camping, travelling, shooting, dreaming, poetising, philosophising, and surprising, in equatorial africa.
at sunset the travellers halted in a peculiarly wild spot and encamped under the shelter of a gigantic baobab tree.
two rousing fires were quickly kindled, round which the natives busied themselves in preparing supper, while their leaders sat down, the one to write up his journal, the other to smoke his pipe.
“well, sir,” said disco, after a few puffs delivered with extreme satisfaction, “you do seem for to enjoy writin’. you go at that log of yours every night, as if it wos yer last will and testament that ye couldn’t die happy without exikootin’ an’ signin’ it with yer blood.”
“a better occupation, isn’t it,” replied harold, with a sly glance, “than to make a chimney-pot of my mouth?”
“come, sir,” returned disco, with a deprecatory smile, “don’t be too hard on a poor feller’s pipe. if you can’t enjoy it, that’s no argiment against it.”
“how d’you know i can’t enjoy it?”
“why? cos i s’pose you’d take to it if you did.”
“did you enjoy it when you first began?” asked harold.
“well, i can’t ’zactly say as i did.”
“well, then, if you didn’t, that proves that it is not natural to smoke, and why should i acquire an unnatural and useless habit?”
“useless! why, sir, on’y think of wot you loses by not smokin’—wot a deal of enjoyment!”
“well, i am thinking,” replied harold, affecting a look of profound thoughtfulness, “but i can’t quite make it out—enjoyment? let me see. do i not enjoy as good health as you do?”
“o, cer’nly, sir, cer’nly. you’re quite up to the mark in that respect.”
“well then, i enjoy my food as well, and can eat as much, can’t i?”
“no doubt of it,” replied disco, with a grin; “i was used to be considered raither a dab at wittles, but i must say i knocks under to you, sir.”
“very good,” rejoined harold, laughing; “then as to sleep, i enjoy sleep quite as soundly as yourself; don’t i?”
“i can’t say as to that,” replied disco. “you see, sir, as i never opens my eyes arter shuttin’ of ’em till the bo’s’n pipes all hands ahoy, i’ve no means of knowin’ wot you accomplish in that way.”
“on the whole, then, it seems that i enjoy everything as much as you do, and—”
“no, not everything; you don’t enjoy baccy, you know.—but please, sir, don’t go for to moralise; i can’t stand it. you’ll spile my pipe if ye do!”
“well, i shall spare you,” said harold, “all the more that i perceive supper is about—”
at that moment antonio, who had gone down to a streamlet which trickled close at hand, gave utterance to a hideous yell, and came rushing into camp with a face that was pea-green from terror.
“ach!” he gasped, “a lion! queek! your guns!” every one leaped up and seized his weapon with marvellous alacrity on receiving an alarm so violent and unlooked-for.
“where away?” inquired disco, blazing with excitement, and ready at a moment’s notice to rush into the jungle and fire both barrels at whatever should present itself.
“no, no, don’ go,” cried antonio in alarm; “be cautionous.”
the interpreter’s caution was enforced by chimbolo, who laid his hand on disco’s arm, and looked at him with such solemnity that he felt it necessary to restrain his ardour.
meanwhile antonio with trembling steps led harold to a point in the thicket whence he beheld two bright phosphoric-looking objects which his companion said were the lion’s eyes, adding that lion’s eyes always shone in that way.
harold threw forward his rifle with the intention of taking aim, but lowered it quickly, for he felt convinced that no lion could possibly have eyes so wide apart unless its head were as large as that of an elephant.
“nonsense, antonio!” he said, laughing; “that cannot be a lion.”
“ho, yis, him’s a lion, for sure,” antonio returned, positively.
“we shall see.”
harold raised his rifle and fired, while antonio turned and fled, fully expecting the wounded beast to spring. harold himself half looked for some such act, and shrank behind a bush by way of precaution, but when the smoke cleared away, he saw that the two glowing eyes were gazing at him as fixedly as ever.
