treachery of the king's sons.—the greatest rascal of africa.—a python in camp.—stanley pool.—dover cliffs.—mankoneh.—first sound of the falls.—bargaining for food.—loss of the big goat.—exchanging charms.—fall of the congo from nyangwé to stanley pool.—going around the great fall.—dragging the boats overland.—gordon-bennet river.—"the caldron."—loss of the london town.—poor kalulu.—his death in the river.—loss of men by drowning.—sad scenes in camp.
"the sons of the king of chumbiri," said frank, "proved treacherous. soon after starting they lagged behind, and the explorers continued without them. nothing of importance occurred during the day, and the camp was made for the night in a dense forest near the bank of the river. hardly had the explorers landed before loud shrieks were heard from a boy who narrowly escaped being eaten by a python. half an hour later the same python, or another, was found in another part of the camp trying to throw his folds about one of the women. there was great excitement, and the snake was promptly killed. he measured thirteen feet six inches in length, and was fifteen inches around the thickest part of the body.
son of the king of chumbiri.
"the next morning, just as they were preparing breakfast, they were attacked by a party of savages who opened fire upon them with muskets. fourteen of mr. stanley's men were wounded before the assailants were put to flight; when the expedition continued on its journey it was found that their camping-place had been about two miles above the village to which their assailants belonged. all the warriors of the village came out to the bank of the river with their muskets and spears,[pg 301]
[pg 302] but the travellers kept at a safe distance and were not harmed. the sons of the king came up with them shortly afterwards, but made such extraordinary demands for escorting the party to the falls that the explorer concluded to go along without them. he gives it as his opinion that this oily-tongued king is the greatest rascal in all africa.
a python in an african forest.
"and now," said frank, "i will read to you about the approach to the famous falls of the lower congo.
"about 11 a.m. of the 12th the river gradually expanded from fourteen hundred to twenty-five hundred yards, which admitted us in view of a mighty breadth of river, which the men at once, with happy appropriateness, termed 'a pool.' sandy islands rose in front of us like a sea-beach, and on the right towered a long row of cliffs, white and glistening, so like the cliffs of dover that frank at once exclaimed that it was a bit of england. the grassy table-land above the cliffs appeared as green as a lawn, and so much reminded frank of kentish downs that he exclaimed enthusiastically, 'i feel we are nearing home.'
"while i was taking an observation at noon of the position, frank, with my glass in his hand, ascended the highest part of the large sandy dune that had been deposited by the mighty river, and took a survey of its strange and sudden expansion, and after he came back he said, 'why, i declare, sir, this place is just like a pool; as broad as it is long. there are mountains all round it, and it appears to me almost circular.'[10]
"'well, if it is a pool, we must distinguish it by some name. give me a suitable name for it, frank.'
"'why not call it "stanley pool," and these cliffs dover cliffs? for no traveller who may come here again will fail to recognize the cliffs by that name.'
the northern end of stanley pool.
"subsequent events brought these words vividly to my recollection, and in accordance with frank's suggestion i have named this lakelike expansion of the river[pg 303] from dover cliffs to the first cataract of the livingstone falls—embracing about thirty square miles—the stanley pool. the latitude of the entrance from above to the pool was ascertained to be 4° 3' south.
"the left shore is occupied by the populous settlements of nshasa, nkunda, and ntamo. the right is inhabited by the wild bateké, who are generally accused of being cannibals.
map of stanley pool.
"soon after we began our descent of the pool, skirting the right shore, we observed a chalky mount, near which were two or three columns of the same material. from a cove just below emerged two or three bateké canoes, the crews of which, after collecting their faculties, consented to show us the cataract, the noise of which, as they attempted to describe it, elicited roars of laughter from the members of the expedition. this outburst of loud merriment conquered all reluctance on the part of the bateké to accompany us.
