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TO RENEW CALL TELEPHONE CENTER, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN APR 0 2 1999 9 2003 APR 0 t 2010 When renewing by phone, previous due date. write new due date below L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/heartofafricathr01schw_0 9i J:he of IWfwfe HH HHART OF AFRICA threk YEARS TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN THE UNEXPLORED REGIONS OE CENTRAL AERICA BY DR GEORG SCHWEINEURTH IRANSLATED BY EL- LEN E EREWER WITH AN INTRODUC- TION BY WINVv^OOD READE WITH MAPS AND WOODCUT ILLUSTRA- TIONS FROM DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR IN TWO VOLUMES + + VOI UMH (3NE NEW YORK PUBLISHED BY THE DRALi.ol' PUBLISHING COMPANY 166 SIXTH AVENUE MDCCCXCX I INTRODUCTION. ABOVE Assouan, the terminus of tourists is the Nubian Desert, a yellow arm of the Sahara, thrust between Central Africa and Egypt. When this desert is crossed, you come to the ancient Ethiopia, which consists of lowlands watered by the Nile, while a little to the left is Abyssinia, the Switzerland of Africa. The White Nile, which comes from the Equator, is hereabouts joined by the Blue Nile, or Black Nile, from the Abyssinian Wells; and near their confluence is the town, Khartoom. In the glorious days of the Pharaohs Ethiopia was colonised by Egypt, and there was a famous city, Meroe by name, possessing pyramids and temples. In the days of Egyptian decline Ethiopia became independent, conquered the mother country for a time, and was never entered by the armies of the Persians. The Ptolemies who afterwards reigned at Alexandria did conquer Ethiopia, even to its Highlands, carrying their arms, as they boasted, where the Pharaohs themselves had never been ; but the Eomans did not occupy the country ; they followed the advice of Augustus,* and the Nubian Desert was made their frontier. In the same manner the Arabs under the caliphs did not attempt the conquest of Ethiopia, and it was perhaps owing to Buonaparte that Turkish Egypt advanced so far to iht? south. * Gibbon, Vol. T. c. i. 4 w c (■\»>''U.'V> INTKODUCTION. The French expedition has always been stigmatised as a fruitless crime. But by the French the power of the Mame- lukes was broken ; by the French was displayed on Egyptian soil the superior genius of Europe, and thence may be derived a movement similar to that which in the days of the Pharaohs was produced by the Phil-Hellenes, or kings who were " lovers of the Greeks." Mehemet Ali organised an army in the European manner, and crossing the Nubian Desert, conquered the lowlands of Ethiopia or Soudan. At the same time he commenced the civilisation of Cairo. These two great projects, culture in the capital, and con- quest in Soudan, have been carried out of late years with marvellous intelligence and energy by the reigning Khedive. To understand what has been accomplished, let us compare the Egypt and Ethiopia of the present with the past. In the past, a European traveller who visited Egypt* incurred contumely and considerable risk. He was not allowed to ride on a horse ; he was called " dog " by' the pious who passed him in the streets, and pelted by the playful gamin ; the dogs barked at him ; the women turned their eyes away as if they had seen an unclean thing. But now Cairo, like Kome and Florence, lives upon tourists, who, , if they are not beloved, are welcome ; the city is lighted by gas : it has public gardens in which a native military band performs every afternoon; an excellent theatre, for which Verdi composed Aida ; new houses in the Parisian style are springing up by streets, and are let out at high rents as soon as they are finished. No gentleman wears a turban ; and few any longer affect to despise the blessings of a good education. Let us now pass on to the south. In the olden time the Nubian Desert was infested by roving bandit-tribes. Since the days of Mehemet Ali they have earned an honest INTRODUCTION. v . Ikelihood by letting out their camels : and soon they will become navvies, railway porters, &c. Already there is telegraphic communication between Cairo and Khartoom, and a railway is about to be commenced. As for the Soudan, it was formerly divided among a' number of bar- barous chiefs almost incessantly at war. It is now conquered and at peace, and trade is seldom disturbed. Civilised opinion, all-powerful at Cairo, penetrates into the remotest recesses of this new African empire ; the traffic in slaves is abolished, and those who perpetrated their crimes in the dark depths of the continent have lately been reached