The morning broke and saw the men still under arms, but the excitement had passed. The women soon reappeared with their water jars as usual, but on this occasion they were perfectly unmolested by the Turks, who, having passed the night in momentary expectation of an attack, were now upon their best behaviour. However, I heard them muttering among themselves, "Wait until Ibrahim returns with reinforcements and ammunition, and we will pay the Latookas for last night."
The town filled; and the Latookas behaved as though nothing out of the common had occurred; but when questioned, they coolly confessed that they had intended to surprise us, but that we were too "wide awake.". It is extraordinary that these fellows are so stupid as to beat the drum or nogara before the attack, as it naturally gives the alarm, and renders a surprise impossible; nevertheless, the war-drum is always a preliminary step to hostilities. I now resolved to camp outside the town, so as not to be mixed up in any way with the Turks, whose presence was certain to create enmity. Accordingly I engaged a number of natives to cut thorns, and to make a zareeba, or camp, about four hundred yards from the main entrance of the town, on the road to the stream of water. In a few days it was completed, and I constructed houses for my men, and two good huts for ourselves. Having a supply of garden seeds, I arranged a few beds, which I sowed with onions, cabbages, and radishes. My camp was eighty yards long, and forty wide. My horses were picqueted in two corners, while the donkeys and camels occupied the opposite extremity. We now felt perfectly independent. I had masses of supplies, and I resolved to work round to the south-west whenever it might be possible, and thus to recover the route that I had originally proposed for my journey south. My present difficulty was the want of an interpreter. The Turks had several, and I hoped that on the return of Ibrahim from Gondokoro I might induce him to lend me a Bari lad for some consideration. For the present I was obliged to send to the Turks' camp and borrow an interpreter whenever I required one, which was both troublesome and expensive.
Although I was willing to purchase all supplies with either beads or copper bracelets, I found it was impossible to procure meat. The natives refused to sell either cattle or goats. This was most tantalizing, as not less than 10,000 head of cattle filed by my camp every morning as they were driven from the town to pasturage. All this amount of beef paraded before me, and did not produce a steak! Milk was cheap and abundant; fowl were scarce; corn was plentiful; vegetables were unknown; not even pumpkins were grown by the Latookas.
Fortunately there was an abundance of small game in the shape of wild ducks, pigeons, doves; and a great variety of birds such as herons, cranes, spoonbills, &c. Travellers should always take as large a supply of shot as possible. I had four hundred weight, and prodigious quantities of powder and caps: thus I could at all times kill sufficient game for ourselves and people. There were a series of small marshy pools scattered over the country near the stream that ran through the valley; these were the resort of numerous ducks, which afforded excellent sport. The town of Tarrangolle is situated at the foot of the mountain, about a mile from the stream, which is about eighty yards wide, but shallow. In the dry weather, water is obtained by wells dug in the sandy bed, but during the rains it is a simple torrent not exceeding three feet in depth. The bed being sandy, the numerous banks, left dry by the fluctuations of the stream, are most inviting spots for ducks; and it was only necessary to wait under a tree, on the river's bank, to obtain thirty or forty shots in one morning as the ducks flew down the course of the stream. I found two varieties: the small brown duck with a grey head; and a magnificent variety, as large as the Muscovy, having a copper-and-blue coloured tinselled back and wings, with a white but speckled head and neck. This duck had a curious peculiarity in a fleshy protuberance on the beak about as large as a half-crown. This stands erect, like a cock's comb. Both this, and the smaller variety, were delicious eating. There were two varieties of geese—the only two that I have ever seen on the White Nile—the common Egyptian grey goose, and a large black and white bird with a crimson head and neck, and a red and yellow horny protuberance on the top of the head. This variety has a sharp spur upon the wing an inch long, and exceedingly powerful; it is used as a weapon of defence for striking, like the spurred wing of the plover.
I frequeutly shot ten or twelve ducks, and as many cranes, before breakfast; among others the beautiful crested crane, called by the Arabs "garranook." The black velvet head of this crane, surrounded by a golden crest, was a favourite ornament of the Latookas, and they were immediately arranged as crests for their helmets. The neighbourhood of my camp would have made a fortune for a feather-dealer; it was literally strewn with down and plumes. I was always attended every morning by a number of Latooka boys, who were eager sportsmen, and returned to camp daily laden with ducks and geese.
No sooner did we arrive in camp than a number of boys volunteered to pluck the birds, which they did for the sake of the longest feathers, with which they immediately decked their woolly heads. Crowds of boys were to be seen with heads like cauliflowers, all dressed with the feathers of cranes and wild ducks. It appears to be accepted, both by the savage and civilized, that birds' feathers are specially intended for ornamenting the human head.
It was fortunate that Nature had thus stocked Latooka with game. It was impossible to procure any other meat; and not only were the ducks and geese to us what the quails were to the Israelites in the desert, but they enabled me to make presents to the natives that assured them of our good will.
Although the Latookas were far better than other tribes that I had met, they were sufficiently annoying; they gave me no credit for real good will, but they attributed my forbearance to weakness. On one occasion Adda, one of the chiefs, came to ask me to join him in attacking a village to procure molotes (iron hoes); he said, "Come along with me, bring your men and guns, and we will attack a village near here, and take their molotes and cattle; you keep the cattle, and I will have the molotes." I asked him whether the village was in an enemy's country. "Oh no!" he replied, "it is close here; but the people are rather rebellious, and it will do them good to kill a few, and to take their molotes. If you are afraid, never mind, I will ask the Turks to do it." Thus forbearance on my part was supposed to be caused from weakness, and it was difficult to persuade them that it originated in a feeling of justice. This Adda most coolly proposed that we should plunder one of his own villages that was rather too "liberal" in its views. Nothing is more heartbreaking than to be so thoroughly misunderstood, and the obtuseness of the savages was such, that I never could make them understand the existence of good principle;—their one idea was "power,"—force that could obtain all—the strong hand that could wrest from the weak. In disgust I frequently noted the feelings of the moment in my journal—a memorandum from which I copy as illustrative of the time. "1863, 10th April, Latooka.—I wish the black sympathisers in England could see Africa's inmost heart as I do, much of their sympathy would subside. Human nature viewed in its crude state as pictured amongst African savages is quite on a level with that of the brute, and not to be compared with the noble character of the dog. There is neither gratitude, pity, love, nor self-denial; no idea of duty; no religion; but covetousness, ingratitude, selfishness and cruelty. All are thieves, idle, envious, and ready to plunder and enslave their weaker neighbours."