"after winding in and out of many creeks which were very shallow, we approached the village of mankoneh, the chief of the bateké. his people during the daytime are generally scattered over these sandy dunes of the stanley pool attending to their nets and fish-snares, and to protect themselves from the hot sun always take with them several large mats to form sheds. mankoneh, to our great delight, was a bluff, hearty, genial soul, who expressed unbounded pleasure at seeing us; he also volunteered to guide us to the falls. he was curious to know how we proposed travelling after arriving near them, for it was impossible, he said, to descend the falls. by a ludicrous pantomime he led us to understand that they were something very fearful.
[pg 304]
"a few hundred yards below his village the pool sharply contracted, and the shore of ntamo—a projecting point from the crescent-shaped ridge beyond—appeared at a distance of two thousand yards. it was then that we heard for the first time the low and sullen thunder of the first cataract of the livingstone falls.
"slowly mankoneh, in his canoe, glided down towards it, and louder it grew on the ears, until when within one hundred yards of the first line of broken water, he pointed forward and warned us not to proceed farther. we made for the shore, and found ourselves on a narrow, ledgelike terrace bristling with great blocks of granite, amid a jungly tangle, which grew at the base of high hills. here, after a short busy period with axe and machete, we constructed a rude camp. the only level spot was not six feet square.
"mankoneh, the bateké chief, pointed out to us the village of itsi, the chief of ntamo, which is situated on the left bank, in a line with the beginning of the first cataract, and spoke of itsi with great respect, as though he were very powerful.
"about 5 p.m. a small canoe was observed to cross over to our side from the left bank, a mile above the falls. the canoe-men, through the representations of our hearty friend mankoneh, were soon induced to land in our camp to converse with the white men, and before long we had succeeded in making them feel quite at home with us. as they were in a quiver of anxious desire to impart to the chief itsi all the wonderful things they had witnessed with us, they departed about sunset, solemnly promising we should see the famous itsi of ntamo next morning.
"lashing our canoes firmly lest an accident should happen during the night, we turned to our rude huts to sleep in peace. we were all very hungry, as we had been able to purchase nothing from the natives since leaving chumbiri five days before, and we had been more than usually improvident, having placed far too much reliance on the representations so profusely made to us by the mild-voiced but cunning king of chumbiri. from very shame i refrain from publishing the stores of goods with which i purchased the glib promises of assistance from chumbiri, not one of which was realized.
one of the king's warriors.
"morning of the 13th of march found us, from the early hours of dawn, anxiously waiting the arrival of itsi of ntamo and the reappearance of mankoneh. from our camp we might easily with a glass note any movement on the other bank. at 9 a.m.—itsi evidently was not an early riser—a large canoe and two consorts, laden with men, were seen propelled up stream along the left bank, and, a mile above the landing-place, to[pg 305] cross the river at a furious pace. the rows of upright figures, with long paddles, bending their bodies forward in unison, and their voices rising in a swelling chorus to the sound of the steady beat of a large drum, formed a pretty and inspiring sight. arriving at the right bank, with a perfect recklessness of the vicinity of the falls, they dashed down towards our camp at the rate of six knots an hour. the large war-canoe, though not quite equal to the monster of the aruwimi in size, was a noble vessel, and itsi, who was seated in state 'midship,' with several gray-headed elders near him, was conscious, when he saw our admiration, that he had created a favorable impression. she measured eighty-five feet seven inches in length, four feet in width, and was three feet three inches deep. her crew consisted of sixty paddlers and four steersmen, and she carried twenty-two passengers, close-packed, besides, making a total of eighty-six persons. the other two canoes carried ninety-two persons altogether.
"we cordially invited itsi and his people to our camp, to which they willingly responded. some grass, fresh cut, in anticipation of the visit of our honorable friends, had been strewn over a cleared space close to the stream, and our best mats spread over it.
african reclining-chair.
