.
I wrote home about that time describing my surroundings in the following way : —
" I am here in the very centre of the Sudan. Representa- tives of 20 or 30 different tribes and nations of the Sudan are around me. Arabs and Hausas, Fulanis and Senegalese, natives from the Congo, from the Niger and the Nile, over- dressed coast negroes, and absolutely naked savages mingle in the crowd under the market sheds not a hundred yards from my door. Twenty years ago Graham Wilmot Brooke stood at the northernmost point of the Mobangi and looked towards the Central Sudan, towards the Shari region, but he had to turn back. The nearest missionaries to me now are Mr. and Mrs. Burt, at Dempar on the Benue, 500 miles away. Before me stretches another 1,000 miles till I reach the Americans on the Sobat, or the C.M.S. at Bor ; and all this country is not a desert, but a densely-populated, fairly healthy region. I am glad to be able to say that since leaving Eng- land I have not had the shghtest touch of fever, Africa seems to agree with my constitution. We are now in the rainy season and the evenings are deliciously cool, just fresh enough to make you feel that a white suit is not quite warm enough for evening wear.
" I have been compelled to remain at Fort Archambault for a month. On my arrival I expected to continue my
107
P>om Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
river journey up the Aukdebbe (known to the natives as Bahr-Auk) after two or three days of rest, but I found, on carefully investigating the amount of water carried by that river, that I should not find it navigable until the end of the rainy season. This meant staying for at least three months at Fort Archambault. Three months is a long time, and after due consideration, I reluctantly decided to continue my journey overland, following the Bahr-Auk as far as possible.
" Now the difficult problem of transport is once more before me. The land through which I shall have to pass is unexplored, and to take carriers from here and send them back is impracticable. The solution of my difficulty seems to lie in purchasing a number of oxen to carry my loads. If the tsetse fly does not kill them I shall, perhaps, get safely out of the wood. The oxen are expected here to-day or to- morrow, and after giving them a day of rest I hope to make a start.
" The next point I shall aim for will be the capital of Sinussi, 12 days from here. I shall stay there three or four days, and continue towards the Bahr-el-Ghazal to Raja, where I hope to meet the first English-Egyptian Government official. Raja is reported to be 22 days from Sinussi. I am looking forward to the unknown country ahead, wondering what it will bring me. I know there are plenty of people and vast herds of elephants in it, but this is about all the information I have."
108
CHAPTER IX.
The Birth of a New Protectorate.
The French Conquest — Rabba, the Napoleon of the Sudan — Fight with Slave Raiders — Smuggled Arms — La Bataille — Third Engagement — The Great Fight — A Decisive Victory.
The conquest of the Central Sudan by the French, the im- portance of which has hardly been realised in Great Britain, looks as one reads it, hardly real. In 1898 a French Ex- pedition, under Captain Breton et, accompanied by several white men and a number of Senegalese tirailleurs, had gone down the Shari River to explore those new territories and take possession of them in the name of France. Rabba, who had heard of this expedition, sent an army to meet it, and in the Nilim Hills the little French force was surrounded by thousands of fanatical Mohammedan savages and cut up. Only one or two escaped. This was a serious blow to French prestige, and it was therefore decided in Paris to punish Rabba.
In the autumn of 1898 three French expeditions were sent into the Central Sudan, the first starting from Algiers in the north across the Sahara. For over a year Captain Foureau, who led this party, was not heard of, but he succeeded in crossing the great desert and reached the shores of Lake Chad.
The second expedition, under Gentil, started from the mouth of the Congo, and, going by way of the French Congo, the Ubangi and Shari, fought its way through overwhelming obstacles down towards Lake Chad.
109
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
The third expedition which, under Voulet and Chanoine, had left St. Louis on the Senegal about the same time, pur- sued its way through Timbuctu and Zinder towards Lake Chad. The story of this third expedition is one of wild dreams, deplorable excesses and disaster. The two leaders seem to have gone out of their minds. When the doings of this expedition were reported home, a superior officer was des- patched to take charge, but on his arrival he was foully murdered by Voulet and Chanoine, who ordered their troops to fire on the approaching superior. For some time massa- cres, rapine and outrages were of a daily occurrence, until the tirailleurs, satiated with vice, turned their rifles upon their miserable leaders and shot them. The remnants of this third party, under Joalland and Meynier, at last reached the neighbourhood of Lake Chad. Gentil had been attacked by Rabba, a very serious encoimter had ensued, in which the small French force was compelled to retreat. Their w^eakened number seemed incapable of offering effectual resistance to the well-armed multitude of Rabba, and it looked as though Gentil's expedition would follow in the wake of Bretonet, and be annihilated, when suddenly, as it seemed out of nowhere, appeared Foureau from Algiers and Joalland and Meynier from the Senegal. They caught Rabba at Kusseri, defeated him, took Dikoa his capital, liberated between 200,000 and 300,000 slaves there, followed Rabba's son, who had escaped into Northern Nigeria, and slew him, and established peace in the lands of that now fallen Napoleon of the Central Sudan. This was the beginning of the French Shari-Chad Protectorate.
