Four o’clock. S.W. An occurrence has just happened, which might be the death of us all if anything were to be feared from the revenge of these evidently good-natured people. We were on the right side of the river, and went to the left, where the little sandal was towed not far from us by the Libàhn. Natives had stationed themselves here in large and small groups; they greeted us, held up their hands, pointed to their necks for beads, and sang, danced, and jumped. There was no end of laughing in our vessel; I was attentive to what was going on, and saw that the natives had seized the rope of the sandal, and would not let it be towed further, for they wanted beads. Probably the crew of the sandal had taken weapons or ornaments from them, without giving anything in return, as this frequently happened. We steered close to the left shore to assist our men, when eight bold armed figures advanced towards us, and gave us to understand by pantomimic signs, that we had presented beads to their neighbours below, but would not give them anything. They offered the rings on their arms, and their weapons, and signified to us, as we were advancing libàhn, on account of the faintness of the wind, that they would not allow us to tow any further unless we gave them something. They said all this, however, with a laughing countenance, jumped about, and laughed anew. It was plain they were only in jest; but our bloodthirsty fellows, seeing no danger in this small number of men, and never thinking of the probable consequences, just like the Turks, considered this an excellent opportunity to display their courage. They seized their weapons. I was unwell, but yet was standing on deck, and kept order as well as my weak voice would allow me. I went from one to the other, and enjoined them not to fire, until arrows were first shot at them. The black soldiers, who were mostly recruits, I admonished especially not to be filles de joie (the usual expression here applied to those who exhibit fear in discharging their guns), but men (rigàl, sing. ragel), to grasp the gun firmly, and to take good aim. Our blacks are generally very much afraid of the report of guns, and do exactly as the Greeks did at the commencement of their war for freedom; they lay the butt-end on the thigh, and fire at random. On the White River, also, the report of these unknown weapons was more feared than the real danger itself. They listened to me; but then came the vessel of Captain Mohammed Agà, a fool-hardy Arnaut, who is always trying to distinguish himself in some way or another. He shouted to the sandal to cut away the rope, although the men were still on land. This was about to be done, when the tallest negro, who had twisted the rope round a little tree, pointed his bow at the sailor who was about to cut it through with his knife. He laughed at the same time, and it was clear that he was not in earnest; for he had wrestled in a friendly manner with the other sailors, when they tried to get the rope from him, without making use of his weapons. Yet the Arnaut commanded them to “fire,” whilst he had already aimed at the incautious native, being the first to discharge his piece. In a moment all three vessels fired away, as though they were beset by the devil. I was only able to pull back a couple of fellows whose guns had flashed in the pan. Eleven or twelve other victims followed the first, who was knocked over by the captain’s shot. Those who went away wounded were not counted. An old woman was shot down by an Egyptian standing near me, and yet he boasted of this heroic deed, as did all the others of theirs. There might have been from twenty-five to thirty natives collected together at that place, scarcely thirty paces from us, and the high-standing straw might have concealed several more.
We sailed away with the wind favouring our criminal action, for our men had again come on board before the firing commenced. The Dahabiës sailing ahead of us must have heard our shots; they did not however furl one sail to lend us assistance, which might have been eventually necessary. Before we caught up these vessels, we saw a woman on the shore, looking about among the dead men, and then afterwards running to the city at some distance from the shore. The natives were hastening towards it, but they did not trust themselves near us. Yet they knew not the melancholy truth that our shots would hit at a distance; hitherto they feared only the thunder and lightning of them, as we had seen several times. We halted a moment; the unhappy creatures or relatives of the slain came closer to the border of the shore, laid their hands flat together, raised them above their head, slid upon their knees nearer to us, and sprang again high in the air, with their compressed hands stretched aloft, as if to invoke the pity of heaven, and to implore mercy of us. A slim young man was so conspicuous by his passionate grief, that it cut to my heart, and—our barbarians laughed with all their might. This unbounded attachment to one another, and the circumstance that that woman, in spite of the danger so close at hand, sought for the man of her heart among those who had perished, affected me exceedingly, because such moral intrinsic worth, flowing from pure natural hearts, is unfortunately more acquired than innate in civilised nations. We had only advanced a little on our way, and above thirty unarmed natives, who must yet at all events have been informed of the tragical incident that had just occurred, sat down on the sand directly close to the river, without suspicion, or designing any harm to us, as if nothing had taken place, and really—I had enough to do to prevent their being shot at.
