Notwithstanding His Magic, Katchiba Was Not A Bad Man:
He was remarkably
civil, and very proud at my having paid him a visit.
He gave me much
information regarding the country, but assured me that I should not be
able to travel south for many months, as it would be quite impossible to
cross the Asua river during the rainy season; he therefore proposed that
I should form a camp at Obbo, and reside there until the rains should
cease. It was now May, thus I was invited to postpone my advance south
until December.
I determined to make a reconnaissance south towards the dreaded Asua,
or, as the Obbo people pronounced it, the Achua river, and to return to
my fixed camp. Accordingly I arranged to leave Mrs. Baker at Obbo with a
guard of eight men, while I should proceed south without baggage,
excepting a change of clothes and a cooking pot. Katchiba promised to
take the greatest care of her, and to supply her with all she might
require; offering to become personally responsible for her safety; he
agreed to place a spell upon the door of our hut, that nothing evil
should enter it during my absence. It was a snug little dwelling, about
nine feet in diameter, and perfectly round; the floor well cemented with
cow-dung and clay, and the walls about four feet six inches in height,
formed of mud and sticks, likewise polished off with cow-dung. The door
had enlarged, and it was now a very imposing entrance of about four feet
high, and a great contrast to the surrounding hut or dog-kennel with two
feet height of doorway.
On the 7th of May I started with three men, and taking a course south, I
rode through a most lovely country, within five miles of the base, and
parallel with the chain of the Madi mountains. There was abundance of
beautiful flowers, especially of orchidaceous plants; the country was
exceedingly park-like and well wooded, but generally overgrown with
grass then about six feet high. After riding for about fourteen miles,
one of the guides ran back, and reported elephants to be on the road a
little in advance. One of my mounted men offered to accompany me should
I wish to hunt them. I had no faith in my man, but I rode forward, and
shortly observed a herd of ten bull elephants standing together about
sixty yards from the path. The grass was high, but I rode through it to
within about forty yards before I was observed; they immediately dashed
away, and I followed for about a mile at a trot, the ground being so
full of holes and covered with fallen trees concealed in the high grass,
that I did not like to close until I should arrive in a more favourable
spot. At length I shot at full gallop past an immense fellow, with tusks
about five feet projecting from his jaws, and reining up, I fired with a
Reilly No. 10 at the shoulder. He charged straight into me at the sound
of the shot. My horse, Filfil, was utterly unfit for a hunter, as he
went perfectly mad at the report of a gun fired from his back, and at
the moment of the discharge he reared perpendicularly; the weight, and
the recoil of the rifle, added to the sudden rearing of the horse,
unseated me, and I fell, rifle in hand, backwards over his hind-quarters
at the moment the elephant rushed in full charge upon the horse. Away
went "Filfil," leaving me upon the ground in a most inglorious position;
and, fortunately, the grass being high, the elephant lost sight of me
and followed the horse instead of giving me his attention.
My horse was lost; my man had never even accompanied me, having lagged
behind at the very commencement of the hunt. I had lost my rifle in the
high grass, as I had been forced to make a short run from the spot
before I knew that the elephant had followed the horse; thus I was
nearly an hour before I found it, and also my azimuth compass that had
fallen from my belt pouch. After much shouting and whistling, my mounted
man arrived, and making him dismount, I rode my little horse Mouse, and
returned to the path. My horse Filfil was lost. As a rule, hunting
during the march should be avoided, and I had now paid dearly for the
indiscretion.
I reached the Atabbi river about eighteen miles from Obbo. This is a
fine perennial stream flowing from the Madi mountains towards the west,
forming an affluent of the Asua river. There was a good ford, with a
hard gravel and rocky bottom, over which the horse partly waded and
occasionally swam. There were fresh tracks of immense herds of elephants
with which the country abounded, and I heard them trumpeting in the
distance.
Ascending rising ground in perfectly open prairie on the opposite side
of Atabbi, I saw a dense herd of about two hundred elephants - they were
about a mile distant, and were moving slowly through the high grass.
Just as I was riding along the path watching the immense herd, a Tetel
(hartebeest) sprang from the grass in which he had been concealed, and
fortunately he galloped across a small open space, where the high grass
had been destroyed by the elephants. A quick shot from the little
Fletcher 24 rifle doubled him up; but, recovering himself almost
immediately, he was just disappearing when a shot from the left-hand
barrel broke his back, to the intense delight of my people. We
accordingly bivouacked for the night, and the fires were soon blazing
upon a dry plateau of granite rock about seventy feet square that I had
chosen for a resting-place. In the saucer-shaped hollows of the rock was
good clear water from the rain of the preceding day; thus we had all the
luxuries that could be desired - fire, food, and water.
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