But there were several other powerful chiefs who had to be dealt with, and who endangered the French position. Fort Lamy, the capital of the Shari-Chad Protectorate, being some three month's journey from Europe, was, to all intents and purposes, cut off from adequate European support.
The Birth of a New Protectorate.
Bagirmi had carried on continual slave raids on the middle Logone. Mgaumdere, situated in the German sphere of influence, was also doing its best to depopulate the lands of the Middle Shari by slave raids. In the following we have the report of Captain Faure about his fight with these slave raiders on April 20th, 1904 : —
"At 10 o'clock in the morning our little column arrived in sight of the camp of Bipia. This latter had the form of a square, the sides of which were about 500 metres long. Tree trunks, some 20 centimetres in diameter, formed the stockade around it. Happily, we could command from the high ground, from which we descended, a good view of the interior. We noticed the Fulanis washing themselves preparatory to their morning prayers. They were feeding their horses and cleaning their clothes in a little brook a few hundred metres from the camp.
" It was a complete surprise, and we were able to approach to within 50 metres of the camp, fire several volleys, and then charge. Our brave little column consisted of 42 National ' Guards ' (raised in the country) and 200 auxiharies. The resistance was feeble and the camp taken before the enemy had time to realise the numbers attacking. We took up the pursuit in various directions. Parties of four went together, and for two hours chased the slave-raiders. The Fulanis had 300 killed and we took 60 wounded, 172 horses, and a consider- able number of saddles, blankets, kitchen utensils, spears, bows, axes, guns, &c., but the lack of transport compelled us to leave the larger part of this with the natives of ihe country. Our losses were four wounded guards. The prisoners told us that the slave raiders, whose chief was Baria, had come from Ngaumdere. They had only arrived a few days ago, and numbered about 3,000 men. Unhappily we were unable to catch the herd of cattle, for that morning the slave raiders had sent this herd in the easterly direction, and at the first
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
shots the herdsmen drove the cattle towards their own terri- tory. My soldiers were too desperately tired to be able to undertake an adequate pursuit. We gave back to the villages half the horses that had been taken away from them, and the i8o slaves that had already been captured. A small party of men returned from the pursuit of the slave raiders a day or two later with 132 slaves and 45 horses. The total number of slaves we liberated as the result of this fight was 680. These were escorted back to their various villages. Some 25 village chiefs came to me, thanking me for delivering their country and promising obedience and tribute."
Besides Bagirmi and Ngaumdere, there were Wadai and Sinussi's territory, Dar Kuti, which were troublesome. During my stay at Fort Archambault, Wadai fell. The following I wrote at the time : —
" Wadai has fallen !
" Abesher captured !
" Une grande victoire — vous avez oui la nouvelle ? "
With those words the agent of the French Trading Com- pany here at Fort Archambault hastened just now up to my verandah.
" We have beaten Wadai " he exclaimed, smiling all over his face, greatly pleased with himself for being a Frenchman. The news astonished me not a little, and I felt, at first, incredulous. I knew, of course, of the concentration of French forces in the direction of Wadai. I knew an expedition was planned, but that the whole fight was over already, that was news indeed.
Wadai, about the size of Italy, was the last stronghold of the Mohammedan fanatics in the Central Sudan. Irrecon- cilable remnants of the Khalifa's forces of Omdurman, of Rabba of Dikoa, of Fadl-Allah, of the Emir of Sokoto, and others, had congregated at Wadai. El Sheich Sinussi, from his headquarters in Borku (acknowledged as the spiritual
The Birth of a New Protectorate.
leader of the people of Wadai) had introduced into the country by way of Tripoli and Kufra large numbers of modern fire- arms, Winchesters and Lebels, as well as several cannons. The army of Wadai was reported to be armed with 8,000 new repeating rifles.
In 1905, when in Tripoli, while purchasing a gun from an Italian, I had seen large quantities of cartridges and Winchester rifles which had been smuggled into the country by Italians and sold to Sinussi. Everybody in Tripoli seemed to know about these smuggling operations.
No white man had ever crossed Wadai except Dr. Nachtigal, the famous German explorer, in 1872, and two Italians in 1881. No white man had ever travelled the desert high- road from Abesher (the capital of Wadai) to the Mediterranean. A number of explorers had tried their hands at Wadai, some had been killed, and others barely escaped with their lives, till Europeans began to be afraid to touch that hotbed of Moslem fanaticism. Fort Lamy on the Lower Shari, whence the Wadai Expedition was organised, is at " the end of all things " with regard to the white man's civilisation, more than three month's journey from Europe.
What could a few French officers and three or four hundred Senegalese soldiers attempt against the many thousands of desperate Mohammedan fanatics ? But these were the same troups that had broken Rabba, that had fought for years their way into and through the robber tribes of the Sahara. They were all of them audacious and dangerously well-trained men, with a large share of the French " elan," so important a factor in the victories of Buonaparte 100 years ago. What they could do and have done will be seen from the following short apercu of the Wadai war.
