“It is a beautiful characteristic of the Sandeh—the worst anthropophagi of our country—that they have the greatest affection for their wives and daughters, and would bear anything rather than their loss....
“From Gambari’s village, four days’ march brought me to Tingasi, our headquarters in Monbuttu, an hour’s march from Tangara’s residence. To this place visitors from all sides flocked in such numbers that I was often quite overwhelmed. From west and south came the chiefs with their trains—the Sandeh princes Bori, Kanna’s nephew; Mbiltima and Ikva, Uando’s sons; Mbrú and Massinse, the Monbuttu princes Tangara, Asanga, Munsa’s brother; Mbala, Munsa’s son; Kadabó, Benda, and others. In addition to these, the women, often as many as fifty or sixty, seated on little stools, were grouped round me, all beautifully painted black, with high chignons; those belonging to the princely houses, such as Munsa’s and Tangara’s daughters, being crowned with Monbuttu hats. If only you could have seen the transports of delight which Schweinfurth’s perfectly accurate drawings excited in this circle, and the interest with which they looked at my zoological sketches! The Monbuttu are a very highly-gifted people, and this would be a fertile field for happy and useful work. If anything is to be made of this richly-endowed country, here or nowhere is the place for a capable European official, who must, to be sure, possess some self-denial. If the Government would give the country over to me, independent of the Equatorial provinces proper, I should be quite willing to undertake the work at once. The distance from Lado could be diminished by the opening of new routes....
“I have been twice in Uganda, and believed I should meet with many persons like those in Monbuttu; but my expectations were not fulfilled. Monbuttu is very different from all that one is accustomed to see in Africa, and so different that a comparison can hardly be thought of. I was always meeting with indescribable splendor and luxuriance of vegetation—giant trees waving their tops together like a dome, more sublime and majestic than all the cathedrals in the world. Whoever wishes to attain a due sense of God’s majesty and power should go into these forests, and, silent and wondering, confess how miserable and contemptible are men’s works beside the works of Him who created this enchanting beauty and splendor.”
THE ELEPHANT PROTECTING HER YOUNG.
SUPPLIES FOR THE CARAVAN.
Troublous times came upon him, and in August, 1884, he was practically cut off from the rest of the world, and was in daily expectation of being assailed by the overwhelming hosts of the Mahdi. Under such circumstances he wrote:
“It will probably appear to you somewhat comical that, notwithstanding the non-arrival of a steamer, I should again take up my correspondence with you. It certainly seems as if we were totally deserted and forgotten by all the world. But I think that the good God, who has up to the present time protected us from all harm, will in the future also have us under His protection, and so, perchance, my letter may some day arrive at its destination. Whilst suffering from the very sorrowful impression which the surrender of Lupton Bey to the Mahdi’s troops had made upon me, I concluded my last letter to you in great haste. Dr. Junker wished to try to get to Zanzibar by the south route, via Uganda, and was so good as to take with him all my correspondence. Since he left here nearly two months have passed, and as since then all kinds of curious rumors have reached me, he has decided to wait awhile in Dufilé and watch the course of events. Up to the present, thank God, the much-feared invasion of our province by the Mahdi’s troops has not taken place, and I have been able, by giving up nearly all of my outlying stations, to concentrate my few soldiers.... I must, however, tell you that I heard from Lupton that he had been compelled to surrender both himself and his province into the Mahdi’s hands, and that he thought the best thing I could do was to follow his example.”
“Well may our friends,” he wrote on New Year’s Day, 1885, “have long since given up all hope for us. Our own Government has certainly deserted us. Yet we have managed to hold our own, and to defend our flag. How long we shall still be able to do so is a mere question of time, for as soon as the little remaining ammunition which we possess is expended, it will be all up with us.... We are without news as to the course of events in Khartoum; in fact, the whole of the outer world seems to have vanished completely from our ken. We have now begun to manufacture for ourselves the most indispensable articles—very passable shoe-work, soap, and more recently still, cotton cloth for clothes. Candles made of wax prove very useful, and instead of sugar we use honey. We have not, however, yet succeeded in our endeavor to make vinegar, but I am not without hope that we shall have success in that direction. Temperance is naturally compulsory, for the drinks of native manufacture can only be consumed by children of the soil. Coffee, which we have long missed, we have at last replaced by roasting the seeds of a species of hibiscus, and brewing from it a fairly passable drink. Tea naturally does not exist. I thank God for His protection hitherto, and hope and have faith enough to believe that He will still protect us, and at last enable my few poor people to return to their homes in peace.