Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark ContinentFeather, A. G., Col.
History
Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark Continent
Feather, A. G., Col.
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
Listening to the account given of this occurrence, one cannot but lament
the loss of life, and the whole circumstances of the fight. While, on
the one hand, we may imagine that the loss of a cool, conciliatory,
brave leader was here felt in a grave degree, we must also see that it
was known far and wide that this very loss was now a great weakness to
his followers. There is no surer sign of mischief in Africa than these
trumpery charges of bewitching houses by placing things on them; some
such overstrained accusation is generally set in the front rank when
other difficulties are to come; drunkenness is pretty much the same
thing in all parts of the world, and gathers misery around it as easily
in an African village as in an English city. Had the cortege submitted
to extortion and insult, they felt that their night by the river would
have been a precarious one, even if they had been in a humor to sleep in
a swamp when a town was at hand. These things gave occasion to them to
resort to force. The desperate nature of their whole enterprise in
starting for Zanzibar perhaps had accumulated its own stock of
determination, and now it found vent under evil provocation. If there is
room for any other feeling than regret, it lies in the fact that, on
mature consideration and in sober moments, the people who suffered cast
the real blame on the right shoulders.
For the next three days after leaving Chawende’s, they were still in the
same inundated fringe of bouga which surrounds the Lake, and on each
occasion had to camp at night-fall wherever a resting place could be
found in the jungle, reaching Chama’s village on the fourth day. A delay
of forty-eight hours was necessary, as Susi’s wife fell ill; and for the
next few marches she was carried in a kitanda. They met an Unyamwezi man
here, who had come from Kumba-kumba’s town in the Wa Ussi district. He
related to them how on two occasions the Wanyamwezi had tried to carry
Chawende’s town by assault, but had been repulsed both times. It would
seem that, with the strong footing these invaders have in the country,
armed as they are besides with the much-dreaded guns, it can only be a
matter of time before the whole rule, such as it is, passes into the
hands of the new-comers.
The next night was spent in the open air, before coming to the scattered
huts of Ngumbu’s, where a motley group of stragglers, for the most part
Wabisa, were busy felling the trees and clearing the land for
cultivation. However, the little community gave them a welcome, in spite
of the wide-spread report of the fighting at Chawende’s and dancing and
drumming were kept up till morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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