This Gives Strength To The
Idea That The Civilized Withstand The Evil Influences Of Strange
Climates Better Than The Uncivilized.
When negroes return to their
own country from healthy lands, they suffer as severely as foreigners
ever do.
On the 31st of January, 1861, our new ship, the "Pioneer," arrived
from England, and anchored outside the bar; but the weather was
stormy, and she did not venture in till the 4th of February.
Two of H.M. cruisers came at the same time, bringing Bishop
Mackenzie, and the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to the tribes of the
Shire and Lake Nyassa. The Mission consisted of six Englishmen, and
five coloured men from the Cape. It was a puzzle to know what to do
with so many men. The estimable Bishop, anxious to commence his work
without delay, wished the "Pioneer" to carry the Mission up the
Shire, as far as Chibisa's, and there leave them. But there were
grave objections to this. The "Pioneer" was under orders to explore
the Rovuma, as the Portuguese Government had refused to open the
Zambesi to the ships of other nations, and their officials were very
effectually pursuing a system, which, by abstracting the labour, was
rendering the country of no value either to foreigners or to
themselves. She was already two months behind her time, and the
rainy season was half over. Then, if the party were taken to
Chibisa's, the Mission would he left without a medical attendant, in
an unhealthy region, at the beginning of the most sickly season of
the year, and without means of reaching the healthy highlands, or of
returning to the sea. We dreaded that, in the absence of medical aid
and all knowledge of the treatment of fever, there might be a
repetition of the sorrowful fate which befell the similar non-medical
Mission at Linyanti.
On the 25th of February the "Pioneer" anchored in the mouth of the
Rovuma, which, unlike most African rivers, has a magnificent bay and
no bar. We wooded, and then waited for the Bishop till the 9th of
March, when he came in the "Lyra." On the 11th we proceeded up the
river, and saw that it had fallen four or five feet during our
detention. The scenery on the lower part of the Rovuma is superior
to that on the Zambesi, for we can see the highlands from the sea.
Eight miles from the mouth the mangroves are left behind, and a
beautiful range of well-wooded hills on each bank begins. On these
ridges the tree resembling African blackwood, of finer grain than
ebony, grows abundantly, and attains a large size. Few people were
seen, and those were of Arab breed, and did not appear to be very
well off. The current of the Rovuma was now as strong as that of the
Zambesi, but the volume of water is very much less. Several of the
crossings had barely water enough for our ship, drawing five feet, to
pass. When we were thirty miles up the river, the water fell
suddenly seven inches in twenty-four hours. As the March flood is
the last of the season, and it appeared to be expended, it was
thought prudent to avoid the chance of a year's detention, by getting
the ship back to the sea without delay. Had the Expedition been
alone, we would have pushed up in boats, or afoot, and done what we
could towards the exploration of the river and upper end of the lake;
but, though the Mission was a private one, and entirely distinct from
our own, a public one, the objects of both being similar, we felt
anxious to aid our countrymen in their noble enterprise; and, rather
than follow our own inclination, decided to return to the Shire, see
the Mission party settled safely, and afterwards explore Lake Nyassa
and the Rovuma, from the Lake downwards. Fever broke out on board
the "Pioneer," at the mouth of the Rovuma, as we thought from our
having anchored close to a creek coming out of the mangroves; and it
remained in her until we completely isolated the engine-room from the
rest of the ship. The coal-dust rotting sent out strong effluvia,
and kept up the disease for more than a twelvemonth.
Soon after we started the fever put the "Pioneer" almost entirely
into the hands of the original Zambesi Expedition, and not long
afterwards the leader had to navigate the ocean as well as the river.
The habit of finding the geographical positions on land renders it an
easy task to steer a steamer with only three or four sails at sea;
where, if one does not run ashore, no one follows to find out an
error, and where a current affords a ready excuse for every blunder.
Touching at Mohilla, one of the Comoro Islands, on our return, we
found a mixed race of Arabs, Africans, and their conquerors, the
natives of Madagascar. Being Mahometans, they have mosques and
schools, in which we were pleased to see girls as well as boys taught
to read the Koran. The teacher said he was paid by the job, and
received ten dollars for teaching each child to read. The clever
ones learn in six months; but the dull ones take a couple of years.
We next went over to Johanna for our friends; and, after a sojourn of
a few days at the beautiful Comoro Islands, we sailed for the Kongone
mouth of the Zambesi with Bishop Mackenzie and his party. We reached
the coast in seven days, and passed up the Zambesi to the Shire.
The "Pioneer," constructed under the skilful supervision of Admiral
Sir Baldwin Walker and the late Admiral Washington, warm-hearted and
highly esteemed friends of the Expedition, was a very superior
vessel, and well suited for our work in every respect, except in her
draught of water. Five feet were found to be too much for the
navigation of the upper part of the Shire.
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