“pooh!” exclaimed disco, brushing past; “i knows wot it is. many a time i’ve seed ’em in the west injies.”
saying which, he went straight up to the supposed lion, picked up a couple of glow-worms, and brought them to the camp-fires, much to the amusement of the men, especially of jumbo, and greatly to the confusion of the valorous interpreter, who, according to his invariable custom when danger threatened, was found to have sought refuge in a tree.
this incident furnished ground for much discussion and merriment during supper, in which antonio, being in no wise ashamed of himself, joined noisily; and chimbolo took occasion to reprove disco for his rashness, telling him that it was impossible to kill lions in the jungle during the darkness of night, and that, if they did pay them a visit, it would be wise to let them be, and trust to the camp-fires keeping them at a respectful distance. to which disco retorted that he didn’t believe there was any lions in afriky, for he’d heard a deal about ’em an’ travelled far, but had not yet heard the sound of their woices, an’, wot was more, didn’t expect to.
before that night was far advanced, disco was constrained to acknowledge himself in error, for a veritable lion did actually prowl down to the camp, and salute them with a roar which had a wonderfully awe-inspiring effect on every member of the party, especially on those who heard it for the first time in their lives.
just before the arrival of this nocturnal visitor, one of the men had been engaged in some poetic effusions, which claim preliminary notice here, because they were rudely terminated by the lion.
this man was one of kambira’s people, and had joined the party by permission. he was one of those beings who, gifted with something like genius, or with superior powers of some sort, have sprung up in africa, as elsewhere, no doubt from time immemorial, to dazzle their fellows for a little, and then pass away, leaving a trail of tradition behind them. the existence there, in time past, of men of mind far in advance of their fellows, as well as of heroes whose physical powers were marvellous, may be assumed from the fact that some such exist at the present time, as well as from tradition. some of these heroes have excited the admiration of large districts by their wisdom, others by their courage or their superior dexterity with the spear and bow, like william tell and robin hood, but the memory of these must soon have been obliterated for want of literature. the man who had joined harold was a poet and a musician. he was an improvvisatore, composed verses on the incidents that occurred as they travelled along, and sang them with an accompaniment on an instrument called the sansa, which had nine iron keys and a calabash for a sounding-board.
the poet’s name was mokompa. with the free and easy disposition of his race, he allowed his fancy to play round the facts of which he sang, and was never at a loss, for, if the right word did not come readily, he spun out the measure with musical sounds which meant nothing at all.
after supper was over, or rather when the first interval of repose occurred, mokompa, who was an obliging and hearty little fellow, was called on for a song. nothing loath, he seized his sansa and began a ditty, of which the following, given by antonio, may be regarded as a remarkably free, not to say easy, translation:—
mokompa’s song.
kambira goes to hunt,
yo ho!
him’s spear am nebber blunt,
yo ho!
him kill de buff’lo quick,
an’ lub de porridge thick;
him chase de lion too,
an’ stick um troo an’ troo.
de ’potimus as well,
an’ more dan me can tell,
hab down before um fell,
yo ho!
de english come to see,
yo ho!
dat werry good for we,
yo ho!
no’ take us ’way for slaves,
nor put us in our graves,
but set de black mans free,
w’en cotch um on de sea.
dem splendid shooters, too,
we knows what dey can do
wid boil an’ roast an’ stew,
yo ho!
one makes um’s gun go crack,
yo ho!
an elephant on um’s back,
yo ho!
de drefful lion roar,
de gun goes crack once more,
de bullet fly an’ splits
one monkey into bits,
yo ho!
de glow-worm next arise,
de englishman likewise
wid werry much surprise,
an’ hit um ’tween de eyes,
“hooray! hooray!” um cries,
an’ run to fetch um’s prize—
yo ho!
the last “yo ho!” was given with tremendous energy, and followed by peals of laughter.
it was at this point that the veritable lion thought proper to join in, which he did, as we have said, with a roar so tremendous that it not only put a sudden stop to the music, but filled the party with so much alarm that they sprang to their arms with surprising agility.
mindful of chimbolo’s previous warning, neither harold nor disco sought to advance, but both looked at their savage friend for advice.
now, in some parts of africa there exists a popular belief that the souls of departed chiefs enter into lions and render them sacred, and several members of harold seadrift’s party entertained this notion. chimbolo was one of these. from the sounds of growling and rending which issued from the thicket, he knew that the lion in question was devouring part of their buffalo-meat which had been hung on the branch of a neighbouring tree, not, however, near enough to the fires to be visible. believing that the beast was a chief in disguise, chimbolo advanced a little towards the place where he was, and, much to our traveller’s amusement, gave him a good scolding.
