From the Cape to Cairo: The First Traverse of Africa from South to NorthGrogan, Ewart Scott
History
From the Cape to Cairo: The First Traverse of Africa from South to North
Grogan, Ewart Scott
Africa -- Description and travel; Grogan, Ewart Scott, 1874-1967
I think the view is the finest I have ever seen. Far to the south
stretched the mighty expanse of water; dark promontories of every shape
and size jutted far into the lake; Kwijwi stood out in bold outline; and
the mighty wall of mountains on the west was dimly visible on the far
horizon. Below me stretched a great plain, the eastern part densely
covered with fields of millet and banana plantations, dotted with a
thousand huts. In all the fields hundreds of women were working, and
small herds of cattle and goats were slowly wending their way to the
lake. To the west, the plain was covered with young forest. To the
north towered the terrific mass of Mount Götzen, vomiting forth a great
volume of black smoke. The old volcanoes towered aloft above the
clouds, which swirled in constant eddies about their base. Entranced
with the view, I waited till the sun declined and dropped like a molten
ball behind the bold outline of the hills; then the moon came up,
bathing the waters of the lake in silvery light.
The natives visited our camp in hundreds, and brought numerous presents
of goats and sheep, and an unlimited quantity of supplies for sale. We
told them that we wanted to buy eggs--a request that always astonishes
the natives, who are not used to the ways of white men, as they
themselves never eat them. One old gentleman rushed away, and shortly
returned, bringing a dirty basket with a frowsy old hen and about
fifteen small chickens emerging from the eggs, and was surprised because
we said they were of no use to us. We tried to explain that we
preferred them fresh, and he evidently thought that we were making a
fool of him.
Here we were informed that in the pass between the volcanoes there was
no water, and that we should have to purchase what we required at great
price from the natives, who obtain a purple liquid by tapping the stems
of the banana palms.
The large volcanoes, of which there are six, fall naturally under two
heads. The two western ones are still active; the highest I have
described on my map as Mount Götzen, in honour of Count Götzen, who was
the first to discover Kivu, and who made the ascent of the peak which I
have named after him. Owing to the impossibility of obtaining
representative names to these mountains, I have suggested names for
them. On one of the mountains on which I camped, I obtained no less
than thirty-six names of the same place. Mount Götzen is a stupendous
mass, and has three craters. The central crater, described by Count
Götzen, is very extensive; the bottom of the crater is quite flat, and
has two cleanly-drilled vent-holes; the northern and the southern
craters are now extinct. It is covered with the densest imaginable
forest, almost to the summit; and Count Götzen found it absolutely
necessary, during his ascent, to fetch all water from the lake.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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