Verney Lovett Cameron

With the Bateke I believe I stopped about a year more; then I was traded to some other chief who was desirous of being the proud possessor of a white man. In this manner, passing from hand to hand and tribe to tribe, I gradually got further and further into the interior of Africa, and my hopes of ever again seeing my native country, or my father and brother, grew less and less.

I lost all interest in life, and mechanically ate and drank what was given me, but scarcely noticed what occurred around. Of this part of my life it would be very hard for me to give a connected description. I have vague memories of many journeys, of fevers, of fights, of times of starvation and times of plenty, but perhaps least vague of all of a party I was with being attacked from trees and bushes by dwarfs with tiny poisoned arrows, the wounds from which proved fatal almost immediately. That this is a true memory I know, because I have even now a basket-work quiver, covered over with a substance like pitch, full of these arrows. This was the only thing I had with me when found wandering in the woods, some two hundred miles west of Lake Tanganyika, by Hatibu, one of the slaves of Hamees ibu Sayf, an Arab merchant.

The way I fell in with him was on this wise. My companions had, I suppose, all been killed by the poisoned arrows of the dwarfs, or had made good their escape from them without caring to wait to see whether I was among the slain or not. I had been wandering alone in the jungle for some days, subsisting on berries and lichens gathered from the trees. I had to devour these raw, having no means of making a fire to cook them or to warm myself. Nearly starved and quite weary I laid me down, as I thought, to die, and was in a sort of semi-torpid state. I was roused up by yells and shrieks. Lifting my head, I saw that some men were attacking a troop of sokos or gorillas, and that one of the sokos had seized a man by the hand with his teeth.

Evidently these men were only a portion of those engaged in the chase of the gorillas, for I heard the sound of guns. I soon saw a man coming up with a white skull-cap on his head. Besides a cloth round his loins, he wore a kind of sleeveless waistcoat, and bore in his hand a gun which had been recently discharged.

The sight of a gun brought a flood of memories rushing into my head, and raised hopes that people who

A SOKO HUNT.

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had guns must be in communication with white men. The remaining gorillas were soon despatched. I tried to attract the attention of the hunters; but as I attempted to rise to my feet I found I was too weak to do so, and all the sounds that I could utter were faint and inarticulate.

At last I attracted the attention of some of the men, and one was about to hurl a spear at me, when the man with the gun prevented him, and came running to where I was lying. I was a curious object to look at, being clothed only in some scanty shreds of native grass-cloth, and my hair hanging in matted and dishevelled masses on my shoulders. My skin was burnt and discoloured by exposure to sun, wind, and weather, and changed to almost the colour of mahogany, except just round my neck and on my forehead, where my hair had sheltered it; and my beard, which had commenced to grow, hid nearly all my face.

He was followed by some of his men, and they began to examine me curiously, and seemed much astonished, especially when, lifting up my hair and removing the remains of my clothing, they saw the natural colour of my skin. “Mzungu, mzungu!” I heard them cry, while they held up their hands in astonishment. The man with the gun said, “Portugoo, FrancÈse, Ingleez?” as if asking me what countryman I was, so I replied, “English.”

He immediately placed his two forefingers side by side, and said, “Arab Ingleez sawa sawa” (all the same). By his orders the men cut some branches and grass, and with these and their spears they made a litter, on which I was carried to their camp, about an hour distant. Here I was carefully tended, fed, and washed. My head was shaved, which was a great comfort to me. I was then dressed in a long white shirt, while a bale of cloth was opened to provide me with a waist-cloth and a piece of calico to tie over my head.

After all that I had gone through it seemed as if I were in paradise. A comfortable place having been arranged for me in one of the huts I slept soundly and, for the first time for many days, I believe I may say months, peacefully.

Next morning, the chief of the men who had rescued me came and sat by me. Pointing to himself he said, “Hatibu, Hatibu;” then he pointed to me as if to say that his name was Hatibu and that he wished to know what mine was.

I replied, “Franki.” I had become so accustomed to be called nothing else by my various savage proprietors that I had quite or almost forgotten that I had a surname. Hatibu laughed, showing all his teeth. Patting me on the head he made signs for me to go to sleep again, saying, “Lala, Franki, lala.” Then he left me, closing the door of the hut with a kind of hurdle made of grass, so as to prevent the light coming in and disturbing me.

I could not sleep, but lay in lazy comfort, wondering where I was, and if, after all, I was going to get out of Africa. Who could these men be who treated me so kindly? By their possessing European cloth, and guns, and powder, they were evidently in communication with the coast, and hope replaced the apathetic despair which I had felt so long.