In April 1908, 3,000 Wadaiens started for a slave raid and plundering expedition in the direction of Attia. A thousand of them were armed with modern rifles. Captain Jerusalem,
115 I 2
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
Lieuts. Le Grand and Godard and Sergeant An Rousseau with 80 Senegalese tirailleurs (sharpshooters) were sent against them. A fierce conflict took place at Dogotchi. The Wadaiens were beaten and retreated, but to pursue 3,000 men with only 80 soldiers seemed not advisable, and Captain Jerusalem returned to Attai. Cavalry-Sergeant (Marechal de Logis) Au Rousseau was wounded in the neck during the
A MIGHTY HUNTER, LIEUT. TOURENCQ.
attack, five tirailleurs were killed on the field, and six were wounded. Of these five died, and only one, a native sergeant who had been shot through the leg, Hved.
The next fight took place on June 14th, 1908, about halfway between Attai and Abesher in the waterless bush.
Lieut. -Colonel Julien, who has been in Central Africa on and off for 15 years and built Fort Archambault, commanded
116
The Birth of a New Protectorate.
on the French side. His Httle army consisted of Captain Jerusalem, Lieuts. de Tonquieres, Blard, Tourencq (a mighty- hunter, and a clever photographer who takes pictures of charging elephants and charging Wadaiens), four sergeants, one corporal, one canonnier, 120 tirailleurs, 18 artillerymen, 420 native levies, and two cannon.
Against him he had between 8,000 and 9,000 Wadaiens led by the chief general of Wadai, Agid Mamid.
A short but sharp fight took place in which the Wadaiens were utterly routed. Agid Mamid, two sons of the Sultan of Wadai, and 1,300 Wadaiens were killed, 14 flags were taken, and when the rifles were gathered in one heap, a French sergeant who was present said " the heap was as high as that hut," pointing to a hut 12 feet high. There were dozens of Winchester rifles. Martini Henry's, automatic rifles of different patterns, Colt revolvers, and many other modern arms.
On the French side. Sergeant Le Noan was wounded, four tirailleurs killed and 20 wounded, besides 40 or 50 of the friendly natives killed.
There was not sufficient water near the battlefield to permit the erection of a fortified camp, and so the Lieut. -Colonel marched back about 100 kilometres and built a fort.
The third engagement took place in Kanem in the beginning of December, 1908. A small French force, having heard that Wadaiens and a large number of Arabs belonging to Sinussi had erected a fortification at Ain Galaga, made a reconnais- sance in the direction of this oasis. After reaching Ain Galaga, they were very unwisely led to attack the Arab Camp and met with a bad reverse. All their transport animals were lost, and had the Arabs pursued, none of them would have escaped. About the same time, in Dar-Kuti, south of Wadai, two white traders were killed, and matters looked some- what black.
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From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
An important journey should be mentioned here. Lieut. Bourraud, accompanied only by four tirailleurs, went for a 30 days' march through Wadai territory, and secured much valuable information. He did not meet with any opposition.
And now we come to the last scene in the conflict. For six months there had been a suspension of hostilities, but as Wadai kept on strengthening its forces and fortifications, and as there seemed no hope of coming to a peaceful under- standing, it was decided to make a determined attempt to take Abesher.
From the different military posts in the Shari-Chad Pro- tectorate all troops that could be spared w^ere ordered to assemble in the beginning of June on the Wadai border. The whole force would have consisted of some 400 tirailleurs with three or four cannons, led by about 15 white men, but before the various contingents of this important expedition had arrived at their destination, the die had been cast. Wadai had fallen.
Captain Fugenschuch, a German of the French Foreign Legion, had been asked to lead the avant-garde, which con- sisted of Lieut. Bourraud, Lieut. Rupier of the Artillerie, Lieut. Leandri, two sergeants, 180 tirailleurs and two cannon.
Captain Fugenschuch and Lieut. Bourraud, two men of the type which the Yankees of the West call " skeered o' nothings," marched against Abesher without w^aiting for the other troops.
Fifty miles from that town they encountered the army of Wadai consisting of 12,000 men. A fight ensued on June ist, and the report which has just arrived here on its way from the Governor to the Minister in Paris, says : " Wadaiens soundly beaten ; Captain wounded in jaw. Lieut. Bourraud left him and pursued enemy to Abesher, takes the City by storm, waits for fresh forces, and proposes to follow Sultan of Wadai, who has escaped in the direction of the Darfur border."
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The Birth of a New Protectorate.
These are very few words, but they mean a great deal for the Central Sudan.
Other reports are arriving continually with the native traders which elaborate and confirm the news of this wonder- ful success."
Thus I wrote in July 1909 at Fort Archambault.
On my arrival in the Eastern Sudan, I enquired whether the Sultan of Wadai had been heard of in Darfur, but was informed that he had not gone in that direction, but into the Sahara. This news seemed to me contrary to the information I had gathered from the natives, and I expressed myself accordingly, but was told I was mistaken. Now the news has come of a serious French reverse on the Darfur border. Captain Fugenschuch, several officers, and practically the whole column of 120 men has been annihilated, only some five or six escaping. This is a very serious setback to the advance of peace and civilisation in the Central Sudan. Had Darfur been occupied before now by troops of the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan, this misfortune, which carried away some of the finest fighting men the French have had in the Shari-Chad Protectorate, would not have happened, as the Sultan of Wadai would not have fled towards the Darfur border. He was evidently assured of a welcome and support by the Sultan of Darfur. Colonel Moll, the Governor of the French Shari- Chad Protectorate, who is, according to the latest news, in Abesher, the capital of Wadai, has withdrawn the troops from Sinussi's country, and is concentrating all his efforts on Wadai at the present moment to safeguard his former successes. It is an open question whether this may not lead to trouble in Sinussi's country. As long as Islam is what it is, a Moham- medan fanatical outbreak may be expected at any time, and as these territories are very far removed from Europe, to cope with such an outbreak adequately would be exceed- ingly difficult.