by the arm of the law. It is my purpose in making these remarks to show what facilities for geographical research are afforded by the power and good will of Egypt. In former times the explorer began at the Nubian Desert or the Eed Sea ; he might be plundered of all that he possessed before he entered negro Africa at all. Supposing he arrived safely in Sennaar, he was at once exposed to those vexatious extortions and delays which so frequently robbed him of his money and his health before he had opened new ground. As it is, a firmam from the Viceroy obtains him men and boats from the governor of Khartoom, and therefore his point of departure is shifted many degrees to the south. He is now able to penetrate into the heart of Africa before he en- counters an independent chief. The area of the firmam is immense, but beyond that area the dangers and difficulties of travel are perhaps increased by the aggressive policy of Egypt. The princes of Darfoor and Waday have a constant dread of annexation, and a European traveller, if he entered those countries, would find it difficult to obtain his conge. The west forest region which lies south of Darfoor and vi INTRODUCTION. Waday, and also along the main stream of the Nile, has always been a slave-hunting ground ; annual raids are made from Darfoor and Waday, the hunters taking out licences from their kings,* and the Egyptian company of bandits, whom Sir Samuel Baker recently dispersed, hunted the land south of Gondokoro. iThese wars unsettled the country and rendered it difficult for travel. The slave-hunters intrigued against the European, fearing that he would expose them to the government at Cairo; and the slave- hunted had learnt to regard all white men as their foes and oppressors. Thus it has happened that out of a host of men who have attempted to penetrate Africa from north to south only two have achieved success. The first and foremost of these is Sir Samuel Baker; the second is Dr. G. A. Schweinfurth, the author of this work. He was born at Kiga in December 1836, and was the son of a merchant. He studied at Heidelberg and Berlin, where he took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy, and devoted himself from his boyhood to the science of botany. At his first school one of the masters was a son of a missionary in South Africa ; he used often to describe the wonders of that country, and perhaps it was in this manner that his mind was turned towards that country which afterwards created his career. But the proximate cause was a collection of plants placed in his hands to arrange and describe. In 1860, the young Freiherr von Barnim, accompanied by Dr. Hartmann, had made a journey in the region of the Nile, where he had fallen a victim to the climate. His collections were brought home, and as Schweinfurth day after day studied these dry corpses, a yearning came upon him to go to * Mohammed el Tounsy, Wadai. INTRODUCTION. vii the land where he might behold them in all their bloom and their beauty, and where he might discover new species — those golden joys for tlie explorer. In 18f33, he left Berlin for Egypt, and liaving botanised in the Delta of the Nile, travelled along the shores of the Red Sea, skirted the Highlands of Abyssinia, passed on to Khartoom, and finally, his purse being empty, returned to Europe, after an absence of two years and a half, with a splendid collection of plants. But soon he languished for Africa again, and submitted to the Eoyal Academy of Science a plan for the botanical exploration of the equatorial districts lying west of the Nile* His proposals were at once accepted ; he received a grant of money from the Humboldt Institution, and, in 1868, he landed in Egypt. During three years he was absent in the heart of Africa, and, even before he had returned, his name had already become .famous in Europe and America. Travelling, not in the footsteps of Bakei, but in a westerly direction, he reached the neighbourhood of Baker's lake, passing through the country of the Niara-Niam, and visiting the unknown kingdom of Monbuttoo. As an explorer, he stands in the highest rank, and merits to be classed with Mungo Park, Denham and Clapperton, Livingstone, Burton, Speke and Grant, Barth and Rohlfs. He can also claim two qualifi- cations which no African traveller has hitherto possessed. He is a scientific botanist, and also an accomplished draughts- man. Park had some knowledge of botany, and Grant made an excellent collection, but both must be regarded as merely amateurs. In other works of African travel the explorer has given rude sketches to