“you call yourself a chief, do you—eh?” he said sternly. “what kind of a chief can you be, to come sneaking about in the dark like this, trying to steal our buffalo-meat! are you not ashamed of yourself? a pretty chief, truly; you are like the scavenger-beetle, and think of yourself only; you have not the heart of a chief. why don’t you kill your own beef? you must have a stone in your chest, and no heart at all.”
“that’s werry flowery lingo, but it don’t seem to convince him,” said disco, with a quiet smile, as the lion, which had been growling continuously over its meal all the time, wound up chimbolo’s speech with another terrific roar.
at this point another believer in transmigration of souls, a quiet man who seldom volunteered remarks on any subject, stepped forward and began seriously to expostulate with the lion.
“it is very wrong of you,” he said, “to treat strangers in this fashion. you might have more respect for englishmen who have come to see your land, and never did you any harm. we are travelling peaceably through the country; we never kill anybody, and never steal anything; the buffalo-meat is ours, not yours, and it ill becomes a great chief like you to be prowling about in the dark, like a hyena, trying to steal the meat of strangers. surely you can hunt for yourself—there is plenty of meat in the forest.” (see livingstone’s zambesi and its tributaries, page 160.)
as the lion was equally deaf to this man’s reasoning, harold thought it right to try a more persuasive plan. he drew up in a line all the men who had guns, and at a word of command they fired a volley of balls into the jungle, in the direction whence the sounds issued. a dead silence followed, but it was deemed advisable not to venture in to see the effect, as men had frequently lost their lives by so doing. a watch, however, was kept during the night, and the fires were well replenished, for they knew that the king of the forest usually shrinks from doing his evil deeds in the light of a strong camp-fire. we say usually—because they are not always thus shy. authentic instances are on record of lions having leaped into the centre of a bivouac, and carried off one of the men in spite of being smitten in the face with flaming firebrands. fortunately the lion of which we write thought “discretion the better part of valour.” he retired peaceably, nevertheless disco and his friend continued to dream of him all night so vividly that they started up several times, and seized their rifles, under the impression that he had roared his loudest into their very ears, and after each of these occasions they crept back into their sleeping bags to re-dream of the lion!
the “bag” which formed each man’s couch was made simply of two mats sewed together, and left open, not at one of the ends but at one of the sides, so that a man could roll out of or into it more easily than he could have slid, feet first, into a sack. it was large enough also for two to sleep inside together, always supposing that the two were of accommodating dispositions!
that they had now reached a land which swarmed with wild animals was intimated to some extent by the running past, within fifty yards of their bivouac, of a troop of elephants. it was daybreak at the time, so that, having been thus rudely aroused, they did not deem it necessary to return to rest but after taking a hasty mouthful of food, set forth on their journey.
the usual mode of proceeding on the march was as follows:— they rose about five o’clock, or soon after the appearance of dawn, and swallowed a cup of tea, with a bit of biscuit, then some of the men folded up the blankets and stowed them away in the bags, others tied up the cooking utensils, etcetera, in bundles, and hung them at the ends of carrying-sticks, which they bore upon their shoulders. the process did not take long. they were soon on the march, either in single file, if the path were narrow, or in groups, according to fancy, where the ground admitted of their spreading out. about nine, a convenient spot was chosen for a halt to breakfast, which meat, although not “eaten the night before in order to save time in the morning,” was at all events cooked on the previous evening for the same end, so that it only needed warming up. then the march was resumed; a short rest was allowed in the heat of the day, when, of course, disco had a pipe and much sagacious intercourse with his fellows, and they finally encamped for the remainder of the day and night early in the afternoon. thus they travelled five or six hours at a stretch, and averaged from twelve to fifteen miles a day, which is about as much as europeans can stand in a hot climate without being oppressed. this disco called “taking it easy,” and so it was when compared with the custom of some travellers, whose chief end would appear to be the getting over as much ground as possible in a given time, in order that they may afterwards boast of the same, and for the accomplishment of which they are obliged to abuse and look ferocious at the blacks, cock their pistols, and flourish their whips, in a manner which is only worthy of being styled contemptible and cowardly. we need not say that our friends harold and disco had no such propensities. they had kindly consideration for the feelings of their “niggers,” coupled with great firmness; became very sociable with them, and thus got hearty, willing work out of them. but to return from this digression.
