The Sight Of This
Dhow Gave Us A Hint Which, Had We Previously Received It, Would Have
Prevented Our Attempting To Carry A Vessel Of Iron Past The
Cataracts.
The trees around Katosa's village were Timbati, and they
would have yielded planks fifty feet long and thirty inches
Broad.
With a few native carpenters a good vessel could be built on the Lake
nearly as quickly as one could be carried past the Cataracts, and at
a vastly less cost. Juma said that no money would induce him to part
with this dhow. He was very busy in transporting slaves across the
Lake by means of two boats, which we saw returning from a trip in the
afternoon. As he did not know of our intention to visit him, we came
upon several gangs of stout young men slaves, each secured by the
neck to one common chain, waiting for exportation, and several more
in slave-sticks. These were all civilly removed before our interview
was over, because Juma knew that we did not relish the sight.
When we met the same Arabs in 1861, they had but few attendants:
according to their own account, they had now, in the village and
adjacent country, 1500 souls. It is certain that tens of thousands
had flocked to them for protection, and all their power and influence
must be attributed to the possession of guns and gunpowder. This
crowding of refugees to any point where there is a hope for security
for life and property is very common in this region, and the
knowledge of it made our hopes beat high for the success of a
peaceful Mission on the shores of the Lake.
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