"there were four or five gray-headed elders present, one of whom was introduced as itsi. he laughed heartily, and it was not long before we were on a familiar footing. they then broached the subject of blood-brotherhood. we were willing, but they wished to defer the ceremony until they had first shown their friendly feelings to us. accordingly the old man handed over to me ten loaves of cassava bread, or cassava pudding, fifty tubers of cassava, three bunches of bananas, a dozen sweet potatoes, some sugar-cane, three fowls, and a diminutive goat. a young man of about twenty-six years made frank's acquaintance by presenting to him double the quantity i received. this liberality drew my attention to him. his face was dotted with round spots of soot-and-oil mixture. from his shoulders depended a long cloth of check pattern, while over one shoulder was a belt, to which was attached a queer medley of small gourds containing snuff and various charms, which he called his inkisi. in return for the bounteous store of[pg 306] provisions given to frank and myself, as they were cotton or grass-cloth-wearing people, we made up a bundle of cloths for each of the principals, which they refused, to our surprise. we then begged to know what they desired, that we might show our appreciation of their kindness, and seal the bond of brotherhood with our blood.
"the young man now declared himself to be itsi, the king of ntamo; the elder, who had previously been passed off for the king, being only an ancient councillor. it was a surprise, but not an unpleasant one, though there was nothing very regal or majestic about him, unless one may so call his munificent bounty to frank as compared to the old man's to me. we finally prevailed upon itsi to inform us what gift would be pleasing to him.
"he said, 'i want only that big goat; if you give me that, i shall want nothing more.'
a present from itsi.
"the 'big goat' which he so earnestly required was the last of six couples i had purchased in uregga for the purpose of presentation to an eminent english lady, in accordance with a promise i had made to her four years previously. all the others had perished from heat apoplexy, sickness, and want of proper care, which the terrible life we had led had prevented us from supplying. this 'big goat' and a lionlike ram, gigantic specimens of the domestic animals of manyema and uregga, were all that survived. they had both become quite attached to us, and were valued companions of a most eventful journey of eleven hundred miles. i refused it, but offered to double the cloths. whereupon itsi sulked, and prepared to depart; not, however, before hinting that we should find it difficult to obtain food if he vetoed the sale of provisions. we coaxed him back again to his seat, and offered him one of the asses. the possession of such a 'gigantic' animal as an ass, which was to him of all domestic animals a veritable titanosaurus, was a great temptation; but the shuddering women, who feared being eaten by it, caused him to decline the honor of the gift. he now offered three goats for what[pg 307] appeared to him to be the 'largest' goat in africa, and boasted of his goodness, and how his friendship would be serviceable to me; whereas, if he parted in anger, why, we should be entirely at his mercy. the goat was therefore transferred to his canoe, and itsi departed for ntamo, as though he were in possession of a new wonder.
"our provisions were only sufficient to prove what appetites we possessed, and not to assuage them; all were consumed in a few minutes, and we were left with only hopes of obtaining a little more on the next day.
"on the 14th itsi appeared with his war-canoe at 9 a.m., bringing three goats and twenty loaves of cassava bread and a few tubers, and an hour afterwards nchuvira, king of nkunda, mankoneh, chief of the bateké fishermen near the stanley pool, and the king of nshasa, at the southeast end of the stanley pool, arrived at our camp with several canoe crews. each of the petty sovereigns of the districts in our neighborhood contributed a little, but altogether we were only able to distribute to each person two pounds of eatable provisions. every chief was eager for a present, with which he was gratified, and solemn covenants of peace were entered into between the whites and the blacks. the treaty with itsi was exceedingly ceremonious, and involved the exchange of charms. itsi transferred to me, for my protection through life, a small gourdful of a curious powder, which had rather a saline taste, and i delivered over to him, as the white man's charm against all evil, a half-ounce vial of magnesia; further, a small scratch in frank's arm, and another in itsi's arm, supplied blood sufficient to unite us in one and indivisible bond of fraternity. after this we were left alone.
"an observation by boiling-point, above the first cataract of livingstone falls, disclosed to us an altitude of 1147 feet above the ocean. at nyangwé the river was 2077 feet. in twelve hundred and thirty-five miles, therefore, there had been only a reduction of 930 feet, divided as follows:
distance
feet. in miles. fall per mile.
nyangé 2077 }
four miles below seventh cataract, stanley falls 1511 }
—— } 337 20 inches.
feet, 566 }
four miles below seventh cataract, stanley falls 1511 }
river at ntamo, above first cataract, livingstone falls 1147 } 898 5 inches, nearly.