I lay like this for a long time, thinking that perhaps it was all a dream, and that I should wake up to my old life of hardship and privation. The door was opened, and Hatibu came in with an earthen bowl full of stewed meat and boiled rice, and made signs for me to get up and eat. This I did with right good will, and I soon found myself so much invigorated that I felt inclined to get up and go outside to have a look round.

As soon as Hatibu saw my intention, he went and opened a bundle in the corner, and brought from it a pair of high wooden clogs, with a peg on the upper side. I took them up and examined them, but could not make out what they were intended for. At this Hatibu smiled, and taking them from me placed them on the ground. Then standing on them he grasped the pegs between his great and second toes and walked across the hut with them; then coming back he signed that they were for me to wear.

I tried to follow his example, but could not manage it, and, much to the good fellow’s disappointment, I had to go out with bare feet. When I got outside the hut I found myself in the middle of a small but neat camp of about forty huts built in a circle. In the centre was an open shed, under which were stowed a few bales and some five-and-twenty large tusks of ivory. Men were sitting about, some cooking, some smoking, and others gossiping, while in one corner some people who seemed quite different from my new friends were squatting down with a couple of large tusks.

I went to look at them, thinking that perhaps some might belong to the tribes with whom I had passed so many weary days. I spoke to them, but they did not understand a word I said. Hatibu came up and listened with interest to my ineffectual attempts at conversation, and then spoke to me in what were evidently different languages. I could not understand a word he said, so after a bit he stopped trying to speak to me, and commenced bargaining with these people for their ivory.

I was astonished to see that they sold these two tusks, each of which may have weighed about seventy pounds, for four or five copper bracelets and a handful of cowries, and seemed much delighted with their bargain. As soon as he had finished the purchase, Hatibu pointed to the tusks, and holding up one hand made me to understand that when he had ten more tusks he would leave this place. By pointing to the sun and holding up his hands he explained that in twelve days’ time we should arrive at a place called Nyangwe, where there would be many Arabs, and where one named Hamees ibu Sayf would take care of me.

I was glad to hear this, and looked anxiously for the arrival of ivory. Days passed without any more being brought in, and as well as I could I urged Hatibu, whom I was gradually commencing to understand, to start at once. His orders were to bring so much ivory, and not come back without it unless his stores were exhausted, and he would not on any account disobey his master. At last some natives came into camp, bringing with them two more tusks; also they brought news that in a village a few days distant there was a large quantity, which, if Hatibu sent men for, he might obtain.

Hatibu instantly decided on going himself with twenty men, while he left the rest to take care of the camp and the ivory he had already collected. As I was now able to travel, at his request I went with him. The baggage which we took with us was not extensive. It consisted simply of the men’s sleeping-mats and cooking-pots, one load of copper bracelets and another of cowries. Hatibu himself carried a piece of coarse red woollen cloth to give as a present to the chief of the village to which we were going.

Our road lay through a pleasant open country, large stretches of grassy land being diversified by clumps of trees, while along the banks of numerous small streams there was always a strip of jungle. Here and there plantations of maize and ground-nuts with the broad-leaved plantain gave signs that men were in the neighbourhood, and occasionally we saw the villages in which they lived embowered in groves of the oil palm.

After travelling about three hours we came to the bank of a large stream, far too deep and wide for us to wade, where there were no canoes. Hatibu turned to the natives acting as our guides, and evidently was scolding them for having brought him to such a place. They only smiled, and pointing to the path, which here turned and followed the stream, they made him understand that a crossing-place would soon be found.

After walking for about a mile by the side of the river we came in sight of a huge fishing-weir formed of poles thirty or forty feet long. We found also that the stream was not very deep at this spot, and could be easily forded; and soon, some scrambling over the fishing-weir, others wading across, our party reached the other side in safety.

Not long after crossing we came to a place where a number of women were busily employed in making pottery. As soon as they saw us coming they set up a loud yell and began to run away into the bushes; then we heard the booming of a big drum close by, answered by others at various distances.

We at once halted and prepared for whatever might happen, and soon saw men with their bows strung and their quivers full of arrows moving about among the trees. I was afraid that we were in for a fight. On our guides going forward to enter into a parley with the strangers, a volley of arrows was shot at them, and I was convinced that nothing could avert a collision. Our guides held up their hands and shouted out that we came in peace and not for war. After some time

men came from the other side, and our guides went and met them, and after a long talk we were conducted along a path into a strong stockaded village.

As chief of the party, Hatibu was given a hut, which he shared with me. The news having got about that there was a white man among the strangers, the people all flocked round to stare at the wonderful being. The inquisitiveness of the women, who would examine my hands and feet, and seemed desirous of pursuing their inquiries, threatened to become so unpleasant, that Hatibu went to the chief, to give orders for me to be left alone, and only stared at but not handled.