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CHAPTER X.
Big Game of the Shari Valley.
AniElephant Hunt— Music Indescribable! — Forty Elephants — The Charge : and After !— My First Elephant — Native Hunting Methods— Rogues — Hippo Hunting — The Father of the Herd.
'' ■ " Then I followed the chase by mere nature and inclination, but now I know Fhave a right to follow it, because it gives me endurance, promptness, courage, self-control, as well as health and cheerfulness." — Charles KiNGSLEY.
One hundred years ago Africa must have been alive with wild game if in the now well-known parts game was as plentiful as in the lesser known, such as the Shari region, the Bhar- el-Ghazal and East Central Africa.
I^[subjoin a few episodes of the chase in the neighbour- hood of Fort Archambault, where, within a day's journey, one was sure to find elephant, rhino, hippo, giraffe, buffalo, boar, and a dozen different kinds of antelope.
On Thursday, June 3rd, I left Fort Archambault with 30 men and two horses, carrying four rifles, a shot gun, and a revolver with me. I had heard so much about the vast herds of elephants in the neighbourhood, that I longed to get a sight of them, put my shooting powers to the test, and secure a few pounds' worth of ivory. I saw the elephants, shot at them, but as to securing the pounds' worth of ivory, I came off badly.
Six hours' march from Fort Archambault brought us to a little Kirdi village named Joko, in the bush on the western bank of the Shari. A very ancient chief bade us welcome, and
Big Game of the Shari Valley
provided food, wood and water. The tent was pitched, and we retired early. The hunter who had been sent ahead on the previous day reported that the elephants were in the neighbourhood ; they had been heard by the village people. In spite of their large size it is easier to hear than to see elephants.
For five days, each day for about six hours, I followed the traces of two herds, a herd of 60 on the west and one of
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40 on the east bank of the Shari. On the first day, after hot and tiring tracking, all we got was a severe drenching through a heavy tornado. We never got near the elephants. At I o'clock in the afternoon, the spoor was at least four hours old. With considerable satisfaction I killed two hartebeests on our way back to the village, so that my tired men had meat to cheer them. The hartebeest in the Shari valley is similar to the East African and an entirely different species to that of Northern Nigeria. Its coat is a darker colour, and the
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
horns are smaller and somewhat differently shaped. The long head and the cow-gallop is the same.
The second day of my elephant hunt was a red-letter day. Starting at 6 oclock, 15 natives and myself went about three miles up the Shari, and crossed the river close to a little fishing village. The ground was very wet after yesterday's heavy shower. My horse kept slipping about continually, and once fell heavily on sloping ground. The travelling became so bad that I felt like giving up. Still there might be elephants close by, and if it was hard going for us, it must be consider- ably harder for the elephants, and there seemed a hope that they might curtail their morning constitutional, which usually takes them over 30 or 40 miles of ground. At 8.30 a.m. we came upon fresh spoor, only about two hours old. A herd of 40 or 50 had been slowly meandering through the forest and left behind them, wonderfully evident marks of their playfulness in the shape of pulled-down branches, rooted-up trees and holes two feet deep dug by their tusks. They had broken a new road through the bush, and we were not slow in availing ourselves of the inviting prospect of coming up with them. Once a swamp blocked our way which the elephants had passed, but which our horses could not ford, and we had to make a circuit of several miles, taking up the spoor again on the further side.
Mile after mile we followed, and it seemed to become no fresher. At 10.30 we had just passed a little fadama (meadow) in the forest when we caught the " once heard never for- gotten " grumblings of the elephants. The wind was most favourable. In an instant we were off our horses, and sending the carriers, natives and animals back, the four of us — that is, a native hunter, my interpreter Osman, my head boy Dangana and myself (I had with me two '405 Winchesters and two French Army rifles) — proceeded carefully to in- vestigate the position of the game.
Big Game of the Shari Valley
Nearer and nearer came the magnificent gurgling and grunting, sometimes sounding like low organ notes. There is no word in the English language describing the music the elephant indulges in. One might call it " organing," from the German " Orgeln," the red-deer's call in the mating season. Another 50 yards and through the bushes loomed the giant slaty-coloured bodies of the beasts. Unconsciously I stopped, but the hunter went on and motioned me to advance also. Where he could go, of course, I could go. We were 50 yards from the nearest animal. Quietly they con- tinued munching the grass and leaves. Forty yards — we could see the little pig's eyes twinkling, see the ears flap, and the tails whisk. Thirty yards — how far was that hunter going ? Was he to creep right amongst them ? I noticed several large beasts coming towards us from the right. The hunter saw them too and stooped. Close by my side he kneeled behind a bush. There were no large trees that an elephant could not break or root up in an instant ; nothing but scrub, brushwood, grass and a few small shea trees. If the elephants charged there was no running away from them, no tree to climb, no hole to hide in. But why think of run- ning ? I held in my hand a Winchester loaded with five hard-nosed bullets that would go through anything in the elephant — skin, flesh and bone.
