What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile

by John Hanning Speke

It was very remarkable to see the great length of time animals in this country can exist, even under hard work, without drinking water. In an ordinary way, the Somali water camels only twice a-month, donkeys four times, sheep every fourth day, and ponies only once in two days, and even object to doing it oftener, when the water is plentiful, lest the animals should lose their hardihood. I do not think antelopes could possibly get at water for several months together, as every drop of water in the country is guarded by the Somali. We were now in "the land of honey," and the Somali nomads constantly came to me to borrow my English pickaxe for digging it out of the ground; for the bees of this country, instead of settling in the boughs of trees, as they do in England, work holes in the ground like wasps, or take advantage more generally of chinks or fissures in the rocks to build their combs and deposit their wax. It was a great treat to get a little of this sweet nutriment, to counteract the salts which prevail in all the spring waters of the interior. When out shooting specimens, I often saw the Somali chasing down the Salt's antelopes on foot.

I killed many of them myself right and left, when running like hares, with common shot, much to the astonishment of the Somali, for they are too small a mark for their bow-and-arrow shooting. The little creatures cannot stand travelling in the mid-day sun, and usually lie about under favouring trees which line the watercourses. Knowing this weakness, the cunning Somali hunter watches him down from feeding to his favourite haunts, and, after the sun shines strong enough, quietly disturbs him; then, as he trots away to search for another shady bush, they follow gently after to prevent his resting. In the course of an hour or so, the terrified animal, utterly exhausted, rushes from bush to bush, throwing itself down under each in succession, until at length it gets captured.

Somali, from their roving habits of life, are as keen and cunning sportsmen as any in the world. They told me of many dodges they adopted for killing elephants, ostriches, and gazelles, which they do as follows:—If an elephant is ever seen upon the plains, a large body of men assemble on foot, armed with spears, bows, and sharp double-edged knives, with one man mounted on a white horse, to act as teaser. This man commences by riding in front of the animal, to irritate and absorb his entire attention by riding in repeated circles just in front of him. When the huge beast shows signs of distress by fruitlessly charging on his nimble adversary, the footmen rush in upon him from behind, and hamstring him with their knives, and then with great facility soon despatch him with their arrows and spears.

Ostriches, again, are killed in two ways; the more simple one is by finding out what places they usually resort to in search of food, and then throwing down some tempting herb of strong poisonous properties, which they eagerly eat and die from. The other method adopted in catching them is not so easy, but is managed with great effect. The ostrich is, as is generally known, a remarkably shy bird, and is so blind at night it cannot feed. Again, the Somali pony, though wonderfully hardy and enduring, is not swift; therefore, to accommodate existing power to knowledge of these various weaknesses, the Somali provides himself with a pony, and provisions for two or three days, and begins his hunt by showing himself at such a considerable distance from the birds he has formed his design upon, that they quietly stalk off, and he, at the same rate, follows after, but never draws near enough to scare them out of sight of him. At night, the birds stop in consequence of the darkness, but cannot feed. He, on the other hand, dismounts to rest and feed with his pony, and resumes the chase the following day. After the second or third day, when he and the pony are as fresh as ever, the ostriches, from constant fasting, become so weak, he is able to ride in amongst them, and knock down one by one as many as may be in the flock. The flesh is eaten, and the feathers are taken to the sea-coast for transportation to the Aden market. I once saw a donkey-load of feathers carried to market that had been taken in this way.

There are two methods, also, of killing gazelles; the more usual one is effected by two men walking into a bushy ground to search for them, and when discovered, walking in such large circles around them as will not scare them; gradually they draw their circles in, until a favoured bush, down wind, is found, which the herd is most likely, when once moved, to pass by, and behind this one of the men stops, with his bow and arrows, whilst the second one, without ever stopping to create alarm, continues drawing in the circles of circumvention until he induces the gazelles to walk up to the bush his friend is concealed in, when one or more may be easily shot. The other plan for killing them is extremely artful, and is done on horseback, and therefore on the open plain. Fleet animals, like antelopes and gazelles, always endeavour to head across their pursuers, no matter in which direction they go. The Somali, therefore, taking advantage of this habit, when they wish to catch them on ponies, which are not half so swift as the gazelles in fair open chase, economise their strength by directing their animals' heads towards the leading gazelle, and thus inducing the herd, as they continue heading on, to describe double the circumference of ground their ponies have to traverse. In process of time, the gazelles, by their extra exertions, begin to flag and drop, and the hunters rush in upon them, and cut them up in detail.

