The bivouac in the wilderness has many charms; there is a complete independence—the sentries are posted, the animals picketed and fed, and the fires arranged in a complete circle around the entire party—men, animals, and luggage all within the fiery ring; the sentries alone being on the outside. There is a species of ironwood that is very inflammable, and being oily, it burns like a torch; this grew in great quantities, and the numerous fires fed with this vigorous fuel enlivened the bivouac with a continual blaze. My men were busy, baking their bread. On such occasions an oven is dispensed with. A prodigious fire is made while the dough is being prepared; this, when well moistened, is formed into a cake about two feet in diameter, but not thicker than two inches. The fire being in a fit state of glowing ash, a large hole is scraped in the centre, in which the flat cake is laid, and the red-hot embers are raked over it; thus buried it will bake in about twenty minutes, but the dough must be exceedingly moist or it will burn to a cinder.
On the following day we arrived at Latooka, where I found everything in good order at the depot, and the European vegetables that I had sown were all above ground. Commoro and a number of people came to meet us.
There had been but little rain at Latooka since we left, although it had been raining heavily at Obbo daily, and there was no difference in the dry sandy plain that surrounded the town, neither was there any pasturage for the animals except at a great distance.
The day after my arrival, Filfil was taken ill and died in a few hours. Tetel had been out of condition ever since the day of his failure during the elephant hunt, and he now refused his food. Sickness rapidly spread through my animals; five donkeys died within a few days, and the remainder looked poor. Two of my camels died suddenly, having eaten the poison-bush. Within a few days of this disaster my good old hunter and companion of all my former sports in the Base country, Tetel, died. These terrible blows to my expedition were most satisfactory to the Latookas, who ate the donkeys and other animals the moment they died. It was a race between the natives and the vultures as to who should be first to profit by my losses.
Not only were the animals sick, but my wife was laid up with a violent attack of gastric fever, and I was also suffering from daily attacks of ague. The small-pox broke out among the Turks. Several people died; and, to make matters worse, they insisted upon inoculating themselves and all their slaves; thus the whole camp was reeking with this horrible disease.
Fortunately my camp was separate and to windward. I strictly forbade my men to inoculate themselves, and no case of the disease occurred among my people, but it spread throughout the country. Small-pox is a scourge among the tribes of Central Africa, and it occasionally sweeps through the country and decimates the population.
Among the natives of Obbo, who had accompanied us to Latooka, was a man named Wani, who had formerly travelled far to the south, and had offered to conduct Ibrahim to a country rich in ivory that had never been visited by a trader: this man had accordingly been engaged as guide arid interpreter. In an examination of Wani I discovered that the cowrie-shells were brought from a place called "Magungo." This name I had previously heard mentioned by the natives, but I could obtain no clue to its position. It was most important that I should discover the exact route by which the cowries arrived from the south, as it would be my guide to that direction. The information that I received from Wani at Latooka was excessively vague, and upon most slender data I founded my conclusions so carefully that my subsequent discoveries have rendered most interesting the first scent of the position which I eventually followed with success. I accordingly extract, verbatim, from my journal the note written by me at Latooka on the 26th of May, 1863, when I first received the clue to the Albert N'yanza: "I have had a long examination of Wani, the guide and interpreter, respecting the country of Magungo. Loggo, the Bari interpreter, has always described Magungo as being on a large river, and I have concluded that it must be the Asua; but, upon cross-examination, I find he has used the word 'Bahr' (in Arabic signifying river or sea) instead of 'Birke' (lake). This important error being discovered gives a new feature to the geography of this part."
According to his description, Magungo is situated on a lake so large that no one knows its limits. Its breadth is such that, if you journey two days east and the same distance west, there is no land visible on either quarter, while to the south its direction is utterly unknown. Large vessels arrive at Magungo from distant and unknown parts, bringing cowrie-shells and beads in exchange for ivory. Upon these vessels white men have been seen. All the cowrie-shells used in Latooka and the neighbouring countries are supplied by these vessels, but none have arrived for the last two years.
"His description of distance places Magungo on about the 2 degrees N. lat. The lake can be no other than the 'N'yanza,' which, if the position of Magungo be correct, extends much farther north than Speke had supposed. The 'white men' must be Arab traders who bring cowries from Zanzibar. I shall take the first opportunity to push for Magungo. I imagine that country belongs to Kamrasi's brother, as Wani says the king has a brother who is king of a powerful country on the west bank of the Nile but that they are ever at war with each other.
"I examined another native who had been to Magungo to purchase Simbi (the cowrie-shell); he says that a white man formerly arrived there annually, and brought a donkey with him in a boat; that he disembarked his donkey and rode about the country, dealing with the natives, and bartering cowries and brass-coil bracelets. This man had no firearms, but wore a sword. The king of Magungo was called 'Cherrybambi.'"