In Darkest Africa, Vol. 1; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of EquatoriaStanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
History
In Darkest Africa, Vol. 1; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria
Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Emin Pasha, 1840-1892
Again, we had emerged into the open country out of the forest, after such
experiences as in the collective annals of African travels there is no
parallel. We were approaching the region wherein our ideal Governor was
reported to be beleaguered. All that we heard from such natives as our
scouts caught prepared us for desperate encounters with multitudes, of
whose numbers or qualities none could inform us intelligently, and when
the population of Undusuma swarmed in myriads on the hills, and the
valleys seemed alive with warriors, it really seemed to us in our dense
ignorance of their character and power, that these were of those who
hemmed in the Pasha to the west. If he with his 4000 soldiers appealed
for help, what could we effect with 173? The night before I had been
reading the exhortation of Moses to Joshua, and whether it was the effect
of those brave words, or whether it was a voice, I know not, but it
appeared to me as though I heard: "Be strong, and of a good courage, fear
not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God He it is that doth go
with thee, He will not fail thee nor forsake thee." When on the next day
Mazamboni commanded his people to attack and exterminate us, there was
not a coward in our camp, whereas the evening before we exclaimed in
bitterness on seeing four of our men fly before one native, "And these
are the wretches with whom we must reach the Pasha!"
And yet again. Between the confluence of the Ihuru and the Dui rivers in
December 1888, 150 of the best and strongest of our men had been
despatched to forage for food. They had been absent for many days more
than they ought to have been, and in the meantime 130 men besides boys
and women were starving. They were supported each day with a cup of warm
thin broth, made of butter, milk and water, to keep death away as long as
possible. When the provisions were so reduced that there were only
sufficient for thirteen men for ten days, even of the thin broth with
four tiny biscuits each per day, it became necessary for me to hunt up
the missing men. They might, being without a leader, have been reckless,
and been besieged by an overwhelming force of vicious dwarfs. My
following consisted of sixty-six men, a few women and children, who, more
active than the others, had assisted the thin fluid with the berries of
the phrynium and the amomum, and such fungi as could be discovered in
damp places, and therefore were possessed of some little strength, though
the poor fellows were terribly emaciated. Fifty-one men, besides boys and
women, were so prostrate with debility and disease that they would be
hopelessly gone if within a few hours food did not arrive. My white
comrade and thirteen men were assured of sufficient for ten days to
protract the struggle against a painful death. We who were bound for the
search possessed nothing. We could feed on berries until we could arrive
at a plantation. As we travelled that afternoon we passed several dead
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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