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
On the 5th of January they entered Abba Rega's territory, whom, two
years before, Baker had driven from his throne, and who naturally felt
peculiarly hostile to all white men. But no resistance was offered--the
people, as if remembering the past, fleeing before them, leaving their
provisions and everything behind them, of which the army made free use.
Three days after they came to the base of a mighty mountain, called
Kabrogo, rising five thousand five hundred feet into the air,
presenting, in its naked, rugged outline, a sublime appearance. They
encamped that night on a low ridge, in sight of the Katonga River,
flowing east in its course to the Victoria Nyanza, bringing up many
associations to Stanley's mind--while to the west the Ruanga filled the
night air with its thunderous sound, as it tumbled over cataracts toward
the Albert Nyanza. From an eminence near by could be seen in the
distance the colossal form of Gambaragara Mountain looming up from the
wilderness--a second Mont Blanc, rising some three miles into the
cloudless heavens. Though under the equator, snow is often seen on its
summit. But what gives it peculiar interest is, that on its cold and
lonely top dwell a people of an entirely distinct race, being white,
like Europeans. The king of Uzigo once spoke to Stanley and Livingstone
of this singular people, and now the latter saw half a dozen of them.
Their hair, he says, is "kinky," and inclined to brown in color; their
features regular; lips thin, and noses well shaped. Altogether, they are
a handsome race--the women, many of them possessing great beauty. Some
of their descendants are scattered through the tribes living near the
base of the mountain, but the main body occupy its lofty summit. The
queen of one of the islands in the Victoria Nyanza is a descendent of
them. The history of this singular people is wrapped in mystery.
There is a tradition that the first king of Unyoro gave them the land at
its base, and the approach of a powerful enemy first drove them to the
top for safety. They have become so acclimated that they can stand the
cold, while the dwellers of the plain are compelled to flee before it.
Mtesa once dispatched his greatest general with an army of a hundred
thousand men to capture them. They succeeded in making their way to a
great height, but finally had to withdraw--the cold became so intense.
The retreat of this pale-faced tribe is said to be inaccessible. The top
is supposed to be the crater of an extinct volcano; for on it there is a
lake nearly a third of a mile long, from the centre of which rises a
huge rock to a great height. Around the top of this runs a rim of rock,
making a natural wall, in which are several villages, where the
principal "medicine-man" and his mysterious people reside in their
peculiar separateness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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