We reached the vessels of the commanders, and Mohammed Agà was the first to hasten to them, in order to report the incident. But I also drew near, and there was a kind of court martial summoned. Arnaud did honour to the European name, and took the part of the Turks, who looked upon the whole as a trifle. Finally, the Arnaut, who had already confessed the fact, faced about boldly and swift as lightning, declaring that he had never fired a shot, and that he would bring witnesses to prove it, and—here the matter ended. Selim Capitan thought he shewed his wish to keep up a good understanding with the natives, by throwing into the grass on the shore some miserable bits of glass paste, with a cup. The natives looked and groped about, whilst we sailed to the neighbouring island. Here we found two divisions of negroes, whose chiefs were also presented with strings of beads. Again we threw beads among the grass, and ordered the whole occurrence to be explained by the interpreters; more beads, and—every one jumped forward delighted. One of these chiefs had all his naked body streaked over with ochre: he looked like the black huntsman of Bohemia. They are said to do this in particular when they marry; we have seen already several such red men; even the hair and the ivory bracelets which are thick and of a hand’s breadth, as well as the numerous iron rings on the wrists and ankles, are coloured red in this fashion. Rage and vexation, together with the heat of the sun, compelled me to be carried back quite exhausted down the shore to the vessel.
Thibaut and Sabatier disclosed to me, as usual, their vexation at Arnaud’s assuming conduct, and how they are cut up and calumniated in his journal, which they secretly read, without being able to call him to account for it at the moment. So likewise I am obliged to listen to the loud lamentations of his servant Mustaphà, a Maltese renegade, who always ends with “Credo che sia mezzo matto quest gran signore o baron fututto.” Although he looks very fierce, yet he cannot renounce his nature as a tailor, and is continually asking me whether we are in any danger and begs me, for the holy Madonna’s sake, to take care that we return as speedily as possible, for he would rather a thousand times live with his devil of a wife, than venture again so far among the heathens. Arnaud is jealous at Suliman Kashef having purchased a young girl with his beads, and by the assistance of Duschoïl, the interpreter, prettier than his little sailor’s trull, whom he has hung with glass beads from head to foot. In a fit of madness he writes a long French letter to the Kashef, summoning him to restore the girl immediately, although we are already a long way from her people. Thibaut translates the letter, and looks as if he had fallen from the clouds, for he is in the very same boat with Arnaud himself, respecting the purchase of a girl, that he is going to make a living present to his black Sara, whom he brought back from England to Khartùm. After the letter was read aloud, a rude burst of laughter naturally ensued, and Suliman Kashef said when it was finished, in a pitying tone of voice, “El shems, el shems!” (the sun, the sun.) Certainly it is not the first time that the African sun has produced such an effect on Arnaud; he suffers like all of us, and his arrogance and pride shake him more violently, because they find opposition on every side.
21st January. I this morning felt myself uncommonly well but had scarcely stepped out of the door to go ashore, when the stream of light—I know not what other name to give it—rushed upon me with such force, and penetrated, as it were, through me, that I was scarcely able to sink back on my bed; and it is only now, when, however, the sun is at its height, that I feel myself at all capable of writing. We have remained since early this morning, in a southerly direction. The sails have been twice hoisted, but on the average we are towed by the rope. We leave an island on our right. There are several red skins among the negroes, who are really handsome men; the tokuls, standing singly, are large, well roofed, and, resting upon strong stakes, open on all sides. The stakes form a peristyle, and the inner wall is smeared inside with clay; perhaps they serve as stables for cattle, and summer tokuls. A small gohr, or river, in the neighbourhood of which we repose at noon, comes merrily in from the right shore, and the stream has a noble breadth, but little depth of water.