Silently we watched the great beasts in front of us ; they were evidently unconscious of our presence, and continued quietly feeding. The hunter touched my arm and pointed to the tusks of the mighty head on the left, another in front of us, and two or three on the right. There were before us altogether about 10 full-grown elephants, and 30 young ones ageing from one year to twenty years.
All these observations take some time to recount, but less than one minute had elapsed since we got the first glimpse of the elephants, when I fired my first shot just in front of
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
the ear of the largest animal. Another shot followed into the next beast's head, but no result. By this time the heads of all the younger animals were high in the air. The large ears spread out like sails of ships before the wind. The trunks stretched snake-like forward sniffing the air. This way and that way surged the living mass of bodies, not know- ing in which direction to turn, crushing trees and bushes like matchwood. We lay flat on the ground hardly daring to breathe. Mothers anxious for their young roared, the little ones screeched and the older ones grunted and trumpeted. Now the leader had found a way to the left ; he moved, and, closely pressed together, about 20 followed. A sigh of relief rose from our hearts. We were safely through. None had charged us.
Safe ? No ! the worst was to come. Suddenly before us on our right loomed up the heads of six of the largest elephants bearing straight down upon us. They were 30 yards away — 20 yards ! With feverish haste I raised my rifle and fired one, two, three shots. Still they were coming, and now my nerves gave way and I ran like a hare. My boys had already disappeared. The whole world seemed full of elephants. Before me rose a small anthill. If one were only an ant and could creep into it ! In an instant I was flat on the ground behind it, and beside me thundered the charge of the behemoths. I had hardly reached the ground when I let fly at the neck of the nearest as he passed within a few yards, and then lay still for a minute. This was the first time that I have trembled before game in Africa, but the earth seemed to shake, and all around me to be filled with roaring, trumpeting giants. I know I ought to be ashamed of getting frightened, but I am afraid I am not. It was too much for my nerves. There was no protection in my rifle against six charging elephants. If there had only been one it might have been different ; and there was no safety
124
Big Game of the Shari Valley.
any\vhere else. During the following night I suffered from the after-effects of this charge. I woke up with a cry of alarm, soaked in perspiration, trembling as if the elephants were on top of me. I had been fighting about with my arms, and had pulled down my mosquito net.
But let us return to the chase — one might well be in doubt as to who was the chased. All became still. Osman and the hunter had gone after the herd, and Dangana lay about 20 yards behind in the middle of a thorn bush. He had been with me to hunt buffaloes, and had not been afraid. He had been several times within a few yards of lions, and had not shown the white feather. He had walked with me right up to the elephants and exhibited no fear ; but now his pluck was gone, and when a few minutes afterwards he fell into an elephant-trap (a hole some 12 feet deep covered over with grass) he had had enough of elephant hunting, and begged to be excused from accompanying me the next day.
I am continually digressing from the consecutive course of events during the hunt. Our encounter with the elephants had only lasted above five minutes, but much had happened in that time. I rose to look for the dead elephants, and felt pretty sure that I had killed three or four, having hit four of them in the head at such short distance that it was absolutely impossible to miss. I walked all over the ground where the elephants had stood and found — nothing !
I looked at Dangana and he looked at me.
Where are all the elephants ?
There was a certain amount of blood. One or two seemed to have fallen and got up again, but not one of them was dead on the spot. I knew not what to think or say.
A few yards further I came upon a full-grown bull. He stood sideways to us 40 yards off. I knelt down and gave him a bullet through the ear. He turned round and looked mischievously in our direction, but evidently did
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From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
not see us. I gave him another ball in the shoulder. He charged, but a third ball through the head brought him to the ground. With a roar and a crash he fell. One tusk was buried deeply into the damp eartli, and his body firmly wedged between two small trees.
This was my first elephant.
Calhng the men, I left them with the animal, and myself followed the herd for the greater part of that day and the next, but could not find any wounded. What was the reason they did not fall on the spot ? All my shots were wTongly placed. I had been informed that a shot through the ear would kill on the spot, but neither a shot through the ear or the eye has brought down any elephant yet for me.
After the head of the beast had been cut off I had the skull placed against a tree, and fired at it from different directions, and I found that a bullet placed at the root of the trunk was the one that penetrated the brain every time, while all the other shots were unsafe, except a shot half way between the ear and the eye.
The natives of the village were greatly delighted with the mountain of meat, and became our fast friends.