some professional artist, and thus the picture has been made; but Schweinfurth's sketches were finished works of art. In a geographical sense, this work is of importance as a contribution to the problem viii INTEODUCTION. of the Nile ; and ethnologically it sets at rest a point wliicli has long been under dispute, viz., the existence of a dwarf race in Central Africa. These Pygmies are mentioned by the classical writers ; much has been said about them by modern travellers on the Nile; Krapf saw one on the Eastern Coast; the old voyagers allude to their existence in the kingdom of the Congo, and Du Chaillu met them in Ashango Land. Yet still much mystery remained which, thanks to Schweinfurth, is now at an end. That such a race exists is now placed beyond a doubt ; and it is probable that these dwarfs are no other than the Bushmen of South Africa, who are not confined, as was formerly supposed, to that corner of the continent, but also inhabit various remote recesses of Africa, and were probably the original natives of the country. WiNWOOD Keade. 11 * || 25 ^ L 1 ■ ' ^ 3 i 30 lith.v. C JCorb^e-weit, Berlin CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. My former journey — Inducements to a second — Plan and object — Custom-house difficulties at Suez — Scenes in the Governor's divan — Environs of Suez — Sulphur mine of Gimsah — Kecluse life of the officials — An unenticing coast — The roadstead of Djidda — The bride of the fish — Voyage across the Eed Sea — Salt works of Koway — Appearance of the shore — Charm of the moonlight nights — Import- ance of Suakin — First night-camp in the mountains — New species of Dracsena — Numerous succulents among the flora — The valley of Singat — Idyllic abode of the Governor — Mountains of Erkoweet — The olive-tree wild — Gardens of the desert — Characteristics of the town Bedouins — Equipment for the desert — Old fanatic from Kano — Injury and oppression — The Bedouin camp 0-Mareg — Brown coating of the rocks — Goats and sheep of the Bedouins — Plant with my own name — Contest with the camel-drivers — Ugliness of the women — A monument of nature — Arrival at the Nile — Tent in peril — A wedding — The ninety-nine islands and the Sablook-straits — Pitiable condition of the country — Arrival at Khartoom Page 1 CHAPTER II. Kind reception in Khartoom — Dyafer Pasha, the Governor-General — Contract with Ghattas — HeiT W. Duisberg — Ivory trade at Khartoom — Khartoom possessions in the negro countries — Departure from Khar- toom — Manning of the boat — Construction ' of the Eiartoom boats — First night on the White Nile — Character of the landscape — Washing away of the east bank — Fertility of the country on the west — Acacia forests — Herds of the Hassanieh — Numerous hippopotamuses — Geese CONTENTS. and ducks — Beginning of the wilderness — The Ambatch-wood — First day of ill-luck — Eunning over wild buffalo — Baggara Arabs — Brethren in the faith — The mountain Nyemati — Evening gossip about pygmies — Native Egyptian cultivated plants — Buffalos alarming the Baggara — Mohammed Kher, the robber chief — Impressions on the first sight of savages — Boat attacked by bees — Frightful agony — Gadflies — Giant snails — A man carries three canoes — Kepair of the sail -yard — Fashoda the most southern military station — Fifteen Shillooks at a shot — Gay temperament of the people — Gun accidents — African giant snakes Page 43 CHAPTEE III. Camp of the Mudir — A negro king — Campaigns — Future of the country — A wise judge — The shrieking priest — Gum-arabic — The melodious tree — Mohammed Aboo-Sammat — Boats on the flight — Treachery of the Shillooks — General market — Excuse for plunder — First papyrus — Ceesar among the pirates — Useless attempts to proceed — A world of grass — Hippopotamuses in a fright — The last obstacle — Depreciation of the Gazelle stream — Bon-mot of the Viceroy — Ghattas's namesake — The slipper-shape — Description of the Nueir — Analogy between man and beast — Cactus-type of Euphorbige — The Bahr-el-Arab a mainstream — Vallisneria meadows — Arrival in Port Rek — True nature of the Gazelle — Discovery of the Meshera — Deadly climate and its victims — Le Saint — Features of the scenery — The old queen and her prince consort — Eoyal gifts — Fishes and birds 84 CHAPTER IV. Start for the interior — Flags of the Khartoomers — Comfortable traveUing with bearers — The African elephant — Parting from Shol and Kurd- yook — Disgusting wells in the district of the Lao — Wide sandflats — Village of Take — Fatal accident — Arabian protocol — Halt in the village of Kudy — Description