—— } river
feet, 364 } uninterrupted."
frank paused a few moments, and, at the request of one of his auditors, repeated the figures he had just given. then he continued the narrative as follows:
"the wide wild land which, by means of the greatest river of africa, we have pierced, is now about to be presented in a milder aspect than that which has filled the preceding pages with records of desperate conflicts and furious onslaughts of savage men. the people no longer resist our advance. trade has tamed their natural ferocity, until they no longer resent our approach with the fury of beasts of prey.
[pg 308]
floating island in stanley pool.
"it is the dread river itself of which we shall have now to complain. it is no longer the stately stream, whose mystic beauty, noble grandeur, and gentle, uninterrupted flow along a course of nearly nine hundred miles ever fascinated us, despite the savagery of its peopled shores, but a furious river, rushing down a steep bed obstructed by reefs of lava, projected barriers of rock, lines of immense boulders, winding in crooked course through deep chasms, and dropping down over terraces in a long series of falls, cataracts, and rapids. our frequent contests with the savages culminated in tragic struggles with the mighty river as it rushed and roared through the deep, yawning pass that leads from the broad table-land down to the atlantic ocean.
"those voiceless and lone streams meandering between the thousand isles of the livingstone; those calm and silent wildernesses of water over which we had poured our griefs and wailed in our sorrow; those woody solitudes where nightly we had sought to soothe our fevered brows, into whose depths we breathed our vows; that sealike amplitude of water which had proved our refuge in distress, weird in its stillness, and solemn in its mystery, are now exchanged for the cliff-lined gorge, through which with inconceivable fury the livingstone sweeps with foaming billows into the broad congo, which, at a distance of only one hundred and fifty-five geographical miles, is nearly eleven hundred feet below the summit of the first fall.
village in the valley of the congo.
"on the 16th of march, having explored as far as the gordon-bennett river, and obtained a clear idea of our situation during the 15th, we began our labors with energy. goods, asses, women, and children, with the guard under frank, first moved overland to a temporary halting-place near the confluence. then, manning the boat, i led the canoe-men from point to point along the right bank, over the first rapids. we had some skilful work to perform to avoid being swept away by the velocity of the current; but whenever we came to rocks we held the rattan hawsers in our hands, and, allowing the stream to take them beyond these dangerous points, brought them into the sheltered lee. had a hawser parted nothing could have saved the canoe or the men in it, for at the confluence of the gordon-bennett with the great river the entire river leaps headlong into an abysm of[pg 309]
[pg 310] waves and foam. arriving in the gordon-bennett, we transported the expedition across, and then our labors ended at 5 p.m. for the day.
native pottery.
"itsi of ntamo had informed us there were only three cataracts, which he called the 'child,' the 'mother,' and the 'father.' the 'child' was a two hundred yards' stretch of broken water; and the 'mother,' consisting of half a mile of dangerous rapids, we had succeeded in passing, and had pushed beyond it by crossing the upper branch of the gordon-bennett, which was an impetuous stream, seventy-five yards wide, with big cataracts of its own higher up. but the 'father' is the wildest stretch of river that i have ever seen. take a strip of sea blown over by a hurricane, four miles in length and half a mile in breadth, and a pretty accurate conception of its leaping waves may be obtained. some of the troughs were one hundred yards in length, and from one to the other the mad river plunged. there was first a rush down into the bottom of an immense trough, and then, by its sheer force, the enormous volume would lift itself upward steeply until, gathering itself into a ridge, it suddenly hurled itself twenty or thirty feet straight upward, before rolling down into another trough. if i looked up or down along this angry scene, every interval of fifty or one hundred yards of it was marked by wave-towers—their collapse into foam and spray, the mad clash of watery hills, bounding mounds, and heaving billows, while the base of either bank, consisting of a long line of piled boulders of massive size, was buried in the tempestuous surf. the roar was tremendous and deafening. i can only compare it to the thunder of an express train through a rock tunnel. to speak to my neighbor, i had to bawl in his ear.
