It Was No Wonder These Men Were Recalled; For, Out
Of Twenty Missionaries Who, During The Last Thirteen Years, Had
Ascended the White river for the purpose of propagating the
Gospel, thirteen had died of fever, two of dysentary, and
Two had
retired broken in health, yet not one convert had been made by
them.
The fact is, there was no government to control the population or
to protect property; boys came to them, looked at their pictures,
and even showed a disposition to be instructed, but there it
ended; they had no heart to study when no visible returns were to
be gained. One day the people would examine the books, at
another throw them aside, say their stomachs were empty, and run
away to look for food. The Bari people at Gondokoro were
described as being more tractable than those of Kich, being of a
braver and more noble nature; but they were all half-starved - not
because the country was too poor to produce, but because they
were too lazy to cultivate. What little corn they grew they
consumed before it was fully ripe, and then either sought for
fish in the river or fed on tortoises in the interior, as they
feared they might never reap what they sowed.
The missionaries never had occasion to complain of these blacks,
and to this day they would doubtless have been kindly inclined to
Europeans, had the White Nile traders not brought the devil
amongst them. Mr Moorlan remembers the time when they brought
food for sale; but now, instead, they turn their backs upon all
foreigners, and even abuse the missionaries for having been the
precursors of such dire calamities. The shell of the brick
church at Gondokoro, and the cross on the top of a native-built
hut in Kich, are all that will remain to bear testimony of these
Christian exertions to improve the condition of these heathens.
Want of employment, I heard was the chief operative cause in
killing the poor missionaries; for, with no other resource left
them to kill time, they spent their days eating, drinking,
smoking, and sleeping, till they broke down their constitutions
by living too fast.
Mr Moorlan became very friendly, and said he was sorry he could
not do more for us. His headquarters were at Kich, some way down
the river, where, as we passed, he hoped at least he might be
able to show us as much attention and hospitality as lay in his
power. Mosquitoes were said to be extremely troublesome on the
river, and my men begged for some clothes, as Petherick, they
said, had a store for me under the charge of his Vakil. The
storekeeper was then called, and confirming the story of my men,
I begged him to give me what was my own. It then turned out that
it was all Petherick's, but he had orders to give me on account
anything that I wanted. This being settled, I took ninety-five
yards of the commonest stuff as a makeshift for mosquito-curtains
for my men, besides four sailor's shirts for my head men.
On the 18th, Kurshid Agha was summoned by the constant fire of
musketry, a mile or two down the river, and went off in his
vessels to the relief. A party of his had come across from the
N'yambara country with ivory, and on the banks of the Nile, a few
miles north of this, were engaged fighting with the natives. He
arrived just in time to settle the difficulty, and next day came
back again, having shot some of the enemy and captured their
cows. Petherick, we heard, was in a difficulty of the same kind,
upon which I proposed to go down with Baker and Grant to succour
him; but he arrived in time, in company with his wife and Dr
James Murie, to save us the trouble, and told me he had brought a
number of men with him, carrying ivory, for the purpose now of
looking after me on the east bank of the Nile, by following its
course up to the south, though he had given up all hope of seeing
me, as a report had reached him of the desertion of my porters at
Ugogo. He then offered me his dyabir, as well as anything else
that I wanted that lay within his power to give. Suffice it to
say, I had, through Baker's generosity, at that very moment
enough and to spare; but at his urgent request I took a few more
yards of cloth for my men, and some cooking fat; and, though I
offered to pay for it, he declined to accept any return at my
hands.
Though I naturally felt much annoyed at Petherick - for I had
hurried away from Uganda, and separated from Grant at Kari,
solely to keep faith with him - I did not wish to break
friendship, but dined and conversed with him, when it transpired
that his Vakil, or agent, who went south from the N'yambara
station, came amongst the N'yam N'yam, and heard from them that a
large river, four days' journey more to the southward, was
flowing from east to west, beyond which lived a tribe of "women,"
who, when they wanted to marry, mingled with them in the stream
and returned; and then, again, beyond this tribe of women there
lived another tribe of women and dogs. Now, this may all seem a
very strange story to those who do not know the negro's and
Arab's modes of expression; but to me it at once came very
natural, and, according to my view, could be interpreted thus: -
The river, running from east to west, according to the native
mode of expressing direction, could be nothing but the Little
Luta Nzige running the opposite way, according to fact and our
mode of expression. The first tribe of women were doubtless the
Wanyoro - called women by the naked tribes on this side because
they wear bark coverings - an effeminate appendage, in the naked
man's estimation; and the second tribe must have been in allusion
to the dog-keeping Waganda, who also would be considered women,
as they wear bark clothes.
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