of the Dinka — Peculiarities of the race — Dyeing of the hair — Nudity — "The Turkish lady" — Iron age — Weapons of the Dinka — " People of the stick " — Weapons of defence — Domestic cleanliness — Cuisine — Entertainment of the ladies — Snakes — Tobacco-smoking — Construction of the huts — Dinka sheep, goats, and dogs — Reverence for cattle — Degeneration of cows — In- testinal worms — Deficiency of milk — Large murahs — Capabilities of the Dinka — Warlike spirit — Treatment of enemies — Instance of parental affection — Forest district of the Al-Waj — Arrival at Ghattas's chief Seriba 137 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER V. Reception at the Seriba — Population — Fertility — Salubrity — Manage- ment — Poor prospects of the ivory trade — Failure of European firms in Khartoom — Idrees, the chief agent — Domestic arrangements — Beauties of spring — The daughter Seriba Geer — Bit of primeval forest — Girafte-hunt — Bamboo jungle — Negro festival and music — Trip to the Dyoor and to Wow — Desertion of bearers — Good enter- tainment — Marquis Antinori and Vayssi^re — Oldservant of Petherick's — Hornblend — Height of the water of the Dyoor — Apostrophe to the river — A model Seriba — First acquaintance with Niam-niam — Trader from Tunis — The Wow River — Seriba Agahd in Wow — Edible fruits of the country — Wild buffaloes — Instability of dwellings — Caama and Leucotis antelopes — Numerous butterflies — Bear- baboons — Pharaoh palms — Daily life of the Dyoor — Their race — Iron-smelting — Formation of huts — Idyll of village life — Hunt- ing with snares — Women's work — Graves — Care of young and old Page 172 CHAPTER VI. I/aying out a garden a VEuropeenne — Hunting adventure with a bas- tard Gems-bok — Death of Arslan — Physiognomy of the vegetation — Character of the soil — Geography of plants — Destruction of a Seriba # by natives — Seriba law — Cattle-raids on the Dinka — Tour round Ghattas's Seribas — Geography at Geer — Fish of the Tondy — Fear of ghosts in Kulongo — Caves of Gubbehee — Central African jackal — Bamboos in blossom — Triumph of Nature over her traducers — Joint- stock distillery in Gurfala — Nubian love of drink — Petherick's Mundo — Unsuccessful chase in the long grass — Two bush-antelopes — Culti- vated plants of the district — Cereals — Large growth of sorghum — Leguminous fruits — Oily fruits — Tubers — Vegetables — Tobacco — Smoking in Africa 213 CHAPTER VIL The Bongo : Area, boundaries, and population of Bongoland — Subjection of the Bongo to the Khartoomers — Decrease of population by slave- trading — Eed tinge of the skin — Width of the skull — Small growth of hair — No aridity in climate — Wild tubers as food — Paces of goats and dogs — Hunting- weapons — Villages and huts' — Smelting furnaces — Money of the Bongo — Weapons for display — Wood-carving — xii CONTENTS. Penates of the Bongo — Musical instruments — Character of Bongo music — Corpulence of the women — Hottentot Venus — Mutilation of the teeth — Disfigurement of the lips — Arrow-poisoning — National games — Marriage premiums — Natural morality — Disposing of the dead — Memorial erections — Mistrust of spirits — Loma, good ana ill - luck — Fear of ghosts — Belief in witches — Peculiarities of lan- guage — Unity of the people of Central Africa — Extermination of -the race . . Page 256 CHAPTEK VIII. Calamities by fire — Deliverance and escape — Six women-slaves burnt — Barterings — Domestication of wild-cats — Plague of cockroaches — Pillen wasps — Agamse and chameleons — Fever — Meteorology — Solar phenomenon — A festal reception with an unfortunate result — Disturb- ance of rest at night — Murmuring of prayers — Jewish school — Orgies and drum-beating — Casting out devils — Kesolve to follow Aboo-Sam- mat — Start towards the south — Passage of the Tondy — Character of the forest — The water-bock — Scenery by night — Shereefee's attack — Seriba Duggoo — Consequences of the steppe-burning — Seriba Dag- guddoo — Burnt human bones and charred huts — Tropics in winter — Two kinds of ant-hills — Arrival in Sabby — Nocturnal festivities of the Bongo — Desolation of the country — Goat-suckers — Abund- ance of game — The zebra-ichneumon — The spectral mantis — Lions — Wonderful chase after hartebeests — Snake and antelope at a shot 315 CHAPTEE IX. Tour through the Mittoo country — Early morning in the wilderness — Soldier carried away by a lion — Dokkuttoo — Fishing in the Eoah — Feeding a slave caravan — Ngahma — Dimindo, the hunter's Seriba — Wounds from the grass — Dangadduloo — Entertainment in the Seribas — The river