"the most powerful ocean steamer, going at full speed on this portion of the river, would be as helpless as a cockle-boat. i attempted three times, by watching some tree floated down from above, to ascertain the rate of the wild current by observing the time it occupied in passing between two given points, from which i estimate it to be about thirty miles an hour!
view of the right branch, first cataract, of the livingstone falls, from four miles below jumba island.
"on the 17th, after cutting brushwood and laying it over a path of eight hundred yards in length, we crossed from the upper branch of the gordon-bennett to the lower branch, which was of equal breadth, but twenty feet below it. this enabled us the next day to float down to the confluence of the lower branch with the[pg 311]
[pg 312] livingstone. we could do no more on this day; the people were fainting from lack of food.
"on the 18th, through the good-will of mankoneh, the chief of the bateké, we were enabled to trade with the aborigines, a wild and degraded tribe, subsisting principally on fish and cassava. a goat was not to be obtained at any price, and for a chicken they demanded a gun! cassava, however, was abundant.
"from the confluence we formed another brush-covered road, and hauled the canoes over another eight hundred yards into a creek, which enabled us to reach, on the 20th, a wide sand-bar that blocked its passage into the great river. the sand-bar, in its turn, enabled us to reach the now moderated stream, below the influence of the roaring 'father,' and to proceed by towing and punting half a mile below to an inlet in the rocky shore.
"gampa, the young chief of this district, became very friendly, and visited us each day with small gifts of cassava bread, a few bananas, and a small gourd of palm-wine.
"on the 21st and the two days following we were engaged in hauling our vessels overland, a distance of three quarters of a mile, over a broad rocky point, into a baylike formation. gampa and his people nerved us to prosecute our labors by declaring that there was only one small cataract below. full of hope, we halted on the 24th to rest the wearied people, and in the meantime to trade for food.
over rocky point close to gampa's.
"the 25th saw us at work at dawn in a bad piece of river, which is significantly styled the 'caldron.' our best canoe, seventy-five feet long, three feet wide, by twenty-one inches deep, the famous london town, commanded by manwa sera, was torn from the hands of fifty men, and swept away in the early morning down to destruction. in the afternoon, the glasgow, parting her cables, was swept away, drawn nearly into mid-river, returned up river half a mile, again drawn into the depths, ejected into a bay near where frank was camped, and, to our great joy, finally recovered. accidents were numerous; the glazed trap-rocks, washed by the ever-rising tidal-like waves, were very slippery, occasioning dangerous[pg 313]
[pg 314] falls to the men. one man dislocated his shoulder, another was bruised on the hips, and another had a severe contusion of the head. too careless of my safety in my eagerness and anxiety, i fell down, feet first, into a chasm thirty feet deep between two enormous boulders, but fortunately escaped with only a few rib bruises, though for a short time i was half stunned.
at work passing the lower end of the first cataract of the livingstone falls, near rocky island.
"on the 27th we happily succeeded in passing the fearful caldron, but during our last efforts the crocodile, eighty-five feet three inches long, was swept away into the centre of the caldron, heaved upward, whirled round with quick gyrations, and finally shot into the bay north of rocky island, where it was at last secured. the next day we dropped down stream, and reached the western end of the bay above rocky island falls.
"leaving frank pocock as usual in charge of the camp and goods, i mustered ninety men—most of the others being stiff from wounds received in the fight at mwana ibaka and other places—and proceeded, by making a wooden tramway with sleepers and rollers, to pass rocky island falls. mpwapwa and shumari, of the boat's crew, were sent to explore, meanwhile, for another inlet or recess in the right bank. by 2 p.m. we were below the falls, and my two young men had returned, reporting that a mile or so below there was a fine camp, with a broad strip of sand lining a bay. this animated us to improve the afternoon hours by attemtping to reach it. the seventeen canoes now left to us were manned according to their capacity. as i was about to embark in my boat to lead the way, i turned to the people to give my last instructions—which were, to follow me, clinging to the right bank, and by no means to venture into mid-river into the current. while delivering my instructions, i observed kalulu in the crocodile, which was made out of the bassia parkii tree, a hard, heavy wood, but admirable for canoes. when i asked him what he wanted in the canoe, he replied, with a deprecating smile and an expostulating tone, 'i can pull, sir; see!' 'ah, very well,' i answered.
