His Gallant Comrades Bolted, Although He Called
To Them For Assistance, And They Had Kept Up A Distant Fire From The
Lofty Ant-Hill, Instead Of Rushing To His Rescue.
The buffalo lay dead;
and a grave was immediately dug for the unfortunate Sali.
My journey
begins badly with the death of my good man Johann and my best
choush - added to the constant mishaps of the "Clumsy." Fortunately I did
not start from Khartoum on a Friday, or the unlucky day would have borne
the onus of all the misfortunes.
The graves of the Arabs are an improvement upon those of Europeans. What
poor person who cannot afford a vault, has not felt a pang as the clod
fell upon the coffin of his relative? The Arabs avoid this. Although
there is no coffin, the rude earth does not rest upon the body. The hole
being dug similar in shape to a European grave, an extra trench is
formed at the bottom of the grave about a foot wide. The body is laid
upon its side within this trench, and covered by bricks made of clay
which are laid across;-thus the body is contained within a narrow vault.
Mud is then smeared over the hastily made bricks and nothing is visible;
the tomb being made level with the bottom of the large grave. This is
filled up with earth, which, resting on the brick covering of the trench
cannot press upon the body. In such a grave my best man was laid - the
Slave women raising their horrible howling and my men crying loudly, as
well explained in the words of Scripture, "and he lifted up his voice
and wept." I was glad to see so much external feeling for their comrade,
but the grave being filled, their grief, like all loud sorrow, passed
quickly away and relapsed into thoughts of buffalo meat; they were soon
busily engaged in cutting up the flesh. There are two varieties of
buffaloes in this part of Africa - the Bos Caffer, with convex horns,
and that with flat horns; this was the latter species. A horn had
entered the man's thigh, tearing the whole of the muscles from the bone;
there was also a wound from the centre of the throat to the ear, thus
completely torn open, severing the jugular vein. One rib was broken, the
breast-bone. As usual with buffaloes, he had not rested content until he
had pounded the breath out of the body, which was found embedded and
literally stamped tight into the mud, with only a portion of the head
above the marsh. Sali had not even cocked his gun, the hammer being down
on the nipples when found. I will not allow these men to come to grief
in this way; they are a reckless set of thoughtless cowards, full of
noise and bluster, fond of firing off their guns like children, and
wasting ammunition uselessly, and in time of danger they can never be
relied upon; they deserted their comrade when in need, and cried aloud
like infants at his death; they shall not again be allowed to move from
the boats.
In the evening I listened to the men conversing over the whole affair,
when I learnt the entire truth. It appears that Richarn and two other
men were with the unfortunate Sali when the brute charged him, and the
cowards all bolted without firing a shot in defense. There was a large
white ant-hill about fifty yards distant, to which they retreated; from
the top of this fort they repeatedly saw the man thrown into the air,
and heard him calling for assistance. Instead of hastening in a body to
his aid, they called to him to "keep quiet and the buffalo would leave
him." This is a sample of the courage of these Khartoumers. The buffalo
was so disabled by my shot of yesterday that he was incapable of leaving
the spot, as, with a broken shoulder, he could not get through the deep
mud. My Reilly No. 10 bullet was found under the skin of the right
shoulder, having passed in at the left shoulder rather above the lungs.
The windings of this monotonous river are extraordinary, and during dead
calms in these vast marshes the feeling of melancholy produced is beyond
description. The White Nile is a veritable "Styx." When the wind does
happen to blow hard, the navigation is most difficult, owing to the
constant windings; the sailors being utterly ignorant, and the rig of
the vessel being the usual huge "leg of mutton" sail, there is an amount
of screaming and confusion at every attempt to tack which generally ends
in our being driven on the lee marsh; this is preferable to a capsize,
which is sometimes anything but distant. This morning is one of those
days of blowing hard, with the accompaniments of screaming and shouting.
Course S.E. Waited half a day for the "Clumsy," which hove in sight just
before dark; the detentions caused by this vessel are becoming serious,
a quick voyage being indispensable for the animals. The camels are
already suffering from confinement, and I have their legs well swathed
in wet bandages.
This marsh land varies in width. In some portions of the river it
appears to extend for about two miles on either side; in other parts
farther than the eye can reach. In all cases the main country is a dead
flat; now blazing and smoking beyond the limit of marshes, as the
natives have fired the dry grass in all directions. Reeds, similar in
appearance to bamboos but distinct from them, big water-grass, like
sugarcanes, excellent fodder for the cattle, and the ever-present
ambatch, cover the morasses. Innumerable mosquitoes.
Jan. 12th - Fine breeze in the morning, but obliged to wait for the
"Clumsy", which arrived at 10 A.M. How absurd are some descriptions of
the White Nile, which state that there is no current!
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