Kohl — Eeception at Awoory — Footsore — Trial of patience — People of the district — Poncet's Seriba Mvolo — Mercantile prospects for the Egyptian Government — Fantastic character of landscape — Structure of pile-work — Kock-rabbits — Eock-rabbits' feet — Nile cataract in miniature — The Tinnea cethiopica — Seriba Karo on the Wohko — Eeggo and its breed of dogs — Kurraggera — Aboo Sam- mat's festivities — A speech of the Kenoosian — Aboo Sammat and the subjugated chiefs — Deragoli and its mountains— Kuddoo on the Eoah — Fear of lions in the forest of Geegyee — Eeturn to Sabby — The Mittoo people — Inferiority of race — Disfiguration of the lips by Mittoo women — Fetters of fashion — Love of music 365 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER X. Preparations for Niam-niam. campaign — Generosity of Aboo Sammat — Organisation of the caravan — Ceremonies at starting — Banner of Islam — Travelling costume — Terminalia forest — Hartebeest chas« — Ahmed the Liar — Prospect from Mbala Ngeea — Bivouac on the Lehssy — Camp noises at night — Story of cannibalism — Ahmed's fate — The Ibba — First meeting with Niam-niam — Growth of the popukky-grass — Elephant-hunting among the Niam-niam — Surprise at the white man — Visit to Nganye — A chieftain's household — Entertainment by Nganye — Gumba — Colocasia — A Niam-niam minstrel — Beauty of the Zowa-trees — Encephalartus on the hill of Gumango — Cultivated districts on the Eye — Condition of hamlets and farms — Devastation of Bendo's district — Contest with the soldiers — Escape from a bullet — Identity of the Sway and the Dyoor — The law of drainage — Passage of the Manzilly — First primeval forest — Fron- tier wildernesses — Organisation in the geography of plants — Import- ance of guinea-fowl to the traveller — Feeding the bearers — National diet Page 415 CHAPTER XI. Aboo Sammat's territory — Jungle on the brooks — Discovery of wild pepper — Giant trees — Modesty of the Niam-niam women — Fresh danger from a bullet — A Bongo poisoned by manioc — Liberal treat- ment of bearers — Nduppo's disagreement with Wando — Savage admira- tion of Europeans — The skin-trade — Wando 's braggings and threaten- ings — Formation of columns for war — Natives as soldiers — Difficulties of river-fording — Difference of level of soil on the watersheds — Moham- med's prelude to drinking beer — Division of forces — Primeval forest on theLindukoo — Eikkete's jealousy — Varieties of genets — Mohammed's reveil — Morning toilet of the Niam-niam — Waterfall on the Lin- dukoo — Magic roots — Watershed of the Nile district — Simple geolo- gical formation of Central Africa — The chimpanzee and pandanus found only beyond the watershed — Confusion in crossing the brook — Africa's revenge on the white man — Venturesome interview of Mohammed with Wando — Value of ivory and copper — Definition of a " gallery-wood " — Duality of vegetation — Wando visits my tent — Wando's nonchalance — A specimen of native cookery — Six Nubians murdered by Niam- niam — The leaf-eater and grass-man 465 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. Poultry-market — Votive pillars and hunting-trophies — Indirect evidence of cannibalism — The chimpanzee in Central Africa — Presents of chim- panzee skulls — New style of huts — The A-Banga — Cultivation of manioc in Central Africa — The Treculia — Cam-wood and muscat nuts — Conflict with natives — Shooting-match and sham fight — Magic lucifers — Mutual interchange of blood — Botanical excursion inter- rupted — Gyabir wounded — Modes of expressing pain — Female slaves captured — Giant lichens — Tree-termites — Monbuttoo frontier — Ee- ception by Nembey — Northern limit of the oil-palm — Imaginary alarm — Unexpected arrival of Khartoomers — Visit of Bongwa and his wife — Cattle of the Maogoo — Cultivation of the sugar-cane — Inter- view with Izingerria — Arrival at the Welle — Condition of the Welle — Eelations of the stream — Crossing the river — Monbuttoo canoes — New impressions of the heart of Africa — Arrival at Munza's re- sidence Page 515 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. (ENGRAVED BY J. D. COOPER.) PAGE Ombet— Dragon trees to face 22 The Lassav (Copjparis gfaZeato) .. .. .. .. .. 23 A Bishareen Sheep .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 34 Aboo-Odfa 37 Ambatch Canoe .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 77 View of Fdshoda 80 VxicklQ^ Acacia fistula .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 98 In full flight before the Shillook canoes to face 100 The vessels in the grass-barrier .. .. .. .. ..