"the boat-boys took their seats, and, skirting closely the cliffy shore, we rowed down stream, while i stood in the bow of the boat, guiding the coxswain, uledi, with my hand. the river was not more than four hundred and fifty yards wide; but one cast of the sounding-lead close to the bank obtained a depth of one hundred and thirty-eight feet. the river was rapid, with certainly a seven-knot current, with a smooth, greasy surface, now and then an eddy, a gurgle, and gentle heave, but not dangerous to people in possession of their wits. in a very few moments we had descended the mile stretch, and before us, six hundred yards off, roared the furious falls since distinguished by the name 'kalulu.'
african pipes.
"with a little effort we succeeded in rounding the point and entering the bay above the falls, and reaching a pretty camping-place on a sandy beach. the first, second, and third canoes arrived soon after me, and i was beginning to congratulate myself on having completed a good day's work, when to my horror i saw the crocodile in mid-river far below the point which we had rounded, gliding with the speed of an arrow towards the falls over the treacherous calm water. human strength availed[pg 315] nothing now, and we watched in agony, for i had three favorites in her—kalulu, mauredi, and ferajji; and of the others, two, rehani makua and wadi jumah, were also very good men. it soon reached the island which cleft the falls, and was swept down the left branch. we saw it whirled round three or four times, then plunged down into the depths, out of which the stern presently emerged pointed upward, and we knew then that kalulu and his canoe-mates were no more.
death of kalulu.
"fast upon this terrible catastrophe, before we could begin to bewail their loss, another canoe with two men in it darted past the point, borne by irresistibly on the placid but swift current to apparent, nay, almost certain destruction. i despatched my boat's crew up along the cliffs to warn the forgetful people that in mid-stream was certain death, and shouted out commands for the two men to strike for the left shore. the steersman by a strange chance shot his canoe over the falls, and, dexterously edging it towards the left shore a mile below, he and his companion contrived to spring ashore and were saved. as we observed them clamber over the rocks to approach a point opposite us, and finally sit down regarding us in silence across the river, our pity and love gushed strong towards them, but we could utter nothing of it. the roar of the falls completely mocked and overpowered the feeble human voice.
"before the boat's crew could well reach the descending canoes, the boulders being very large and offering great obstacles to rapid progress, a third canoe—but a small and light one—with only one man, the brave lad soudi, who escaped from the spears of the wanyaturu assassins in 1875, darted by, and cried out, as he perceived himself to be drifting helplessly towards the falls, 'la il allah, il allah'—there[pg 316] is but one god—'i am lost! master!' he was then seen to address himself to what fate had in store for him. we watched him for a few moments, and then saw him drop. out of the shadow of the fall he presently emerged, dropping from terrace to terrace, precipitated down, then whirled round, caught by great heavy waves, which whisked him to right and left and struck madly at him, and yet his canoe did not sink, but he and it were swept behind the lower end of the island, and then darkness fell upon the day of horror. nine men lost in one afternoon!
"this last accident, i was told, was caused by the faithlessness of the crew. one man, utterly unnerved by his fear of the river, ran away and hid in the bushes; the two others lost their hold of the tow-ropes, and thus their comrade was carried into the swift centre."
frank stopped at this incident, and said he would resume the story in the evening. his audience had listened with breathless interest to the sad story of the death of kalulu and his companions, and when the party assembled for the evening session, all were eager to hear the continuation of the account of stanley's perilous descent of the congo.
[pg 317]
one of gampa's men.