The native elephant hunters have a sure and simple method of bringing their quarry to bay. They carry with them not modern Express rifles, but very old-fashioned 8-bore or 4-bore, fill these with a tremendous charge of powder, and put a heavy ball on to it. Then they choose their elephant out of the herd, and with the wind in the right direction walk carefully up to him. It is wonderful how little elephants seem to be able to recognise their chief enemy. The hunter goes up to within 20 yards and then crawls right up to the side of the feeding beast. He points his wonderful gaspipe at the fore leg of his prey and discharges the gun, breaking the knee if possible. Having done so, he turns tail and runs, to escape any other charging beast. Within a few minutes
126
Big Game of the Shari Valley.
the herd has moved on, but the wounded animal remains behind, as it is impossible for him to either walk or run. He may stand for a minute on three legs, but immediately he attempts to attack he is sure to come down, and at leisure the natives can appropriate the meat and the ivory b^- killing the elephant either with many shots or spear wounds.
Another method used in Northern Nigeria is for the hunter to arm himself with a similarly large weapon into which he loads a poisoned arrow, the barbed head of which is heavily covered with a most deadly mixture of animal and vegetable poison. Rarely the elephant runs for more than an hour if wounded by a poisoned arrow, when he succumbs. But on the whole the elephant, so far from being " poor, innocent hunted game," is very much the reverse. In many cases he is the hunter and man is the hunted.
Between Bor on the Nile and Gondokoro, a herd of 300 or 400 elephants is reported both by Government officials and the missionaries at Bor to be a most dangerous company of men-hunters. They are all said to be rogues charging not only on sight but on smell, and they can smell a long way off. The Dinka people who live in that part of the Sudan stand in constant terror of these animals. A native chief, while travelling through his country from village to village, is said to be in the habit of always sending an old lady some 50 or 100 yards ahead of himself and his people to investigate the dangers of the road. The white men of the White Nile have asked that the whole herd might be outlawed and shot down by anybody who likes. A few days before I passed one of the Government Posts, a native had been caught by an elephant on the bush path ; the elephant put one foot on liis body, twined his trunk around his chest and pulled him in two.
Previously to my having come into contact with elephants, it always seemed to me a pity to have these magnificent brutes shot down promiscuously by our modern rifles. I
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From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
pitied the poor animals, but I can assure the reader that pity for tliem has left me, and though I certainly do not advocate their being shot down — male, female and young — yet I am quite sure that the elephant is perfectly well able to take care of himself, and if the laws prevent the young and the females from being killed, the large bulls will give any successor of Nimrod as exciting a time as he will desire to have. The elephant does not need to be commiserated by anybody.
Miltu, May 9th, 1909.
The French non-commissioned officer — a Corse — had received me most hospitably and begged me to stay with him one day. He was rebuilding the station of Miltu, which on evacuation had been destroyed by the Germans. The harvest for the natives had been a poor one, and those that worked at the station had not very much to eat. He had promised them that if they worked well during the week he would shoot several hippos for them on Saturday, and he asked me if I would not join him in the hunt. I had to change my polers any way, and my men begged me to go and get them some meat, so I stayed. About 7 a.m. we left, going across the river in one of my boats, and then for a couple of miles through the bush aimed for a backwater of the Shari, which, at that time, had no connection with the river, was about a mile in length, some 50 to 100 yards wide and 15 to 20 feet in depth. A herd of eight hippos was reported to be living in this pool. The banks of the pool were high and covered with trees, and afforded a splendid sight of the water below. On our way to the pool we came upon a herd of cob, and, incited by the Corse, I fired at a large buck at about 250 yards. Four or five long leaps marked him as heavily wounded, and when we came up to him he was dead. I am very much against shooting at long distances in Africa, as usually wounded game cannot be found in the long grass, and dies uselessly.
Big Game of the Shari Valley
On arrival at the hippo pool we found that the animals were at home, and soon the French non-commissioned officer had killed a young one with a shot through the head. Another one I wounded with a shot through the neck. Both disappeared, and we sat down for them to rise. It takes about an hour for the animals to come to the surface after they are dead. Whilst sitting there waiting, my boy Dangana, who had been inves- tigating matters further down the pool, came to me and informed me that my wounded bull had gone down some distance walking along the bottom of the pool, and had come up to the surface 500 yards away from us blowing up streams of blood. I felt tired, but at the suggestion of the French- man handed Dan the rifle and told him to shoot it if he could. Not more than five minutes later I heard two shots in quick succession and then a triumphant shout. Dan had suc- ceeded in bagging his first hippo. I went along to him and found him sitting down waiting for his animal to come to the surface. While waiting there I saw another large bull come towards us rising from time to time. So I waited for him and killed him with a shot through the brain. Then we kept on waiting and had lunch. After a while the natives began to talk in an excited way at the different places where the dead animals had disappeared, and we knew that they had come to the surface. Armed with spears the men swam out to the carcases, and, pushing them before them, landed on the bank. We tried to have the smallest dragged out of the water, and therefore turned 30 of the men on to it ; but it was impossible to raise the mass of meat, and we had to give it up. I was still giving directions about the way in which the animals might be taken out of the water, when the father of the herd came to see what was happening with all that noise and shouting, excited also by the blood of his com- panions. He raised himself half out of the water within 40 yards and roared. He had a pair of magnificent tusks
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
in his head, and I longed to have them. As we could well dispose of all the meat we might shoot, I felt justified in seeking to secure him. Waiting therefore for an opportunity, I fired at him when he next appeared, but only succeeded in wounding him. Mad wuth pain and fury, he ploughed up the channel, raising high waves that dashed against the banks. Right on he went to the end of the pool, and then came out of the water. At 150 yards I fired at him again, having raced after him, but missed, and he went slowly away into the bush. Here was a chance of a regular free fight on terra firma with this magnificent pachyderm. Followed
A FATHER WITH HIS FAMILY.
