Having Rested For Two Days, We Again Moved Forward, Mrs. Baker Being
Carried On A Litter.
We now continued on elevated ground, on the north
side of a valley running from west to east, about sixteen miles broad,
and exceedingly swampy.
The rocks composing the ridge upon which we
travelled due west were all gneiss and quartz, with occasional breaks,
forming narrow valleys, all of which were swamps choked with immense
papyrus rushes, that made the march very fatiguing. In one of these
muddy bottoms one of my riding oxen that was ill, stuck fast, and we
were obliged to abandon it, intending to send a number of natives to
drag it out with ropes.
On arrival at a village, our guide started about fifty men for this
purpose, while we continued our journey. That evening we reached a
village belonging to a headman, and very superior to most that we had
passed on the route from M'rooli: large sugarcanes of the blue variety
were growing in the fields, and I had seen coffee growing wild in the
forest in the vicinity. I was sitting at the door of the hut about two
hours after sunset, smoking a pipe of excellent tobacco, when I suddenly
heard a great singing in chorus advancing rapidly from a distance
towards the entrance of the courtyard. At first I imagined that the
natives intended dancing, which was an infliction that I wished to
avoid, as I was tired and feverish; but in a few minutes the boy Saat
introduced a headman, who told me that the riding ox had died in the
swamp where he had stuck fast in the morning, and that the natives had
brought his body to me. "What!" I replied, "brought his body, the entire
ox, to me?" "The entire ox as he died is delivered at your door,"
answered the headman; "I could not allow any of your property to be lost
upon the road. Had the body of the ox not been delivered to you, we
might have been suspected of having stolen it." I went to the entrance
of the courtyard, and amidst a crowd of natives I found the entire ox
exactly as he had died. They had carried him about eight miles on a
litter, which they had constructed of two immensely long posts with
cross-pieces of bamboo, upon which they had laid the body. They would
not eat the flesh, and seemed quite disgusted at the idea, as they
replied that "it had died."
It is a curious distinction of the Unyoro people, that they are
peculiarly clean feeders, and will not touch either the flesh of animals
that have died, neither of those that are sick; nor will they eat the
crocodile. They asked for no remuneration for bringing their heavy load
so great a distance; and they departed in good humour as a matter of
course.
Never were such contradictory people as these creatures; they had
troubled us dreadfully during the journey, as they would suddenly
exclaim against the weight of their loads, and throw them down, and bolt
into the high grass; yet now they had of their own free will delivered
to me a whole dead ox from a distance of eight miles, precisely as
though it had been an object of the greatest value.
The name of this village was Parkani. For several days past our guides
had told us that we were very near to the lake, and we were now assured
that we should reach it on the morrow. I had noticed a lofty range of
mountains at an immense distance west, and I had imagined that the lake
lay on the other side of this chain; but I was now informed that those
mountains formed the western frontier of the M'-wootan N'zige, and that
the lake was actually within a march of Parkani. I could not believe it
possible that we were so near the object of our search. The guide
Rabonga now appeared, and declared that if we started early on the
following morning we should be able to wash in the lake by noon!
That night I hardly slept. For years I had striven to reach the "sources
of the Nile." In my nightly dreams during that arduous voyage I had
always failed, but after so much hard work and perseverance the cup was
at my very lips, and I was to drink at the mysterious fountain before
another sun should set - at that great reservoir of Nature that ever
since creation had baffled all discovery. I had hoped, and prayed, and
striven through all kinds of difficulties, in sickness, starvation, and
fatigue, to reach that hidden source; and when it had appeared
impossible, we had both determined to die upon the road rather than
return defeated. Was it possible that it was so near, and that tomorrow
we could say, "the work is accomplished?"
The 14th March. - The sun had not risen when I was spurring my ox after
the guide, who, having been promised a double handful of beads on
arrival at the lake, had caught the enthusiasm of the moment. The day
broke beautifully clear, and having crossed a deep valley between the
hills, we toiled up the opposite slope. I hurried to the summit. The
glory of our prize burst suddenly upon me! There, like a sea of
quicksilver, lay far beneath the grand expanse of water, - a boundless
sea horizon on the south and southwest, glittering in the noonday sun;
and on the west, at fifty or sixty miles' distance, blue mountains rose
from the bosom of the lake to a height of about 7,000 feet above its
level.
It is impossible to describe the triumph of that moment; - here was the
reward for all our labour - for the years of tenacity with which we had
toiled through Africa. England had won the sources of the Nile! Long
before I reached this spot, I had arranged to give three cheers with all
our men in English style in honour of the discovery, but now that I
looked down upon the great inland sea lying nestled in the very heart of
Africa, and thought how vainly mankind had sought these sources
throughout so many ages, and reflected that I had been the humble
instrument permitted to unravel this portion of the great mystery when
so many greater than I had failed, I felt too serious to vent my
feelings in vain cheers for victory, and I sincerely thanked God for
having guided and supported us through all dangers to the good end.
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