In Darkest Africa, Vol. 2; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of EquatoriaStanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)
History
In Darkest Africa, Vol. 2; 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
But the fact that neither had been heard of placed us in a dilemma. We
had fifty-five extra loads to carry, over and above the number of
carriers, of absolutely necessary property. After a little midnight
mental deliberation I resolved to make double marches between Fort Bodo
and the Ituri River on the edge of the plains, leave Lieutenant Stairs
and officers and sick at the well-furnished clearing of Kandekoré, and
march to the Nyanza to search for Emin Pasha and Mr. Mounteney Jephson.
This would probably cause me to exceed my original estimate of time by
ten days. But what can one do when every plan is thwarted by some
unlucky accident or another? Fort Bodo had been reached two days before
the stipulated time. If I arrived at the Nyanza by January 26 I should
be ten days behind time.
On the 21st of December all this was explained to the men, and that
fifty-five men must volunteer to do double duty, but for every camp made
by them twice over I should pay for the extra work in cloth. Volunteers
responded readily at this, and the difficulty of carrying the extra
fifty-five loads of ammunition vanished.
At the muster on the 22nd of December there were present in the
Fort--209 Zanzibaris, 17 Soudanese, 1 Somali, 151 Manyuema and
followers, 26 Madis, 2 Lados, 6 whites; total 412. Therefore the journey
from Banalya to Fort Bodo had cost 106 lives, of whom 38 belonged to the
rear column.
On the 23rd we set out from Fort Bodo, and on the next day Captain
Nelson, having buried the Pasha’s big demijohn, some broken rifles, &c.,
set fire to the Fort and joined us.
[Sidenote: 1889.
Jan. 2.
Indenduru.]
Christmas Day and the day after we foraged for the double journeys, and
on the 27th Stairs was pushed forward with one hundred rifles to occupy
the ferry at the Ituri River, with orders, after making himself snug, to
send back fifty-five men to our Cross Roads camp. Meantime, being very
dilapidated in clothing, the Doctor and I tailored to make ourselves
respectable for the grass-land.
On the 2nd of January, while waiting for the contingent from Stairs, a
Soudanese, gathering fuel only 150 yards from camp, received five arrows
in his back, which were extracted after tremendous exertion by the
Doctor--two of the arrows being so deeply fixed in bone and muscle that
the wounded man was almost raised from the ground. A sixth arrow was
found two months later. The man ultimately recovered, to die close to
Bagamoyo nearly a year later.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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