by Osman and Dangana, I went after him and espied him in the low jungle after following for about half a mile. His pinky skin looked very curious in the green grass. I fired at his shoulder, and grumbling, he went away. Another 100 yards and he stood again facing us. I aimed at his fore- head, and he received a bullet through the skull. Vainly he tried to charge us, and with a great crash he tumbled sideways into the bushes. I brought his tusks home. They are an exceptional set, and have been admired by some of our African gentry.
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CHAPTER XI.
Two Days' Huntixg.
A Curious Giraffe — Buffaloes — A Black Demon — Promenading Rhinos — Lion Calling — Giraffes — Buck — Stalking Water-buck — Wart Hog.
"To quiet, steady-going people in England there is an idea of cruelty inseparable from the pursuit of large game. People talk of ' unoffending elephants,' ' poor buffaloes,' ' pretty deer,' and a variety of nonsense about things which they cannot possibly understand."'
" There is no time when a man knows himself so thoroughly as when he depends upon himself, and this forms his excitement."
— Sir Samuel Baker.
The most successful day of shooting I had in the Shari Valley was May 20th, 1909. "Sly interpreter, Osman, who had come
with a number of my men and the horses along the eastern bank of the Shari from Man- jaffa to Fort Archambault, had shot on the day previous to his arrival, a three-horned giraffe, two of the horns of which had a short branch to them making it a kind of five- horned giraffe. This seemed to me so extraordinary that I decided to return from Fort Archambault, and see whether I could not secure a good specimen of this seemingly new species. I took 12 men with me, my tent, shooting irons and a quantity of salt, packed all these things into
HORNS OF SHARI-CHAD GIRAFFE.
I'Voni Hausaland to E^ypt, through the Sudan.
one of my two canoes, and went poling down the Shari at I p.m. on May 19th. We had started too late and did not arrive at our destination that evening. We therefore camped on a sandbank and 1 used the remaining 20 minutes of daylight to secure two antelopes for supper. Next morning we were away before daybreak, and at 11 o'clock we reached a pool inhabited by a herd of hippos. Here we left the canoe and started on a four hours' march overland in the direction of the Bahr-es-Salamaat, where my good man had shot his giraffe, and where he maintained there was a great deal of game. The afternoon was exceptionally hot, and by 3 o'clock I was pretty well fagged out and sat down under a shady tree. My men, carrying loads, had gone slowly ahead when my small boy, Peter, came rushing back with the news that a herd of buffalo was blocking the road. This news was so exciting that I was not long in gaining the head of my httle caravan, and there, right enough, 150 yards ahead of me, a large herd of buffalo was moving about in the bush, without seeming to want to go anywhere specially.
Carefull}^ I made up to them in full sight as they were watch- ing us, and got to within about 80 yards. Now the whole herd took it into their heads to stampede, and off they went to the right, circling round us. In doing so they had to pass an open space of about 20 yards between two large trees some 80 yards away from me, and as they crossed this I picked out the oldest bull and a younger full-grown animal. The latter dropped at the shot which had been aimed at the neck, the safest shot for buffalo. I went up to it and finished it with another bullet through the nape of the neck. This young bull was in magnificent condition, and was covered with red hair, and his beef was most excellent eating. Within 200 yards of the place where I had shot him, we found a water hole, and I decided to camp there.
Some of the men were ordered off to pitch the tent, and
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Two Days' Hunting.
others went back to the buffalo to cut him up. I accompanied the latter, being followed by my interpreter, Osman, whom I had given my second rifle to carry. Later I intended to follow the badly wounded father of the herd. I had aimed at the neck, but was afraid that m\' bullet had struck a little too far back, and the blood marks showed that it was a lung shot. He had evidently gone away with the herd for a little distance, until the other animals, frightened by the smell of blood, had left him and careered away towards the east.
T missed the place where the herd had left him and went on after the former, but as there was no more blood spoor, I turned back and began searching for the wounded animal. I had only turned back for about lo yards, when yells, and then a shot, gave me the direction where I might look for the wounded bull. I did not make haste slowly, as I knew my buffalo would probably be up to mischief and might do damage amongst my men. Soon I came upon my faithfuls sitting in the branches of the trees and a snorting black demon pawing the ground underneath. He saw me and came, and I let him come ; protected by a fair sized tree, I let him charge right in, and then gave him a bullet in the neck. His legs gave way underneath him, and with a bellow he sank to the ground, his glassy eyes staring furiously at me. He was a very old bull, quite black, large patches of his hind quarters and legs being entirely denuded of hair. His horns were curiously flat, and as they were of considerable size, I decided to take them with me across Africa, thinking that their curious shape might mean a new species.