I was very grateful for his interference, but the chief being a much married man was so worried by his wives that he had to ask Hatibu to take me to the part of the village where they lived, so that they could have a look at me without being incommoded by the crowd of their sisters of low degree.

We found that the chief had a large space fenced off for him and his harem, in the centre of which was a large hut which was his special quarters. Along either side were a dozen smaller ones, in each of which two wives with their children and attendants lived. His mother, who had, I fear, the difficult task of keeping the wives in order, had her hut close to the entrance.

Hatibu and I were given stools to sit on. The chief himself sat on a carved wooden stool which represented a man squatting on his haunches with the elbows resting on the knees, the seat being supported by the head and upturned palms of the hands. One of his wives placed herself on the ground at his feet and supported them in her lap; another stood on his right holding his shield, made of cane worked into patterns and fringed with the skins of long-haired black monkeys; while a third stood on his left with a copper spear, the haft of which was elaborately carved, and ornamented with the tails of zebras and buffaloes.

He spoke for a long time to Hatibu, while the remainder of his wives stared at me. After a quarter of an hour of minute examination I began to get wearied, and Hatibu asked the chief to call his wives off, and gave them a few beads and cowries, with which they were very much delighted. After this the chief took us into his hut. It was beautifully clean and neat, and lined with mats and grass-cloth worked in patterns; the floor was of red clay beaten hard and rubbed up to a bright polish. Spears, bows, and shields were hung round the walls and disposed with a certain amount of taste. The furniture was very simple, consisting of a few stools, a fire-place made of three eighteen-inch cones of clay standing about a foot apart, a bed-place of canes covered with mats, and some raised benches of clay, polished like the floor, on which skins of wild beasts were spread.

Some baskets and boxes made of bark were near the fire-place, where a few logs were smouldering. Standing near by were a couple of elaborately carved idols, male and female, round whose necks were heavy strings of beads and cowries, while their arms and legs were adorned with copper bracelets. The only opening was the doorway, and smoke had turned the inside of the roof to a shiny black. It was some time before we could see clearly. During this time the chief and some of his wives were busy removing the bed-place and placing something in the middle of the floor. After a bit we saw uncovered three very large tusks of ivory for Hatibu to buy, which after some bargaining were secured for seven copper bracelets and a hundred and fifty cowries.

This business having been completed, and night coming on, Hatibu and I went back to our hut to sleep. In the morning carriers were found for the ivory to take it back to our own camp, under the escort of two of Hatibu’s men. The rest of us pursued our way to the village we had intended to visit when we started, and reached it without any incident worthy of note.

Our guides were natives of this place. The inhabitants, evidently expecting our arrival, were on the look-out for us, and welcomed us with every sign of friendship; but when we got to the village we could see no signs of the chief Mona Mkulla, who, we had been told, had invited us to come there.

We were first taken to a large shed, where the chief of the village, Russuna, welcomed us. He brought out a large supply of native beer, which was passed round to our people, Russuna drinking some out of each vessel to prove that the beer was not poisoned. Until all that he had provided had been consumed he would not enter upon any discussion of the business which had brought us.

All things must have an end, and so at last had Russuna’s beer. He then said Mona Mkulla was a great chief, and no strangers were permitted to visit his village, but that next day, when the sun came over the tops of the trees, he would come to the village we were then in, and Hatibu would be able to speak of many things with him.

I could see that Hatibu was very vexed at this, for he had thought that the buying of ivory was the only thing that was to be done. Now he was afraid that Mona Mkulla would bring up questions about some of the Arab traders living at free quarters and driving people off as slaves. This had been indulged in to an alarming extent by some of the parties sent out to collect ivory, and had caused so much ill-feeling and bad blood that Hamees ibu Sayf had prohibited it altogether.

Notwithstanding this prohibition some small traders who had attached themselves, as is often the case, to Hamees ibu Sayf’s caravan for protection, and adding to the number of guns under his control had been allowed to travel with him, were still guilty of these practices. Having expended all their goods in the purchase of ivory, and being unwilling to sell the ivory they had collected to Hamees ibu Sayf at the price he offered for it, they had left nothing to pay for rations for their men. All this I learned afterwards; but I could then see that Hatibu was evidently in anxiety about having an interview with Mona Mkulla on the morrow.

During the evening Hatibu was talking long and seriously to his followers, and all overhauled their arms. Ten were armed with old Tower flint-locks, which were reloaded and new flints put in. All the party too, instead of dispersing themselves about the village, as was their usual custom, remained together, and lighting big fires slept close to the hut in which Hatibu and I had our quarters.