On the fifth day's march from the Victoria Nile we arrived at Shooa; the
change was delightful after the wet and dense vegetation of Unyoro:
The
country was dry, and the grass low and of fine quality. We took
possession of our camp, that had already been prepared for us in a large
courtyard well cemented with cow-dung and clay, and fenced with a strong
row of palisades. A large tree grew in the centre. Several hits were
erected for interpreters and servants, and a tolerably commodious hut,
the roof overgrown with pumpkins, was arranged for our mansion.
That evening the native women crowded to our camp to welcome my wife
home, and to dance in honour of our return; for which exhibition they
expected a present of a cow.
Much to my satisfaction, I found that my first-rate riding ox that had
been lamed during the previous year by falling into a pitfall, and had
been returned to Shooa, was perfectly recovered; thus I had a good mount
for my journey to Gondokoro.
Some months were passed at Shooa, during which I occupied my time by
rambling about the neighbourhood, ascending the mountain, making
duplicates of my maps, and gathering information, all of which was
simply a corroboration of what I had heard before, excepting from the
East. The Turks had discovered a new country called Lira, about thirty
miles from Shooa; the natives were reported as extremely friendly, and
their country as wonderfully fertile and rich in ivory. Many of the
people were located in the Turks' camp; they were the same type as the
Madi, but wore their hair in a different form: it was woven into a thick
felt, which covered the shoulders, and extended as low upon the back as
the shoulderblade.
They were not particular about wearing false hair, but were happy to
receive subscriptions from any source; in case of death the hair of the
deceased was immediately cut off and shared among his friends to be
added to their felt. When in full dress (the men being naked) this mass
of felt was plastered thickly with a bluish clay, so as to form an even
surface; this was most elaborately worked with the point of a thorn, so
as to resemble the cuttings of a file: white pipe-clay was then arranged
in patterns on the surface, while an ornament made of either an
antelope's or giraffe's sinew was stuck in the extremity and turned up
for about a foot in length. This when dry was as stiff as horn, and the
tip was ornamented with a tuft of fur - the tip of a leopard's tail
being highly prized.
I am not aware that any Lord Chancellor of England or any member of the
English bar has ever penetrated to Central Africa, therefore the origin
of the fashion and the similarity in the wigs is most extraordinary; a
well-blacked barrister in full wig and nothing else would thoroughly
impersonate a native of Lira. The tribe of Lira was governed by a chief;
but he had no more real authority than any of the petty chiefs who ruled
the various portions of the Madi country. Throughout the tribes
excepting the kingdom of Unyoro, the chiefs had very little actual
power, and so uncertain was their tenure of office that the rule seldom
remained two generations in one family. On the death of the father, the
numerous sons generally quarrelled for his property and for the right of
succession, ending in open war, and in dividing the flocks and herds,
each settling in a separate district and becoming a petty chief; thus
there was no union throughout the country, and consequently great
weakness. The people of Lira were fighting with their friends the
Langgos - those of Shooa with the natives of Fatiko; nor were there two
neighbouring tribes that were at peace. It was natural that such
unprincipled parties as the Khartoum traders should turn this general
discord to their own advantage; thus within the ten months that I had
been absent from Shooa a great change had taken place in the
neighbourhood. The rival parties of Koorshid and Debono, under their
respective leaders, Ibrahim and Mahommed Wat-el-Mek, had leagued
themselves with contending tribes, and the utter ruin of the country was
the consequence. For many miles' circuit from Shooa, the blackened ruins
of villages and deserted fields bore witness to the devastation
committed; cattle that were formerly in thousands, had been driven off,
and the beautiful district that had once been most fertile was reduced
to a wilderness. By these wholesale acts of robbery and destruction the
Turks had damaged their own interests, as the greater number of the
natives had fled to other countries; thus it was most difficult to
obtain porters to convey the ivory to Gondokoro. The people of the
country had been so spoiled by the payment in cows instead of beads for
the most trifling services, that they now refused to serve as porters to
Gondokoro under a payment of four cows each; thus, as 1,000 men were
required, 4,000 cows were necessary as payment. Accordingly razzia must
be made.
Upon several expeditions, the Turks realized about 2,000 cows; the
natives had become alert, and had driven off their herds to inaccessible
mountains. Debono's people at their camp, about twenty-five miles
distant, were even in a worse position than Ibrahim; they had so
exasperated the natives by their brutal conduct, that tribes formerly
hostile to each other now coalesced and combined to thwart the Turks by
declining to act as porters; thus their supply of ivory could not be
transported to Gondokoro. This led to extra violence on the part of the
Turks, until at last the chief of Faloro (Werdella) declared open war,
and suddenly driving off the Turks' cattle, he retired to the mountains,
from whence he sent an impertinent message inviting Mahommed to try to
rescue them.
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