AN INVASION OF ANTS.
The rain on the following morning did not cease so soon as usual, and our departure was somewhat delayed. We were all of us intensely interested in keeping our own little dry spot free from the drenching force of the rain, when all at once I found my cosy quarters invaded by a whole army of ants. They had succeeded in discovering the driest and warmest place within a circuit of many miles, and now, in countless legions, they took up their quarters in my palliass, which was placed upon a lofty pile of leaves and grass. Their encroachments seemed to come from every side. For a long time I was in perplexity what to do; to leave my hut was impossible, the rain was falling almost in sheets. I endeavoured to protect myself with my clothes, but all in vain. Presently a stratagem suggested itself to my mind; by a happy thought I managed to divert the ants from myself. Dragging some bundles of grass from my bed, I threw them down in detached patches all over the floor, and by way of bait I sprinkled them over with the fragments of food that remained from the supper of the previous night. The scheme answered admirably, and I had the satisfaction of finding the unwelcome guests draw themselves away and give me no more personal annoyance.
Meanwhile a large portion of our caravan had gone on in advance to make the necessary preparations for crossing the Sway. I did not reach the banks myself until nearly noon, and by that time the people were busily employed in conveying the baggage across. The aspect of the Sway was entirely different to what it had been on the 13th of February. The water had risen to the very top of the banks, and was twenty feet deep, with a velocity of two hundred feet a minute. Although the stream was only thirty-five feet wide, the passage over it, in consequence of the entire absence of tree-stems and the small number of bushes on the banks, offered unusual difficulties. The men who had had experience in these Niam-niam expeditions had a method of effecting a transit over the river that I think was peculiar to themselves: they set all the bearers to work to gather as many different kinds of bark as they could, and to extract all the bast out of it, and then to twist it into long stout ropes, a handicraft in which the negroes are very skilful, as in Bongoland there is an unfailing demand for cordage for hunting-snares and fishing-nets. Having fabricated their ropes, the next thing was to get them stretched across the river. This was effected by practised swimmers, who attached one end firmly into the ground by means of pegs, and swam over with the other. The arrangement of the ropes was such that they were suspended in double rows, one precisely underneath the other, the upper rope being above the stream, the lower being some feet below its surface. Ten expert swimmers then took their stand upon the lower rope, and allowed the stream to force their weight against the upper rope, which supported their chests, but permitted them to have their arms perfectly free for action. Thus supported, in a half-standing, half-floating position, they contrived to keep their hands at liberty, and to pass the packages from one to another.
I confess that it was with a beating heart that I stood and watched my precious baggage thus handed along over the perilous flood; but the lank, lean arms of the Nubians were competent to their work, and everything was conveyed across in safety. This business of crossing occupied several hours of real exertion. The difficulties of the transit may be conceived, when it is remembered that three-fourths of the negroes are entirely ignorant of the art of swimming, and that there were elephant’s tusks being transported which weighed not less than 180 lbs., and consequently required two men to lift them.
We passed the night near Marra’s villages, and though it was only a league from the river, it was quite dark before we entered our quarters. The residents had all vacated the district, leaving their fields of half-ripe maize to the mercy of the new comers; although plunder was ostensibly forbidden, it was surreptitiously carried on by our bearers to a very gross extent under cover of the darkness.
The whole of the next day we halted to recruit our strength. I found my amusement in scouring the neighbourhood in search of game. Huts were dotted about here and there, but the country generally was covered with such a wonderful grass vegetation, that any deviation from the beaten paths would have involved the wanderer in great perplexity, and only too probably he would have rambled about for hours before he could recover his way.
As the caravan was on the point of starting on the succeeding morning, and I had just set out at the head of the procession, we were brought to a standstill by the arrival of some messengers bearing a letter to Mohammed from the commander of his corps, that had been sent towards the west. To judge from the date of the letter, the Niam-niam who brought it must have travelled at least forty miles, and perhaps considerably more, in a day.
EVIL TIDINGS.
The letter contained evil tidings. Ghattas’s agent and Badry, Aboo Sammat’s captain, wrote in the utmost despair. Three chieftains had combined to attack them as they were crossing a gallery on Malingde’s territory; three of their number had been slain, and out of their ninety-five soldiers, thirty-two had been so severely wounded as to be hors de combat. They had now been closely besieged for six days, and were with extreme difficulty defending themselves behind their abattis; provisions were fast failing; and even water could only be obtained at the risk of losing their lives. Ahmed, the other captain, had fallen at the first outset of the engagement, and his body had not been recovered for interment, but had fallen into the hands of the cannibals. The only means of rescuing the wounded soldiers would be to carry them away in litters, and this could only be effected at the cost of abandoning seventy loads of ivory that had been buried in a swamp. The letter concluded with an urgent appeal for speedy succour, and Mohammed determined to send it without delay; two-thirds of his armed men should be despatched to the relief of the sufferers.
The selection of this relieving-force had to be made at once, and it may be imagined that it was no easy matter for Mohammed to overcome the repugnance of those who had no relative or personal friend in jeopardy. It was naturally a bitter disappointment to those men who were thus marked off for this unexpected service to have to renounce the pleasant prospect of the toils of their expedition being so near its termination, and to be compelled to expose themselves anew to the dubious fortune of war. However, in spite of remonstrances and murmurings, the conscription was completed in a very summary fashion, and it was still early when the remnant of our party, with its undue proportion of bearers, continued our northward march.