20th.—To-day the young prince, Abdullah, returned to say the Dulbahantas had been conferred with, and had shown the strongest objections to my seeing their country, enumerating at the same time all their reasonings, such as I had already heard; but added, as a great concession on their part, as a particular favour they wished to show to my Abban, that I might be permitted to advance a little way to the next valley; but then only on condition that I would surrender to them the whole of my remaining property.

I now heard more particulars of the Dulbahantas' fights, and the manner in which they first originated. For full thirteen years they had been disputing amongst themselves, and many cabals had sprung out of it. Whilst these intrigues were gaining ground, a minor chief, named Ali Haram, with a powerful support in connections, about five years ago determined on alienating himself from the yoke of the government, which was headed by an old Gerad, called Mahamed Ali, the rightful and hereditary chief. Since then the original kingdom has been divided into two portions, called the Northern and Southern Dulbahantas; but although the northerners declare themselves independent, the chief of the south still fights for his lawful rights, and at this present time had driven the northerners, with all their cattle and stock, to Jid Ali Tug, the next valley beyond this, which I was now desirous of visiting. Ali Haram was an old man, and consequently incapacitated from taking an active part in these tumultuous filibusterings; he had therefore, since his first accession to power, deputed a son called Mahamed Ali Gerad to act as Regent in his stead, and this was the man of whom the Warsingali spoke to me at Bunder Gori so disparagingly.

21st.—I was now preparing to start again westward, when an order came from the Abban to my men, that no property should accompany me, excepting what little I felt disposed to part with in presents to the Dulbahantas; as an Akil, by name Husayn Hadji, the senior man present at Jid Ali, had decided, as a final measure, on seizing everything I brought with me immediately I set foot in Jid Ali. Though I had had experience enough of the Abban's tricks to see that this was merely a farce, though a very useless and inconvenient one, I permitted the arrangement rather than make a row and retard my progress, and set out with the young prince, Hamed, Farhan, and two camels and drivers, leaving Imam and the other nine camels, with their drivers, behind, to follow as soon as I should send back.

At the western extremity of the valley we came upon a small mound of earth, all white and glistening, covered with nitre in an efflorescent form, which shone so conspicuously in the sun, it could be seen at many miles' distance; from the base of it a clear spring of water trickled, so disagreeable in taste that no one, save Somali, could possibly drink it. Now, emerging from the low land, we again left the trees behind us, and rose by a well-beaten foot-track to the primary level of the country, where stone and bare ground prevailed. Each of these elevations and depressions was a mere reflection of the other, only varying more or less according to their size; and as my line was directed due west, I always had the mountain-range at even distance on the north, whilst every feature on the south remained the same. It was monotonous in the extreme. At the fifth mile we came upon some springs of bitter water, sunk in deep cavities in the earth, from which we filled our water-skins, and travelled on till night; when, dark overtaking us, we slipped into a hollow in the ground, called Ali, cooked a little rice with the water we had brought, and slept it out till morning. Distance, thirteen miles.

22d.—As soon as the morning was well aired with the sun, and the black men had recovered from the torpor which the cold seemed to produce on them as it does on lizards and snakes, I struck out for Jid Ali, hoping to surprise the Abban, and thereby counteract, if possible, his various machinations. But this was not to be done. At the thirteenth mile, as we were descending in full view of Jid Ali, at a place called Birhamir, I was met by the Akil Husayn Hadji himself, who, instead of showing any disposition to hinder my approach, was very affable and kind in manner. He politely begged me to remain where I was and rest the day, and on the morrow he would take me to the Tug (river) below. He had never felt indisposed towards me; but one Galed Ali, an Akil superior to himself, was averse to my proceeding further. Unfortunately for the Somali, their lies are very transparent, and they were too fond of uttering falsehoods ever to be trusted. I neither believed in the existence of Galed Ali, nor in his own kind intentions towards me, and therefore begged him to prove it by allowing me to pass. This began a long discussion. The wars were raging. The Dulbahantas would not let me see their country, as they could not see why an Englishman should wish to travel where even beggars were afraid to go; and then followed a hundred other excuses, all of which I rejected as freely as he advanced them.