He Showed Me A Beautiful
Double-Barrelled Rifle By Blissett, That Speke Had Given Him.
I wished
to secure this, to give to Speke on my return to England, as he had told
me, when at Gondokoro, how he had been obliged to part with that and
many other articles sorely against his will.
I therefore offered to give
him three common double-barrelled guns in exchange for the rifle. This
he declined, as he was quite aware of the difference in quality. He then
produced a large silver chronometer that he had received from Speke. "It
was DEAD," he said, "and he wished me to repair it." This I declared to
be impossible. He then confessed to having explained its construction,
and the cause of the "ticking," to his people, by the aid of a needle,
and that it had never ticked since that occasion. I regretted to see
such "pearls cast before swine," as the rifle and chronometer in the
hands of Kamrasi. Thus he had plundered Speke and Grant of all they
possessed before he would allow them to proceed.
It is the rapacity of the chiefs of the various tribes that renders
African exploration so difficult. Each tribe wishes' to monopolize your
entire stock of valuables, without which the traveller would be utterly
helpless. The difficulty of procuring porters limits the amount of
baggage thus a given supply must carry you through a certain period of
time; if your supply should fail, the expedition terminates with your
power of giving.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 412 of 662
Words from 111197 to 111450
of 178435
