They Took In And Set Sail Very Cleverly In A Short
Time, And Would Climb Out Along A Boom, Reeve A Rope Through The
Block, And Come Back With The Rope In Their Teeth, Though At Each
Lurch The Performer Was Dipped In The Sea.
The sailor and carpenter,
though anxious to do their utmost, had a week's severe illness each,
and were unfit for duty.
It is pleasant enough to take the wheel for an hour or two, or even
for a watch, but when it comes to be for every alternate four hours,
it is utterly wearisome. We set our black men to steer, showing them
which arm of the compass needle was to be kept towards the vessel's
head, and soon three of them could manage very well, and they only
needed watching. In going up the East Coast to take advantage of the
current of one hundred miles a day, we would fain have gone into the
Juba or Webbe River, the mouth of which is only 15 minutes south of
the line, but we were too shorthanded. We passed up to about ten
degrees north of the Equator, and then steamed out from the coast.
Here Maury's wind chart showed that the calm-belt had long been
passed, but we were in it still; and, instead of a current carrying
us north, we had a contrary current which bore us every day four
miles to the south. We steamed as long as we dared, knowing as we
did that we must use the engines on the coast of India.
After losing many days tossing on the silent sea, with innumerable
dolphins, flying-fish, and sharks around us, we had six days of
strong breezes, then calms again tried our patience; and the near
approach of that period, "the break of the monsoon," in which it was
believed no boat could live, made us sometimes think our epitaph
would be "Left Zanzibar on 30th April, 1864, and never more heard
of." At last, in the beginning of June, the chronometers showed that
we were near the Indian coast. The black men believed it was true
because we told them it was so, but only began to dance with joy when
they saw sea-weed and serpents floating past. These serpents are
peculiar to these parts, and are mentioned as poisonous in the
sailing directions. We ventured to predict that we should see land
next morning, and at midday the high coast hove in sight, wonderfully
like Africa before the rains begin. Then a haze covered all the
land, and a heavy swell beat towards it. A rock was seen, and a
latitude showed it to be the Choule rock. Making that a fresh
starting-point, we soon found the light-ship, and then the forest of
masts loomed through the haze in Bombay harbour. We had sailed over
2500 miles.
Footnotes:
{1} A remedy composed of from six to eight grains of resin of jalap,
the same of rhubarb, and three each of calomel and quinine, made up
into four pills, with tincture of cardamoms, usually relieved all the
symptoms in five or six hours. Four pills are a full dose for a man-
-one will suffice for a woman. They received from our men the name
of "rousers," from their efficacy in rousing up even those most
prostrated. When their operation is delayed, a dessert-spoonful of
Epsom salts should be given. Quinine after or during the operation
of the pills, in large doses every two or three hours, until deafness
or cinchonism ensued, completed the cure. The only cases in which,
we found ourselves completely helpless, were those in which obstinate
vomiting ensued.
{2} The late Mr. Robson.
{3} In 1865, four years after these forebodings were penned, we
received intelligence that they had all come to pass. Sekeletu died
in the beginning of 1864 - a civil war broke out about the succession
to the chieftainship; a large body of those opposed to the late
chief's uncle, Impololo, being regent, departed with their cattle to
Lake Ngami; an insurrection by the black tribes followed; Impololo
was slain, and the kingdom, of which, under an able sagacious
mission, a vast deal might have been made, has suffered the usual
fate of African conquests. That fate we deeply deplore; for,
whatever other faults the Makololo might justly be charged with, they
did not belong to the class who buy and sell each other, and the
tribes who have succeeded them do.
{4} It was with sorrow that we learned by a letter from Mr. Moffat,
in 1864, that poor Sekeletu was dead. As will be mentioned further
on, men were sent with us to bring up more medicine. They preferred
to remain on the Shire, and, as they were free men, we could do no
more than try and persuade them to hasten back to their chief with
iodine and other remedies. They took the parcel, but there being
only two real Makololo among them, these could neither return
themselves alone or force their attendants to leave a part of the
country where they were independent, and could support themselves
with ease. Sekeletu, however, lived long enough to receive and
acknowledge goods to the value of 50 pounds, sent, in lieu of those
which remained in Tette, by Robert Moffat, jun., since dead.
{5} A brother, we believe, of one who accompanied Burke and Willis in
the famous but unfortunate Australian Expedition.
{6} Genesis, chap. iii., verses 21 and 23, "make coats of skins, and
clothed them" - "sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the
ground" imply teaching. Vide Archbishop Whately's "History of
Religious Worship." John W. Parker, West Strand, London, 1849.
{7} "In 1854 the native church at Sierra-Leone undertook to pay for
their primary schools, and thereby effected a saving to the Church
Missionary Society of 800 pounds per annum. In 1861 the
contributions of this one section of native Christians had amounted
to upwards of 10,000 pounds." - "Manual of Church Missionary Society's
African Missions."
End of The Zambesi and Its Tributaries by David Livingstone
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