We had marched from 4.30 P.M. -
it was now 1 A.M.; we had thus been eight hours and a half struggling
along the path. The moon had sunk, and the complete darkness rendered a
further advance impossible; I therefore, on arrival at a large plateau
of rock, ordered the animals to be unloaded, and both man and beast to
rest. The people had no water; I had a girba full for Mrs. Baker and
myself, which was always slung on my saddle; this precaution I never
neglected.
The men were hungry. Before leaving Gondokoro I had ordered a large
quantity of kisras (black pancakes) to be prepared for the march, and
they were packed in a basket that had been carried on a camel;
unfortunately Mrs. Baker's pet monkey had been placed upon the same
camel, and he had amused himself during the night's march by feasting
and filling his cheeks with the kisras, and _throwing the remainder
away_ when his hunger was satisfied. There literally was not a kisra
remaining in the basket.
Every one lay down supperless to sleep. Although tired, I could not rest
until I had arranged some plan for the morrow. It was evident that we
could not travel over so rough a country with the animals thus
overloaded; therefore determined to leave in the jungle such articles as
could be dispensed with, and to rearrange all the loads.
At 4 A.M. I woke, and lighting a lamp, I tried in vain to wake any of
the men who lay stretched upon the ground, like so many corpses, sound
asleep. At length Saat sat up, and after rubbing his eyes for about ten
minutes, he made a fire, and began to boil the coffee; meanwhile I was
hard at work lightening the ship. I threw away about 100 lbs. of salt;
divided the heavy ammunition more equally among the animals; rejected a
quantity of odds and ends that, although most useful, could be forsaken;
and by the time the men woke, a little before sunrise, I had completed
the work. We now reloaded the animals, who showed the improvement by
stepping out briskly. We marched well for three hours at a pace that bid
fair to keep us well ahead of the Turks, and at length we reached the
dry bed of a stream, where the Latooka guides assured us we should
obtain water by digging. This proved correct; but the holes were dug
deep in several places, and hours passed before we could secure a
sufficient supply for all the men and animals. The great sponging-bath
was excessively useful, as it formed a reservoir out of which all the
animals could drink.
While we were thus engaged some natives appeared carrying with them the
head of a wild boar in a horrible state of decomposition, and alive with
maggots. On arrival at the drinking-place they immediately lighted a
fire, and proceeded to cook their savoury pork by placing it in the
flames. The skull becoming too hot for the inmates, crowds of maggots
rushed pele-mele from the ears and nostrils like people escaping from
the doors of a theatre on fire. The natives merely tapped the skull with
a stick to assist in their exit, and proceeded with their cooking until
completed; after which they ate the whole, and sucked the bones. However
putrid meat may be, it does not appear to affect the health of these
people.
My animals requiring rest and food, I was obliged to wait unwillingly
until 4.30 P.M. The natives having finished their boar's head, offered
to join us; and accordingly we rode on a considerable distance ahead of
our people with our active guides, while the caravan followed slowly
behind us. After ascending for about a mile through jungle, we suddenly
emerged upon an eminence, and looked down upon the valley of Tollogo.
This was extremely picturesque. An abrupt wall of grey granite rose on
the east side of the valley to a height of about a thousand feet: from
this perpendicular wall huge blocks had fallen, strewing the base with a
confused mass of granite lumps ten to forty feet in diameter; and among
these natural fortresses of disjointed masses were numerous villages.
The bottom of the valley was a meadow, in which grew several enormous
fig trees by the side of a sluggish, and in some places stagnant, brook.
The valley was not more than half a mile wide, and was also walled in by
mountains on the west, having the appearance of a vast street.
We were now about a mile ahead of our party; but accompanied by our two
Latooka guides, and upon descending to the valley and crossing a deep
gully, we soon arrived beneath a large fig tree at the extremity of the
vale. No sooner was our presence observed than crowds of natives issued
from the numerous villages among the rocks, and surrounded us. They were
all armed with bows and arrows and lances, and were very excited at
seeing the horses, which to them were unknown animals. Dismounting, I
fastened the horses to a bush, and we sat down on the grass under a
tree.
There were five or six hundred natives pressing round us. They were
excessively noisy, hallooing to us as though we were deaf, simply
because we did not understand them. Finding that they were pressing
rudely around us, I made signs to them to stand off; when at that moment
a curiously ugly, short, humped-back fellow came forward and addressed
me in broken Arabic. I was delighted to find an interpreter, and
requesting him to tell the crowd to stand back, I inquired for their
chief. The humpback spoke very little Arabic, nor did the crowd appear
to heed him, but they immediately stole a spear that one of my Latooka
guides had placed against the tree under which we were sitting.
