Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley. William Henry Giles Kingston
could, repeating words from the Koran.
Few adventures were met with; but one whole day the travellers were annoyed by a strong east wind, and the next day the wind and drifting sand were so violent that they were compelled to keep their tents. They had to sit in their shirts, as the sand could thus be shaken off as soon as it made a lodgment, which with any other articles of dress could not be done. Denham found the greatest relief by rubbing the neck and shoulders with oil, and being shampooed by his servant, Barca’s wife, who, when a slave in the palace of the pacha, had learned the art.
The Tibboos, a tribe who had for some time accompanied them, went off to obtain some sheep, an ox, honey, milk and fat. On their return the milk turned out sour camels’ milk, full of sand, and the fat very rancid, while a single lean sheep was purchased for two dollars.
Some of their horses were very handsome and extremely fat, which arose from being fed entirely on camels’ milk, corn being too scarce for the Tibboos to spare them.
The girls of this tribe were pretty, but the men extremely ugly.
Their Arabs, who were sent as an escort to oppose banditti, after a time became dissatisfied at having nothing to do, and were evidently contemplating inroads on the inhabitants.
Denham, with Boo-Khaloum and a dozen horsemen, each having a footman behind him, started off towards a spot where some Tibboo tents had been seen. On their arrival they found that the shepherds had moved off, knowing well how they should be treated by the white people, as they called the Arabs. Their caution was made the excuse for plundering them. “What! not stay to sell their sheep? the rogues!” exclaimed the Arabs.
After a time they came in sight of two hundred head of cattle and about twenty persons—men, women and children—with camels, moving off. The Arabs, slipping from behind their leaders, with a shout, rushed down the hill, part running towards the cattle to prevent their escape. The unfortunate people were rapidly plundered, the camels were brought to the ground and the whole of their loads rifled. The poor women and girls lifted up their hands, stripped as they were to the skin, but Denham felt that he could do nothing for them beyond saving their lives.
When Boo-Khaloum came up, however, he seemed ashamed of the paltry booty his followers had obtained, and Denham seized the favourable moment to advise that the Arabs should give everything back, and have a few sheep and an ox for a feast. He gave the order, and the property was restored, with the exception of ten sheep and a fat bullock.
An old maraboot assured Denham that to plunder those who left their tents, instead of supplying travellers, was quite
The natives, as may be supposed, retaliate. Should any animal straggle from the main body, it is certain to be carried off. Major Denham lost a favourite dog, which was captured and eaten.
On reaching Lara, a small town of conical-topped rush huts, to the delight of the travellers they saw before them, from a rising ground, the boundless expanse of Lake Chad, glowing with the golden rays of the sun. They hastened down to the shores of this large inland sea, which was darkened with numberless birds of varied plumage—ducks, geese, pelicans and cranes four or five feet high, immense spoonbills of snowy whiteness, yellow-legged plovers—all quietly feeding at half pistol-shot. A large basket to supply their larder was soon filled.
Moving along the shores of the lake, the caravan arrived at Woodie, a negro town of considerable size. It was here arranged that the caravan should wait till an embassy could be sent to the Sheikh of Bornou, to obtain permission for presenting themselves before him.
The empire of Bornou had, some twenty years before, been overrun and subjected by the Felatahs, a powerful people to the west. The present sheikh, a native of Kanem, though of humble birth, had by his superior talents and energy rallied round him a band of warriors, and, pretending that he had received a command from the prophet, hoisted the green flag, and had in a few months driven the invaders out of the country, which they had never since been able to occupy, though frequently attacking his borders.
While waiting for the sheikh’s reply, Major Denham rode out early one morning in search of a herd of a hundred and fifty elephants, which had been seen the day before. He found them about six miles from the town, on ground annually overflowed by the waters of the lake. They seemed to cover the whole face of the country, and exceeded the number he expected to see. Often, when forced by hunger, they approach the towns and spread devastation throughout their march, whole plantations being destroyed in a single night. Some antelopes were also seen, but they never allowed the party to get near enough to hazard a shot.
The country for the last eighteen days of their journey had been covered with a grass which produces a calyx full of prickles. These adhere to the dress and penetrate to the skin, to which they fasten themselves like grappling-irons. They got between the toes of the poor dog Niger, and into every part of his long silken hair, so as to make him unable to walk.
At the next camping-place hyaenas came close to their tents and killed a camel, on the carcase of which a lion, when he had driven them away, banqueted, when they returned and devoured what he had left.
Several days’ journey took the caravan into the neighbourhood of Kouka. They had been told that the sheikh’s soldiers were a few ragged negroes, armed with spears, who lived upon the plunder of the black Kaffir countries. Greatly to their astonishment, as they approached the town they beheld a body of several thousand cavalry, drawn up in line and extending right and left as far as they could see.
As the Arabs approached, a yell was given by the sheikhs people, which rent the air; and a blast being blown from their rude instruments, they moved on to meet Boo-Khaloum and his Arabs. Small bodies kept charging rapidly towards them, to within a few feet of their horses’ heads, without checking the speed of their own until the moment of their halting; then they wheeled at their utmost speed with great precision, shaking their spears over their heads, exclaiming, “Baka baka!” (“Blessing! blessing!”) They quickly, however, surrounded the caravan so as to prevent it moving on, which greatly enraged Boo-Khaloum, but to no purpose, as he was only answered by shrieks of welcome, and spears unpleasantly rattled over the traveller’s heads. In a short time, Barca Gana, the sheikh’s first general—a negro of noble aspect, clothed in a figured silk tobe, mounted on a beautiful Mandara horse—made his appearance, and cleared away those who had pressed upon them, when the party moved on slowly towards the city.
Arrived at the gates, Boo-Khaloum, with the English and about a dozen of his followers, alone were allowed to enter. They proceeded along a wide street completely lined with spearmen on foot, with cavalry in front of them, to the door of the sheikh’s residence. Here the horsemen were formed up three deep, and the party halted while some of the chief’s attendants came out and, after a great many “Baka’s! baka’s!” retired, when others performed the same ceremony. On this, Boo-Khaloum again lost patience, and swore by the pacha’s head that he would return to his tents, if he was not immediately admitted. Denham advised him to submit, and Barca Gana, appearing, invited him to dismount. The English were about to do the same, when an officer intimated that the Arab alone was to be admitted.
Another half-hour, and the gates were again opened, and the four Englishmen were called for. The strictest etiquette appeared to be kept up at the sheikh’s court; but the major and his companions declined doing more in the way of reverence than bending their heads and laying their right-hands on their hearts. They found the sheikh sitting on a carpet, in a small, dark room. He was plainly dressed in a blue tobe of Soudan and a small turban, with armed negroes on either side of him, and weapons hung up on the walls. His
After he had received the letter from the pacha, he enquired what was their object in coming. They answered, to see the country and to give an account of its inhabitants, produce and appearance, as their