Our next move was to the quarters of Rikkete, another brother of Wando’s, and who, holding the office of behnky, had remained faithful in his allegiance, and was consequently in avowed hostility to Nduppo. The three brothers were part of the numerous family of Bazimbey, whose extensive dominions, a few years previously, had been divided into six small principalities, a heritage which was a perpetual apple of discord amongst his sons. Bazimbey was one of the six sons of Yapahti, who still retain their rule over nearly all the eastern countries of the Niam-niam.
ADMIRING THE WHITE MAN.
My personal appearance aroused the most vivid interest on the part of Nduppo and his suite. Their curiosity seemed insatiable, and they never wearied in their inquiries as to my origin. Theirs were the first exclamations of a kind which more or less frequently continued to be made throughout the rest of my journey. To their mind the mystery was as to where I could have come from; my hair was the greatest of enigmas to them; it gave me a supernatural look, and accordingly they asked whether I had been dropped from the clouds or was a visitor from the moon, and could not believe that anything like me had been seen before.
And with regard to this appearance of mine, I may mention that amongst these people of the far interior it hardly seemed to be the colour of my skin that principally excited their astonishment, for even in the remotest regions of Central Africa, tribes that have no conception of an ocean are aware of the existence of white men; but it was invariably my long straight hair that caused their chief surprise, my own purpose in letting my hair grow to an unusual length being that I might be identified at once amid all the countless shades of complexion that were found amongst the Nubians. I enquired whether they had not seen the traveller Piaggia, that white man who but a few years ago had been staying in their parts with king Tombo; but they replied that although they had heard about him, they had never seen him. In my way, therefore, I was quite unique, and truly a desideratum in their ethnographical experience.
Nduppo communicated to us many particulars about his brothers, and about the warfare that was carried on between them, and informed us likewise of the death of Bazimbey’s brother Tombo, who had entertained Piaggia with so much hospitality. Tombo’s kingdom, it appeared, had likewise been cut up into a number of smaller states which still retained all their national hostility to the intruders from Khartoom. The residence at which Bazimbey had lived, during his sovereignty, was pointed out to me, at a distance which, I should presume, was about 25 miles. It was explained to me that a messenger, if he were strong and could walk well, could accomplish the journey in a day, but, it was added that he must not halt on the way, and that he would have to get on apace like a Niam-niam, and not to dawdle like a Bongo bearer carrying his load.
ABUNDANCE OF SKINS.
Throughout the whole of the territory that was subject to Wando, the clothing of all the people consisted of skins, as the fig-tree, of which the bark is so generally used in the south, does not thrive here at all well. For all those who require it, the bark has to be imported from the country of the Monbuttoo, and is consequently an article of luxury. Skins can ordinarily be obtained at a price which seemed to me ridiculously small. For the purpose of getting a few trifling additions which were necessary for my cuisine I was in the habit of breaking up some of my larger copper rings into little bits, and I was very pleased to find how far these copper fragments would go in making purchases of skins of various kinds. In this way I bought a fine otter skin (probably Lutra inunguis, Cuv.) for about threepence, genet skins for about a penny apiece, and those of the Colobus quereza for a very little more. Very plentiful and consequently equally cheap were the skins of civets, Herpestes fasciatus, Felis maniculata, F. caracal and F. serval. The skins of the smaller kinds of antelopes, too, were very frequently offered for sale, especially those of the beautiful Antilope scripta (the harness bush-bock of South Africa) and of A. grimmia, A. madoqua, and the long-haired water-bock (A. difassa). It is very strange how, notwithstanding this extraordinary abundance and cheapness of skins, traffic in them, as an article of commerce, is entirely unknown in Khartoom, where the dealers seem to have no suspicion of the large demand there undoubtedly would be. Leopard skins, it may be added, were comparatively rare, and were only used by royal personages to line their shields, or according to their own special prerogative, to encircle their heads. Nduppo wore a serval-skin, of which the ends drooped in graceful folds over his neck and shoulders, whilst great pins, headed with pieces cut from the tail of the Sciurus leucumbrinus, held it firmly fastened to his luxuriant hair.
Aboo Sammat was known amongst the Niam-niam by the name of “Mbahly” or “the little one,” a designation given him long ago by the people, on account of the youthful age at which he had entered their country. Nduppo informed us that Wando had declared, with what was tantamount to an oath, that Mbahly should not this time escape, but that he and all his crew should be annihilated: he, moreover told us that the threats had extended to myself. Wando, he said, avowed that he did not want any presents, and that all the beads in the world were nothing to him; if any offerings were sent he would trample them in the grass; if any stuffs were given him he would rip them into shreds; plenty of copper he had already, and for that matter, plenty of ivory too, but he did not intend to part with any of it.
For a long time it perplexed me to discover the reason of Wando’s animosity. Only two years previously he and Mohammed had been on the most friendly terms. Mohammed had visited him at his home, and the two had entered into the closest alliance, which had been sealed by Mohammed marrying his daughter, who as I have already mentioned, was now one of the first ladies in the harem of Boiko. But, meanwhile, Mohammed had been in Khartoom, and during his absence he had entrusted the charge of his expeditions to his brother, who had fallen out with Wando. Mutual recriminations led to mutual plunder, and Wando was now in a rage that could not easily be suppressed.
Nduppo led us to understand that in the course of our next march we should receive definite tidings of Wando’s intentions. If an attack were resolved upon, his whole force would be assembled and we should be prevented from going on to Rikkete; but if, on the other hand, we were permitted to reach Rikkete unmolested we might then be sure that there would be a temporary peace. And this in reality we found to be the case. As we were approaching Rikkete we were met by Wando’s envoys bringing the accustomed conciliatory flasks of beer. Various circumstances might have weighed with the chieftain to induce him to postpone his outbreak. It is possible that he considered that while Aboo Sammat’s and Ghattas’s companies were united and could muster 300 guns, the time was not arrived for an attack; he also reckoned, with true African craftiness, that it would be more advantageous to himself to fall upon us on our way back from the Monbuttoo. He imagined, moreover, that all our valuables which he now so contemptuously rejected would fall into his hands without the necessity of any ivory traffic at all, and that our stores (as being an unnecessary burden to be carried to the Monbuttoo and back) would be deposited in his charge until our return; and in addition to all this, it is not unlikely that he counted with some certainty upon receiving plenty of presents from the liberal Kenoosian.