Two o’clock, S.W. We have a slight north wind, and an island on our right; behind it, the forest continues on the shore. The high mountainous district beyond it is still blue, for the day is not clear. It appears, indeed, partly covered with wood, and to form a chain with the other mountains. The information we possess about this region is still very scanty, and it would be difficult to make any thing out of the interpreters, even if my head were less affected. Groups of a hundred and fifty to two hundred negroes are standing together on all sides; they generally accompany us a short way, without uniting themselves to the next swarm. This perhaps arises more from accident than for the purpose of keeping their boundary stations on the water, to prevent falling together by the ears, whilst watering their herds, and on other occasions. Islands impede our course, and the crew see, to their terror, a number of natives, holding their weapons aloft, wade through the river from one side to the other. We immediately take possession of a little islet in the middle of the river, and surround it with our vessels; a regular military position, for it is surrounded with deeper water. It is about a hundred paces long from north to south, and from five to six broad, and the shores fall away steeply to the river.
Feïzulla Capitan disembarks, and returns soon from Selim Capitan, with the melancholy intelligence that there is “moje mafish,” (no water). I was completely in despair, left the vessel, and set off to the top of the islet, where Turks and Franks were assembled for further consultation. The black people found on it were driven away by us; they jumped into the water like frogs, so that we heard a simultaneous fearful splash. They soon stood on the more shallow ground, and shouted their huzza, “Hui, ii hui iih!” laughed and joked, and offered their valuables, &c. We let some of the negroes come on the islet, and gave them presents of beads. About evening a large herd of cows appeared on the right shore; they were lean, possibly having been long in want of fresh grass. The men, armed with spears, bows, and arrows, drove the herds from the right to the left shore, where we likewise remarked a herd of cattle. Our gentlemen were horribly afraid when the people accumulated like a black swarm of bees on all sides.
It was a lucky circumstance that a large bird of prey perched on the mast, to take a view aloft of the flesh under him. All eyes were directed to us and this bird, when Suliman Kashef seized his long gun; the blacks watched us closely, jostled each other, and were on tenter-hooks of anxiety, for they did not know what it meant. Suliman Kashef fired; the report set them in momentary fear, and they were about to run away, when the sight of the bird falling into the water, noted them, as it were, to the ground. When, however, other birds of prey flew down on the water, to see what fate had befallen their feathered friend, the “Hui, ii hui iih,” immediately came to a close; they ran as fast as they could, for this appeared too much for them to stand, having seen no arrow or stone flying at the bird. This single shot might be of importance at this moment, when the people generally, though at a distance, might have shewn a bad feeling; moreover the incident was of inestimable value to the expedition, because it infused the feeling of our superiority, and even enhanced it, in their dismayed hearts. If I had previously strained every nerve to prevent the return already determined upon, and had got the again-convalescent Kashef on my side, so now even the timorous Selim Capitan was inclined to have the track more accurately examined.
22nd January.—There was not a breath of wind, and it is still undetermined whether we shall proceed further. I therefore proposed to the Frenchmen, whose courage I could naturally have no doubt of, to take out some of the freight from their vessel, which is lightly built and convenient, and thus to press on further. They agreed to this proposal. I described the country, and we were having breakfast together, when intelligence was brought to us that it was decided to go on. No sooner does Selim Capitan see the long-legged blacks going to their cattle, swimming over to the right shore, than fear seizes him anew; we, however, by our joint efforts, manage to remove it.
In the meanwhile, the chief of this country comes to us with his grown-up son. A red cloth dress of honour is put on the old man; a red chequered cotton handkerchief tied round his head; and glass beads are hung round his neck. They also gave the son beads, and bound a piece of calico round him like a napkin. It was plain to be seen that they were delighted with these presents, and particularly at the pleasure of conversing and communicating with us. The old man’s name is Nalewadtshòhn, his son’s Alumbèh; but their great Mattà (king or lord, perhaps analogous to the title of honour previously conferred on us, “Màdam,)” is called Làkono. The latter is said to possess a beautiful red woollen dress, of a different cut to the Abbaie, presented to Nalewadtshòhn. It must be truly interesting to see here, all of a sudden, a negro king in an English uniform, although it may only come from the Ethiopian sea, or the Indian Ocean. Sultan Làkono dwells on Mount Pelenja, and rules over a large country, called Bari, pronounced by the Turks, however, without further ceremony, Beri. We are said to have been within the limits of this kingdom for the last two days: those men shot by us belonged also to Bari.