during the day, the number of animals of all sorts that were seen was so great as to induce disco to protest, with a slap of his thigh, that the whole land, from stem to stern, seemed to him to be one prodigious zoological garden—it did, an’ no mistake about it.
disco was not far wrong. he and harold having started ahead of the party, with chimbolo as their guide, came on a wonderful variety of creatures in rapid succession. first, they fell in with some large flocks of guinea-fowl, and shot a few for dinner. as they advanced, various birds ran across their path, and clouds of turtle-doves filled the air with the blatter of their wings as they rose above the trees. ducks, geese, and francolins helped to swell the chorus of sounds.
when the sun rose and sent a flood of light over a wide and richly wooded vale, into which they were about to descend, a herd of pallahs stood gazing at the travellers in stupid surprise, and allowed them to approach within sixty yards before trotting leisurely away. these and all other animals were passed unmolested, as the party had sufficient meat at the time, and harold made it a point not to permit his followers to shoot animals for the mere sake of sport, though several of them were uncommonly anxious to do so. soon afterwards a herd of waterbucks were passed, and then a herd of koodoos, with two or three magnificently-horned bucks amongst them, which hurried off to the hillsides on seeing the travellers. antelopes also were seen, and buffaloes, grazing beside their path.
ere long they came upon a small pond with a couple of elephants standing on its brink, cooling their huge sides by drawing water into their trunks and throwing it all over themselves. behind these were several herds of zebras and waterbucks, all of which took to flight on “getting the wind” of man. they seemed intuitively to know that he was an enemy. wild pigs, also, were common, and troops of monkeys, large and small, barked, chattered, grinned, and made faces among the trees.
after pitching the camp each afternoon, and having had a mouthful of biscuit, the two englishmen were in the habit of going off to hunt for the daily supply of fresh meat accompanied by chimbolo as their guide and game-carrier, antonio as their interpreter, and mokompa as their poet and jester. they did not indeed, appoint mokompa to that post of honour, but the little worthy took it upon himself, for the express purpose of noting the deeds of the white men, in order to throw his black comrades into convulsions over supper by a poetic recital of the same.
“it pleases them, an’ it don’t hurt us,” was disco’s observation on this head.
on the afternoon, then, of which we write, the party of four went out to hunt, while the encampment was being prepared under the superintendence of jumbo, who had already proved himself to be an able manager and cook, as also had his countrymen masiko and zombo.
“what a rich country!” exclaimed harold, looking round in admiration from the top of a small hillock on as fine a scene as one could wish to behold, “and what a splendid cotton country it might be if properly cultivated!”
“so it is,” said disco, “an’ i shouldn’t wonder if there wos lots of gold too, if we only knew where to look for it.”
“gold!” exclaimed antonio, who sat winking placidly on the stump of a fallen tree; “dere be lots ob gold near zambesi—an’ oder ting too.”
“let’s hear wot are some of the other things,” said disco.
“what are dere?—oh, let me see: der be coal, lots ob coal on zambesi, any amount ob it, an’ it burn fuss-rate, too. dere be iron-ore, very much, an’ indigo, an’ sugar-cane, an ivory; you hab hear an’ see yooself about de elephants an’ de cottin, an’ tobacco. (see livingstone’s zambesi and its tributaries, page 52.) oh! great plenty ob eberyting eberywhere in dis yere country, but,” said antonio, with a shrug of his shoulders, “no can make noting out ob it on account ob de slave-trade.”
“then i ’spose ’ee don’t approve of the slave-trade?” said disco.
