This Was The Greatest Waterfall Of The Nile, And In Honor Of
The Distinguished President Of The Royal Geographical Society I Named It
The Murchison Falls, As The Most Important Object Throughout The Entire
Course Of The River.
At this point we had ordered our oxen to he sent, as we could go no
farther in the canoes.
We found the oxen ready for us; but if we looked
wretched, the animals were a match. They had been bitten by the flies,
thousands of which were at this spot. Their coats were staring, ears
drooping, noses running, and heads hanging down - all the symptoms of
fly-bite, together with extreme looseness of the bowels. I saw that it
was all up with our animals. Weak as I was myself, I was obliged to
walk, as my ox could not carry me up the steep inclination. I toiled
languidly to the summit of the cliff, and we were soon above the falls,
and arrived at a small village a little before evening.
On the following morning we started, the route as before being parallel
to the river, and so close that the roar of the rapids was extremely
loud. The river flowed in a deep ravine upon our left. We continued for
a day's march along the Somerset, crossing many ravines and torrents,
until we turned suddenly down to the left, and arriving at the bank we
were to be transported to an island called Patooan, that was the
residence of a chief. It was about an hour after sunset, and, being
dark, my riding ox, which was being driven as too weak to carry me, fell
into an elephant pitfall. After much hallooing, a canoe was brought from
the island, which was not more than fifty yards from the mainland, and
we were ferried across. We were both very ill with a sudden attack of
fever; and my wife, not being able to stand, was, on arrival at the
island, carried on a litter I knew not whither, escorted by some of my
men, while I lay down on the wet ground quite exhausted with the
annihilating disease. At length the rest of my men crossed over, and
those who had carried my wife to the village returning with firebrands,
I managed to creep after them with the aid of a long stick, upon which I
rested with both hands. After a walk through a forest of high trees for
about a quarter of a mile, I arrived at a village where I was shown a
wretched hut, the stars being visible through the roof. In this my wife
lay dreadfully ill upon her angarep, and I fell down upon some straw.
About an hour later a violent thunderstorm broke over us, and our hut
was perfectly flooded. Being far too ill and helpless to move from our
positions, we remained dripping wet and shivering with fever until the
morning. Our servants and people had, like all native, made themselves
much more comfortable than their employers; nor did they attempt to
interfere with our misery in any way until summoned to appear at
sunrise.
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