Back I strolled to the tent which had been pitched in the meantime to have my afternoon cup of tea, but it was not ready, and instead of sitting down to wait for it, I took a boy with me and went off in the opposite direction, towards the west, in the hope of coming across some more game. A numiber of beautiful butterflies sporting in an open glade attracted my
From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
attention, and vainly I attempted to catch one or two for ni}' collection. While I was still busily engaged in this pursuit my bov suddenly gave a low call and swarmed up a tree, pointing to two dark bodies some 30 yards away. A rhino pair, evidently out for their afternoon walk, seemed much disturbed at our invading their domain. Their mis- chievous little eyes looked in our direction. They gave several grunts, evidently concerting with each other whether it would be advisable to play with us. I had my rifle in my hand, but in the rifle there were only soft-nosed cartridges, not very safe missiles for the attack of those thick hides. I
CURIOUS FLAT HORNS OF A BUFFALO OF THE CHAD REGION.
jumped up to tlie tree on which my bo}' hung and hauled at his leg, explaining to him that I wanted a hard-nosed bullet. In a moment I had one, jammed it into the chamber of my rifle, and just when the two had decided to look at us more closely, I caught the first one witli a front shot that penetrated his heart and killed him on the spot. Without a sound he subsided, sitting down on his haunches, his legs stretched out in front, and his head resting between his fore- legs. Two more grunts his companion gave and then came towards me. With frantic haste I hauled again at the leg of my boy, telephoning up to him that I wanted at least two
i-,6
Two Days' Hunting.
more cartridges. I got them, pushed them into my rifle, and just as the beast went at full tilt past the tree behind which I was hiding, I got him behind the shoulder. Round he spun and came for me again, and that time I put in a bullet close to the eye which evidently destroyed his thinking powers. His forepart tr^nng to stop and his hind part coming on made him turn a complete somersault, and with a squeal he lay dead, the whole happening not more than 150 yards away from the tent. Within a couple of minutes my boys were all round me, and rejoiced in the feast ahead of them. It was 4 o'clock when I went back to the tent for my tea, having secured two buffaloes and two rhinos within less than an hour.
About that time rain commenced and a very heavy thunderstorm, with drenching downpour, which went on till about 6 o'clock, converted the flat land around us into a great swamp.
I had heard a good deal about the delicacy of cooked elephant's foot, and I thought I would have a try at cooked rhino. So I went over with two of my boys to cut off one of the legs of the rhinos. Peter and Audu were busily engaged with their hunting knives, and I was standing by ; darkness had come, there was no moon, and as we were only a short distance from the tent, I had not thought it worth while to take a lamp with me.
Suddenly, within about 50 yards, the voice of the king of the forest announced his presence. A somewhat creepy feeling went down my back. If we had only been able to see — • but hearing the growls close by, and expecting at any moment a charge without knowing exactly when or whence it come was, to say the least of it, uncomfortable. I told the boys to hurry up while I stood by with cocked rifle and my six-shooter loosened in my belt. The grunts of the lion went right round us, and as soon as the leg was off the three of us returned to the tent, and right warily we walked. We
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From Hausaland to Egypt, through the Sudan.
got back safely and spent a quiet night, being tired out after the day's work. The growls of two lions continued till morning, and before daybreak I went out with my rifle ex- pecting to find them by the carcases of the rhinos. Slowly I stalked up to these carcasses before the dawn of day, but they had not been touched. Perhaps they had not " haiU gout " enough for the lions. Leaving therefore the rhinos, I continued in the same direction, and shortly after came upon a herd of nine giraffes. I shot one of them, quite a fair specimen, but not one of the nine was as good as I should have liked to have secured.
On my way back to the tent I shot a small bush-buck, and then had my loads packed to go back to Fort Archam- bault. Before we left our camp the inhabitants of three of the Sara-Kabba villages had appeared on the scene and begun to celebrate orgies among the hills of flesh.
In the afternoon of May 22nd I was back in Fort Archam- bault, exceedingly pleased with the success of my little trip.
Several more excursions from the same centre yielded a good deal of meat of various antelopes, wart-hog and other small animals.
It was at Busso, where we had been waiting for a week to procure polers to take our boats further up the river, that we became somewhat short of food, and I therefore took a day to go down the river a little distance in order to secure meat. I had shot several crocodiles on the previous days, but my men refused to eat croc. Under a number of large shady trees we made fast to the east bank of the river, and, followed by a few of my native hunters, I went into the bush. Some open fadamas (meadows) were reported to be a favourite haunting ground for water-buck, cob, hartebeest, boar and other game. Within 100 yards from the landing-place I came upon a herd of some 20 water-buck. I stalked them
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Two Days' Hunting.
carefully, and thought I had at least two or three at my mercy, but, in spite of carefully placed shots in the shoulders of three of the largest, they all went away. Following, I came upon them again some half a mile further on. I had cut them off from the bush and they evidently wanted to get past me, so, hiding, I waited for them to come, and as they passed I dropped one I had previously wounded with a shot through the heart. The previous shot had been high through the lungs. Some half a dozen of the herd broke off to the right at the shot, but in vain I followed them.