Hand of God; and, to use the words of
the Diwan, "God's power is wonderful, and who can resist Him!"
I again resort to my Diary, and extract the following:
April 30th. - Passing Msuwa, we travelled hurriedly through the
jungle which saw such hard work with us when going to Unyanyembe.
What dreadful odors and indescribable loathing this jungle
produces! It is so dense that a tiger could not crawl through
it; it is so impenetrable that an elephant could not force his
way! Were a bottleful of concentrated miasma, such as we inhale
herein, collected, what a deadly poison, instantaneous in its
action, undiscoverable in its properties, would it be! I think
it would act quicker than chloroform, be as fatal as prussic
acid.
Horrors upon horrors are in it. Boas above our heads,
snakes and scorpions under our feet. Land-crabs, terrapins,
and iguanas move about in our vicinity. Malaria is in the air
we breathe; the road is infested with "hotwater" ants, which
bite our legs until we dance and squirm about like madmen.
Yet, somehow, we are fortunate enough to escape annihilation,
and many another traveller might also. Yet here, in verity,
are the ten plagues of Egypt, through which a traveller in
these regions must run the gauntlet:
1. Plague of boas. | 7. Suffocation from the
2. Red ants, or "hot-water." | density of the jungle.
3 Scorpions. | 8. Stench.
4. Thorns and spear cacti. | 9. Thorns in the road.
5. Numerous impediments. | 10. Miasma.
6 Black mud knee-deep. |
May 1st. Kingaru Hera. - We heard news of a great storm having
raged at Zanzibar, which has destroyed every house and every
ship, - so the story runs; - and the same destruction has visited
Bagamoyo and Whinde, they say. But I am by this time pretty
well acquainted with the exaggerative tendency of the African.
It is possible that serious loss has been sustained, from the
evidences of the effects of the storm in the interior. I hear,
also, that there are white men at Bagamoyo, who are about starting
into the country to look after me (?). Who would look after me,
I cannot imagine. I think they must have some confused idea of
my Expedition; though, how they came to know that I was looking
for any man I cannot conceive, because I never told a soul until
I reached Unyanyembe.
May 2nd. Rosako. - I had barely arrived at the village before the
three men I despatched from Mvumi, Ugogo, entered, bringing with
them from the generous American Consul a few bottles of champagne,
a few pots of jam, and two boxes of Boston crackers. These were
most welcome after my terrible experiences in the Makata Valley.
Inside one of these boxes, carefully put up by the Consul,
were four numbers of the 'Herald'; one of which contained my
correspondence from Unyanyembe, wherein were some curious
typographical errors, especially in figures and African names.
I suppose my writing was wretched, owing to my weakness. In
another are several extracts from various newspapers, in which
I learn that many editors regard the Expedition into Africa as
a myth. Alas! it has been a terrible, earnest fact with me;
nothing but hard, conscientious work, privation, sickness,
and almost death. Eighteen men have paid the forfeit of their
lives in the undertaking. It certainly is not a myth - the death
of my two white assistants; they, poor fellows, found their fate
in the inhospitable regions of the interior.
One of my letters received from Zanzibar by my messengers states
that there is an expedition at Bagamoyo called the "Livingstone
Search and Relief Expedition." What will the leaders of it do now?
Livingstone is found and relieved already. Livingstone says he
requires nothing more. It is a misfortune that they did not start
earlier; then they might with propriety proceed, and be welcomed.
May 4th. - -Arrived at Kingwere's Ferry, but we were unable to
attract the attention of the canoe paddler. Between our camp and
Bagamoyo we have an inundated plain that is at least four miles
broad. The ferrying of our Expedition across this broad watery
waste will occupy considerable time.
May 5th. - Kingwere, the canoe proprietor, came about 11 A.M.
from his village at Gongoni, beyond the watery plain. By his
movements I am fain to believe him to be a descendant of some
dusky King Log, for I have never seen in all this land the
attributes and peculiarities of that royal personage so
faithfully illustrated as in Kingwere. He brought two canoes
with him, short, cranky things, in which only twelve of us
could embark at a time. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon
before we arrived at Gongoni village.
May 6th. - After impressing Kingwere with the urgent necessity of
quick action on his part, with a promise of an extra five-dollar
gold piece, I had the satisfaction to behold the last man reach
my camp at 3.30 p.m.
An hour later, and we are en route, at a pace that I never saw
equalled at any time by my caravan. Every man's feelings are
intensified, for there is an animated, nay, headlong, impetuosity
about their movements that indicates but too well what is going on
in their minds. Surely, my own are a faithful index to their
feelings; and I do not feel a whit too proud to acknowledge the
great joy that possesses me. I feel proud to think that I have
been successful; but, honestly, I do not feel so elated at that
as at the hope that to-morrow I shall sit before a table bounteous
with the good things of this life. How I will glory in the hams,
and potatoes, and good bread! What a deplorable state of mind,
is it not?