“no, dat am true,” replied antonio; “de country very good for slave-trader, but no good for man like me what want to trade proper.”
“h’m! i’ve more respect for ’ee than i had,” said disco. “i ’spose you’ve bin up in these parts before now, have ’ee?”
“no, nevah, but i hab sister what marry one nigger, one slave, what sold himself, an’ him tell me much ’bout it. hims bin up here many time.”
“sold himself!” repeated harold in surprise. “what do you mean?”
“mean dat,” returned antonio. “him was a black free-man—call him chibanti; him was all alone in de world, lose fader, moder, broder, sister, wife, eberyting by slave-trader, who steal dem all away or murder dem. so chibanti him say, ‘what de use of be free?’ so him go to one master, who berry good to hims niggers—gib dem plenty to eat an’ little to do—an’ sole hisself to him.”
“an’ wot did he get for himself?” asked disco.
“got ninety yard ob cottin cloth.”
“did he consider himself cheap or dear at that?” inquired disco.
“oh, dear—awful dear!”
“what has come of him now?” asked harold.
“dunno,” answered antonio. “after him got de cloth, hims master send him to quillimane wid cargo ob ivory, an’ gib him leave to do leetil trade on hims own account; so him bought a man, a woman, an’ a boy, for sixty yard ob cottin, an’ wid de rest hired slaves for de voyage down, an’ drove a mos’ won’erful trade. but long time since me hear ob him. p’raps hims good master be dead, an’ him go wid de rest of de goods an’ chattels to a bad master, who berry soon make him sorry him sole hisself.”
pushing forward for several days in the manner which we have attempted to describe, our travellers passed through many varied scenes, which, however, all bore one mark in common, namely, teeming animal and vegetable life. human beings were also found to be exceedingly numerous, but not so universally distributed as the others, for, although many villages and hamlets were passed, the inhabitants of which were all peacefully inclined and busy in their fields, or with their native cotton, iron, and pottery manufactures, vast expanses of rich ground were also traversed, which, as far as man was concerned, appeared to be absolute solitudes.
entering upon one of these about noon of a remarkably fine day, harold could not help remarking on the strange stillness which pervaded the air. no sound was heard from beast, bird, or insect; no village was near, no rippling stream murmured, or zephyr stirred the leaves; in short, it was a scene which, from its solitude and profound silence, became oppressive.
“w’y, sir,” said disco, whose face was bathed in perspiration, “it do seem to me as if we’d got to the fag-end of the world altogether. there ain’t nothin’ nowhere.”
harold laughed, and said it looked like it. but disco was wrong. it was only the hour when animals seem to find a siesta indispensable, and vegetables as well as air had followed their example. a few minutes sufficed to prove their mistake, for, on entering a piece of woodland, a herd of pallahs, and another of water-bucks, appeared, standing as quiet and still as if they were part of a painted landscape. then, in passing a thick clump of thorns, they could see, through openings in the bushes, the dim phantom-like forms of buffaloes, with heads lowered and eyes glaring at them, ready to charge, if need be, though too lazy from heat, apparently, to begin the ’fray, and willing to act on the principle of “let be for let be.” still farther on, a native was observed keeping at a respectful distance. he had seen the travellers from afar, and come with noiseless tread to get a nearer view.
halting to rest the party for a few minutes in a shady hollow, harold threw himself at full length on the grass, but disco, who, strange to say, did not feel inclined to smoke at the moment—probably because he had only just finished his fifth pipe a few minutes previously—sauntered on alone to the top of the next ridge.
he had barely reached the summit when harold, who chanced to be looking after him, observed that he crouched suddenly behind a bush, and, after gazing steadfastly for a few seconds over the hill, turned and ran back, making excessively wild demonstrations with head and arms, but uttering no sound.
of course the whole party sprang up and ran towards the excited mariner, and soon were near enough to understand that his violent actions were meant to caution them to make no noise.
“hush!” he said eagerly, on coming near enough to be heard; “keep quiet as mice. there’s a slave-gang, or somethin’ uncommon like it, goin’ along on right athwart us.”
without a word of reply, the whole party hurried forward and gained a point of observation behind the low bushes which crowned the ridge.
