Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark ContinentHeadley, Joel Tyler
History
Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent
Headley, Joel Tyler
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
Two days after, this chief sent some of his men to Bumbireh for food,
but they were not allowed to land. On the contrary, they were attacked,
and one man was killed and eight were wounded. This gave Stanley another
strong reason for making war at once without further negotiations, to
which Mtesa's chief gladly consented. Accordingly, next morning, he
mustered two hundred and eighty men with fifty muskets, and two hundred
spearmen, and placed them in eighteen canoes and set out for Bumbireh,
eight miles distant, and reached the island at two o'clock in the
afternoon.
The natives of Bumbireh were evidently expecting trouble, for they felt
sure the attack on the friends of Stanley the day before would be
quickly avenged. As the latter, therefore, drew near the shore, he saw
lookouts on every eminence. Looking through his field-glass, he soon
discovered messengers running to a plantain grove which stood on a low
hill that commanded a clear, open view of a little port on the southern
point of the island, from which he concluded that the main force of the
enemy was assembled there. He then called the canoes together, and told
them to follow him and steer just as he steered, and by no means to
attempt to land, as he did not mean that one of Mtesa's men should be
killed, or, indeed, any of his own soldiers--he intended to punish
Bumbireh without any damage to himself. He then ordered his crew to row
straight for the port--the other canoes following in close order behind.
He managed to keep out of sight of the lookouts; and skirting close to
the land, at the end of a little more than a mile, rounded a cape and
shot into a fine bay, right in the rear and in full view of the enemy.
They were gathered in such large numbers that Stanley saw it would not
do to attack them in such a cover, and so steered for the opposite side
of the bay, as though he intended to land there, where the sloping
hill-sides were bare of everything but low grass. The savages,
perceiving this, broke cover and ran yelling toward the threatened
point. This was exactly what Stanley wanted, and he ordered the rowers
to pull slowly, so as to give them time to reach the spot toward which
he was moving. Very soon they were all assembled on the naked hill-side,
brandishing their weapons fiercely in the air. Stanley kept slowly on
till within a hundred yards of the beach, when he anchored broadside on
the shore--the English and American flags waving above him. The other
seventeen canoes followed his example. Seeing a group of about fifty
standing close together, he ordered a volley to be fired into it. Fifty
muskets and his own trusty rifle spoke at once, and with such terrible
effect that nearly the whole number was killed or wounded. The natives,
astounded at this murderous work, now separated and came down to the
water's edge singly, and began to yell and sling stones and shoot
arrows. Stanley then ordered the anchors up, and gave directions to move
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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