How I found Livingstone : $b Travels, adventures, and discoveres in Central Africa, including an account of four months' residence with Dr. LivingstoneStanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
History
How I found Livingstone : $b Travels, adventures, and discoveres in Central Africa, including an account of four months' residence with Dr. Livingstone
Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873
We rose betimes in the morning, determined to travel on until food
could be procured, or we dropped down from sheer fatigue and weakness.
Rhinoceros' tracks abounded, and buffalo seemed to be plentiful, but
we never beheld a living thing. We crossed scores of short steeps,
and descended as often into the depths of dry, stony gullies, and then
finally entered a valley, bounded on one side by a triangular mountain
with perpendicular sides, and on the other by a bold group, a triplet
of hills. While marching down this valley--which soon changed its dry,
bleached aspect to a vivid green--we saw a forest in the distance, and
shortly found ourselves in corn-fields. Looking keenly around for a
village, we descried it on the summit of the lofty triangular hill on
our right. A loud exultant shout was raised at the discovery. The men
threw down their packs, and began to clamour for food. Volunteers were
asked to come forward to take cloth, and scale the heights to obtain
it from the village, at any price. While three or four sallied off we
rested on the ground, quite worn out. In about an hour the foraging
party returned with the glorious tidings that food was plentiful;
that the village we saw was called, "Welled Nzogera's"--the son of
Nzogera--by which, of course, we knew that we were in Uvinza, Nzogera
being the principal chief in Uvinza. We were further informed that
Nzogera, the father, was at war with Lokanda-Mire, about some salt-pans
in the valley of the Malagarazi, and that it would be difficult to go
to Ujiji by the usual road, owing to this war; but, for a consideration,
the son of Nzogera was willing to supply us with guides, who would take
us safely, by a northern road, to Ujiji.
Everything auguring well for our prospects, we encamped to enjoy the
good cheer, for which our troubles and privations, during the transit of
the Ukawendi forests and jungles, had well prepared us.
I am now going to extract from my Diary of the march, as, without its
aid, I deem it impossible to relate fully our various experiences, so as
to show them properly as they occurred to us; and as these extracts
were written and recorded at the close of each day, they possess more
interest, in my opinion, than a cold relation of facts, now toned down
in memory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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